Is the new Burj Khalifa the 21st century Tower of Bable or just a Cuckoo’s Nest?

So a friend of mine has a blog here on wordpress and on his banner I noticed a painting of an ancient tower. I immediately thought if that was the Tower of Bable from the Bible, so I wikied it and sure enough the exact same image was there. I remember bits and pieces of this story from Sunday school days and it was interesting to read up on this tower and how the story of the tower represents the origins of nations, languages and Babylon (the centre of scientific and cultural advancement in the Middle East). The tower was to have “it’s top to the Heavens” and be home to a united nations speaking a single language. But God didn’t like this and saw it as an idol for man and man’s desire for pride, so he he came and crushed the Tower and scattered the people all over the earth to start new nations and languages. He was pretty pissed off that king Nimrod wanted to make a name for himself and bring in many people from other parts of the earth and control humanity. I had to search “Nimrod” aswell because I thought that name is used as an insult when we were kids- “You stupid Nimrod”- But couldn’t find anything to back this up. If you know what I’m talking about or where I’m going wrong with that please let me know. I’ve just heard this, or something that sounds like that, before somewhere.

And yesterday when I was reading about the opening of the World’s tallest tower in Dubai, the Burj Khalifa, and looking at the amazing photos of the celebrations I couldn’t help think that the images of the tower presiding over the Middle Eastern town looked very familiar to The Tower of Bable. And considering the economic state of Dubai and the fact that the developer of this building- Emaar Properties- is going bankrupt and it’s share price plumeting from $70 odd to $1.20, and also how the tower was built to attract many residents, hotels, companies etc, made me think that this is maybe the 21st Century Tower of Bable. Which we know was “a sin” in God’s eyes and as a result it was destroyed. What do you think conspriacy theorists? Do you think this tower will stand for long?

And now for something completely different, as Monty Python would say. I got home from a friend’s birthday dinner last night absolutely bloated from the 7 course meal and copious amounts of fine wine, armagnac, and champagne and discovered that my download of the movie One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest had finished. What better way to end the night with my laptop and my friend Mary Jane. During the scene when Nicholson arrives at the “Nest” and is interviewed by the Head, it is mentioned that Jack’s character is 38 years old. Damn, this got me wondering if Jack was really 38 when filming this movie in 1976. He looked quite good but that would mean he is 71 years old. Is he really that old? So I turned to my good friend IMDB.com , and sure enough he is 72 years old! Born in 1937, it’s kind of hard to believe, but I suppose that’s because we really only ever see him in movies from the 70’s to 90’s and not in real life. He’s won 3 Oscars and can you tell me what he won these for?

I noticed he’s in an untitled James L. Brooks movie which is in post production, due for release this year, so that sounds like a great film. Can’t go wrong with James L. Brooks, writer and producer of The Simpsons, Taxi TV series, Bottle Rocket, As Good As It Gets, Big, Broadcast News, Tracey Ullman Show, Terms of Endearment and I could go oon. He is among an elite group of 7 Directors who have won best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay (Original/Adapted) for the same film. In 1984 he won all three for Terms of Endearment (1983). The other directors are Leo McCarey (for Going My Way (1944)), Billy Wilder (for The Apartment (1960)), Francis Ford Coppola (for The Godfather: Part II (1974)), Peter Jackson (for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King(2003)) and Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (the brothers co-produced, co-directed and co-wrote No Country for Old Men (2007) with each other). Brooks is the only one to do so with his directorial debut and the only one to do so without collaborators in any of the three categories.Will be interesting to see what this 2010 release will be like.