Good evening. Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce my blog. As everyone knows, this Sunday is Easter and traditionally during the week of Easter we usually do something involving the Easter Bunny. But this year we are going for a more subdued approach. No more silly rock and roll performance. No more stage diving. This year we would just like to wish you a Happy Easter and leave it at that.

Hello, I am Bernard D. Bunny, and I am here to tell you Gigi is right. We have done these shenanigans more than enough times and we are certain you are sick of that kind of tomfoolery. So, we shall not torture you again this year.

Yes, instead we shall focus on a film by Ed Hume on Spring Bulbs. Now, if you will indulge me, I shall just take a moment to get the film started…let me see…I should just be able to click here…no…hmmm. Oh, here it is…no. How hard can this be to show a video on Spring Bulbs?

Maybe you need to reboot the computer.

No, I do not need to reboot the computer, I just need to…now why is it doing that?

You need to reboot the computer.

I do not need to…okay fine. I will reboot the computer.

You need to close that file first.

Yes, I know I need to close the file. Just…okay. There it goes. I am rebooting the computer.

Are those Jordan Almonds? I love Jordan Almonds.

Are you saying you want one of my Jordan Almonds?

Are you offering?

Good grief! Just take one.

May I have more than one?

I suppose.

Thank you. Oh, look. Your computer is back up.

Alright. Let me just log in here…there. And we’re back up…let me restart the video…where did it go?

You shut the window.

I opened it again.

Just go here and it should be in those files there.

It…it’s gone! What happened?

I don’t know but it is getting late and we’re already posting late today and—

You did this. I know you did this.

I didn’t do anything.

You purposefully sabotaged my video so we would have to…you are a rotten bunny.

Nobody wants to watch a film on Spring Bulbs.

Yes, they do.

No, they don’t. You say Easter. I say Bunny.

I am not doing this.

You say Easter, I say Bunny.

Augh! Fine! Easter.

Bunny.

Easter.

Bunny.

You say Easter. I say Bunny.

Easter.

Bunny.

Easter.

BUNNY!

Easter.

BUNNY!

EASTER!

BUNNY!

EASTER!

BUNNY!

Is that a Stratocaster?

EASTER BUNNY! EASTER BUNNY! SUNDAY COMES THE EASTER BUNNY! EASTER BUNNY! EASTER BUNNY! SUNDAY COMES THE EASTER BUNNY! BUNNY! BU-U-U-U-U-UNY!!!!! YEAH!!!!

MY BOOKS

You can check out my books Chicane and all five installments of the Musicology book series Musicology: Volume One, Baby!, Musicology: Volume Two, Kid!, Musicology: Volume Three, Twist!, Musicology: Volume Four, Sweetie! and Musicology: The Epiquad on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback editions. You can also check out Musicology’s web site at www.musicologyrocks.com and vote for who you think will win Musicology!

STREAM OF THE WEEK: THE TERMINATOR (HBO MAX) (1984) & TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY (1993) (PARAMOUNT +)

This week’s pick is one of the best double features of all time. And a good choice, I think, for Easter weekend. The original Terminator film, which most of you have seen, is based on the short story “Soldier” (also known as “Soldier from Tomorrow”) by Harlan Ellison. The movie is a bit of an allegory and borrows from the story of King Herod of Judaea who wanted to kill the baby Jesus.

Herod’s father, Antipater was an Edomite who converted to Judaism and had wealth and influence. He married a noble from Petra to further his wealth. He continued increasing his power by involving himself with Pompey who invaded Palestine and began an alliance with Rome. He became friends with Marc Antony and Julius Caesar, who made him a Roman citizen and procurator of Judaea.

At thirty-six, Herod, thanks to his father, became the leader of Judaea and kept that position for thirty-two years. To gain more power he divorced his wife Doris and married a Hasmonean princess named Mariamne and built among other things a huge fortress around his large pagan realm.

But most importantly, Herod was a ruthless psychopath. As he became older, he became increasingly mentally unstable. After disinheriting and killing his firstborn son, Antipater, he then met the Magi (also known as the three wise men who were astrologers) who had been following the star in the sky to find the son of God. After discovering he had been outwitted by the Magi, Herod sent out a decree to kill all the first-born sons ages two and under in Jerusalem and carried out what is called the Massacre of the Innocents. The event is written in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament.

Which brings us to The Terminator, where a young woman named Sarah Conner (Linda Hamilton) who is essentially Mary, lives a normal life in California working as a waitress. One night, a Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) or rather Herod as a cyborg, travels through time with one mission and one mission only: to kill Sarah Conner before she gives birth to her son John, who is to become the leader of the human resistance against the machines. John (or rather Jesus) knows what is to come and he sends a man through time named Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) who is essentially Joseph with perhaps a little bit of John the Baptist thrown in. His job is to stop the Terminator/Herod from killing John/Jesus.

Now, in Terminator 2: Judgement Day we switch to a different biblical story, the story of Paul/Saul of Tarsus. Paul/Saul was also a ruthless psychopath like King Herod. He was a religious zealot who was out to destroy the followers of Jesus after the resurrection. He was a murderer who persecuted early Christians “beyond measure” such as Stephen whom he had executed. He was out to imprison more Christians and shed more blood, but on the road to Damascus, he was stopped by a bright light and the voice of Jesus who asked him why he was destroying his church and then God changed him. This is considered one of the great miracles in the Bible because psychopaths cannot be changed. God then used Paul to build his church.

So, in the second installment Terminator 2: Judgement Day, which can also be considered an allegory, John Conner sends another terminator through time whom he has reprogrammed from a killer to a protector. This Terminator (also played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) represents Paul/Saul who, on the “road to Damascus” (a part we find out through backstory and dialogue) was reprogrammed by John Conner to not destroy John Conner but rather to go back in time to save John’s 10-year-old self (Edward Furlong) and Sarah Conner (Linda Hamilton) thus saving mankind. Or in other words, the Terminator becomes converted. I might add it is also interesting that in the first Terminator movie the last thing we see go out on the Terminator is the light in his eyes, which one might consider a parallel to Paul/Saul being blinded on the road to Damascus. The sunglasses might play into this motif as well.