World News Wednesday: New Years

It's New Year's Eve. Go pop open a bottle of bubbly and enjoy the end of the year.

Or, if you are super awesome, enjoy some time in Amsterdam. That's what makes today World News Wed... the fact that Roger and Rachel are globe-trotting. Be sure to check their site for updates on their trip.

Bookish Tuesday: Slaughterhouse-Five

I finished my first ever Vonnegut book, after years of hearing others sing his praises, and I'll admit that it was a very good read. I will also admit, that it took me about half of the book to really understand what was going on and what it was actually about.

For those who haven't read Slaughterhouse-Five, think of "The Constant" episode of LOST, and you'll have the basic plotline. Billy Pilgrim is unstuck in time, and is goes through various parts of his life outside of chronological order. It's hard to follow at first, but once you get the hang of his different episodes in his life, it makes for an interesting story.

There probably isn't much that hasn't already been said about the book, since I learned yesterday that even my mom had to read it for a class at sometime in her schooling, so it's been analyzed since the Enlightenment by my count.

That said, it was an impressing start to my Vonnegut reading, since I have received two more of his books for Christmas and will be delving into them soon. First though, I have a special book that I'm finishing up in order to put next Monday and Tuesday's posts together in a very special way.

Movie Monday: King of Kong

I watched bits and pieces of a number of movies over the last week, but only one all the way through. Sadly, it was a movie that I had already watched earlier this year. Happily, it was a good one that I was glad to give a second viewing.

The King of Kong is a documentary about Steve Wiebe, a man who is very good at Donkey Kong, and subsequently thinks that he can get the world record high score. The only thing standing in his way is the current record holder, Billy Mitchell. The documentary plays out almost unbelievably with heroes and villains, twists and turns, and a climactic showdown (sort of). What makes it so good is that with all of these things, you have you constantly remind yourself that these are real people and not just a made up story.

I know that a lot of the drama built into the movie is derived from smart editing, but it's so well put together that both times I've watched it, I feel myself being emotionally manipulated so perfectly that I wind up not caring and throwing everything I have behind Steve Wiebe.

The good thing about it is that even people who don't care about video games (like my wife and her sister), they both completely enjoyed the movie and got caught up in it as much as me. Rumor has it that they are already working on a scripted adaptation of the movie, and while I'm sure I'll be out to see it, I don't think it will be able to capture everything in this documentary.

Christmas Week

Since it is Christmas week and I don't know how often I'll have access to a computer or time to think up posts, I thought it would be a good week to take some time off. I might pop up a random post or two, but probably not on topic.

Enjoy your Christmas week!

Religion Friday

As part of my job, I have to read through Police Reports every day, and every so often I come across some funny stuff. Other times, I find things that are truly upsetting. A recent example of this (and the focus of today's post) was a report in which Officers were called to a church over a case of criminal trespassing. When they got to the church, they met with a member who told them that the pastor had told him to call the church if homeless people came by looking for help/shelter. Being a good parishioner, the member called the police who came and arrested the man for coming to the church for help.

Now because I was not there for any of this, I can't say how much of what was said was true, but I can say that when I first read the report I was pretty pissed off. I understand that there is hesitation and fear when someone needs help and you aren't exactly sure what to do, but to be a pastor (someone who is called to be a leader of the church) and to specifically tell someone not to help... I don't understand. I don't know the full story of the church or the pastor, so there may be circumstances that led to this decision, but I can't think of any that would have someone believe that God didn't want them to help.

I admit that I am nowhere near perfect or a source of knowledge for this subject. I (stupidly) don't seek opportunities to help and rarely do situations come knocking on my door, but I would like to think that if the opportunity presented itself, I would be a willing servant.

What is this fear that prevents us from helping? Why do I not go out every night seeking people who need shelter? Is it right to go with the standby answer of "you can't help everyone all the time"? What can be done?

All of those are questions that have been flying through my head, and I have yet to come up with a satisfying answer to any of them. Is something obvious just escaping my thoughts? Let me know what you think.

Gaming Thursday: The Symposium

No, sadly, The Symposium (as awesome as it sounds) isn't a game but instead a group of games journalists that Shawn Elliott has brought together in order to discuss the industry and specific topics that come up consistently when games journalism is discussed. The first part has been posted on Shawn's blog here, and I have to encourage anyone who is interested in game reviews to check it out. It's extremly long but incredibly fascinating.

Now, since I'm not a professional game reviewer and only do it for fun, I can't offer much insight into the industry. On the other hand, I can say that when I began writing about games for this updated version of my blog I knew that I was going to have to decide what the end product would be. Would I offer a score for the game or avoid that? As you can tell from my previous gaming posts, I decided against that.

This was for the reason that I knew that giving a game would make me feel restricted in saying how much I liked it or disliked it without having to eat my words later on. For instance, I know I crapped on Mirror's Edge, but that doesn't take away from the fact that there were still some things I truly liked about it, and if I were to give it a grade (say a "C"), I would have the problem of always feeling that I did wrong. Instead, I just decided to talk about pieces of the games that I liked and disliked and let you (the reader) decide whether the game interests you or not.

So, for those of you that are still here reading my words, I urge you to go back and click on that link and read. I really can't wait for the next edition to come out.

World News Wednesday: EGM

News link here... I know it's a week old.

This story may not mean too much to many of you, but for me it's a pretty big deal. As I've mentioned before, 1up.com is my favorite site for gaming. The editors are incredibly good, and their podcasts are the only gaming podcasts I listen to now.

So, what makes this news? Well, if UGO buys out 1up (it's probably explained a lot better by former 1up editor Jeff Green on the newest Gamers with Jobs podcast - which I had to listen to because it had both Jeff and Shawn Elliott on it), they could theoretically dump everyone associated with the site and just take the name for their own use as part of their network. While that may not ever happen, even if they cut a few people, it would definitely hurt the games journalist industry. 1up has an amazing staff of writers, and should any be let go the site would suffer at any number of levels from their lack of presence.

I guess it's a similar to changes happening throughout the world as the economic climate worsens. We are learning how to adjust to the many changes that have been happening, and we can only hope that our favorite things survive. That's how I am with 1up, I know that something big could happen, but I just have to hope that it all works out for the best.

Bookish Tuesday: Naked

Thanks to This American Life, I decided to pick up a David Sedaris book.

For no particular reason (outside of the fact that it was the first one I saw), I got Naked a couple weeks ago and even though I knew before I even started that I'd like it, I've been surprised by how much. From his stories on This American Life, I knew Sedaris was a funny guy and Naked is filled with some really funny stories, but there is a lot more to these essays than just humor.

Sedaris has led an incredibly interesting life (at least by the way he tells it), and it's pretty great to read about everything he's experienced and how he's grown from those points within his life.

The other thing I love about the book is that since it is a collection of essays, it is easy to break up and read in chunks, although I have to admit that even when I plan to only read one story, I normally wind up reading two or three.

So, I've added one more author to my list to keep reading. Vonnegut is next.

Movie Monday: A Few Movies for One Week

In an attempt to make up for time lost during football season, I watched 3 movies this week. Well more two and a half, since the last one I didn't pay too much attention (which is sad because it was probably my favorite of all three).

First up came Dan in Real Life, which even though it had Steve Carrell starring, I honestly wasn't expecting much. Turns out I got even less than expected. There were a few funny lines, but Carrell is a fantastic comedic actor, and they used less than none of his strengths. The script was predictable after the 15 minute set up, and the resolution for the film left me displeased. They never truly resolved the main conflict of the movie and that deserves a punch in the face.

On Friday I went and saw The Day the Earth Stood Still, but not the new version with Neo. Instead we watched the original 1950's movie and even though it wasn't my favorite old movie, it was actually really good. My only problem with the movie came with humanity's stupidity. Why the Hell can country leaders not put aside a conflict when faced from an outer space aggressor?! It's irrational and stupid... oh wait, that's the point of the movie. At least it can be said that I'm interested in the remake, if only to see how bad they screw this up.

Finally, we watched most of the documentary Bigger, Stronger, Faster yesterday. I really liked the delivery of this documentary, taking a more light-hearted tone like that of Super-Size Me, all the while dealing with a potentially huge issue - steroids (pun intended). While I'm not a sports person by any stretch of the imagination, there was a large amount of information being thrown around about the issue and I definitely am ready to sit back down and finish the movie, if only to learn what happens when the narrator reveals to his parents that his brothers have been taking steroids (gasp).

So, while it may not have been much of a quality week, I can at least say that it was a quantity week and I finally got some movie watching in.

Religion Friday: This American Life

For today's post, I refer you to last week's episode of the amazing radio show This American Life.

While it wasn't the best episode ever, the focus is on a Pentecostal preacher (Carlton Pearson), who went from friends with Oral Roberts to a man who is convinced that God told him there is no Hell, and it makes for a very interesting story.

It is a hard thing to argue against what people think they have heard from God. Pearson, who is a well-read man, builds his arguments well and truly believes his theology. As such, I don't know what to say against him. I don't necessarily agree with his theology, but I also don't think it is my place to argue and tell him that he's wrong.

Since theology is an incredibly personal thing as is, it's very hard to argue against someone's beliefs, and that's not a bad thing. Instead of reading me ramble on about this though, I recommend you go back and just listen to that episode. Hey, it's free!

Gaming Thursday: Game Music

I love video game music.

I have devoted a lot of hard drive space, phone memory, and memory on my mp3 player to soundtracks from video games. I even pull up Rainwave whenever I can to listen (I'm the #6 top listener). Some people pull up the Mario Bros. ringtone or a bit of Zelda music here or there because they think its kind of funny, but I could honestly spend all day listening to the original Sonic soundtrack.

Some of the appeal comes from the nostalgic value of hearing a song that I remember hearing as I played through a particular game, but I've also found that there are games that I've never even played and have already fallen in love with their music (Cave Story, I'm looking at you). Something about listening to various game themes throughout the day is really calming. I don't know what it is, but I absolutely love it.

Anyway, the point of this post was to direct you to this link. Download that album and enjoy it for the Christmas season!

World News Wednesday: Self-Embedding

First things first, this is the 200th post of the blog, so yippee!!! Now that we have that out of the way, here is today's article.

I'll admit that I'm kind of an emo kid. Partially because I like the music and partially because I like to cry in a room by myself. Okay, so I'm not really emo, nor have I ever been, I'm more of just a geek or nerd (they are two different things). Having said as much, I honestly don't understand the idea of cutting (supposedly the precursor to this self-embedding in the article)... and yes I'm sorry for lumping emo kids in with people who cut themselves, I just like to make gross over-generalizations to make writing easier.

It seems pretty logical that there is something psychologically (or maybe chemically) different about these teens/young adults. If you take the quote from Allie W. in the article: I was just sitting in class. I was kind of getting the urge to cut, but knew I couldn't leave class right then, there must be something that can be done to help the kids. I know it comes down to more than just finding help, since teenagers would be quite reluctant to divulge personal information such as this.

But let's get back to the article at hand. Self-mutilation is nothing new, nor is the idea of sticking things under the skin. I knew that before even reading the article, but then again,I figured it to be a thing of the past and wouldn't be coming up again within today's youth. As I mentioned above, I think that there must be something different within the make-up of a self-mutilator, if only because I don't understand the need for inflicting pain upon myself.

So, what can be done to help remedy this situation? Should we force all kids to attend a class/seminar during school about these dangers? Would that be effective? I'm pretty sure that teachers are required to report such behavior like this, but what else can teachers and parents do to help the kids?

A lot of it, I would think, comes down to the teen's home and schooling situation. Stress brought about from either of these locations (along with the many social stresses of the teenage years) only serve to exacerbate the situation, making them want to inflict pain more. So, I think maybe something could be introduced to reduce stress within the day of a teenager. Maybe mandatory naptime after lunch? I know that would make my day so much less stressful.

I know I'm making it seem way too simple of a solution, but that's only because of my limited knowledge. Does anyone know more who could offer more insight or a solution? Feel free to leave comments, I think this could be a good discussion.

Bookish Tuesday: Writing a Novel

So for years, I've been trying to write a book. Actually three separate ones, two fiction and one non.

Both are really good ideas (or so I think), but my problem comes in that although I know in my head where the plots are heading and the pieces that need to be hit on the way to the finale, but I just can't piece it together in an interesting way.

Plus, even though I find the story ideas good, I also know that I have nothing completely special to set them apart from the other books on the market (that aside from the fact that I wrote them).

So, who has suggestions on writing? I've been doing this updated blog for 6 months, so you've got a good sample of my writing style to draw upon. Aside from that, does anyone know a good book or two for helping with writing?

All suggestions are super welcome.

Movie Monday: The Pixar Story

Upon a recommendation from some friends, we stuck The Pixar Story into my Netflix Instant Queue to watch last week. What we watched turned out to be a pretty good documentary about some of the best moviemakers currently in the business.

While a lot of the more current stuff that the movie goes through is pretty well known, what with the contract issues with Disney and the focus on quality from the studio, the best part of the movie was the beginning. It showed how John Lasseter began his career with Disney by working at Disneyland and then moving into their animation studio. However, his interest in making The Brave Little Toaster a computer generated feature ultimately gets him fired and he is forced to find another way to get his ideas out. Tons of hard work and support from Steve Jobs and George Lucas wind up with Pixar Studios being formed and making a crap ton of money.

Yeah, it winds up being a typical documentary story about a guy who starts from nothing and rises to the top, but there are definitely some really cool things to see along the way. I found it mostly interesting seeing the rise of CGI in films, I knew that Pixar had something to do with ILM, but I never knew to what extent until seeing this movie.

It was also awesome to see the Pixar workspace, and it made me wish I could be creative and go work there. Seriously, the movie is worth watching just to see their office building during the latter parts of the movie.

Gaming Thursday: Left 4 Dead

Ever since I heard of its existence, I have been waiting to play Left 4 Dead. When the demo finally came out a few weeks back, I logged in and played the 30 minute piece nearly 20 times all the way through on all of the difficulty levels. Needless to say, when my copy arrived last week, I peed myself.

It must be said starting out that this game is not meant to be played single player. Although the AI characters do a great job of making smart decisions and healing you (and each other) when necessary, it is nowhere near as fun to play with the computer as it is to play with friends. Friends make mistakes (sometimes on purpose), and friends know how to communicate best with you.

Outside of the horde of regular zombies that you must fight your way past as you move to the rescue station or safe house, the game introduces 5 super zombies to make your journey that much more difficult. Smokers and Hunters are similar, in that they will lurk in the dark and try to either pounce on you (Hunters) or grab you with their tongue (Smokers) at that exact moment that you weren't paying attention and deal out some damage before your buddies can rescue you. Boomers will wait just around a corner just for the chance to either vomit on you, or be close enough that when you kill them, they explode on you. Outside of this being pretty disgusting, it also draws the horde directly to you and you have to fight them off while being temporarily blinded by the green gunk all over the screen.

The final two super zombies are complete bullet sinks and require a bit of work to get past. The Tank is exactly what he sound like - huge and nigh-unstoppable. He requires that everyone in the group focus on him until he drops, because if he gets close to anyone, there is little chance that they can get away without being injured in some capacity or another. Finally, the Witch is best left undisturbed. As soon as you start to hear crying, cut your lights off and keep your eyes open. If the Witch gets disturbed by you shooting next to her or your lights flashing on her, whoever did it, is incapacitated in one hit, and if everyone isn't fast enough to take her down after that, that person is dead.

Now, all of these super zombies (except the Witch) are controllable in the Versus mode, but since I haven't had enough time to sink into that mode, I can't comment much on it yet (I've been spending my time trying to survive the story modes).

Speaking of story, although it isn't necessary at all since all you do is try to survive from point A to point B and call in the rescue, Valve has done an awesome job with telling the story just through the environment. Any time I get to a safe house, I have to hang around for a good 5 minutes to read everything that is written on the walls. Sometimes it provides some hints for gameplay (like avoiding the witches), but largely it just gives the entire world some depth, as you read about people who couldn't wait any longer for a loved one or people who have left their theories on the time it takes to turn into a zombie.

Valve is all about making quality games, and Left 4 Dead is no exception. It is the best zombie game I've ever played.

World News Wednesday

I only have two things to really say about this article.

1: We need to spend more money on our education system. Our kid's deserve the best that we can give them, and looking at some schools recently, it seems as though we aren't paying them too much mind.

2: Teachers deserve to get paid more. This is so obvious. Why are actors and athletes paid so much, when we barely pay those who we expect to raise the future (at least that's what some parents think)?

...That is all.

Bookish Tuesday: The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents

Vacations are always the perfect time for a good Pratchett book, and last week was no exception. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents is a book taking place in Discworld, although it isn't really a part of the main series of books, since it is an off shoot kid's branch like the Wee Free Men series.

Like a lot of other Discworld books, Maurice pokes fun at the idea of kid's stories and particularly that of the pied piper. See, Maurice is a talking cat who hangs out with a group of talking rats. They, along with a dumb-looking kid, go from town to town "removing" the terrible rodent population. As they move on to their final heist in the town of Bad Blintz, things begin to go wrong in a way that only Terry Pratchett can do. Maurice is a fun character to read with all his little cat habits and ways of thinking and I really hope that he (and the rats) get some more appearances within Discworld.

The book is just as funny as the adult Discworld books, if not moreso than some of them, and was awarded the 2001 Carnegie medal (although I don't know what that means, it sounds pretty good). Let's just say that The Amazing Maurice is definitely a good stepping stone for getting into the Discworld books, something that everyone should be reading.

Movie Monday: Perfume - The Story of a Murderer

I put Perfume on my Netflix queue as kind of a joke. We had seen the preview with some friends, and one of them was quite creeped out by the trailer, so I decided that we'd have to watch the movie. Things fell apart when the movie actually arrived, so I wound up just watching it with Katie.

Altogether, it wasn't a bad movie at all. In fact, it was an intense ride that I really enjoyed, right up to the last 20 minutes or so. The movie is focused on Jean-Baptiste Grennouille, who was born on the ground of a Parisian fish marked in the 18th Century. As he grows up, he learns that he has an intense sense of smell, and after spending some time working at a tannery he encounters a woman with an intoxicating scent. Grennouille follows her smell into an alley where, in an attempt to smell her more, he accidentally kills her.

It's hard to say what exactly they are trying to make of Grennouille throughout the movie. Opinions I have read place Grennouille as a spawn of the devil due to his lack of scent, but while watching the movie, I felt that he was just an autistic man who was driven by his infatuation with the girl's scent. Either way, be becomes obsessed with learning how to store the scent of a human, and after an apprenticeship with a perfumer in Paris, where he learns that the best perfumes have a 12 note "chord" of smells, followed by a 13th grace note, he travels to Grasse, where he finally learns how to preserve the scent of a human. The only problem is that he kills the girls everytime he obtains their smell.

Without giving away too much of the rest of the movie, it's fairly obvious where the movie heads, and remains an intense ride, right up until the last 20 minutes. At that point, the movie kind of lost me. Not that it didn't make sense, but it just seemed to lack the credibility and realistic grittiness of the rest of the film. I will say that the final scene almost makes up for the preceding one, but I really wish that they had just skipped directly to it.

Bookish Tuesday through Religion Friday

Happy Thanksgiving. I will be away without interwebs for the Thanksgiving break, so rather than try to write up a post for everyday, I'll do it all here.

The book I'll be reading over break is Terry Pratchett's The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents. So far, it's as good as any other Pratchett book and I'm ready to get some time to just read without the distraction of work and such.

News for this week is from this story (thanks to Rachel for the heads up). There isn't much to discuss on this aside from the fact that we know that Pandas are dumb creatures, but that doesn't mean you can just climb over a protective fence to try to pet one.

Gaming over the weekend will consist of a lot of Rock Band, some Trivial Pursuit, and hopefully a few sessions of Left 4 Dead and the tabletop game Zombies!!! (the exclamation points are part of the name).

Finally, the focus of Religion Friday is (obviously) to take some time to think about all we've been given and be thankful for what we have.

See you next week!

Movie Monday: Expelled

I'll admit, before I even started this movie, I was prejudiced against it. I had heard a lot of mixed reviews and nothing really over the top positive. Maybe I just missed it, but let's just say I my hopes weren't high when I began.

Maybe it was these lowered expectations, or maybe it was the fact that I was playing WoW while I watched, but it actually turned out to be a pretty good documentary. Although, I'm a bit biased towards the religious side of the argument, I think that the film did a good job of presenting the faith-based idea of intelligent design. While the movie isn't focused as much on this as it is about the fact that scientists become discredited for just presenting the theory as an option. There are definitely some sob stories about the number of professors who were unfairly let go for their presentation of the theory, but as a whole they are presented well.

The problem is that the other side doesn't get treated as well. The scientists/professors who they bring in to talk about the evolutionary theory are largely anti-religion, and the movie plays that up. Richard Dawkins is brought in to defent evolution, and in the grand finale Ben Stein (the narrator/host) does everything he possibly can to make it seem like Dawkins is giving credence to the theory of God and intelligent design, something he would never do.

In all it was a good documentary, but definitely one that had its side chosen from the beginning, which isn't a bad thing, but definitely should be known up front.

Religion Friday

We were sitting at the local pizza place last night, eating some delicious pizza and kicking serious butt at the trivia contest, when people were suddenly distracted by something going on on one of the televisions. At first I thought Georgia Tech had made an amazing play or something, but when I turned my head to watch, I found something quite a bit more disturbing (seriously, the video is pretty disturbing, but that link has a write up so you don't have to watch the video).

Now, I'll come out right now and say that I've never really been a big Palin fan, but after watching this and discussing with others, there are definitely some people who are trying to take her down further (even though her Vice Presidential campaign is already over). As such, the problem with the video and the interview as a whole is not that Sarah is at fault, it's that the producers and directors of the show just wanted her to look bad. Why is it necessary to kick someone while they are down?

It happens all the time around us. We find out someone's insecurities and failures and use that to take advantage of them or their situations. A lot of the time it's not even conscious. It becomes the natural thing to want to hold power over someone else, and here is where we find ourselves with the calling to be different.

It may seem a stretch, but when Jesus said to the disciples that they should be last instead of first and strive to be servants, part of it means giving up trying to exert (for lack of a better term) power over others. That means to help people up when they've been knocked down. The election is over, there is no more need for the "liberal media" to attempt to hurt the reputations of Palin, or any other politician.

For us, we need to learn how to not only be content to serve, but to strive to be a servant all the time and that means giving up power. It's a hard thing to relinquish control of situations and people, but it is necessary to become someone's servant and do what you can to help them move forward rather than to push your own ideas ahead.

Gaming Thursday: Mirror's Edge

After talking about the demo for Mirror's Edge last week, I was glad to get a copy of the full game from my brother to see how well it held up.

Not surprisingly, it's a bunch of fun to run around the city jumping from building to building and running across walls. It's the same thing that I loved about the demo, only with a bunch more room to play around in. Similarly, the same problems that bothered me in the demo were back full force.

I understand that the guys shooting at me and attacking me are there to add tension to the game, but I really just find them to be highly annoying. There is nothing more frustrating than to be running perfectly through the game, only to be shot in the back by a bad guy that I had previously ignored because I thought the focus of the game was running and not fighting. While on this subject, having a helicopter constantly shooting at me while I make my way up a building is a pretty dumb idea on the bad guys' part. I mean, I'm standing on the side of an office building filled with innocent people enjoying their view out their large windows, when a barrage of bullets intended for a single runner penetrates the glass and takes down Jimmy from accounting... and these guys are supposed to be cops.

Well I think they are cops anyway, because the story is so meaningless and dull that I automatically hit the skip button as soon as possible. I don't really care why I'm running from place to place, all I want to do is run.

So, if it weren't for the story and the incredibly annoying combat/gunfights, I would find Mirror's Edge to be so much more fun. As it is, I'm having a hard enough time convincing myself to finish playing it when I have Left 4 Dead giving me a much better time blasting zombies (more on that soon) and trying to get my Paladin up to level 80 on WoW (although I'm having trouble getting that done with so much going on). Basically, I like Mirror's Edge when it is doing what it does best - encouraging you to run. When it tries to add in the rest of the junk, it just seems to fall (get it? like falling off the buildings... never mind).

World News Wednesday: Good News

Today's News is the best news!

We are really excited about this development. It means that at any point now we can be called to do respite foster care (we decided to start of with the more temporary care and build). I know it's not technically world news, but it's the best news I've heard this past week, and I figured I ought to pass it on.

Bookish Tuesday: Jurassic Park

In honor of Michael Crichton, I picked up Jurassic Park last week for some light reading and I began to remember why I loved reading his books.

First of all they are intelligent, whether you realize it or not. I read JP when I was in middle school, and it was a fun story about a dinosaur experiment gone wrong. As I've gotten older and reread the book a number of times, each read brings to light another aspect of Crichton's focus. Sure it's about how dinosaurs aren't meant to be constrained within a park outside of their natural time period, but there is also the discussion of bioethics and theoretical mathematics that I never really grasped until recently.

Even with all that heady subject material, the book is still incredibly well written. Crichton paints an incredibly detailed world so that you find yourself immersed within and makes it difficult to come back to reality afterword. Plus, he has a part in the book that I will remember for the rest of my life. When they are hunting the raptors, Muldoon shoots one with a rocket, and it explodes like a tomato thrown against a brick wall (or something to that effect). Needless to say, that little description has stayed with me since childhood.

Finally, the main reason I like Crichton's books is because they are so much better than the movies that are based on them. Congo, Timeline, The 13th Warrior (based on Eaters of the Dead)... even Jurassic Park, none of the films can hold a candle to the awesomeness of the books.

Movie Monday: Quantum of Solace

First things first, Quantum of Solace is not as good as Casino Royale. Do not go into this movie expecting to see the same movie. That being said, Quantum is still a really good action/Bond movie.

Picking up maybe 5 minutes after the end of Casino Royale, Quantum starts off with a car chase. One that is incredibly difficult to follow due to the fact that no shot is longer than .02 seconds. Once they get the adrenaline flowing with this chase, the movie doesn't ever really get the chance to slow down. Chases, followed by shootouts, followed by more chases leave the whole movie gasping for air during the rare slowdown. This is the reason that I think the movie began to fall apart. There isn't enough time to ever build the story or give you a chance to really care about what is happening.

The best part of the entire movie wasn't even an action sequence. Instead it took place during an opera, where Bond is witnessing how the group of bad guys deals their business. It's a really cool scene and is all that much better when Bond decides that it's time to break it up. Of course it has to end with a small chase/gun fight, but I guess that can be forgiven since the build up to them was actually interesting, and somewhat easy to follow.

The rest of the plot is pretty standard Bond fare, although I wish they had taken more time to work on it and give you a chance to actually see/understand what was going on. I'm not asking for a super amazing plot, just something that actually matters and isn't just secondary to coming up on the next action sequence.

All told, it wasn't a bad movie by any means, and was in fact very enjoyable. I still think that Daniel Craig is an amazing James Bond, and I'm ready for the next installment.

Religion Friday: Losing Focus

Even after however many months I've been doing this, these Religion Friday posts are still the absolute hardest things to write. I have begun applying for seminary next year, and I'm coming to a similar problem.

As part of the application process, the school is requiring me to write a 3-4 page faith autobiography. It's not that I have nothing to write about, I'm just having a really hard time piecing together what I want to say. Here's what they want:

• Significant life experiences that have affected your view of self, God, and the world. Include references to family members and significant others, courses, and experiences in college, church, service-related activities, and employment.
• Academic and other interests that motivate you to engage in theological studies.
• Ways the MTS program at Candler School of Theology fits your interests.
• Your plans following completion of study at Candler School of Theology.

There is just so much to say and so many different ways to explain them, that I feel lost before I've even started. Do I focus on the journey or the end point? Should I spend most of my time on college where I think I changed the most, or spend more time building the foundation to those changes?

It's similar when I try to write these posts. I know there are so many things to discuss, but I never know where to start and what I want my focus to be. I guess that's also similar to the way faith is. We know that our calling is to reflect the love of Christ, but that is such a general command that it is so difficult to put it into a full practice unless you set up a short-term goal to attain.

So, I'm currently in the process of figuring out my short-term goals for my life and faith. I know where I want to be and what I want to be doing further on, but I'm having a hard time finding a focus for the upcoming days and months.

Gaming Thursday: Demos

So, I've been playing a few demos on my 360 this week and all are very good, however I'm only going to buy one of them.

The first is the action/fighter Naruto: The Broken Bond. Based on the anime series (which I quite enjoy), its a simple title that is fun to use up a good 15 minutes playing. However, since I found nothing incredibly interesting about it, I don't think I'll wind up buying it unless it drops under $20. The one thing it really has going for it is the hand seals. I really like how you have to hold L and then move your sticks in specific directions in order to pull of different moves.

The second demo I went through was Mirror's Edge, which is a really cool first person parkour-type simulator. I found the controls to be really natural and it was a ton of fun to run around the city jumping from building to building. The main issue with the game is that the combat was a bit wonky. It's good because you are encouraged to run from enemies, but in the parts where you are forced to encounter a baddie, I always found myself just getting hit until I got the chance for the disarm. There was no strategy, just a matter of hitting the button at the right second.

My final demo I have already preordered and will come in next week - Left 4 Dead. Quite possibly the most fun I've had playing a game in a long time (and it's just the demo), Left 4 Dead is a zombie survival simulator that is wonderfully intense. I'll be sure to give more information on it in a few weeks once I've had the chance to play more of the game. So far though, in just 3 days, I've played through the entire demo about 15 times and every time has been a ball. In all honesty, even after just the demo, this is on the short list for my top games of the year.... although part of that could just be blamed on my complete love for zombies.

World News Wednesday: Pups

A nice, light post today.

Since I can't have the kind of dog I want, I think we need to petition our future president to get either a Siberian Husky or a German Shepherd. My preference is on the Husky because of their awesome eyes, but German Shepherds are super smart. Either way, it had better be an awesome dog.

As for names, I'm going to have to say Captain Carrot for a boy, and Sergeant Angua for a girl. Sergeant Angua is preferable, just because she is a werewolf and it makes better sense for a name for the dog, but Capt. Carrot is still a sweet name.

Any other suggestions? I think mine are pretty dang good.

Bookish Tuesday: A Year at the Movies

I hate Kevin Murphy (of MST3K and Rifftrax fame). Well, really I don't hate him, I just hate that he had the idea for his book A Year at the Movies and got to do it before I could have the chance.

This is my second time reading the book, and both times it has made me want to do an experiment just like Kevin did. See, like the title says, he took an entire year and went to a theater every day to see a movie. He took trips around the world to visit different festivals and viewing situations and provides an interesting commentary throughout it all. He doesn't waste time reviewing the movies he sees and instead tells the stories of the theaters and his experiences surrounding the films.

We all know that going to the movies is much more than the flick itself. It all comes down to who you go with and your relationship with them to make the time worthwhile. Even the crappiest of movies can be a ton of fun if you are watching it with a group of like-minded friends. That's what makes MST3K and Rifftrax so good, because they do exactly what you do when you watch a movie that isn't particularly engaging.

Maybe one day I'll be able to get a grant to do an awesome experience like this. Maybe I'll finally be able to do the idea that I had to play through the top 50 video games in a row. I guess it will all have to wait till I get rich and famous... in other words, it'll never happen.

Movie Monday: The Lion King

I absolutely love The Lion King. It is my absolute favorite animated Disney film. I know some people complain about the Elton John songs, but I think that they just don't know how to tune in to the awesomeness that is "Hakuna Matata" or "Just Can't Wait to be King."

The animation of The Lion King is definitely the best of all Disney features. Everything moves so smoothly and I just love the character designs.

The only thing that sucks about the movie is watching it on DVD and forgetting to turn off the extra song. It's just not as good as the rest of the soundtrack.

Religion Friday

Sorry I'm late again, it's been quite a week. As such, I haven't had much time to plan this post, so it will likely wind up either rambling or short and inconsequential.

I'm not one to dwell on past events. It's not that I don't like to reminisce, but for some reason I just don't like to think about how things might have been "better" back then or think about how we did things differently. I prefer for the focus to be on the now.

In a similar sense, I think faith requires us to constantly be within the instant. When time is used up thinking about past failures or victories, current problems are neglected. For example, if I spend my time thinking about what I should have done as soon as I got out of college, I miss out on all the experiences that are going on around me. Even though I may not like what is going on, there is something to be said for pressing onward through difficult times because you always come out changed.

The main problem with me focusing on the present is that I never know what to put my energies into. I know through my past experience what I want to do, but because the future is so uncertain, I don't know what the target is right now.

Life sure would be nice if it was like Fable 2, and I could just set the quest that I wanted to complete and follow the little gold trail that extends out in front of me to my goal. Plus, I'd get to carry a huge shotgun around and bust up some beetles.

Gaming Thursday: Fable 2, or Why am I always good?

I've been playing Fable 2 for a little over a week now, and I'm loving it. Sure, it's a bit glitchy (I've gotten stuck in rooms and on little walls, not to mention annoying camera angles) but I still love the world and the choices of Fable 2. I wrote about the first Fable last week, and this game is pretty much the same. I love it and can't wait to get back to playing more, it's fun.

Here's my problem though: I can't be bad. I run into annoying people who need to die and I see things I want to steal everywhere, but I just can't do it. It won't hurt the game at all for me to be evil, in fact, there are some people who will only like you if you are a jerk. For some reason though, I have to keep pressing on as my good girl until I beat the game before I switch to bad mode. I do this with all open world games too. Whenever I'm given that good/evil choice, I pick good on my first playthrough (I have had times on subsequent plays that I choose evil just to see it, but I rarely finish up).

Am I a goody-two-shoes, or is there something subconscious that knows that good seems to have a better ending to the game? I don't know, but I think that as soon as I finish up the story quest in Fable 2, my girl will change from her sweet monogamous ways into an evil polygamist tyrant, just because I can.

-Edit-
I just finished Fable 2, and even being a good gal, there were some seriously tough decisions to be made, although I still absolutely loved it.

World News Wednesday: Sad Day

Today is a sad, sad day.

Overshadowed by the election, we lost one of my favorite authors on Tuesday - Michael Crichton.

His books remain some of the best (and most realistic) science fiction I've ever read. For that, I say we all take some time and pick up a Crichton book. I'm going to re-read Jurassic Park.

Sad, sad day.

Bookish Tuesday: Discworld

For those of you who have not read any of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of books, I suggest that you close down your internet browser, get in your car (or on your bike), and go to the library or bookstore and pick one up. Any of them will be fine for your first (although I would suggest starting with something like Going Postal or Guards, Guards), but the important thing is that you start reading the series.

For today's post, rather than going on and on about the whole series, I figured I would give you my 5 favorite Discworld characters. To be honest they aren't really in any order (aside from my #1), because I love them all so much (even more than my own unborn children).

#5. Death - The greatest character to ever talk in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, Death is a constant source of hilarity throughout the series. Every time I'm reading and I happen to glance at an upcoming page and see those caps, I start to get really excited. Partially because someone is about to die, which would advance the plot and provide some mystery, but mostly because the newly dead person's conversation with Death nearly always gives me the giggles. Death is not only good as a bit part throughout the series, but when he becomes the focus of an entire novel, you know there is something to look forward to (see Hogfather).

#4 Lord Vetinari - This former member of the Guild of Assassins (who never wore black, but really just a dark grey) is now the Patrician of Discworld's largest city Ankh Morpork. As such, he has transformed the place from a cesspool into an arguably thriving hub of culture and economy. While some may consider him to be a tyrant ruler, he has consistently been at the forefront of ensuring things in the city run right. None of these are really what make him such a good character though (although the tyrant thing is definitely a good bit). Instead, it's how incredibly cool and calculated Vetinari is. Whenever anyone in the books (or the readers) thinks that he's gone off his rocker by saying this or doing that, by the end of the story you always realize what a smart man he is... also, he's a great smartass.

#3 Moist von Lipwig - Moist is a con artist who is charged by Lord Vetinari to transform the postal service (and later the banks) into something that actually works. To say that Going Postal is the funniest book in the Discworld library would not be a stretch. It is one of the few Discworld books that I have read multiple times (I've read it three times, and listened to the audiobook once) and every single time it makes me laugh out loud. The ideas that Moist comes up with in order to get the office running are so brilliantly odd that it makes the book so much fun to follow. The only real reason that Moist isn't my favorite Discworld character is because he's only been in two books so far, and therefore hasn't had much time to develop.

#2 Rincewind - Rincewind is the first main character of the Discworld novels, and some will stand by him as the best. I agree that he's wonderfully funny, especially in his own brand of heroism, but for some reason I never really get too into his books. The fact that he ramains in my top 5 characters is a testament to how well written he is and how incredibly funny the circumstances that he finds himself in. I don't mean to be down on Rincewind (I want to name my first child after him... well him and the #1), but as much as I love his character, for some reason the stories around him just aren't my favorite.

#1 Samuel Vimes - Sam Vimes is the ultimate. I love every story concerning the Night Watch of Ankh Morpork and since Sam is the leader, it goes without saying that he is my favorite. Tracing him back to Guards, Guards where he's nothing but a stupid drunk all the way to Thud! when we begin to see him becoming a family man with Sam Vimes Jr., Sam Vimes is such a well-developed character that I absolutely love delving into his stories to see what will happen next. I mentioned a long time ago that Night Watch was my second favorite book of all time, and that still remains. Read Guards, Guards first then go to Men at Arms at least before you do Night Watch, but I will stand by my statement that it is a book that must be read... and not just for fantasy people.

There you have it. I know I had to skip over some awesome people like Captain Carrot, Sgt. Angua, and Twoflower, but I think I made a good list here. What about those of you who've read some Discworld? Who are your favorites?

Movie Monday: Zack and Miri Make a Porno

I'm a Kevin Smith fan, with Mallrats staying as my favorite of his movies. Zack and Miri doesn't knock Mallrats out, but it was definitely a good Kevin Smith movie. To get it out of the way, if the title makes you uncomfortable and you don't know who Kevin Smith is, this movie is more than likely not your cup of tea.

The movie is about two friends (Zack and Miri), who are out of money and late on bills, so they come up with the fantastic idea to make a porno in order to get back on their feet. Of course, things go wrong as both Zack and Miri discover that they are in love with each other and it makes their job that much harder to go through.

Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks are great as Zack and Miri. Banks holds her own extremely well in the foul-mouthed script and she's dang funny to boot. The whole porno shooting scenes are quite hilarious, especially any scene with Jason Mewes. It's my first time seeing him as anything by Jay and I found him to be very funny.

Like a lot of the movies I see, you know whether you'll like it before you even see it just by the names attached, and this is no different. If you know you like Kevin Smith or Seth Rogen, go see it. If you are uncomfortable by the title, I suggest you go watch Mallrats or another Kevin Smith movie on DVD so you can cut it off if need be.

P.S. Be sure to watch through the credits if you go.

Religion Friday: Halloween Edition

Today is All Hallow's Eve. Supposedly, it's the best night to do all our demon summoning and cavorting with the devil (if you were to believe Jack Chick). However, this does seem like a good day to discuss the paranormal.

For those who might not know, I'm a big fan of the show Ghost Hunters, wherein the team on the show goes to various "haunted" locations and they try to find out what's behind it. A lot of the time, the guys are able to disprove the hauntings as just exposed wires, broken doors, or just loud pipes. However, there are those rare times that they catch a glimpse into something that seemingly just can't be explained. For us watching on the telly it could definitely be a trick of the camera or something set up beforehand, and most of the tension is built on the background music and sound effects, but I definitely think they are on to something.

Now, I don't think that all of these things are "ghosts" or even spiritual energies affecting things we see, but I do think that there are definitely things out there that we do not (and perhaps cannot) understand. First of all, I don't think there are such things as ghosts in the traditional sense. I highly doubt that people's spirits are bound to this realm by feelings or unfinished business.

As for spirits in themselves, I have to confess that I do indeed believe. Jesus had a good time sending spirits out of people (once even sending them into a group of piggies), so I think there is probably something to it. But do these so-called spirits interact with us in our physical realm by moving around chairs or appearing on thermal imaging cameras? I don't know. It seems that in the Gospel accounts that these spirits were more of a possession inclination and didn't really waste their time bothering people in their homes, but instead went right for the take-over of the body. While these possessions could definitely be happening today, we all know that it only takes a little kick to knock the Satan out of you.

So, is this spiritual realm active today? Do angels and demons use up their free time messing with us? Or are these things just paranormal in the dictionary sense (not explained by science)? I'm not sure, I think it is more than likely that these things are not spirits in the angel/demon sense, but are still related to a realm of physicality that we might not be able to see or understand yet. Maybe the places where these supposesd hauntings happen are places where the space between dimensions is thinner than normal, and you are just seeing a reflection of something else. Who really knows? Today is a fun day to think about it though.... well, at least until I have to go and do my seances and play with my Ouija board later (since I've read Harry Potter multiple times, that makes me a Satanist).

Gaming Thursday: WoW Zombies

Last weekend, I reactivated my World of Warcraft account. I did this for two reasons:

#1 - The Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack will be out in a few weeks, and I needed to get my feet wet before attempting to level from 70-80.

But more importantly:

#2 - The Zombie world event that was taking place. The first thing I did when I signed in was find a zombie and got myself infected. I then joined up with a guildie and proceeded to infect an entire town with our swarm of zombie goodness. The way it worked was that if you were infected, you had a limited time to cure yourself of the disease before you would be turned into a zombie. Once you were turned, your health bar would slowly decrease unless you were attacking a human to convert them. Zombies became most effective in large groups (just like in real life). Anyway, I was sad to hear that the world event had ended on Monday and in protest, have not logged in since (okay, so I did a raid on Monday night, but that was when I had first learned about it anyway).

So, I'm back in WoW, but trying not to play too much, especially since Fable 2 came in yesterday and it's already awesome.

World News Wednesday: King Solomon's Mines

Yay!! For all Indiana Jones wannabes, now is the perfect time to rejoice!

As may have been slightly evident by my love for dinosaurs last week, I spent a good portion of my growing up wanting to be an archaeologist. I don't need the adventure and near-death experiences that Indy constantly face, but the thought of uncovering societies and objects that have been lost to time is such an awesome thought. It's kind of like having a time machine, except without all the problems of creating a paradox or whether it is actually feasible (for some reason scientists say that time travel is unattainable - spoilsports).

The other cool thing about this particular (hopeful) find, is that it helps to shed light on stories that have been shared down through time. Since this something that is biblically relevant, people can (and I'm sure will) use it to point to the historical accuracy of the Old Testament. Although, I don't really think this is necessary since you'll either believe it happened or don't and a little archaeological find probably won't change too many minds. Either way, I find it really cool to see exactly what they had going on so long ago, and how intricate societies became even then. I know that I tend to think of the early AD and BC years as so long ago, but really in the grand scheme of time, it's barely a speck back on the old timeline.

So, what do you think would be the coolest find of archaeology? The ark of the covenant, like Indy found in Raiders? Noah's Ark? Evidence of aliens' influence on early Egyptian society? All sound good to me. What's your pick?

Bookish Tuesday: The Devil in the White City

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson turned out to be one of those books that is so good because it is nonfiction, and not just a story being told. Also, I realized about halfway through that the reason I don't read much nonfiction is because of the writing style. I enjoyed Devil so much because it is written as a narrative even though it does a great job of keeping the facts and references coming at you.

The book is the story of the Chicago World's Fair in 1893 and the events that surrounded it, particularly those of H.H. Holmes, sometimes called America's First Serial Killer. The setbacks and problems that surround the building of the fair are incredibly interesting, but there is just something about Holmes' chapters that are the most intriguing as it draws you deep into his little web of deception.

Larson does a fantastic job with the research too, mixing in quotes from newspapers, letters, diaries, and other writings from the time in order to give it a much more personal sense rather than just a history book retelling the facts.

Movie/TV Monday: Kitchen Nightmares

Okay so I can honestly admit that Kitchen Nightmares isn't really a good show, but for some reason I just can't stop watching it. I have already watched all of Season 2 online and am now backtracking through Season one just for completion's sake.

Why am I doing this? I don't know. All I know is that every episode is pretty much the exact same as the previous - restaurant in trouble, Gordon Ramsey comes in, talks a lot with his hands, says "yeah" a lot, and they seemingly turn it all around. I guess part of my fascination with the show comes with seeing how absolutely disgusting some of these places can get. I know I've been into a disgusting and warm refrigerators when I was working at a certain place, but even that doesn't hold a candle to the Indian restaurant Gordon goes to that has rotten meat and vegetables being served... it's just really gross.

Yeah, I can't really recommend the show outside of saying it's a guilty pleasure and as long as Hulu feeds me, I'll keep going back for more.

I think me watching is more of a cry for Hulu to get Good Eats online. I know they don't have much control over what stations decide to broadcast full episodes online of, but I can't wait for the day that I can stream some amazing Alton Brown cooking onto my computer.

The Real Religion Friday (on a Saturday): Guest Post

Since I've been busy all week, I have not actually spent any time thinking about this post, so instead of giving you a lackluster post, I will refer you to a great post by my friend (and housemate) Matt.

Enjoy, and I'll see you on Monday

Gaming Thursday: Mother 3

A couple weeks back, I professed my love for Earthbound (or Mother 2) and although Mother 3 has been out in Japan since 2006 it was just last Friday when the English fan translation was finished and I could finally check it out for myself. Since Friday, I have logged about 12 hours into the game and have to say that (despite early misgivings) it is completely living up to my high expectations.

While Earthbound began in the middle of a representation of small town America and you gradually moved into larger and larger cities, Mother 3 begins in a town that has no concept of money and is one with the surrounding nature. Soon into the game, things begin to go sour, as people discover that guys wearing pigmasks have begun to experiment on the local wildlife in order to make "cooler animals." Fast forward 3 years (or 2 more chapters into the game) and the pigmasks have transformed the town into modern suburbia through the use of their Happy Boxes that the townspeople became addicted to. At my present point in the game, the way to save society and return it to a sense of normality is to retrieve the seven pins located throughout the world and release the dragon hidden inside for good.


Yeah, it's a pretty obvious statement - very similar to the one made in Earthbound, but the writing is really what makes it stand out. Without spoiling anything in the game, I have to say that the way certain events were scripted do a great job of expressing the emotions of the characters and give you that little tug at your heart that connects you to the characters and pushes you forward into the game if only so you can find closure alongside them. With this comes the same wacky sense of humor found in EB that keeps me grinning throughout the game (especially when you run into each of the Magypsies).

The combat in Mother 3 has the same interface as EB in that you don't ever see your characters performing actions through the battles, however there is one really cool addition. In each battle, if you are able to press the attack button at the correct time in beat with the background music, it allows your characters to attack multiple times and score more damage. This, however, this is incredibly hard to do - the highest combo I have achieved is only 4 hits, and that was with the backbeat turned up after hypnotizing the enemy. Maybe it just shows how bad I suck at music...

Altogether, Mother 3 is a great package that just feels good to play. Like all the best 16-bit rpgs, it sucks me back to a time of naivety and complete joy that came with playing video games. I guess the best thing that can be said about it is that every day since I've gotten it, I couldn't wait to get home from work and play more.

World News Wednesday: Dinosaurs

I like dinosaurs.

I always have. I remember that I wasn't old enough to see Jurassic Park when it came out in theaters, so my mom and brother had to go and make sure it was okay before I could go see it. I also remember being so scared that I had to pee about 6 times during the movie.

You may be wondering where I'm going to go with this, but I honestly can't tell you. I just thought it was really cool. I know when I was younger we would talk about how cool the Archaeopteryx was, seeing how it was both a dinosaur and could fly.

I don't know, for some reason I just thought it would be nice to think about dinosaurs this week (who barely edged out spaceships). Maybe we could combine these two and imagine what would happen if space travel finally becomes feasible (whether through wormholes or some unknown technology) and we wind up on a planet that has animals just like dinosaurs. It would be every kid's perfect dream... just like the show Dino Riders - which I still have a VHS copy of the first episode, by the way.

So instead of a thoughtful post about tragedy in our world, take a moment today and let your imagination return to childhood and think about dinosaurs for a while because they are probably the coolest things ever created.

Bookish Tuesday: The Stand

Until this past summer, the only Stephen King books I had ever read were The Dark Tower series. Then when I was reading up on LOST at the end of the season, I came upon a bit of info that the one book that LOST writers kept in their room when working on episodes was The Stand... so I went and got it from the library.

30 years old now, the book tells the story of what happens to the world when a superflu virus that kills off 99.4% of the population, leaving the rest to rebuild civilization. It follows various survivors of the flu and their trek across the U.S. after having a similar dream about an old woman. Alongside these survivors going to the woman, there is also a group that begins to follow the epitome of evil, Randall Flagg - the Walkin' Dude. Both groups know of the other's existence and Flagg's crew is intent on destroying the woman's batch.

I just realized that there is really no point in trying to summarize the 1000 page book for you here, so instead I'll say that King does a great job of bringing all of the characters together and forcing them to realize that the world has to be started anew. The main problem with the book (and I had similar issues with The Dark Tower) is that King seems to have trouble ending stories. The end of The Stand is completely appropriate for where the story was headed, but it seems way too abrupt, particularly after the amount of time that is spent on the rest of the plot.

As to how it all ties into LOST, I'm still not exactly sure, but you can definitely see echoes of Larry Underwood in Charlie, and I kind of think Locke is a bit like Stu Redman, but I guess it can only be truly compared when LOST ends in a few years.

Movie/TV Monday: In Bruges

On a recommendation, I checked out In Bruges last week, and found it an enjoyable treat.

The story revolves around two hitmen who have been sent to Bruges in Belgium after the younger one, Ray (played by Colin Farrell), makes a mistake during his hit and winds up killing a little boy in the process. In Bruges with Ray is Ken (Brendan Gleeson or Mad-Eye Moody if you will), the more experienced hitman who is trying to work Ray though his problems and find out why exactly they were sent to Bruges by their boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes or Lord Voldemort). Turns out that Harry thinks Bruges is a wonderful fairy tale village that everyone should experience before they die... and Ray needs to die for killing the kid. Along the way, Ray meets and falls for Chloe (Clemence Poesy or Fleur Delacour - yeah, 3 HP alum in this movie), scuffles with her ex-boyfriend and hangs out with a racist American dwarf named Jimmy.

The dialogue in the film is really what made it so good. It's snappy and funny throughout and all of the exchanges (particularly the ones with Harry) are fun to watch. It's definitely got some resemblance to the Guy Ritchie English gangster movies in that respect. I just really like movies that have a solid plot that involves all the characters and there is no fluff in between, and In Bruges did all of that very well.

Religion Friday

My head is empty today, I cannot think of a lick to write about so instead I'll take my cue from Wednesday's post and we can talk a little more about poverty, or rather help for those who are suffering and struggling. Since I'm not very good at explaining my thoughts today, I'll just give you what I think sums it best up. I'm sure you've probably read it before, but go ahead and read it one more time just for me.

31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

P.S. I took this from biblegateway.com and it's the NIV (just so that I name my sources)

Gaming Thursday: Kingdom Hearts 2

When I first heard about a game that was an amalgamation of Disney and Square franchises, I was so excited to check it out. But then I heard it was on Playstation 2, and as one of the only people who has never owned a PS2, I missed it... and then I missed the sequel. Now that I've borrowed my brother's PS2 (which enabled me to play through Shadow of the Colossus), I have the opportunity to play Kingdom Hearts 2. Before you say "what about the original?" I was told that I should just skip it for its crappy camera and just play the second. It did provide a few moments of having no idea what was going on, but I soon got a handle on the story (not that it really mattered, but more on that later) and continued on.

You begin the game as Roxas (who turns out to be Sora's Nobody) in Twilight Town... blah, blah, blah. It would be pointless to try to explain the story outside of: Sora has a Keyblade, Sora uses the Keyblade to seal worlds away from the Heartless, the worlds are Disney movies, Sora wants to find his friends Riku and Kairi. That's all you really need to know, because the main story really goes out the window everytime you go to a different world and you wind up just playing through plotlines of Disney movies with Goofy and Donald at your side (as a melee and mage character respectively).

It's pretty fun to play through the plots of certain movies that have good action -like Mulan or Lion King, but the Beauty and the Beast and Nightmare Before Christmas levels in particular got pretty tedious for me. Speaking of the action, it's basically a game of repeatedly pressing X and letting Sora do the combos for you and Donald or your other partner (based on the world) heal you when you get low. The combat got a bit boring, but was never really that hard until the last few bosses, where a couple of them were controller breakingly frustrating - nearly as bad as The Force Unleashed (click to read my thoughts on that).

But really, the whole reason to play the game is the interaction with all the familiar Disney characters (or Final Fantasy characters, if that's your thing). In this respect, I'll admit Kingdom Hearts does pretty well. It reeks of nostalgia everytime you enter into a familiar world and get to see and chat with all the characters within. Although, like I mentioned a little above, the Disney levels are pretty much coincidental to the plot as a whole and I really wish they could have worked it in a bit better. The only level that felt like it belonged within the story was the Disney Castle, and that's only because it was pretty much created to fit within the lore.

It was a fun game as a whole, definitely worth the current budget price, but my interest in the upcoming Kingdom Hearts titles really depends on how they work in the combat and story, seeing as those were the two things that felt a little lacking to me.

World News Wednesday: Blog Action Day 2008

Today is Blog Action Day, so I decided that I would join in this year. The discussion for the year is poverty.

First of all, as I've made no secret of my faith, I recognize that one of the foremost teachings of Christ is to take care of the poor and downtrodden. I know that even in my small town there are plenty of opportunities for me to participate and help with those who are struggling, but it so often gets pushed to the side due to my own busy-ness (read: selfishness). So often I forget that even if I think others aren't "deserving" of my time or energy, my calling is grace and love which makes everyone deserving of all that I can give.

Anyway, poverty is a really tough subject to discuss, particularly on the global scale. Finding an answer to relieve such a large problem gets so near to impossible that it becomes so easy to just ignore and forget it. The solution lies in doing everything we can on a local scale and moving that into larger and larger circles. When was the last time you donated food to a local shelter or volunteered at a soup kitchen or something similar? I know for me it's been way too long.

Bookish Tuesday: Bone

I think American Gospel is just going to have to wait a little bit before it gets its due (and even then it might be in a Religion Friday rather than Bookish Tuesday), I'm just having a hard time pushing through it, and rather than force it and not enjoy, I decided to give it time. So instead we'll do one more comic, and I promise to do a novel-type book next week so this isn't overrun by comics... although that wouldn't exactly be a bad thing, now would it?

Jeff Smith's Bone is a wonderful work. For those who might not believe me, just click on that link and scroll down to the awards section of the Wiki. Bone is the story of Fone Bone and his two cousins Smiley and Phoney, who have been run out of their hometown, find themselves in a weird forest, and wind up getting caught in a war between the residents and the invading rat creatures and the Lord of the Locusts. It's a really well put together fantasy yarn that moves really seamlessly between issues and storylines. There really isn't any filler and that helps keep the pace up as different pieces are added in and you learn more and more of the story.

Like Doug TenNapel, Jeff Smith does all of his own art along with the words of the story, which (like TenNapel) makes each panel fit in perfectly between the words and pictures. The writing is sharp and often very humorous, giving me one of my favorite phrases of all time - "stupid, stupid rat creatures." Bone vies for the #1 favorite graphic novel spot against Watchmen constantly, and I can never decide which one I really like more.

Movie/TV Monday: Spaced

So as I mentioned in a previous post, I absolutely love Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead, and when I heard that Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Edgar Wright had made a TV show back in 1999 I knew I had to watch it. After watching through all 14 episodes online, I found one of the best shows ever.

Spaced is the story of two typical twenty-somethings -Tim and Daisy (played by Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson - now Hynes) who meet in a coffee shop and decide to move in together because the only good flat available is for professional couples only. Typical to a sitcom, each week's plot revolves around a silly idea or plan that has unexpected consequences, but what really puts Spaced up in the top of TV shows are the characters. Tim and Daisy along with their friends Brian, Twist, Marsha, and Mike are all hilariously written and yet I know someone exactly like each of them.

Just like their later movies, Spaced is filled with pop culture references (you can even watch each episode with little pop ups to tell you about them) that fit in wonderfully with my generation of viewers. The absolute best example of this is the beginning of Series 2, where Tim winds up getting fired because of his absolute hatred for Jar Jar Binks and the debacle of Episode 1. It culminates with him taking his treasures and burning them in a pyre a la Luke burning Darth Vader at the end of Return of the Jedi. It's silly but quite wonderfully so.

The real gauge to see if you will like this show is to ask yourself: do I like The Office? If the answer is yes, ask yourself: do I like the British version of The Office? If that answer is yes, then watch that instead. Really I don't know of a show that I can compare it to, so let's just say that if you did enjoy Hot Fuzz or Shaun, Spaced is definitely worth checking out - it was a wonderful surprise for me.

Religion Friday: Miracles

So it seems another virgin birth has taken place (well actually more than one), but this time it has been taking place in sharks and not engaged teenage girls.

What is it in us that automatically discounts miracles? I mean, I have no trouble thinking that Jesus, the prophets, or the apostles did miracles, but what about in this day and time? Well, part of it is because of jackasses like Todd Bentley or Benny Hinn who seem to trample on our idea of miracles with their shows. I think the other part is that science kind of removes some of the wonder from nature and such, although I don't think it's a bad thing that we are learning about the world around us, but there are always going to be things that can't be explained scientifically.

Faith in itself is something that can't be explained scientifically, or even really logically. Although authors spend years composing books that have "irrefutable" logic to point to Christianity as the only way to live, it is actually something that always requires that one leap... faith. Honestly, I like it that way. Faith is what brings us to strive to understand our God and religion better all the time, rather than basing all on a logical answer. Logic, like science, isn't bad at all either, but I just don't think that it can be used to prove faith because faith is believing in what you cannot know for certain.

If we go back to the original subject of miracles, I think the main thing is how to define the word. A lot of what we think of as miracles come from the flashy things in the bible like the healings or the summoning of bears to rip apart annoying kids (my personal favorite), but Jesus never really seemed to make them a focus of his ministry. Most of the time it seems as though he wanted the crowds to focus on his words - sure, the healings were a wonderful (and often necessary piece of it) but in all the passages where it talks of him healing in towns, it is also sure to mention that he spent time at the temple preaching as well. So, how do we find miracles now? What qualifies? I don't have an answer, and that's frustrating to me. I spent this time writing this post trying to figure out how to find the answer to my question of miracles in today, but I never found my answer. Instead of worrying about it though, I think I'll focus on the learning aspect of faith, like I think Jesus was trying to get the people to do.

Gaming Thursday: Peggle

Peggle is awesome.

Peggle is also cheap (free if you only play the demo over and over like me).

Peggle can be played daily and not get boring.

Peggle makes you feel good with Ode to Joy everytime you finish a level.

Go play Peggle.

World News Wednesday: Free Kids!

Today's story is an interesting one. Well, my picks are always interesting but today is definitely something different.

There really is no question to be answered with this story, but I find it interesting that the man felt that there is no other recourse but to give away his children. As noted at the end of the story, there are a number of faith-based and community support groups that could have helped the family adjust to their incredibly difficult situation. Maybe what needs to be done is an increase in knowledge and availability of these groups in order that people who go through these sort of situations with children of all ages (even those who aren't born yet), don't feel such desperation that they wind up going to such extremes.

Yes, there may be situations where a child might need to spend some time in another household (preferably with the birth parents around) in order that they can be raised in a healthy situation, but these can be controlled with the support from the community and faith based organizations. Am I wrong? Should parents be able to make this choice of whether a child is too much?

Bookish Tuesday: Doug TenNapel

My first taste of Doug TenNapel's work came in the graphic novel Creature Tech. Well, that's not exactly true, I had seen TenNapel's work years earlier when I played the Earthworm Jim games on SNES, but Creature Tech was my first knowing sample. TenNapel's mind is a wonderful thing. Each of his ideas whether graphic novels, games, or tv shows is pretty wonderfully crazy. There are parts of each of his graphic novels where I have to stop, shake my head, and just chuckle at the things I've just read.

This is not a bad thing at all. Quite the contrary, I love TenNapel's ability to combine the weirdest things (robots, the old west, and sasquatch for one example) and yet they all flow together in this goofy, completely acceptable way. Iron West (which I reread last night) is probably my favorite of TenNapel's graphic novels that I have read so far. Not that the plot is really anything different or unpredictable, but because of the way it comes together. Plus, TenNapel does his own art for his books and (obviously) this suits his writing style extremely well.

If I have to push one complaint through about the graphic novels of TenNapel, it has to go to a bit of Creature Tech. Although it's still my second favorite book of his, the Christian overtones are a bit thick and overbearing at times, which hampers the story a bit. Part of this goes back to that Religion Friday post about the Christian subculture, but to a much lesser degree. In Creature Tech, the story is perfectly fine and the moral lessons are easy enough to obtain, but when the Christianity aspect is placed within, it sort of falls flat.

From what I understand, Nickelodeon plays a show called Catscratch, which was created by TenNapel and is at least partially connected to one of his earlier graphic novels, Gear - which is (albeit difficult to understand) really good in its own right. Also, a non-TV show internet phenomenon known as SockBaby is another of his works, and definitely needs to be watched for you to have a better life.

I really love reading TenNapel's works, but the problem is finding them all. I've had to wind up buying it all from amazon because my local libraries hardly carry graphic novels, much less independent ones like this. So, if you ever see a TenNapel work in the wild, I would suggest you at least give it a glance, if not taking it home with you and sharing with your family and friends.

Movie Monday: Death Note

So Death Note is in fact a movie, but I haven't actually seen the film adaptation (although it is next on Netflix). Instead, I've watched all 37 episodes of the animated series and still think it is one of my all-time favorite series (live action or otherwise).

The plot is about Yagami Light, the top high school student in Japan, who finds a book called a "Death Note." The Note gives the holder the power to kill whoever they want, as long as they know the person's name and face. Light decides that he wants to use the book's power to recreate the world and rid it of all evil people, sacrificing his soul for the greater good. Of course things aren't as easy as he thinks and is soon pursued by the elusive L and Interpol, who are trying to discover who is killing off all of the criminals in the world. You get your choice of who you think is right and who to root for in the series, but it's pretty obvious that Light isn't exactly mentally balanced and I was a firm supporter of L within the first few episodes.

The really cool thing about the series is how it is able to reinvent itself every few episodes. As soon as you start to think that you know where things are beginning to go, the story changes completely (with some really great twists). Also, it provides some interesting discussion points about the greater good and the idea of the death penalty. Plus, you can watch every single episode for free on hulu.com and that's wonderful.

So, I'll try to watch a movie this week, but it seems as though we might have to morph Movie Mondays into Movie/TV Mondays here soon.