Bookish Tuesday

First of all, I have to note that yesterday's post was my 150th!!! Woohoo! It only took me 4 years to get that far, and about half of those posts made within the past 3 months. Anyway, on to today. I'm still working my way through American Gospel (these nonfiction books can't hold my attention for too long, it requires too much thinking), so that's still on the backburner but I can say that I'm really liking it so far.

Instead, let's discuss a book that is fiction, but acts like it's not... a little book called The Silmarillion. Anyone who powered through this book (and there are definitely points that require you to work to get through) knows how much of a life's work Middle Earth was for Tolkien. The man didn't just write stories about the hobbits, instead it's almost like he was picking his favorite stories from history and turning them into a narrative. While The Lord of the Rings is a single focus of the story of Frodo and his quest to destroy the One Ring, The Silmarillion gives you the entire story of Middle Earth, from its creation all the way through the Age of Men (after Aragorn's crowning).

The book also really gives a glimpse into Tolkien's faith and how it influenced his writings, which is a really cool thing. Also, for those of you who haven't already read The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings (first of all, shame on you), but if you read The Silmarillion first (while not quite recommended) it will give you a great appreciation for the scope of the series and everything that went into the shaping of the world.

Movie Monday

As promised on Friday I went and saw Fireproof this weekend, and it was actually pretty good.... for a Christian movie. It really was better than I expected but to be honest, I think the script definitely needed a few more passes to make things tighter and some dialogue not as.... dumb. Also, I really think that (although it's really cool that they had people from the sponsoring church in part) the acting really could have been stepped up a notch or two... or three or four.

The plot wasn't anything phenomenal, but it was interesting enough to follow. It was pretty much like a romantic comedy, only without a lot of the comedy. I admit that there were a few scenes that were genuinely funny, but there were also quite a few jokes that fell pretty flat to me. I know that the point of the movie was evangelism, but there were some points in the movie that would have been really great sermon illustrations, but just didn't seem to fit in with the pace of the movie.

In a discussion with someone who I saw the movie with, the problem with using the movie medium for evangelism is a problem mainly because movies are so expensive. Getting a good screenwriter and actors to fill out the film would have made it such a money sink that it just wouldn't have been good stewardship to make the movie (although it could be argued that making the movie in itself isn't the best use - but I won't go there). So, for what the filmmakers had, I think they did a good job in putting together a coherent (albeit predictable) movie.

So, what about the qualifier, you may be asking. Well sadly, I think it still applies here. I think that a much better movie could have been made by a professional movie company that would have evangelized in a subtler way in order to make the film a bit more mass-marketable. I don't think it was a bad decision for them to make the movie in the way that they did, but I am afraid that it will be relegated to receiving most of its ticket sales and video sales from churches and those who have already heard the message that is trying to be preached.

Religion Friday

After two weeks of the same conversation, I decided it was probably time for a new topic on Religion Friday... however, I haven't really been able to think of one. There was the little debacle this week about how Lifeway Christian Bookstores pulled a magazine from their shelves because it featured a cover story about women pastors, but I kind of figured we were a little past that here on this blog and can all agree that its pretty ridiculous for various reasons. Even if you agree with the store (and their sponsoring denomination's) stance, you can still agree that pulling a magazine with a contrary story from your shelves is a dumb idea.

Instead of trying to make something else up on the spot right now, I'll tell you that this weekend I'm going with a friend to go see the Christian flick Fireproof. The very fact that I have to qualify it as a Christian movie is a sad thing. I understand that it is a way for Christians to set themselves apart from the world as a whole, but why do all (at least that I've seen) things that claim to be exclusively Christian come out as subpar. That's why a bunch of bands have dropped the "Christian" label, it holds them back from reaching a wider audience, and it also holds them back artistically in some ways by forcing them to ensure that all of their lyrics are something that Christianity as a whole can embrace, but yet ignores the very people that you want to reach out towards.

Maybe tomorrow will prove me wrong. I mean, Fireproof stars Kirk Cameron... wait, bad example. Well, I just hope that even if this movie doesn't break from the mold of Christian entertainment that it is at least a step forward. I guess they just need to learn that your movie/book/music doesn't have to have the sinner's prayer somewhere within for it to reach people and get them interested in faith.

Gaming Thursday

So, here is a game I've wanted to talk about for a few weeks now, but have been sidetracked by other things. Castle Crashers is a $15 downloadable game for the Xbox Live Arcade that feels like an old school beat-em-up like Final Fight or (better) King of Dragons.

The graphics in CC are super pretty and colorful, which goes perfectly to counter the brutal violence of lighting people on fire and chopping their heads off. However, none of it is really all that gory or gruesome, since the tone of the game is so cartoony and silly nothing really gets all that out of hand violence-wise.

There really isn't much of a plot to follow, just that the four princesses got captured and you need to rescue them along with a magic crystal. Basically, the game is pure referential humor to the games of the wonderful 16-bit era and all of the cliches of the action/fantasy genre. Mix in with this some great scatological humor and its a really fun experience, particularly playing with someone else.

On that subject, there is one massive problem with the game. The online function is effectively broken at the moment. I've tried to do about 15 matches with friends or otherwise, and each time we have been unceremoniously dumped from each other within 5 minutes of playing. It's highly irritating, but the guys behind the game swear they are working hard on a patch to get it all working again soon.

Anyway, it was completely worth the money I dropped on it, especially since I've already played it through twice, and am working on playing through insane mode with Matt now. In other news, I finished Shadow of the Colossus this week and started Kingdom Hearts 2, so those should be showing up here soon (Colossus in much more detail). Also, while we are on gaming news, check out another blog that I've been working on with a friend Kent all about gaming. Kent even talked about Castle Crashers on Monday (at a much greater length than I). Anyway, keep an eye on that blog for some really awesome stuff coming from us - we've got some really cool ideas ahead.

World News Wednesday

3 years after their return to Earth, the members of the U.S.S. Gloria are finally beginning to talk about their trip to Saturn and the moon Titan. The first two pieces of their mission can be heard here and here. Now, the final part of the mission can be found here.

Yeah, I know this isn't really world news, but after 5 years, my copy of the new Brave Saint Saturn album arrived today (complete with a handwritten note from Reese Roper saying "sorry that this took so long"). The albums tell the story of the U.S.S. Gloria, its mission to Saturn, and the troubles that are encountered both on the way there and back. Reese is one of my all-time favorite songwriters, and all three BS2 albums are extremely good, but the second (The Light of Things Hoped For) is the one that truly stands out to me, if you only have to get one Brave Saint song, I recommend Daylight from that album.

I've only listened to Anti-Meridian once all the way through and I'll admit that it isn't everything I hoped it would be, but it is still very good. The problem is likely that I've built up in my mind for 5 years about how awesome it could be that there was no way it could reach my imagination.

So, why am I wasting a World News Wednesday writing about music? Well, because I don't have a music day and I really didn't feel like writing about Lindsey Lohan's girlfriend or Clay Aiken coming out of the closet (both of which were top news items today). That, and I'm not really all that qualified to talk about the declining market/government bailouts, so for that I encourage you to go to somewhere like npr.org, which I listen to for my information.

Bookish Tuesday

Since I haven't finised American Gospel yet, this week I've decided to talk about Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughn (who has also written some episodes of LOST). Luckily, since I haven't finished reading the entire series (I've only been through about volume 5), I can't really spoil much for you.

The plot is that Yorick and his little monkey buddy Ampersand are the only males left in the entire world. The comic starts off with men all over the world dropping dead from some unknown agent. The series then begins to go through Yorick's travels across the U.S. as he heads west in order to find transportation to his girlfriend/fiancee in Australia. Of course, none of this is simple - particularly because Yorick isn't very good at hiding his identity from the women he runs into and that (obviously) causes problems. Little twists and hints of what happened to kill off all the men are throughout the story, but nothing has been given an answer in what I've read so far. The story is complete and all the issues have been collected into trades, so the answer is out there, I'm just not there yet.

It's a simple premise for the plot, but the writing is really engaging, and the last time I was able to read some issues, I could barely stop myself. It's definitely a recommended read if you ever get the chance (or if you are just bored at a bookstore that happens to have it).

Movie Monday

And yet another week has gone by without me watching a new movie, so again I resort to talking about another old one. I'm actually watching Hot Fuzz as I type this (again), but that has been discussed already so I won't waste your time there.

Anyway, instead of movies, I finished up the first season of The Wire, and it really is as good as everyone claims. The show does such a good job developing each character so that even the people you only see for a minute or two an episode have some meaning behind their actions. That, plus the fact that the show doesn't waste time giving you subplots that only last for an episode just to suck away an episode. Instead each move is a necessary piece of the greater plot for the season.

The show also has one of my all time favorite scenes. Basically, the entire scene is Jimmy McNulty and Bunk Moreland are looking back at an unsolved case and tracing a bullet's trajectory within a small kitchen in an apartment. The dialogue in this scene is a variation on one four letter word and it is truly pure brilliance. The great writing isn't just contained to this scene either, each episode is crafted perfectly to follow a piece of the puzzle that (even though you hope it comes out the way you want) comes together so right at the end of the season.

Having just started Season 2 tonight, I really don't know where the show is going (it ran for 5 seasons), but I do know that I'm completely hooked.

Religion Friday

And now, a special post from Amber Baldridge, a good friend of mine and fellow LC Religion Major graduate.

Hello all! After reading Nate & Katie's incredibly true post last Friday I started thinking about our Religion Major family, and mostly about how we're all spiritually stunted in some way now. The LC religion majors really are all connected in one very important way: we broke. Our professors like to say that they "break us down, but then help build us back up". I suppose it's like a spiritual, peace-loving, justice seeking version of boot camp. One of our professors uses a great analogy to describe what this process will be like. He says that we all come in carrying a suitcase and that suitcase is full of our beliefs, but in the process of being a Religion major we will begin to unpack that suitcase. We keep some things that we came in with, others we get rid of, and sometimes we bring in completely new things to put in our suitcase. It's a perfect analogy, except I think he forgets to tell us that by the end of it we'll have way too much packed in there to close the suitcase and so we'll just drag it around with all our stuff hanging out in the open, getting dragged through the dirt, and falling out of the sides.

I'm sure the experience is a little different for everyone else, but I can try to explain what I've managed to figure out about myself since graduating in 2007 (don't get your hopes up -it's not much.) I know what everyone else thinks, I just don't necessarily know what I think. More importantly, I can't figure out what God thinks. You see, when you study your faith in an academic setting you have to explore every side of every idea. I can distinctly remember being shocked in my first ethics class (Ethics of Sexuality, Marriage, and Gender) in the fall semester of my sophomore year when I learned for the first time that there were Christians who believed that homosexuality and pre-marital sex were okay. You could have knocked me over with a feather after reading articles like that. We also read articles by theologians who were opposed to those lifestyles, and pretty much every opinion in between. As students we had to look at all the options, but that isn't always good for a stable faith life.

I envy people who are so convinced that they know what heaven is like, because I have no idea. I can use terms like penal substitutionary atonement and eschatological properly in sentences. In fact, I can tell you the 3 major theological opinions on both of them, but I can't tell you my own. In one sense, "I don't know" has become an acceptable and comforting answer for me. I don't know what heaven will be like and I won't know until I get there, so why bother trying? I do know that Jesus said we were supposed to be the kingdom of heaven here on earth, and he gave some pretty specific examples on how to do that, so I try to follow those but after that I'm just flying by the seat of my pants. I understand how the response "I don't know" could get frustrating to those who love us. However, just like Nate, I hate to be wrong. So if I can actually admit that I don't know something to someone else it means I care about and trust them a whole lot.

The other problem with being a Religion major is that we know too much. We can argue every side. Sometimes even if I agree with someone, I'll argue for the spiritual enlightenment or just for mental stimulation (I have a suspicion that Nate does the same thing). I'm a spiritual elitist and a skeptic. Mainstream Christianity disappoints me most of the time because I find it to be shallow and consumer driven. I hate that there are churches who pledge allegiance to the flag in their services and I hate that most Christians think they have to be Republicans in order to honor God, and don't even get me started on Christian t-shirts. I was never like this before college, and it drives me crazy to be so critical.

I blame all of this on being a religion major, but I also thank God every day that I was a religion major. It opened my eyes to things I would have never heard or seen or learned about God otherwise. While I might not be certain of all of the details, I'm so sure of the basics that I know I'll be okay. I know that God is love, peace, justice and righteousness. I know that God is not a Democrat or a Republican or an American or a man. I know that Jesus comes to visit us in the form of "the least of these" and that if I am kind and loving to them then I have worshipped God. You see, it doesn't matter what I believe about the end-times because that doesn't change these other things about God. And what I believe doesn't actually change what God will do. These are the priceless things I learned from being a religion major. Despite all of my personal confusion, God is not confused and never will be. Now if I could just stop arguing with everyone...

Gaming Thursday

Rock Band 2 came out this past Sunday. Do I really need to say that much more?

Honestly, there really isn't more to say that I didn't say last time I talked about Rock Band, outside of the fact that I know have another 80+ songs to play and my band can play online with friends when no one else at home wants to play with me. It's quite wonderful. Basically, the only thing that will make you decide whether or not you want to play Rock Band 2 is the track listing. Sure, no one is going to love every song on the disc, but since most downloadable tracks are 2 bucks a pop, $60 for a disc with 80 songs (plus another 20 that will be downloadable for free in a couple weeks) it's definitely a great deal.

Outside of Rock Band 2, the Motorcycle free download update for Burnout: Paradise came out today which means more fun for an already awesome game. I've also been playing a ton of Castle Crashers, but that will be next week's game.

Okay, I've wasted enough time writing. I'm going back to some more rockin'.

World News Wednesday

Here we go.

So, seriously I was about to write a bunch of stuff about the huge probability that there is something out there other than us in this massive universe, but then I read this. To a lot of you, this means a whole lot of nothing, but to others it is yet another huge crash into our favorite website.

You see, 1up.com puts out the best podcasts. Not just because they are gaming related, but because the people who do them are intelligent and funny. Out of all of their podcasts, one stood head and shoulders above the rest - GFW Radio, or The Brodeo. Hosted by Jeff Green, who had been with Ziff Davis (the company over 1up) for 17 years, it featured Shawn Elliott, Sean Molloy, Ryan Scott, Bobito, and many more. Even though I don't really care about Computer Gaming, this podcast always had some smart discussions about ethics in gaming journalism, games as art, etc. But last month, Sean Molloy left to go to Blizzard and a little over a week ago, Jeff Green announced that he was leaving to go to EA to work on The Sims franchise.... and now this from Shawn.

It's kind of like when your favorite tv show ends or gets cancelled, you don't really know what will ever fill that space in your little entertainment world. Except in this case, I really looked up to these guys. Working at 1up is a dream of mine, and it is really sad to see all of these heroes of mine leaving to better things. It's not that it is a bad thing for them to go, but I will miss reading their articles and learning from them.

It's a sad day for me...

EDIT 2: He's for real going to 2k Boston (the guys behind Bioshock) - cool

Bookish Tuesday

I just finished Choke by Chuck Palahniuk (literally, about 2 minutes ago). I'm still processing the book, but I will do what I can to explain my thoughts. First of all, it's definitely an adult novel since it is about a man who is a recovering sexual addict and there are quite a few explicit descriptions of his encounters.

Outside of that disclaimer, I think I really liked the book. The way that Palahniuk writes the book with each chapter taking place out of chronological order and no real plot is set out from the beginning was confusing at first, but by the end I was definitely into it. The book is also quite humorous from start to finish, and that makes it all the more enjoyable to read. As a kind of a plot summary for those who might be interested, Victor Mancini is a sex addict who makes money to take care of his mother by working at a colonial village as a historical reenactor and choking at various restaurants each night (people will send you money because they will then feel responsible for you after saving your life he finds out). Plus, there's also the point in the story when Victor begins to think that he is a Christ figure and vehemently denies it to the point that he begins to live by the motto "what would Jesus not do," and that (obviously) leads to some amoral behavior, with some pretty funny results.

Basically (without giving too much away), the book is about discovering yourself and how to create your future without being confined by the past. It's definitely done in a way that is unexpected and pretty vulgar, but I found the book to be an enjoyable read. I don't exctly know how to explain much more of it because it is really jumbled (which I like), but I will say that it was definitely something I'm glad I picked up. For that reason, I will be ordering more books by Palahniuk in the future (I really want to read Fight Club for that matter).

But first, as per a recommendation by faithful reader Tim, I will be starting American Gospel next, and although I'm not sure if I'll be done by next week, it is definitely something that you can look forward to hearing about.

Movie Monday

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but I used to be a huge fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Now that it has been over with for quite some time, it seems a little odd for me to be bringing this up now.

Really though, I was just using it to move into Rifftrax. Rifftrax was created by Michael J. Nelson (you may know as the 2nd host of MST3k, or the writer of Death Rats!: A Novel) and often features Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett (Crow and Tom Servo) as fellow commentators. Rifftrax works just like watching a commentary track to a movie, but instead of insight into the filmmaking process, you get a bunch a few guys making fun of it (sadly though, no silhouettes).

So far, I have watched Harry Potter (the first 'un), Raiders, Phantom Menace, and this week I watched Attack of the Clones. Like with MST3K, the jokes can be hit and miss at times, but since they are just recording on an audio track and there aren't the same licensing issues the movies are more familiar, making it more enjoyable than a lot of the MST3K movies I've watched. The only problem I have with Rifftrax lies in geting the movies. I'd really like to watch their take on The Matrix, but I don't really want to buy it or take up a spot on my Netflix queue (I know, I'm whiny), so I'm stuck with just picking movies I already own. Not that it's a bad thing, but it does hinder me from watching more.

I know that this post sounded like a big ad for Rifftrax, but I'd really like the guys to keep making them, so I gotta get the word out when I can.

P.S. You may have noticed, but I've been trying to do better with putting up links to the things I talk about for your convenience.

Religion Friday

A little housekeeping first, for those of you who would like to read with me, my copy of Choke came in today, and I shall be starting it tonight. I don't know if I'll be able to have it finished to discuss on Tuesday, but just a little heads up for those who might like to read along.

Anyway, for today's blog Katie and I will have a little discussion for you. Katie will go first:

Sometimes I think that Nate being a religion major in college might have ruined the spiritual side of our relationship. Whenever I try to engage Nate in a discussion about our faith and beliefs, I get the same response: Nate simply shrugs his shoulders and says with exasperation, "I don't know." I honestly can't remember an attempt to discuss something spiritual with Nate in the last 3 years that has not ended in me crying or yelling. For me, it is incredibly frustrating to have an entire area of my life that I can share with Nate but cannot discuss with him. Even more frustrating when I think about the fact that his faith was in fact the very thing that initially attracted me to him. It is in these moments of extreme frustration that I wonder if discussing your faith in such intellectual terms day after day might burn you out.

Surely when you discuss something over and over again- questioning, defending, rethinking- there must be a point when you begin to feel like you're beating a dead horse. Is this what LaGrange College did to my husband? I know that the college's religion department had a HUGE role in Nate's religious development- I know they did for me and I wasn't even a religion major, but there's a part of me that wonders if they take it too far. Are we meant to dissect our faith bit by bit? Surely we are meant to question, to search. That's usually what prompts me to ask my husband's opinion.

I'm not looking for a concrete answer from him, just discussion, sharing, but it seems that Nate has already thought about ALL of the things I bring up (thanks to LC) and his conclusion to it all is that he simply doesn't know. I guess this is a safe answer. It often seems like a cop-out, a way to get out of having to think or share. Is Nate just lazy? Does he just love to see his wife frustrated? Those are both distinct possibilities, certainly ones that I am not above accusing him of, but I really think there MUST be a deeper reason. Hopefully through this blog we can get to the root of this issue.

Nate says:

I honestly don't think that the school is what the root of the problem is, although I do think that it is likely part of the problem. Though not necessarily a bad thing, my religion courses taught me to discuss religion not only on emotional or spiritual levels but also on (that I think can be lacking in some churches) that intellectual level. I'm not saying by any means that I'm intelligent or even smart about religion, but I do like to hear things spoken with research and bits of history behind it.

However, it has also (as Katie pointed out) made me hesitant to discuss faith on a daily basis. I honestly don't know the answer why (although I will admit, I like to frustrate the crap out of her sometimes, just not in this situation). I think part of it just comes from the situations, I know that we talked about faith at my home when I was growing up, but never on the level that Katie wants to talk about and part of that scares me. As I said in my first Religion Friday post a while back, I hate being wrong and whenever I talk about faith, particularly my own I get the feeling that anything I say could mess something up.

I don't know why I think this, and I don't know why I clam up when discussing religion, I just do. I know it's a cop out answer, but I'm working on it. I promise that the next time Katie brings up something about religion, I will do my absolute best to say something besides "I don't know," even if it is just "I'm not sure."

Gaming Thursday

I almost went back on my word and didn't do Bioshock this week and went with Castle Crashers (which is consuming most of my game time this week), but something within me (or maybe Kent) just told me to do Bioshock and get it done with. That last sentence makes it sound like going over Bioshock is a bad thing but I can assure you, it's not. Bioshock was one of the first games I played when I bought my 360 last year, and still holds up as one of my favorite first-person shooters.

Like all other FPS games, you walk around a set environment and blow the crap out of whatever comes racing towards you. So, what makes Bioshock any different? For starters, the atmosphere is perfect. The game sets you in a city under the sea named Rapture, that was built by an entrepreneur named Andrew Ryan, who wanted a place where the government wouldn't interfere with art or science or money. However, now that the people of Rapture have had the ability to alter their genes to become more "perfect," things have begun to turn a bit sour. The creepiness of the game sets in as soon as you enter Rapture and the entire game just doesn't let go of your nerves. Since the game is set in the 1960, the entire soundtrack is music from the 50's, but music doesn't just play from your tv's speakers, instead you only really hear it when you walk past jukeboxes or speakers in the city. When you mix the happy, sweet music with the incredibly disturbing atmosphere, it really makes for a cool experience.

As you progress through the game, you have the opportunity to alter your own genes to become more powerful and use abilities like shooting lightning or fire from your fingers. However, in order to gain these powers, you have to either harvest or rescue Little Sisters. The Little Sisters are creatures that have been changed by ADAM (the gene-altering element) and are each protected by a Big Daddy. Big Daddies are my favorite part of the game, they are basically huge, lumbering creatures with a drill for an arm and they won't attack you until you start to mess with them. The problem is that there is no other way to harvest ADAM outside of killing the Big Daddy to get to the Little Sister he is protecting. After you kill the BD, you get the option of rescuing the LS (for less ADAM) or harvesting her to make yourself more powerful. It's a small choice, but your decision is what picks the ending of the game.

The story twists and turns as you wander your way through Rapture until you have your confrontation with Andrew Ryan, which still stands as one of the biggest story twists in a game I've ever played. I can't think of another time during a game when I've put down my controller and said "Holy S***, I can't believe that just happened." I don't want to spoil it for you here, but I'm sure if you are dying to see it, you can search youtube for it, although I don't recommend that because it really is something you've got to build to.

There is tons more to say about the game, about how much fun it is to upgrade your shotgun and invent new bullets, about the hacking minigame, etc. Instead, I'll just say that it's a game to experience (whether you play or watch someone else play - it's fantastic).

World News Wednesday

Turns out we aren't dead.

I was kind of hoping for a black hole to appear though. Not so much in an "Oh my God, the world is ending" sort of way, but more in a "dang, that would be cool to see a black hole." The scientists said that even if one had formed, it wouldn't have been anywhere near big enough to do anything to the collider, let alone destroy the world.... oh well.

So, what are the ramifications of this? Does it disprove the existence of God? I have no idea for the answer to the first question, but the second I think the answer is... No.

Anticlimactic I know, but I honestly don't think a machine that is capable of recreating the Big Bang is a full answer. Namely because these two ideas (God and the Big Bang) aren't mutually exclusive (I think that's what it's called). God could easily have been a part/the reason behind the creation of the universe that was created by a collision of particles. Who's to say that God wasn't? Maybe the writer of Genesis didn't understand what God was telling him when God explained it, so God was like, "hey, let's just say something about a 6-day workathon where I made everything. That's believable, yeah?"

There we have it, the world didn't end and God still exists. But if the signs (and Judgment Journey) are right... the world shall end soon - in fire and gays (no offense, it is just how they portrayed the end of the world).

Bookish Tuesday

So, this isn't so much a what have I been reading as much as a "what I would like to read." Tim mentioned on Friday's post a book called American Gospel, so I'm going to pick that up alongside Choke (people keep telling me to read Chuck Palahniuk, so I guess I will). Anyway, if you are so inclined, you are more than welcome to read along with me. I will let you know when my copies have arrived and I actually start reading so that it makes it a bit easier to do together.

In the present, I finished The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and am now almost finished with the sequel - The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Both of these books are stellar (get it?) and I cannot recommend them enough, but I think I've talked about them plenty as is. All I know is that I wish I could be a hoopy frood like Ford Prefect and I always know where my towel is.

Movie Monday

As I've complained about before, there aren't any movies in the theaters to go see right now. It's kind of sad. I know that the idea of the summer movie blockbuster is great, because you capture all the people on vacation and the kids out of school with nothing to do, but can't we spread the love out? Enough with the whining, let's talk about my favorite movie of last year.

In 2004, a little zombie movie came out that soon became one of my favorite movies of all time. I had to drive 2 hours to see it since it was in limited release, but holy crap was it worth it. Shaun of the Dead still stands as a fantastic movie, and when I heard that Hot Fuzz was coming out, I couldn't wait. When the movie released in March of 2007, I looked everywhere (online) for a theater near me that was showing it. Turns out the closest one was an hour away, so I turned it into a whole date night with my wife. It also turned out to be an arguably better movie than Shaun.

For those of you who have not yet seen this movie, I highly suggest you watch it. However, you really can't watch it only once. The movie requires multiple viewings. Sure, the first time is really funny (although it might seem tedious because of the build-up), but every subsequent viewing gets better. It's a movie with so many foreshadowings and in-jokes that you start laughing at the set up for a joke that comes over an hour later in the movie, just because you know what is coming.

The plot? Well, an amazing cop gets moved to a small town and starts unraveling a murder "conspiracy." Yeah, it doesn't sound like much, but the writing in this movie is what sells it. The throwaway quips are my favorite, and when you get to the final 45 minutes of the film, its utter perfection.

I even own 2 copies of the movie (because I bought the regular edition and later got the 3-disc special edition), so I will actually let you borrow it. Hot Fuzz is definitely a must-watch, and if you want to watch it, just let me know.

Religion Friday

After last week's magnum opus, I've had a hard time thinking of something to write about this week, so (sadly like the rest of this week) I'll keep it pretty short.

This election season, something my pastor has been talking about is something that has been staying at the front of my mind (it's also pretty well detailed in a song by Derek Webb). Anyway, this idea is that our politicians, no matter who we like and vote for, are imperfect humans and will never be able to give us this city on a hill society where everything is perfect. Basically, all of our hope that we place in these people to uphold their ideas and change the country (or even the world) aren't really full promises.

The main thing that Christians need to remember is that our savior has already come and brought a revolution. All we need to do is remember his teachings and examples and not put too much of our focus on what is going on in D.C.

I'm not saying that this is an excuse to not vote or not be involved in politics, because that is still important and can help in your quest to follow Christ (no matter how you see that working best). However, we just need to focus on helping the "least of these brothers of mine" in whatever ways we can.

Gaming Thursday

So, I know I'm about 3 years late, but I started playing through Shadows of the Colossus this week when I borrowed my brother's PS2 and (so far) it hasn't disappointed. In the ongoing argument of games being art, I must say that Shadows does a great job in giving an example for those arguing for games.

The game does an amazing job of marrying the gameplay with the story. Whenever I'm out climbing up a colossus, I actually feel like I'm doing something epic and think it completely matches with the emptiness of the area that surrounds the Colossi. I can't think of much more to say yet (because I'm only 4 Colossi into the game), but I just wanted to get a mention in before I move on and hopefully I'll be able to come back to it more fully on a later Gaming Thursday.

On the portable side, I beat Final Fantasy 6 for the Game Boy Advance finally. FF6 is one of my all-time favorite games, and being able to play through it wherever I go made it that much better. Aside from Earthbound, I have to say that FF6 is my favorite JRPG and if you are at all interested in a game to take up another 30 hours of your life, do yourself a favor and pick it up (or borrow it from me).

I know this post was a little disjointed, but my gaming this week has been disjointed as well. Next week, I'll return to focus and do Bioshock... and just Bioshock (I have to finish it again first, though).

World News Wednesday

Here is your wonderful news item for today.

So, I just spent some time checking out the site that the article is about, and I'll admit - it is a bit risque. The question remains... is it effective though? What, honestly, IS effective for sexual education? If you preach abstinence all the time, you risk the problems of teens/adults not knowing enough and should they actually have sex, they might not know how to do it safely or what signs to look for in the case of an STD. On the other hand, overpreparing them with so much information might make them feel as though they can have sex without repercussions because they think they know what they are doing.

All of this is purely hypothetical, I have no hard data to back up my thoughts, but what exactly should we teach kids in order to prepare them for the real world? I think that abstinence is probably a really good thing to teach teens (both in school and by parents), but it may not always work out in the real world of dating nowadays (to be honest, I wouldn't know, I didn't date until college). Therefore, I actually think a site like Take Care Down There could actually be a big plus if it's used correctly. So, since the interwebs is what kids are all about these days, the site (and similar ones) need to be set up virally and significantly so that people actually watch and pay attention to them. I actually don't know how that can be done since I rarely watch youtube videos all the way through, but there must be a marketing genius out there who can get it done.

Is this site a good strategy for sex education? Does it need to be revamped in schools? What else can be done? Let me know, because I realized how little I really know about sex ed nowadays.

Bookish Tuesday

I've been rereading a book that is an essential in every household - The Zombie Survival Guide. You may be giggling now, but when the massive swarms of undead ravage your town/city and are beginning to smash your door down, you'll wish you had this in your home.

The book breaks down preparation for every size outbreak (from a couple of zombies rising to living in an undead world) and gives you the tools and ideas needed to survive. For some reason, the book can be found in the comedy section of most bookstores, but I have no idea why. I see nothing funny in having your intestines eaten in front of you by your undead neighbors.

Anyway, this relates to movies (like I said yesterday) because I watched the original Dawn of the Dead this weekend. Now, while staying in a mall isn't a particularly good idea, the characters in Dawn were able to lock themselves off in an area accessible only through a ladder in the upstairs of the mall, which actually worked out pretty well. The only problem with their survival was that they became complacent, even when they knew that they were about to be under attack by marauders.

Had they read the guide, they would have had a backup plan, with food and weapons ready to go, and would have left the mall in their helicopter and let the raiders keep what was left, rather than allowing the battle to take place which risked their lives (well at least more than normal in a zombie outbreak). To pull all this in together, get this book, research and prepare, because you will never know when the dead will begin walking again.

Movie Monday

Today's post will be a little short, but that's because it is Labor Day and I'm just now getting home and wanted to get something down before starting in on ICO.

The movie today isn't so much the film itself (although it's a dang funny movie, I think), but the commentary. This weekend we watched Talladega Nights with the "25th Anniversary" commentary, and I seriously haven't laughed that hard in a long while. The whole track is basically one long improv joke machine. Will Ferrell, Adam (excuse me, his son Darrell) McKay, Captain Reilly, Jack McBrayer, and Michael Clarke Duncan all stop by and talk about the state of the world (in 2031, it's pretty much all covered in water just like in Waterworld) and the success of "the greatest film ever created." It's definitely one of the best commentary tracks I've ever listened to, and you don't even really have to be watching the movie to enjoy it.

Anyway, I said this would be brief, so stay tuned tomorrow for some more zombie action in Bookish Tuesday (which will also relate to a movie).