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.

Religion Friday

So, I was reading about this today, and I was reminded of the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. I understand that the Tower of Babel was torn down and the people scattered not because of their ingenuity but because of their pride. Either way, the story brings up a thought of mine that I've shared with others before and think it's about time to get it down on paper.... well, digital paper (also known as my blog).

See, we tend to think that the builders of the Tower in Genesis (at least as far as I understand) thought that God resided somewhere in the heavens, or the sky. This is compounded in the New Testament when Jesus ascends to the sky after the resurrection. Now, it's all conjecture but seeing as we've flown through our atmosphere and arrived into space, unless the Heaven that we all imagine is on a separate planet that consists of a lot of spirits, I think that Heaven (or the Afterlife - whatever you want to call it) is something that is pan-dimensional. Since I majored in religion and not physics or any other sciences, I'll just have to say right now that I have nothing to really back this up with, it's all just thoughts.

Think of the TV show Sliders, where people travel in between dimensions to a number of Earths that at times are the same (save for a few differences) and at times are almost otherworldly. Now imagine that the only way to travel to one of these worlds (we'll call it Heaven) is to die and have your spirit (or soul, if you will) be transported there. With current technology, even if we could perceive the dimension where this Heaven exists, would we be able to still see the beings that reside there? All I know is that I think that if you have to perceive of Heaven as a physical place, pan-dimensional is definitely the way to go.

What do you think? Is that too abstract? Is there a better explanation for the existence of the realm of Heaven? Let me know in the comments or by email.

Gaming Thursday

As I mentioned last week, I finished up Shadow of the Colossus, and while I still go with my initial impressions that it is a wonderful example of gaming as an art form with its use of storytelling, the gameplay can be incredibly frustrating at times.

The story goes that you play as Wander, who is bringing a young dead girl to a large shrine in order to summon the power to return her to life. As you get to the shrine, you are commanded by an unknown voice to slay these large beasts (the Colossi) in order to obtain the power to resurrect the girl. That is pretty much all the story you get. As you kill each Colossus, the voice will provide you with the location of the next, but you never learn Wander's backstory or the how the girl died, it's all left to your imagination/interpretation. Your interpretation also fits in to the end of the game (which is also not explained), where you have to decide for yourself whether things happened for good or evil. I'd prefer to not spoil the end because it is definitely really cool, but I also can't spoil it because I still am not sure if I understand what exactly happened.

As I mentioned, while the story is fascinating, the gameplay can be quite a pain. Each Colossi that you come to is a level where you have to determine what needs to be done to bring down the beast and then find the weak points to finish them off. For most of the Colossi it's a bit of a chore to figure it out, but never really too difficult. However, there are a few that are infuriating. Certain Colossi will charge you and knock you down and by the time you get up they have charged again, giving you no true opportunity to dodge or save yourself, making you die over and over again until you can finally figure out the one little thing to do to get out of the way. It wasn't reason enough for me to quit playing, but I did have to take a break after encountering one particularly frustrating Colossus (#13 I think).

It's a wonderfully simplistic (not in a bad way, but just that it focuses on one thing and does it well) game that sucks you in as you ride with Wander through the barren lands searching for the next Colossus to kill. I don't know if it deserves the acclaim as some people hail it to be one of the greatest games ever, but I will admit that it was very good and I'm glad I invested the time into it.

World News Wednesday

We're actually back to News this week, so here's the story.

Last year, my wife and I watched a documentary called Who Killed the Electric Car, and it's exactly how it sounds. The movie discussed the first surge of electric cars that came on the market some years back and how they soon disappeared but no one really knows why. That's all in the past though, and its time to look forward. With the gas prices where they are and the focus on going green, it was only a matter of time before car companies moved along with the times.

What I like specifically about this article is not just the Chevy Volt (that got announced a while ago), but that they bring it specifically into the NASCAR arena and try to find out whether it will ever be accepted. To be honest, I don't really care about NASCAR or car racing in general, but I know that if the country and world begin to move toward advances in transportation technology, it will obviously have quite an effect on this sport and how it is carried out.

So, would it be bad if the sport had to sacrifice some of the things that people love (the sound, perhaps the speed) in order to make it more environmentally friendly? Not exactly, but it will take more than just one electric car for them to justify changing the entire sport to a new technology. Maybe once all cars have moved from gasoline dependent to electric (or some other new technology not now known) will they move towards changing the sport (or just making a new one with the new vehicles).

Any NASCAR fans out there who can weigh in?