Videos

I know it has been forever, but that's not the point right now. Some friends and I compiled a few videos wherein we asked different people some questions about the Christian faith just to see what everyone would say. Here is what we got.









What other questions would you ask? How would you answer those questions?

Working on it

Sorry it has been so long. I've been annoyed by the structure I created for myself and although I'm planning on continuing to update often throughout the summer and such, I don't know whether mondays will remain exclusively for movies and so on.

Plus, it will give me the opportunity to not rush books and to do more than one movie a week (within the past 10 days, I've seen Star Trek - for the third time, Angels and Demons, Terminator: Salvation, and Up!)

Anyway, that's what's going on right now. As work wraps up here in two weeks, I'll get some more time to write. Sorry for being so sloppy lately with my timing, hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things soon.

Movie Monday: The Devil's Backbone

Sorry it's getting late, so I'll make this short.

Pan's Labyrinth encouraged me to go check out The Devil's Backbone.

Very good movie. Pretty creepy, but still really great.

Watch it.

Gaming Thursday: Civ Rev

I don't play many strategy games, so when Civilization Revolution was suggested to me, I was pretty hesitant getting started.

It's definitely a game with a learning curve. You can easily pick it up and play through an entire game just by making random decisions (that's what I did), but what makes it so good is the amount of decisions available to you.

I began playing with a focus on winning the game through domination (conquering the other civilizations), but on subsequent plays, I've enjoyed working on a peaceful solution. Both paths are difficult in their own way. Maintaining peace with other civilizations that would prefer to attack you becomes more and more difficult as the game goes on because peace doesn't come cheap from the warmongers.

What makes the game so addicting to me is that every time I've played it, there has been a totally different outcome, no matter how similarly I've been playing my civilization the others do their absolute best to make me think differently. Plus, there is something to be said about a game where I can be beaten soundly and yet still come back to play the next day.

I guess the best recommendation I have for playing Civ Rev comes in the fact that I bought the 360 version, and wound up buying the DS version less than a week later, just so that I could play it more.

Movie Monday (Tuesday): Star Trek

I'm not much of a Star Trek fan, I've seen some of the older movies here and there throughout my life, but I never really sought out the story and I much preferred the galaxy far far away in the past over these stories of the future.

However, when Simon Pegg was cast as Scotty and J.J. Abrams was set to direct the reboot of the franchise, I decided to set aside my differences and go for it.

Turns out this was a good choice because it seems that Abrams would rather Star Trek be Star Wars too, and made this new movie as such. For those who doubt, go see it and you'll know what I'm talking about as soon as Kirk gets booted to Hoth.

Outside of all my baggage, it turned out to be a really fun movie. There was plenty of good one-liners and some fun action, although I do think that they could have slowed the movie down at a couple of points to give it some real time to delve into the characters. Not that they didn't do well enough establishing everyone in their positions on the U.S.S. Enterprise, but the movie was spent going at breakneck speed from one point to the next so that even at a two hour running time, I felt like I could have used more from the characters.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie a lot and it even got me interested in watching the old series (and subsequent movies), but I don't really know how long this interest will last considering it also made me really want to watch the Star Wars trilogy.

Religion Friday: Cop Out

Here for your consideration, are the lyrics to quite possibly my favorite song of all time. Take a moment to listen, read along, and relax today:

When I was young, the smallest trick of light, 
Could catch my eye, 
Then life was new and every new day, 
I thought that I could fly. 
I believed in what I hoped for, 
And I hoped for things unseen, 
I had wings and dreams could soar, 
I just don't feel like flying anymore. 
When the stars threw down their spears, 
Watered Heaven with their tears, 
Before words were spoken, 
Before eternity. 

Dear Father, I need you, 
Your strength my heart to mend. 
I want to fly higher, 
Every new day again. 

When I was small, the furthest I could reach, 
Was not so high, 
Then I thought the world was so much smaller, 
Feeling that I could fly. 
Through distant deeps and skies, 
Behind infinity, 
Below the face of Heaven, 
He stoops to create me. 

Dear Father, I need you, 
Your strength my heart to mend. 
I want to fly higher, 
Every new day again. 

Man versus himself. 
Man versus machine. 
Man versus the world. 
Mankind versus me. 
The struggles go on, 
The wisdom I lack, 
The burdens keep pilling 
Up on my back. 
So hard to breathe, 
To take the next step. 
The mountain is high, 
I wait in the depths. 
Yearning for grace, 
And hoping for peace. 
Dear God... 
Increase. 
Healing hands of God have mercy on our unclean souls once again. 
Jesus Christ, light of the world burning bright within our hearts forever. 
Freedom means love without condition,
without a beginning or an end. 
Here's my heart, let it be forever Your's, 
Only You can make every new day seem so new.

Movie Monday: Wolverine

My expectations were low going in to Wolverine, sadly they weren't low enough. It's not that it disappointed in the action department. Wolverine was full of useless explosions and people standing in positions that would result in a quick death during any fight, but nonetheless look "cool" to the person behind the camera.

The problems came in that the movie felt almost completely unfinished. There were moments (bathroom scene, I'm looking at you) where the CG effects seemed either unfinished, or crafted by a team working on a movie made for the Sci-Fi channel. Alongside this, the script was ridiculous. Things that might seem okay in a speech bubble in a comic book do not work out well in a movie with live humans. I take that back, that previous sentence was an insult to comic book writers. The lines given to characters were plain bad... and trying to add in a love story that gave no meaning to the movie, aside from giving Hugh Jackman one more chance to look constipated and yell, was a terrible idea.

Also, the movie suffered from a lot of the problems of the third X-Men movie (aside from sucking). By trying to toss in as many mutants as possible to appease the fanbase, they wind up ruining all of the fans' beloved characters instead of just one or two. The biggest example of this was Gambit. People have been clamoring for him to appear in an X-Men movie ever since the first one came out almost 10 years ago. But, when you take someone who looks vaguely like the character but has no charisma or actual Cajun accent, Gambit falls apart.

I don't want to say that Wolverine was completely terrible. It was actually fun to watch, and was at least as "good" as Dragon Ball: Evolution. Pick it up on DVD.

Religion Friday: Making Choices

After being accepted this week, I have decided that I will be attending Columbia Theological Seminary this fall.

It's been a long road to come to this point. After originally being accepted at Candler, I thought my whole quest was pretty much at an end, but when I saw the price tag for the school, I realized that I was nowhere near done. Once I had completed a ton of scholarship applications, someone mentioned Columbia to me. I filled out their application without honestly expecting too much.

It was through this that God really showed me where I was supposed to be. I went to visit both schools last Friday, and pretty much the minute I stepped onto the Columbia campus, I knew where I was supposed to go.

It really shouldn't surprise me how twisted and difficult this trip has been. God has been pretty active in letting me know that changes come within my life pretty often. On the other hand, all of my worrying about what is the right decision is also made pretty clear when God wants me to know what to do.

I guess that is the biggest lesson learned throughout all of this. Even though I was constantly worried about what the next step would be, God was already 500 steps ahead and was leading me on the right direction. Now, if only I can remember this and stop trying to figure everything out before it's time.

Gaming Thursday: A Life Well Wasted

I love listening to podcasts, specifically those about games and gaming. Recently, Robert Ashley (a freelance game writer) began putting together what he calls an internet radio show about gaming entitled A Life Well Wasted.

I don't want to oversell it, but basically ALWW is a gaming-related version of This American Life (another fantastic radio show).

I would suggest that you take an hour and just curl up by the computer and take a listen to A Life Well Wasted.

I'd like to do that, but the stupid Swine Flu is causing mass hysteria in my town....

World News Wednesday: Graduation

With the end of school in sight, I thought this article was suitable for this week.

Since my high school graduation took place in a stadium in the rain and had to be cut short, I don't have the best experience with these things. What I do know is that having a public school graduation in a Christian church sanctuary is not exactly the best idea.

I don't know about the legality of this situation, but it seems to get in the way of that whole separation of church and state thing.

It's an interesting article to read through, but I don't think there is much else to say, aside from the fact that whoever came up with the idea to have this graduation in a church... isn't too smart.

Am I missing something? Should this be blown up bigger, or is it being blown out of proportion as is?

Bookish Tuesday: The Boys

Garth Ennis writes some of the crudest and brutally violent comics I've read.

His series Preacher is one of my all time favorite stories (not just in comics) and although it is probably not something I would ever let my mom read, it is both hilarious and amazingly well written.

So, when I got the chance to check out the first three volumes of The Boys, I was incredibly excited. Once I got started (after I had to remind myself that it wasn't Preacher), I found myself loving Ennis' complete destruction of superheroes. Where Watchmen is an intellectual deconstruction of the superhero genre, The Boys is (while very intelligent) more of a violent hate letter to superheros and superteams.

Basically, The Boys are a group that were brought in by the government to keep superheroes in check. To make sure that they don't get out of line in their "protection" and that the number of innocent lives lost doesn't get out of hand.

It's crude and violent, and I highly recommend it. Although I would first recommend that you check out Ennis' Preacher. It's amazing.

Movie Monday: Darkon

If I had the chance, I think I'd probably LARP.

LARPing, or Live Action Role Playing, is often seen as pretty dang high up on the ladder of geekdom. As such, it would be hard for me now (with all of the coolness points that I have amassed over time) to be able to truly enjoy LARPing without feeling self-conscious all the time.

Turn to the documentary Darkon. These people have no qualms with diving fully into their fantasy alter-egos. For this, I can honestly envy them. Every other part of the lifestyle going on at their weekends/adventures in Darkon, I'll gladly pass up for some regular tabletop D&D.

The movie follows the members of a LARPing community that is based around their world of Darkon, and the ongoing battles that are taking place both within the world, and some of the troubles that they face when they have to return to earth. To put it quickly, they go out to a forest over the weekends, camp out, fight with foam covered weapons for pieces of land that exist on their map, then go back home and return to work.

The escapism of their community is really nice. They get to abandon all thoughts of their regular life and immerse themselves completely into this imaginary world of elves and magic for a couple of days. I like the thought of it, but I think I would rather just go camping and beat up on someone with a stick without rules about how long I have to stay dead.

In honor of the movie and the members of the Darkon community, here is my imaginary world: Rethuaga.

Rethuaga is a primarily tropic world. The main race is a mix of tauntauns and ewoks, so they are both cute and easy to ride. Humans have been enslaved by the taunkwons and those that are free are being led by the charismatic Brakkatoa (me) who gets a critical hit with every swing of his flail.

Brakkatoa's encampment lies to the west of the great lake Huron (I'm running out of creativity) and they attack the taunkwons in the dead of night. They've slowly been growing in power as they reach and free more and more of the human slaves. Will they be able to finally free the humans from slavery? Only you can decide....

Gaming Thursday: Gears of War 2

Gears of War 2 is the perfect big, dumb action game. Dumb is not an insult in anyway, I'm just saying that it isn't trying to be a high concepty artsy game.

I played through the first Gears of War last year and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but after playing the sequel, I don't think I could ever go back to the first game. The controls, graphics, locations, and overall feel of the second game is just so much better that I just don't think it would be worth it to try to readjust to the (at times) clunkiness of the first game.

The best and worst part of Gears 2 is the story. It's the best because the dialogue and situations are all too often laugh out loud hilarous. This makes it the worst, because I don't think it is intentional. The first game had some silly dialogue, but it is taken to a new level here. For some reason, I'm supposed to care that Dom all of a sudden remembers a wife that had never been mentioned throughout the 15 hours of the first game... and not only that, it's supposed to provide some serious tension and "darkness" further into the game.

But because of the surrounding dialogue, I just couldn't take any of that seriously. Although, none of this detracted from the game. If you just take the plot at face value and laugh at nearly everything being said (whether you are supposed to or not), Gears 2 winds up being an amazing game to play through.

I wouldn't recommend playing single player, though. As with all games that give the option, co-op truly makes Gears 2 shine as a game.

World News Wednesday: Supreme Court

I heard this story on NPR this morning and then again this evening.

First of all, I find it interesting that this case has gotten all the way to the Supreme Court. I'm not saying it isn't a valid case, but that's pretty dang big.

Now, I can understand why the case would be filed from the race point of view. The test was biased (although I'm still not really clear on how exactly it is biased) quite obviously considering the results. However, when it comes to the guys who were denied a promotion for the time being, I don't quite understand why they filed the complaint.

Yes, I get that they were passed over for a promotion that they had qualified for, but if they are confident in their abilities, a little bit of patience while the test was redone could have saved a lot of trouble. Perhaps they felt that they were not being recognized for their skill and I understand that, but I don't know if it justifies a court case.

Am I not being sensitive enough to their cause? Should they receive a temporary promotion just until it can be verified by the new test? If you were on the Supreme Court, which way would you vote?

Bookish Tuesday: The Gunslinger Born

I don't think I've talked about it before, so I'm going to say it right here and now: if you haven't read the Dark Tower series by Stephen King, stop what you are doing right now and get to work. Spanning seven main books (and dipping in to many more of King's books), the Dark Tower series is an amazing set of books that rivals the Lord of the Rings in its epic scale and story.

Quick summary: Roland (the Gunslinger) is traveling to the Dark Tower... adventures and new characters ensue.

Having said all that, I recieved the companion comic series The Gunslinger Born for my birthday this year, and I was more than ready to hop back into Roland's world. The comic was pretty much a graphic representation of the fourth book in the series (Wizard and Glass), which was my least favorite the first time I read the series but definitely gained some favor my next time through.

While it is obviously a truncated version of the original book, I never felt like I was missing out on anything (don't know whether that says something about the author of the comic or the verbosity of King).

The art is really what puts this up as a must-read for those who have interest in the series now (which should be everyone by now). Well, the art plus a couple of scenes that weren't in the book help give it a little more context to the overall story and make it a bit more enjoyable for those who know what is about to happen.

Movie Monday: Doomsday

I put Doomsday into my DVD player yesterday not really expecting much more than a bloody action movie. I got that, but it also turned out to be something completely different alongside.

It's kind of hard to explain because the movie winds up going all over the place. You start off with a zombie movie, which morphs into a sci-fi thriller, then to Mad Max, a medieval vibe, and then back to the sci-fi thriller with Mad Max all together.

Strangely enough, I think it worked really well. Don't ask me to explain the plot though, since I kind of gave up on that about halfway through. The action sequences and the whole feeling of the movie really worked for me. It was gruesomely violent at times, and at other times just laughably so.

I think the best way to describe how random this movie was is in the character of Sol. He's my favorite part of the entire film, and he's basically the leader of this group of vicious cannibals. He's completely insane and every time he does something, it's with this maniacal glee that makes you both creeped out by him and yet totally in love with his character. However, the randomness really comes from the fact that just about everytime you see Sol, he's got a gimp chained up with him. There's no explanation for him - he's just there for set dressing... it's random and hilarious.

I know deep down that Doomsday wasn't really a good movie, but I have to say that I enjoyed it extremely. Maybe it was me watching on a sleepy Sunday afternoon or because I just like a bit of the old ultra-violence. Either way, if you want something big, blowy-uppy, and pretty dumb, Doomsday is worth the 2 hours. Otherwise, you can be a pansy and watch some Rom-Com with Matthew McConaughey.

Religion Friday

Today is about rest. After having our first two foster kids come and visit starting two weeks ago today and ending on Sunday, tonight is my first actually really free night with no obligations.

As you may have noticed by my non-posts yesterday and the day before, I'm still trying to catch up with everything going on.

So be like me, and go ahead and take a break. You deserve it.

Bookish Tuesday: A Prayer for the Dying

When I first picked up A Prayer for the Dying from the library, I didn't think I would like it much. Not because of the content or anything, but because it was only 180 pages. As I started, I worried that there wouldn't be enough time for characters to develop and the plot to complete itself.

I was wrong, of course. The book was incredibly moving. There were parts that were so difficult to read because I thought I might just start crying. The only thing more difficult than that was getting used to the story being written in 2nd person. I haven't read a book like that since the Choose Your Own Adventure series when I was a kid.

A Prayer for the Dying is a story of a post Civil War town, where the main protagonist is the pastor, sheriff, and coroner. The story revolves around an outbreak of diptheria that begins to ravage the town, and the man has to deal with all of his roles in the town and how it begins to affect him mentally and physically.

While parts of the book seemed to move a bit slower than others (the end just blew past), I love how well it was paced to fit the 180 pages. That plus the questions brought up about faith and morality made it a book that I'm now adding to my "whenever someone asks for a recommendation" list.

Movie Monday: Dragon Ball Evolution

To put it simply, Dragon Ball Evolution was stupid. Very, very stupid. Not only that, but it's pretty dang bad.

However, it was also incredibly awesome. I watched the Dragon Ball Z anime series on Cartoon Network's Toonami block all through high school (I saw the Saiyan saga and the Namek saga too many times to count) and so I was pretty ready for a movie that wouldn't exactly be high art.

Maybe it was the fact that I had watched Spy Kids 3D: Game Over twice before I even stepped into the theater (my God, what a bad movie), but when Dragon Ball Evolution started up, I was glad. All I had to do was turn my brain completely off and let the nonsensical plot wash over me.

The best I can say is that I had a great time at the movie and it would make a perfect MST3k film. For that reason, I suggest you go see it... at least on DVD, that way we can get a sequel starring Brad Pitt as Vegeta and Michael Clarke Duncan as Nappa.

Religion Friday: Good Friday

Coinciding with Good Friday was another extremely difficult question that came from Rachel's nice list a couple weeks back... "Why did Jesus have to die? Why was that the only way for him to save us?"

Now, I know that Good Friday is a day for reflection on Lent and the beginning of the awesomeness of Easter, but this is a difficult question. My reflex answer is just to say, "he didn't HAVE to die," but that's only because I think that God can work out a bajillion different ways to do what God wants.

Because of that reflexive answer, it leads into the actual question of why did Jesus die on the cross in that way as a sacrifice, and why was that way chosen as God's choice. My answer always comes back to what Jesus said in John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" (NIV).

We all remember the earlier quote from Jesus back in John 3:16, about God loving the world so much that God's son was sent into the world to save it. I think that in the writing of the book of John, the author new that these two quotes would have to be connected by the readers as a way to see into the master plan.

Jesus wanted to make sure that everyone who witnessed his death (both in text and by sight) would be able to make the connection that the reason for his death was, in fact, love.

Another reason for the death was a way to show the power of God. Because death is consistently thought of as that undefeatable power that is equated to this thing called sin - the wages of sin is death (a heavier topic for another day).

By dying, and then bringing forth the miracle of the resurrection 3 days later, Jesus was essentially proving the power of God. He showed that even the things we fear most (sickness, death, loneliness) were easily conquered by an ever-present God.

Do you agree? How far off do you think I am? What do you think about the reason for Jesus' death?

Gaming Thursday: Gears of War 2

I'm currently working my way through Gears of War 2, so I don't have a full post just yet. All I have to say so far is that the dialogue.... best game writing ever.

World News Wednesday: Sexting

I think I might have written about this before, but I'm probably just confusing conversations with this blog. Anyway, here's the article.

A lot of this has to do with the increase of not only the sexual activity in our young kids, but the added accessibility of technology. That much is obvious. The problem lies in punishment and restriction.

First of all, steps need to be made to improve sex ed in schools (both private and public) throughout. This would help for a number of reasons. For one, increased knowledge of a subject would hopefully help the dialogue between parents and their children about the good and bad of sex and guide them to better decisions - particularly not taking pictures of yourself to send to your boy/girlfriend.

Alongside this is the technological aspect. Informing kids that what they send to their friends isn't necessarily a private piece of data. It only takes one other person browsing through a phone to happen upon this little illicit exchange for it to get out of hand. Now, I don't know about restricting your children from using their phones if only because that might lead to rebellion, but there definitely need to be parameters set up. Yeah I know I'm stating the obvious for parents out there, but I'm just trying to be somewhat helpful.

Anyway, the article comes down to the main question of punishment. Should a juvenile receive a super harsh punishment for this? Should that 18 year old be on a sex offender list? Am I being naive?

Bookish Tuesday: Case Histories

I wrote last week about the difficulty of getting into books that seem to have a slow start and with Case Histories, there were a couple of points where I was close to giving up. However, everytime I saw the blurb on the front cover from Stephen King talking about how it was his favorite book of that year and one of the best mystery novels of that decade, it made me keep going.

Now, I can't say that it was my favorite book of that year (2004, I think), but I can say that it is one of the best mystery novels I've ever read (because I think I can count the mystery novels I've read on one hand).

Anyway the book is based around a Private Detective named Jackson Brodie and the number of cases that are being brought to him in this small amount of time. At first, it was confusing trying to keep the storylines together, but as everything started to pick up at the halfway point of the book, I found myself really enjoying it.

The only problem I had while reading was with one of the cases. It was brought up at the beginning and then was brought in kind of off to the side later on in the story and I just felt that I never really understood it enough to justify it as a main thrust of the story, like I felt that it was meant to be.

Aside from that, Brodie as a hero is great. I heard that there are more books in this series now starring him, but as much as I like him, I just think that the end of this book was a perfect closure for him and I don't think I could start the next book for a good while, because I don't want to disturb him.

Altogether, I think it's a book that I can recommend for those who don't even care about the mystery just because it is well written and kept me plenty interested so that I wanted to know how everything came together.

Movie Monday: Ang Lee's Hulk

I've been trying to watch this movie for a good long while now, but only just got a chance last weekend when Katie and I were able to escape to the family cabin.

I can't remember if I already talked about it, but I really liked last summer's Hulk movie starring Edward Norton as Bruce/Hulk. So, going back in time to watch the Ang Lee/Eric Bana version I thought that it would have to be pretty horrible considering they rebooted the franchise after this one chance.

I was wrong. I don't know if I liked this version better than the new one, but it was definitely on par with it. I really enjoyed that Ang Lee was able to spend a lot of time not just focusing on Hulk smashing, but instead giving Bruce a reason for being and doing. I'll admit that it was a pretty cheezy and comic-booky backstory, but hey... it was a comic book movie. This allowed the movie to go more in depth into the character of the story, but it also kind of made the action suffer. The other thing that I really liked was the way that it really looked like a comic book. Lee would position scenes so that it looked like different panels onscreen, and the different focuses and colors really made me feel like I was watching a comic book.

The only thing that I really disliked about this movie was the battle at the end. I can buy that Hulk's dad has gotten powers too - even that his powers of absorption are kind of cool, but becoming a water-man and trying to drown Hulk? Come on. That was the good thing about the new version. Since they didn't really waste time trying to make it a thoughtful movie, the action scenes were huge and destructive (that and it had Tim Roth, who I've come to love thanks to Lie to Me).

Basically, I kind of like that there are now two versions of Hulk. This way if you want an action-packed flick, you can watch the new one and if you want a more comic-booky movie, you can go with the old version.

What about you? Have you seen them both? If so, which is better?

Religion Friday: What is Heaven Like?

Rachel posted a bunch of good topics to discuss here on Religion Friday. We'll start off today with the question: What is Heaven Like?

Well, I wrote a paper on this at some point, but the only thing I really remember writing was that the actual number of references to Heaven (as a thing that is life after death) within the Bible are pretty minimal. The quote that I based my paper on was from Luke 23:43 where Jesus is on the cross and says to one of the criminals being crucified near him that "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."

First, I have to say that aside from this scripture, I can't think of much else that relates to our current idea of Heaven as being this place that we go to after death. A lot of Jesus' talk about the coming kingdom of Heaven seem to be more about the bringing of the new law of grace that was given at Easter. Then again, I don't claim to be any sort of expert on this subject, so here are my thoughts:

Now, I think that we base a lot of our current thoughts of Heaven as a post-life place on this one passage (and if you can think of them and post them in the comments, it is more than welcome - although be sure to explain your reasoning). I'm sure there are more answers if you are willing to dig and look into metaphors and such, but I'm not.... that would warrant an entire research paper, what with looking stuff up and all that sort of effort.

Anyway, what I did in my paper, and what I'm about to do now is ponder what is exactly meant by that word "paradise" (or Heaven, for that matter). For myself, the word conjures up images of the pre-fall Garden of Eden, a place where we are able to see and hear God, whilst living in the beauty of God's creation.

I have placed my entire thought process on this word of paradise and the thought from Revelation of the creation of a new world (yeah they probably don't really relate at all, but it works for me).

So, how far off am I? What are your thoughts and theories on the idea of Heaven?

Gaming Thursday: Resident Evil 5

What could possibly make Resident Evil 4 (one of the highest rated games for the last generation) even more fun? How about if they threw in online co-op?

And that is how the genius that is Resident Evil 5 was born. I have to say that I haven't tried to play any of this game on my own with the AI to assist me, and I'm fine with that. So far, I've owned the game for just shy of two weeks and my brother and I are already about to finish our second play through (before we go ahead and start up our third time).

The ability to start the game over with all of your upgraded weapons and equip them with infinite ammo makes this game so much fun the second time through. The first time was awesome because of all of the unexpected scares and huge boss fights, and then the second time you get to breeze through all of those and just laugh at how hard it seemed. I love it.

The plot is just as indecipherable as any other Resident Evil and that's just fine. For me, while the plot is nice for keeping you moving from location to location, it is primarily skippable until you meet up with that one specific character. In Resident Evil 4 it was the midget royalty, Ramon Salazar... here it's the delightfully campy Ricardo Irving. Every time he comes on the screen, I just want to hear him talk. The delivery is perfect and he makes me giggle at everything he says.

Resident Evil 5 has been a blast. It is a good sign for a game when I'm sitting at work thinking about going home and playing again.

World News Wednesday: Maybe I should change the name

I only really chose World News Wednesday for that alliteration, but since I primarily stay within the realm of the United States, I'm thinking I might have to change. Especially after today, since I'm keeping it within my own state. Here you go.

I'll come out straight and say I'm completely against this measure. It's ridiculous for someone to have to take the written portion of the exam in English for the one reason that if someone already has to take the driving and sign parts of the test in English (and those are the things that you will be seeing on the road), why not allow them to take the main part in the language they understand best?

I know that when I took the written test the wording was confusing enough in English on some of the questions. So, why don't we want people getting licenses to drive? Do we like having unlicensed drivers out there? Does it add up to a significant amount of arrests (I know it does in my area)?

I just don't see the point. The other big thing against this is the incoming companies from out of the country that are coming to the state. In my area, we have a large Korean population as we are building a KIA manufacturing plant. I just don't like forcing newcomers through one more hoop just to feel welcome.

Opinions?

Bookish Tuesday: What Does it Take

What does it take for you to finish a book that you've started? The past two books that I have read have sucked me in easily enough and when that happens, it doesn't take much prodding to take the book to completion.

On the other hand, the book that I'm currently reading (Case Histories by Kate Atkinson) has turned out to be quite good here at the halfway point, but I really had to struggle at the beginning. It made sense once things got going, but the beginning of this book seemed to be just a series of stories told one after another.

The main reason that I kept going was because of the recommendations for it. I'm glad that I kept going, because it has been very rewarding so far. However, I'm not sure what the difference is between this book and others that I've started and never finished.

I've had similar situations with other books that have come on strong recommendations (I'm looking at you A Confederacy of Dunces) that I've enjoyed, but for some reason could never finish. Other books (Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell) sound like an awesome idea, but the writing style was just so boring that after 100 pages of slogging, I just quit.

At what point should I give up? I know that at some point I'll have to go back and finish Dunces, but that's because I liked it enough. Should I give a book all the way until the ending before I decide that it wasted a week of my life, or can I decide at the point that I can barely finish a page before falling asleep?

The sad thing is, I know how much better written the abovementioned books are than say... Twilight, but at least the Twilight series was able to suck me in (pun intended).

Movie Monday: My Name is Bruce

If you don't know Bruce Campbell, I'm sorry for you. If you do, then you (like all people) are in love with him.

It's okay to admit. No one will look down on you for loving BC. In fact, you will become highly regarded by everyone you know.

With this in mind, My Name is Bruce is a silly Bruce Campbell movie. It is directed by BC and it shows. From what I know, he's only directed one other feature (The Man with the Screaming Brain), but has also directed a number of Xena and Hercules episodes. The same sort of camp that follows Bruce everywhere is present in this movie, but because it is so self-aware (it's about a town calling Bruce for help... and not his character, but actually Bruce) I think it really sets itself apart.

Yeah the dialogue is cheezy and the plot is non-existent, but that's what I expected. All I wanted to see was Bruce Campbell making snide remarks and acting silly, and I got exactly what I wanted.

There is really no reason to rent/buy this unless you like Bruce Campbell and/or B-Movie awesomeness, but if you like either of those, it's pretty great.

On opposite ends of the spectrum, I watched Memento for the first time in about 5 years over the weekend. It's a phenomenal movie. So if you get anything out of this post, it should be to go watch Memento again... and then watch My Name is Bruce to wash it down.

Religion Friday:

You know, there are just some days where nothing really comes to you. I've spent all day today (and even yesterday, since I didn't have time to write, but had plenty of time to think) trying to figure out something new to talk about today.

Turns out, I drew a blank.





But that led me to something interesting... Why do I spend so much time trying to find something new to talk about, when all my old stuff still isn't figured out yet? Yeah, that doesn't help much since most of these weeks tend to be the same thing over, but maybe one day I'll have something concrete to discuss.

That's my main problem with (my) faith. I always have such a problem just finding something to talk about and without that basis, I get my discussions lost very easily.

So at some point here, I'm going to need to just make a list of topics and go through them one by one, even if I have no real answers. Any suggestions?

Bookish Tuesday: The Road

I've been surrounding myself with post-apocalyptic media quite a lot recently. Watching the Jeremiah TV show, playing through Fallout 3, reading The Hunger Games (which, by the way, I breezed through 300 pages to finish last Tuesday if that says how much I enjoyed it), playing Left 4 Dead... I could go on. Anyway, I added on to this by reading The Road this weekend.

I've not read anything else by Cormac McCarthy, but the first thing I had to learn while reading The Road was that the style takes a bit of time to get used to. There are no chapter structures and time jumps around in between paragraphs, plus there is no use of quotation marks so I had some trouble trying to find out who was talking. Both of the main characters are nameless (referred to only as the man and the boy) and while it could also be confusing, I thought that it helped to add to the brokenness of the world around them.

The man and the boy are a father and son who live in a world that is devoid of nearly all life. It is never explained what exactly happened, but the world is left covered in ash and the characters spend the book travelling south through the former USA. There is no clear goal in mind during their travels, and the entire book seems to be a story of futility.

The relationship between the man and the boy is incredibly well written with the love that the man has for the boy showing in nearly every action and decision that he makes and even though their conversations are minimal and rare, more can be gleaned from what is not said than from what they actually talk about.

I will say that after finishing the book, I felt a little frustrated with everything that happened (or didn't happen), but after having most of today to digest, I really like it. The little glimpses of human life that you see during the man and the boy's travels are enough to see what has become of the world and the discussions of hope are enough to keep me going even after the book ends.

The Road has been adapted to a film that will be released later this year starring Viggo Mortenson (Aragorn, if you will) as the man. While I normally whine and complain about adaptations, I really think that this book could be done well as a film. If they keep well to the restrictive use of dialogue and action of the book, I think it could be an amazing character piece. Although, we'll only know for sure when the movie comes out later this year.

Movie Monday: I Love You, Man

I like Paul Rudd and Jason Segel. Both are funny in their own separate movies (I liked Role Models and Forgetting Sarah Marshall), but I really think they are a lot better together.

The plot of the movie is predictable and therefore forgettable and even though I honestly can't remember a scene that really stood out, I know that I laughed enough to make it worth my while. I don't know if that can justify this as a good movie, but it would definitely be worth a rental.

On this subject, what makes a movie worth seeing in theaters? Most of the time comedies work just as well, if not better, at home where there aren't idiots talking, texting, and laughing at the wrong parts. But every once in a while, I like to see a funny movie on the big screen because it also seems to make it funnier. Having the screen take up your entire vision and the audio all around helps to get into the experience and tends to make me enjoy it more.

Other movies, like big dumb action movies, almost require a theater screening just so that you can let the explosions bust your ear drums. Comedies though... I'm just not sure. I'll continue to go see a good comedy in theaters a few times a year, but I don't know if I'll really go too much out of my way.

See I watched I Love You, Man in theaters on Friday and then Robocop at home on Saturday, and thinking about it made me really wish it could have been the opposite. Am I right? I can think of a bunch of good comedies that I saw in theater, but I can also think of the same number that could have waited. What say you?

Religion Friday: Talking about Me

A lot of the scholarship and school applications that I've been filling out lately require you to write an essay about yourself and your faith. Now considering how much I like to write about myself here on this blog, you might not believe it, but those essays are frustrating and hard.

For one thing, it is really hard to boil my life and faith down to a three to five page essay, even with just hitting the highlights. Also, it is hard to structure life itself into a cohesive paper format. As you may have noticed, my blogs tend to ramble and get off subject pretty easily - just like me.

When I try to write out all this stuff into an essay that I hope will bring me money to fund my schooling, I always feel that it falls apart.

So, what is the problem with trying to piece all of this together? Part of it lies in the idea that I want my life to sound exactly like they want for the scholarship, just so that I can win, but I think it is more than that.

I think what it comes down to is the inability to produce faith as a linear progression throughout life. Faith tends to move and jump, progress and regress, duck and weave, abbott and costello (okay, too far)... but I think you know where I'm going. Is it hard for you to put down your faith story into a cohesive narrative? Maybe it's just me.

Now as I go back to writing these papers, I'm wondering how I can justify my journey of faith as a nonlinear object and still make it understandable.

...I also think I'm being a bit obtuse, but that's just because I don't like to write essays.

World News Wednesday: Bats in Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaace!

After last week's pretty heavy topic, I thought it would be a bit nicer to go slightly easier today.

Poor, poor Mr. Batty.

That is all.

Bookish Tuesday: The Hunger Games

After weeks of gorging on David Sedaris books, Katie was able to stall me from rereading Watchmen for the umpteenth time by going on about The Hunger Games. After she finished it over the weekend, I picked it up and have been reading through at a fairly steady pace.

I tend to like Young Adult novels like this because they don't try to act smart, they just go with the story and try to make it fun and interesting... even if the plot might not make the most sense. The Artemis Fowl series and the Bartimaeus trilogy in particular are a couple of my favorites.

As for The Hunger Games, I like that there isn't much time wasted in setting up the story. Instead of a 60 page build up for the plot (like how Jurassic Park takes 100 pages to get to the island), this book starts off fast and has yet to really slow down. Since I'm not finished (or even to the halfway point), I can't say too much for how the plot resolves itself, but I do know that it is supposedly part of a trilogy (like all books now) and that I'm interested enough to keep up with the series.

The book takes place in a post-apocalyptic North America where the twelve different districts of the current government are forced to offer up a boy and a girl into a competition to the death, just as a way for the government to show who really has power. Like I mentioned before, I'm not far enough to say too much about the plot, although I do know that Katie spoiled parts of it for me while reading it, but that's okay.

Anyway, I know that it wasn't a planned reading for this year, but I'm glad that Katie recommended it, and I'm ready to get back to reading tonight... well that and playing Peggle on my 360.

Movie Monday: Run Fatboy Run

I love Simon Pegg. I'm sure that has been made evident by my drooling over Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead (multiple times), but outside of him being directed by Edgar Wright and slapped with Nick Frost at his side, I never knew how well he'd do.

Turns out quite well. Run Fat Boy Run was a pretty solid romantic comedy. There was enough funnies to keep me entertained and enough sappiness for someone who prefers that aspect. Part of this could have been that the script was written by both Pegg and Michael Ian Black (who I also find to be a funny guy), but I'm sure a large portion of my enjoyment came from my huge man-crush on Pegg.

Aside from this, I went in for my second Watchmen viewing last night and I have to say that it was even better the second round. I'm sure a lot of this came from me not wasting so much energy trying to analyze and see what was changed. I'm still one of the few people who prefers the squid ending from the book, but the movie ending works well within the confines of their plot. I also agree with the arguments that it is tons better that we got this faithful adaptation rather than some half-done piece of crap.

I'm really waiting to see the director's cut complete with Tales of the Black Freighter cut into it, so that it's a full 4 hours long (like the extended LOTR movies).

Anyway, Simon Pegg + Watchmen = good movie weekend.

Religion Friday

It's official. I found out last week that I was accepted into seminary at the Candler School of Theology. And that's also why I didn't post. The whole thing I had written was about waiting and being frustrated (which I still was, since it took an entire month before I heard from them), but it didn't really work, so I scrapped it. Now, I just have to scrape up enough money to be able to attend school.

Anyway, on Wednesday I had to do a little devotion at our church fellowship supper and I talked about how I feel like I've been stuck within my own Lent season of waiting ever since I graduated from college. It's like I have been wandering through the wilderness for four years with no clear direction and Easter way out of reach.

When I started applying for grad school last year, it was like something was beginning to change. Even though I still have no clear direction for where I want to end up, I finally think that I'm moving somewhere.

And with that, I think that it was fitting for me to receive this news during Lent, because while it can be a painful time of meandering as we wait for the glory of Easter, we have that glimpse of the joy to come that we can hope for. While the Easter may never really be understood, we know that it is what we have been waiting for. It becomes a time of celebration. Not only of the Resurrection of Christ, but also of our own rebirths. Those times where it seems that everything can start anew.

So even though I'm sure once classes start I'll go back to complaining about something, at this point I feel ready for something new. I'm definitely ready for Easter.

Gaming Thursday: Too Human

Now Silicon Knights previous title Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem is not only one of my favorite games of the last generation, but it's up there in the top games of all time. With that in mind, I was heartbroken when the reviews started coming out for Too Human last year ranging from mediocre to bad. I had played a bit of the demo and found it pretty good, but I was hoping that the full game would live up to something more.

After waiting for a few price drops, I picked it up for $20, and thank God that I didn't pay any more. I remember hearing someone talking about the game on a podcast and mentioning that the only good way to play it was online co-op, because it was like talking on the phone, except your fingers had something to do and you had something to look at. I've played about 15 minutes of the single player experience, and I know exactly what he was talking about, its frustrating and annoying as hell to play by yourself, but after playing through the entire game now with my brother.... at least then I had someone to share in my misery.

It's not that anything in the game is "bad," it's just that nothing really comes together well. You are supposed to be excited about all the awesome loot that drops from the bad guys and keep upgrading yourself to show all your sweet armor and weapons, but after entering into the menu for probably the 50th time, we decided to only upgrade our stuff about once an hour. Combine that with the fact that the game is so repetitive (I swear there were only about 4 different types of bad guys) and that the controls become so wonky when you are trying to fight a group of baddies that I probably could have played the game with my eyes closed most of the way through.

And then there is death. There are no consequences for dying... aside from having to watch the same 2 minute animation every single time. I'd rather take an experience or gold deduction than have to sit through that stupid thing again. The problem with this is that I died so much. I created a bio-engineer, which was supposed to be the healing class in the game, but he has only one heal that can only be done about once every five minutes. It wound up being completely pointless. Dan was a berserker, which supposedly was a damage/tank class, but since there is no way to control aggro, they would as often attack him as run past and come to me.

On the plus side, my laser cannon kicks all kinds of ass.

World News Wednesday: A Hard Story

N'Gai Croal (now formerly) of Newsweek's Level Up blog tweeted this article as an example of what will be missing as print journalism dies. Warning: the story is very emotional and may cause the reader to shed tears.

My only input into this article is why can't we have sensors installed into the back for car seats? I understand the liability argument in a sense, but does that not also apply to seat belts and airbags? If they find defects there, the product is recalled, why would this be different? Yes, it is a child's life at risk and that makes it infinitely harder to place your product into the hands of the masses if you think that something could go wrong, but I think the rewards would help outweigh these risks.

As for the story itself, I know how easy it can be to become distracted and forget something (I've left my lunch at home too many times to count) and on that it is hard to pass judgment on those who have made the mistake. The article does well at showing the struggle that the people have gone through after their situation, and while it might be biased towards them, I find it hard to find fault with the argument that their own pain is more punishment than someone could force them to go through in prison.

Am I wrong for siding with the article? Should these people face punishment from the law? Is there something I'm not taking into account here? What say you?

Bookish Tuesday: Watchmen

Widely recognized as the best comic/graphic novel, and even on the list for Time magazine's Top 100 novels, Watchmen made it into my life around my senior year of high school. Although I liked the story, I don't think I really understood what was going on until my second read a couple years later. Ever since then, I've read Watchmen a number of times, and each time brings something new.

So, what makes Watchmen different from other comics? Part of it is the heroes and their flaws. Only one of these heroes is actually superpowered, but even he suffers from his disconnection to the human race and emotions. Alongside him, Rorschach (the main protagonist) is a sociopath, Nite Owl is a fat retiree lost in his past, Silk Spectre is trying to escape her past, the Comedian is dead, and Ozymandias thinks he can bring world peace.

When you add the characters into the wonderfully twisted plot, it turns into an incredibly layered, multi-point of view experience. It is a story that can't really be told in any other medium. With the running side plots that don't seem to fit until everything is drawn together, it's hard enough to get all of it into this twelve issue arc (side note: I don't fault the movie for not having everything within, they did a great job with everything that they were able to fit into the movie and it would have been a jumbled mess if they had tried to get everything in).

The book also brings to light questions about our ideas of justice, truth, sanity, war and hope. Simply put, I think Watchmen should be a choice in the required reading for college freshmen English. It would provide plenty of discussion topics for an entire semester of classes, and could even be tied in to different situations occurring throughout the world.

Read Watchmen. Please. See the movie too, if you need something to push you towards it, but really... read Watchmen.

Movie Monday: Watchmen

Straight off the bat, sorry for not posting on Friday, I had a nice depressing post about disappointment, when I realized it just wasn't in any way true or on point, so I scrapped it. On the other hand, I got accepted into the MDiv Program at the Candler School of Theology, so yay. Now, on to the good stuff...



I'm going to try to focus on the movie today, since tomorrow will be about the original comic. As it stands after my first viewing, Watchmen is a good movie. Not a great movie but not a bad one either. It's definitely a bit too long, and could have served from another rewrite in certain areas, but overall it does well.

While I think that the length could have been easily fixed by them making it into a nice 12 part HBO miniseries, what the movie had going for it was that it did well in keeping tight to the story. However, this was also part of the bad side too. By sticking so hard to the story, it was able to appeal to the fanboy in me, but it also felt to drag down in unnecessary parts. By trying so hard to stay true to the source material, it kept making me think why certain parts were in and others were out.

That being said, my main fear in the making of this movie was realized, and that is what really disappointed me. The violence exists in the comic, yes, but it is in very short and controlled bursts, that allow it to reach its full effect. In the movie, fight scenes are extended out to be sure to show shattering bones and tons of bloody hits. Yeah, that makes for a good action movie, but that's not what Watchmen is to me.

Alongside this was the (in my opinion) gratuitous sex scene. Yes, they have sex in the comic, but five minutes of thrusting and moaning didn't quite serve to move the plot along very well, when that piece of the plot didn't even seem to be much in focus during the rest of the film.

However, my main fanboy rant has to come with the change in the ending. It's not a bad change, in fact it works within the confines of the movie and maybe it is just because I've read the book so many times that it has become ingrained into my skull, but I really like Moore's ending and it makes perfect sense to me. I know that a big reason for at least part of the change is the "post 9/11 world" that we live in, but I don't see how this change was any different in relation to this, so why not keep it the same, or at least similar?

Those are just the downers though, the rest of the movie holds up really well. I like the choices for Nite Owl II and Rorschach, although I didn't much care for Silk Spectre II, that could just be me. And for all of this nagging, I still would like to see it again to pick it apart one more time, and I will agree with a lot of people that the opening credits sequence was quite possibly the coolest part of the entire film.

However, you can save yourself a lot of trouble with all this, if you just drop $15 and pick up the collection. Now that it's out on film, I'm sure you can find it just about anywhere. It is a fantastic read, but we'll get into that tomorrow.

Gaming Thursday... Kind of

Sorry I haven't updated all week in the normal fashion. I've been sick and while that never really kept me away from the keyboard, it has kept my head pretty muddled and so I haven't been able to compose anything worth reading (not like I ever do anyway).

Anyway, Movie Monday was going to be about Spider-Man 3, which I watched for the first time since theaters while at home sick. Maybe it was the wracking coughs or the fact that I was playing WoW at the same time I watched and therefore only gave it about 30% of my brainpower, but it really wasn't as bad as I remember thinking. Sure, it has some silly parts and a lot of the dialogue is really bad, but put altogether, I don't think it's a bad movie. Maybe I'll give it one more shot with my full attention and a non-fried brain, and we'll see how it holds up. That is, if I can find another 3 hours to sit down and rewatch it.

Bookish Tuesday was going to be about how I ordered tickets to see David Sedaris live this April and wondering exactly what to expect out of that. I love his essays and I've listened to both audiobooks and live performances and have enjoyed them a ton, but I've never been to a "concert" where you go to listen to someone read or tell stories, so I'm definitely hoping it will meet my extremely high expectations.

World News Wednesday would have been about nothing, because I haven't looked at the news all week with everything going on at work and home, so instead of trying to write something intelligent, I would have probably goofed off and written something stupid. Instead of wasting your brain reading it now, I'll give you the opportunity to make up something amazingly stupid that you imagine me to have written. That way we all win (don't question how, just accept it).

Finally, today's Gaming Thursday is about Street Fighter 4. Basically, if you grew up playing Street Fighter 2, it's an amazing game. If you never played SF2, or really couldn't care about fighting games, it's still fun, just not as awesome without all of the nostalgia attached (kind of like the Smash Bros. series). I'm sure once I get some serious time into it, I'll have better and more detailed impressions for you, but for now all I can say is that I love E. Honda (hoot toy!)

There you have it, four posts in one!!! I'll be back tomorrow for real with some religious stuff (well quasi-religious anyway), and next week I'm sure I'll be caught up in all the Watchmen discussions on Monday and Tuesday, so there you have it.

Religion Friday: Lent

Lent has begun. Normally this doesn't really mean all that much, but this year I decided that I would try to go deep and try to give up a bit and take in a bit more.

Normally my Lenten requirements are quite easy like giving up soda (which I hardly drink anyway), but I thought about it a lot this year and realized that sacrifice should require some sort of pain (kind of like Jeremy Bentham learned this week on LOST). Either way, the point of Lent shouldn't be about my pain and suffering, but more about drawing closer to God.

Yeah, I know everything I've said so far is obvious. It's just that sometimes I forget that even the hardest parts of my life are so much easier than I deserve and by complaining and never recognizing how well I have it, I'm giving in to my selfishness way too much. So for this Easter season, I'm going to try to change my focus away from myself (as hard as that is) and try to become someone better... which is the entire point of Easter.

Gaming Thursday: Sonic (For Reals)

I mentioned in passing last week that I had purchased the Ultimate Sonic Collection for my 360, and now that I've had some time to get into it, I think that it (along with Street Fighter 4 and Castle Crashers) were the best reasons for getting this:
I never meant to purchase an arcade stick and actually thought that it was a pretty big waste, but the second that I plugged in Sonic and started racing through Green Hill Zone... it was bliss. I've never been a fan of the d-pad on the 360 controller, and having this stick for old school gaming is wonderful (it's even better for fighting games, but I'll talk about that next week).

Aside from having the controller, the best part of getting the Sonic Collection is the amount of games. I've primarily just played the three Sonic games thus far, but once I get the chance to delve into the Phantasy Star series later this year, I think I'll definitely have my moneys worth.

The only downside was that someone (who shall remain nameless) kept saying how awesome it would be to play Ecco the Dolphin again. I don't need to tell you how wrong he was, I just need to say that I wish I had 20 minutes of my life back.

World News Wednesday: A Discussion

I normally try to fly my World News Wednesday posts past one person or another, and this week, I decided to show you a conversation between myself and Rachel for this weeks post. Feel free to join in the discussion in the comments section. Oh, and the opinions expressed in that conversation do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this blog or its authors (that's a joke).

me: gun control yes or no?:

Rachel: ok, this is why i don't talk about my thoughts on it a lot, b/c i hate the thought of hurting someone who's been through something like this

but since it's us...

it's not like it was an accident... that boy grabbed his gun and shot her... that's messed up, but i don't think gun laws would have prevented it... know what i mean?

me: in a sense yes, but if they had an age restriction, or laws about keeping guns locked away, maybe it would have been helped

Rachel: or if his parents weren't morons and kept the gun locked in a gun case...

me: thats my big thing

its the parents responsiblity

Rachel: yeah, i mean you know what pisses me off the most?

any freaking person can have a baby, but you need a license just to drive a car

BUT... i would never want the gov to regulate that mess... it's crazy

and that's how i feel about gun laws... i hate it, but the gov can't fix people who are already broken :(

me: /agree

me: i know that the gov cant really fix people, but guns in particular are such a big danger, that regulation of them should be tightly watched

Rachel: i disagree, b/c people are going to get guns if they want them

the tighter the gov control, the larger the black market and the more crime that arises from it... see "drugs"

but, stories like this one actually put holes in my argument though... this kid wasn't some criminal on the street... so it's definitely different

me: the black market argument is a good one, although im not talking about outlawing guns as a whole (like drugs are), but instead just making it more difficult for people (particularly the young) to get access

yes, there will always be a way to get something if you really want it, but those people are (theoretically) so messed up anyway, that they will do what they were going to do no matter what the laws

so, this is not a punishment type law, but more of a prevention/safety based law

imo

Rachel: yeah, that's a good point too

but is it the gov's job to protect us? i think about that a lot

me: in a sense, yes... isnt that what its there for?

i.e. military, police

Rachel: yeah, that stuff definitely... but there has to be a line

me: yeah

Rachel: it's not the gov's job to enforce morals or rule at such a granular level

me: explain, plz

Rachel: and gun laws are a moral issue... b/c it affects people who buy guns for their 11-year olds to take them hunting (yes, that's the wilmer in me talking)

that's a parent's call, not the gov's

but some parents suck!

me: but we regulate what age you can drive a car, and it's the same sort of thing, why can we not regulate the age of getting a gun?

i know that they'd like to take kids hunting, but take them bow hunting up until that age

because, a lot of kids don't understand the power of their weapon, and parents might not know how to explain it right

Rachel: you drive cars on gov-paid roads ;)

me: you hunt in gov. owned property;)

Rachel: not necessarily

some people hunt in their houses apparently... ok that was morbid, sorry

me: did the gov not technically buy the land (albeit immorally) from the native americans, and other countries?

Rachel: yeah, but you own it to a point...the gov doesn't maintain it like they maintain roads

me: yeah

Rachel: all kidding aside, the driving age requirement is up for grabs too... look at MS - you can drive at 15 there

i think you're right - it's the same kind of argument... the difference is volume... every american owns a car, but not everyone owns a gun

me: yeah, driving ages should be flexible based on a kid's maturity but its hard to measure that

Rachel: definitely

me: especially governmentally... and i think its the same issue between both types of laws

ok, so i think this whole argument just wrote tomorrow's WNW for me

So, what do you think? Do Rachel and I make any valid points, or are we just going in circles?

Bookish Tuesday: Out of the Silent Planet

I mentioned previously that my book club was reading C.S. Lewis' science fiction book Out of the Silent Planet, and now that we've discussed it, I thought I'd bring it here.

As part of the discussion, Chris asked the question, "would this book be considered good if it was written by anyone else?"

It's not that it is a bad book or even that the theology and moral misses the mark, but the story that it revolves around is kind of boring. The plot takes too long to really start, and by the time Ransom reaches Mars, I was ready for the moral to be shoved at me and the book to be over. Sadly, I had to wait another 100 pages before it ended, but I did get my wish of the moral.

I don't want to chase anyone from reading the book, especially for those who really like C.S. Lewis, but I think that I'd prefer the Narnia series, if only because they are written for children and are an easier read. Silent Planet seems like it wanted to be a story for children, but wasted too much time acting like an adult book.

Movie Monday: The IT Crowd

Well, the Oscars wre last night. I didn't watch it, but I know that Slumdog Millionaire, The Wrestler, and Milk were already on my list of movies to watch. Sadly, living in a small town, getting movies like this anywhere near me doesn't exactly happen.

Anyway, in the past month, Katie and I have already watched the first two seasons of The IT Crowd twice. It's only twelve episodes, but each one is golden. As the title would suggest, it's a show about the IT department at a British company and their ineptitude with human relationships.

Now, I really don't like shows with a studio audience, but for some reason, I can get past it on this show. Maybe its because it is British and maybe because it's just that funny, either way I love it. When you add to it the fact that one character (Richmond) is played by Noel Fielding, of the equally hilarious Mighty Boosh.

Sorry, I thought I had a lot more to say about this show, but I'm completely distracted by The Shawshank Redemption. I know it's a good movie, but I always forget how good until I start watching it again.