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.

Gaming Thursday: Sonic and Blog

I've been playing the Ultimate Sonic Collection this week, but I haven't been able to play enough of the games to truly write about it.

Street Fighter 4 comes in tomorrow, and I'm excited about getting in some online matches with that.

But, the big gaming thing this week is that the Nerd Nats blog is back, complete with an amazing redesign by Kent. Keep an eye out on that site for some upcoming posts by both me and Kent (and hopefully some more people as we get going).

Sad post today, I know, but gaming Thursday will be back to full swing soon.

World News Wednesday: Exotic Pets

Some friends have told me that they listened to the 911 call of this story, but I'm too scared to.

The point that is driven home by this sad story is: don't have exotic pets.

I (just like everyone else) have entertained dreams of having a tiger for a pet, but I also know that there is no way that a tiger belongs in my neighborhood, let alone my country (except for within those special situations like nice zoos). This is because the tiger would likely not know what it was doing and wind up hurting someone.

I'm not trying to say that anyone deserves this sort of incident to happen. I think it was a truly sad thing. I just wish people would understand that keeping pets like apes and big cats is really not a good idea. I know that this ape was a former actor and seemed to be humanized, but animals aren't predictable.

We have a hard enough time with house cats. I'd let them out of the house and back to the wild, but I'm worried about the number of deaths my vicious cats would cause.

Bookish Tuesday: Books on Tape

Well, I guess it technically isn't correct to say book on tape, since I've been listening on my mp3 player. Anyway, Katie and I finally got it all sorted out so that we can "checkout" audiobooks from the library online and download it to the computer and our mp3 players.

Thanks to this, we were able to listen to about half of David Sedaris' Barrel Fever and Naked read by Mr. Sedaris himself over the weekend, and as much as I love reading his books, listening to him tell it makes it about 3.5 times funnier.

There are a lot of books that I have enjoyed listening to in some form (whether CD or tape or mp3), and then there are some that I just have to read. The audiobook version of Terry Pratchett's Going Postal is so good that I've listened to it as many times as I've read the book (3 times each). On the other hand, as much as I love reading The Hobbit, the audio version that I have puts me to sleep incredibly fast. I have a radio drama version that is really awesome and maybe that has tainted it, but for some reason, I haven't found it as good to listen to as it was to just read. The same goes for the Chronicles of Narnia. I have a really nice boxed set of the audio books, but I have a hard time getting into them.

Part of this has to be the time constraint of audiobooks. The best time for them is on a long road trip or while playing World of Warcraft (at least before I started listening to a ton of podcasts). Regular books allow you to put a bookmark in after reading just one sentence and it's really easy to go back a bit to catch up if you forgot a little bit. Audiobooks have the trouble (at least for me) of finding where you last were. If I take the CD out of the player in the car in order to listen to some music for a minute, I'd better write down the exact track and time, otherwise I'll waste 5 minutes finding my old spot.

All this comes back to this weekend. Katie and I were able to enjoy Sedaris while we were cleaning around the house, and I did everything I possibly could to make sure that we didn't stop working until a story/track was over and that worked out well, even if it was a pain. So, while I absolutely love certain audiobooks, it seems as though they will always come second to regular old reading for now.

Movie Monday: Dark City

Released a year earlier, Dark City is what I think The Matrix wishes it was. I'm not trying to be a Matrix hater, I absolutely loved the first movie and even liked the second and third ones but thinking about them now, I can't ever summon the will to watch them again.

But this is about Dark City, not The Matrix. Dark City is about a dark city that for some reason pauses everyone at midnight. Well, everyone but the main character. He's special for some unknown reason. The movie is kind of hard to follow for the first 30 minutes or so (at least for me - I was completely lost), but once the pieces of the puzzle start coming together I was really hooked. The ending is exactly what it should be, and the movie follows its own logical progression to bring you there.

I think that it is a movie best watched rather than talked about. It is an amazing movie and is even listed in Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" list. I think it might even be a movie that I go out and buy, which is saying quite a lot, since I haven't bought a movie since.... wow, I don't know.

Religion Friday: Valentine's Day

I can't think about Valentine's Day without thinking about the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Yeah, I know that probably makes me a little bit crazy, but I can't help it. I know that Valentine's Day (albeit primarily a Hallmark holiday designed to spend money) is supposed to be a remembrance of those we love and cherish. But, for me it also brings up that underlying human condition of distrust and violence.

Love and trust are two things that are easily associated with one another, right? You trust the ones you love, and those you trust are easier to love. This comes to be a problem whenever we try to live out the commandments to love our neighbors. I mean, what if I don't know them... or even worse, what if I know them, but don't trust them? It's really hard to find it in your heart to express love to someone when you know that at any moment they could turn their back on you and rat you to the coppers.

And violence, what does that have to do with Valentine's Day? I think I've mentioned before, but I read police incident reports every day for my job, and there is barely a day that goes by that I don't read a report about family violence (primarily between spouses with alcohol involved). Now, I am not exactly a knowledgeable source on this, but there are so many times that there are no charges filed or the victim only wants the report for future reference, and life returns to the way it was.

This is going to seem like a really cheap analogy, but sometimes I think that we go for the same sort of abuse with other things. We give up our relationships with God and others in order to pursue something that seems better, and even though we are burned by this desire, we continue to go for it. I'm sure everyone can think of their own example to go along with this analogy, and even though it may never be as severe as an abusive spouse, we do find that we hurt ourselves pretty easily for the stupidest of reasons.

All of this comes back to love, though. Love is the source of our joy and also the source of pain. God (in God's love) asks that we give up our wants in order to pursue greater things, and in that love our pain becomes temporary and insignificant in contrast to the rewards that come from service.

World News Wednesday

By now we've all heard/read about Nadya Suleman, the mother of the octuplets and now fourteen total children, and I'm sure everyone has formed opinions. If you haven't read enough, the link goes to her Dateline interview with Ann Curry, and I like it mostly because it gives Suleman the chance to talk for herself, rather than just others doing it for/about her.

Because I'm not a woman and have no children, my opinion really means nothing in this situation. All I have to say is that if she can actually get a good job that works around her schedule and she can provide well for all 14 children, more power to her. On the other hand, children are incredibly time consuming and expensive. I just have a hard time seeing someone being able to work enough to pay for so many children and yet still being able to spend enough time with them.

Maybe I'm just being overly sensitive and naive, but I like to think that kids really need a ton of attention and it's really hard to give it to them when you are busy with work type stuff. At least that's what I keep telling Katie. Again though, it is highly possible that Suleman has everything planned just right and everything will work out.

Thinking about all that makes me stressed, and for that we need Sam the cute koala. Australia is having a tough time of it right now. Sam is about the only happy picture I've seen out of the country all week.

Bookish Tuesday: Things to Come

I am at a loss for what to do in the event that I haven't read a book. As you might have notice, the past couple of weeks have been mostly filler material. I haven't read a Redwall book in a number of months, and the week before was just a complaint about having not read anything.

This week, I could talk a bit about Out of the Silent Planet - which I finished yesterday, but since members of my book club read this blog (at least periodically) I don't want to spoil my impressions of the book just yet.

So, instead of just whining about not having read anything to talk about, I think I'll go ahead and give a glimpse of some books that I would like to read in the coming months.

After really enjoying The Devil in the White City, I've been looking forward to picking up some more books by Erik Larson and will be ordering Thunderstruck at some point in the future. I know that at one point I said that nonfiction books weren't exactly my cup of tea, but after this and my man-crush on David Sedaris, I think I may have changed my thoughts (if only just a bit).

Also as I've mentioned a number of times (especially since I was expecting to have Cat's Cradle done a few weeks ago), Kurt Vonnegut is high on my reading list as well. I guess I feel the need to read Vonnegut so much because of the number of recommendations to me. For some reason, his books flew under my radar until just recently, and now that I've had a taste with Slaughterhouse Five, I'm ready for some more.

Of course, I'll also be reading Pratchett's new book - Nation... even though I really have no idea what it is about.

That's most all of what I can think of, so for those interested, you can go ahead and read in front of me. That way, I can just e-mail you to axe your impressions so I don't have to read.

By the by, I did my best to link to amazon.com in case you actually want to read.

Movie Monday: Man on Wire

I don't know what it is with me and documentaries lately, but I watched three in the past week, and have probably watched ten in the past month. The big one of last week was Man on Wire. It was a random pick that I think I read about on Roger Ebert's site or something, but I really didn't know much about it until we started watching.

Simply put, it's what documentaries should aim for. The narrative is strung together well and the subject material is exciting and interesting. It tells the story of Phillipe Petit, who's goal is to walk a wire that is strung across the roofs of the World Trade Center towers. Even though the poster (pictured above) gives away the finale, it really doesn't affect the telling of the story which is enthusastically narrated by Petit (he's quite the character).

Now that we have the movie out of the way, I've been wondering what has been drawing me towards documentaries recently. I know that it's easy to become interested in other people's lives, especially if it is something completely different than your own (like in watching Trekkies) or if contains stories about your dreams (like watching Pole to Pole or the Planet Earth series).

So, I guess I answered myself. Fiction is a great way to escape, but sometimes I just like to see what other people are doing with this life thing. I'll see what I can to not watch any documentary stuff this week (aside from working through Pole to Pole) and see if it changes how I view anything.... it won't.

Religion Friday

I'm impatient.

My application for seminary was completed this past weekend and now I must play the waiting game. I would prefer that the school would just call me and let me know either way this week. I understand that they might need time to go through the many applications that they get in, but I'd rather they just read mine and decide. That way, I don't have to go through this stress hell of not knowing.

Like I talked about a bit last week, a lot of my time is spent waiting for something new. I'm getting tired of all this waiting stuff. There are a number of things that I waited for and already have: a wife, an education, 2 cats. Why am I now sitting around waiting for the next step?

Maybe one day I'll be at a point in my life where there is nothing really left to wait for... but I doubt it.

Gaming Thursday: Bubble Spinner

I mentioned this game a couple weeks ago in Religion Friday, and I'm still playing it today. Bubble Spinner is amazing.

Before you start playing though, be warned that it very well might suck you in and consume your life.

This would have been a much longer post, but I have to get back to my game and this typing is distracting me.

World (Maybe Local) News Wednesday: Slapping

Now this story has a couple of interesting discussion points, but I want to focus mainly on the alleged slap.

To get a couple things out of the way, I understand that she had previous allegations brought against her of a similar event and I also understand that she was working with special needs students, so those are automatically reasons for suspicion and a possible arrest.

However, the question I want to ask has to do with the slap on the wrist. I know a ton of kids who will continue to reach for something no matter how many times you tell them not to, and will basically necessitate you grabbing their hand (not saying it needs to be done in anger or harmfully) to get them to stop. So, should a teacher be allowed to physically stop a student from doing something against the rules.

Since I don't have the full facts on this story, let's make up our own background. The students were having a pizza party and were each only allowed one piece until everyone had eaten. One student came up and was constantly grabbing for the next and not responding to statements to stop and even after being told that they would not be allowed to have another piece if they kept reaching. That is when the teacher grabbed his hand.

Now, I know that I'm probably making this out a lot lighter than it could have actually happened, so I don't think any blanket statements can be made in this matter. But can we say that a teacher might be allowed the opportunity to stop something inappropriate from happening physically? Or am I just being too naive?

Bookish Tuesday: Redwall

I've been reading the Redwall series ever since I was about 9 years old, and even now I will go out of my way to be sure that I get the newest book in hardcover to add to my collection.

It's been compared to Watership Down in its talking animals style, but I think it's an unfair comparison. Watership Down is told as a story within our world where the rabbits live like rabbits and are learning to survive human interaction. Redwall on the other hand, takes place in a world without a trace of humans and the animals are all humanlike in their interactions and behaviors.

Redwall itself is an abbey in the middle of Mossflower that is the center of attention for nearly all of the books within the series. From this point, the books tend to follow an all too similar plot where the bad guys will hear a rumor that there is treasure and the simple life to be found within the walls of the abbey and will attack. A hero will rise from either the abbey or the surrounding area and the creatures will band together and defeat the invaders in the most gruesome and violent of battles.

And that is why I loved reading these books as a kid. Reading about animals who have a society is cool, but toss in animals wielding deadly weapons... and that equals complete awesomeness. I know that as I keep reading them I see how formulaic they've become (and have even thought up a few plots that would be really awesome within that universe), but even that hasn't been able to stop me from enjoying the series.

I highly recommend this series for kids who are interested in brutal animally violence... and for adults of the same persuasion.

Movie Monday: The Wire

I know I wrote a little bit on The Wire some weeks ago when I had finished Season 1 or so, but I never realized how dumb I was for trying to write about it at that point. I had been told by a number of sources that the show kept getting better and better, but for some reason I didn't quite believe them. I thought that the premise would get stretched anywhere beyond two seasons.

Well, I was wrong. Every season is pure gold. Each one analyzes a different piece of drug trade in the city of Baltimore and how it winds up affecting all citizens. Season 4 was my favorite and it went into the kids and schools of Baltimore and how a group of boys from the west side are affected by their proximity to the trade throughout their lives.

Without getting into too many specifics, it's really hard to discuss a show that goes into such depth with so many characters. I think that is what I loved so much about watching it though. No character was left off to the side to be a throwaway joke or wisdom-giver, instead they are all fully realized (and fully flawed). Because of that, I was so emotionally invested in the series that when Katie and I watched the final episode last night, I felt so tired. It was over, but I really didn't want it to end. I wanted to know what happened next. Everything was wrapped up well, but over the past few months, I've been so taken by the show, I really don't know what to do next with Netflix.

Really, I cannot recommend this show enough. I know it's a serious investment in time (and cash, if you don't use Netflix or something), but it was completely worth it. Watch it... then if you can tell me I'm wrong, we can discuss.