The Chronicles of Nate-ia

Podcasting and the way things are

2010-03-15T12:28:00.003-05:00

For those few people who read this blog but aren't on the Twitter bandwagon, you may not know that a couple of friends and I started up a new podcast about religion and the many questions we have therein. If you have a little time, head on over to our website and poke around for a bit, maybe even download a show or two.

Aside from this new podcasting venture, most of my life has been spent in classes or working on homework (read: playing games). I've got some ideas for updating the blog but I keep getting sidetracked too easily. Perhaps one day I'll finally write down all these ideas I've got.

Videos

2009-12-02T10:14:00.002-05:00

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

2009-06-01T20:51:00.002-05:00

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

2009-05-18T18:45:00.000-05:00

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

2009-05-14T13:31:00.002-05:00

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

2009-05-12T16:58:00.002-05:00

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

2009-05-08T13:40:00.002-05:00

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

2009-05-04T14:19:00.003-05:00

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

2009-05-01T16:54:00.002-05:00

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

2009-04-30T15:34:00.002-05:00

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

2009-04-29T18:47:00.003-05:00

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

2009-04-28T13:14:00.003-05:00

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

2009-04-27T13:56:00.002-05:00

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

2009-04-23T16:20:00.003-05:00

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

2009-04-22T18:31:00.003-05:00

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

2009-04-21T14:37:00.003-05:00

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

2009-04-20T10:19:00.005-05:00

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

2009-04-17T15:02:00.001-05:00

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

2009-04-14T16:54:00.002-05:00

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

2009-04-13T20:27:00.002-05:00

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

2009-04-10T12:57:00.003-05:00

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

2009-04-09T20:02:00.000-05:00

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

2009-04-08T15:46:00.003-05:00

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

2009-04-07T14:13:00.003-05:00

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

2009-04-06T14:28:00.005-05:00

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?

2009-04-03T14:30:00.002-05:00

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

2009-04-02T13:39:00.002-05:00

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

2009-04-01T19:13:00.003-05:00

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

2009-03-31T14:40:00.007-05:00

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

2009-03-30T15:38:00.003-05:00

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:

2009-03-27T14:04:00.002-05:00

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

2009-03-24T14:35:00.004-05:00

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

2009-03-23T15:31:00.004-05:00

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

2009-03-20T14:56:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-03-18T19:19:00.002-05:00

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

2009-03-17T13:40:00.002-05:00

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

2009-03-16T13:31:00.003-05:00

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

2009-03-13T13:13:00.002-05:00

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

2009-03-12T15:53:00.003-05:00

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

2009-03-11T13:39:00.002-05:00

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

2009-03-10T14:01:00.004-05:00

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

2009-03-09T14:21:00.002-05:00

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

2009-03-05T14:40:00.002-05:00

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

2009-02-27T22:58:00.003-05:00

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)

2009-02-26T16:49:00.003-05:00

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

2009-02-25T16:07:00.003-05:00

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

2009-02-24T21:13:00.002-05:00

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

2009-02-23T20:59:00.002-05:00

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

2009-02-19T21:54:00.002-05:00

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

2009-02-18T11:15:00.003-05:00

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

2009-02-17T16:10:00.004-05:00

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

2009-02-16T13:52:00.002-05:00

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

2009-02-13T14:55:00.003-05:00

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

2009-02-11T16:28:00.002-05:00

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

2009-02-10T15:40:00.004-05:00

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

2009-02-09T14:27:00.001-05:00

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

2009-02-06T20:45:00.002-05:00

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

2009-02-05T21:44:00.002-05:00

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

2009-02-04T21:37:00.003-05:00

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

2009-02-03T15:12:00.001-05:00

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

2009-02-02T14:16:00.004-05:00

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.

Religion Friday: Having a Shadow

2009-01-30T16:54:00.003-05:00

Today at work, I had a job shadow from a local high school. To be honest, I've been dreading it all week. I didn't really know how it was going to go and I wasn't sure what exactly we would do at work all day to keep him interested and busy, but everything went smoothly and I think he had a good time.

This guy who came to work with me is getting ready to go to college in a year, and he's pretty sure of what he wants to do with his life. It made me a bit jealous.

I thought I knew what I wanted to do when I was his age, but really I was just fooling myself and was just going with what I thought would be cool (a youth pastor). It turned out that I'm not exactly all that fond of teens... particularly those in a typical youth group. It's just not my cup of tea. So once I got past that, I realized I had no plan.

I've now been out of college for nearly 4 years and am getting ready to go to seminary. The current plan is to get a degree to teach on the collegiate level, but even now I'm not sure what is right. I know that there is somewhere that God is intending for me to end up. I also know that right now it feels right to be going back to school. So how come I don't feel all that excited.

(Stupid analogy time): Maybe it's because having a job shadow was really just like seeing a shadow of my former self. Maybe it was seeing his enthusiasm and how much I've lost that affected me.

I ride a lot of waves of enthusiasm. One minute I've got a great idea for a book or documentary and the next I'm back to work and trying to figure out where to go. Perhaps this moving forward into school will restore something and help me to find some sort of purpose (well purpose isn't quite the word, but close enough).

Gaming Thursday: Fallout 3

2009-01-29T16:28:00.003-05:00

There are some games that I can just play, without any clear goal in mind when I sit down. Those games are traditionally made by Bethesda (the hours I have put into Morrowind and Oblivion are second only to World of Warcraft). So when they put together Fallout 3, I knew I would have to play it, even though I have yet to play the first two games in the series.

Wandering around post-apocalyptic Washington D.C. is a wonderful experience. The characters that I've met and the mutants that I've killed have combined for a great ride thus far, and I'm really barely into the game.

The combat is fairly straightforward, you can play it completely as a first person shooter if you really want, but you will likely get incredibly frustrated with how often your gun misses in the beginning. For that, you have the VATS system on your arm. This allows you to focus your weapon on various parts of the enemy and let the computer targeting take over for a few shots while you watch your character's handiwork. I must say that it is satisfying every time I get a critical head shot and the bad guy's head explodes and I get to watch his eyeballs fly through the air.

Since I haven't been following the plot line too much, I can't say much about it, but I care about it much more than I did in either Oblivion or Morrowind. That, plus all of the side missions are really fun (and funny), so I don't ever feel like it's necessary for me to go back to the main quest until I really feel like it. I also really like the dialogue options. For the most part, I'm a straightforward good guy, but when I have the option to say something incredibly snarky and hilarious, I can't resist. For this, the writing in the game is great, I've laughed out loud a number of times at people's comments and things that I've seen and it really helps for getting immersed into the world.

The only problem with Fallout 3 is that it is distracting me from a number of games that need to be completed (Dragon Quest 8 and Okami in particular), but it's a good distraction, and I'm sure I'll wind up sinking way too many hours into it... especially now that I just found a really cool handheld chainsaw thingy!

World News Wednesday

2009-01-28T22:12:00.003-05:00

I know this might be dangerous, but I think it's pretty funny too.

I really don't have anything to say about this aside from: I love zombies.

Bookish Tuesday: Never Make Promises

2009-01-27T16:01:00.002-05:00

So, I'm learning that making promises about reading certain books within a set amount of time never really works out for me. I've been intending to have Cat's Cradle read for the past two Tuesdays of this blog and yet I've not yet cracked the book open. It's not because I don't want to read the book, but because I've kind of gotten a bit burned out by marathon reading the four Twilight books in a matter of 2 weeks.

Instead, I've been reading the text of Chrono Trigger on my DS as I play it every night and slowly making my way through Out of the Silent Planet for my book club during the day.

I guess something in me just has to rebel against my statements. If I say that I want to only play Dragon Quest 8 before I move on to another game, the cat will pull the plug on the PS2 after 30 minutes between saves so that I haven't picked the game up in a week. If I say that I want to move through Cat's Cradle by the end of February, I'll wind up finding myself distracted until the book disappears completely and I never read it.

With all this said... there is my excuse for why today's Bookish Tuesday is not about Cat's Cradle and is actually about nothing at all, and just wasted approximately two minutes of your life (depending on your reading speed).

Movie Monday: Defiance

2009-01-26T09:36:00.003-05:00

Daniel Craig is cool. He was a perfect pick for Bond, he made Casino Royale awesome and Quantum of Solace watchable. But the question remains: can he play a Russian Jew in the midst of the Holocaust, living out in the forest?

The answer is simply, yes. With the help of Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber), anything's possible though. The movie is more of a character drama than a war movie, surrounding the story of the lives of the Jews who have escaped to the forest and fell in with Craig and his Bielski family, who were basically bad-ass Jewish Russians.

The movie really made me want to read the book that it was based upon (which in turn is based upon a true story), in order to find out how much of it was true. I can say first off, that them speaking English in bad Russian accents was likely not true, but the rest of the story seemed just implausible enough to be based on a real story.

Aside from the reality of the story, it played out interestingly enough to keep my attention, although at times, I admit I struggled. The problem was that Matt and I had recently been talking about My Side of the Mountain, and I couldn't help but keep thinking that this movie was just that book with some Nazis in the background.

All joking aside, the movie was very well written, with plenty of food for thought on the ethics of survival and community. I only wish that it had been developed as a miniseries or something, in order to give more time to flesh out the camp aside from the few that we were introduced to. But then again, it was more a story about the Bielski family than the camp as a whole - and for that, the movie did a great job.

Gaming Thursday: Chrono Trigger

2009-01-22T16:23:00.003-05:00

It's no secret that I love Japanese RPGs., particularly those released in the 16 -bit era Earthbound (as I've said probably too many times) is my favorite game of all time and Final Fantasy 6 is a very close second. However, one RPG from that time that many tout as their favorite is one that I barely remembered - Chrono Trigger. I know that my brother and I played it through when it originally came out, but because I think we also played FF6 at around the same time, I think it got pushed out of the way in my mind. So when the Nintendo DS release was announced last year and I picked it up after Thanksgiving, I was ready to give it another shot.

The thing is, I agree completely with everyone who loves it. The battle system works great, the character design is beautiful, the music is phenomenal, and the concept is cool... so why don't I love it? I've been trying to figure it out for a while now, and I think I came to an explanation when talking with a friend yesterday.

It has to do with the story and the main character - Crono. He's a cool character and the story is interesting, but for some reason I find myself not really caring about where it is going or how it affects the people. Part of this is because of Crono. He's one of those main characters who never says a word or really reacts to the situations going on around him and relies on the secondary characters to progress the plot with their words and actions. Now Earthbound does the exact same thing, so I don't think that is the whole reason (either that or my love for Earthbound is completely irrational).

The story isn't bad either, but it just doesn't grip me in the same way that FF6 did, with all its Star Wars-y goodness. But just the way they combine in Chrono Trigger leaves me a bit unsatisfied. With all this said, the game is still one of the best Japanese RPGs I've ever played and I would easily recommend it to anyone who needs a good DS game to suck up some time on a road trip, but if this actually comes true, CT will have some serious competition on the RPG front... and by serious competition, I mean it stands no chance in my mind.

World News Wednesday: The White House

2009-01-21T20:10:00.002-05:00

We've got a new family in the White House, and reading this article made me curious.

Well, maybe curious isn't the right word. Daydream is better methinks. What if you had gotten to grow up in the White House? Spending your free time looking for those hidden passages and whenever you get tired, heading on back to the movie theater to watch High School Musical 3... I mean a super-awesome guy movie. That would be the coolest childhood, matched only by a castle or palace in Europe with similar passages hidden throughout.

Now, I have to dedicate my life to becoming the President of the United States so that I can explore in the middle of the night when everyone else has gone to sleep. I mean, it's not like it would be a stressful job or anything, right?

Bookish Tuesday: Y: The Last Man

2009-01-20T16:07:00.003-05:00

I know, I was planning to do Cat's Cradle this week, but I spent so much time finishing up Breaking Dawn, and I had the opportunity this weekend to also finish the Y: The Last Man comic series when I went to my brother's house.

I've been a big fan of the story throughout the time I've been reading the series, and I was excited to see how Brian K. Vaughn was able to wrap it all together. For those who might not have heard of this comic, it tells the story of Yorick, who is the only surviving male human after a plague somehow wipes out every male in the world aside from Yorick and his monkey, Ampersand. The story follows Yorick as he travels across the world in an attempt to catch back up with his girlfriend/fiancee, who was in Australia at the time the plague hit.

I was completely along for the ride until the final two collections. Not that they were bad, but I just didn't think that the end lived up to the story that led to it. For starters, the one main explanation of the plague seemed way too farfetched for the realistic tone that the book had been setting. It still makes sense and isn't nearly as bad as the explanation for the movie The Happening, but I kind of wish that they had left it unexplained. The other issues I had were minor and relate largely to spoilers, but suffice to say, while I was glad to have reached the end of the story's journey, I wish the ending had come about differently.

Another thing that really has nothing to do with the story, but more with comics in general is the amount of filler in this series. I have to say that I love comic series that have a clearcut beginning and ending with every issue in between holding a piece to the story (like Watchmen or Preacher) and when Y is focusing on the story, it is definitely one of the best written comics I've read recently. However, when they move away from the main story to tell something on the side, I get bored and antsy. I prefer to move the plot forward, side stories are awesome for off-shoot books, but I just don't like them getting in the way of me moving the story forward.

Oh, and since Brian K. Vaughn wrote this series, I have to mention... LOST season 5 starts tomorrow night! Woohoo!

Movie/TV Monday: Around the World in 80 Days

2009-01-19T16:12:00.004-05:00

No, not the Jackie Chan movie, or even the Oscar winning 1956 version, but instead a British series from 1989 starring Michael Palin (of Monty Python fame) in his attempt to recreate Phileas Fogg's journey around the world without the use of air travel.

While I stuck this on my Netflix instant watch queue on a complete whim, it turned out to be a truly good series. Palin is funny when he needs to be and completely serious the rest of the journey, giving you a very unique look at travelling around the world. Much of his time is spent on different cargo ships (since there just aren't that many passenger boats anymore), and he meets some of the most interesting people during the travels.

Matt and I have already planned to start watching his next series Pole to Pole this week, and I hope that it's as well put together as this series was. I enjoy travel shows for the simple fact that I (like most people) wish that I could have a camera follow me on my journeys throughout different cultures and provide my own voice to the opinions of how beautiful this is or how good that tastes.

Too bad that will never happen, but at least by watching shows like this, I can get a taste of the rest of the world so that when I come into a massive amount of money I can actually go out and experience it.

Religion Friday: Frustration

2009-01-16T21:11:00.002-05:00

Roger got me addicted to this today.

What was an exercise in incredible frustration (my high score now is 450) is now also one of my all-time favorite flash games. It's a lot like Snood and Bubble Bobble, only with the added annoyances of spinning and extra bubbles.

What does this have to do with religion though? Well for me, religion is an incredibly frustrating thing. I can never get it just right, and any time I think I'm coming close to figuring it out, it spins on its head and I wind up looking at a completely different angle from what I was aiming at with 12 new targets appearing in place.

Yeah, it's kind of a silly example, but that's how I have been looking at this thing called faith recently. Maye at some point I'll be able to wrap my head around the game (for lack of a better term) in its entirety, but until then I think I'm fine playing it and just getting really mad when things turn on me.

Gaming Thursday: Prince of Persia

2009-01-15T16:25:00.002-05:00

Prince of Persia is a beautiful game. The colors and art style are great to see, and everything moves smoothly from place to place. It's also a satisfying game, when you string together a good wall run to a pillar to swinging on a pole all the way to the next ledge, it feels good. It also feels good that you can't die at any point in the game. Yes, this makes it easier than pie, but I like only having to move back a few jumps after Elika saves me rather than retrying an entire level (although, I think I still like the Sand mechanic of the previous games slightly better).

So with all this, you ask, why did you not finish the game? I'll tell you... pure and simple annoyance. Throughout the game, as you are renewing the land, you are collecting light seeds to restore power and be able to move to more places and get deeper into the world. This all works fine in the beginning when you are able to grab plenty of light seeds while you are going along to keep opening up the powers, but when it came to the point where I was 100 light seeds short of opening the next place and had already been through my unlocked areas, I didn't feel like going back.

I have nothing against the game itself, I still really liked it, but I stubbornly refuse to have to waste time going back through all of my completed areas to seek out one little jump that I missed containing a light seed or two, before climbing back up the same ledge to jump another direction and grab another seed.

Add to that the fact that the entire game (particularly the battles) plays like a glorified quicktime event (press x button at y time), that I never got to feel like I was the one doing everything, it was so automatic. Plus, battles are a frustrating combination of hitting block at just the right second in order to get a three hit combo off before the bad guy has his block back up and you are forced to wait for another opportunity.

I can't say that I don't like the game, because I really do, but I feel that there is so much wasted potential. I wish it had the same art style, but had taken the mechanics from Sands of Time and just incorporated that into the game. That, plus taking out the annoying searching for light seeds.

World News Wednesday: The Price of Virginity

2009-01-14T21:04:00.002-05:00

Okay, the video is pretty stupid (particularly the scenery that they show during the talking), but the subject is quite interesting.

So, is this girl evil and wrong or just creative? I've known people who got upset because a guy I knew was thinking about selling his arm space to advertisers (as in tattooing), but I just thought he was doing something different. As such, isn't this girl doing the same? If she has no problem with selling her virginity, why would anyone condemn her? Yeah, it may not go with my particular set of morals, but I can't exactly press my beliefs on anyone else.

Basically, the whole point I'm trying to make is... good for you, girly. You are going to make $3 million for about 20 minutes of work, and I'm completely jealous.

Bookish Tuesday: More Vampires

2009-01-13T16:16:00.003-05:00

Because I loved being a teenage girl so much, I have already finished book 3 of the Twilight series and am currently cruising through the final book: Breaking Dawn. What has made me such a glutton for punishment? I dislike a vast number of the main characters and find them so stupid that I've almost punched the book in the face in the hopes that Jacob would feel it. However, I have been told by a reliable source that I will actually like Bella by the end of the series.

I don't know why I believe this, but hope is strong in these dark times... it's even how our new president-elect won.

Without rehashing too much of last week, I will admit that when the books start to get into the history of vampires and werewolves I really like it, but when I get sucked back to Bella in the present after these stories, my eyes roll back into my head and I struggle not to pass out from the raw teenage emotion that exudes from the page. Add this to the fact that I have now read the phrase "hard as granite" or "marble body" (and yes you can say "that's what she said") so many freaking times, that I need to buy Stephenie Meyer a damn thesaurus.

So, after I finish this final book, I've already planned Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle as my follow-up, in hopes of stimulating my remaining brain cells into a working machine to keep me alive for another 60 years or so.

Movie Monday: TRON

2009-01-12T15:34:00.002-05:00

I knew deep down that at some point in my life I had seen TRON before, but since my most recent memory of the movie stems from my playthrough of Kingdom Hearts last year, I didn't know what all I was expecting.

What I do know is that the story may be a little weak, especially with how much is widely known about computers in current times, but the effects are still pretty well done. I can say that the inside of a computer never seemed so inviting until I was watching this. Well, not so much inviting since it was so deadly, but definitely good looking.

Having Jeff Bridges playing the main character of the movie doesn't hurt either. Even though I kept thinking about The Dude, I really think him being Flynn is really what makes the movie watchable. Having him back for the recently announced sequel is enough to get me back into the theater to see it.

I hope that the sequel focuses on a Nigerian computer manned by an evil scammer who sends spam e-mail throughout the interwebs and Flynn is forced to come up with an awesome e-mail filter program who smashes spam left and right. The climax of the movie will come when the deposed Nigerian prince finds a loophole in the internet and takes over every website, forcing Flynn (and Tron too) to fight their way all the way through pop-up porns and click here to win a Wii banners in order to restore order to the wild world of the world wide web.

...Yeah, that movie would reek of awesomeness.

Religion Friday

2009-01-09T15:15:00.002-05:00

There are times in my life where I've been alternately mute, deaf, autistic, blind, had OCD or ADHD. I mean, I've never really been any of those, but out of nowhere I would act as though there was any number of things different with me. Before I got glasses, I thought that it would be awesome to have glasses (I was wrong) before I had braces, the same (again I was way wrong).

What brought this on? Low self-esteem? Perhaps, but unlikely, I've been pretty fine with myself throughout most of my life (aside from high school - but how is that different from anyone). I think it comes from a full on curiosity of how it is to be someone else. See, I've spent my entire life being me, and I never got the chance to be someone else. I think when I was at the character creation screen at the beginning of this game, I accidentally went too fast, and I never really thought out my attributes well enough, and I worry that I might have missed something important in beating the game of life.

As Confucius once said, "Be sure to know others, otherwise you'll never know yourself" (okay, I totally made that up, but it sounds kind of like something he'd say, right?) It comes down to this thing called empathy. I want to understand what everyone in the world is going through so that I can relate to them better. But because I've led such an easy life, I feel like I have to pretend in order to place myself in new shoes all the time to learn a new experience.

Yeah it's extremely stupid, I know, but I also know that part of my calling (and everyone's calling) is to be open and loving to my neighbor and sometimes I think that unless I understand someone else's experiences, I can't love them correctly. Instead I wind up with my foot in my mouth and a kick in my ass (although I'm not sure if its my other foot or someone else's).

So, how can I continue expressing love for strangers without knowing all of their life story? Currently, it comes down to a kind word or gesture, but I think in time I might be able to develop better ways to be open to people. Maybe I'll order a couple hundred Chick tracts to keep on my person at all times...

Gaming Thursday: Lich King (for real this time)

2009-01-08T09:55:00.003-05:00

World of Warcraft and I have had an on again-off again relationship for almost 3 years now. There are times when she gets really boring and I seek solace from my 360 every night, and other times where I can't help but staring into her beautiful face for hours at a time relishing every pixelly detail. The Wrath of the Lich King launch in November brought us back to a good part of our relationship, after months of stagnation (a few of which I even left her completely).

As much as I like doing end-game raids and instances with my guild, there is nothing quite like taking your first character through unknown areas and experiencing the quests and locales for the first time. My travel between 70 to 80 was pretty brutal in one sense because of my refusal to change Aziraphale from a healing spec to anything that does some sort of damage. However, this also gave me a good chance to spend time actually looking around the continent of Northrend, and I have to say Blizzard completely outdid themselves. Northrend is leaps beyond the zones of Outland, and quests were varied and interesting enough that I never really found myself getting bored.

The new Death Knight class is so awesome that I haven't played it for longer than 2 hours. The only reason I haven't invested more time into him is because I like to finish everything I possibly can with Azi before moving to another character. From what I've heard though, Death Knights have got a really cool starting zone and the quests that you go through before you enter into the regular world of Azeroth are supposed to be some of the best that Blizzard has done.

Quite possibly my favorite addition that Lich King has brought along is the much discussed phasing aspect, wherein things that you do actually have an affect on the world. The place where this is most obvious is the Icecrown zone, where I started off in a corner with only one safe place to land. As I quested along and helped the Argent Crusade (and later the Ebon Knights) gain ground, they set up new encampments and safehouses for me to enjoy. The only frustrating thing about this phasing is whenever you are trying to help someone else complete a quest beyond where you've been, because if it is not within the same phase for both of you, you won't be able to see them or the mob that they are attacking. It makes sense to be that way, because your character has not helped the factions advance that far within the zone, so you shouldn't be able to see it, but it would be nice if while grouped with someone like that, the game could help out a little.

The other super awesomeness of Lich King is the focus on story. In Burning Crusade and the original WoW, I rarely paid attention to quests and where they were leading me, but there is something about Arthas and his story (perhaps it's because Warcraft 3 was my first introduction to the world) that got me interested in the things I was doing around Northrend. Plus, there are those times that you get to run into Arthas and see the effect that your quests have had on his plans (normally very little).

Now for the downside. Just like before, Lich King can become boring. I'm already level 80 and the guild is raiding, but as nice as that is, I don't know how long I can keep doing it. It's cool getting better gear and learning how to become better at fighting through different bosses and raids, but with the 360 in the same room now, it's becoming harder and harder to say no to a game of Left 4 Dead or putting some time into Fallout 3.

I will say that the unequivocal best (and worst) part of WoW is the people. If it wasn't for my guild and friends around it, I wouldn't be playing. And as for you Horde who like to come up and kill me when I'm in the middle of combat and then camp me... screw you.

World News Wednesday is changing!

2009-01-07T21:02:00.002-05:00

Wednesday is changing to whatever I feel like posting from now on. It's not that I don't like writing about news stories, but I have such a hard time always finding something good to write about. That, plus I read news and write news stories all day at work, so it feels too much like work to do it.

So, if there's a big interesting story, I'll be sure to talk about it. Today, I was going to do something about the UGO buyout of 1up, but you can go to nearly any gaming site and read enough about it without me having to throw myself along in it. That, plus I talked about it a month ago when it was just rumored.

I'll do what I can to keep Wednesdays interesting, I think I'll do some music talk, but we'll see. Stay tuned, sorry for swapping it up on you, but I think its for the best. Who knows, maybe we'll switch up the whole blog.

Bookish Tuesday: Twilight (and New Moon)

2009-01-06T09:40:00.002-05:00

I went ahead in finishing up the second book yesterday and although I'd like to say that I did it just for this blog, I'll be honest and say that I'm sucked in. The problem is that I don't particularly like the books. I like reading it and I keep hoping it will go somewhere I'm not predicting, but I'm constantly disappointed.

The main thing I am constantly disappointed by is Bella. I don't like her. I don't think she's very sympathetic and I don't think she's a well-rounded character. Although I've just been informed she changes for the better in book 4, I think that it's stupid that I should have to read 3 books before the main character (and narrator) actually becomes interesting. It's not that she couldn't be a good character, but she just wastes so much time being either completely smitten or broody that I don't feel she is explored enough. I wish more time was spent exploring Carlisle (the dad of the vampire family), because his character actually seems interesting, and I definitely think there is a lot to explore there (although, I've got two books to go, so my wish might get answered).

I also don't think that the writing is particularly that good. Not that I'm a particularly good judge (as you can see), but a lot of the time the romance and relationships seem forced and unnatural. However I can't really knock it for this, because it is written as an attempt to get teen and tween girls to read more and I like that. Christine made a good comment on the post from yesterday:

I am not a huge critic of writing, but I know good writing when I read it (i.e. Tolkien, Jordan...). I don't know how many times "his glorious body" or "the smile never reached his eyes" hit the pages but it was too many.

It's not a matter of her conveying the story, or even the emotion of the characters, it's just that she seems to reuse the same descriptors over and over, and it kind of gets annoying.

And yet with all of these complaints and problems that I continually see and whine about while I read, I can't stop reading them. Part of it is because it's just a piece of mindless entertainment that I feel like I can just zone into without having to take my brain along, but part of it is because it is actually an interesting story and I keep hoping that something new and unpredictable will actually wind up happening.

As a complete aside, for those who have read the books (and even those who haven't), here is something I've been wondering: how does Edward (or Jasper, for that matter) make it through school the entire day, when girls are experiencing their time of month? When Edward is around Bella in particular, does he just leave for a week, and then come back? Yeah, I know it's a disturbing question, but just a thought.

Movie Monday: Twilight

2009-01-05T09:46:00.002-05:00

Since we'll be talking about the book tomorrow, I'll try not to waste too much time today on what was changed and how bad the movie is in comparison.

That being said, as an adult male (well, adultish anyway) going into this movie, there was very little made for me. I'm not talking huge action blowing up sequences, but just some character depth and some non-moody teenage girl dialogue. When Bella begins to fall in love (I almost put love in quotation marks, but I thought it was too cheezy) with Edward, it lacks any sort of rhyme or reason. You could maybe attribute it to him being a vampire, but then why don't the rest of the girls in the school become as obsessed as Bella does.

Oh, sorry for spoiling the movie. As a brief synopsis for anyone who might not know, the movie is based on a book about a girl who moves to Washington and falls in love with a vampire. After she discovers his secret, she then tries to be accepted by him and his family and hopes to be turned herself so that she can spend the rest of her life (would it still be considered life, or just undeath?) with Edward.

Aside from the plot itself being pretty silly, there were a number of points throughout the movie that Katie and I laughed out loud at... and they weren't meant to be funny. First of all, vampires are okay with being outside in the sun, the only problem is that they sparkle like diamonds when the sunlight hits them. Seriously, what the hell? What sort of survival/predatorial mechanism is this? Supposedly this drives Bella wild with love (or lust, it's hard to tell with her acting), but all it would make me do is laugh at him for sparkling like a diamond (say it in an effeminate voice, that's what makes it funny).

The rest of our laughs came from the ridiculous dialogue, my favorite being "hold on tight, spider monkey" (thanks to Brian for the heads up on that one). When you added it to the nonexistent chemistry between Bella and Edward, it left most of the movie in shambles. You are supposed to believe that Bella is an interesting and different teenager, but she's so wrapped up in herself and her interactions with everyone outside of Edward are so short and undeveloped that I never really felt like she was anyone special.

I also found that the climax seemed to really just be thrown in so that there was a big ending. It doesn't serve much purpose outside of showing that Edward protects Bella and doesn't want her to turn into a vampire. I'll admit that I like the idea of the other vampires in the world, but without giving them time to develop, I found their appearance and the supposed tension they bring to the story to be lacking.

Basically, what I'm saying is that this movie is probably perfect for the teenage girls that it is aimed at, but I didn't exactly care for it. Tomorrow, we'll go further into vampire lore when I get to talk about the book and more about why I don't care about Bella, but for some strange reason I'm already over halfway through the second book.

Gaming Thursday: Wrath of the Lich King

2009-01-01T19:06:00.002-05:00

Sorry, it's already Friday afternoon and this post still isn't ready. My new year has been quite a bit busier than expected, so I'm going to have to hold this Gaming Thursday until next week.

Thanks for the patience, and for those who don't have any... jog on.

World News Wednesday: New Years

2008-12-31T18:38:00.002-05:00

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

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

Bookish Tuesday: Slaughterhouse-Five

2008-12-31T11:25:00.003-05:00

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

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

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

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

Movie Monday: King of Kong

2008-12-29T16:15:00.003-05:00

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

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

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

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

Christmas Week

2008-12-22T20:39:00.001-05:00

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

Enjoy your Christmas week!

Religion Friday

2008-12-19T16:23:00.002-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

Gaming Thursday: The Symposium

2008-12-18T15:15:00.003-05:00

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

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

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

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

World News Wednesday: EGM

2008-12-17T21:02:00.002-05:00

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

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

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

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

Bookish Tuesday: Naked

2008-12-16T16:02:00.002-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

Movie Monday: A Few Movies for One Week

2008-12-15T15:38:00.004-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

Religion Friday: This American Life

2008-12-12T22:58:00.002-05:00

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

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

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

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

Gaming Thursday: Game Music

2008-12-11T10:34:00.002-05:00

I love video game music.

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

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

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

World News Wednesday: Self-Embedding

2008-12-10T11:13:00.002-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bookish Tuesday: Writing a Novel

2008-12-09T22:20:00.002-05:00

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

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

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

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

All suggestions are super welcome.

Movie Monday: The Pixar Story

2008-12-08T13:18:00.003-05:00

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

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

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

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

Gaming Thursday: Left 4 Dead

2008-12-04T21:42:00.000-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

World News Wednesday

2008-12-03T21:11:00.002-05:00

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

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

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

...That is all.

Bookish Tuesday: The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents

2008-12-02T11:13:00.002-05:00

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

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

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

Movie Monday: Perfume - The Story of a Murderer

2008-12-01T10:38:00.003-05:00

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

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

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

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

Bookish Tuesday through Religion Friday

2008-11-26T09:23:00.002-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

See you next week!