Movie Monday: Death Note

So Death Note is in fact a movie, but I haven't actually seen the film adaptation (although it is next on Netflix). Instead, I've watched all 37 episodes of the animated series and still think it is one of my all-time favorite series (live action or otherwise).

The plot is about Yagami Light, the top high school student in Japan, who finds a book called a "Death Note." The Note gives the holder the power to kill whoever they want, as long as they know the person's name and face. Light decides that he wants to use the book's power to recreate the world and rid it of all evil people, sacrificing his soul for the greater good. Of course things aren't as easy as he thinks and is soon pursued by the elusive L and Interpol, who are trying to discover who is killing off all of the criminals in the world. You get your choice of who you think is right and who to root for in the series, but it's pretty obvious that Light isn't exactly mentally balanced and I was a firm supporter of L within the first few episodes.

The really cool thing about the series is how it is able to reinvent itself every few episodes. As soon as you start to think that you know where things are beginning to go, the story changes completely (with some really great twists). Also, it provides some interesting discussion points about the greater good and the idea of the death penalty. Plus, you can watch every single episode for free on hulu.com and that's wonderful.

So, I'll try to watch a movie this week, but it seems as though we might have to morph Movie Mondays into Movie/TV Mondays here soon.

Religion Friday

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

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

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

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

Gaming Thursday

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

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

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

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

World News Wednesday

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

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

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

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

Any NASCAR fans out there who can weigh in?

Bookish Tuesday

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

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

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

Movie Monday

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

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

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

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

Religion Friday

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

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

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

Gaming Thursday

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

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

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

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

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

World News Wednesday

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

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

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

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

Bookish Tuesday

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

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

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

Movie Monday

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

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

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

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

Religion Friday

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gaming Thursday

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

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

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

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

World News Wednesday

Here we go.

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

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

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

It's a sad day for me...

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

Bookish Tuesday

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

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

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

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

Movie Monday

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

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

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

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

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

Religion Friday

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

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

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

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

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

Nate says:

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

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

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

Gaming Thursday

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

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

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

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

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

World News Wednesday

Turns out we aren't dead.

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

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

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

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

Bookish Tuesday

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

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

Movie Monday

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

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

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

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

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

Religion Friday

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

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

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

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

Gaming Thursday

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

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

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

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

World News Wednesday

Here is your wonderful news item for today.

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

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

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

Bookish Tuesday

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

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

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

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

Movie Monday

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

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

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

Religion Friday

I was surprised while checking my email this morning when I found a comment had been made on this post made nearly 4 years ago. I invite you all to take a moment and read the post and Anonymous' comment because that is where whe shall lead off for today's post.

First of all, thank you for the comment, Mr./Ms. Anonymous. I'm being absolutely serious, I'm glad to hear what others have to say. That, and your comment gave me a chance to go back and get into details about that post/the story behind it and the themes that I should have discussed then, but was still a lazy college student.

Now, we had no intentions of arriving so late for our trip to JJ, but Thursday nights were crazy busy at that point - we had BSU (Baptist Student Union) meetings on Thursdays at 7, and that year I was in charge of putting together the service, so by the time it was over, we had gotten everyone together, and were able to leave it was already 9. Add to that the mentioned wrong turn (made by yours truly) and we were way later than we wanted to be. The reason we never ordered tickets is because they said that that particular night was free for college students, and (being a college student) I couldn't afford to go any other time. Anyway, when we got there, we talked to a very nice woman who we asked if we would be able to get these free college tickets for another night, but she was unable to do that for us. So yes, we left dejected and sad, but I understand completely that you don't want people staying up so late night after night.

Here's the rub though. If a church is honestly as concerned about saving peoples' souls, why should they have to order tickets in advance? Why in the world do you want people to have to pay in order for you to have the chance to witness to them? I'm not trying to be funny, I honestly don't understand. I know that it costs a ton of money to put on the project each year, but why be willing to spend so much money to save people if you can only save those who can afford to come? Wouldn't that money and volunteer time be better off spent going to a Christian soup kitchen so that not only can you be a witness during service, but you are also meeting people where they need assistance most?

Moving on, I actually can use the Word of God to substantiate my claims. Can you? You see, the book of Revelation (no "s" for those of you who say Revelations - that annoys me, I'm a stickler for that) is what we call metaphorical and is therefore open to much interpretation. I daresay that while Mr./Ms. Anonymous thinks that I have "heard someone in a position of importance" tell me what to believe about JJ/Revelation, I must refer you back two weeks to my post about Sunday School and learning your beliefs/theology. I can ask the same of you though, have you read any books or articles for both sides of this particular argument? I know I have. In fact, I used to be a firm believer in pre-millenial, pre-tribulation theology, but then through my own studies and thought I realized that the God that Jesus Christ preaches about and John had his Revelation about is one of love and forgiveness. Sure there are stories of his wrath and judgement, but after Christ brought in the new law, I don't ever find him mentioning God plucking away his "favorites" and leaving the rest of the world to die in horrible twisted ways without a chance of redemption.

The comment also mentions that it is one thing to say something "in love" and another to truly say something in love. So in love, may I ask how many of those people that you "lead to Christ" during JJ you/your church actually actively disciples? If I remember correctly from previous experiences there, when the trip was over, we were brought into a prayer tent, a prayer was said, and those who accepted Christ were given a Bible and sent on their way. Maybe I'm missing something, but discipleship is an integral part in anyone's relationship with God and just telling someont tha tthey are "saved" and then letting them out on their way doesn't seem to me like discipleship and leaves these brand new Christians with no idea as to actually what they believe aside from that they are now saved from a place called Hell (which they don't really know much about).

As to the question about "when was the last time I lead [sic] someone to Christ," I can honestly (and happily) say never. I don't save people or "bring them to Christ," God alone does that. But, I do spend time each day trying to follow Christ's commandments to love everyone (that includes homosexuals and those who have abortions - a part of JJ that truly irks me, but is way too big to go into here) and to love God. If that provides me the opportunity to talk about God (like every Friday - right here on your favorite blog channel), then I will gladly discuss my faith with anyone. I don't go out of my way to walk up to strangers and ask them if they know Jesus because really, without any sort of context or relationship with that person, why should they believe anything you say about your God and your faith?

Aso for what passion the world sees in me... well, that's a toughie... maybe something that I spent 4 years studying in college and just spent the past 5 pages (at least in my little notebook it was 5) talking about religion, I'd have to say that I'm quite passionate about the subject. In fact, I'm pretty passionate about all the things I write about here - that's why I do it.

Thank you again Mr./Ms. Anonymous for your comments, I enjoyed writing back.

Oh crap, I almost forgot - Scare Tactics as a way to salvation has always seemed sketchy to me and not just because of the tent experience that I mentioned earlier, but mainly because it feels kind of deceptive. A decision made under any major duress, particularly that of fear, isn't a very logical though. I ask: if someone is in a terrifying position (make one up, my brain is fried) and their way out is by denying their faith, would you say that they ever had that faith to begin with? Shouldn't the same ring true for the opposite situation? Does someone really and truly believe something if they are pressured or scared into saying that they do? I honestly don't think so. That, in a nutshell (probably pistachio), is why I don't really like or agree with using fear for salvation.

P.S. No Soapbox Saturday this week, I think I used it all up today, sorry.

Gamer Thursday

Before we hop into today's subject, I need to take a moment to clear house and respond to some comments that have been left. For Tim of Bookish Tuesday, I have not read any of the online graphic novels for Heroes, I was really disappointed by the end of Season 1 and Season 2 never really caught up to the best stuff within Season 1. It's not that I think Season 2 is really that bad, I just haven't watched it since it was originally on air and I'll agree that it is probably not as bad as I originally claimed, but I don't really have time to give it more than one chance at the moment, but I am looking forward to Season 3 and where it takes the story. Aside from Heroes Tim, just pick a book from your pile, I'm definitely open to new books, I just need something goot to read. On that subject, Mr. cp of the Bookish Tuesday post... I know who you are and I will punch you in the throat if you mention that book again.

smartyP, I have to say that your comment on yesterday's post said exactly what I wanted to say only much more intelligently and eloquently and I thank you very much.

Now to games!!! Burnout: Paradise is a wonder to behold. I don't particularly like car games (particularly racing ones), but the Burnout series has had a special place in my heart ever since I picked up Burnout 3 a few years back. That game had the wondermous Crash mode, where it would set up a particular road and (in a puzzle type form) ask you to crash and cause as much monetary damage as possible. Many an hour I spent hurtling my metallic wreckage in hopes of hitting a couple of buses and that elusive oil tanker worth $20,000 (I think, its been a while).

Anyway Burnout: Paradise doesn't have this Crash mode, and for this I was definitely hesitant about ever buying the title. Back in January when it was first released I loved playing the demo over and over, but for some reason I could never really justify dropping $60 for the game. So, when the price dropped to 30 here recently, my brother and I decided to go ahead and snag it (plus there has been and will be tons of free downloadable content for the game) and I am now truly happy that I did. Since Paradise is an open world game, there is a ton of driving around finding shorcuts, bashing barriers, and taking on random races whenever you want.

As you all now know how much I love online co-op, Paradise truly is a winner. With easy invites and the ability to join in someone wherever they are in the city at any time... it's perfect for my gaming time. Before I get in too much and start to repeat myself, I'll just say, Burnout is a super fun game and that's all I need.

World News Wednesday

Well, here is the big news tonight, as I'm sure you've all seen.

While it's not exactly surprising news, it is definitely pretty big news as most people are noting - if only because Senator Obama is the first African-American in a major party presidential nomination. I don't know what I really want to say about this. I know that part of me feels like it shouldn't be big news because by saying this, it kind of seems as though its a huge surprise and a massive leap forward in relieving racial tension. We all know that this isn't really the case and that Obama got the nod because he was good at his job. He's a good politician, and regardless of race (or even gender, had Hillary received the nod) I think the Democratic party picked who was right for them at this time in history.

I honestly don't know what else to say. I'm really glad he got the nomination because I genuinely like the guy (at least what I've read/seen, I don't actually know him), I guess we'll just have to see how things go down in November to see how everyone thinks of him.

Bookish Tuesday

Rather than talking about a book, I thought it would be a good idea to propose something to you faithful readers. Would anyone be interested in picking a book to read together and discuss (as much as possible through comments and my posts) each Tuesday? I think it would be a good thing to see what everyone who reads this actually thinks of different styles of books and such. If you like this idea, say so in the comments and put up a couple of options for books and we'll pick one out soon.

Aside from this, I've been lending a friend some Batman comics to show him what the new franchise is basing (loosely) some of their story ideas. For those who are interested, Batman Begins takes a lot of cues from Batman: Year One by Frank Miller (yes, the same guy who wrote 300 and Sin City). The Dark Knight takes a few, although not as much, from Batman: The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. Loeb and Sale are a fantastic team and have written some really great stuff that goes back to origin tales and the early years of many of the most famous heroes (Superman, Spider-Man, Hulk, Daredevil). Sale's art is what really grabs me. Something about the way he draws people reminds me of a 50's style of comic and it always fits in perfectly with Loeb's stories. Both of them also do work for Heroes, but since that seemed to drop off quite a bit in the second season, we'll have to hope that they weren't really paying attention last year (although season 3 looks like it could be cool, so there is hope).

Sorry so short, but as you can tell by the posting time, it's been kind of a long day. See you tomorrow for some World News.

Movie Monday

The summer movie season is over. By that I mean nothing good came out this past weekend (that I could see anyway - I wanted to see Hamlet 2) and now I am in a slump for movies. The only movie that I watched in the past week was The Goonies. Luckily, it brought up an interesting point watching it.

See, movies that we love as kids, no matter how much nostalgia may be attached or how awesome it may have seemed at the time, they still kind of suck. The Goonies is actually no exception. I like the movie just fine, but having to watch two hours of kids constantly yelling at each other and saying pretty stupid things? I can get that by babysitting. The plot holds up pretty decently for being what it is and that movie is still a lot of fun at parts, but it's not what it used to be. Part of this can be blamed on the times (it's fine for Data to be nerdy and a tech wizard - he's Japanese), but part of it is just plain kids. The whole time I watched the movie, I was thinking that it was probably really fun for the kids to run around screaming and playing with each other and it's probably a bunch of fun for kids watching who can relate (I know it was for me).

That's all it's meant to be, I'm sure. Just a movie for kids to watch and identify with (well at least as much as a Millenial kid can identify with the 80's), and that's not a bad thing. Anyway, aside from movies, I've been watching two really good shows about selling drugs, each one from a completely different point of view (nice segue, huh?). Weeds is a comedy about a suburban mom who sells weed. It's funny, but we've gotten into season 3, and I think it is starting to get a bit old. On the other side of the fence we've got The Wire, which is all about a group of cops set to take down a huge drug operation in Baltimore. Since I'm only halfway through season 1, I can't say too much about how good it gets or what's in store, but I can say that so far I'm enjoying it very much.

I'll try to watch a movie or something this week so that next Movie Monday isn't so sparse. Either way, I'll see you tomorrow for.... crap, I haven't read a book in a long long while...

Soapbox Saturday

Get ready for a doozy!

When your government isn't yours anymore...
by: Jody Dunn

"A government of the people, by the people, for the people..." from the Gettysburg Address, by Abraham Lincoln.

This high minded ideal, stated plainly by Abe Lincoln, to me, sets the standard of what the United States of America is really all about.

We choose everyday, through our routine and mostly mundane observance of its laws, to create an institution that binds us together: a government OF the people.

Further, we choose its guiding leadership from among our own number. Any one of us has the right, the opportunity and those us with the talent, have the duty to step up and serve in the leadership of our mutually agreed upon institution: a government BY the people.

Lastly, this institution has the self evident obligation to exist solely for the short, intermediate and long term benefit of its citizenry: a government FOR the people. Our government does not exist for its own self interest.

This rhetoric is not new or innovative, but is apparently easily forgotten by the leadership of our governmental agencies.

I am a long time active citizen. I have worked to raise money for our local Chamber of Commerce. I vote. I make an effort to meet personally those who represent me in government. I try to remain informed so that I have reasonable opinions about the things that effect me and my family. From personal experience I have seen how easy it is to get caught up in the idea that the "City" or the "County" or the "U.S." or the "PTA" for that matter are so righteous and wonderful that they deserve to exist and grow and be successful, well , just because it's so great! Who doesn't want to see their city grow? Or the economy expand? or raise more money for good causes? It's difficult to argue the point. OF COURSE THESE THINGS ARE GOOD. But it is the motive that matters.

An example…

I live, work, and play within the metropolitan area known as Mobile, Alabama. I love this place; I love everything about it. I am loyal to our area and a wild cheerleader of its greatness as a place to, well, live work and play. The City of Mobile as an entity resides within Mobile County, and like most urban areas in the last 25 years has experienced economic declines as white flight, and more recently black flight, have cratered the tax base within boundaries the city.

Note that the metro area as whole is BOOMING. Domestic and international businesses have "discovered us" and this area is becoming a hotbed of amazing economic activity. Visionary leadership on the part of our City, County, State and Business Community (Chamber of Commerce) has made this possible. Holy Cow, have they done a great job!

I think that's why it's even more heartbreaking given our successes and the obvious talent of those responsible, when those same people seem to forget whom they serve.

The suburbs surrounding the city are a growing field of commerce, sprouting to support the exploding middle class who are leaving the city to find cheaper, more comfortable housing, better schools, less crime, and fewer zoning restrictions. Clearly there are things that the City of Mobile must address within its current borders in order to remain viable as an urban population center. People move for a reason. These are difficult problems to face and cannot be solved overnight. There are hard and unpopular decisions that must be made, like laying off employees, attacking blight, overhauling whole areas of government. The long term beneficiaries of such a strategy are the people, who would come flocking from all corners to live in a City so well managed and committed to a dynamic future.

Unfortunately, it’s a lot easier to keep things just they way they are, but that's not possible when the tax base is RUNNING AWAY! The easy solution? Chase the revenue.

The logic of local leaders seems to go like this: The people have moved outside our boundaries and taking their money with them. They are happy in new houses and living good lives in self managed homeowner's associations instead of zoning commissions. They have safer children in racially integrated new schools. They are closer to where they work. Sure this is all great for the people, but bad for the "city" as an institution. So... let's
expand our borders to include the stores where the people shop so that the City can benefit from the sales tax generated there.

But wait! The majority of the people that shop in those stores do not want
to be a part of this city because of our aforementioned problems. Well, let's draw the new city borders so that only the people that will vote in our favor will be eligible to vote at the polls. Then we can get the revenue "for the city" regardless of what the majority of the people really want... In addition we can collect taxes from the entire county, not just city residents, since nearly all the big grocery stores will be inside the city limits. As a special bonus, we as city leaders won't have to face with any of the REAL issues that plague our fair City, the ones that are really hard and might not get us re-elected...

And so annexation moves forward.

When did the health of the institution (in the case City Government) and its coffers become more important than the happiness and overall success of the people at large? When did City Revenue become more important than fair and open elections? I would say it happened when our leaders became convinced that if it's good for the city, it must be good for all of us... instead of the other way around.

This whole upside-down notion of the role of government is not unique to Mobile. In fact, it’s pervasive throughout our country. In the short to intermediate term, it may not even be harmful. In the long term however, I think it reinforces the idea that our government is not looking out for us. We simply are here to feed the machine. It’s very difficult to be excited about the direction of our community when our government so clearly intends to betray our trust and abuse it position by manipulating the system to raise revenues for its own sake.

Our country is built on optimism; on the idea that with hard work anything is possible, that tomorrow will be better than today, and that collectively we the people are in charge of our own destiny. Every time our leaders put the governmental institution ahead of the common good, we lose a little of what makes us great.

We are blessed that so far our greatness as a people has been sufficient to overcome the weaknesses of our government. I pray that this is always the case.


P.S. Vote No to Annexation.

Religion Friday

Due to requests, this Religion Friday post will be about five of my favorite religious books. It was supposed to be 10, but honestly I couldn't think of 10 without repeating authors. Either way, these aren't necessarily in any sort of order, but they are all amazing reads that are fantastic works of writing. Without further ado, lets get started:

Reaching out Without Dumbing Down by Marva Dawn.
This book was actually one of my class books in college for a Christian Worship class. Dawn does a fantastic job of breaking down how we can be welcoming to visitors and encourage worship without making it too simple for those who are craving depth for their services and churches. While it is definitely a book that is more directed to leaders in church/worship, the book definitely has some amazing nuggets of truth throughout that I seriously think everyone should read.

What's So Amazing About Grace? by Phillip Yancey
It was hard for me to pick which Yancey book to put on the list because all of his writings are so good, but none really had as much of an impact on my thoughts as this one. Obviously, the book is a focus on grace and our understanding of it, and Yancey ties in his theology with a bunch of stories (like he normally does) and it really makes it a great read. On a side note, this book goes along well with The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, which would have made my list but since I haven't finished it, I disqualified it from my list (sadly). Back to the subject at hand, I really think any Yancey book could fit in this list, but if you need to grab one (for budget's sake or something) this is it.

The Return of the Prodigal by Henri J.M. Nouwen
Like the previous book, it is fairly obvious what Nouwen's book is about. The book is broken down into three sections: the prodigal, the father, and the other son. While a lot of sermons/recitations of the story do a good job on focusing on one of these characters and how their story is interweaved into Jesus' parable, I really think that Nouwen's relationship with each of the characters and how it relates to different times in his life is truly fantastic.

The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis
My two favorite pictures of the theory of Heaven come from C.S. Lewis. One is from this book and the other is from The Last Battle. Basically, this is an allegorical tale about a man who is stuck in purgatory and then gets to move up and experience Heaven. It's a really good story, but I'll admit it has been a while since I last read it, so I can't go too much into detail without getting my lazy butt off this chair to actually go get it.

Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton
The only book on this list to make my Top Ten Books of all time post from way back when, I first read this book as part of a book club where we were trying to find classic religious books that none of us had read. This book continues to stand out in my mind whenever I think about religion if only because Chesterton is an amazing writer. He is funny, intelligent, and snarky - what else could you want. The only thing I do have to warn about this is that I have recommended it to people who say it's really hard to read. I never felt that way, but it definitely requires that you pay attention to what he's saying in order to move on to the next paragraph.

So there you have it. Stay tuned tomorrow for another Soapbox Saturday (this one is a little more serious than last weeks) brought to you by Jody.

Gaming Thursday

This past week has been a week of XBOX Live Arcade titles for me. The first game I picked up is a remake of an NES classic and the second an "art nouveau" type game all about hidden meaning. Both of them are completely fantastic games, but in two totally different ways.

Bionic Commando: Rearmed is a remake of the Nintendo classic called (oddly enough) Bionic Commando. Some say that it is one of the best games on the NES, but I can neither confirm nor deny this, since I never played the original. The remake at least, is great. It's definitely got that old school difficulty that can be so frustrating and yet (for the most part) it sucks me in and makes me want to keep trying (at least until I bought Braid, but more on that later).

The gameplay takes a bit to get used to mainly just because you can't jump at all and really have to learn to use the bionic arm (I forgot to tell you - the hook for the game is that you are a commando with a bionic arm, hence the name) toe get aroudn efficiently and even though I'm a few hours into the game already, I still haven't gotten the hang of the arm and I fall to my death pretty consistently. Maybe it's just me, but I'm more forgiving to these sort of classic titles for their difficulty, if only because I know that when I die, 90% of the time it was my own fault. I have no crappy camera or wonky controls to blame my death on, because both work just fine. On the other hand, enemies can be a bit cheap and you do get hit a ton by stray bullets flying around you if you try to move too fast, but I think it's just that I need to learn to go slowly and methodically through this rather than trying to blast through. Simply put, for ten bucks, this game is a serious steal.

Speaking of great deals, you can also download Braid on XBLA for only 5 bucks more, but holy cow is it a great experience. Although it's only about 5 hours long (on the first play through - subsequent times are shorter, obviously), it is a fantastic thinking man's game. While Bionic Commando is a straight action title, Braid is definitely a lot harder to define. I guess the closest I can put it is a 2D puzzle platformer - like Portal, only side-scrolling. For those of you who may not have experience Portal, let me just gush over what is probably one of the best (if not the best) games of 2007 (and not just because of the awesome song at the end). The only major difference (outside of that whole 2D/3D thing) between the two games is the humor. Portal was filled with smart ass robotic comments, but Braid is completely serious, even dark.

Both the story and the gameplay for Braid are a little hard to define, the story much moreso (I beat it on Tuesday and still don't really know what it is about). Basically, what I understand is that you are Time and you are trying to track down your Princess. There really is a ton more than that and a megaton twist at the end, but I really can't say much more without spoiling and I can't do it justice anyway. So instead, I'll just tell you to play it - no seriously, go play Braid.

The gameplay is basically a series of logic puzzles strung together to collect puzzle pieces. That's actually it... but while it sounds simple, these little pieces can be trickly little devils to get. Even though they can be extremely difficult (at times, some are really easy), it makes the game so much more rewarding when you finally figure out that little bit that you were missing to grab that piece. The creator of the game (Jonathan Blow) says not to use walkthroughs or FAQs to get through the game, and I actually agree. Normally when I get stuck on a game, I shoot off to gamefaqs.com for help, but I held out here and holy crap do I feel good. The harder puzzles in the game can take bunches of messing around to get or even just time away from the game. Seriously, I went to bed on Monday after a particularly difficult part, only to wake up to have the answer come to me. Speaking of time, the hook for Braid is time-twising. Kind of like Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, only a bit more in depth and completely crucial to the gameplay. It seemed to make the game a bit easier to take for me, since deaths and mistakes are only temporary and easily reversed and tried again.

I know I'm starting to ramble about this game, but it really is that good. Between these two games, I've now played some of the best games in a really long time. If you've got a 360, I think there really is no excuse for you not to get at least one of these fine titles.... now if only I could get paid for these endorsements....

World News Wednesday

Here is your link, and here we go!

This week's article is very difficult to write about because I'm not exactly sure that there is a clear cut answer to the question. For one thing, I highly doubt that the "legal age" to buy alcohol really is the issue here. Since the article is focused on this specific point to the issue, we'll try to stay focused on it and look at both sides and maybe even find a solution (although I doubt it).

One of the big points for lowering the legal age to buy alcohol is the idea that so many other things happen when a kid hits 18 (voting, draft, smoking, etc.) that adding in alcohol would seem to be a logical step. A quote in the article is one I've heard a number of times... "If you're old enough to die for your country, you are old enough to drink in your country" (or however they end it). I'll admit that there is logic to this argument, but I'd rather use it backwards to flip the draft age so that 18 year olds don't go dying. Aside from that, it is a decent point. If the government somehow (I have no idea how) judges that when a kid hits 18, they are an adult who can choose to die in battle or from lung and mouth cancer and yet can't relax with a cheap wine cooler after a hard day working at McDonald's (sorry, cheap jab), it just seems to be an odd boundary.

Another point pushed by this camp is the "forbidden fruit" idea wherein underage kids drink so much because it is something that is rebellious and that if it were legal, the amount of young binge drinkers would drop. While there might be some validity in this argument, I'm not too sure how well it holds up. For one, it's more of a responsibility/maturity issue than a legal one, young kids have no problem getting ahold of alcohol as is, so making it easier to procure is kind of a solution to a non-problem.

On the other side of the argument are those who think that the legal age needs to remain the same and responsibility needs to be held to (at least in the article) college campuses and "of age" people to monitor and keep people from this binge drinking phenomenon (if you will). The problem I find with this argument is that it is what is allegedly already in place and seems to not quite work. The problem is deciding who exactly would be responsible. While the kids may indeed be at college, I don't think it is the college's job to watch kids and keep them "straight."

The answer that I can come up with is twofold. One is obvious, the other is pretty twisted and more than likely won't work. The first is to educate and raise kids right. Help them to learn that drinking (like everything) is best done in moderation. It's not something that is wrong and it's a fine thing to do (drink, that is) but it's something that can get out of control very easily and therefore boundaries need to be learned early on in order that overconsumption becomes the rarity and not (as it seems to be reported) the norm.

The second of my answers is the twisted one and deals with colleges: make them completely dry. That means not just a slap on the wrist, but full suspension/expulsion for drinkers. Yeah, it's really harsh and alcohol/drinking is supposedly a huge part of the college experience, but if we are expecting people to go to college in order to learn and not party, take away the party. I know this idea will never work, but it is also part of my whole theory that college is way too much of an emphasis in our culture as is. Kids are nearly forced to go and good jobs require some sort of higher education so we kind of bring this culture upon ourselves rather than providing alternate ways to get into the workforce.

Okay, I know that my second theory needs a lot of work and would probably never really work, so what needs fixing? What are other solutions? Should the legal age actually be dropped to 18?

Bookish Tuesday

I mentioned something about it last week when I was talking about the Harry Potter books, how things changed from the books to the movies, and how the movies kind of change how you picture the books in your head. In that vein, I thought we'd take today and talk about the age-old question, why is the book always better than the movie?

The simple answer for this is: because it was written as a book, not as a movie. Book authors choose their medium because it was what they thought was best to express the story they wanted told. By choosing books, authors aren't constrained by the limit of sight and sound. Instead they allow the imagination to work and fill out pieces of the space within the story. A book also allows for greater detail, because they don't have to worry about going overbudget building the next ginormous set.

Books also allow for time to get sucked into the story. This happens in movies, I'll admit, but because a good book can rarely be read in 3 hours or less, they provide more of a chance for the reader to develop a relationship with the characters and the book as a whole so that the reader oftentimes feels like they are part of the story, observing it all happen within their mind. Not to say that good movies can't suck you in, I'm just saying that books offer more of an opportunity for this.

The opposite of this original theory also comes true. Novelizations of movies that are created for the sake of cashing in are never as good as the original piece. Just like the author of an original book, the director/creators of a movie chose film because they felt that it had some sort of draw that set it apart from another medium. Neither is necessarily a better way to telling a story, but when a piece of art is created within a specific medium, it tends to thrive best within that home turf. Do you agree?

Movie Monday

Today's Movie Monday might get a little bit cluttered, but I'll try to keep everything contained so that it is easy enough for you to understand. Let's start off with new releases in theaters this past weekend.

I tried to see both Tropic Thunder and Star Wars: The Clone Wars, but thanks to a wonderful misunderstanding, which I still blame on fandango, we missed Clone Wars last night. That's okay, I think, if only because Tropic Thunder was really good. I realized that (particularly for comedies) I really need to quit watching trailers because it always seems to ruin some of the good parts by knowing the punchline to the set-up. That being said, there were some great surprises in the movie that kept me laughing. The movie starts up with trailers for upcoming movies for Stiller, Black, and Downey's and I still think that they were one of the best parts of the whole experience (Downey's movie in particular). Tom Cruise has now lost some of his Scientology creepiness thanks to his awesome role in this movie, which is always a good thing. My main gripe with the flick is that the comedy seems a little forced at times, particularly with Jack Black's character. The other thing isn't really a gripe, but has to do with all the negative attention due to the use of the "R-word." It didn't really hurt the experience, but everytime I heard it, I felt those stupid propagandists nagging me and telling me not to laugh or enjoy that part. Neither of these is really a dealbreaker, and I found that Tropic Thunder (while maybe not as good as Pineapple Express) is definitely one of the funniest movies I have seen in a good while.

Leaving the theaters for a moment, a couple guys and I watched Layer Cake this week. Supposedly, this was the film that got Daniel Craig picked to be the new Bond for Casino Royale, and I can definitely see it. It's a good movie (made by the guy who made Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrells which I loved), but I don't really see how it could have secured Craig as Bond, if only for the reason that Mr. XXXX (his name in the movie) doesn't really like guns and gets his butt handed to him throughout the story. On the other hand, his character is very cool and calculated which lends to the Bond character quite well. On the whole, it was quite a good movie, and I'll give it my recommendation.

Lastly, as I mentioned last week we were going through the Harry Potter films. We finished up with Order of the Phoenix just in time for the announcement that Half-Blood Prince is being moved from a November release to sometime in July of 2009. I think that (as with the books) Goblet of Fire is still my favorite movie but that I think they do keep on getting better and better as the kids become more accustomed to acting and the characters they are playing (it also can't hurt that they know all the outcomes now). To put it quickly, the first two movies aren't exactly good, three is better, four is the best, and five is right in between three and four. How would you rank them?

And that's that. I'll see you tomorrow for Bookish Tuesday, where I will scramble to think of another great book seeing that I haven't turned a page of either of the books on my dresser in two weeks.

Soapbox Saturday: Rachel

My friend Maria made a simple, yet well-said tweet today. And I started thinking, "Whose idea was it to include raisins in a cookie?"

Cookies contain sugar, flour, a little salt, and some optional items such as chocolate or butterscotch chips. I see no reason to bring fruit into the mix. I don't put raisins in my oatmeal, so I dang sure don't want them in my oatmeal cookies.

Cookies make me feel like a kid - young, careless, free. As a kid, I ate cookies without regard to how they will look on my hips or whether they'll cause diabetes. A great-tasting sugar high was in my sights and that's all that mattered.

Raisins are for old people. They're only one step removed from prunes if you ask me. People eat them to stay regular - what does that have to do with cookies? I denounce the odd juxtaposition of stinky, old, good-for-you raisins floating in my platter of chocolate, peanutbutter, or butterscotch. Who invited the old people anyway? Do you party with your granny? Then don't party with raisins.

Now you may be thinking, "But I like the taste of raisins." Good for you. Buy those cute little boxes with the sunshine lady on the front and have at it. But stay away from my cookies.

I must admit raisins aren't the end of the world. Even Maria shows that you can simply eat around them. But that's like ignoring a problem and hoping it will go away. Then again, I wouldn't waste a good cookie either, and I've been known to eat around a few raisins myself. It's like seeing a bad opening band at a concert. You have to put up with the raisins to get to the good stuff.