Movie Monday: The Devil's Backbone

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

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

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

Watch it.

Gaming Thursday: Civ Rev

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

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

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

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

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

Movie Monday (Tuesday): Star Trek

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

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

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

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

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

Religion Friday: Cop Out

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

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

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

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

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

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

Movie Monday: Wolverine

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

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

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

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

Religion Friday: Making Choices

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

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

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

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

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

Gaming Thursday: A Life Well Wasted

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

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

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

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

World News Wednesday: Graduation

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

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

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

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

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

Bookish Tuesday: The Boys

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

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

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

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

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

Movie Monday: Darkon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gaming Thursday: Gears of War 2

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

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

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

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

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

World News Wednesday: Supreme Court

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

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

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

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

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

Bookish Tuesday: The Gunslinger Born

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

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

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

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

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

Movie Monday: Doomsday

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

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

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

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

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

Religion Friday

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

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

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

Bookish Tuesday: A Prayer for the Dying

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

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

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

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

Movie Monday: Dragon Ball Evolution

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

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

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

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

Religion Friday: Good Friday

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gaming Thursday: Gears of War 2

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

World News Wednesday: Sexting

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

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

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

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

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