The Cash Cow Lurks...

Tim Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkins have proven once again that Christian "Literature" is nothing but a cash cow that they'll milk until it's dry: Give me a freaking break. How many more crappy Left Behind Books will they "write"? What's next? The further adventures post tribulation? A dramatic look at the childhood of the anti-Christ? I'll bet C.S. Lewis is rolling in his grave right now, considering what sells as Christian "Literature" these days.

Year in Review - Movies

It’s that time of the year again – time to look back at 2004 and determine, according to me (that great sage and eminent thinker that I am), the best in everything that I can think of at the time. I figured to make things a tad more interesting (and provide me with fodder for a weeks worth of entries) that I’d do it a bit different. For the next few days, I will list, what I think, are the top nominees in whatever categories I can think of – right now there’s the big ones: Movies, Television and Music, but I’m sure I’ll come up with more. And, when the week is up, I’ll post an entry that lists who I determine to be the winner of those nominees. Feel free to comment what you think, I’m sure I’ll consider your opinion when I decide. Sure, sounds all self-important, as if my opinion really matters. But hey, I like to write about this stuff, so there. Today’s category: Movies There’s no doubt that I love movies. Ever since I had an attention span, film has intrigued me, and I have a variety of tastes. In fact, I love film so much, that I even fancied myself a filmmaker during a year and a half after high school. So, movies are a big deal. These are the ones I think are the best of the year: The Passion of the Christ Not a lot of Christians wouldn’t have this on their list. The compelling look at the final twelve hours of Christ’s life moved a number of people. It angered people. It made people think. Only time will tell the true effect this film had on folks, but it’s emotional impact is only a part of what makes it good. This is a great film, technically and artistically. No matter your faith or belief system, you can’t doubt that Mel Gibson is an expert filmmaker and deserving of accolades for his achievement. I mean, c’mon – he financed and distributed this film with his own cash. What indy filmmaker can’t appreciate that? Napolean Dynamite What can I say? I freakin’ love this movie. It’s quotable. It’s offbeat. Sure, it isn’t the prettiest film (in fact, the DVD looks so much better than the film did on screen), but it’s the sweetest. Napolean is a guy we can all relate too. We feel his heartache, we sense his happiness, and we can all respect his no care attitude. And, c’mon, who can’t love a flick with a llama and tator tots? The Incredibles Another great offering from Pixar – who hasn’t delivered a disappointing film since A Bugs Life. (which isn’t exactly a huge letdown, just not as great as everything else they’ve done in the last ten years). I can’t really describe how great this film is, but the bottom line is – it’s the best superhero movie ever done, and non of the main characters ever existed in comic book form. For the first time we see actual powers being used, an none of them look cheesy or contrived. We learn the common misconception about superhero cape usage, and the superhero is deconstructed and reconstructed in under two hours. And let’s not forget Samuel L. Jackson as Frozone, yelling “Woman, where is my costume!”. Classic line from a soon to be classic film. Spider-Man 2 Can’t have a list of films from 2004 without including this one. I was so excited about seeing this flick, that despite my having salmonella, I almost went to see it at midnight the first night it was open. My wife, lovingly, convinced me otherwise. That and frequent trips to the bathroom. But that’s beside the point. What Sam Raimi started with the first Spider-Man movie, he continued and transcended with Spider-Man 2. Doc Ock was a formidable villain, and the continued downfall of Harry Osborn proved good enough to bring me (and millions of others, most likely), back for a third installment. And that’s just the superhero stuff. Tobey Maguire plays Peter Parker to perfection, portraying the stress, the angst and the sorrow involved in being a superhero. And, let’s not forget, Kirsten Dunst whispering “Go get ‘em Tiger”, was probably the biggest geek-out moment I had all year. Fatal flaws aside (the over-the-top violent scene introducing Doc Ock in his villainy comes to mind) this was a great movie. So there you have it, four choices for best film of the year? Thoughts? I'm pretty sure I know which one I'll pick, maybe you'll persuade me otherwise...

Another Quiz I stacked in my favor:

:: how jedi are you? :: Sweet! Forgive for the language, I didn't write it, all I did was take it!

Awesome Comic!

Daniel Bradford over at Blacklist Studios has begun posting some of his old comic strips from his days at his college paper, and they rule. This one is my fave: Check them all out here!

Kicking Xangass or, Why Blogger is better than Xanga

First of all, I don't get paid by Blogger. I've been using Blogger for a good two years or so, and, despite a few minor flaws (which are not fatal, but infrequent digital brain farts that pop up every now and then with all things computer) I've really enjoyed it. Blogger rules. Now, I noticed a lot of people I know have been going to a site called Xanga , and have been using them to blog instead. Well, given this trend, it's time for me to crack out an idea that I've wanted to write but haven't felt the nerve too. Why is Blogger better than Xanga? Blogger encourages originality, while Xanga encourages formality - If you go to any Xanga site, your probably going to see yet another variation on their crappy format. Title on top, menu in a cheesy box on the left or right, same font for entries, etc. When you go to a Xanga, all you get is prepackaged, unoriginal crap. Blogger isn't self serving - With Blogger, I can link to Xangas, Blogs on Blogger, blogs on Livejournal - any website I want. With Xanga, you only get to "subscribe" to other Xangas. How stupid is that? What if you really enjoy a blog that's on one of the other many blog hosts out there? Wouldn't you want to tell your friends and readers about it? With Xanga, all you can do is possibly post a link in an entry, and hope your friends read it. Commenting is almost a wash - I'll admit, last year at this time, Xanga had a better way to use comments. But since then, Blogger has introduced its own comment section, giving you the opportunity to comment on blogs you read. No more Haloscan. Audio Blogging - Does Xanga give you the ability to autopost an Audioblog entry? No? Didn't think so. Picture Posting - Whether you use the Hello software or host with something like Photobucket, putting images in posts is simple. With Xanga, you have to pay to be a Premiere Member. What a load of crap. It's all about the Skins - Sure, this could have gone under the "originality vs. formality" headline, but this deserves it's own segment. I've had God knows how many designs grace this blog, and all of them were tweaked by me personally, adding my own touch to other peoples designs. In the last two years I've learned more about HTML than I ever would have if I used Xanga. And yeah, it got frustrating at times, but getting by a challenge is better than never being challenged at all. Bottom Line - Xanga is for the fast food make it easy on me society - Blogger is for thinkers who like to let their voice be unique. Nothing against Xanga folks. I just have a problem with conformity. And peer pressure. And crappy looking blogs. Nothing personal at all. ;)

I....am....Job....

No, not the biblical "Job", but job...as in employment. In about three weeks, I'll be unemployed for the third time in almost seven years. Since I've been married, I've been unemployed for a total of 13 months. So that's 1/7 that I've spent looking for a job. And frankly, that's just sad. I've never been comfortable in your typical job setting. Maybe it's my vagabond heart that can't settle into a place for too long. Maybe it's my desire to really be out there doing ministry full time and not bother with this pesky "real world" character building stuff. Maybe I just haven't found my niche yet. I've been doing my current job for two years in January, which is pretty good considering that it was only supposed to last two months. I really like the work, but the well is running dry, and they don't need me anymore. As understandable as that may be, it still bruises the ego. And, to top it all off, it's Christmas time. I'm looking at an uncertain future after the first of the year, and this is a time of the year I'm supposed to have hope, or at least a reasonable facsimile. I am hopeful, at least marginally, but there's always that tinge of doubt in my belly that's hard to shake. Part of me struggles with the manliness of having my wife be the sole provider again, and leaving me to do the home chores. The chores I don't mind, but it's still hard to not feel a little emasculated. Don't get me wrong - Michelle is taking this better than most. I'm glad she hasn't kicked my unemployed butt to the curb. I want to get a new job, but right now I just can't focus on it. I have all next week off, and I'm going to focus on spending it with my son - who has no day care all week. Jobs can wait - time with your three year old can't. He's only three once. But the nose is going to remain to the grindstone, and here's hoping it pays off, eventually. It's hard to sell yourself when your only degree is in life experience. I'm not going to focus on it. This weekend is the first in a long time that Michelle, Josiah and I have absolutely no plans for three whole days. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. And I'm going to take advantage of that. I'm going to love time with them, enjoy being with them, and do the best job I could ever have, being a husband and a father. Financially gainful? No. But who cares? I don't.

Quote of the Day

"It doesn't do to fight with God - He always wins.....He bloodies your nose and then gives you a ride home on your bike." ~ Rich Mullins

A Man Can Dream, Can't he?

In under a month, I'll be unemployed. Wonderful....

Somewhat Daily Celebrity Interview #1

My first ever celebrity was in studio today for a special interview. Fun was had by all!

Alright, I might've cheated on this one...

Which member of the JLA are you? Batman Losing his parents to a tragic mugging, Bruce Wayne took a vow to wage a one man war on crime. Using the image of the bat to strike fear into criminals, he dons the guise of the Dark Knight after the sun sets. A genius detective and scientist he is a valuable member to the League even without powers Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests. I'll admit it, I kind've knew what answers to give so I'd be Batman. I'd love to be Batman not for the tragedy involved, but for the fact that he kicks butt and takes name. He's tougher than Superman, and he's not even Super. Batman rules. So I figured out which would best match Bats and not myself to get this answer. I was happy to do so, and it was cool. Who am I? I'm Batman. :)

Potty Mouth

Tonight I went to get the oil changed in the car, leaving Michelle to tend to Josiah. She called me up before I came home, and the conversation went like this: Michelle: Somebody pooped in the potty! Me: Oops...I could've swore I flushed. The joys of potty training are great fodder for my blog and my budding yet non-existent Stand Up Comedy Career.

Ephiphany in the Bathroom

It's hard to focus at work. The office I'm at today is really warm, so I went to the hallway to get a fresh breath and to use the bathroom. After I finished doing my business, I stood for a moment, staring at myself in the mirror. My face is pale, and the blue tone of the fluorescents does nothing to help that. And it's there that I realize I'm slowly losing my mind. Either that, or even good looking people look like crap under fluorescents. Regardless, it's still hard to focus at work. Soundtrack: Weezer and the Rentals, with a Dash of U2 for good measure.

Tidbits

Given the bizarre track my life has taken over the past two weeks or so, I haven't really put together any one idea for a "good" blog entry. So here's some scraps that I never got around too. Survivor I almost gave up on this season - with a steady progression of predictable votes, I thought the ending was obvious. However, with a few key twists and the collapse of what appeared to be strong alliances, the show got interesting for the final four episodes. And the winner, Chris Daugherty, was who I picked way back in the first episode. The next installment looks like a very cool setting. But with 20 Players? That's a lot of mediawhores to deal with. I'll give it some time. Adam Again, We Hardly Knew Ye I'm am still, five years later, completely bummed that Gene Eugene is dead. I'm listening to Perfecta while I write this, and it's probably, for lack of a better term, the perfect rock album. It starts of rocking, finds it's voice in the middle and builds to an amazing finale of five killer songs. Who isn't moved by "Every Mothers Way", and it's solemn description of matronly love and sacrifice? Who can't sense Gene's tender but oft-confused relationship with Christ in "What's Your Name?" Who doesn't feel the soft vulnerabilty in "Unfunny"? Who else hasn't been frustrated enough to feel the sentiment echoed in "Try Not To Try"? And, who doesn't find it ironic that tears are your only option while listening to the closer, "Don't Cry"? Sadly, this album got little if any push from record labels and has ended up in more than a few $2 bins. The chances of a reissue are slim to none, so if you can't find it want to hear it, let me know. You're missing out. The Fantastic Four Movie I really wanted to rant about the F4 movie, but given my limited knowledge of the comic franchise that inspired it, I'll leave it as a tidbit. Michael Chiklis as The Thing: What? The guy who was the Commish and is now on The Shield is playing Ben Grimm? Gimme a break. The Makeup even sucks. Jessica Alba as Sue Storm: Ugh. She was supposed to be Electra, dangit - ELECTRA!! She's not even a natural blonde. Kate Bosworth would've been waaaaaaay better. Chris Evans and Ioan Grifford as The Human Torch and Mr. Fantastic, respectively: Who? This movie is going to do the impossible - Suck AND Blow. (kudos to Bart Simpson for that particular insult) Fantasy Football I've squeaked by in weak 14 to hold onto my tenuous lead in the WNYFL. With a record of 11 and 3, I'm looking at getting crushed in Week 15 by the Hilton Visigoths, coached by my cousin Mike. 'S Okay - Peyton Manning really carried my team, and having Terrell Owens didn't hurt either. Christmas Can't believe Christmas is in less than two weeks. All I have left to buy Michelle is a few stocking stuffers (candy and stuff like that). Thank God - I was at Media Play today and the atmosphere in any retail location around now is cold and heartless. ........ So there you have it...tidbits from me. I would've put more effort in, but, ya know...blame it on the rain. Milli Vanilli did, and look where it got them. Never mind. Soundtrack: Adam Again - Perfecta

Glory from the Mundane

To the untrained eye, my life would appear quite boring. Okay, yeah, it's boring. Can't deny the obvious. Sorta like avoiding the elephant in the middle of the living room. The truth is, I haven't done much to get the creative juices flowing this week. I haven't seen anything that even remotely inspired me to blog this week. And I owe both of you that read this better than that. Sure, I've had a few things happen this week, but due to my desire to keep my personal life and its exposure on the web limited, I won't be able to go into details. And that sucks, since it would make a great story. Sorry, I'll stop rubbing it in. Trust me, going through it is hard enough. Basically this week was: Monday: Can't tell you about it. It was a long drive, a long day, and when I finally got home, I spent the evening putting Josiah to bed and reading The Stand. Tuesday: Got our Christmas Cards set up at Sam's Club. If you want one, e-mail me your snail mail address. Wednesday: Picked up said Christmas Cards, only to find an error that I made while putting them together. Thankfully, the clerk said she'd reprint them at no charge to me, and have them ready in thirty minutes. So Josiah and I hung out in the video game aisle, where he proceeded to play a racing game on the X-Box and I played Mario Tennis on the Gamecube. I'll admit though, I did take some time to drool over a few of their DVD sets while waiting too. Thursday: Can't talk about that much either. But, I did clean off my work bench in the basement for the first time since moving here. Some of my boxes (mainly the ones containing all of my student films from college) made it onto a shelf. Now I just need to find something to work on on said work bench. I did get to watch Survivor, and that was pretty cool. I put a few things for sale on EBay. Friday: Went to a training session for clients at work. Received a "We Couldn't Have Done It Without You" Award. Worked on stuff for the Teen Center. Went shopping for the Teen Center. Went to the Teen Center. Found out three of the seven items I have on EBay sold. I've made almost 41 bucks so far. Saturday: Cleaned the house. Hosted our church service here. Our church, which is home-based for now, went awesome. I drank too much coffee too late, so now I'm up at close to three a.m. on Sunday blogging. I have to babysit my pastor's baby daughter (she's 4 months or so) so my wife and our Pastor's wife can take a girl we know shopping tomorrow. So needless to say, no blogging fodder this week. I'll try better next week. I promise. Soundtrack: Common Children - Delicate Fade, The Rentals Return of the Rentals

Merry X-Mas?

Tonight my favorite Christmas special is on - A Charlie Brown Christmas. It's still one of the most widely acclaimed and universally adored holiday specials of all time. I guess it's because there's a little bit of Charlie Brown in all of us, right? As a kid, I simply loved A Charlie Brown Christmas because of the antics of Snoopy. The deeper meaning of the holiday was there, but it wasn't the first thing I noticed about it. In fact, A Charlie Brown Christmas is the only real "classic" Christmas special that has the true meaning of Christmas at its core. And I think that's just plain cool. But still, there's attempts by the secularists in society to remove all references of Christ from the holiday. No public nativity scenes. No Christmas Carols at "Winter" or "Holiday" Concerts in school. And now, no "Merry Christmas". Yep, Macy's in New York, of Thanksgiving Parade fame has requested that its employees say "Happy Holidays" to their customers instead of the, socially acceptable until now "Merry Christmas". Why? Because they'd rather not offend their clientele. Offend their clientele? I haven't seen a good number of Jews or Muslims or Atheists object to "Merry Christmas". In fact, I haven't read about any complaints of this nature. Why is something considered offensive when it's never been referred to as offensive? When I was a school photographer, I noticed in a lot of schools around this time displays for Hannukah, Kwanzaa, and even Rahmadan. Nobody seems to have a problem with the kids learning about these holidays, and their origins. But tell a kid about the true story of Christmas in a public school? Expect certain outcry. Or should we not? Why is Christmas so offensive? Why can my child, should he go to public school, have to learn about Kwanzaa, Rahmadan, and Hannukah, when he doesn't celebrate them? Why can he not share with his classmates about his Holiday, his beliefs? Notice the slow removal of Christmas in the vocabulary of advertisers, replacing it with Holiday. Look at the "accept all at all costs" nature of most kids "holiday" specials being produced today. At least we still have Linus' beautiful explanation of our holiday, our Saviors birth, in A Charlie Brown Christmas. Well, for now.

Reading

I've always loved reading. Growing up, my mom would constantly order new books from the Scholastic Book Order pamphlets my school would send home with me, pushing me off to school on the day the order was due with a pocket full of whatever loose change and dollar bills she could scrape up so I could get another one of those "Choose your Own Adventure" books, or a book about wrestling. If it had words, I would read it. And now, here I am, with a room full of books, some I've read, some I intend to read, some I started and never finished. Some are serious, some our scary and some our humorous. Contrary to popular belief, I don't only read comics, but hey, I've got a few of those too. It's hard, sometimes, to sit down and read a book, when important stuff like my wife and son require my attention, or mundane distractions like television, DVD's, the Internet or the X-Box seemed to call my name almost audibly. It's easier to watch pretty images moving on the screen than have to form the words on the page in my head and cohesively put them together to form a sentence. More often than not, I give in to the idea of convenience and put the book I want to read down. When I do read, it's even worse. I have a bunch of theological-type books that I want to read (mostly by Buechner, Manning or Lewis) but they require work too. A lot of the time I'd rather not have to think too hard about what I'm reading. I'd rather entertain myself with delightful imagery of people with the superflu in Stephen Kings The Stand than, say, ponder the depth of Christ's call to self sacrifice in Brendan Mannings The Ragamuffin Gospel. Is this wrong? I'm not sure. I used to have a policy - one fiction, than one non-fiction, so forth and so on. I try to read my Bible more often, but even that proves to be more of an observation of religious duty than actually getting into the Word of God. Some might say I'm in a bit of a rut. Personally, I don't think I'm in too much of a rut, but I do find God in things most people don't - like movies and secular fiction. I used to love reading the Bible, but it's gotten kind of hard lately. With the onset of winter, I'm more compelled to read -- I'm not sure if it's the desire for hot drinks (I'm strictly a cold weather coffee drinker) or the inability to stand outside for too long. But I'm reading more. I just finished reading the final book in Stephen King's Dark Tower series (with an ending that, might I add, is something I have yet to come to terms with) and in the past three days I've read 150 pages of The Stand (my third time through it in the past twelve or so years.) I'd like to be a little more literary, but hey, that's too hard. Any suggestions, my faithful readers? Who should I read? Any titles come to mind? Anything not too heady or boring that a dumb guy like myself could actually be entertained? Feel free to post your thoughts in the comments section. (And, if you can, use the Blogger Comments, not the Haloscan ones. Haloscan sucks. You can still post anonymously in the blogger comments, should you so desire.)