Bill Pullman = The Man

Good morning. In less than an hour, aircraft from here will join others from around the world. And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind. “Mankind.” That word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can’t be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. Perhaps it’s fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom… Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution… but from annihilation. We are fighting for our right to live. To exist. And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day the world declared in one voice: “We will not go quietly into the night!” We will not vanish without a fight! We’re going to live on! We’re going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day!
[crowd cheers]

 

This has nothing to do with anything, but I wanted to share it with you because:

1) It is awesome.

2) I don't have the mental energy to post anything original.

3) I want to post something.

4) It is so awesome.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to you all!  I'm still recovering a bit from the all-nighter with the Youth Group but it went well.  We broke a window in the main sanctuary part of the church building...so that's cool.  I'm a bit bummed because I lost my mp3 player, the awesome SanDisk Sansa e280, which I just received in September as a birthday gift.  I'm hoping it will turn up soon but I'm not going to hold my breath.

I hope to be posting some actual content up here soon, and should have some big news next week that I can finally talk about publicly.  For now, I leave you with this link to a new blog, the io9 blog.  It's a blog on just about all things geeky, from sci-fi to science to random info to whatever else.  In looking at its first few days of posting I am pretty encouraged by just about everything I see.  Plus it has an interview with Jack Coleman, better known as the "Horn Rimmed Glasses" man from Heroes, Noah Bennett.  He is by far my favorite Heroes character.  His character wasn't even supposed to be a big part of the show initially but Coleman did such an awesome job he became a bigger part of things.

This is Sparta! (or not)

I went to see 300 today with my father-in-law. It's the first movie I've seen on release day since Belle was born. The movie is unabashedly gory and not particularly insightful or thoughtful. It wasn't meant to be. It's basically eye candy for that brutish part of men that likes large dramatic battles and defiance against all odds. It taps into that part of us that admires sacrifice and a willingness to lay down one's life for others. There are some brief speeches about freedom and whatnot, but the movie doesn't pretend to be much other than what it is - an adaptation of a graphic novel story about a bloody battle. It was very clearly a comic book adaptation - and it had excellent cinematography. The movie marketers didn't even both with the whole "based on true events" angle, nor did they include those epilogues that talk about how the wonderful characters in the movie made the world a better place in the end. The movie makes no pretensions at being actual history.

Still, some people see fit to criticize 300 because of its lack of historical accuracy or deep dialogue. One review, which I have forgotten the location of, actually suggested there was some racist overtones in the fact that the Greeks are white and the Persians (badguys) are brown and black. Please, people. Can we just enjoy a mindless/dramatic action movie for what it is and not be pompous and demand complete historical accuracy from our entertainment? Seriously, some critics need to get a grip on themselves. If a movie doesn't claim to be historically accurate then we can't criticize it for not being so. If people are dumb enough to accept it as history it's not the fault of the story, it's the fault of the people. And calling the movie racist? Critics are some of the most self-righteous, self-important, snobby people. So often I read reviews that rather are laments about how the movie wasn't good enough for the magnificent critic. And I'm a history buff, I love history, I was a history major. I can still appreciate a movie like this for what it is.

Anyway, for what it is, I think 300 was pretty sweet.

Schadenfreude

Schadenfreude is a term meaning "pleasure taken from someone else's misfortune."  It's that feeling you get when you see someone on a high moral horse get brough low, or that warm fuzzy feeling when you see a terribly rude driver miss their exit.  It's that satisfaction you get with yourself when you see someone and think "wow, I'm pretty normal."  It's also the feeling that drives the success of American Idol's initial episodes.  Everyone loves the first episodes because there are so many people there who are completely awful singers or completely deluded.  All sorts of people who are clueless in all sorts of ways - whether it's social skills or fashion sense we are brought face to face with a parade of people to laugh at.

 Sometimes these people need to be set straight, and Simon is good at that.  Some are unduly arrogant and really do need to be told they aren't good singers or performers.  You don't do someone any favors if you keep giving them the false notion that they an have success when it comes to a singing career.  Sometimes, however, the people are on there simply so we can marvel and laugh at how ugly/dumb/foolish/terrible/socially awkward they are.  Last season was the first season I kept track of (since we got DVR) and so far there have been a couple episodes this season.

More than ever before I find myself feeling a little guilty for laughing or wanting to laugh at some of these people.  And while I often appreciate the way Simon bluntly informs people they need to pursue other career paths, he often takes the opportunity to completely shame and insult people.  And of course that's on the show not so we can hate Simon but rather so we can laugh.  This last episode in Seattle had Simon telling one guy that he was "very odd looking" and that he looked "like one of those creatures from the jungle."

As someone who claims that every person is valuable and who wants to follow Christ's command to love others and accept those the rest of the world doesn't accept, I find myself a little conflicted when I watch the show.  Some of the people are obviously going for a laugh, but others are just clueless about their situation.  They are purposely let through the process to see Simon, Paula, and Randy so we can laugh at them.  I'm not condemning the show or anything but I'm trying to remember these are actual, real people, not just characters.  And if I make a habit of laughing at people who are different then it's not really going to help me as I go through life and encounter people like that.  What do they need?  Not to be laughed at but rather to be loved, accepted, encouraged, etc.  So thank you American Idol for reminding me what a jerk I can be sometimes.

Finally as an aside...in a culture where "tolerance" and "acceptance" and "not judging" are considered the only truly right/moral things, I find it curious that the most popular episodes of the most popular show are the ones where we laugh at people for being different.

Steven Colbert on the Democrats and Iraq

This video will no longer play after 1/30 so watch it while you can. It's a segment from the Colbert Report that I found highly entertaining. Colbert can be accused of being overly critical of Republicans but supporting Democrats, but in this segment he rather roundly slams the Democrats for their Iraq stance, especially since they've been elected into power. He expresses his displeasure with their lack of willingness to do anything but talk and criticize. Of course he still takes his shots at Bush and Republicans. I'm not a Democrat hater or Republican lover but I think this is hilarious nonetheless and in my opinion has to ring true to anybody not just towing the party line.

The Jack Bauer Power Hour

24 has returned with tonight being the second of a "two night premiere EVENT!"  If you haven't yet watched the episode(s), read further at your own risk.  Jack's inaugural kill for the season was a memorable one, hearkening back to his early days as an actor.  I'm also enjoying the fact that he's running around with Alexander Siddig, who played Dr. Bashir on DS9.  Siddig looks tougher than usual, what with the scruffy salt-and-pepper beard, the the penchant for jabbing knives into the kneecaps of traitorous henchmen.  

Last season was criticized by some for having too many Iraq parallels in the storyline.  24 deals with terrorism and all that, the kind of thing that plays a center stage in the world and political events these days.  I appreciate the way the show seems to avoid oversimplifying the issue...of course it's easy to avoid oversimplifying when you have Jack Bauer to save the world.  So we can't take 24's "political discourse" too seriously.  It would be nice if watching shows like this increased the public discourse on the events it portrays.  For example, if people got educated on international terrorism and global politics because of 24 that would be great and we could pretend it was making our society better.  Of course what we're all really looking for is for Jack Bauer to crack a few skulls while occasionally looking tortured and conflicted.

Of course there are still things we can take from the show, and when something is this popular in culture it is communicating something that people are hearing.  So as with anything I think it's important to think a little bit about the implications of the things that happen.

bsg - the resistance

If you haven't heard of Battlestar Galactica, you should really check it out. It's a series on the Sci-Fi channel and on October 6th the 3rd season premieres. I suggest you check out the DVDs in order because it's one of those shows that actually has a continuing storyline. If you see what's going on in a later episode it'll spoil the awesomeness of the earlier ones for you.

If you are a Battlestar fan, then make sure you are checking the website every Tuesday and Thursday until the season premiere. They're showing "webisodes" of a few minutes each, which will lead into the premiere. I get the feeling that Tigh is going to become a lot more hardcore this season. Like Jack Bristow. In the previews for season 3 people keep saying "you don't do some things Colonel Tigh, even in war." You do if you wanna beat the toasters, you cylon-sympathizers!