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This weekend, the wife and I took in a movie. Due to scheduling, we had to wait until 9:55 PM to see this puppy. The lines, even for the late showing, were overwhelming… starting in the front lobby, curling around all the way to the side exit, and doubling back all the way to the lobby… Listen, i know a few of you guys live in a town of about 3000 and your biggest theater has three screens or something… This theater has 18 screens, most of which are of the largest variety available. These people were absolutely insane, waiting in those kind of lines for a freakin’ comic book movie!

We, on the other hand, are civilized and proper. Waiting in NO lines to enhance our lives and see something worth the price of admission… Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (okay, really it had nothing to do with how hoity toity we are, we were paying to watch it for school… but still, c’mon now).

Lets get serious for a minute… We rarely go to a movie, unless its at the dollar theater (which has 15 screens), largely due to the price of admission. But with Expelled, it was well worth it if only to show support in the box office numbers.

Most of you probably know a little of what it is about… The tension in the scientific world between neo-Darwinists / Evolutionists and those who support Intelligent Design (henceforth “ID”). Supposedly the story behind this is that Stein (well-known intelligent Jew who supports ID) heard of a scientist working at the Smithsonian losing his position for the slightest positive mention of Stephen C Meyer (Christian ID proponent, author, etc) and a small implication that ID may have some merit. The first thirty minutes of the film follow similar stories (with immense quickness) to show that this is indeed not an isolated event. I’ve gotta be honest with you… it was interesting, but just seemed like more of the same old tired “evolutionists vs creationists” debate only changing the players to “neo-Darwinists vs Intelligent Designists”…  eh… it was neat to see Richard Dawkins interviewed and hear some of the conflicting views, but so far I wasn’t entrenched in the story…

Then IT happened. You know that point in a film, fiction or not, where your head says “wait a minute… this changes EVERYTHING!” But it doesn’t stop with your head… your heart kinda skips a beat and your gut starts twisting in knots…  And you can see it in Stein’s face as well. Up to this point, it looked scripted all the way around, but out of nowhere you, the audience and Stein realize that this has nothing to do with Science and everything to do with world-views. …

Sounds too obvious to be the “IT,” doesn’t it?…

But it changes everything and takes Stein on a completely different gut-wrenching, hand-sweating, disgusting path, climaxing with a head-to-head with Dawkins, world-renowned atheist, hater of all things religious, and maybe one of the most influential people of our time (behind the scenes and through his books)… It may be one of the most beautiful interviews in a documentary I’ve ever seen…

Sure, Stein wants ID to win, but it’s not Stein who says the ridiculous things that Dawkins and other neo-Darwinists say. They shoot themselves in the foot, over and over and over again. Dawkins isn’t even the craziest one of the bunch, he just has the loudest voice in our society…

(i’m leaving a great deal out so as not to play spoiler, but at some point, i’d love to discuss it) …

So, boycott the long lines at Iron Man, and take in Expelled. It’s beyond worth it. When the DVD comes out, buy it… Do everything you can to help Stein tear down the walls… society will be in better shape for it…

Popularity: 34% [?]

Category : Culture, Current Events, Empyreal, Movies, Reviews

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Somewhere along the line, I got all social justice on your rears. I would love to apologize… I know its not the American way, I know its not mainstream, heck, it may not even be culturally relevant. But it’s certainly Love relevant… not mushy-love, not reese’s-oh-so-good-peanut-butter-cup-love, but “most excellent way” kinda love. I’m not sure why it happened, or how it happened so quickly. I guess somewhere down the line Jon Foreman echoed in my soul:

This ain’t my American Dream / I want to live and die for bigger things
Tired of fighting for just me / This ain’t my American dream
  - American Dream by Switchfoot

So it is with this backdrop and seemingly sudden change that I was drawn to a book entitled “Nobodies: Modern American Slavery and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy” (on an aside, why does every book have to have a huge subtitle? It is not helpful in bibliographies).

Slavery, both as we understand it and in its more subtle manifestations still exists in America today. Bowe takes a look at three high-profile cases that essentially affect our every day lives. From the produce grown on the east coast farms (Florida), to the steel used to store our oil (Tulsa), to the clothes on our backs (Saipan), much of what we would consider normal daily living products may only reside on our tables and in our closets because of the forced labor situations in our country. As Bowe points out, the shock and awe of the stories is not in the details of the specific cases he mulls over, but in the fact that our court system is chock-full of similar cases across the nation.

The underlying social theme is that power corrupts and money blinds and none of us are immune to the possible destruction. John uses his own life as example, citing the anger he felt for an employee whom he was having difficulties with. He restrained from abusing the employee, but reflecting on his anger eventually helped him to realize that we all have this corruption within us if the situation and circumstances led us to believe we could get away with it. An unfortunate case in point came to light recently when a family found they had this power over a mentally handicapped woman and ultimately tortured her to death simply to pocket her social security check.

The social side of Nobodies, and certainly an unpopular finding, is that the blatant labor abuse and near slave-labor situations all are contingent on immigrant workers (some illegal, but most with work visas) who do not know their rights and can’t speak enough of the language to learn their rights. The farms have Mexicans who come with the hope of sending anything back to their impoverished family, the steel workers were highly skilled workers from India who had promises of high paying jobs in America, and garment workers in Saipan (a US Commonwealth) were Asian immigrants who were coerced into prostitution. The cases, with the exception of Saipan, are clearly Slave-Labor situations and despite how we feel about foreigners taking our jobs or illegals costing us tax dollars, the fact remains that these people are being abused emotionally and physically all for power and money… The stories told may not change your political views about immigration, closed borders, or the global economy, but it certainly should challenge you to think twice before passing judgement the next time someone who barely speaks English crosses your path.

Beyond the the content of the book, its most redeeming quality lies in Bowe’s fairly unbiased approach to reporting. While his political and underlying social views do make an appearance from time to time, for the most part he simply assimilates, interviews, and reports information. By its very structure, he tends to save his personal views for sections that can be easily skipped, such as the short interludes between sections and the conclusion. The specifics and details of the Florida and Tulsa sections keeps the book rolling along fairly quickly, but it really hits a lull when Bowe gets to Saipan largely due to the fact that he is reporting on an overall acceptance of labor abuse in the commonwealth. In the three years he spends on Saipan, he can site several cases of labor abuse but cannot produce a solid story line of slavery like he does with the previous two sections.

I recommend this book to all, even if you choose to skip the political/social sections and focus only on the introduction, Florida and Tulsa. It is not a ground shaking spiritual book; at times Bowe comes across as if he does not trust religion at all. But a look into the lives of those we generally forget about or snarl our nose at may help us find a bit of perspective that will soften our judgementalism. I know it certainly softened mine.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Category : Books, Culture, Reviews

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It was nice to have a second PMDN (Poor Man’s Date Night) this week as the kids spent the night with the Mimi. We decided to finish up the original Die Hard trilogy in one fail swoop. I’ll start with DH2:Die Harder (1990).

A lot of people were telling me this was better than the original, and I have to disagree. Don’t get me wrong, I liked it a lot. Instead of telling why I liked it, lets talk about why I’ll take DH over DH2.

1) John McClane is more authentic every-man in the first as opposed to having a true hero “Cowboy” mentality in the second. Both are situations of desperation that he is thrust into, but he is a much more unwilling participant in the first one. In DH2, he forces himself into the situation and is more than willing to get involved. Both work for his character, I just prefer the attitude he had in the first.

2) The story line suffers quite a bit. I’m not necessarily one of those “realists” that doesn’t like a little poetic license in movies… give me ridiculous action and “that could never happen” moments. I enjoy them. But to me there were just too many things that didn’t make logical sense… seriously, I could list a very large handful.  No one in their right mind would make some of the decisions that the good guys in this movie were making. To top it off, I’d say it was fairly predictable.

3) William Sadler is not nude in the first one. And that’s a good thing.

Quickly, I’ll say despite these three things, i’d still give it about a 7 out of 10…  or 3.5 out of 5… or 1.4 thumbs up (out of 2) for its sheer entertainment value.

Now onto DH:With a Vengence (1995).

There’s really not much to say other than it is not near as good as either of the others. The riddles were cute and the bad guy was pretty clever, but the story line really began to suffer in this one. “Hey Zues” was a great character (Sam L Jackson) and their is a good deal more humor in this offering, but I just couldn’t connect what was going on with any sort of reality. I HATED the character John McClane became during the 5 year hiatus; not his bad-assness (which was still there), but the fact that his life had fallen apart. I much prefered the John McClane in DH that you could sense wanted to make things right with his wife; and I really liked the McClane in DH2 that genuinely loved his wife. What happened to that guy? So, bottom line, enjoyed the action, enjoyed the relationship between McClane and Zues, but can’t put it above 3 stars, teetering on 2.5.

So, there you have it… i’m much more cultured now. Looking forward to Live Free or Die Hard at some point.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Category : Culture, Current Events, Family, Movies, PMDN, Reviews

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Die Hard (1988) 

So I was at Sam’s Club and saw the Die Hard trilogy on sale for $16… All three $16. Can’t go wrong there. I’ve never seen them, but Bruce Willis is the man and I’ve heard nothing but good… I’m a sucker for action anyway.

Let me just say… the first installment did not disappoint at all. From the early humorous exchange between John McClane and Argyle the Limo Driver all the way to the final credits… well, the bad guy coming out at the end was a bit cliche, but i wasn’t paying attention to that sort of thing in 1988, so maybe this was not cliche back then.

And it was actually pretty intelligently written overall. Some action flicks turn out to be so ridiculous that its all about the action and the plot / story suffers, but the script holds its own in this case… Now, judging from the previews of 4.0 i’m not sure how long this trend will continue as I catch up with series.

With the first watch, i’m going to definitely have to give this a 4.5 out of 5. The bad guy at the end just knocked it down a notch.

Yippee-ki-yay

Popularity: 17% [?]

Category : Culture, Current Events, Movies, PMDN, Reviews

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Well, i dunno… maybe not, but their “Briatian’s Got Talent” is far better than our “America’s Got Talent” for a few of reasons.

1.) The Judges: With the exception of Pierce, America’s judges are a joke.  Britain’s: Simon (you know him from American Idol - always greatness), Pierce (the same Pierce here), and some extremely hot British chick named Amanda who also seems very nice (so nice in fact, if i were single and in Britain I might fancy a date or two with her… for her personality that is… and i’m sure she loves Jesus… being so nice and all).

2.) The hosts are likable and have a good chemistry with each other and the contestants. Springer… not so much

3.) The contestants actually have talent… even the ones that don’t get through: Granny Raps

4.) But especially the ones that DO get through (watch this, especially parents, you wont be disappointed): Connie Sings

For some reason I can’t get these to embed, but enjoy them anyway.

Technorati Tags: Britian’s Got Talent, America’s Got Talent, Simon, Pierce, Hot British Chick Named Amanda That is on TV and probably loves Jesus

Popularity: 7% [?]

Category : Culture, Music, Reviews

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I’m not sure why this guy gets as little notice as he does; I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every piece of music he’s put out and he nearly single-handily showed the world you can mix worship with energy, passion and a bit of rock when he released Sonic Flood’s first album, literally paving the way for the likes of Crowder, Hillsong United, etc to make their mark with mainstream modern worship. (okay, so that’s a pretty bold statement, but at least partially true)

Unveil is a great album that follows suit of everything else he has put out. While his style and musicianship hasn’t really changed since his Sonic Flood days, the album still feels fresh and delectable. The building blocks of Deyo’s music has never really been the aforementioned passion and energy, rather it’s the heart behind the music and lyrics. He finds ways to keep it simple and authentic without too much lyrical cliche (though he doesn’t completely get out of this trap) –one of my main turn offs to the likes United is that while they may have fairly profound lyrics, they are often wordy and difficult to fit into a worship set.

Thematically the songs flow quite nicely together. This is one of the few albums around today can be played straight through (as most worship albums can be), but most songs are also strong enough to stand on their own in a mix.

Worship albums get different categories than standard albums…

Worship Service Worthy:
So In Awe
Unveil
More In Love (fav from the album)
You Are God

Please Don’t Play These In Service:
I Forever Love Your Name (nice riff, but this is one that does feel cliche)
Glory (although take away all the production aspects of this, and i’m sure all you Tomlin fans would like this one.)

Bottom Line: This will get plenty of play in my worship mix and a few will definitely make the workout mix. 7 out of 10

Popularity: 4% [?]

Category : Music, Reviews

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The action sequences are pretty sweet, the story line is a bit “eh,” the love story is pretty lame / ridiculous, and there is plenty of cheese to go around. But…

The best way to judge any part of a trilogy / series is to imagine them strung together as one long movie. If its seamless, then how you feel about one should be how you feel about the others.

So, what’s up with all the bad reviews and smack talk on this movie?

It fits perfectly with the first two…

Seriously, the movies entertain me, but I cannot understand why the first two movies would get unmerited rave reviews and this one gets unmerited bad reviews. It’s Spiderman for gosh sakes! The acting has been mediocre, the bad guys have spewed cheesy lines, and the love story has lacked real emotion all from the inception.

So, cut #3 some slack. It entertains at the same level of the other two. And Emo Peter Parker is funnier than people give him credit for.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Category : Culture, Eh... Whatever, Movies, Reviews

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The wife and I have designated Wed night as our “Poor Man’s Date Night.” Basically it’s a night just for us, after the kids go to bed… no working out, no church duties, no practicing guitar, and probably no 360 (dang).  This is night we generally use to watch one of our Blockbuster Online movies. We do the cheapy plan: One out at a time. This week:

A History of Violence (2005)
One of the very few pitfalls of online rental is the occasional memory lapse that your Q needs to be updated. We don’t get to see a lot in the theaters, so we should be updating it on a regular basis, but we don’t. Every now-and-again we’ll spend a good hour just rummaging through the available titles looking for possible gems we might have missed based on actors / directors we generally like… movies that got little play in theaters and were undermarketed. This is how we came across A History of Violence, starring Viggo Mortenson and Ed Harris… We like Viggo, my wife throws this on the Q months ago, suddenly it’s at our door due to lack of Q updating.

Anytime you start a review by stating “This is a 90 minute movie that seemed to last about 180″ you know something is wrong, but that is exactly what this felt like.  Sometimes a slow movie can still hold your interest, and this one did for about 20 minutes… or maybe it was 40… i’m not sure, it’s hard to convert actual minutes into “History” minutes.

After the initial set up, the plot twists are not really twists… more like straight dead end roads that are so predictably insipid my 1st grader could’ve seen them coming a mile away. About the only shocking moments in this movie is the sudden aggressive and violent sex scene that really doesn’t even fit… (hindsight suggest this isn’t too surprising as the director has at least one NC-17 movie on his resume along with a bunch of other ridiculously stupid movies). 

From a cultural and spiritual perspective, there is very little redeeming quality at all, only a glimpse of a daughter’s (roughly age 8) unconditional love and acceptance for her father when his spouse and older son have distanced themselves. Even still, you get the impression that it is less love and more naivety that drives the acceptance.

Bottom Line: Ignore the 7.5 out of 10 given on IMDB. This is a 3 / 10 at best.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Category : Culture, Movies, PMDN, Reviews

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