Marking Time

Need to write something to keep my resolve up for blogging. Also, if I don't, I open myself up to charges of hypocrisy from my pal Alex, who has apparently forgotten his blogger.com password. :)

Nothing happened today.

No awesome or brilliant insights came to me.

Didn't even think of something funny to say.

But I've written six sentences.

Casting Wisdom from the Peanut Gallery

Okay, now that Return of the King is out (I need to see it about a dozen more times in the theaters), it's time to turn my eye towards future movies. Punisher as link looks good, Spider-Man 2 as link is a shoe in for great flick, Episode III . . .eh, well, the FX will look nice.

Christopher Nolan's Batman. Nolan's not going to go the way of Joel Schumacher--that's almost a guarantee. I also doubt he'll let himself get carried away as Burton did in Returns and came close to doing with Batman.

According to a story on Superhero Hype! today, the cast is coming together and they provided a listing.

The cast are
Christian Bale as Batman (I have great hope!)
Michael Caine as Alfred (eh, not to shabby)
Judson Caspian as Viggo Mortensen (oh ho! this could be good! But I figured him for older)
Cillian Murphy as Harvey Dent (no clue about this dude)
Katie Holmes as Rachel Caspian (this makes me very nervous)
Chris Cooper as Gordon (imdb has about a dozen Coopers, so I don't know what I think of this one)
Elle Fanning as Barbara (she's just a kid--as long as she ain't Jake Lloyd, I'm not going to complain)

SHH also stated they were looking for two villains and will have the casting on that done soon. Now, why, why, why are they going with two villains? Learn from history!!
Batman--best of the series--1 villain, played very well, developed very well.
Batman Returns--not bad--1.5 villains (Catwoman didn't really count long term), both pretty well developed, both played very well.
Batman Forever--2 villains, neither played or developed well. Batman & Robin--2.5 villains (Bane was really more of a henchman), half-developed, played like a joke.

What lesson is there in all this? One hero + One bad guy=One good movie. Anything more than that and you don't have the time to deal well with the material. X2 had too many people in the movie and we didn't get as much as we all wanted with all the characters--it hurt the film (granted, still a good movie, but parts felt weak). Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2? One villain. See, they know!

Common Thread?

:) If you look to your left at the "At The Moment" box, you'll see I'm reading 2 books: The Path of True Godliness by Willem Teellinck and How to Be Good by Nick Hornby.

If you look at the titles, you might be tempted to think I'm reading two books on the same theme. I assure you, nothing could be further from the truth.

A Month and A Half Later . . .

Okay, new template, new commitment to blogging.

How long you give this try? Me, 3 weeks tops.

I'm pretty excited about the new Punisher movie--far more than the Lundgren travesty, for sure.
But when I saw this picture . . . wow. Could you ask for something more perfect?

Mad Harry Rackham is my pirate name. What's yours?

eh, what's a month between friends, right?

Krispy Kreme opened up its first Idaho store this week. Dropped by this morning for a couple o' glazed and a very bold cup o' joe.

As Homer says, "mmmmmmmm, doooo-nuts".

Are they a cure for cancer, manna from heaven, the end-all of civilization? Nope. Are they the greatest taste-sensation on the planet? Nope. But are they a bleepin' good doughnut? Ohh yeah.

And sometimes that's as good as it gets.

I'm trying--trying really, really hard--to get excited about the next Star Wars movie. Can't seem to care about it much. I know I'm much more excited about the DVD release about The Two Towers than I am the big-screen release of Episode III.

Opus is coming back!

According to Ain't It Cool News--Opus is back on the funny pages soon (this may be enough to drive me to get a newspaper subscription). And in a movie--that could be good, or bad. Not sure what yet.

WHOA! 2 WHOLE MONTHS!!!!!!! Man . . .

Anyway, this was too funny:

The Romans wore socks with their sandals . . .

Just listened to some of Steve Burns' upcoming album. Not bad . .. not ohmigosh great, but it'd be fun to have in the CD player from time to time. Good driving tunes.

Poor guy is going to have a hard time climbing out from under his Blue's Clues rep, tho.

A copy 'n paste from Amazon:

Customers who bought titles by Steve Burns also bought titles by these artists:

* The Wiggles
* Bear in the Big Blue House
* Sesame Street
* Veggie Tales
* Carly Simon

This is just strange for a parent o' toddlers to see. Blue's old pal, Steve, is a rocker.

Hope he makes it.

David Wells v. Pedro Martinez. My favorite v. one of the greatest. Yankees v. Red Sox.

Better be on cable . . . . .

My, my, my--been awhile, eh?

Job is safe, finally, the boredom will soon be past, more finally.

Designing a new website, helping a friend polish off a couple of others, maybe start another one soon. Which is terribly exciting . . .

Hey, what I said on July 1 about being bored at work? Heh . . . it was nothing compared to today. Man . . . wish monster.com had something for me. . . .

I need to print this get it mounted and framed. Read this one folks . . . (all 1.75 of ya)

Tom Glavine's absolutely right

Hmmm . . . maybe I'll start having an easier time finding my favorite shoes

on second thought, yeah, I can.

The OPC's General Assembly is going on right now. There's some stuff in the web report that bothers me--maybe even troubles me. I'm quite concerned that the votes on the first judicial appeal were so close . . . thought this was such an open and shut thing.

I only hope the bigger, more important appeal goes better. Hope? Pfui. I pray it goes better.

May God have mercy on the OPC.

I am bored, so bored. I didn't remember I could get this bored--especially at work.

There is just NOTHING to do. It's driven me into such a coma-esque state that I can't even think of anything to blather about here.

Hmmm, nice new interface here at blogger.com.

Oh yeah . . . the book. While waiting in a terribly long, and surprisingly fast moving, line I read the first chapter and some change. No don't worry, no spoilers here, I will say it was a very different first chapter than the previous installments.

Now if I can:
(a) find the time to read the book
(b) avoid finding anything out about it until (a) is accomplished

I think I'll have to avoid the 'net for a few days . . .

Well, like so many, many Americans (and Brits and maybe even the Canadians) ) my family was at Barnes & Noble at midnight. Following a church activity, we didn't have time to deposit the kids anywhere, so at 10 o'clock my 4, 3, and 1 yr old come tromping into the Harry Potter party.

Now all my kids know about Harry is that mommy and daddy really like him, and they've seen the trailers for the movies on some of their videos. But they got caught up in all the excitement--the boys got lightning bolts painted on their foreheads, got their picture taken with a cardboard Harry, etc. And all the people dressed up in costumes! Too cool.

It was actually pretty neat--I wish we weren't carrying tired kids around so we could've really gotten into things, but there was a good atmosphere. Okay, I talked to one clerk who was very happy that, unlike The Goblet of Fire she was working on the cash register end--"the happy end"--wherein she was dealing with people who had books. Last time around she had to deal with those ninnies who didn't preorder, and therefore didn't get a book (how insane do you have to be to actually think for a nanosecond that you're going to get a book like this by just walking in from the street with hundreds of crazed fans already in the store?) Oh yeah, I was talking about the nice atmosphere.

All these kids (10-60 in age) assembled to get their hands on a book--to be excited about reading a book. I know, I know this keeps getting brought up as one of the positive things about the series, but it was very satisfying to see this much interest in something that didn't feature CGI.

Anyhow, we had fun--the kids got an interesting experience, and a nap in the van--

and we got the book

Garsh, it seems like the blogger site is working re-e-a-a-a-lly slow today, just hours after The Order of the Phoenix came out, coincidence?

ohhhh boyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyohboyoh. Things are looking better for a Hitchhiker's Guide movie.

Got a stack of about 30 Ministerial Information Forms in the mail today--questionnaires that men seeking a call in the OPC fill out. Man oh man, I remember thinking it tough when I was in Human Resources looking through applications, trying to pick the "better" candidates. Pfui, that was ease with a capital "ease."

Well, our church lost it's pastor last week--off to another call. This was tougher than I'd expected--I figured the 6 months I'd had to get used to the idea would've taken the sting out of it for me, but it didn't. The man was part of every significant thing that happened to me over the last 7 years--he married my wife and I (well, performed the service), bapstised my children, officiated at my ordination, presided at all but 2 of the Lord's Suppers I'd had in that time, and kept me well-fed with sermons week by week.

And then . . . .he's gone.

What makes it worse is that I didn't know how to say anything to him about it all.

Man! Why, oh, why didn't a single cable station carry the game featuring Roger's 300th win (finally!!) & 4000th strikeout?!? Why? Why? Why?

The highlights alone aren't enough.

Course when I relate the story immediately below, the evanjellyfish in the next cubicle responds with, "Doesn't he know you shouldn't judge?"

Wife just called me to relate a kid story before she forgot.

Son #2 hits Son #1. Son #1 turns and says, "You just sinned against me. You broke God's law by commission." Which really impresses the Mrs.

Impresses me, too, but less so than the Mrs., as I know he's just regurgitating a talking-to I gave him last night. Still, he was paying attention--that's good.

watched 7/9 of The Animatrix last night. The animation--fantastic. The stories--eh. A couple of great ones, a couple of lame ones. . . .

Call me Ishmael, er, no Noah, er, um. Just call me all wet.

Here's how things went for me, after weeks of working a little here and there, I devote myself to finishing off my office. I get it perfect (at least for my needs) on Tuesday. Books are in their proper place, toy collection all displayed (some quite creatively), nothing but floor space for kids to play on, me to stretch out on.

And then Thursday, there's a break in an irrigation line, water comes in the window (office in the basement)--right behind my bookshelves. So, after stopping the water, I have to move 1000+ books, and the bookshelves out of the way pronto. Oh, did I mention this was at midnight? No damage done, thankfully.

Now I've got bookshelves on their side, squeezed into a triangle around my office, allowing me only enough room to snake into my deskchair, so we can get the carpet pulled back to dry it and the pad out. Books in stacks everywhere--can't find some (the ones I was wanting to quote from for projects this week, of course). And it's starting to smell--a lot.

blech.

Jeter's going to be the 11th captain for the Yankees--cool.

It's possible my 4 yr. old son might be too into Spiderman (assuming that's possible). I was just surfing the channels and he heard some disembodied voice say the word "responsibility." So he spends the next couple of minutes repeating, "With great power comes great responsibility."

yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! Get to see Reloaded tonight

from Peter David's blog. Great summary of the current state of Smallville.

Let's see:

Girl Reporter: Evil
Jor-El: Evil
Clark Kent: Evil
Lex Luthor: Still Not Evil

This is strangest Superman incarnation.

Quick second to welcome by buddy Alex to the world of blogging!

The Rocket got #299!! Wah-hoo!

Weird Al's new album hits stores today--been waiting for this one, too long, Al. Especially can't wait to hear the parody of Eminem's "Lose Yourself," "Couch Potato"--the only thing Al does better than food jokes are TV jokes

Thaaaank goodness the Yanks broke that streak last night. And what better way to do it than by stomping on the Sox. Looks like an awesome 1st inning--maybe even better for the Yankees mentally than that slugfest against the M's a couple of weeks ago.

Sorry, loyal readers (if you exist)--been terribly busy again. We moved a couple of weeks ago--into a real house, with a real lawn in a real neighborhood. Now I have to do real work to get myself moved in. My wife is, of course, doing more real work to move everyone in.

Well, tonight's the end of the television season for me--and what a way to end it! We get to see just what Clark's destiny is on Smallville (well, we know what his real destiny is, but tonight we find out what it's supposed to be). Then, on Blue, that nasty IAB guy comes after Tony and Andy--hope they do a better job with this than they did with the adoption storyline. Review in a day or two, I hope.

In his excellent article, "The Fear of the Lord in Worship," Herman Hanko sees worship as “the highest expression of God’s covenant of grace with his people.” There is a holy conversation between God and his people in worship—each sharing with one another their lives (this is why perhaps a better term for dialogical principle of worship would be “conversational principle”. ) If Hanko were to state that worship is the “highest expression of God’s covenant with his people,” he might be on safer ground—I can only imagine that Adam, under the covenant of life/works, had a greater degree of conversation in his relationship with God than we do.

It could be said that God is glorified more in our mediated dialogue with Him than He was in Adam’s worship, else He would not have ordained anything else. Perhaps this greater glory comes from our worship being given to Him through the blood of the Lamb. But at this point, I realize I’m quite out of my league and will cease further speculation.

Oh my . . . my eldest son is on the fast-track to nerddom. This week he's become addicted to the X-Men movie (version 1.0, not even 1.5!!)

On the one hand, it's kind of gratifying to see him take an interest in what his pa sees as just plain cool. On the other hand . . . between his obsession with Spidey, Batman, Justice League and now Xavier's gang . . .how is he ever going to get a date? (sure, it happened to his dad, but the nerdishness was in partial remission at the time).

In what won't hopefully be a vain attempt to get back into this thing, I'll just throw in a couple of semi-random baseball thoughts: could anything be more discouraging than Jeter's Opening Day injury (ignore the fact that the NYY are XX games ahead of the Sox at the moment)?
What is up with the Sox whole Bullpen-by-committee thing? It's gotta be killing Pedro that he resigns with these guys who blow every wonderful start he gives them . . . .
Lastly, what happened to the Wonder Twins Schilling/Johnson and the D-backs? Haven't caught a game yet on cable, so I haven't seen 'em in action, but the stats are staggering . . .

man . . . haven't been able to write anything lately--here or elsewhere. Gotta snap out of this

testing . . testing . . did I fix my template problem?

whoa . . . 1,100 people are going to be laid off from Boise's Micron plant. The number is mind-boggling.

It's an all-baseball day apparently . . .

Okay, can we drop the Jeter/Steinbrenner thing now? Puh-leez?

From SportingNews.com:
"The Red Sox had better not mess around and let Pedro Martinez walk as a free agent. They already let future Hall of Famer Roger Clemens walk, and to letting Martinez go would be a crime."

Very well put. I know this, this guy quoted knew it--everyone in America knows it. Question: do the Sox know it? If they let Pedro go (maybe a larger crime than letting Clemens go) it'll prove that The Curse actually exists.

34 days to go . . . .

Finally saw My Big Fat Greek Wedding today . . . can't remember the last time I laughed so hard or so long. Two fully opposable thumbs up, way up.

Hail Lincoln, Full of Grace
"Celebrating Lincoln's birthday requires honesty - that Honest Abe was a real jerk" So says Jamey Bennett--I suspect he may be right.

Hey--Phil's still alive! Welcome back Brain Bullets!

As it's Valentine's Day, I feel obligated to say something. 7 Years and 1 day ago, I was engaged to the most wonderful woman I've ever met. 6 months later we were married, and it's been a great 6.5 years.
Not so great that I can say, "I wouldn't change a thing." There's quite a few things I'd change--I'd be more holy, or at least more consistent in my Christian walk; I'd say/do less stupid things, I'd have her say say/do less stupid things, etc. The one thing I wouldn't change is we've been together for all the less-than-holy, stupid stuff.

It's been Cold Week here--not that it's incredibly chilly outside, but everyone's sick. No energy for blogging, reading much, etc.

wow, this is a red-letter day. It's 5:40 pm and it's the first time I've logged onto the internet . . . can't remember the last day such an event happened.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that we're at Threat Level Orange, after Powell's little Power Point Presentation at the UN, but it still does make you a little nervous. Not about life in Nampa, ID, of course, but nervous for those living in bigger-target areas . . .

I don't know if you, dear reader, have seen this "Rice for Peace" protest thing or not, but
The e-mail starts out like this:
There is a grassroots campaign underway to protest war in Iraq in a simple,
but potentially powerful way.

Place 1 cup uncooked rice in a small plastic bag (a snack-size bag or
sandwich bag works fine). Squeeze out excess air and seal the bag. Wrap it
in a piece of paper on which you have written, "If your enemies are hungry,
feed them." Romans 12:20. "Please send this rice to the people of Iraq; do
not attack them." (If you are of a different faith than Christian,
substitute a statement from your own faith tradition.) Place the paper and
bag of rice in an envelope (either a letter-sized or padded mailing envelope
- both are the same cost to mail) and address them to:

President George Bush
White House,

and then goes on to give the history of this protest available at the above link.

Here's the e-mail I've been sending out:

I've received e-mails on this often enough that I've come up with a canned response, hope you don't mind.

1. The whole "it stopped a war with China" aspect is patently false. See http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/petition/rice.asp for proof of that. But as we're in a post-modern world and we can't be bothered to let pesky things like facts interfere with how we make decisions . . . emoting is much better suited for such things.

2. I am personally disgusted with the idea that you just "insert your own faith tradition here." This is based on the ridiculous notion that all religions are basically the same and interchangeable, so you can just throw in a quote in from any "holy book" and you'll be okay. What flummery.

3. Let's stick with the Christian "faith tradition" (a phrase watered down for those who can't handle the word "religion"), as that's the default value. So, we're told to quote Romans 12:20, which is a part of Paul's teaching on applying his teaching to our individual lives. Please note that this is not a direction for States to follow, but individual Christians. Moreover, in context we see that Rom. 12:20 is a set-up to Paul's instructions on how to deal with the Government. Feed your enemies, because vengeance is God's (v. 19), so don't do evil, but good (v. 21). We do good in part by being subject to the government that God has ordained to govern us (13:1). One way the government governs is through the sword given to them by God (v. 3-4). And God gave the sword for the State to act as God's Avenger--wielding the sword--in other words, this passage disproves this doctrine of pacifism very quickly and handily.

Now personally, I am not presently in favor of this war--I think it'd be a good thing for Iraq to be rid of Hussein and WMD, but as a Christian who both knows the Biblical requirements for War (summarized in the Augustinian & Thomistic teachings on Just War) and someone who things that the Bible's teaching should actually matter, I'll oppose this particular war on those grounds, NOT on lousy abusing the text like this . . .

Uh-oh, has our love affair with LoTR gone too far?

I think I just set my personal record for hyperlinks in a single post.

Whoo-hoo!

I cannot believe the news that Derek Webb's new album, She Must and Shall Go Free is not going to be sold in several "Christian bookstores." Derek, is best known as a member of Caedmon's Call--one of my favorite bands.

So why, oh why, is this album going to be banned? It apparently uses--in two whole songs--a nasty word. And therefore, should not be heard by Christians. The word in question? Whore. Why would a nice Christian guy like Webb want to use such a word? Well the album is about the Church, and the songs were inspired by a series of sermons his pastor did on Ezekiel. Where God calls his church the "w-word."

Ugh. How utterly and totally asinine.

No wonder the TNIV has a market.

from from Calvin's commentary on Is. 42:1:

"Behold my servant." The Prophet appears to break off abruptly to speak of Christ, but we ought to remember what we mentioned formerly in expounding another passage, (Isaiah 7:14,) that the prophets, when they promise anything hard to be believed, are wont immediately afterwards to mention Christ; for in him are ratified all the promises which would otherwise have been doubtful and uncertain. “In Christ,” says Paul, “is Yea and Amen.” (2 Corinthians 1:20.) For what intercourse can we have with God, unless the Mediator come between us? We undoubtedly are too far alienated from his majesty, and therefore could not be partakers either of salvation or of any other blessing, but through the kindness of Christ.

You've got to go check out http://www.michaeljnelson.com/

it just doesn't get any funnier than this (unless you count Dave Hunt's attempts at critiquing Calvinism)

Ohh I had a great post ready for today, I thought about it while driving home from work and now that I sit down to write it . . .well, it's gone. Hopefully to return soon.

This is why I need a PDA with a voice recorder.

I honestly don't think I have anything to say today.

Overall, a decent State of the Union. Some good, some bad.

BUT--2 highlights for me--frank, open on a national stage anti-partial birth abortion (nice way of saying infanticide) stance. Bravo. Also, I liked the line immediately following, (something like) "no human life should be started or ended by an experiment." Like he said earlier, not a great track record--but a good start.

Overall, a decent State of the Union. Some good, some bad.

BUT--2 highlights for me--frank, open on a national stage anti-partial birth abortion (nice way of saying infanticide) stance. Bravo. Also, I liked the line immediately following, (something like) "no human life should be started or ended by an experiment." Like he said earlier, not a great track record--but a good start.

One of the greatest hours of television aired this Sunday. Obviously I'm not talking about the Superbowl. I am, of course, talking about Alias. I'm not going to try to describe it--if you saw it, you know what I'm talking about. I just hope that the post-game exposure that it got, coupled with that fantastic episode gets this show the ratings it deserves.

Okay, okay, I know Paul said, "Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep" (Romans 12:15, ESV). But surely he didn't mean that--it'd be so much easier to "rejoice with those who rejoice, cheer up those who weep" or "try to fix things for those who weep."

Okay, I knew it wouldn't work, but I did hope that Conan O'Brien's lullaby would have some effect on my little princess this evening. But nope, she doesn't even seem to realize that anything's going on other than her getting free access to her brothers' books.

Time for public schools to throw in the towel?

Well, here's my new look. I think it's nicer than the old, but this gray-ish background to the sides might be a bit too purplish. I think i even finally got the Archives working (not sure why it took me so bleepin' long, sometimes I'm too dumb to live)

Sooooo, what do you think?

There are just too many things wrong with this to list . . .

Fans Outraged at New Character in The Return of the King

I've tried to come up with something profound to say about Idaho Human Rights Day yesterday. Don't have anything new--just to note that everyone seems to ignore the basis of Dr. King's thinking--Christianity--and that most of what's called for lately isn't Human Rights--it's special rights. Unless, of course, you're talking about that most basic of human rights, life, which is only for the babies that are wanted and the aged that aren't too sick.

Pfui.

Well, recieved my first syllabus for spring MTI classes--Catechetics. Lots of material to cover, looks like it'll give me plenty of food for thought when it comes time to work on a catechism program for the church--and probably help me with the homeschooling thing, too.

The only downside (not really, but it seems to be one): I've got 'til April 17 to memorize Q&A 1-38 of the Shorter Catechism. GULP!

Went to the beach tonight after classes. After some thought, I realized I hadn't seen the Pacific since I was at the wharf (or whatever you call it) in Seattle, Oct. '95. Hadn't been on a beach since, what, August of 1990?

Anyhow, we're on this looooooong stretch of beach--can see the end via the street lights miles away. It's dark as all get out, and the only way you can tell the difference between the ocean and the sky is the whitecaps on the waves rolling in. Quite the Psalm 8:4 moment . . . ("what is man that you take thought of him?" NASB)

Not much to report on re: classes today. Generally good stuff, but nothing I could summarize for this format.

Did get a couple of sample issues of the Nicotine Theological Journal--interesting. Kind of like early Credenda, but without the arrogance.

Am also sitting in on John Meuther's class on OPC Roots . . . some great stuff there. I should have taken this class, also ('course, if I had I would've got even less accomplished outside of coursework--if that's even possible)

Another comment Williamson made was in reference to WCF XVI.1

"I. Good works are only such as God hath commanded in his holy Word, and not such as, without the warrant thereof, are devised by men, out of blind zeal, or upon any pretense of good intention."

He asked if the words "only" and "any" really meant anything to the Reformed churches today. How many things are called "Good Works" by Presbyterian churches that don't fit what God has commanded?

Had the great pleasure of listening to an harangue (his word) by G. I. Williamson on Holidays, the Regulative Principal, the Westminster Confession and contemporary Reformed churches. WOW! Wish I had a tape recorder going . . .

He claims a breaking point is coming where we need to admit that we disagree with the Confession and change it . . .I pray instead that we change us.

James White talks about needing to teach everything with passion--he says he preaches Biblical Languages with a passion. Well, I've now heard Church Polity (Canon Law) taught with a passion. Wasn't sure that it could be done.
Score one for Dr. White

Things in San Diego are green. Very green. Just not used to seeing that in January.

wow . . . .it's been a long time again. Okay, this time I mean it--I'm going to do this regularly

(until I stop again).

I'll start with posting quick notes and reflections on my stay at the Ministerial Training Institute for the OPC.