Ultimate Frisbee - Tasty Words

Go God

I was searching for a good Ultimate Frisbee pic on Google images when, for some inexplicable reason, “Go God” popped up. Don’t believe me? Click here.

I guess Jesus likes Ultimate, too.

I had been saying for years that Ultimate was the one group sport I could get into. Last night I finally ate my own words.

They were tasty.

On a night many are lost in Lost, I will be running around chasing a 8-10″ diameter circle that started its life as a pie tin, trying not to get ran over by my friend James on his way to the endzone. Next time, buddy. Next time..

 

Published in: on May 30, 2008 at 4:20 pm Comments (1)
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The Gift of Fire

Prometheus

How far would you go for passion?

(another post to Randy Elrod’s Watercooler Wednesdays)

The picture is called the “Torture of Prometheus,” by Jean-Louis-Cesar-Lair. It represents the punishment inflicted on the Titan Prometheus, by Zeus, for bringing fire down from heaven to man.

Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus were given the responsibility of making man along with all the animals necessary for man’s preservation. The problem was Epimetheus did his job too well - giving the animals speed, strength, wing, claw - and there was nothing left for man. Prometheus did not despair, but with Minerva’s help went into heaven and lit a torch at the chariot of the sun, and brought it back for man. The fire came down, and it gave man his place above the animals (Bulfinch’s Mythology). As punishment for bringing to man what belonged to the gods, Prometheus was chained to a rock, and each day a vulture landed on his stomach and ate his liver. It grew back overnight, and the next day the vulture returned and ate the liver again. And again. And again. 

What is it about fire that made Prometheus willing to suffer the wrath of Zeus? Why did he risk so much to give this gift to man?

Fire brings warmth. 

Before electricity there were two ways man had to stay warm: put on more clothes, put on more logs. Fire gave him control over his environment. Without it, he would die in the cold. 

Fire gives light.

Picture the world before electricity - a man wanders into the middle of a dense Washington forest, the kind of forest with trees 20,30, 60 feet tall. It’s the middle of the night, and one way or another he must find his way to the other side of the woods. He gropes forward, stumbling from one tree to the next, hours on end, until the sun’s early light reveals he has gone only a few hundred feet..

Now picture this same man entering the forest with a blazing torch. He sees the path, clearly marked before him. He reaches the other side with time to spare. 

What does this have to do with passion? 

We associate passion with fire - the greater the passion, the more it burns.

“Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you’ve got to say, and say it hot.”  D.H. Lawrence

“Blaze with the fire that is never extinguished.” Luisa Sigea

“Each of us has a fire in our hearts for something. It’s our goal in life to find it and to keep it lit.” Mary Lou Retton

“Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark.” Henri Frederic Amiel 

Without passion, we are cold.

Without passion, we are shades, just ghosts of men trapped in a dark world.

Passion is a gift given to men from heaven, though I would argue not from gods but from God. Mankind has passion because God breathed His Spirit into us when he made our first father and first mother, Adam and Eve. His Spirit is what separated us from everything else in the world - there is no animal that has God’s Spirit, and there is no other created being that has passion like we do. And instead of a created being going into heaven to steal what was hidden, our Creator God sent His Son to give us what was hidden - relationship with Himself.

How far would you go for passion? I believe He went further.

 
Jesus on Cross

Published in: on May 28, 2008 at 4:43 am Comments (6)
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Eurovision Champion

Russia nailed its first Eurovision win this year with a song by Dima Bilan. The song is called “Believe,” and was produced by the American artist Timbaland. 

For those of you not familiar with Eurovision, think of it as Europe’s version of American Idol (except that it has been around since 1956). Each country submits one artist, and the other countries vote on their favorites. Countries are not allowed to vote on their own artists, and the votes are generally done via phoned-in text messages.

I saw my first Eurovision in Norway, and it’s, uh, entertaining to be sure. You can check out the Russian’s winning performance and decide for yourself.

Published in: on May 25, 2008 at 6:15 pm Comments (5)
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Internet Movie Ratings

The Critic

I gave up my fight with Internet movie ratings today. No longer shall I pretend like they mean anything more than a very general good or bad.

My roommate and I watched Ed Wood, a film by Tim Burton starring Johnny Depp. It was decent, what I would consider a good movie; It’s current rating is #197 on IMDB’s coveted Top 250 list. 

It was good, but I doubt I would place this movie in my top 500. And what about The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, movies that I would call ok but nowhere near my Top 10 (IMDB’s rating places them #1, #3, and #7, respectively).

My point is that ratings are not reliable. IMDB rates these movies based on popular opinion. I asked myself an important question today: how valuable is popular opinion? Do I buy food based on popular opinion? Do I read books based on popular opinion?

No, I usually don’t (there are exceptions, of course). 

I personally like the old fashioned method of word-of-mouth. My friends, favorite artists, family, and trusted acquaintances tell me about a movie, I check it out. If I like it, I find out what else the artist has done, and so on. In our age of Internet, IMDB, and Netflix, it’s a bit quaint, I know, but it’s worked so far. 

As to the Internet and the convenience it affords, I have nothing but praise, I just don’t find Internet movie ratings very useful. 

(But I’ll be honest, there is a snob inside of me that doesn’t want anything to do with popular opinion. This snob sniffs at the idea of being led like a cow to the most popular _______, the highest ranked _______, or the Top _______. )

If you think a member of the snob family is residing in you, I cordially invite you to post this friendly eviction notice in/on your head:

“Dear sir/madam,

I am afraid your snide remarks and pretentious manners have begun to disturb the neighbors. They have been complaining of you for some time. I had patiently hoped that my letters might dissuade your rather unseemly behavior, but since you have ignored my counsel, I am forced to no other measure than this official notice of eviction. In the words of the famous song,

You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here.

Cheers,

_____________ (Insert your name here, and make sure to post it somewhere near the front of your head. I recommend permanent marker, if necessary).”

To recap, here’s my Sunday 2:00am in the morning advice:

-Use the ratings if you must, always skeptically, and never worrying if your favorite picks are not at the top.

-Kill the snob that says your opinion is better than everyone else’s. Remember that the snob is notorious for sudden re-surfacing. Be on your guard. 

-Enjoy the medium that is film. When done right, it is incredible.

And lastly, if you’ve got one, send a recommendation or two my way…

 

Published in: on at 9:18 am Comments (1)
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Story Endings

 

I was tempted to title this post, “Story endings: When good stories go bad.” I decided not to. 

But there is something tragic about becoming invested into a good story, becoming attached to the characters, gelling with the setting, only to have it torn away with a bad ending. 

Friends and I watched “Umney’s Last Case,” a TNT production of Stephen King’s Nightmares and Dreamscapes. It is an anthology series of eight one-hour episodes from Stephen King’s incredible book of short stories. Don’t worry, I won’t ruin the ending (though I am very tempted to do so). 

First of all, the story had great potential. It starred William H. Macy, whom I remembered fondly from Pleasantville and Seabiscuit. It started light and funny, with a very believable (and enjoyable) 1930’s L.A. setting. It began as a typical Private Eye story with dames and hardboiled detective quips. A little cheesy, but entertaining. But the story took a nose dive about 3/4 the way through, and continued with both engines aflame to its awful demise.  

(the thought running through my mind, once the ending credits started rolling was, “What the hell was that?” and yes, I imagined little Stewie Griffin uttering it with complete disdain)

The ending was illogical, abrupt, very unexpected. Sometimes this works. A couple weeks ago my church showed No Country For Old Men: a brilliant, dark suspense movie about unintended consequences, and the bitter fruit of sin. Not to mention greed’s sadistic drive. It also had an unexpected ending, but it left me satisfied, in a completely unsatisfactory way, if you know what I mean. I wanted it to be different, but I could appreciate what it was saying. This was not so with “Umney’s Last Case.” 

My friends and I spent about 15 minutes attempting to salvage the story,

“What if they did this?” “What if they tried that?“ 

It was actually kind of fun, but a bit dishonoring to the writers. I don’t suppose they would appreciate knowing that we were trying to do their job for them. But you know what? It was somewhat honoring that we even bothered. They at least got it right to the end, then they just dropped the ball..no, actually, they punted it to the other team and let that team plough them into the mud.

So I was wondering,

Do you and your friends ever re-write endings to stories (movies)?

Do you know of any stories (movies) that were great, up until the end? 

Published in: on May 23, 2008 at 7:14 am Comments (2)
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