"And the Virgin Will Be With Child"

This may seem heretical to some (but those who know me even semi-decently would know my intent is not such) but it is an exploration into something that has held my mind captive for sometime now. Perhaps I shall write a book about it (so no one steal my idea!). We shall see. Onto the meat of this though: If Jesus had been born 2,000+ years after he was, his birth wouldn't be miraculous. Now allow me to qualify. 

Of course if everything happened as the Scriptures say now it would still be miraculous, but unbelievable, possibly a seemingly commonplace experience. At least in America. Sperm banks are available for women to go to. Virgins could go and have a sperm artificially implanted in them and bear a child. Virgins or not, single women are taking that option. Here is an interesting article by WORLD magazine (for those who don't subscribe, I'm sorry, its a very good, interesting, and informative article). Virgin birth isn't miraculous anymore. Does it discredit what happened to Mary? Absolutely not! Things like sperm banks weren't around neither was the technology. I'm glad Jesus wasn't born 2,000+ years later than he was. Something I am very thankful for.

Sunken Treasure

For some reason there is a general thought that our lives will continue without any startling revelations for as long as we live. I, for one, am glad this is not the case. How boring would it be to live in a time where nothing was being discovered about the past? In discovering the past, not only do we learn about culture, people, places, environment, etc of other times and places, which helps us today, it is exciting. Just like this sunken treasure that has been found. There are also archaeological digs that rediscover the past. Things like this don't just happen in storybooks - they actually happen. I don't know about you, but now I want to go out on a dig or on an underwater expedition. Then again, what else is new?

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The Same Sun Still Rises

Thinking about the sun amazes me. It has been in the sky essentially since the beginning of time. Forget about the walls speaking - what if the sun could speak! Think about the sun in the sky ... it has seen the rise and fall of nations, some of which we probably know not of. It looked down on Abraham, David, Malachi, Jesus, Paul, Jerome, Aquinas, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth, Washington, Lincoln and Lee. The sun has seen the advance of technology, the brutal acts of man and beast, and the kindness acts of compassion from the same. The same sun that Aristotle looked for in the morning, Hume said might not rise tomorrow. Nevertheless it has faithfully risen and set for thousands of years. How great is God! How great is His faithfulness. I stand rapt in awe.

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A&E's Pride and Prejudice {Movie Review}

A&E/BBC's version of Pride & Prejudice is wonderful. Of course it is not completely accurate to the book, I have yet to see a movie that it that way, but, considering the circumstances, I was well pleased.

Not to give the story away, for those who do not already know, but tension is seen much better in this rendition of the book than in the newer version. The conflict, tension, emotions, were all excessively better - mainly because it is much longer than the newer version. I like that, though. It is nice to sit down and watch a movie in leisure without feeling rushed, and without feeling bored. This movie had a nice balance. Could they have added a few more hours to the movie and made it more accurate? Of course, but very few would watch that movie (though I probably would be one of them).

I do recommend that both male and female what this version of Pride & Prejudice. I don't know of any females who have watched it and not liked it. And the guys I know who groaned being forced to watch it ended up enjoying it too.

To fill out the movie, however, I do suggest that you read the book, which I will also review at a later time. This movie, however, I recommend without any apprehension and without any qualms at all. I highly suggest that you pick it up next time you want to watch a movie, just make sure you have 5 hours to watch it, or that you can watch it in two sittings.

As nice as this version is, though, it's not my favorite.

3.5 out of 5 stars

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Apathetic People Living Apathetic Lives Leads to an Apathetic World Causing Apathy to Prevail as Apathetic Generations are Raised

I'm sick of all of the apathy in the world. At least in America. The voices heard in America (the squeaky wheels) get the grease to shut them up. The rest of America seems largely apathetic to the way things are "going down" these days. No massive outcry about the hate-crimes bill the House recently passed, no speaking up for capital punishment, no outrage against the perverted "sex education" in the public schools. Instead "oh well, if that's what they think should happen..." THINK PEOPLE. THINK! The world is not going to get any better on its own. If you don't like the way something is done - DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Speak up. Talk to Washington, talk to your local officials and/or boards. Sign petitions, write letters, make phone calls. No, this does not happen. Of course there are some who will take a stand - a few more who will on "really" important issues, but the vast majority who complain about the direction America is taking in her slide downhill don't do anything about it. They are apathetic about apathy.

Absurd, huh? Unresponsive, indifferent, unemotional, not interested or concerned, these are words used to define apathetic in the dictionary. People are generally indifferent about being indifferent. In other words, many people do not care, or at least are unresponsive in their caringness of what happens, but they are not concerned with correcting the lack interest. They are apathetic about being apathetic themselves. WAKE UP now, before its too late. One day, when all religious freedom, when all freedom of speech and of the press is gone and you wake up in a Communist nation you will realize that now it is too late to do something to curb the tide. Act now, while you still have the chance.

Edit - This quote speaks to how the nation goes:

"National progress is the sum of individual industry, energy, and uprightness, as national decay is of individual idleness, selfishness, and vice."
- Samuel Smiles 

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2001: A Space Odyssey {Movie Review}

"An epic drama of adventure and exploration" says the movie poster.

NOT.

Made in 1968 this movie is hailed for its stunning effects and groundbreaking outer space sequences - a true classic. Don't let that dupe you into seeing the movie. If you were to look in the dictionary beside "pointless," "lame," and "waste of time" this movie should be pictured. For the time, yes the features and colors and sequences were quite amazing, now, in 2007, it is nothing extra-ordinary at all. The almost 2 1/2 hour movie could be effectively done in 1/2 hr to a full hour. After watching the movie I was left scratching my head going "I'm so confused."

Question: "What do Brighty of the Grand Canyon and Napoleon Dynamite have in common?" They are both more interesting than this movie (and I didn't find either particularly compelling). The book Brighty is very good - the movie plods along as slow as a donkey. Dynamite at least has cheesy humor. 2001 can't even offer that. I never thought I would say this, but I would rather watch Napoleon Dynamite again than this movie ... in addition to the "humor" it also is about an hour shorter in length. The only good thing that I see coming out of this movie (besides the then stunning effects) was inspiration for space vehicles for George Lucas' Star Wars. It is apparent he was influenced by this movie. I think that also might be why, 9 years later, Star Wars was a sleeper hit. Not only did it have stunning effects (!) it also had a plot, and it was interesting.

I'm told that 2001 was made from a book. The book must not be very thick if they accurately interpreted it. It must be more interesting than the movie though, and hopefully it will help clarify what I saw. I will probably check it out of library sometime. Does anyone know if the book is more interesting than the movie?

SPOILERS (if that can be said for this movie):
Essentially this movie starts at the "Dawn of Man" and shows a black monolith which (I guess) helped the apes evolve. In 1999 a black monolith is discovered on the moon - its origins are Jupiter. In 2001 a team ventures out to Jupiter to find out more about the mysterious monolith. On the way the infallible computer, HAL, messes up, kills people, and must be shut down (this has nothing to do with the main plot, however). Eventually only one guy is left who makes it to Jupiter and finds himself in a strange room where he grows old, is visited by the monolith and transformed into a giant embryo. The embryo is next seen as large as the earth gazing at earth - I presume this is supposed to be the next evolutionary step. Sounds pretty interesting, right? Basically this is not expanded on and I virtually just gave you the script. Don't waste your time watching this movie. To view other plot summaries go here - I'm telling you, it's the whole movie.

Do I have to give this movie stars?

Negative 3 out of Positive 5

It's that boring.

PS - by today's standards, the movie would have at least a PG rating.

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The Princess Bride {Movie Review}

"Not just your basic, average, everyday, ordinary, run-of-the-mill, ho-hum fairy tale."

So goes the advertisement for Princess Bride. Since I had seen part of the TV version many years ago and I was not thrilled about watching it again. I'm glad I did, but don't watch the TV version, I missed some very important parts as a result. Princess Bride is a borderline-hilarious movie. A few words slip here and there, and there is one reference that stands out as particularly undesirable, but, that being said it is worth watching.

Princess Bride deserves the PG rating for the shrieking eels, ROUSes (Rodents of Unusual size), torture machine, sword fights, and other such fairy-tale-ish things, along with what is mentioned in the previous paragraph. For the time, the creatures were pretty good graphically (it was made in 1987), most kids have probably seen worse than the creatures in this movie. I still think it would scare very young children. Around 8 or so I'd probably give it a go.

This is a funny movie. Everyone needs a good laugh once in awhile. It does not rank near my favorite movie category though.

Princess Bride is a story about true love. Sappy, right? Not really. Of course there are the kissing scenes (which the young boy to whom the story is read protests about), these are not the selling point of the movie. That was refreshing. The humor and action were much more appealing.

"But you're a female, you like romance and action isn't something that really interests you." Yes, I am a female, but I detest sappy romance movies. And, no, gratuitous action is not my "thing" but this had just enough action and romance to make it enjoyable. Both sexes should be fairly pleased with this movie. I know the men in my life enjoyed the movie about as much as I did.

And read the book. Given that the author did the screenplay for the movie ... for once, a movie and it's book are on par.

3.75 out of 5 stars.

(And did I mention that Prince Humperdinck looks like Lord Farquaad from Shrek?)

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