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| Sometimes I have to read books I never would unless they were required...One of those books is The Anxiety Cure by Dr. Archibald D. Hart of South Africa. While I was reading his "Strategies for Changing Your Thinking" a few of his expressed suggestions made me giggle...not chuckle or chortle necessarily, but giggle.
Some of the erroneous statements and their counter statements are listed below: Allow me to highlight the parts that I found slightly amusing.
*Erroneous Statement: People should always love and respect me.
**Counter statement: Who says? People respond to me in the way I treat them. If I want the respect of others, I must first show them respect.
*Erroneous Statement: I don't feel I deserve to be happy or successful.
**Counter statement: This is asinine. I deserve to be as happy or successful as anyone is
*Erroneous Statement: I'm just the way I am; I can't change.
**Counter statement: Idiotic. Everyone can change. It may not always be easy, but the gospel is all about people changing. So give up this stupid idea and start doing some changing
Those are just a few. :)
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| Some Movie Reviews for Youse...3:10 to Yuma (2007)
There is a 1957 version, but I have not seen it, so I will not address it here.
I
have two likes which bias me toward this movie: good westerns and
Christian Bale. How could you go wrong? :) The synopsis reads: "A
small-time rancher agrees to hold a captured outlaw who's awaiting a
train to go to court in Yuma." And that's basically what happens.
However, as you and I both know, there's more to a story than getting
from point A to point B, even if you do follow a straight line--which
this movie does not. Above all, this move is interesting--which is
the base line for being entertaining. The characters are well played,
even if I do find the villain a bit 2D for my taste. The best
performance of the film is given by Logan Lerman who plays, William
Evans, the rancher's son. He consistently reveals his character's
growth throughout the film and never lessens the intensity.
In
addition to the story and the acting, the costuming, music and
cinematography are great! I really enjoyed all of the fantastic
western landscapes featured in the film. The only shortcoming of the
film is that while the director helps the story by allowing it natural
twists and turns, the basic plot is quite predictable which can detract
from the film's entertainment value.
Rating: A-
Censor's Note: Violence--plenty of shoot-out scenes depicted quite graphically. Brief Nudity (a woman's backside)
El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan's Labyrinth)
I'll be honest, after watching
some of the opening scenes, I turned this movie off for a while. Too,
later on, when I decided I did want to see the rest of it, I often fast
forwarded through certain scenes because of the violence.
The
synopsis reads: "In the fascist Spain of 1944, the bookish young
stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but
captivating fantasy world."
This movie is both beautiful and
grotesque--it's intended to be so. We see the fantasy world of a
young girl juxtaposed with evil, and the evil portrayed was difficult
for me to watch. However, the story is fantastic is every since of
the word. "Ofelia," played by Ivana Baquero, is a 8 or 9 year old
girl whose father had died and whose mother has recently married a
Captain in Francisco Franco's army. Because Ofelia's mother is
expecting the Captain's child, the Captain insists that she and Ofelia
travel to an outpost where the Captain has been stationed in efforts to
put down the Resistance. It is into the woods around the outpost that
Ofelia wanders, finds the labyrinth, and meets "Pan" (El Fauno). Pan
greets her as a long lost Princess and gives her a magic book as well
as three tasks to complete before the full moon. What ensues is a
toggle between the fantastic world of Pan and the gruesome reality
taking place all around Ofelia.
The characters in both plots
are rich and involving. The script is compellingly
written--especially since I read the English subtitles to the Spanish
language. I honestly found the contrast of fantasy/magic and
reality/horror quite incredible.
Rating: A+
Censor's
Note: Graphic and Sadistic acts of violence are portrayed--I cannot
overstate this. There is also a very scary monster in the fantasy
sequences. Some "adult language" is used.
The Painted Veil (2006)
There is a 1934 version--haven't seen it.
Two draws for this film: (1) Asia (2) Ed Norton
Synopsis:
"A British medical doctor fights a cholera outbreak in a small
Chinese village, while also being trapped at home in a loveless
marriage to an unfaithful wife."
There's more to the story than
that, thank Heaven! This is a beautiful movie! It seems that once
we can draw our eyes away from the landscape, pick our jaws up off the
floor, and wipe the drool off of our chins, we notice a little love
story going on right in the middle of all the grandeur that is the
geographic nation of China.
The movie is shot in flashback and
then present time creating a sense of mystery and suspense. Just how
did Walter (Ed Norton) and Kitty (Naomi Watts) get to this isolated,
disease-ridden village? The first 30 minutes or so of the film give
us the back story and then the film takes a great surge forward as the
stress of fighting cholera puts even more pressure on a tenuous
relationship.
I found the dialog refreshing and well-paced. Ed
Norton does a fantastic job (per usual) and the soundtrack is utterly
enchanting!
Rating: A+
Censor's Note: People dying of
Cholera are depicted. There are three scenes depicting sexual activity,
one scene with nudity (male backside). Some drug use is depicted.
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| A few thoughts from the Expo...So I was thinking...
Which event was harder to plan: The 2008 NICS Educator Job Expo (venue, meals, supplies, "professional" people) OR the ICS Pyongtaek Fall Festival (games, booths, prizes, food, pieing in the face)?
You know what, it's a toss up... :) This year's Expo went really well, and I'm glad to have it over with. Strangely, that's how I always felt after the ICS PTK Fall Festival :) I've included some of my favorite pictures from both events. Obviously, the last Fall Festival I planned was in 2005, but it still lives on in infamy.
ICS Pyongtaek: Fall Festival, 2005!
  
NICS Educator Job Expo 2008!
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| I feel compelled to mentionhow completely great Michael Card's radio program is. If you are even slightly inclined to listen to radio programs, you must listen to this one.
http://www.michaelcard.com Click on the commentary link and then the archive page to catch up on previous shows. Even if you aren't a Michael Card fan, his show isn't about his music, it's about Jesus Christ revealed in His Church..
Enjoy!
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| Couple of thoughts from Galveston, TXWell, I had to connect through the ATL on my way to Houston Hobby--go figure. On my flight to the ATL, I sat next to Asim from Bangladesh. It was interesting because he was eager to practice his English because even though there were TONS of empty seats on the plane, he stayed put, right next to me. He was pleased when I mentioned my travel to India, even though I know that's not the same as Bangladesh, necessarily. Anyway, I looked for an opening to talk about religion and belief, but I guess I didn't look hard enough because it never "came up."
Then on my flight from the ATL out to Houston, I hit the other end of the pendulum range: a Baptist. :) Strange thing though, he was so nice and so obnoxious. Very nice, but talked and talked and talked and talked...preachy stuff. I didn't know if he was trying to convert me or what. I expressed to him that I was Believer, but that only seemed to fuel his desire to share pat Christianity statements with me. It's funny, before we got into the belief conversation, he was much more interesting to talk to. He's a flight instructor, so he was telling me about how planes are built and the like. And when I asked him questions, he answered them. So then, now I think...what's wrong with me that the topic of flight instructing seems more interesting to me than talking about belief? Then I remember that we weren't talking. I was listening to him deliver the party line. He even showed me several Gospel Tracts that he was carrying and offered them to me. I politely told him to save them for someone who didn't know Jesus and had to persuade him that handing out tracts (ie: the million dollar bill) wasn't really something that I did. Anyhow, I know he didn't intend to be obnoxious, but he was a loud talker. Now everyone knows that a loud talker is bad in any circumstance, but especially on an airplane when people are just trying to catch a few z's.
I was in Galveston for an ACSI conference. I never know which organizations I'm going to be neighbors with in the exhibit hall, so I'm always interested to see the luck of the draw, so to speak. This time, I was bordered by the Ozark Lollipop Company on one side and then across the aisle was the Creation Research Institute. For all intents and purposes, the Ozark Lollipop Company is a secular organization, so there's no reason to suspect that the rep they have at the show is going to be a Believer. Too, it stands to reason that the CRI rep would be a Believer because he or she is representing an institution which promotes a Biblical view of Creation as opposed to Evolution. So I see the Lollipop guy setting up and the CRI guy is setting up too. I say the cursory greetings and get on about setting up my booth which only takes 7-10 minutes. All the while I'm setting up, the CRI guy has a sermon playing on a laptop. Now, it's not just any sermon. This is one of those hellfire and brimstone sermons--meant for the church, on "loud speaker" for whomever happens to be around. And, you know what? I couldn't help but wonder what this Lollipop Guy was thinking as he set up his booth and heard that sermon playing. I mean, this guy preaching the sermon on the video was coming down hard on backslidden (yes, I made that word up) living and talking about the "narrow gate." I just kept wondering how offensive that might have been to this guy across the way who just came to sell his lollipops?
I always wonder about approach techniques when it comes to the Gospel...there are so many theories out there...
Anyhow...I've posted some pictures from the Galveston, TX convention. Enjoy! :)
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