Pale Waves' MY MIND MAKES NOISES (Sept 28 2018) is, for the time being, "out". Not sure why exactly. I have to admit there are a few duds on the album, songs I've never felt all too fond of. But even the songs that had my heart going full throttle are just kinda "meh" nowadays. I don't know. I also haven't been digging CHVRCHES' LOVE IS DEAD (May 25th, 2018) which has a similar modern day synthpop sound. Listening to Steve Winwood's BACK IN THE HIGH LIFE (1986), which I've often over the last several years cited as being too repetitive and much of the time feel is just too mellow and monotonous. It might be going smoother because I'm not just sitting or standing listening to it with undivided attention.
GHOSTBUSTERS 3 (or something to that effect) is coming!!! Summer 2020 is their target. I'm guessing either SONY/Columbia Pictures is secretly agreed to it or the filmmakers are assuming SONY et al. *will* agree to it. No greenlight has been made public.
Maybe I'm wrong, but it looks like Avril Lavigne has decided to jump on the CCM bandwagon. I don't know if it's necessarily an insincere cash grab. She very well be a misguided soul victim of the oft cited notion that being a Christian is merely about knowing the story of Jesus Christ and evoking His name here and there. Her new album comes out next month on the 15th.
American Football, after a full 20 years since their debut was released, and only 3 years since their last album, have returned with -- LP3 (self titled v 3.0). I wonder if their record label will make them change LP4 into something with an actual title like Geffen did to Peter Gabriel when he decided to release SECURITY (1982).
Mike Rutherford is actually in action...I hadn't heard any word on his professional life (or lack thereof) since a couple years ago he and his crew of "Mechanics" released this incredibly dull album...not even sure what it was called. I've never been much of a fan of Mike + The Mechanics. I liked a few of their songs, but I don't think they have enough good songs on their hands to make even a modest size Greatest Hits type release. I can think of maybe 4 songs that they did that I truly like, and maybe 3 or 4 more that are so-so. They might have a few nuggets buried somewhere on their albums scattered here and there, but I've never heard them or been enticed into hearing them. I like his guitar work especially on Genesis' ballads. That riff he had on "Follow You Follow Me" was rather nifty and the way his axe was handled on "Hold On My Heart" was even more impressive. I can't believe how many people find it difficult to like that song because it's "too slow". I heard this bootleg where the audience, somewhere like in Germany or something, was getting ready to boo Genesis off the stage after about the 4 minute mark of the song being played. They tried to keep going, but caved in and wrapped it up and then as if mocking the crowd decided to give them a hair band-esque rendition of "Jesus He Knows Me".
Anyway...I don't usually hear about Mike Rutherford doing anything except crappy Mike + The Mechanics music, which is seldom as it is. But he's contributed guitar work on this German abstract pop musician's upcoming album. I had never heard of the guy. The guy's stage name is Schiller, because it started out as a duo, not just one guy with some friends helping out here/there, but it's now just down to one guy, so it's kind of like a solo project much like Owl City (to cite a more well known example; obviously the music itself is different, or at least I'm assuming it is...)
Hmmm...
Been weary about the concept of "being a Christian" as of late. Paul speaks a few instances of being "set apart for destruction". And in one of his writings, he talks about God electing people. I'll do what I can, but I don't expect to get into Heaven. If God permits it, great. If not, then, well, maybe --- with any luck --- Hell isn't as bad as they say.......or maybe there's some 3rd door that The Bible doesn't talk all that much about.
I finished The Old Testament with the exception of Psalms and Proverbs. I started out on The One Year Bible as annotated by Charles Stanley, which had the psalms and proverbs broken up to accompany different sections of the Old & New Testament beside each other, then I started using this Bible app, I think it's called "YouVersion", not sure. The app icon just says "Bible" on it.
Anyway; I finished it and found that the stories I've heard, such as Satan being a beautiful angel who fell from Heaven because he contested God and was banished to Hell etc, none of that was in The Old Testament. But then i got to looking this up and it actually IS in The Bible, but it's written is a sort of stream of consciousness manner, like in the middle of a different topic, it just goes off on this almost riddle for the reader to figure out. I did suspect when I was reading it that it was referring to Satan, but I was given no confirmation, at least none that I was sure of. The Holy Spirit may have said "yes, that's it, you're on it" but all the voices in my head sound the same. Not to imply that I "hear" voices, but I've never had a thought that I could say without uncertainty was from The Holy Spirit.
You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous
Thursday, January 17, 2019
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
Calories
I managed to get over 3.5k steps in by going from Target on Scenic Hwy all the way to Best Buy. I was collecting points on my Shopkick app. I now have $4 in Walmart goft cards. Half of that I had already accumulated. If I had received the proper points for entering Marshall's, i would have had enough to get a $5 gift card.
In any case, the real good news for that day-- Sunday - was that I ate -- at the very most --1,800 calories.
I'm pretty sure I sunk it yesterday. I had 3 sandwiches. Didn't measure how much pb i used so can't be too sure how many calories that was. Then i ordered egg rolls from Asian Max on UberEats. Have no concrete idea how much was in that but i figured that it equated an overage of calories. Then i had rice pilaf - an entire box. Was thinking I'd eat it the following day but that was a dumb notion as i half knew going in.
Today's plan is o more than 2 calories pe mnute. I don't anticipate being awake more than 18 hrs. May be awake less than 16. Gotta keep on keepin on.
In any case, the real good news for that day-- Sunday - was that I ate -- at the very most --1,800 calories.
I'm pretty sure I sunk it yesterday. I had 3 sandwiches. Didn't measure how much pb i used so can't be too sure how many calories that was. Then i ordered egg rolls from Asian Max on UberEats. Have no concrete idea how much was in that but i figured that it equated an overage of calories. Then i had rice pilaf - an entire box. Was thinking I'd eat it the following day but that was a dumb notion as i half knew going in.
Today's plan is o more than 2 calories pe mnute. I don't anticipate being awake more than 18 hrs. May be awake less than 16. Gotta keep on keepin on.
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
what the heck?
Wow.
Stupidity alert @ the peanut gallery soundoff section for the Blu ray release (available for pre-order) of 2018's SUSPIRIA, a film inspired by the 1977 film of the same title.
Guy starts his review by saying "how bad" the film is and then instead of criticising the film for being a bad movie, he lists the ways in which the movie differs from the 1977 film as if a frame by frame reshoot of the original would serve any purpose what so f""n ever. Nobody wants to labor over something that's already been done. If filmmakers didn't enjoy their work to some extent, they would "get a real job". Yes, I'm sure filmmaking has its set backs. There's stress with the job, no matter weather you're the director or a crew member, like any other, but if it weren't an alluring career, it wouldn't be a career. There's plenty of jobs that exist for the simple fact that people gotta eat and make a living. If you're entire job is going to consist of "giving the audience what they want", there's always Burger King. There's factory jobs where you can oversee the manufacturing of household goods that people feel are important to own, like toothpaste, stationary, clothing, etc. etc. etc.....There's shipping facilities for ecommerce companies like Amazon and TransUnion Entertainment etc., not to mention stocking and scanning jobs at "real world" retailers like WalMart and Target There's plenty of mundane robotic by the numbers jobs people can do that don't involve deviating from any standard or precedent.
But even in those jobs, if you can find a way to do something and do it better, a promotion is often in the forseable future, if not the immediate one. Creativity is not a bad thing, in most cases.
Stupidity alert @ the peanut gallery soundoff section for the Blu ray release (available for pre-order) of 2018's SUSPIRIA, a film inspired by the 1977 film of the same title.
Guy starts his review by saying "how bad" the film is and then instead of criticising the film for being a bad movie, he lists the ways in which the movie differs from the 1977 film as if a frame by frame reshoot of the original would serve any purpose what so f""n ever. Nobody wants to labor over something that's already been done. If filmmakers didn't enjoy their work to some extent, they would "get a real job". Yes, I'm sure filmmaking has its set backs. There's stress with the job, no matter weather you're the director or a crew member, like any other, but if it weren't an alluring career, it wouldn't be a career. There's plenty of jobs that exist for the simple fact that people gotta eat and make a living. If you're entire job is going to consist of "giving the audience what they want", there's always Burger King. There's factory jobs where you can oversee the manufacturing of household goods that people feel are important to own, like toothpaste, stationary, clothing, etc. etc. etc.....There's shipping facilities for ecommerce companies like Amazon and TransUnion Entertainment etc., not to mention stocking and scanning jobs at "real world" retailers like WalMart and Target There's plenty of mundane robotic by the numbers jobs people can do that don't involve deviating from any standard or precedent.
But even in those jobs, if you can find a way to do something and do it better, a promotion is often in the forseable future, if not the immediate one. Creativity is not a bad thing, in most cases.
A film that Lars made
Lars Von Trier has made some good movies. Not exactly "wholesome" or "holy" films --- they're not Hallmark movies, I certainly can't imagine someone confusing one of his movies for a film distributed by PureFlix --- but despite his quirks and my ultimate inability to connect deeply with any of them enough to endure their entire running time, I can't say anything unilaterally bad about MELANCHOLIA (2011) or...damn, whatever that movie was called that had Emily Watson in it...Ok, IMDB here I come...BREAKING THE WAVES (1996). Some of his other movies might have more of a shady-ness to them...I haven't bothered watching (trying to watch) most of them. ANTICHRIST (2009) was interesting, not enough so that I felt the need to watch the entire thing, but what I saw of it did have a palatable look and feel, and a mood that I found morbidly comforting (it opens with a child walking out of a window and subsequently the mother's grief over it)
But then there's 2018's THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT, which attempts to present a slasher film as art, by ruminating on the "nature" of art --- as if to say that all art is by nature an assault on one's senses.
Films have always been scary, some of them. 1957's WAIT UNTIL DARK was one of AFI's Top 100 pulse pounding films (the list had a more elongated title, don't remember what exactly it was; I saw a TV special about it on what at the time was referred to as "expanded basic" cable in Southeast Missouri via Charter Cable Co.). I still haven't seen it, perhaps because I'm trying to cherish movies made in the modern day rather than digging in the past. I know most movies from the 40s and 50s just don't appeal to me. Most movies today don't appeal to me and filmmakers today have a much higher expectation when it comes to eliciting empathy from an audience. Much more so with me because of my limited life experiences, even on a vicarious level. Movies of any time frame are unlikely to connect with me mentally OR emotionally, but especially movies made before the 1980's. There's a good chunk of movies from the 1970's I can get behind, weather by choice or by original sin, and there's almost as many from the late '60's I can say the same about. But there's very very few I've managed to enjoy that were made in the '50s and prior that I've managed to enjoy on any level. 1957's 12 ANGRY MEN is an astonishing example of a movie that was so damn awesome, a late '90's remake actually pales in comparison. The remake was good, but I can't say it did anything to improve upon or augment the original. 1999's THE HAUNTING was a worthwhile remake, despite what others have said. The 1963 original had its strengths but was mostly pretty boring. That being said, the 1999 remake was probably not worth what likely cost $100 million to make. I saw it in theaters and was more able to enjoy it because of that (this was before theaters felt the need to crank everything to ear shattering level, such as was the case with 2011's INCEPTION which I found to be an absolute mess of a film, partly because the bass level was turned way up so that resin from the dialogue was more audible than the actual words being spoken....wtfFFFF!!! I stil think every detail of the movie was way too symmetrical for a film that takes place largely in someone's subconcisous even though the story was probably the most "stream of consciousness" thing about the movie, considering it was kinda all over the place, with plot devices thrown in every which way and none of them having any real consequence or feeling of urgency or anything that caused any feeling at all really...some people it seems can feel bouts of fellowship and empathy on cue.......I know going in that it's a fucking movie with fake people programmed with what to say and do. If I can be distracted from that, then the filmmaker's have succeeded. Most of the time that is not the case Peter Jackson's unruly early title MEET THE FEEBLES is an example of this kind of failure. He truly did improve by the time HEAVENLY CREATURES was released. Either that or I was too pre-engulfed in the subject matter...not sure; it's been some time since I've seen it and I was in kind of a transition state regarding my tastes in movies. MEET JOE BLACK struck me as an amazing film when I first saw it. I saw it again around this time and just about coughed up my recent food intake).
Anyway....
My point originally was that movies do not need to be barbaric and disgusting. Yes, there are movies that are that way and some of them are rather two faced in their depiction of violence. Martin Scorsese's films often seem simultaneously defending the value of life while at the same time demonstrating a morbid attraction to death and destruction. I don't think those movies need to be censored as they deal with subject matter that children (pre adolescents) don't need to be concerning themselves with on an extended level to begin with, and in some cases don't need to be concerning themselves with at all. The mafia is mostly deactivated, so unless your neighborhood is in the grips of a mafia, the subject matter in GOODFELLAS and MEAN STREETS means nothing to an 11 year old. Maybe a 14 year old might be introspective and caring enough to want to contemplate the nature of social dynamics and the manipulations and potential consequences and dangers, etc....... but most often that is not the case. I saw GOODFELLAS when I was 19 or so and was bored to death by it. I tried watching it again and was a little more able to enjoy it. I was still kind of confused why the filmmaker felt the need to make a movie with a sole message: "THE MAFIA IS BAD" Ooh...glad we spent 2.5 hours clearing that up. Thanks? Then I saw it again a few years later, and was then more thoroughly able to enjoy it for what it was. Especially knowing how movies like THE GODFATHER gave people a somewhat favorable impression of the mafia and that the mafia was still very active up until and maybe a little after the time GOODFELLAS was released in theaters in 1990.
THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT might not be as grotesque as it sounds. But reading the marketing for it, it just sounds rather unnecessary. There are films that are downright obscene with no reason at all to exist except to challenge obscenity laws. LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT is one of them. BEYOND THE DARKNESS (1979) is another. Thankfully many of these movies are virtually unheard of by 99% of people in the world. If that were not the case, I think people would be taking a greater stand against them.
Mankind's fascination and attraction to violence has been a topic of conversation for far longer than Lars von Trier has been around. Nobody needs THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT. It's a shocker, probably, I would assume. Nothing inherently wrong with that. But if it's as disturbing as I get the impression it is, does it really need to exist?
This is the reality of the matter: Kids shouldn't get into my DVD collection. If I owned every movie I highly value on DVD, I would at some point need to keep it locked. HOWEVER, if the locks were bypassed or I forgot to lock it, then what would I say to my nephews if they saw a movie in my DVD collection? What would they say if they saw MYSTERIOUS SKIN or HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER? Or BASKET CASE? I know what I would say, roughly, in response to those questions. "What kind of a person are you for owning that movie?" Heck, I've known adults who would ask me that. My nephews at this point are too young to consider the concept of dshonesty and hypocrisy. But they will be and I will need to have an answer for them just in case. Maybe my answers won't be good enough for God...but...well, maybe my answers won't make sense to them either, but I'll cross that bridge when the time comes. If they end up scared to their core and nothing else, my sister and her husband will probably have words of comfort for them. Maybe I'll be invited to comfort them and I will have things to say although they might not be relevant or come across as comforting. Probably leave that to them. Child psychology is totally not my area of expertise. I thought adult psychology was f***ed up. Seeing my 2 year old nephew grow up just demonstrates to me that intellect is a gift from God, fashioned by our experiences and influences. We are all somewhat stupid when we enter this Earth. We are born absolutely helpless. Our ability to reason is extremely limited, our knowledge is even more limited, our understanding of language despite constantly being exposed to it takes years to develop, and what's worse, we have to have help developing a sturdy walking ability.
My initial point in writing this may be flawed given I haven't plopped down $6 to see the newest monstrosity that Lars von Trier came up with. But if reading THE BIBLE is not enough to demonstrate the relationship between mankind of violence, then why do you need to watch THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT? That movie is getting way too much attention from film goers and I just have to wonder what the f*** is going through people's heads. But like it always is, God is watching us and waiting for many of us to choose Him and The Way that he provided for us to connect with Him, but people largely would believe that NOTHING is at the end of one's individual life rather than the definition of reality minus God.
But then there's 2018's THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT, which attempts to present a slasher film as art, by ruminating on the "nature" of art --- as if to say that all art is by nature an assault on one's senses.
Films have always been scary, some of them. 1957's WAIT UNTIL DARK was one of AFI's Top 100 pulse pounding films (the list had a more elongated title, don't remember what exactly it was; I saw a TV special about it on what at the time was referred to as "expanded basic" cable in Southeast Missouri via Charter Cable Co.). I still haven't seen it, perhaps because I'm trying to cherish movies made in the modern day rather than digging in the past. I know most movies from the 40s and 50s just don't appeal to me. Most movies today don't appeal to me and filmmakers today have a much higher expectation when it comes to eliciting empathy from an audience. Much more so with me because of my limited life experiences, even on a vicarious level. Movies of any time frame are unlikely to connect with me mentally OR emotionally, but especially movies made before the 1980's. There's a good chunk of movies from the 1970's I can get behind, weather by choice or by original sin, and there's almost as many from the late '60's I can say the same about. But there's very very few I've managed to enjoy that were made in the '50s and prior that I've managed to enjoy on any level. 1957's 12 ANGRY MEN is an astonishing example of a movie that was so damn awesome, a late '90's remake actually pales in comparison. The remake was good, but I can't say it did anything to improve upon or augment the original. 1999's THE HAUNTING was a worthwhile remake, despite what others have said. The 1963 original had its strengths but was mostly pretty boring. That being said, the 1999 remake was probably not worth what likely cost $100 million to make. I saw it in theaters and was more able to enjoy it because of that (this was before theaters felt the need to crank everything to ear shattering level, such as was the case with 2011's INCEPTION which I found to be an absolute mess of a film, partly because the bass level was turned way up so that resin from the dialogue was more audible than the actual words being spoken....wtfFFFF!!! I stil think every detail of the movie was way too symmetrical for a film that takes place largely in someone's subconcisous even though the story was probably the most "stream of consciousness" thing about the movie, considering it was kinda all over the place, with plot devices thrown in every which way and none of them having any real consequence or feeling of urgency or anything that caused any feeling at all really...some people it seems can feel bouts of fellowship and empathy on cue.......I know going in that it's a fucking movie with fake people programmed with what to say and do. If I can be distracted from that, then the filmmaker's have succeeded. Most of the time that is not the case Peter Jackson's unruly early title MEET THE FEEBLES is an example of this kind of failure. He truly did improve by the time HEAVENLY CREATURES was released. Either that or I was too pre-engulfed in the subject matter...not sure; it's been some time since I've seen it and I was in kind of a transition state regarding my tastes in movies. MEET JOE BLACK struck me as an amazing film when I first saw it. I saw it again around this time and just about coughed up my recent food intake).
Anyway....
My point originally was that movies do not need to be barbaric and disgusting. Yes, there are movies that are that way and some of them are rather two faced in their depiction of violence. Martin Scorsese's films often seem simultaneously defending the value of life while at the same time demonstrating a morbid attraction to death and destruction. I don't think those movies need to be censored as they deal with subject matter that children (pre adolescents) don't need to be concerning themselves with on an extended level to begin with, and in some cases don't need to be concerning themselves with at all. The mafia is mostly deactivated, so unless your neighborhood is in the grips of a mafia, the subject matter in GOODFELLAS and MEAN STREETS means nothing to an 11 year old. Maybe a 14 year old might be introspective and caring enough to want to contemplate the nature of social dynamics and the manipulations and potential consequences and dangers, etc....... but most often that is not the case. I saw GOODFELLAS when I was 19 or so and was bored to death by it. I tried watching it again and was a little more able to enjoy it. I was still kind of confused why the filmmaker felt the need to make a movie with a sole message: "THE MAFIA IS BAD" Ooh...glad we spent 2.5 hours clearing that up. Thanks? Then I saw it again a few years later, and was then more thoroughly able to enjoy it for what it was. Especially knowing how movies like THE GODFATHER gave people a somewhat favorable impression of the mafia and that the mafia was still very active up until and maybe a little after the time GOODFELLAS was released in theaters in 1990.
THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT might not be as grotesque as it sounds. But reading the marketing for it, it just sounds rather unnecessary. There are films that are downright obscene with no reason at all to exist except to challenge obscenity laws. LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT is one of them. BEYOND THE DARKNESS (1979) is another. Thankfully many of these movies are virtually unheard of by 99% of people in the world. If that were not the case, I think people would be taking a greater stand against them.
Mankind's fascination and attraction to violence has been a topic of conversation for far longer than Lars von Trier has been around. Nobody needs THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT. It's a shocker, probably, I would assume. Nothing inherently wrong with that. But if it's as disturbing as I get the impression it is, does it really need to exist?
This is the reality of the matter: Kids shouldn't get into my DVD collection. If I owned every movie I highly value on DVD, I would at some point need to keep it locked. HOWEVER, if the locks were bypassed or I forgot to lock it, then what would I say to my nephews if they saw a movie in my DVD collection? What would they say if they saw MYSTERIOUS SKIN or HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER? Or BASKET CASE? I know what I would say, roughly, in response to those questions. "What kind of a person are you for owning that movie?" Heck, I've known adults who would ask me that. My nephews at this point are too young to consider the concept of dshonesty and hypocrisy. But they will be and I will need to have an answer for them just in case. Maybe my answers won't be good enough for God...but...well, maybe my answers won't make sense to them either, but I'll cross that bridge when the time comes. If they end up scared to their core and nothing else, my sister and her husband will probably have words of comfort for them. Maybe I'll be invited to comfort them and I will have things to say although they might not be relevant or come across as comforting. Probably leave that to them. Child psychology is totally not my area of expertise. I thought adult psychology was f***ed up. Seeing my 2 year old nephew grow up just demonstrates to me that intellect is a gift from God, fashioned by our experiences and influences. We are all somewhat stupid when we enter this Earth. We are born absolutely helpless. Our ability to reason is extremely limited, our knowledge is even more limited, our understanding of language despite constantly being exposed to it takes years to develop, and what's worse, we have to have help developing a sturdy walking ability.
My initial point in writing this may be flawed given I haven't plopped down $6 to see the newest monstrosity that Lars von Trier came up with. But if reading THE BIBLE is not enough to demonstrate the relationship between mankind of violence, then why do you need to watch THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT? That movie is getting way too much attention from film goers and I just have to wonder what the f*** is going through people's heads. But like it always is, God is watching us and waiting for many of us to choose Him and The Way that he provided for us to connect with Him, but people largely would believe that NOTHING is at the end of one's individual life rather than the definition of reality minus God.
Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Is this Christmas morning?
Blood Bank (Spotify)"Blood Bank" by Third Eye Blind. The ep it comes from is so-so. That closing track just about exceeds the jaw dropping power of songs like "The Background" and "God Of Wine" (tracks 12 & 14 from their debut).
Explicit lyrics, fyi :-
Hope y'all had a gr8 Christmas. My heart goes out to those that didn't and rarely do.
As for me, my Christmas was a fit. I spent most days alone, trying to muster gratitude for God and all that He's done and all that He is and promises to do and be in years to come --- and not really succeeding, probably 95% of the time.
I try to be social and it mostly backfires. Snippets of conversation that never are followed up with. I get bored and rush off, not sure if there's more I could or should do to extend myself.
I was going to visit my Grandmother & co. in Missouri. I stayed behind to simplify and economize the already expensive trip. My sister was already prepared to pay a decent chunk of money for 3 days of dog sitting understanding that her husband would be unable to get enough time off work to leave the same time she and my mother were planning on leaving. That pretense was misguided and he ended up leaving very shortly after they did. So price of dog sitting suddenly went up. My sister's husband didn't seem to understand the severity of having his parents dog sit my mom's dogs and nobody was in any frame of mind to try and explain it to him.
I wasn't giddy with excitement about going on a 8+ hour drive in the 1st place.
So,
it was a fitting Christmas.
Thursday, December 13, 2018
The Great Commission
"Idle hands are the devil's playground" The truth of that expression does exist, if my experience of having way too much time at hand is any indication, even if The Bible itself doesn't put those words in that particular order to the forefront of one's mind. Much like "The Lord moves in mysterious ways" is not a Bible verse or a piece of one, but nonetheless is demonstrated to be true, both in a variety of passages within The Bible and the pages of individual people's lives.
The Great Commission is not presented to us because God is incapable of doing it Himself. It is not because he refuses to do it Himself. It is presented to us because, with the help of The Holy Spirit, and the knowledge of God's will and the availability of His Word, we have the means to express our Love FOR GOD by participating in the Purpose for which Jesus came to Earth. The Holy Spirit can and will help us accomplish this and it will help prod the listener in moments galore to follow, regardless of how dismissive or uncaring they may come across at the immediate receipt of Your Testimony. That doesn't mean everyone will heed those proddings. There are many people who will perish, either because of Our lack of Good Conduct or because of arrogance or a combination of the two. I think in many cases, Christians beat themselves up a bit much over not "doing enough", when the fact is, being a "hypocrite", while certainly not an OK way to live, does not excuse another's overall dismissal of The Truth. It should go without saying that hypocrisy does make your Testimony rather flimsy, since The Holy Spirit was sent to transform us into A NEW SPECIES OF LIFE. People who are visiting a church at your request and find among you a bunch of people slandering and judging others, backstabbing and engaging in gluttony, are more likely to tune into Atheism Today than The Holy Bible.
The more one is humbled and thus realizes a need to alter their behavior(s), the more they will WANT to serve Jesus. The Great Commission is a gift to those who want it. To those that don't want assignment to expand God's kingdom, I would recommend to keep asking God to deliver. The alternative is to either A) live life believing that death is literally THE END of your cognition (which is technically a possible reality, but I don't see how one benefits in that assumption, especially given the evidence of the contrary) or B) live life knowing The Truth but not walking in it, and risk losing out on something that you may eternally regret. I believe we have lots to lose out on. Most of us, that is. There are a select few Christians who will receive The Choicest Meat from God's table. The VIP Rooms of Heaven will be a relativity puny number and The rest of us may someday enter those rooms, much like the luxury cars that come loaded with the newest and greatest features; those features eventually are found in basic entry level vehicles. While the Common Man is driving what once was a luxury car, the new luxury cars are now loaded with features that didn't exist when the Common Cars' features were only available on luxury cars. That's not to imply God is going to make up cool stuff to show us when we get to Heaven just to make sure we don't get bored. All of Heaven exists. But if we take it all in -- how could we? -- then it'll look rather blurry and fuzzy and nothing will distinctly stand out.
The story of Adam & Eve and the lack of personality demonstrated is intentional, I do believe. As is the lack of personality demonstrated of God. We without Jesus and The Holy Spirit are so In The Wrong, and many of us either fail to recognize it or we try downplaying it with extremely weak justifications like "I'm not as bad as That guy......."
We as Christians do not automatically become The New Creation that is mentioned in The New Testament. We are A New Creation, but it is not a Finished specimen for many of us.
When we among us have become ambassador's of God's desire for justice, we may find ourselves learning more about the ins and outs of God's personalty. We may find ourselves able to listen to Him speak His mind and provide a window into His sense of humor and His fashion sense and taste in music etc. etc (I don't think He wears clothes, but who can say?)
But we, even those of us in The Christian Life, are not fully in line with God's pursuit of justice. Many/most of us struggle with greed and bitterness. I myself confess I do suspect I would be a lot less bitter feeling from time to time if I was more diligent in my Walk with Jesus. I truly do not deserve Salvation.
I thank you Lord Jesus, Father God and Holy Spirit for your undeserved kindness and generosity toward me.
The Great Commission is not presented to us because God is incapable of doing it Himself. It is not because he refuses to do it Himself. It is presented to us because, with the help of The Holy Spirit, and the knowledge of God's will and the availability of His Word, we have the means to express our Love FOR GOD by participating in the Purpose for which Jesus came to Earth. The Holy Spirit can and will help us accomplish this and it will help prod the listener in moments galore to follow, regardless of how dismissive or uncaring they may come across at the immediate receipt of Your Testimony. That doesn't mean everyone will heed those proddings. There are many people who will perish, either because of Our lack of Good Conduct or because of arrogance or a combination of the two. I think in many cases, Christians beat themselves up a bit much over not "doing enough", when the fact is, being a "hypocrite", while certainly not an OK way to live, does not excuse another's overall dismissal of The Truth. It should go without saying that hypocrisy does make your Testimony rather flimsy, since The Holy Spirit was sent to transform us into A NEW SPECIES OF LIFE. People who are visiting a church at your request and find among you a bunch of people slandering and judging others, backstabbing and engaging in gluttony, are more likely to tune into Atheism Today than The Holy Bible.
The more one is humbled and thus realizes a need to alter their behavior(s), the more they will WANT to serve Jesus. The Great Commission is a gift to those who want it. To those that don't want assignment to expand God's kingdom, I would recommend to keep asking God to deliver. The alternative is to either A) live life believing that death is literally THE END of your cognition (which is technically a possible reality, but I don't see how one benefits in that assumption, especially given the evidence of the contrary) or B) live life knowing The Truth but not walking in it, and risk losing out on something that you may eternally regret. I believe we have lots to lose out on. Most of us, that is. There are a select few Christians who will receive The Choicest Meat from God's table. The VIP Rooms of Heaven will be a relativity puny number and The rest of us may someday enter those rooms, much like the luxury cars that come loaded with the newest and greatest features; those features eventually are found in basic entry level vehicles. While the Common Man is driving what once was a luxury car, the new luxury cars are now loaded with features that didn't exist when the Common Cars' features were only available on luxury cars. That's not to imply God is going to make up cool stuff to show us when we get to Heaven just to make sure we don't get bored. All of Heaven exists. But if we take it all in -- how could we? -- then it'll look rather blurry and fuzzy and nothing will distinctly stand out.
The story of Adam & Eve and the lack of personality demonstrated is intentional, I do believe. As is the lack of personality demonstrated of God. We without Jesus and The Holy Spirit are so In The Wrong, and many of us either fail to recognize it or we try downplaying it with extremely weak justifications like "I'm not as bad as That guy......."
We as Christians do not automatically become The New Creation that is mentioned in The New Testament. We are A New Creation, but it is not a Finished specimen for many of us.
When we among us have become ambassador's of God's desire for justice, we may find ourselves learning more about the ins and outs of God's personalty. We may find ourselves able to listen to Him speak His mind and provide a window into His sense of humor and His fashion sense and taste in music etc. etc (I don't think He wears clothes, but who can say?)
But we, even those of us in The Christian Life, are not fully in line with God's pursuit of justice. Many/most of us struggle with greed and bitterness. I myself confess I do suspect I would be a lot less bitter feeling from time to time if I was more diligent in my Walk with Jesus. I truly do not deserve Salvation.
I thank you Lord Jesus, Father God and Holy Spirit for your undeserved kindness and generosity toward me.
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
Love Is The Law
I may be taking this to levels that even I am not certain of, but this is the impression I get
You see nothing of God's personality in The Bible.
What you see in The Bible is a burning desire for God to not be so far away from His creations.
What you see in The Bible are the consequences for not allowing God to have the throne of our hearts.
Adam & Eve's personalities are also not in The Bible. Adam & Eve are not depicted as newborn babies at any point in scripture, but I get the impression from the small segment that illustrates the downfall of mankind that Adam & Eve were unwise. They were innocent and naive. They obtained knowledge of Good and Evil by following Satan's advise but they did not obtain the wisdom they'd hoped for. If they'd obtained wisdom along with said knowledge they would have a much easier time choosing Good over Evil and instructing their offspring in doing the same. Instead, they gave birth to the first murderer in human history.
God doesn't expect us to be unselfish. If he expected us to not be selfish, he wouldn't bait us into obeying Him with promises of prosperity and good health. He would maybe use that tactic to begin with, but he doesn't. The tactic of GETTING SOMETHING IN RETURN is used all throughout The New Testament as well as The Old Testament. What God hopes for and seldom receives is a lack of greed. Greed is when someone has less than you and you do nothing to help despite your abilities.
Enjoying life is not the same thing as Greed. "Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep". Obviously, being not in the presence of weepers is not a sin otherwise we'd be weeping all of the time. On the other hand, if God's people ever had succeeded in fully embracing The Great Commission, we wouldn't have an Earth to harbor weeping. People would have their tears wiped away and any sadness left in them would be replaced by a warm fuzzy feeling that comes from knowing You care, but instead we go about our day trying to have a little bit of personal space. Think about it --- why is this Earth still standing? God doesn't expect it to just go on spinning for no reason. It's The People on it that He's concerned about.
"The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (NIV; 2nd Peter Ch 3 Vs 9)
THANK YOU GOD FOR YOUR PATIENCE!!!!!! When people say "We don't deserve Jesus", I usually intercept that as "We are not designed for demanding anything from God", because we as humans never DESERVED anything from God. Adam and Eve never DESERVED breath in their lunges. The angels never DESERVED their Heavenly duties. We as humans are subject to God's will, even if we rebel against it. He loves us, and always has. but now that I write this down in that way, it really does resonate in the belittling way that it comes across, and I can't help but tear up in sorrow and regret. We not only DO NOT DESERVE salvation, but we HAVE EARNED fates far worse than the Promise of Jesus and the fulfillment of it.
I do still contend that God does not expect us to be unselfish. However, our selfishness will be lavishly indulged when time comes to embrace our inclination to be selfish -- that time, of course, being The End Of Time as we, most societies on Earth, understand the definition of Time to be.
You see nothing of God's personality in The Bible.
What you see in The Bible is a burning desire for God to not be so far away from His creations.
What you see in The Bible are the consequences for not allowing God to have the throne of our hearts.
Adam & Eve's personalities are also not in The Bible. Adam & Eve are not depicted as newborn babies at any point in scripture, but I get the impression from the small segment that illustrates the downfall of mankind that Adam & Eve were unwise. They were innocent and naive. They obtained knowledge of Good and Evil by following Satan's advise but they did not obtain the wisdom they'd hoped for. If they'd obtained wisdom along with said knowledge they would have a much easier time choosing Good over Evil and instructing their offspring in doing the same. Instead, they gave birth to the first murderer in human history.
God doesn't expect us to be unselfish. If he expected us to not be selfish, he wouldn't bait us into obeying Him with promises of prosperity and good health. He would maybe use that tactic to begin with, but he doesn't. The tactic of GETTING SOMETHING IN RETURN is used all throughout The New Testament as well as The Old Testament. What God hopes for and seldom receives is a lack of greed. Greed is when someone has less than you and you do nothing to help despite your abilities.
Enjoying life is not the same thing as Greed. "Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep". Obviously, being not in the presence of weepers is not a sin otherwise we'd be weeping all of the time. On the other hand, if God's people ever had succeeded in fully embracing The Great Commission, we wouldn't have an Earth to harbor weeping. People would have their tears wiped away and any sadness left in them would be replaced by a warm fuzzy feeling that comes from knowing You care, but instead we go about our day trying to have a little bit of personal space. Think about it --- why is this Earth still standing? God doesn't expect it to just go on spinning for no reason. It's The People on it that He's concerned about.
"The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (NIV; 2nd Peter Ch 3 Vs 9)
THANK YOU GOD FOR YOUR PATIENCE!!!!!! When people say "We don't deserve Jesus", I usually intercept that as "We are not designed for demanding anything from God", because we as humans never DESERVED anything from God. Adam and Eve never DESERVED breath in their lunges. The angels never DESERVED their Heavenly duties. We as humans are subject to God's will, even if we rebel against it. He loves us, and always has. but now that I write this down in that way, it really does resonate in the belittling way that it comes across, and I can't help but tear up in sorrow and regret. We not only DO NOT DESERVE salvation, but we HAVE EARNED fates far worse than the Promise of Jesus and the fulfillment of it.
I do still contend that God does not expect us to be unselfish. However, our selfishness will be lavishly indulged when time comes to embrace our inclination to be selfish -- that time, of course, being The End Of Time as we, most societies on Earth, understand the definition of Time to be.
Thursday, December 6, 2018
GB3 or whatever it's gonna be called
I guess Ivan Reitman's quoted ETA of summer 2019 was a bit overly optimistic. Dan Aykroyd said last month it was being written. Even if it's finished now, it's still gotta get filmed and edited and touched up etc.
Someone asked me if I watched those "ghost hunter" shows, and I said that's no and elaborated by saying that element of the movie (the 1984 original) was not what I watched it for. I cited the friendly and upbeat atmosphere of the film as reasons for watching it, even though that probably isn't the top reason I have enjoyed the movie all these years. What I like about the film is the crackling of "barbequed dog hair" toward the end, the rustling of the paper in the opening scenes, the high pitched cello-ish sounding instrument heard throughout much of the movie, the rumbling of foodsteps before Gozer chooses its form for The Traveller, and the concise and expressive way Gozer says "THE TRAVALLER! HAS COME", there's so much to relish in that film after all these things were experienced by me as a 2 year old who had never seen or heard such things before.
The 2016 remake had the comradery, it had the nice interlude shots of NYC (the character, not the prop used for it, which would be Boston -- no need to be an idiot, please), it had the crescendo ending, but the comradery was written into the script, not an authentic byproduct of the cast's chemistry. Yes, the cast got along. So what? It's not unheard of for 4 people to get along with one another. The shots of NYC and the crescendo ending were mixed in with long drawn out scenes that gave the impression that the story being told was worth a 2 hour running time. It wasn't. It isn't. Ghostbusters lasted 1 hr 45 minutes because they had that much to offer. Neither film had a great story. Both films made little to no sense if you consider them for their stories. However, the ebb and flow of GB'84, the visuals and the sounds, the humor and the enthusiasm that the cast exuded from the screen, made the story somewhat easy to fall into, and be spellbound for that length of time. I was bored by GB:ATC within 30 minutes. The only time in GB'84 do I ever get a little impatient (not exactly bored) is when Bill Murray's character is beating around the bush in Sigourney Weaver's abode and doing not much of anything except pointing this gadget around. That's only because I've seen the movie like 800,000 times and I know darn well there's a much more exciting scene following it up. It's the same kind of antsyness that causes me to turn off most movies by the 20 minute mark even if I am enjoying it/them. But I shut GB:ATC off within 30 minutes and never wanted to go back. I had seen it in theaters and I knew there was nothing of substance beyond where I turned it off (and by substance I don't mean "slime", I mean worthy of attention.......ugh).
What confuses me is Dan Aykroyd says he liked the film. I can see someone not posting 8 different blog posts that regurgitate the same sentiments in different ways, but, I Mean, is this the film Dan Aykroyd was really hoping for after champinoning a sequel/reboot all these years? They wanted to make a GB3 in 1994 or somewhere aound there. They were going to do it back in 1999/2000, and almost 1.5 decades later, 25+ years in total, plus the 3/4 of a year they spent filming it and that same time length being shelved with a summer release come hell or high water, they finally have it accomplished. I can't believe Dan Aykroyd is fully satisfied with the film. I can see being happy it got made, but being happy with the finished product seems like a bit of an overstatement. Maybe it's just too much buildup of testosterone, idk. I did get the sense that the film was geared more toward a female audience. I don't know how many females were ever really all that gung ho about GHOSTBUSTERS, in concept or in practice, or what about the original film women liked. All the things I cited above are the very things that movies on The Hallmark Channel and the Lifetime Movie Network are lacking. And who is the primary demographic for that programming? Men? I'm pretty sure not...maybe I'm mistaken.......Rgh.
Thursday, November 29, 2018
A Big Deal
Throughout The Bible, God is urging people, literally and figuratively, to humble themselves and worship The Lord. People who "don't know how to take a compliment" are perhaps more aware of the tendency to become "big headed" and stray from God.
God doesn't expect to be breathing down our necks watching over our shoulder all the time. He knows we need that from Him, but He also knows we don't want that from Him and most of us never will. Even in the Garden of Eden, God is not depicted that way. God came to Adam and Eve while they were desperately trying to cover their nakedness to check on them and say "hi" but instead found them defiled by the poison of the fruit of the forbidden tree.
We need God to keep us from hurting one another, to keep us from depriving one another and being self serving. "There are children starving in Africa" was once a famous saying given to people who threw food in the trash. Some of that is due to government oppression and some of that is due to improper farming techniques but none of that is because someone bought a bowl of oatmeal from Starbucks and didn't finish it. The reason people across the world continue starving is because people are selfish. Yes, the United States and other governments that are modeled partly based on its at-the-time radical design do not mandate that The Uber Rich solve the world's problems. The Beauty of BATMAN is not that The U.S. gov't mandated Bruce Wayne use his resources the way that he did. The Beauty of BATMAN, and any story of a Good Samaritan that you see on the news from time to time, is that they CHOSE to do the right thing. It's absolutely meaningless if government mandates it. Christianity is not mandated by the US gov't because God does not want people forced into His kingdom. God's fellowship is indeed contageous for those who have exposure to it, but there will always be those who simply refuse to partake in it and they are given a time to reconsider their decision.
Humility is not the same thing as low self esteem, but I'd argue that it's better to have a low self image than to boast about your strengths because God is sovereign and he can take away whatever accomplishments we credit ourselves with just as easily as he can dispense them.
As I noted in an earlier blog post, us with much gifted are expected to pay it forward. I don't think I posted it in that wording, which is a paraphrase of the summary of one of Jesus' parable teachings. I think that blog post was in regard to a parallel to The wisdom that God granted King Solomon and The knowledge that has been granted to what is now known as The Modern World. But the point I make here is that you can't give too much. If you accidentally overgive to God and slip on your mortgage payment, what seems like disaster may rear its head, but will ultimately transform itsself into a blessing. The ultimate blessing however is far beyond the walls of a six story home with marble flooring and the day to day life that lives within it, with or without your continual presence.
The land will not always be a source of thorns and thistles. It will not always demand our sweat and blood. We will not always feel compelled to cry every so often. You can choose to wait for proof that such Hope exists or you can take the route that C.S. Lewis and Lee Strobel did and come to the conclusions they reached and find true peace in this life as well and in turn find a way to make this world a little brighter for others too.
God doesn't expect to be breathing down our necks watching over our shoulder all the time. He knows we need that from Him, but He also knows we don't want that from Him and most of us never will. Even in the Garden of Eden, God is not depicted that way. God came to Adam and Eve while they were desperately trying to cover their nakedness to check on them and say "hi" but instead found them defiled by the poison of the fruit of the forbidden tree.
We need God to keep us from hurting one another, to keep us from depriving one another and being self serving. "There are children starving in Africa" was once a famous saying given to people who threw food in the trash. Some of that is due to government oppression and some of that is due to improper farming techniques but none of that is because someone bought a bowl of oatmeal from Starbucks and didn't finish it. The reason people across the world continue starving is because people are selfish. Yes, the United States and other governments that are modeled partly based on its at-the-time radical design do not mandate that The Uber Rich solve the world's problems. The Beauty of BATMAN is not that The U.S. gov't mandated Bruce Wayne use his resources the way that he did. The Beauty of BATMAN, and any story of a Good Samaritan that you see on the news from time to time, is that they CHOSE to do the right thing. It's absolutely meaningless if government mandates it. Christianity is not mandated by the US gov't because God does not want people forced into His kingdom. God's fellowship is indeed contageous for those who have exposure to it, but there will always be those who simply refuse to partake in it and they are given a time to reconsider their decision.
Humility is not the same thing as low self esteem, but I'd argue that it's better to have a low self image than to boast about your strengths because God is sovereign and he can take away whatever accomplishments we credit ourselves with just as easily as he can dispense them.
As I noted in an earlier blog post, us with much gifted are expected to pay it forward. I don't think I posted it in that wording, which is a paraphrase of the summary of one of Jesus' parable teachings. I think that blog post was in regard to a parallel to The wisdom that God granted King Solomon and The knowledge that has been granted to what is now known as The Modern World. But the point I make here is that you can't give too much. If you accidentally overgive to God and slip on your mortgage payment, what seems like disaster may rear its head, but will ultimately transform itsself into a blessing. The ultimate blessing however is far beyond the walls of a six story home with marble flooring and the day to day life that lives within it, with or without your continual presence.
The land will not always be a source of thorns and thistles. It will not always demand our sweat and blood. We will not always feel compelled to cry every so often. You can choose to wait for proof that such Hope exists or you can take the route that C.S. Lewis and Lee Strobel did and come to the conclusions they reached and find true peace in this life as well and in turn find a way to make this world a little brighter for others too.
Bestseller Steven
CD Universe had a banner on their homepage that was recently taken down, a link featuring Stephen King - based movies & TV series on DVD and Blu ray.
It stood for almost a month if not more, and apparantly nobody noticed his name was mispelled. They had it spelled Steven King. I finally got around to emailing them about that earlier today and they responded saying that was a typo and they were working to fix it immediately. They seemed grateful for me pointing it out, but now I feel rather sorrowful that I didn't let them know sooner. Obviously I was the only one who gave enough of a damn to let them know they'd made a mistake there, but maybe it's not so obvious. How many people, I wonder, thought they'd entered some kind of Somalian pirate operation when they saw Stephen King's name misspelled? At best, one might suspect CD Universe to be some brat teenager operating from his parents' garage or something, not knowing a lick about how to efficiently run a mail order retail operation. I guess The World may Never know.
It stood for almost a month if not more, and apparantly nobody noticed his name was mispelled. They had it spelled Steven King. I finally got around to emailing them about that earlier today and they responded saying that was a typo and they were working to fix it immediately. They seemed grateful for me pointing it out, but now I feel rather sorrowful that I didn't let them know sooner. Obviously I was the only one who gave enough of a damn to let them know they'd made a mistake there, but maybe it's not so obvious. How many people, I wonder, thought they'd entered some kind of Somalian pirate operation when they saw Stephen King's name misspelled? At best, one might suspect CD Universe to be some brat teenager operating from his parents' garage or something, not knowing a lick about how to efficiently run a mail order retail operation. I guess The World may Never know.
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