Wednesday, December 31, 2008

The Gods Aren't Angry

I got this DVD for Christmas. I have been a fan of Rob Bell for quite a long time. I have his first tour on DVD (Everything is Spiritual) and loved it. So it made sense to get The Gods Aren't Angry.

This DVD is about 1 hour and 30 minutes. It's all one lecture. Rob Bell starts with a cave woman and how she would understand the "powers" and her relationship to them, then moves us to other nations, some of which we'd be more familiar with (ie the Greeks, Egyptians).

He shares how we came up with the idea that the deitys demanded sacrifices in order to please them. In turn they would send us rain, give us healthy children, valuable land, etc...

Moving on he gets to how we deal with guilt. And how God chose Abraham to begin a new way to relate to Him.

Now, there are people who are not happy with this idea. They claim that Bell is forgetting the big picture of sin and that he's saying that God is not angry with us as He should be angry with our sin.

I'm not sure I caught that omission in the video...


Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Essential Spider-man vol. 3

Ah, volume 3 of Essential The Amazing Spider-Man. The Spider-man comics keep getting better and better. In volume 3 you will find The Amazing Spider-Man titles:

"Where Crawls the Lizard"
"Spidey Smashes Out"
"The Sinister Shocker!"
"In the Hands of the Hunter"
"The Wings of the Vulture"
"From the Depths of Defeat!"
"SPIDERMAN No More!"
"In the Clutches of... The Kingpin!"
"To Die A Hero!"
"Enter: Dr. Octopus"
"The Tentacles and the Trap!"
"Doc Ock Wins!"
"Disaster!"
"The Coming of Ka-Zar!"
"To Kill A Spider-Man!"
"The Brand of the Brainwasher!"
"O, Bitter Victory!"
"What a Tangled Web We Weave...!"
"Make Way For... Medusa!"
"Wings in the Night!"
"The Vulture's Prey"
The Impossible Escape!"
"The Madness of Mysterio!"
"To Squash A Spider!"
"Crisis on Campus!"

Spider-Man battles Doc Ock, The Lizard, Mysterio, The Vulture, The Kingpin, Kraven the Hunter and many other minor villains in this volume. Stan Lee knew how to write classic comic book story-lines.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Star Trek Movie Memories by William Shatner

I picked this up at the library because I enjoy reading the behind-the-scenes of movies & TV shows. Star Trek Movie Memories takes us into the offices and minds of those involved with Paramount and the Star Trek movie franchise.

After reading this book, I can only say, What a bunch of whiny cry babies. If it isn't some studio exec, it's Leonard Nimoy wanting more power or money.

William Shatner and his co-author did a good job bringing in all the minds and ideas behind the controversies and little-known facts of Star Trek movies.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

This book was originally titled, Don't Leave Me! The main character, Bella, is constantly screaming this to her non-human eating vampire love interest - Edward and it's so incredibly annoying.

Stephenie Meyer has created a novel for the teenage girl in Twilight. Now that Harry Potter is complete, teens need a new sensation to hit. If you walk though the Young Adult section of any book store, you will see the many attempts by publishers and their authors to catch that pop culture fire. Because this book is about vampires and teenagers, how can you go wrong?

Bella moves to Washington State to be with her father. She's a very shy and self-loathing kind of person. Throughout the entire first third of the story, Bella is obsessed with a certain boy who looks different and gives her fierce looks.

Let me amend that, she's obsessed with him for the entire story. And that's what I don't quite like about this. Edward, the vampire boy who she can't stop thinking about, is very authoritarian. He literally orders her around in every circumstance. And when things go wrong, it's always her fault.

The romantic part comes because, since he's a vampire, he's attracted to her because she's a good meal. But because he loves her he fights that urge. Whenever he gets a little carried away, he blames her. And Bella takes it!

Of course, it's been a few years since I was in high school so I may be fuzzy on the whole boy/girl relationship thing for teenagers. I kept thinking, "Stop taking all that crap from him". Maybe that means I was sucked into the story and characters Meyer was telling - I've fallen into the trap.

So, while I don't consider this a work of literary genius, I am going to have to finish the series.

Curse you series writers!

Friday, December 12, 2008

The Incredible Hulk

Special effects was the only plus side to this film. Edward Norton as Bruce Banner (aka The Incredible Hulk)? No. Liv Tyler (aka breathe heavy in all lines girl) as Betty Ross? No. William Hurt has big mustache military man? No. This film was horribly miscast. I lost count how many times I thought Norton was pathetic (I am, of course, biased. I don't care for his acting) and how annoyed I got at Tyler's heavy breathing moans.

The best part of this film, outside of the special effects, was the very end when Tony Stark made an entrance and spoke about "forming a team". BRING ME IRON MAN!

The Hulk did look better in this film than the previous film. But the story for both films was awful.

In this version, Bruce Banner is hiding from General Ross and the US Army in a far away country. He is taking steps to prevent himself from getting "worked up" and turning into The Hulk.

Because some of Banner's blood drops into a bottle of silly juice and comic creator Stan Lee drinks it and dies, the army Special Forces is on the hunt.

The Special Forces team is led by a man who wants to get stronger and faster to take on the green creature. Thanks to General Ross, he becomes another Hulk-type and they call him Abomination. The final fight between the two behemoths was touted as this fantastic eye candy...it left me wanting to watch something else.

This is why I waited for a friend to loan this movie to me. There is no way I would ever pay for something like this.

Let's hope the upcoming Captain America and Thor are more along the lines of Iron Man and let this film go away.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Dead Heat by Joel Rosenberg

Last night the series came to an end for me. I stayed up through midnight to finish book 5 of Joel Rosenberg's political thriller series. Dead Heat was better than I was expecting. I had gone to amazon and read all the horrible reviews. I enjoyed this book more than books 3 and 4.

Dead Heat is not a happy book. It is very dark. Just as a small spoiler, what happens in this story occurs directly before the Rapture. (Think Left Behind)

Now, I'm not one to agree with that kind of theology but I do enjoy a decent political thriller and Dead Heat delivers. The scenes within the US government reads like a Tom Clancy novel.

It's fast paced and exciting. Nevermind that the chapters are only 2-3 pages long - I was zipping through this thing.

No one is safe when three nuclear missiles strike Washington DC, New York, California and Seattle. Someone wants to deliver a message to the world and they've pretty much decimated the symbolism of America. (Yes the nukes strike and at the first part of the book)

How would America respond? Who is responsible? These are the thoughts that drive Rosenberg's finale.

Outside of the quite long sections of religious banter, this novel is a decent "easy summer" read. Nothing too hard for the mind to comprehend.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

The Apocalypse Code by Hank Hanegraaff

The Apocalypse Code is another in a long line of critique books on the Left Behind end times theology. Hank Hanegraaff (the Bible Answer Man) explains how Tim LaHaye and other rapturites are teaching and preaching wrong theology.

Hanegraaff's view is that most of the book of Revelation and the prophetic verses in the Old Testament typically connected to the End Times have already happened.

One big argument is that John wrote this letter to seven churches during the 1st Century and not to us in the 21st Century.

This book is quite scholarly. Some of the segments in the book get long and boring. Other parts are eye-opening and educational.

If you find yourself believing in the Rapture and are looking for the Anti-Christ, and want someone to challenge your thinking, pick up this book. If you are interested in the different views of End Times theology, pick up this book.

If you are set in your ways and get angry when people disagree with you - don't pick up this book!