<rant>

Kate could have died…

While I would never root for the death of a real human being, Kate was an annoying character.  She had some shot at redemption at some point but I would have been fine if she would have died.

Or better yet they could have showed Ben and Danielle talking and then when Danielle remembered what happened on the island, she could have beat the crap out of Ben.  That would have been at least entertaining.

“They never returned home”

As I understand it the final show of Quantum Leap was never written as a finale.  After they found out they were cancelled they simply put a black screen with white letters that said “Sam Becket never returned home.”  It would have been better if they simply said “The castaways never returned home.” At least then we could work out thing in our own head that would have made sense.

Island Elsewhere

The island could have been simply an image in the center of a snow globe, all created in the imagination of a mentally disabled boy.  Sure it didn’t work for St. Elsewhere but at least then millions of Lost fans could have breathed a collective sigh of relief because it wasn’t supposed to make sense.

</rant>

Recently they have added a character named Arastoo Vaziri.  This character is a devoted traditional Muslim which puts him a little at odds with the scientific anti-faith group of scientists he works among.  (Possible Spoiler) Expecting others would find it odd that he is both a scientist and very religious (a suspicion his co-workers later confirmed), Vaziri decides to put on a false accent to sound “fresh off the boat” and thus make his religious devotion seem like an irrelevant byproduct of his heritage.[1]

After this fact is revealed, however, Vaziri does a stupendous job of answering any questions his colleagues can ask regarding his faith.  Here is my question: Where are the Christian characters that can do this?  I will grant that I don’t watch a great deal of TV so maybe they are out there but I haven’t seen one.  I can think of a few who claimed some sort of spirituality but very few that I thought, “Hey, that is a great portrayal of what is means to be a Christian.”

Is it because we have fled from the entertainment industry like Jonah ran from Nineveh and there are no believers left to influence Hollywood?

Is it because we do such a horrible job of portraying it ourselves?  Is art actually reflecting what it sees in the church?  I fear that may be all too true.  What do you think?

ME:  You have never seen Ferris Beuler?

Young Punk: Nope

Me: How have you never seen Ferris Beuler’s Day off?

YP: I have heard of it but never seen it.

ME: It was a defining move of…

YP: YOUR GENERATION?

Me: …Hey respect your elders…

I decided to live blog the tourney so I could keep my ADD in line and not blow it.

• My first goal is to make it to the first break; one hour into play.
• I got started pretty well with a pair of Kings, and was able to walk way with a few hundred chips which pushed me into second place for just a second.  I quickly fell but haven’t been below
• I am trying to keep the number of hands I play down so I can not lose on stupid plays.
• I am also trying to not take any risks early so I can stay alive.
• 45 minutes in I am doing pretty well, 97 of 394 but I need to be 72 or better to advance.
• My biggest win was a when I flopped a set of 6’s but I have done pretty well winning and kept my losses small.

• Made it to the break
• With a stupid play, because I was on the phone, I dropped to 148 of 340.
• The ante’s begin after the break, I think I may have to open up my starting hands a bit more and make some good moves.
• It doesn’t help that the best hand I have seen all night was the one set I won with and one I folded preflop.
• Time to start stealing blinds and antes
• JJ I hate those cards…whew everyone folded to my raise.
• 1700 with 66
• Back down with AK (Anna Kornikova, looks good but rarely wins)
• 2589 with AQ
• flopped another set but checked raised to hard on the flop and scared money away…
• Doubled up on my first straight of the night.  77th place
• Next hand KQs Split pot with KQs
• Folded TT to an all in bet only to have folded a $2000 hand. full house would have won it. arggghgh
• Lost half of my stack on calling an all in with KQ to AJ.  It was stupid but I figured I was 50% and had to take a risk, ok I am just trying to make myself feel better.
• I want to make it to the next break in 19 minutes.
• I am down to 10 Big blinds
• Back in it with another set that I was able to slow play but I got scared off my the two kings on the board.  92 of 159
• AJ against one player, I flopped top pair with my jack he raised for 1000 1/3 of his stack I pushed all in and he folded.  57 of 154
• AA I raised for 900 (3BB) and then pushed all in after the flop only to find out my opponent had flopped a set.  I busted out in 153 palce 6 minutes short of my goal to reach the next break.  I got to excited when I saw the AA since I hadn’t seen it all night in the 145 hands I had played.

In retrospect I shouldn’t have played pushed all in even though the odds of him having a set were terribly small if he was willing to bet he had something.  I was just hoping it was KK or QQ.

Well better luck next year.

It seems that all of my hobbies, accept reading theology, are typically not habits that Christians partake of. All I need to add is wine tasting and I will have the perfect sinful trifecta. Anyway I don’t want this post to be a debate on the nature of gambling and proper stewardship we all have things, normally entertainment, we spend money on; this is mine.

I will be playing in the preliminary tourney next Tuesday the 16th at 7EST. Wish me luck.

With Heather leaving town this weekend I took off to with a buddy to see The Dark Knight. I was skeptical to see it because it was tremendously well hyped as the best movie ever, and the death of Heath Ledger only served to increase this hype. (This post is spoiler free)

I must first say I wasn’t let down because I kept my hopes low, although I must say Ledger did a phenomenal job as the Joker. The character changed a great deal in this movie since Jack Nicholson played the role almost 20 years ago.

This movie is much darker that Batman Begins, in my opinion. There are many scenes that remind me of what I have heard and read of Saw, I haven’t seen it personally. I enjoyed the film, and its examination of human nature, but I will not go see it again unless Heather wants to see it when she gets back in town.

I would give this movie 3.5 stars.

Perhaps it is because I have read a great deal on this topic already but this book was a great deal of rehashed information to me.  It is very well cited and hence is great for research.

If you haven’t been exposed to how culture has changed the way we do church over the last 2000 years it may be a very interesting read.  They address a few sacred cows showing the history of why we dress up for church, or why we have a pastoral staff.

I suppose my response would be a resounding: And?
I believe the way we present the gospel is now and will be subject to the culture in which we are operating.  Simply because something came from a cultural issue doesn’t always make it wrong.  It is good to understand these things so that we can separate the required from the non required.  Issues arise when we insist that something is a biblical command and proof text it to make our case when it is really not a vital issue.

I am more concerned with the message of the church than the form it takes.  I believe our larger issue it the fact that many if not most churches in America are simply not preaching the gospel.

You can see this book in my library.
Another good review of Pagan Christianity

Gary Gygax is the man who wrote the book, litteraly, on Dungeons and Dragons. He invented the game and wrote the first Player’s handbook and Dungeons master’s guide. His invention kept me sane in highschool and continues to give pleasure to my life today.

A buddy of mine won the chance to play with him and said he is one the the nicest guys he had ever met. I just wanted to tip my hat to the man.

Those of you who do know him may apprecite this tribute from order of the stick.

Photo by  Alan De Smet