1600 year old version of Bible goes online

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25785089/


I agree with this quote from the article:

"I think it's just fantastic that thanks to technology we can now make the oldest cultural artifacts — ones that were once so precious you couldn't show them to anyone — accessible to everyone, in really high quality," said Schneider.

Movie Review: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

I came into this movie expecting good things, because the Paul Newman - Robert Redford combo worked so well in The Sting. It was The Sting, I believe, that inspired us to watch all of the Best Picture winners. See my review for The Sting here from January 2007.

I wish this one had won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1969, because it would rank pretty high on my ranking of winners.

This movie was pretty impressive at first viewing. It's really artsy. There is a long sequence in the middle that I grew impatient with, and that is one of my questions with it. There is also an acappella song that I didn't like towards the end of the movie. But overall it makes a great movie.


The music was composed by Burt Bacharach. And they took a big risk by composing a song named "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" for a certain scene. It's a risk because it really has nothing to do with the movie, and it is a totally different music style than the rest of the movie. But it works. And I don't think I'll post the clip because it probably would take away from the experience to see this clip before seeing the movie, but you can search on YouTube if you want.


I think this movie is great because of the acting, because of the creativity that saturates it.

Sabetha, KS

We took a day trip to Sabetha, KS yesterday to go to a wedding. Sabetha is 1 hour north of Topeka. So we basically drove a big square. West to Topeka, North to Sabetha, then East to St Joseph, and South to home. I like a little variety.

It was in a large church in Sabetha that you could basically fit the entire population of the city into. People come from neighboring towns to go to the church. At the reception we were at the rowdy table of YouthFront workers, and we downed 4 bottles of sparkling grape juice.

We walked into the church 5 minutes before the wedding started. That is already an unsettling feeling when you're in town. But when you're travelling, it prolongs the oh no we're going to be late feeling.

Then I also had my first almost ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere experience after the wedding. I had this plan in my head to drive to Missouri, because of the famed lower gas prices, but it so happened that we had 25 miles to go to St. Joseph, and the tank was pretty much empty. We made a U-turn and stopped in Highland, KS (home of the oldest college in Kansas - Highland Community College chartered in 1858). So basically I got lucky that there was a town right there when we needed one. (I say "I" because it was completely my fault). So I'm happy to get out of that, and I will take the gas situation a little more seriously next time.

We watched a movie after that - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - from 1969. Great movie. Review coming up.

Then today (Sunday), I led worship for youth from the piano, and played bass in the worship service. Then we came back at 4 PM to discuss the topic of worship in "roundtable discussions", which are really on rectangular tables. I led a group of about 5 other adults in the church. It was a low key group, and we got through the questions quickly. Courtney led a group that had 10 people, with a number of jokers and laughers in the group, and they were by far the rowdiest table, and I turned to look at them several times, especially when I heard Courtney laugh across the gym.

Book Review: The Divine Conspiracy, by Dallas Willard

I finished the book The Divine Conspiracy. It was a marathon read - 400 pages of deep thoughts. Willard occasionally makes a funny remark, or has a burst of good humored sarcasm. But those are even in context of very serious points. It was like listening to a boring professor break down the fine points of the Christian life. Some people would love that - and many people have enjoyed this book.

The nice thing I got out of it was that the Beatitudes are not additional laws. Jesus did not come to make us more legalistic. His Beatitudes seek to explain what type of person lives a godly life. It's the person who gives away his cloak, or turns the other cheek. The examples listed are not meant to be a comprehensive list of rules that Jesus wanted to communciate while he was on earth. It's important to get to the heart of what he was saying - the heart of the person.

Imagination

I appreciated Mike's post on Imagination

http://king.typepad.com/mike_king/2008/07/imagination.html

Nebraska, SD Trip

Courtney made some friends at camp back in 1999. They still get together for reunions. One of them, Adam, is a youth pastor in Alliance Nebraska, so we went and visited. I went with Brian and Karen to pick up Courtney at Covenant Cedars Camp (Hordville, NE), and then on to Western Nebraska.

As part of the trip, we went to Rapid City, SD, and saw Mount Rushmore and a Reptile Museum. Then we played a 2-round disc golf tourney until 1:30 AM, and crawled into bed at 5 AM.

I was sick the entire time we was there with a bad combination of a cold and allergies. I am still recovering, but it was at its worst point during the trip. So that was a bummer. Here is a slideshow! Click on it or here to reach larger and slower versions. There are also 2 videos available if you click on it and see the ones of the guy wrestling the alligator.

War in Iraq - Alternative Point of View

I tend to agree with conservatives about the War in Iraq - how it was just - and has been successful. Here is a video of our candidate sharing his opinion. He is not as eloquent as I would like, but eventually gets his point across

Random Pictures from Summer 2008

Random Pictures from Summer 2008 (All by CG AKA Wifie)



Me holding cute baby














Sweet fireworks picture!













A birds' nest I discovered whilst pruning branches.













The result of jackhammering












The yard without sheds or hard surfaces

Midnight Cowboy dilemma

If you know me well, you know I am quite picky about movies. For example, if I'm going to watch a rated R movie, it has to go through some strict filtering, the main one being that it is in very high acclaim. The main reason is that I am easily offended, so I always left my movie watching experience feeling frustrated (referring to early college days). Being married to Courtney, who is not really offended in those ways, has helped me to be more like her, but I still am picky.

Anyway, I knew that in our Best Picture Winner quest, this would cause a collision eventually. And I knew it would begin with Midnight Cowboy, the winner in 1969. I first heard about it when the Bades warned us to not watch it, and said we should skip it. And they said it was weird.


I later found out that it is about a homosexual male prostitute and his sickly friend struggling to survive in the big city. I also found out that it was rated X at the time in 1969, until they changed it to R in 1970. Of course, ratings were different back then.

So, my current inclination is to watch it, because I don't really want to say that I skipped a Best Picture Winner. But I approach with fear! But I do also approach expecting to see some good movie making. I haven't talked to C about it yet since she is in Nebraska.

Oscar Winner: Oliver! 1968

This movie was charming, and I recommend giving it a chance.

It started out with a few songs that were just ok, and I was a bit worried, and wondered how it possibly won Best Picture. But then I enjoyed the songs that came up, namely "You've Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two", "Consider Yourself", and "I'd Do Anything".

Then the plot took over and drew me in...

There was a great mix of serious themes and comedic ones.


Here's one of the scenes I enjoyed. We found out that Olivers voice was dubbed by the music director's daughter, and you can hear it.

Divine Conspiracy - 90% complete

360 pages/ 400

Not like anyone cares!

Tennis and Golf - usually boring, but not now

I had the privilege of watching two great sports moments recently in sports I do not normally watch.

The first was about a month ago when Tiger Woods hit a long putt on the 18th hole on the final round to force a playoff round. See video below.

The second was yesterday, when two guys duked it out for the Wimbledon title. Rafael Nadal defeated 5-time-in-a-row-champion Roger Federer. The only boring thing about men's tennis is that it is fairly predictable. The person serving wins the sets about 90% of the time. The key to victory is to score a "break" - to win the set when the other player is serving. I didn't know tennis ever got this close: 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7: Nadal wins epic Wimbledon final...

Think About It Video

This is pretty much my favorite video right now. Thanks to Mike King for showing it on his blog!

Movie Review: In the Heat of the Night

This 1967 Best Picture winner was quite refreshing, I think mainly because it is set in recent times. The previous 5 Best Picture winners were from historical decades or centuries (Man for all Seasons, Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, Tom Jones, Lawrence of Arabia).

Also, notable - this is the first time an Oscar Winner has an African-American in the lead role. And sadly, it is one of the first times an African-American even appears in a Best Picture winner!

The other thing is that there is modern music. The movie begins and ends with Ray Charles singing "In the Heat of the Night". Quincy Jones arranged all of the music in the film.

So, when viewing a lot of older films, as we have, this one is refreshing.

An African-American man, who is the head of the homicide detective division, in Philadelphia, gets involved in solving a murder in a small, Southern, racist town. The racism is so bad that it is almost funny at times. The nonsensical hate really makes the haters look very stupid, and that is what makes me chuckle. But at the same time I am sad, because I know that is probably an accurate depiction of some areas during that time period. Maybe such racist small towns still exist.

The African-American actor, I failed to mention, is Sidney Poitier. The character reminded me of President David Palmer, the fictional character from 24.

The plot is good. The movie is really good. The police chief was constantly chewing gum. We weren't sure why the director allowed such an annoying trait throughout the entire movie. I'm not sure that I would watch it again, because now that I know what happened, it takes a lot of the fun out of it.

Best of June 2008

Best Movie That I Saw for the First Time: A Man for All Seasons
Best Life Happening: Jackhammering
Best Book I Read: How to Read Genesis by Tremper Longman III