We are to worship God. We are not supposed to worship our understanding of God.
Saturday, April 02, 2011
Look, new trailers for DOCTOR WHO Season 6, or Season 32, whatever!!
I've been in a horrible funk the past few days. Related to my having bipolar disorder? Yeah. But also, quite a bit spiritual. Depression and oppression together are a terrible, terrible thing...
But you know what cheers me up? And maybe this'll help cheer others up too if they need it: two new trailers for the coming season of Doctor Who!
And if these are any indication... well, good lord this next season is going to be EPIC!
"This is the day he finds out who I am." That line, spoken by River Song, gives me shivers. That and the "Fear me, I've killed hundreds of Time Lords", "Fear me: I've killed ALL of them" exchange between the Doctor and some new foe, and the Doctor saying "I've been running my whole life. Now it's time for me to stop"...
April 23rd can not get here soon enough!
And then BBC America has this trailer, playing up how this season will see the first episode of Doctor Who to be shot in the United States in the show's entire forty-eight year history!
Speaking of the new season of Doctor Who, rumor is that the title of Neil Gaiman's episode has leaked out onto the Intertubes. I haven't found it yet. Anyone know what it is? If so, leave a comment about it please! :-)
Thursday, March 31, 2011
On this day...
...ten years ago, I was given the most very wonderful birthday that I have ever received.
And on this day, today, all that I can think of, the only thing on my mind, is the overwhelming sense of regret for the people who I have lost. People who I cared for, and still care for, and would have done anything for.
To all who it may concern: I tried. I did my best. I never stopped doing what I could to seek God and what He would have me do. I am still doing what I can to seek after Him.
And, if you are reading this blog today, please know that I am sorry. I never wanted to hurt any of you.
Still thinking of all of you. And, I will never stop being thankful for each of you.
EDIT 4:14 p.m. EST: To everyone reading this, who enjoys a relationship with God and has never had to personally deal with having a mental illness...
You have no idea how blessed you are.
And don't you ever take that for granted!
It is only by His grace that I am here today, to have another birthday. And if I didn't have Christ in my life I wouldn't be here today. Don't think that I'm not thankful to Him that He has led me through the darkest valleys that a person can go through in this life.
And yet, I do still cry out to Him. Begging Him to give me some indication that He has heard me. That the things which I have lost because of a condition which no one would ever ask for, have not been lost in vain.
Yes, I have a relationship with God. But it is not the kind that I would wish on anybody. I'll never know during my lifetime what it is like to have a mind that is quiet enough to be content to simply listen for Him. I'll go the rest of my days carrying a burden from a person I was never meant to be, that the real me now has... and keeps asking God to make sense of it.
If you have a relationship with God, and have not suffered the misery and grief that comes with your own mind turning against you, then be glad. Be thankful. Never stop thanking God for that!
I don't want anything for my birthday today. Except to know that God has heard my cries.
That, and that anyone who reads this, might go away thankful for a blessing that they had never given any thought to.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
THE PEOPLE VS. GEORGE LUCAS coming to North Carolina! I'm finally getting to see my movie on the big screen...
...well, parts of it anyway :-)
The People vs. George Lucas, Alexandre Philippe's documentary that has won beaucoups of awards at film festivals all over the world, has just announced a whole bunch of new showings. And one of them is right next door in Winston-Salem! Beginning May 9th it'll be playing at Cine Club on 311 West Fourth Street.
So why am I especially stoked about getting to see this rave-reviewed film? Here's the second trailer for it...
And here's the first teaser for The People vs. George Lucas...
That's none other than Melody Hallman Daniel and Chad Austin from Forcery, the first film that I ever made. I've heard that quite a lot of clips from it wound up in The People vs. George Lucas. So I'm not only looking forward to seeing Philippe's work, but also my own blown-up extra-huge on a real movie screen! This is gonna be an absolute hoot to behold :-)
EDIT 6:51 p.m. EST: I have just been notified that the screening at Cine Club has been moved back to September, because of scheduling conflict. I'll post more as we get closer to the actual date. We just have to wait a little longer, that's all :-)
Monday, March 28, 2011
Theatre Guild of Rockingham County presents CHARLOTTE'S WEB beginning this weekend!
For those who are wondering: I am not involved in this production. Between last April (when we did The King and I) and this past month (when we wrapped Gypsy) I was doing community theatre non-stop across four productions. Just needed a bit of a respite from the stage :-)
That said, I am exceedingly stoked about Theatre Guild of Rockingham County's production of Charlotte's Web, which kicks off a six-performance run this Friday night!
Based on E.B. White's classic novel, Charlotte's Web is the timeless tale of Wilbur: a succulent little pig who should have been destined to become ham and bacon... until an unusually eloquent spider named Charlotte comes to his rescue. It's a great cast, and I've seen some photos of the sets and they look terrific! I'm hoping to catch this on opening night. Maybe even a few more times this weekend, Lord willing.
Anyhoo, Charlotte's Web will be at Rockingham Community College's Advanced Technologies Building Auditorium, in Wentworth, North Carolina. Come enjoy the show!
It snowed this morning
Eight days into spring, and it snowed this morning here in north-central North Carolina. Not only that but it was coming down at a great clip and for awhile was sticking to the ground!
Here are some photos that I took around 8:45 a.m. today...
I was flying back from a wedding in Florida several years ago, in early April. It was snowing in Greensboro then as we touched down. And I've also seen it snow on the Fourth of July in nearby Caswell County. But this is the most snow that I've seen fall this late.
Pretty, ain't it? :-)
EDIT 10:45 a.m. EST: It's now a quarter-til 11 a.m. and the snow is still falling! Not as hard as it was earlier but, it still provides a nice ambiance.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
President Nixon in a DOCTOR WHO teaser!
"There are no monsters in the Oval Office."Last season I didn't post a single review of any Doctor Who episodes. That was all my fault: had some things I was dealing with at the time and couldn't commit to giving this show the respect that it deserves.
So... what do I think of Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor? He's become my favorite incarnation of the Doctor since the series was revived in 2005... and right up there with Tom Baker's and Jon Pertwee's versions as my all-time favorite Doctor ever. Smith has been a sheer hoot to watch in action! And this past season was the best yet since Doctor Who was brought back into production. Steven Moffat has not disappointed since taking over as showrunner.
The next season begins on Easter weekend. Supposedly this season will see the return of the Daleks, the return of the original Cybermen (not those mass-produced ones from the alternate timeline), an episode written by Neil Gaiman, and the first-ever Doctor Who episode filmed in the United States.
And it looks like Moffat and his crew are gonna play the American angle to the hilt. Check out this "prequel teaser", featuring President Richard Nixon talking on the Oval Office phone with a voice that is sinister, childlike and... familiar?
"The Impossible Astronaut", the first episode of the new season, airs on April 23rd on the BBC and BBC America! Time to start making room on my DVR :-P
Saturday, March 26, 2011
A thought on Christ and knowledge
Salvation is not achieved by the pursuit and acquisition of knowledge. Salvation is achieved by the desire for and pursuit of Christ.
Only then can we find the renewing of our minds that comes with the knowledge of Christ. For sake of God, and not our selves.
Happy 80th Birthdays to William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy!
This is a momentous week for two of the greatest pop icons of our generation... or any generation. A few days ago William Shatner turned 80 and today his fellow Star Trek shipmate Leonard Nimoy gets to enter his ninth decade!
Shatner and Nimoy: the men who brought James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock to life. May they live long and prosper!
Hey, let's celebrate with some music! How about Nimoy singing "Proud Mary"...
And who could ever forget (seriously, who can forget that this happened?) Shatner doing his cover of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"...
Truly going where no one has gone before :-P
Seriously though: Happy 80th Birthdays to Shatner and Nimoy!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
"Do dogs chase cats?"
Saw this GEICO commercial for the first time earlier this morning and I've been cracking up laughing about it since!
It's like "Toonces the Driving Cat" from Saturday Night Live meets The French Connection!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Discernment from Samuel Clemens
"The War Prayer" was written by Samuel Clemens - known best as "Mark Twain" - in 1904. It was published in 1923, thirteen years after the death of the celebrated humorist and commentator.The War Prayer by Mark Twain
It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissing and spluttering; on every hand and far down the receding and fading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marched down the wide avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms, the proud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheering them with voices choked with happy emotion as they swung by; nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriot oratory which stirred the deepest deeps of their hearts, and which they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in the churches the pastors preached devotion to flag and country, and invoked the God of Battles beseeching His aid in our good cause in outpourings of fervid eloquence which moved every listener. It was indeed a glad and gracious time, and the half dozen rash spirits that ventured to disapprove of the war and cast a doubt upon its righteousness straightway got such a stern and angry warning that for their personal safety's sake they quickly shrank out of sight and offended no more in that way.
Sunday morning came--next day the battalions would leave for the front; the church was filled; the volunteers were there, their young faces alight with martial dreams--visions of the stern advance, the gathering momentum, the rushing charge, the flashing sabers, the flight of the foe, the tumult, the enveloping smoke, the fierce pursuit, the surrender! Then home from the war, bronzed heroes, welcomed, adored, submerged in golden seas of glory! With the volunteers sat their dear ones, proud, happy, and envied by the neighbors and friends who had no sons and brothers to send forth to the field of honor, there to win for the flag, or, failing, die the noblest of noble deaths. The service proceeded; a war chapter from the Old Testament was read; the first prayer was said; it was followed by an organ burst that shook the building, and with one impulse the house rose, with glowing eyes and beating hearts, and poured out that tremendous invocation
God the all-terrible! Thou who ordainest! Thunder thy clarion and lightning thy sword! Then came the "long" prayer. None could remember the like of it for passionate pleading and moving and beautiful language. The burden of its supplication was, that an ever-merciful and benignant Father of us all would watch over our noble young soldiers, and aid, comfort, and encourage them in their patriotic work; bless them, shield them in the day of battle and the hour of peril, bear them in His mighty hand, make them strong and confident, invincible in the bloody onset; help them to crush the foe, grant to them and to their flag and country imperishable honor and glory--
An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness. With all eyes following him and wondering, he made his silent way; without pausing, he ascended to the preacher's side and stood there waiting. With shut lids the preacher, unconscious of his presence, continued with his moving prayer, and at last finished it with the words, uttered in fervent appeal, "Bless our arms, grant us the victory, O Lord our God, Father and Protector of our land and flag!"
The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to step aside--which the startled minister did--and took his place. During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience with solemn eyes, in which burned an uncanny light; then in a deep voice he said:
"I come from the Throne--bearing a message from Almighty God!" The words smote the house with a shock; if the stranger perceived it he gave no attention. "He has heard the prayer of His servant your shepherd, and will grant it if such shall be your desire after I, His messenger, shall have explained to you its import--that is to say, its full import. For it is like unto many of the prayers of men, in that it asks for more than he who utters it is aware of--except he pause and think.
"God's servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he paused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two--one uttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of Him Who heareth all supplications, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this--keep it in mind. If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor's crop which may not need rain and can be injured by it.
"You have heard your servant's prayer--the uttered part of it. I am commissioned of God to put into words the other part of it--that part which the pastor--and also you in your hearts--fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant that it was so! You heard these words: 'Grant us the victory, O Lord our God!' That is sufficient. the whole of the uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant words. Elaborations were not necessary. When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory--must follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit of God fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!
"O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle--be Thou near them! With them--in spirit--we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it--for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.
(After a pause.) "Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits!"
It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said.
Monday, March 21, 2011
I said that I was serious
Most people took me at my word but there were some who said that I was "crazy", one even said "Chris this should make you happy".
No, I'm not. Nothing about this has brought me one iota of "happy". To those who have thought such a thing: there is something very, VERY wrong with you and I do pray that you consider what the @&$# it is that you are saying. Because as I said last time, I would NEVER wish this on ANYBODY.
A little over a week ago this blog passed along the news that Johnny Robertson has been diagnosed with colon cancer. This afternoon two phone calls and a bunch of e-mails have come in with an update...
Johnny Robertson's cancer is now at stage 3. That's the point where the tumor's growth is well advanced and begun to metastasize.
I am being told that Mr. Robertson's chances at recovering from this are not as well as anyone would appreciate. And that apparently he is due for emergency surgery on Wednesday.
This shouldn't need to be said, but I guess somebody has to...
It rains on the just and the unjust alike. And there is NOT ONE OF US who is alive on this earth, but for the grace of God. NOT ONE!!! And if anyone reading my words are somehow feeling glib about Johnny Robertson's condition then... whatever he has done, someone who is feeling that way toward him right now is far, FAR sicker in mind and soul!!
It's not left to us to judge the condition of another's soul. That is not something that any of us in this world are qualified for. And yes, I know: Robertson and his followers judge others constantly. They are... well, they have a reputation (and that's all that I'm going to say about their activities at this time).
Put that aside. All of it. Don't let that come between any of us and the better angels of our nature.
This is not an occasion for spite. This is an occasion for faith and for humility and for prayer. And yes: this is an occasion for love. Love just as Christ loved us first.
So I'm now reiterating what I asked for over a week ago: Please put aside whatever else you feel toward Mr. Robertson, and hold him up in prayer. Ask God to bring him healing. Ask God to bring the peace which surpasses all understanding to him and his family.
Johnny, if you are reading this: you are being prayed for. No doubt by many people that you would be genuinely surprised to know are doing that for you. And we're not going to stop holding you up in our thoughts and prayers.
And if anybody doesn't like that, well... tough!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
It's just me... and my Smart Cover
So after doing my best to find an iPad 2 at one of the many local stores purporting to carry it, to no avail, I bit the debit card and proceeded to Apple's website and ordered one. And I went all out!! Got a 64-gigabyte model in black, with Wi-Fi and 3G (the AT&T version). Looking forward to it arriving in a few weeks. Hey, then I can be blogging from anywhere! Like at iCoffee in Summerfield, f'rinstance. I guess then I could have Tebow sitting next to me whilst I write. Heh-heh, "Blogging with Tebow": sounds like a winner :-)
Well anyhoo, I just checked the status of my order and the iPad 2 is still due to arrive in mid-April. However, the Smart Cover that I ordered along with it is already en route and due to be delivered here on Tuesday!
That's a bit bass-ackwards. It's like priority shipping a pooper-scooper ahead of a puppy. Apple coulda saved wads of money if it had shipped them together, but I didn't see an option for that when I placed my order. Pretty lousy business sense, in my opinion.
But anyhoo, I'll soon have an iPad 2 Smart Cover, but no iPad 2. Guess I'll just have to use my imagination for the next four weeks. Sorta like a Calvin 'n Hobbes thing when you think about it.
Maybe I could put the Smart Cover on an Etch-A-Sketch and pretend that I have an iPad 2? :-P
Saturday, March 19, 2011
If President Obama bombs Libya...
...as there are plenty of indications that he is set to do, then Obama will have accomplished something that I never thought I would ever see.
He will have eclipsed George W. Bush as THE WORST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES in my lifetime.
Libya is a civil war. And it's never paid to be an outside party that chooses to become embroiled in one of those.
Considering that the U.S. is already locked in two OTHER wars - neither one of which has had any clear goal in mind - and is stretched thin as it is, would make getting involved in Libya even more insane.
Gas up now, folks. We could see five, six, or seven dollars a gallon gasoline by the end of the weekend. The way things are going now, I wouldn't doubt it.
Friday, March 18, 2011
This WONDER WOMAN looks more like a BLUNDER Woman!
Somewhere this afternoon, William Moulton Marston is spinning in his grave.
Courtesy of the Entertainment Weekly website, here is our first look at Adrianne Palicki in costume for NBC's upcoming Wonder Woman series...
Bind me with the Golden Lasso of Truth: that looks HORRIBLE!!! It's like a cheap-o costume that you can find at those seasonal Halloween stores instead of... GEEZ IT JUST SUCKS DONKEY BALLS TO NO END!
I was kinda hoping for an interpretation of Wonder Woman like what Alex Ross and Mark Waid came up with for Kingdom Come. That Wonder Woman boasted all her Amazonian power but tempered with all-too-mortal failings and frailties. It's my personal favorite version of Wonder Woman ever. Heck, any previous version of Wonder Woman has got to be better than this... thing.
I don't know when the pilot episode airs. And based on this photo, I'm not caring to watch it either. If I want real Wonder Woman, I'll just watch the World War II episodes of the original series starring Lynda Carter.
Upgrading to Windows 7 from Windows 1 (and going through EVERY Windows along the way)
Whilst I await the arrival of my iPad 2 (estimated shipping 4-5 weeks, ahhh the price I paid for trying and failing to score one locally) here is something that will make one appreciate Apple's biggest rival in a brand new light. For all the dissin' that Microsoft gets, I have to respect them anew after watching this clip: Andrew Tait's video "Chain of Fools". In it, Andrew upgrades to Windows 7... but he starts with MS-DOS 5.0 running the original Microsoft Windows, and proceeds to upgrade from there to every subsequent version of Windows until he gets to the latest release!
So how successful was his endeavor? Watch and be amazed!
Anyone else nearly shed a tear when they saw Windows 3.1 again for the first time in years? :-P
