Notice: Blog undergoing revisions and maintenance over the next coming weeks. -A

The definitive Avatar Review

So forget every epic movie that has used CG… forget every movie that tried fusing high tech w/ organic and lush environments.  James Cameron has quite frankly perfected what a Sci-Fi movie should…. and can be.

The movie itself has a fairly basic plot of a greedy corporation trying to obtain some weird precious material that you and I don’t know about… but apparently it fetches a good price on the open market.  The Na’vi is the indigenous tribe of people on the planet of Pandora who happen to live on top of the largest deposit of said precious material.

The opening 15-20 minutes of the movie literally left me picking my jaw up off the floor.  Cameron introduces us to the characters and their back plot in such a way that makes us feel comfortable with the setting of space… weird planets and blue people.  Drawing us into the story and giving us reason to care about these characters and these struggles.

The scenery is simply breathtaking.  It’s also done in such a way to not be overly obvious like George Lucas or Speilberg has been in their previous movies.  It drives home the realness or organic nature of the planet Pandora in such a subtle way.

The Characters are what make this 3 hour Sci-Fi flick worth seeing… and I’d say worth seeing at least twice on the big screen.  If you’re going to see it though… I encourage you to see it at least in High Definition.  Cameron has said that this is supposed to be viewed in 3-D;  While I find 3-D to be more of a gimmick mostly, I can see how this movie would make for a captivating choice for 3-D.

With the Characters driving the story, the technology in the movie is again… subtle and well used to make it feel real, and not alien (no pun…), the creatures and fighting sequences just make for an all round great movie experience.  I guess I still have a soft spot for Sigourney though.

James Cameron… taking his sweet ass time with this (damn near 10 years…) has got a real gem on his hand.  While it’s not perfect and nor is it the second coming (even of Cinema) Cameron has made a brilliant effort for capturing the imagination of people.  With promises of returning to Pandora in the future (at least 2 more Avatar movies rumored at this point…) I hope we can expect more excellent characters and amazing cinematography in the coming years.

Avatar gets **** out ****

-A

Turning of a page…

So this guy…. Barack Obama… chosen… elected by the majority of the people has finally… finally made his first official decision as our President.

Some may have caught my tweet a couple days back loathing the 30,000 troop surge in Afghanistan.  Well… I think I still feel that way as this has the potential to turn into another Iraq for the United States of which… I’m sure I speak for most people… we don’t want to see happen.

Almost a decade ago… on 9/11 we were faced with the greatest, most horrific attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor.  Putting aside the politics of the day, the posturing and the typical statements… this changed our course as a country forever.

Mr. Obama however… as much as I hate sending more of our men and women over there… has done the right thing.  At what political cost and of what political sacrifice?

Here are some facts:

1.) We are just now starting to see economic signs of recovery in most sectors in the US economy.  Does this mean everyone can go back to driving Mercedes, Bimmers and Audi’s while living in a 5000 sq ft house?  No.  But this means that people are managing to pay their mortgages, pay their bills and somehow manage their own health care just fine.

2.) Our Nation’s debt is held by China.  Imagine… the United States going out shopping and putting our entire economy on the credit card to pay off at 18% interest over 50 years.  That sound like a solid plan to you?  Didn’t think so.  So when we announce plans of sending more troops, more armor, more supplies… more of EVERYTHING… how do you think that makes China feel that we’re spending MORE money?  (leads me to my next point…)

3.) Government run health care as of yesterday is dead.  Done.  Finished.  Democrats or Republicans alike cannot… CANNOT justify spending nearly $3 Trillion dollars over the next 10 years to somehow save you and me money.  They can’t do it.  Why?  Because China (again…) would be footing this bill for us spending money we don’t have and I doubt they will authorize or buy $3 Trillion more from us in US secured bonds.

So who exactly wins in all of this mess?  What else is happening behind the scenes that we’re not seeing as well– and what can be done to finally bring our troops home?

Me as a simple American look at this as a win for the American people.  Maybe… just maybe our government has figured out that they have to put aside their politics and actually get things done.  While the decision to stay in Afghanistan pains me… especially for the families that have their loved ones in harms way, I’m hopeful that this might be the straw that broke Washington D.C.’s back and brings them back to reality.

-A

Movies to round out 2009….

These are my must see movies this month:

 

Hope to have reviews of those this month.

-A

SE Portland… the cause of Oregon’s 11.3% unemployment?

Yes…. so Mt. Tabor park has many friends… in fact… maybe too many friends.  I preface this blog post with some humor because while it’s not really a slam against SE Portland (Ha! Alia!) it’s more of a comical observation of how life across the river is well… different.

Many of you know… or don’t know, I’m working over @ Warner Pacific college.  That said, it’s over in SE Portland.  SE Portland is a different world.  Likely in the olden days of Portland lore I’m sure the suburbanites spun stories of orcs and trolls guarding the bridges from man coming across with their machinery or disease.

"Stay off my land!!"

But honestly, maybe that’s a stretch… and maybe that’s because I was watching the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy last Friday/Saturday (extended editions) and watched them in less than 24 hrs.  Anyways…. observations.  People in SE (South East if you haven’t figured it out by now) Portland march to a different tune/beat or drum.  I’d like to say that their moto is “More cowbell!”.  Why do I say that?  Well— examples of this:

I head into work regularly between 11am and 12pm.  After I get off I-84 and head up 60th street to division, I see more people out at coffee shops, walking dogs, bike riding or just chilling.  It prompted to me to write this post because I have to wonder what the hell these people do?  Not only that— but Mt. Tabor.  Warner Pacific is right up against the south side of Mt. Tabor park and all day… ALL DAY I see people in the park walking, walking their dogs and do other “non-work” duties that makes me wonder how do they get away with this?  Can I start getting away with doing this?  Where do I sign up?

I’ve had this conversation with other people @ Warner in fact and the general consensus is… no one knows how there can be a large number of people in or around Mt. Tabor ALL the time.

So I suppose if the Oregon state government got desperate for workers… Mt. Tabor is a place to start looking for raw talent right?

If you happen to live over in SE Portland, I’d love to hear from you and your perspective.  Maybe you have the same questions I do or perhaps… you’re one of the aforementioned raw talent just looking for a job.

More later.

-A

Journey on towards post-post modernism

So this fellow who you may or may not be aware of who he is or what he’s about.  His name is NT Wright.  Having read his theology and been wrestling with the evangelical view points of post-modernity, it makes me wonder if we are starting to live in the “what’s next” category.

I’ve had numerous conversations with people over the past year about what post-modernism is… and what it is isn’t.  Is that a fair assessment of what the actual relevance is of post-modernity?  That I’m not so sure.  When I tend to take a stance on something, the reality is most would take my view as my stance on most things in life.  Example: How does ones religious background affect or influence the nature or being of a person?  Biblically, it should have a holistic influence over the nature of the person.  Where I believe post-modernity is failing in some respecting is that we are allowing to pick and choose what we say our stance is without any of the negative affects of choosing a stance one way or another.

Maybe that’s a bit wordy but the breakdown is you can’t say one thing, mean another and not answer the question.

Many it seems like to choose this approach because it’s easy to retract a statement citing that “that’s not what I meant…” or “I was taken out of context…” as a form of argument for a distortion of words or reality based on their view of the world.  I’d say we live in a fairly forgiving world today given the fact that our Government here in the States has chosen to use these types of tactics to slither their way out of actually doing anything!

Anyways— in a church context;  We wrestle with the questions of “How do you change outsiders perspective on church?” quite often.  Where the modern and even post-modern world would say that we need to arrange church to be more “people friendly” in the way that Starbucks serves hundreds of thousands of customers a day… if we just make it relaxing and enjoyable, people will like “the church”.  Often this is the trap that snares us into making it all about us again and it really is not about us at all.  Not withstanding the fact that “the church” isn’t coffee tables, candles, a building, music or chairs.. it’s people who gather in one place or another to proclaim and worship God from their hearts.

Often people have asked me with the introduction of the new service at village, what the fuss is over the service and how is it different?  At the end of the day when I look at what the church is… what true fellowship with our surrounding community should be and how Christ meets us through the relationships and circumstances we have throughout the week, I’d say the new service isn’t really any different.  No longer is a group of people bound by the constraints of a weekend service to collide with God, the shift is moving towards re-focusing on God during the services and from that, out pouring into our relationships with others throughout the week.  Again, the change is happening in really all the services at village… where people are re-examining what it is to call themselves a follower of Christ and what that looks like practically given the talents and gifts they have.

There are going to be growing pains.  There are going to be times of awkward silence, there are going to be times of uneasiness.  This is what I believe is the (here) or coming soon is for the post-post-modern world.  Where the modern age gave us enlightenment and tolerance and the post-modern world told us to express ones self without the infringement of others, the post-post modern world is seeming heading towards a collision course of further enlightenment, dissatisfaction with the status quo and relevance of truth in our world today.

Granted this is my take on this and it might be naive of me to say given that my world is going to be turned upside down here in probably 12 short months… but interesting things to think about.

 

-A

My new guilty pleasure on the PS3: Borderlands

So I picked up this little gem… what… Saturday afternoon on a random trip to Worst Buy to help my Dad pick up a Blu-ray player (finally!) for his man cave.

Story wise… pick one of 4 people.. Hunter (Sniper), Soldier (Yup), Siren (Fast Femme Fatal) and the Brick (as himself…).  I went with the Hunter (Mordecai) whose talent gives him a pet “bloodwing” which is like this weird… hybrid hawk/bat.  Tell the good ‘ol blood wing to go attack a baddie and sure enough… he helps you take’em out.

The game’s slogan : “87 Bazzilion guns!” is about right.  The game is like a first person shooter… meets RPG… meets Mad Max… Sci-Fi.  The games look and feel is what is so amazing.  You are always a sense of immersion in the game that I haven’t had since Fallout 3.

Anyways– You level up your character and customize him/her to your liking adding a whole slew of new abilities and features.

The game is great and definitely give it a spin if you have a 360/PS3 or PC (as it was just released today).  Great game with a lot of fun to be had.

Borderlands gets a ***** out of ******

 

-A

Custom built Core i7 desktop going up for sale

I know my wife is going to kill me… considering this is the second desktop in 2 years I’ve built… but I guess I’m just a nerd about technology sometimes.

Anyways, specs below:

Custom painted Cool Master 690 Case
BFG ES-800Watt Power Supply (Power for SLi or Cross-fire)
Gigabyte X58-UD4P Motherboard | @BIOS F7 (does SLi or Cross-fire)
Intel Core i7 920 @ 3.8GHz 1.36vCore | TRUE 120-Extreme CPU Cooler
Corsair Dominator 3×1GB 8-8-8-24 @ 1600MHz

eVGA GTX 285 @ Stock speeds, but room to overclock

Onboard 7.1 sound

Western Digital Black 640GB 7200.11 (9% slower than their Raptor drives, but still very fast) | Seagate 750GB 7200.10 Secondary hard drive.
Windows 7 RC1

Scythe 4 port fan controller kit controlling 4 of the 5 fans I have in the case.  White LED fan in the front of the case.  Side vents as well.

Not selling any keyboards or mice with this.  If you want the LCD I have, I can throw that in for additional $150.

Total asking price for this… $1,450 as I spent a lot of time and money on this rig. (Well over $2,000 grand total for everything)

I’m willing to talk about payments as well (meaning splitting up payments maximum of 3 chunks) if you’re interested in this but can’t drop all the money at once.

This desktop for the average joe should last them a solid 5-7 years with really the only things needing to be upgraded would be memory and video card.

Obviously the reason I’m selling this is to get ducks in a row for Lebanon and this is one item I can see go since the Hockett’s have 2 computers as it stands now.  Anyways, I’m going to put this up on Craigslist here in the next couple of weeks, but I figured I’d give first dibs to my friends/family.

Any questions about it, feel free to email me.

-A

Busted mice and other musings

Gotta wonder when a mice won’t scroll if it has lived past it’s point of usefulness.  One can’t help but wonder what a life this mouse has lived.  The germs it has taken, the scrolling through countless hours of web pages, the clicking as you wait to laugh at the next youtube video.

No– I can’t say I know it’s like to be that mouse… especially one tied to my tiny netbook that has just stopped working.  Maybe it’s a sign of things yet to come on a machine that is only a couple of months old.  Maybe it’s working but I just can’t figure out why it’s not working for me.

Anyways— enough babbling about mice.  How are you guys doing?  yes, the few people that visit the blog on a inconsistent basis because I blog inconsistently (which I am trying to fix and/or cure….).

In the past 12 hours… I’ve heard or read the following things:

Fox News is not a credible news outlet

Swine flu (or H1N1 for everyone else) vaccine is in short supply

The economy is rebouding

The Dow is up above 10,000 points, the worst is over

Apparently “Monster” drinks have 9 spoon fulls of sugar per can

and finally… Jon and Kate + 8 is about to be no more.

Are those things good news?  Are they bad?  Do they offer any sort of hope or redemption?

If you answered “yes” to any one of those, you represent (like me) the average joe.  Someone who wants to see the good in things (especially Jon and Kate + 8 ending…) but I have to wonder (Stevie Wonder even…) what else is there?

God created us in his own image, yet we are a result of a broken trust… a broken relationship.  The more the bombs drop around us, the crazier it gets it seems and no one has stopped to ask…. “What the hell is going on?!?!?”

I was watching “I am Legend” this past weekend.  If you have the chance, read the short novella as it is 10x better than what was made into a movie.  Digressing a bit though… “Legend” deals with a real human facing desolation, isolation and being on the brink of a mental break down.  ‘Smiths’ character plays someone who tries to keep his cool… 3 years after a deadly plague has wiped out most of mankind.  Where am I going with this? —- I’m going to where the desolate and ravaged wander.  Where I’m getting this feeling that a lot of people are feeling this way.  Disconnected from a world that has passed them by or given up on them.  Either you’re with us… or you’re against us!! — is all we hear.  Where conversation is stifled and  joy is squashed.  Happiness isn’t a right… it’s a responsibility.

Maybe I’m off base… maybe I’m not one to question what people, cultures or governments are doing… but boy…. wouldn’t it be crazy is we remembered where we came from and sought to wrong the rights?  Love when bitterness kicks in… offer grace to those who just ran their car into yours…. keep your middle finger to yourself when someone cuts you off in traffic…

The reason I bring those up… is those are my struggles.  Those are my fights.  Those are the things I want to make an impact against.  Will I?  I know by myself— no way.  But by the grace that was given me…. I think I have pretty good odds.

-A

A law abiding citizen left in the dust….

Yeah--- You ALL would love to do this sometimes... I know who you are....

Short blog – Today, social experiment.  Decided to drive the speed limit the entire way into work today.  Radical idea huh?  What’s amazing is my route takes me on various speed zones.  30 MPH up to 55 down to 25.  What did I experience?

Tell you what… I got the chance to be a spectator to something truly amazing.  Road Rage.  Road  rage in the sense that people out driving… either to work, drop the kids off, errands, whatever… THEY are more important than ME.  They let me know by not signaling, cutting me off, slamming on the brakes, honking and waving their *coughs* fingers at each other and other gestures I’m sure you know.  Various other “performance” cars of the Honda variety, Infiniti and BMW’s weaseled their way through traffic while giving them the distinct advantage of being AHEAD of everyone.

A couple of times, I literally laughed out loud to myself thinking: “Do I drive like this sometimes?” The answer was “Yes.”.

The total irony of this… is one of these “performance” based cars ended up in front of me off exit 58 off I-84 today after he came screaming down the I-5-405 interchanging.  Guess he wasn’t so fast after all huh?

So who knows… maybe you’ll do this tomorrow or later this week, but be aware of the people driving around you and how they’re driving.  Not only is it funny, but it’s a reminder to think about someone else before you.

-A

Dealing with the overconnected

I wonder if we’re reaching a point in human civilization where being connected with either the latest social network, tweet or text message is be coming cliche… as cliche as Tom Cruise?  Possibly.

What’s interesting in the run up to us heading over the pond to the Middle East… I wonder what differences in culture, language and communication will change or how it will be enhanced?  As I’ve talked with people about Lebanon, this past summer made me realize just how connected they are becoming with their mobile devices (aka Cellphones) and mobile internet.  Text messaging is ramping up and everything in downtown Beirut screams “Westernized”.

So is it Blackberries, iPhones, Facebook or Twitter that we should be so consumed with being connected with?  At the end of the day, does electronic communication replace Alexander Bell’s phone call?  No.  Does an email replace a face to face conversation?  Hardly.  Does a blog deliver insight onto how a person thinks or feels about something?  Sure… but to a point.

Technology is an entry point of relationship…. but the minute we let it be the relationship, the more we miss out on.

-A