Pirates and Preachers

(Heads up, we're looking at some parts of the new Pirates of the Caribbean movies, so spoiler warning.)

I'm really tired of seeing Christians in movies as some kind of raving lunatic. So often it is the devout Christian who is the crazy serial killer, or the bumbling idiot. Somehow, a killer is more believable when they have some kind of religious basis. If you think I'm joking, check out the trailer for the movie The Ledge. Or watch some episodes of ABC's Secret Life, that one Christian chick needs some help.

As much as this is the case, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides has a character that is a breath of fresh air. One main sub-character is a dedicated missionary. This character, I feel, is a good example of what a Christian character can be in movies.

I really like Philip Swift.

Philip Swift is a missionary who is taken onto Captain Blackbeard's ship and kept alive by his daughter. He fully believes that any soul can be saved, no matter how cruel and diseased. Swift strongly stands against Blackbeard on a number of occasions, despite the risk to his health. With the mermaid Syrena, he is kind and compassionate, going out of his way to help her. Even while dying, he tried to both gain her freedom, and forgiveness.

What he shows a Christian to be contrasts with the Spanish  sailors. The Spanish show up toward the end to wreck the Fountain of Youth. The apparent Captain makes a note how God is the only one who can provide eternal life. They add the religious zealot aspect, but I didn't take them as the crazy types. You might not have like what they did (or thought it was a poor plot point) but I can't condemn them as crazy or stupid.

It's surprising that a movie like Pirates of the Caribbean could offer a decent view of Christians. Everyone can take their own moral views on Philip Swift, but I see him as a strong step for public medias like movies. Christians that are real people, not bible thumping lunatics, have a place in modern media, and characters like Philip Swift show just how realistic they can be.

The fact that the director keeps him shirtless for about half the movie probably adds to his popularity.

Just something to chew on.

We Know Some Awesome People

Right now, I am sitting on my couch with a bowl of soup. Now, this shouldn't come as a surprise, given the name of this journal. What is different about this, is that this soup came from some friends of my family who are looking after us since my dad had surgery.

Today has been an amazing example of just how good God is to us.

Most of you probably know that we are moving to Illinois this summer, (and to those of you who don't know, you haven't been paying attention have you?) In our moving process, we've needed the help of a lot of people. While Kyle and I are away at school, mom is at home, trying to do it all. That's just not healthy. I don't think anyone could expect her to pack an entire house by herself.

 There have been so many people willing to step up and lend a hand. I know that the men's ministry from our church came by one day to help do a lot of heavy lifting and moving, things that my mom probably couldn't do. We have had somewhere around three meals dropped at our house, just a few days after dad's surgery. We're allowed to store a bunch of our household junk in a friends storage garage while we try and pack up. Today, a friend came over to fix our broken attic door.

I take this entire time as an example of how God helps out those who need him. I can't count the number of times mom has come home and said that something was a God moment. It's all these little that add up to help. I know that we still ave some big needs, like selling our house soon. God will work in those moments when we need Him, and He'll work big, that's no surprise. But it's finding Him in these little moments, always helping, that really encourages me.

All the awesome people God has brought into our life is amazing. And they definitely balance out all the troublemakers that we've had to deal with.

Just something to chew on.

Humans Bad, Blarg, Blarg, Blarg!

Recently I picked up a copy of Mass Effect from Bioware. It's a "space epic" that lets you play as Commander Shepherd and pick how you save the galaxy. So far it's been a good game. It's got its flaws, but I might get into that at a later time. There is one thing that I've noticed, and it intrigues me.

Aliens are really xenophobic jerks aren't they?

A big idea so far in Mass Effect, is that many of the aliens don't think that humans are worth anything. They think that, for some reason or another, humans are lowly, under-evolved wastes of space. Of course, the whole thing about your character being human is to work with all your little alien buddies to save the galaxy and prove how worthwhile your species is.

Hooray for noble quests and the heroes journey and all that. I take a bit of an issue with all the racial hate flying around like jumping beans in a tumble dryer. There really seems to be no bounds for any of the accusations flying from either side. All the races seem pretty similar in most respects. Your party has one member from about four races, and despite some different focus areas, they all seem pretty much alike. Given, they all have different back stories and such, but in combat, they all get the job done. If Bioware was going to focus so much on the differences of race, they should have done some drastic things among the characters that you deal with.

As far as conflicts go, I prefer the one in Bioware's other epic, Dragon Age. There, despite all the internal conflicts, racism, and all that, there is still an overarching enemy threat that everyone has to deal with. I like the dark spawn because their motives aren't based on some poor excuse for superiority. They're evil, they want everyone dead, not too hard to understand. The antagonist of Mass Effect has that kind of ego problem, viewing the humans as so slowly. To me, it is hard to really want him dead based on his motives. Dragon Age has a demon that wants to wipe out humanity for its own evil reasons, cool, I can deal with that. But Mass Effect's villian is just kind of a tosser.

In a lot of the science fiction I've seen, this seems to be a real problem. There's always some kind of race superiority going on, whether it is by the humans, or the aliens. Either way, I feel that this is a really flimsy conflict to try and resolve. I like the idea of some kind of evil that is easy to identify, an evil overlord, demonic dragon, mutant broccoli, something. To just say that all members of race X are weak and deserve death isn't really a strong plot. All in all, I guess you could take this as a overarching complaint against all racism.

Interesting end note, the main cannon fodder for the game are robots. They're fine with all the hate speech, but they won't let you shoot the aliens? Odd.

Just something to chew on.

Annoyances: "Mischief Makers"

For those of you who were hoping for an old N64 reference, you'll be sadly disappointed (that'll come another day.) This is the start of a pointless look at people types that annoy me. I'm sure my faithful readers are just dying to know about these little snippets, so why not oblige them. If anything, this is just a chance to clear my head a bit.

Don't try to be mischievous, especially if there is no believable way anyone think you could.

I've run into a few people like this is my few years. Some kids think that they're crafty or mischievous, and they try and tell everyone just how clever they are. They think they're pranksters, the kind of kids who are the class clowns and can pull off the tricks reminiscent of an episode of Recess.

Here's the thing. Every kid I've made that has made this claim, has been completely wrong. The most mischievous thing they have ever done was getting away with wearing two different colored socks. To them, there a diabolical mastermind, to the rest of us, they're just sad nuisances.

I know that this doesn't sound like it's a big deal, I'm just easily annoyed right? Wrong (shut up, it's true). With these kind of people, we have kids trying to be what they aren't and believing it. I suppose you could say that this is a general problem with most people. The reason I can make this category for people is because of how much they talk about it. Interestingly enough, I've never heard any one of them actually talk about their pranks, they just like to say things like, "I have to do [insert inane task] so I don't cause any mischief." Phrases like that make me think that they even realize that what they're saying is worthless, but they're still trying to pass it off as who they are.

So, on a whole, I people who aren't real bother me, but I can go into far greater detail on that another time (and I probably will.)

On a side note, I'm a fan of pranks, just like anyone else, just don't do one to me. Seriously, I will end you....

Just something to chew on.

Rejected Love Languages: Torment

I find that book about the five love languages to be interesting. I wonder how long it took him to settle on those five specifically. I don't disagree with them, and I believe that they are very accurate, but I have wondered if they are the only love languages out there. These kinds of musings has made me decide to add a few to the list. The first is one that I feel fits me.

My love language is torment.

Sounds nasty right? My love language is apparently to ruin people's worlds. And yet, when I look at it, this really fits me. Keep in mind that this isn't torture. I'm not into putting people on the rack and stretching them until they split. That's wrong, weird, and would raise some serious questions that I don't think anyone wants to ask. Let's move on, quickly.

I express my affection in a more abrasive way. I love to mess with people. Every chance my friends give me for a witty or sarcastic comment, I take. I'm not out to make them feel bad, just to have some fun. To me, it shows that I am very comfortable around people. The closer I am with people, the more I tend to give them a hard time.

It's interesting when I look at this. I've graphed it out in my head a few times, and I've found an interesting anomaly. Once I become close enough to someone, I find that the curve drops drastically. I have people that I've known well who I don't be so harsh with. Weird right? I still am, just not to the same extent. I guess you could call it a right of passage, a trial by fire. If someone is willing to take that much abuse from me, then they're able to let me be a little more real with them.

And there is a difference between my fun sarcasm, and the tone I take with people I don't like. I've seen it before, people who tick me off get a different form of cynic. I find myself to be very biting in my comments to them. It's not the funny, witty banter, but real solid insults. I guess that confuses some people. They look at how I treat my friends, and how I treat some others, and they don't see it. Well, I blame them for that. There are ways to tell, and they only require a little investigation.

Love languages are an interesting thing. We all have our own way of showing our affection, and as accurate as the five common ones are, I don't think they get to the heart of how we interact. They're an umbrella, covering most of the types. I think it's good that we're all unique in our affections.

One a side note, that uniqueness makes it really difficult to gauge people, but that's for another time.

Just something to chew on.

Mirror, mirror...

Anyone who knows about the existence of a little company called Disney should be able to finish the above line. The old queen was jealous of Snow White, and sent her away. Recently, I've been thinking a bit about things like looks and self-confidence. Here's my latest thought:

Get some self-esteem kids!

Harsh, yes, but necessary I think. There are a bunch of people who aren't happy with how they look, and who think that they're looks define them. Shallow right? But I think we all do it. There are always times when you look at someone and think, "Man, if I were that pretty," or "that muscular," or :"that tall." We compare ourselves to others all the time.

If this is such a part of human nature, you might be asking yourself why I am venting about it. Here's my little issue. Many people I hear bemoaning their looks are better looking then they think. I live in a dorm of guys and girls, and I thoroughly love it. Now, I put this out there so that when I say, I have seen people looking their best, and their worst, you can know I have an interesting sample.

I've hear many girls talking about how they wish they were taller, or skinner, or weighed more (surprising, I know), or looked better in this or that. These types of complaints bother me. I don't think that we can honestly judge how we look. We'll either be arrogant, and over estimate how good looking we are, or under sell ourselves. I look around, and each complaint I hear seems wholly nonsensical to me. I takes some will power not to reach over and slap the back of their heads in frustration. I've heard similar complaints from some of the guys, and it's just as irksome.

Here's what I purpose, we should, as a society, be allowed to ask if we look good, or tell someone they look good. Don't try and tell me that we are like that all ready. I can't go up to a person I don't know and say they look pretty, that'll start raising questions and accusations in their mind. Sometimes I just want to be allowed to compliment someone without being interrogated after. One of the main causes for low self-esteem, in my mind, is that we refuse to let someone compliment us. If we would, I think that there wold be less fixation on body image.

On a side note, I know it is probably weird to hear me complaining about not being able to compliment someone, don't get used to it.

Just something to chew on.

(Daily Application: If you want to increase your self-esteem a little, do what I do. When you pass a mirror, stop, look at yourself, and tell yourself that you look good today. It might sound egotistical, but if someone else won't say it, we should at least be allowed to.)

Force of Will

So, I've been meaning to put something up, and this is all I can think of. I've started running, mostly because my Fitness for Life class tells me I have to do something physical, but also because I've been meaning to anyway. I've considered myself in a "relaxed" physical state, and I don't really think of myself as a big time runner. That being said, there is something really fascinating that the human body can do.

Our drive to keep going is amazing.

I run "The Loop" around campus, a stretch of road all the way around the main buildings that goes for something like 1.1 miles. It works for the exercise that I need. I run, usually, late at night, something like 1 or 2 in the morning. It's quiet and I can run without thinking people are watching me. I'm not self conscious mind you, I just look a little odd: toe running shoes, cargo shorts, whatever t-shirt I happened to have on at the time, a bandanna, and the lanky frame.

All that build up, and it doesn't really pertain to what I'm saying. At about 3/4 of the way, usually near the chapel, I feel my legs giving out. They feel like they'll just not let me go any further. Yet, I have never stopped because of fatigue, (there was one time I stopped running, but that was because a bus full of people were leaving for a Spring break trip, and I decided to see them off.) The thing that keeps me going is a desire to get to the end.

Ambition is such an amazing quality. God gives us a drive to do something, and we can do it. I love that my body has limits that I can push past. Late night running is one thing, but I know that I can do more in my life. I want to apply that same doggedness to other areas, like doing more reviews for Doc, or getting a major role in a play.

On a side note, I've cut my running time down. I started at about 10 minutes, and am at about 9 at this point. Hooray for measurable progress.

Just something to chew on.