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Spike Lee's Inside Man, written by Russell Gewirtz, is a modern spin on the classic heist genre. We open with Dalton Russell, played by the charming Clive Owen, speaking directly to the camera explaining his perfect heist. We then see him and his team, dressed in painter's outfits, take over a bank and secure almost fifty hostages.
Will this be another Dog Day Afternoon? Not at all. This is when the standard heist film takes a completely different turn. Denzel Washington, playing negotiator Detective Keith Frazier, enters the storyline to follow the hostage situation playbook only to find that he's being played. We have Jodi Foster, an expense, elite problem solver hired by bank owner, played by Christopher Plummer, to somehow infiltrate the hostage situation to secure some of Plummer's belongings hidden in a safe deposit box.
The way the story unfolds is very intriguing because you quickly realize this film is not going to follow the standard heist clichés, but we are unsure of how the clever storyline will unfold. The cast is extraordinary and each of the name actors are at the top of their game. Lee's direction keeps the pace of the film moving and Gewirtz's script is every bit the mystery that one would hope for in such a film.
The only downside was the music, by Terence Blanchard, which seemed inappropriate and, at times, distracting. Other than that, this is a fun little thriller that follows a path not yet traveled in a heist flick. Good, mainstream, intelligent fun. Check it out.
"I forgive, I forgive" were the last words of Sister Leonella Sgorbati spoke as she was gunned down on the way to work at a hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia. Her murder was in retaliation of the mis-interpretation of Pope Benedict's comments on Islam.
This is a perfect example of the polar opposites of the two religions.
- The Christian nun responds to her own death by forgiving her enemies, like Christ.
- The radical Islamic's response to the Pope quoting a 14th-Century discussion between a Byzantine emperor and a learned Persian, which included the phrases "evil and inhuman" was to fulfill the evil and inhuman view by killing an innocent nun.
How will these two theologies ever find peace? They've been battling for centuries. I hope God intervenes to find some common ground.
You can read the entire article about the bravery of Sister Sgorbati in her last moments HERE on Catholic Online.
I hope the Pope demands an apology from those responsible for the innocent Christian lives taken from this world.
Thérèse: The Story of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux is a family film about St. Therese who, as a child, longed to be nun and to serve Jesus to the point that she actually went to the Pope and asked for special permission. After some time she was able to enter the convent at 15 years old. She learned to focus on being saintly in little things, helping others, being positive to those who were mean to her, etc. Her positive faithful acts eventually touched all of those with which she came in contact. She ended up dying at an early age due to tuberculosis and was later made a saint.
Unfortunately, the film itself is rather forgettable. The directing is novice at times and the film moves at a snails pace with little insight into her life. Sure, we watch her mother die and her older siblings leave the house as they grow older, but what the film does not capture very well at all is the magic that made this special girl a saint. Being nice to a mean nun makes you a saint? Helping an older nun walk to dinner makes you a saint? Surely she did more than this. From watching this film, we will never know.
The film was good for the kids to watch as it shows how strong faith can lead to a great religious life, but the filmmakers missed the mark badly on creating a memorable tribute to a beloved and adored saint.
A great, great article called Papal Power over at the Weekly Standard about the many levels the Pope was using when quoting older sources to show the difference between a Christian God and a Muslim God... the outcome of which has been a great amount of anger from the world Muslim community.
The author of the article, Lee Smith, illuminates the mutilple levels on which the Pope was trying to get his message across to Europe, not an anti-Muslim message, but a pro-Christian one, to get them to remember their spiritual roots.
You can read it all HERE.
As I was skimming through my blog, looking at feedback left and such, it occurred to me that my picture from 1988 in New York was almost identical to the one my law-enforcing nephew Paul had taken of me with Kristi at my Mom's 80th birthday party. Now 18 years have passed, my hair is substantially more gray and more thin and I'm wearing contacts.
1988-NY and 2006-NC
In another odd way, I'm amazed at how little has changed as well.
Thanks Mom and Dad for the genes!
I'm not someone who believes that sexual education should not be taught in schools. I remember when I got to college, during my freshman year, I took my first sex ed class. I was offended that I had not had any exposure to the science behind reproduction. I knew about my heart, my liver, my lungs, etc., but I had no scientific understanding as to the functioning and health of reproductive organs. Give me the facts and I can handle it. Knowing how sperm and eggs get together isn't going to make more promiscuous. It's only going to educate me on what happens during a sexual act.
Modern sex ed, however, has turned into a political agenda which has ended up creating a completely dysfunctional education plan that is in direct opposition to similar approaches for other critical areas of our children's lives.
The basic and fatal flaw of today's sex ed is that it is provided under the assumption that the base instincts to sex are uncontrollable. Since our children are going to have sex anyway, why teach abstinence when we should be teaching safe sex. To show how ludicrous that approach is, let's replicate that train of thought with other important topics.
Healthy eating. Eating is a fundamental, base instinct. So, instead of teaching our kids about nutrition and proper diets and eating right, why don't we follow the sex ed model and assume our kids are going to eat badly anyway. They're unable to actually control their eating habits, so let's forget the whole "eating right and exercising" facade and teach them how to eat bad, but safely. Sure there are consequence to bad eating habits... obesity, dental issues, diabetes... but instead of teaching you how to eat right, we'll teach you how to eat badly, then vomit to avoid obesity. Don't call it bulimia, call it a dietary abortion. Or how to eat badly and have your teeth replaced with porcelain veneers. Or how to eat badly and then inject yourself with insulin.
Drug use. No sense in teaching kids not to use drugs, after all, they're going to use drugs anyway. Instead, let's teach them how to use crack cocaine safely. Let's teach them about not sharing needles and what a twelve step program is about. Let's teach them how to smoke marijuana without burning yourself. Let's teach them how to snort cocaine and how to drive safely while high.
Smoking. Kids are going to smoke anyway, so let's instead teach them how to smoke a pack of day and still keep their clothes smelling clean. Teach them to go ahead and smoke, but use teeth whiteners to get rid of those pesky tar stains. Let them smoke and make sure and teach them about all of the new improvements they've made in cancer research.
Drinking. Since kids are going to participate in under age drinking anyway, let's teach them how to drink socially, but not get drunk. Or, if you get drunk, how not to drink and drive. Or, if you get really drunk, how to get rid of a hangover. And if you drink for a long time, tell them about all of the new advancements in alcoholic treatments available.
Isn't it obvious just how despicable the sexual education approach is in our country when you compare it to other areas of teen concerns? The sexual education in place today is not about teaching the science of sexual education, but to validate all types of sexuality. I'm not commenting on sexual preferences, I'm commenting on how politicizing this educational subject has undermined our children's views on responsibility, consequences and making hard choices.
The other fallacy of our current sexual education is that the education system somehow knows when kids should be made aware of some of the social aspects of sexuality. Again, I'm not saying fourth graders can't understand the science of sexuality, but the social aspect of sexuality should be initially discussed in the home. Why do I think this?
Well, why, in youth sports, do they separate kids by weight rather than by age? Why shouldn't 150 pound Johnny be able to tackle 90 pound Jimmy? Because Johnny is obviously more physically mature than Jimmy. Kids mature physically at different ages. You only have to walk through a middle school to see that. Well, the same holds true for sexual maturity, emotional maturity and spiritual maturity. Not all kids in fourth grade are able to digest and comprehend social sexual descriptions with the same understanding. It could confuse some of the children, perhaps even skew an otherwise healthy view of sexuality.
Parents know their kids better than any teacher. They know when something as important as sex should be approached to their children. They know what information they can comprehend and what they can't. They know what is healthy and what is risky. Parents spend more time with their children than any other people in the world... who else would know better?
The sad part is the politics have severely damaged the important educational subject of sexuality. And, more and more, the schools are not letting the parents decide what is best for their children.
The reality is that one in four teens will develop a sexually transmitted disease. Under any other scientific reasoning, the solution to this epidemic is so blatantly simple… abstinence and control. We could get rid of most STDs within one to two generations by doing two simple things… don’t have sex before marriage and stay monogamous after marriage. This isn’t a right wing religious opinion; this is simple, quantifiable, proven scientific methodology that is being ignored because of politics.
Our sexual mis-education will end up having long term and devastating effects on our country.
But our congressmen will get re-elected and the teacher's union will keep their control, so I guess it’s worth it.
Per Lifesite News, a law enacted by the Nazi's was used to arrest a mother for homeschooling her children because she felt the government education was in contradiction to her Christian beliefs. The father and children escaped to Austria and the mother had to serve a small jail sentence.
You can read the whole article HERE.
Amazing that parents are not allowed to be the primary educator of their children. Our country was founded on "homeschoolers." That's the scary part about government controlling things. When they control the education system, they control what your children will learn, even if it is opposite of your religious beliefs... sounds like breaking the free exercise of religion to me. If the government ever controls health care, they'll use that as leverage as well. A pro-life demonstrator in Canada, who was over 70 years old, had his critical health care postponed after he was arrested for sending pro-life literature to hospitals that permit abortion.
When in doubt, the goverment should stay the hell out of our lives... for our own good.
I got some new frames for my desk area at home and was scrounging through my old photos to see which ones I wanted to put in them. I came across some of my favorite pics.
As we neared the end of our college life I, along with a lot of my fellow theater graduates-to-be, headed up to New York to audition for graduate school theater programs. One very cold, cold, bitterly cold February day, we dumb Floridians decided to walk from downtown to the Statue of Liberty. Chris Linn, Clark Canine, Jodi and I made the long trek through the below zero temperature.
Chris "knocking over" a fire hydrant...
Broadway Bound was playing at the theate in the background.
It was so cold it burned, but we continued on. When we arrived at the ferry to Liberty Island, we bought some hot pretzels that quickly turned ice cold. We were also kicked out of a visitor's center after we were done visiting and just trying to keep warm.
We eventually took a ferry over to the Statue of Liberty island. On the way out I had my best friend, Chris, take my picture on the back of the boat with the NY skyline in the distance. Who would have thought that those twin towers would come down so tragically thirteen years later.
When we got onto the island, the trees were barren, the wind was unrelenting. Both the island and the Statue were much smaller than I expected. When we got off the ferry dock the Statue was the only thing on the island, yet there was a sign pointing us in the right direction.
One of my favorite pictures of all time is the one of Chris and I "looking" for the Statue of Liberty. Chris was one of my best friends in college. He was one of the few theater students who shared my passion for film.
Years later Chris would get me a job at Nickelodeon Studios. He now lives in New York and has moved his way up the Viacom food chain, now presiding over MTV as Vice-President.
It's amazing how many years have passed since our first trip to NY... and how much has changed.
After watching The Bucs forget that the regular season started last week, getting their swords castrated at the hands of the Ravens, I can only hope the "real" Bucs will play this week.
The Falcons are coming off of an impressive win in Carolina and are ready to take a commanding lead in the NFC South with a home win this week.
I don't know what to think about the Bucs. I think they have enough talent. I think they're good enough to bounce back and win in ATL, but they played so badly last week that I am left with large, lingering doubts.
I was reading about some reporter that got abducted by Islamic radicals and was forced to convert to Islam before being set free. And it occurred to me that we all need to ask ourselves a couple of important questions:
These apply to everyone:
- Are you willing to convert to Islam?
- Are you willing to live in a theocracy where Islam is the only faith?
And if you're a woman:
- Are you willing to give up all of your rights?
Apparently, these are the hard requirements of the radical Islamic movement. Not the moderate faith, but the radicals perpetrating terrorist acts. Their intent is to create a worldwide theocracy and if you don't convert to Islam you will be considered a threat. And for women, such a conversion requires forfeiting all of your current rights.
So, if you answer No to any of those questions, then you are considered the enemy and are an acceptable terrorist target.
And this leaves me with one other question... what policy or diplomacy or appeasement or treaty is going to change my answers to any one of those questions?
Since the answer to my last question is "none" then I wonder just what value any of those political steps actually hold. I am left with the feeling that only divine intervention can resolve this volatile clashing of faiths we're all dealing with today.
From Newsmax.com:
"Although more than nine out of 10 Americans say they believe in God, they have four very different views of the Supreme Being, a landmark new survey reveals.
The national survey of more than 1,700 Americans – the most comprehensive national religion survey to date, according to USA Today – was conducted by Gallup and analyzed by sociologists from Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion.
It asked 77 questions and offered almost 400 answer choices.
Based on responses, the researchers delineated four different views of God:
- The Authoritarian God (31.4 percent of Americans overall) is angry at humanity's sins and engaged in everyone's life and worldly affairs.
- The Benevolent God (23 percent overall) sets absolute standards for mankind but is seen as primarily a loving, forgiving Creator.
- The Critical God (16 percent) keeps a judgmental eye on humanity, but does not intervene in events.
- The Distant God (24.4 percent) is a cosmic force that launched the universe, then left it on its own.
The largest percentage of people with the Authoritarian God view (43.5 percent) live in the South, while the Benevolent view is most common (28.8 percent) in the Midwest, the Critical God is most prevalent (21.2 percent) in the East and the Distant God is favored the most (30.3 percent) in the West.
Other findings reported in USA Today:
# The stereotype that conservatives are religious and liberals are secular is "simply not true" based on the survey, said sociologist Paul Froese. Political liberals and conservatives are both religious.
# While about one in three Americans say they belong to denominations that theologians consider evangelical, only 14 percent of those surveyed described themselves as evangelicals.
# More than 80 percent of those who favor the Authoritarian God say gay marriage is always wrong, and 74.5 percent believe the federal government should advocate Christian values – but only 12.1 percent want to abolish the death penalty."
Years ago I remember hearing that "over population" was a myth and that the entire world's population could fit in Texas.
Well, I did a little math today and realized that, not only could the entire world's population fit into Texas, but they could do so with quite a bit of space to share. I guess when they say "everything’s big in Texas," they're right.
Texas is approximately 7,438,152,268,800 square feet. The current world's population is estimated at 6.6 billion. If you divide the square feet by the total population, you find out that every human being on this great planet could fit into Texas with 1127 square feet of space each. That's almost the size of my house.
Think of that... all humans in Texas and the rest of the world empty. All of the great cities, empty. All of the beaches, mountains, continents... empty.
That's pretty hard to fathom.
So, why the argument about over population? It's obviously not about square footage. So, it must be about something else. Food? Water? Resources? If you watch TV you'll see the starving people of Ethiopia or the thousands eating garbage in India and it seems we have a serious ecological problem. Well, those are all valid concerns, but the lack of those resources in the world is more governmental than ecological.
In the 1990's I was in a play called Rebel Armies Deep Into Chad, about a reporter in Africa. The cast got to talk with a veteran international reporter from the St. Pete Times who spent a lot of time in Africa. We spent hours and hours researching Africa's history and the political environment. For thousands of years, Africa's people were separated into tribes. Some got along with each other, others did not. Our research uncovered that, when Britain settled in Africa, they ended up making arbitrary country delineations, often times putting two historically warring tribes in one country and calling them citizens. In Ethiopia, for example, those people are starving not because of a lack of food, but because one tribe is in power and is trying to exterminate the other tribe that is not. If the power shifts, the famine shifts to the other tribe.
If you look in India, they believe in a caste system and that you are born into your class. Upward mobility is only now, with outsourcing jobs going there, becoming an option. And their governmental processes are so inefficient that any improvements to help those less fortunate will take years to get approved and implemented. They are commonly considered the most bureaucratic democracy in the world. For example, when KFC tried to get approval to open restaurants in India, the discussion in the halls of Indian government lasted over five years, debating the quality of KFC's products. A representative from KFC argued that he found it hard to understand that their chicken quality could come into question when so many of India's population was eating out of garbage.
So, when you hear about over population, remember it's about resources, not people. And, when discussing resources, it's the misuse of power that squashes opportunity, not the world's ability to feed it's people. Even if they all resided in Texas.
In order to honor those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001, I decided to watch the film Flight 93. We've all heard the story of heroism about the passengers on that flight, but it's hard to fully appreciate the situation and quick decision-making that was done by those passengers until you see the film Flight 93.
The film is excellent. It is intriguing and exciting and tragic and emotional and patriotic. There are very few films that I think are a "must see", but this film is one of them. Not only should film fans see this film, but everyone in America should see this film, to revisit the weight of that day, to reconnect with the emotional impact surrounding the events that changed the course of our country.
The film is directed and acted with extreme respect and without any sensationalism. We follow the crew of the flight, the passengers, the military and the various air traffic controllers and the airlines. The film moves at a brisk pace, clocking in under 90 minutes. There is no excessive lingering or artificially heightened emotional moments... the events that unfolded that day are emotional enough.
See this film. Not only is it excellent filmmaking, but it is perfect reflection of the day that thrust our country into our current struggles against terrorism worldwide.
I said it last year in this blog and I'll say it again this year (updating the time passed, of course)...
"On this day, I offer prayers to the families of all of those impacted by the tragic events of September 11, 2001. In five short years, this terrible day has reshapen our countries path down a difficult, but necessary road.
The one thing we should never forget is that there are still a lot of people who would kill you, your family and all of your friends, without a second thought, simply because you are an American.
Until that threat is defeated, we will continue to be at War. It is a Holy War for our enemies. Unless it becomes a Holy War for us, they will have the advantage. In an increasingly secular society, I don't know if we have to moral clarity to all understand the sacrifice required to win a Holy War.
For the time being, we're left just being at War."
Over the past year I have come to realize that only God's grace to change hearts can stop this war. We must be diligent, we must defend ourselves, our way of life, our faith and our country. Unfotunately, no amount of financial aid, appeasement or cooperation is going to change that certain parts of the world teach their children everyday that we are evil and must be destroyed. So, I leave it up to Jesus to change the hearts of our enemies, because nothing else will.
Let me start by saying I think women are equally capable, if not more capable than men, at just about everything. I think women should be able to pursue their dreams just as men. However, I think the intention of the modern feminist movement and the current outcome of that movement is a complete and utter failure.
Here's why.
The intent of feminism was to get women out of the stranglehold of previous societal expectations. Out of the home, if they wanted. Into the workforce, if they wanted. Into the army, if they wanted. To be sexually equal with men, if they wanted.
But something happened on the way to equality. Abortion.
For all of its societal flaws, prior to abortion women were revered as the givers of life. For thousands of years and throughout civilizations, women were honored, respected and glorified for their ability to bring life into the world, a gift for which they were only capable. Granted, they didn't have as many options as men, but they were respected and, in some societies, worshiped, for doing the one critical thing that allowed our society to exist.
Then, along with the sexual revolution, women took control of their lives and took control of their bodies, including destroying babies in their wombs, if they wanted.
When this happened, women lost almost all of their unique power, in my opinion.
In the smoldering remains of the sexual revolution, women have removed their one great gift, their ability to bring life into this world, from their repertoire. By embracing abortion as a fundamental right of their gender, they have removed all value in our society as givers of life.
Now many women treat sex on the same level as men, more concerned about selfish gratification than procreation. But, one generation cannot undo centuries of courtship and mating habits. God created men as visual creatures and sexually aggressive, generally, so that they would pursue women heavily and allow our species to survive. During the courting process women use men's weakness for visual attraction and high hormonal drives to naturally secure a mate, but now sex is shared before marriage and having children is no longer their unique gift to the world. Because many women value their own sexual promiscuity over the sanctity of life, they now willingly, yet unwittingly, have become every man's dream... sexual objects.
This, I believe, is exactly the opposite of what the original feminists wanted in the 50's and 60's.
In the eyes of society and especially men, women went from being underpaid, but honored life-bearers to sexual playthings. Scour the television or the internet and it will only take you a few minutes to find many women who willingly participate in their own degradation because they somehow think, since it's their decision to sleep around and ignore any responsibility for their sexual actions, that they have somehow elevated themselves to equals in society.
Unfortunately, the depth of womanhood has been replaced by the shallowness of style over substance, of looks over life. So the next time you see women falling prey to media views on womanhood; the ultra-thin supermodel types, or the plastic surgery breast-enhanced clones, or the promiscuous, scantily clad body shakers on the latest music video, realize that, for all of its intent, anger and bluster, the feminist movement is completely responsible for setting women back thousands of years.
If feminist would have pursued all women's God-given right to equality without ignoring and abandoning their God-given gift of motherhood, they would have truly empowered themselves to be something universally treasured. Instead, unfortunately, many women have become just the opposite, the unavoidable outcome set in motion by the founders of modern feminism.
Women deserve so much more.
Here's a first swag at the Christian kids film called The Adventures of Gabby Wells about a girl who comes into a possession of a watch that can stop time, however, for every second she uses the watch is a second taken from her own life.
I found a picture of the watch on the web, copied it and pasted it into the poster. I then took the watch and selected just the center of the time-piece and swirled it counter-clockwise to reflect the warping of time. I then duplicated that image, blew it up a billion percent to fill the screen, set the opaque to about 10% so it would be very faint and swirled the clock in the clockwise direction, to reflect warping back to normal time. I then checked about a hundred different fonts for the titles and finally settled on the Goudy Stout font. Reworked the phrase at the bottom about twenty times.
Simple, but gets the basic point across right now... especially because I haven't even written it yet :)
Here's a first draft of a poster for the Christian action flick called Severed that focuses on martyrdom. The cross is my daughter's. I hung it over a screwdriver that was placed on stacked re-edits of The Box DVDs and laid the crucifix on a white piece of paper, then took a digital picture, imported it into my computer, removed everything but the cross and rope necklace, then "hung" it over the title.
I then found blood splatter pics on the web, copied, pasted, moved, rotated, changed, shrunk and duplicated it over and over again until I got what I wanted.
The title for Severed refers to being cut off or isolated, not about getting a limb or body part cut off. The title with blood splatter may confuse some, but I'll worry about changing that when the film actually gets shot.
Last night started work on The Flu, a comedy about a shallow man who becomes allergic to sin. My goal with this first draft of the script is to get the bones of the idea on paper. I'm not a comedy screenwriter so I expect I'll need assistance to put some meat on the story's bones.
The second draft of Redemption, the Christian vampire flick, was completed this week. Fortunately, the script did not require a lot of work and flows very naturally.
Now with both Severed and Redemption ending their rewriting phase, its time to start looking for screenplay competitions to enter. Next up, the feature comedy script, The Flu.
Star Trek - the original TV series, appears to be getting a 40th anniversary High Def extreme makeover. From DVDReview.com comes the following...
******
Star Trek sees improved high def release
Paramount Home Entertainment announced this morning that the studio is reworking Star Trek: The Original Series for release in high definition. The series is getting a 21st century make-over with all new special effects and music to celebrate the series’ 40th Anniversary.
The new special effects will include things such as state-of-the-art computer-generated ships exteriors. All the graphics of the galaxy, so frequently seen through the window on the Enterprise's bridge, will be redone as will be the show’s opening main title sequence. Many of the battle scenes, planets and ships from other cultures - notably the Romulan “Bird of Prey” and Klingon Battle Cruisers - will be updated also while some of the iconic, yet flat, matte paintings used as backdrops for the strange, new worlds explored by the Enterprise crew will get a CGI face-lift, adding atmosphere and lighting.
The refurbished episodes also feature higher quality sound for the famous opening theme. The original score by Emmy Award-winning composer Alexander Courage has been re-recorded in state-of-the-art digital stereo audio with an orchestra and a female singer belting out the famous vocals. A digitally remastered version of William Shatner's classic original recording of the 38-word "Space, the final frontier…" monologue continues to open each episode.
The remastered episodes have been converted from the original film into a High-Definition format, which gives viewers a clearer, crisper, more vibrant picture than before, even when viewed in standard definition.
No home video release has been announced for these updated “Star Trek” episodes yet, as they will be broadcast first, starting September 16. However, we are sure that Blu-Ray and HD-DVD versions won’t be too far behind, one things have started rolling.
Will this be another Dog Day Afternoon? Not at all. This is when the standard heist film takes a completely different turn. Denzel Washington, playing negotiator Detective Keith Frazier, enters the storyline to follow the hostage situation playbook only to find that he's being played. We have Jodi Foster, an expense, elite problem solver hired by bank owner, played by Christopher Plummer, to somehow infiltrate the hostage situation to secure some of Plummer's belongings hidden in a safe deposit box.
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