Dali Museum

I'm ashamed to say that I've lived almost my entire life in the Tampa Bay area and had never visited the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg... until last week.

As part of our daughter's required support of the arts outside of school, we spent a few hours at the Dali Museum and were blown away by the artwork, his passion for religious history and icons, his talent and his growth as an artist.

The kids were often enthralled and occasionally confused, but certainly not bored. The collection of art at the museum is enormous and contains some of his most famous and complex works of art, melting clocks and all.

The museum also gave guides for kids which explain his symbolic use of the aforementioned clocks, ants, grasshoppers and imagery representing the advent of nuclear power.

The Dali bench outside the museum.

Overall, it was a really impressive experience and I suggest you make your way there, if possible.

University Heights (2004)

If I were born 20 years earlier, I'd be Scott Beck. Beck, the writer/director of the very successful microbudget film University Heights formed Bluebox Limited to produce and distribute his work along with fellow Iowan college buddy and film partner Bryan Woods.

I envy Beck's place in the cinematic time line. When I was his age, I was dying to make movies, but the technology was not there to make it available to the average person. So I had to wait. And while I waited for technology to catch up to my dreams, I got married, had kids and got a real job. All of these things are wonderful, but limit my ability to pursue my dreams because of the lack of free time. Appropriately, film making now comes in fourth, behind God, family and the job. So, I do what I can, when I can.

College student Beck, on the other hand, is blessed with immense talent and a DVX100 camera. He has made a ton of films and grew as a filmmaker with each project. The culmination of his efforts is a deep and multi-layered story in the feature University Heights.

Heights is a character piece that brings numerous characters on a college campus together in interweaving and intertwining story lines that converge into a very satisfying climax.

Scott Beck

The main characters include Grant, a semi-stoner college youth on the rebound and Katie, his new love interest who disapproves of his choices. There's Jake, a teacher teetering on severe depression who has struggled with relationships his whole life and now wonders about his own sexuality. There's Lou and his hapless buddy who warm their lives through hate and distrust. And there's Tom, a professor of ethics who's past life shows he did not live what he taught. The unexpected loss of his wife and a re-evaluation of his own life has straightened his path, but his past still haunts him.

This is the complexity of a story written by a 19-year old. If I was envious, I'd hate Beck, but he's too talented for that. :)

Heights is an impressive film made by an impressive team using all volunteers and a shoestring budget. The cast is very solid, especially considering its size. Beck is lucky to have access to so many resources with free time... thank you college! Use it before you lose it... it only gets harder from here.

I should also note that Beck and Woods were also finalist in the last Project Greenlight competition, ending up in the top 50 out of thousands of entries. These guys will make their mark in the industry, one way or another.

University Heights is a wonderful achievement for these young filmmakers. You can read more about this film and others, including the thriller Her Summer and the Neo-Western The Bride Wore Blood at their Bluebox Limited website. Since I bought all three films, I look forward to seeing the next two and will let you know my thoughts here.

Keep an eye out for these guys... they'll end up with a movie showing at a theater near you before you know it.

DC Gets Cribbed

DC was cast in a promotional film for her high school that will be shot in an MTV Cribs style. For those of you who have not seen MTV Cribs, it's basically a hip tour of stars homes. Well, the promotional video will be a tour of the school and will be used as a recruiting tool for the different programs available there.

She's excited about the opportunity and we were happy that she got cast. She said it was the first audition this year where she felt completely relaxed and we had hoped that relaxation approach would be rewarded... and it was.

It will be shot over a three day period two weeks from now. I'll keep you posted.

Bella (2006) - The Movie Premiere That Almost Was...

Last night we were invited by our dear friends, the Kelleys, to a special local screening of the critically acclaimed film called Bella. The story revolves around a waitress, Nina (Tammy Blanchard), who finds herself pregnant and unmarried and her friendship with Jose (Eduardo Verástegui), a former soccer star who's hidden tragedy has led him to the quiet, simple life as a chef.

And that's all I know. Why? Because, no matter how hard they tried... and they tried a very hard (seven DVDs and two DVD players), the DVDs were not compatible with the projection systems.

The Publicist, Corby Pons and star/producer Eduardo Verástegui, were very patient and extremely apologetic. The sponsors of the evening, the Alphonso family, who rented the theater and brought in the producer and star, were unphased and kept their spirits up.

In between DVDs 4 and 5, Eduardo spoke to all of us telling us his story. He was born in a faithful Catholic family, he rose to become a very successful Mexican soap opera star and moved to Hollywood. He appeared in numerous television shows and films and, through the work of his English language teacher, realized he was not living his faith. And that being successful in the eyes of Hollywood was not the same as being successful in the eyes of God.

After speaking with his priest and reading some books he decided to fire his agents and managers, sell all of his belongings and go to Brazil to work as a missionary for two years in the jungle. When he told this to his priest, the priest told him, "there is no larger jungle than Hollywood and we need missionaries here too."

So, with a few friends and acquaintances, Eduardo formed his own film company to make uplifting, faith-filled films. The first is Bella.


The film has won numerous awards, including the Academy Awards precursor, the Toronto Film Festivals Peoples Choice Award. Getting distribution has been tough but the team has been flying all over the country, building up support from a grassroots level, starting with a theatrical release of four cities to now over 30.

Because of this David vs. Goliath mentality, it broke our hearts to see the events unfold as they did. Corby told me that they felt Satan had been working against this film very hard. They've had obstacle after obstacle... nothing had gone as badly as it had last night. I told him, "no matter how hard Satan pushes, we'll push harder." The offered us all tickets to the premiere in Miami (not sure if we'll be able to attend) and signed DVD copies, when the film is released on DVD.

They were very nice, very faithful and very apologetic. In the end, however, the struggles made us root for the film that much more. The first half-hour was superbly told and engrossing. We can't wait to see the rest of the film

Another nice event of the evening was DC getting to meet Eduardo in person. From my experiences in the entertainment industry, I had learned that if you treat stars like stars, they'll treat you like a fan. If you treat them like a person, they'll treat you as a person. So, when DC was about to meet Eduardo, Dea offered the poster and a pen and suggested she get an autograph. DC responded that she didn't want to meet his as a fan, but as a person. And that's what she did.

They shook hands and DC, as a fellow actor with strong faith, was very touched and inspired by Eduardo's story. They spoke for a few minutes on acting and faith. Eduardo asked DC to keep him in prayers and that he would keep her in his. Eduardo offered for her to keep in touch, as they are "always on the lookout for actors who want to express their faith through their work."

On the way home, we all talked about how wonderful the production company was, how sad we were for them in regards to the viewing and how inspiring Eduardo's story was for us. DC also was giggly over how cute he was... or gorgeous... I can't remember the exact description she reveled in, but she was smitten. After all, Eduard was voted the third most beautiful person in the world... and he just might be.

Anyway, the premiere did not go as we had intended, but it was very memorable and made us want to support and promote the film Bella as much as we could.

If Bella opens near you, please see this pro-life, touching movie about love that goes beyond romance. These faith-filled filmmakers need our prayers and support.

Wise Words

"Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. And don't pray when it rains if you don't pray when the sun shines."

--Satchel Paige

Life Changes

Once crossing over 40 I realized I had to decide how I wanted to grow older. Gone are the days where your body forgives your every sin. After seeing my weight slowly escalate every doctor visit over the past year I decided to make some changes which, collectively, have made a great impact.

The first and most effective change I made was to no longer eat anywhere that has a drive-thru window. It is AMAZING how much better I felt within a week of giving up fast food.

• I gave up caffeine.
• I drink about 1 1/2 Qt of water a day.
• I drink V8 everyday.
• I drink fat free milk.
• Limit my portions involving cheese.
• I take vitamins.
• I eat more fiber.
• I've almost eliminated red meat, focusing more on chicken, turkey and fish.
• I eat more protein and less carbs.
• I floss every night.
• I exercise at least 3 days a week.
• I limit my portions of sweets far more drastically than ever before.
• Pretty much eliminated chips and pizza from my diet.

My previous health issues have already damaged my long-term health, so I need to do my best to take care of what I have left. So far, these changes have been great. I feel a million times better. And, surprisingly, making these changes wasn't that difficult. As Bob J. said, "it just becomes more important than anything else."

And he's right.

Forgiven Storyboards Completed

Today at lunch I finished the storyboards of our Christian short Forgiven. The end tally is 135 pages containing 356 individual shots.

My hand hurts.

Forgiven Storyboards

Way back when, I was watching the making of one of my all time favorite flicks, Raiders of the Lost Ark. During this behind-the-scenes documentary I learned about storyboarding... the process of sketching out each shot individually before shooting the film. I later learned that Hitchcock, my favorite director, used storyboards heavily as well.

Since then I'm adamant about the use of them. As the saying goes, paper is cheap. So, anything you can put on paper before filming is much cheaper than trying to figure stuff out on the set, both in time and resources.

The process of storyboarding a movie can be a very long process. A simple written scene can translate, visually, into a rather large number of individual shots rather quickly.

For the DV feature The Box, it took two three-inch three ring binders to document the over 1200 shots sketched out by hand that were used to shoot the film.

With our short Christian film, Forgiven, so far I've storyboarded approximately 20 pages of the 30 page script and consisting of 248 individual shots. To illustrate (no pun intended) here's a shot sample of the script and some of the storyboards I've sketched out.

Here's the section of the script.


And here are some of the storyboards for that section.







I've given myself until the end of the month to finish storyboarding this short. That's not a lot of time.

One has to think of what you're trying to elicit, visually, and how best to present the shots in sequence to reach that emotion in the audience you are trying to achieve.

So, if the average continues, I'll need to finish over 100 shots for the remaining third of the screenplay in order to complete the storyboarding process in the next week.

Time to sharpen those pencils.

Gaslight (2007)

As part of my daughter's responsibilities for her performing arts high school, she must attend 30 hours of activities in support of the theater outside of school. So, the family and I scoured the local theater scene and found that the Eight O'Clock Theater was presenting the 1938 play called Gaslight.

The plot involves a trouble married couple in the upper-class England in the 1880's. The wife, Bella Manningham, seems to be struggling with her sanity... a possible genetic gift from her mother, who died insane years earlier. The husband, Jack Manningham, is both manipulative and, yet, patient with his wife's apparent paranoia. He is, however, rough on the lead servant, Elizabeth, and overly flirtatious with the younger, sexy servant, Nancy.

Bella is certain of her own eventual mental demise when, one evening, a former police detective, Rough, arrives to spin her a totally different story.

Gaslight was one of the first plays to elicit suspense very successfully and was the inspiration for plays and films such as Dial M for Murder, Wait Until Dark and Deathtrap.

The Eight O'Clock Theater's production of Gaslight was excellent. The demanding role of Bella was played flawlessly by the tremendously talented Melody Craven. Her character was so full, complete, and three-dimensional. There was not a false note during her impressive and memorable performance. As an added bonus, she was also my daughter's acting teacher at Ruth Eckerd Hall and was happy to see DC after the show.

Melody Craven, Stefanie Lehmann
and T.J. Gill

As my wife said, it was nice to see that those teaching our daughter to act can also act themselves. Also in the play was a fellow theater high-schooler Stefanie Lehmann, who was convincing as the saucy servant Nancy. Her statuesque presence on and off the stage leaves quite a mark. I look forward to seeing her in future productions.

Also exceptional in the play was T.J. Gill, as Rough, the funny and determined ex-police detective. He has the ability to be both dramatic and comedic within the same scene. His performance captured just the right note of drama and comedy, allowing the audience to exhale in laughter when the tension of the play had built up.

Also very strong in the cast was Colleen Marvel, as the head servant Elizabeth and Trey Ryan, as the ominous husband, Jack. A great amount of praise should go to both director Rand Smith, who managed the play to great affect and to set designer Tom Hansen, who's set was beautiful.

So, our first foray into the local theater scene this year was a great experience with wonderful performances.

Gaslight ends today, so, like all plays, both good and bad, performances evaporate as soon as the last curtain drops. I'm glad we got to see this production and I look forward to future Eight O'Clock Theater productions.

Satan's Greatest Victory

I have always felt that abortion is truly the work of Satan, the prince of lies. Who else could mastermind, over a few generations, the complete alteration in public views on motherhood in such a way that chopping up the child growing inside it's own mother is a good idea?

In the greatest hypocrisy in human history, Amnesty International now actually considers abortion a human right!

Can you believe that? What is more evil than to define a human right that requires the killing of other human beings? Amazing. And devastating.

It occurred to me today, in a new way, just how unnatural and evil abortion truly is...

When you have a child and hold that child in your arms for the first time, everything changes inside your heart and you realize that you would give up EVERYTHING for that child, you'd even die, if need be.

With abortion, however, I realized that a woman demands her own child die so she doesn't have to give up ANYTHING.

Only Satan could pull of such a sleight of hand. He's been around since the beginning of time and he's obviously really good at his job.

God help us all.

God's Knock Knock Joke

In one of the many humorous tangents I am often to explore, I had wondered what if God was a bad stand up comic and Heaven was listening to His act. In that vein, one of his bad jokes could be...

Knock Knock.

Who's there.

I AM.

Think about it.

Deja Vu (2006)

Director Tony Scott and actor Denzel Washington, who have worked together on Crimson Tide and Man on Fire have teamed up again for the slick and enjoyable film Deja Vu. This time Washington plays ATF agent Doug Carlin assigned to investigate a terrorist act involving a ferry full of servicemen and women.

Carlin ends up working with FBI agents (Val Kilmer and Bruce Greenwood) using state of the art technology that allows them to watch, in "real time" four days in the past. The science is solid enough and the technology is shown with enough wiz-bang fun that it's easy to get pulled into the meat of the story.

Carlin's investigation on the terrorist attack is focused on a woman named Claire (Paula Patton) who's burned and mangled body washed up on the shore an hour before the terrorist bomb went off. It's through their investigation of Claire using this new technology that Carlin finds himself becoming emotionally attached to woman already dead.

The movie is really rock solid for the first 3/4 of the film, including one of the most ingenious chase scenes I've ever watched on film. Very cool stuff.

The last 1/4 of the film ends up following exciting, although expected twists and turns. In effect, the film is a victim of it's own success created by the first 90 minutes of the film. It is so unique and inventive and intriguing that when the last 30 minutes enters familiar territory it seems even more unoriginal by comparison.

But, don't let my comments on the last 30 minutes of the film keep you from watching it as the last act is still fun, enjoyable and effective storytelling.

Deja Vu took me by surprise. The reviews of the film were hit and miss and the box office brought in less than the film cost, so I expected a much lesser film when, in reality, it is a really fun night at the movies.

It's a very good flick. Check it out.

Late One Night (2001)

When a stranger arrives in a small diner, he must face the wrath of obstinate unbelievers, forcing the stranger to defend Christianity, despite their numerous attempts to undermine his faith. That's the storyline of a short Christian film called Late One Night, written and directed by Dave Christiano.

I have enjoyed Christiano's previous work, but there is a trend in his films of too much talking. They are often short on cinema and long on dialogue. This was excessively apparent in the feature film Unidentified and is somewhat apparent in Late One Night. Clocking in at just over 30 minutes, Late One Night is overly talky, but still effective in its message.

The leader of the unbelievers, played by Brad Heller (who also appeared in both of The Moment After films) berates the stranger, played by Josh Gaffga, continually and repeatedly stating how fake Christians are in their actions and words.

The payoff for the film is nicely done, but Heller's character has a lot of important, albeit inaccurate assumptions of Christians and the stranger does little to answer his detailed concerns and, instead, answers with generalities. That being said, the film could have lost a good 10 minutes and it would have been far more effective.

I commend Christiano for sticking to his guns and making Christian shorts and features for about 20 years. He's truly dedicated to his mission and his faith. He's doing what I wish I was doing, making Christian flicks for a living.

Gaffga sits quietly, listening
to Heller's berating.

I also respect Christiano's loyalty to his actors. Filmed six years ago, a few of the leads in this short appear in Christiano's weekly half-hour Christian series called 7th Street Theater, airing on TBN Sunday nights at 11 p.m. EST.

Late One Night is a good Christian flick with interesting subject matter and lively discussion points. I only wish Christiano would put down the typewriter every once and a while and pick up a pencil and a blank storyboard and figure out how to tell his stories visually.

Some Things Never Change

"Just because you do not take an interest in politics
does not mean politics will not take an interest in you."
- Pericles (430 B.C.) -

2500 years later, same song, different verse.

Fortune

Here's a new fortune from my favorite Chinese restaurant.

A palm can say a lot, especially when it smacks you.

Is that supposed to be uplifting?

The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ (1821)

Mel Gibson got a lot of flack about his interpretation of the passion of Jesus in his movie The Passion of the Christ. Many people were unaware that most of that movie was indeed inspired by the visionary book of the venerated (pre-Saint) nun, Anne Catherine Emmerich, called The Dolorous (or Sorrowful) Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Emmerich, herself, was illiterate. But a well known poet of the time, Clemens Brentano, was brought into her life and wrote down her visions as she had them. He would re-write and edit the visions with her so she would approve his wording.

The process of having the visions was extremely painful for Emmerich, who welcomed the suffering as she had a life-long yearning to participate in the passion of Jesus. This dedication and selflessness was rewarded with the vision of Jesus' passion, crucifixion and resurrection in complete and amazing detail. However, with each vision she also experienced the emotions involved.

The visions are so detailed and exact that one cannot help but believe them as true. The book relates such detail from descriptions of the simple bridges crossed when walking near the Garden, to Pilate's house, Herod's palace, neighborhoods and how all of the people in the bible intertwine with this blessed event. She states that the Ark of the Convenant was, at one time, housed in the same building as was held the Last Supper. She states that the same cave used to hide after the Garden of Gethsemane was the same cave used by Adam and Eve to hide after the fall. She mentions the chalice used at The Last Supper was an antique that was stored on Noah's Ark and survived the flood. The visions encompass and expound the stories in the bible, but never contradict them.

It is an amazing book, plain and simple.

I have often believed that a human's ability to understand the spiritual realm is equivalent to an ant trying to understand the subtly of human existence. An ant may know we are there and that we have some power over them when we want, but they know nothing nor can they comprehend human emotion, relationships, goals, dreams, etc.

Sister Anne & Clemens Brentano

The same ignorance, I believe, is what humans have when we try to understand the divine. I always go back to my favorite quote from Thomas A Kempis', which states "There is nothing more insignificant to God than human wisdom." After all, we, in our own arrogance and ignorance believe that God works as we do, that because we are created in His image that He, therefore, must approach life the way we do. We feel we know so much when, in reality, we know so very little.

I've always believed that, if you could imagine God as an artist, His pallet is full of wonderful colors and, by comparison, the human palette merely contains various shades of gray. God can use all of His existence to express Himself... nature, angels, weather, free will, His will, comets, galaxies, the universe itself are all individual colors available to Him in His palette. We can barely understand the complexities of human existence and are incapable of God's options. The simple constraint of time means we struggle to understand actions, consequences and events that occur over multiple generations. But, for God, our centuries are but a second.

What is beautiful about The Dolorous Passion is that it feels like we're getting a glimpse into this big picture. Since time has no meaning to God, when we see tying of Adam to Jesus, from Noah to the Last Supper, from David to Nicodemus, of Roman soldiers to Jesus infancy and his very birth, etc., it all makes sense in some much larger level... like by reading the bible we have understood the players in the story, but not the grandeur and the connections of the story itself... it's the difference between understanding a movie trailer and understanding the movie in its entirety.

Emmerich's visions of Jesus visiting Purgatory, Limbo and Hell after his crucifixion and before his resurrection are riveting, daunting, scary and, on some level, familiar and true.

Reading this book has been a wonderful experience and I strongly suggest anyone looking for a better, fuller understanding of their faith to take the time to visit the wonderful visions of Sister Anne Catherine Emmerich.

You will never forget it.

Breach (2007)

I've heard it said that the true makeup of a man is what he does when no one is looking and the film Breach illuminates that distinction between our private acts and our public acts to great effect. The story of Breach is an intriguing one. It is the true life story about a novice FBI agent assigned to help uncover the workings behind the greatest and most damaging traitor and spy in American history.

Ryan Phillippe plays Eric O'Neill, the young and hungry FBI agent and Chris Cooper brilliantly portrays legendary spy Robert Hanssen, who's double-life caught everyone by surprise. Hanssen was a walking dichotomy of morality. He was both a very devout Roman Catholic who avoided occasions of sin while, at the same time, providing information to the Russians that he knew would cause the death of many double-agents.

I have found, in my life, that the more I understand my faith, Catholicism, the farther away from Heaven I get. It's the difference between being a good person and being a holy person. It's not that I won't make it to Heaven, or that I can't make it, or that my faith is keeping me from it... it is that the more I understand what is required, the more I understand what being holy means and what is expected from me through my faith, the more I realize how incapable I am of getting there on my own. After all, how can an imperfect being reach perfection without assistance from the perfectly divine?

O'Neill and Hanssen in church.

It's this reliance on faith, propelled by his own sin, that Cooper so effectively shows in Breach. The man is in a constant state of various levels of agony. The film subtly shows his devout faith as a requirement, a balancing act, because of his moral flaws driven by arrogance and pride are causing him to commit mortal sins against the very God he worshiped. I never sensed Hanssen's faith was fake, or put on for show, but instead the moral weight on the scales of his soul that kept him from falling forever into a self-created hellish abyss.


Other wonderful actors, such as Laura Linney, Gary Cole and Dennis Haysbert round out the cast, but it is the weighted, struggled and tortured performance by Cooper that takes this spy film to an entirely different level.

Breach brings one of the darkest moments in U.S. intelligence history to the screen with a multi-layered, effectively moving and intriguing film filled with at least one Academy Award worthy performance.

Zodiac (2007)

In the late 1960's to early 1970's, a serial killer, known as Zodiac, tormented and killed in and around the San Francisco area. The mystery officially remains unsolved, however the film Zodiac comes to its own conclusions as to the real identity to the killer.


The film storyline follows the exploits of both the police and the local paper in trying track down the killer, who bragged about the murders and tested the media and police by sending cryptic letters to the San Francisco Chronicle. A newspaper crime reporter, Paul Avery (Robert Downey, Jr.) and the political cartoonist/riddle solving hobbyist (Jake Gyllenhaal) work with and, at times, independently of the police detectives (Mark Ruffalo and Anthony Edwards) assigned to solve the case.

The film is reminiscent of All the President's Men, in that the bulk of the story follows a pair of journalists who start with a small story, which, in turn, evolves into a massive, historic one.

Redford and Hoffman in All the President's Men

The cast is top notch and director David Fincher (Se7en, The Game, Panic Room) has the wonderful ability of making seemingly normal things very, very creepy. His distinctive style works well with such an iconic, evil figure as Zodiac, and Fincher seamlessly interweaves characters and story lines over a 20 year journey.

Downey, Jr. and Gyllenhaal in Zodiac

Zodiac did not set the world on fire at the box office, however, I think it will become one of those movies, like All the President's Men and The Hunt for Red October that, when I stumble across it on television, I am transfixed and will watch it through to completion. Once you start, the story pulls you in and you can't turn away.

Zodiac is very good film with subtle, effect directing and excellent performances.

Clearplay DVD Player - Get It

If you have kids under 17 and love movies, you should get the Clearplay DVD player, period.

I was walking through Target and saw the Clearplay DVD on sale for under $60 and decided to take a chance on it. The way the Clearplay DVD player works is simple and brilliant. You download and install filters for the movies you want to watch. These filters can eliminate foul language, violence, sex, blasphemy and nudity as well as such things as dishonoring parents, dishonoring the flag, or even mushiness.

How does it eliminate these things? Simple. The filters have documented when these potentially offensive material appears on screen and will either skip it or, if it's language, mute it. When you load in the DVD it recognizes the movie and asks if you want to watch it for Normal viewing (no filters) or Clearplay viewing (with filters).

This does not break any copyright laws because the original content is available for viewing and the filtering process does not alter the original content.

The system comes with over 2000 filters with the purchase of the DVD player. To have access to new filters created for the latest DVD releases, a membership is required. The DVD player included a 40% off coupon and for an annual membership, so I ponied up and paid an additional $50 for a years supply of latest filters. All told, I spent just over $100 and will be able to watch with my kids just about any DVD I receive from Netflix.

Right after opening it up, I downloaded the filter for Wedding Crashers and sat down to watch it with my 14 year old daughter. I picked Wedding Crashers on purpose because there is a LOT of ranchy stuff in that film.

The DVD player asked me if I wanted to watch it with or without the Clearplay filters. I chose Clearplay filters and DVD player skipped and muted as promised. And, to top it all off, the movie is still very funny without all of that material. Granted, its intended to have a sexual-romp aspect to it and those parts are funny for adults, but I was both amazed and delighted to see that I could watch such a flick with my kids and know that they were going to see anything I wasn't comfortable with them seeing.

So, if you have kids, I strongly suggest you invest a few dollars into this product. For years I've heard parents complain about the trash Hollywood puts out and how parents can't control what their kids see. Well, Clearplay solves a lot of those problems. Support the company and help your family.

You can see a demo and get more information at the Clearplay website, located at http://www.clearplay.com.

Tourney and Beach Time

Well, the long Labor Day Weekend is over. We spent the weekend in Cocoa Beach at a baseball tournament where teams from Venezuela, Jamaica, Virgin Islands, and all around Florida came to play against one another.

Gabe's team was over matched, for the most part. Scheduled to play four games over the weekend, Gabe's team started out good, winning 9-5. Gabe played well in the field and at bat (1-1 with two walks), but struggled on the mound. The tournament follows AAU rules, which means kids can steal bases, the base paths and pitching mound are longer distances, etc. Gabe struggled pitching from the stretch and learning NOT to throw strikes. He would quickly put the batter in an 0-2 count, but he was then asked not to throw strikes, but near-strikes, so the batter would swing and miss. Gabe wasn't used to this and his pitches would miss the target. But, a win is a win.

The second game, Gabe made the best contact with the ball and hit a solid shot to the second baseman, who made the out. But, he then struck out twice, ending the day 0-3. He didn't pitch. They lost 4-0, his team only mustering up one hit.

The third game was painful. Completely outmatched, Gabe went 0-2 with two strike outs. He didn't pitch and the team from Miami slaughtered them 17-3 in four innings. One inning included two grand slam home runs and two other multi-run home runs.

Gabe was scheduled to be the starting pitcher in the fourth game, but, due to a lot of rain outs during the tournament, our game was canceled as we were not playing for a championship.

So, we spent Monday morning at the beach and had a great time boogie boarding to the bid Atlantic Ocean waves. We also spotted a small shark in the water about 10 yards away from us. We gave him his room and he left us alone.

The cost of this trip was a bit much, considering the expected return on the baseball field, but the non-baseball events were fun. Everyone stayed in the same hotel and the kids played on the beach and in the pirate-themed pool until late in the night. So, we'll have to decide whether to invest in this trip next year.

I'll post some pics from the event later.

Tourney Time

Gabe will be playing in a baseball tourney this weekend. I'll upload pics and videos, if possible. Should be fun!

Baseball and Auditions

This weekend Gabe has his baseball tourney in Cocoa Beach. And DC's been auditioning all week for a variety of plays at school. Dea's Lifeteen band is back in full swing and I'm now on the board of the local Little League.

With school back in session, life sure gets busy in a hurry.

Thr3e (2006)

Thr3e is the best Fox Faith film I've watched so far. More of a pyschological thriller than a Christian film, Thr3e revolves around a college student being stalked by a murderer who uses riddles and impossible time lines to torment his victims.

The college student, Kevin Parsons, played solidly by Marc Blucas, comes from a severely dysfunctional family, but has overcome his past to excel in school. He's in the process of getting a doctorate in theology, writing a thesis on the nature of good and evil. At this point the riddle stalker enters his life demanding he confess his sins or else he will die.

Along for the ride is Detective Jennifer Peters, played by Justine Wadell, who was a previous victim of the riddle stalker, trying to assist Parsons through his torment. Parson's childhood sweetheart, Samantha, played by Laura Jordan, also comes to his aide.

The film's faith based storyline is largely ignored, to be honest. The story includes having to confess your sins, good vs. evil and the like, but these are more plot constructs than weighty issues. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it should be mentioned.

The script, based on the book by Ted Dekker, moves very quickly and keeps you guessing. The direction by Robby Henson is overly claustrophobic in the beginning, with tight shots and moving cameras, but the style eventually fits the material as the riddle stalker enters Parson's life.

Entertaining, well made and satisfying, Thr3e is a solid and accomplished entry into the Fox Faith library. I hope the films only get better from here.

Funny

I think the worst time to have a heart attack is during a game of charades...or a game of fake heart attack.

--Demetri Martin

Babylon 5: The Lost Tales (2007)

Babylon 5 was a wonderful television series in the 1990's. Created by J. Michael Straczynski, Babylon 5 was called a book for television and it really was, taking five seasons to complete the entire storyline. The time involved in such story arcs left for deep and wonderfully realistic character developments and surprising plot points. As far as science fiction television goes, Babylon 5 deserves to be up there with Star Trek (the original series), Firefly and Battlestar Gallactica (new series) as one of the best sci-fi shows in TV history.

The fan base for B5 has not waned very much over the years and Warner Bros., who own the rights to series, wanted more material to fill the fans' hunger for the subject matter, so Straczynski has fashioned The Lost Tales, small short films that bring some of the actors and characters back into the B5 universe.

The Lost Tales DVD contains two stories, Voices in the Dark: Over Here and Voices in the Dark: Over There. Over Here is a very intriguing story about a maintenance worker on the Babylon 5 space station that appears to be possessed by the Devil. A priest is brought on board to determine the validity and the meaning behind the apparent possession. The story was especially intruiging to me as I believe Straczynski is an athiest... or at least he was. After watching Over Here, I wonder.

Over There involves President Sheridan, played by the under-appreciated Bruce Boxleitner, who is returning to Babylon 5 for a 10th anniversary gathering. On his journey back he is approached by a mysterious person in his dreams that pushes him to make a very tough decision in order to save billions of lives on earth.

Watching a few, and I mean just a few, of the original B5 characters back on the screen made me yearn for the original series. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed the show and, upon revisiting the B5 universe, want to sit down and watch the original series all over again.

The budget for this DVD was obviously very limited. The sets are small and minimal, the locations few and the green screen effects are far less than one expects from the technology today. There are some good special effects when it takes place completely in space, but when you put an actor in front of the computer graphic work, well, the budget, or lack thereof, shows.

Another disappointment to me was the short and very quick storylines. Granted, the goal of the DVD is to only tell short stories, but when compared to the immense five-year story arcs of the original series, these two stories come to conclusion very, very quickly... too quickly. The solutions are conveniently easy to determine and just when you're getting your feet wet in the B5 universe, the stories are over.

All that being said, it was nice to relive a bit of the Babylon 5 experience. Though, not perfect, for fans of Babylon 5, The Lost Tales will be a fun, albeit fast detour into a sci-fi favorite.

High School - Week 1

Well, my daughter has survived her first few days of high school. After a schedule mix up and a locker issue, all seems calm now. DC is comfortable there and has four auditions coming up for the theater department. Hopefully she'll get cast in one of those four.

Now, every morning, I drive her to school and we get some really nice time between us, discussing school, movies, church, friendship, etc... and that's just since Tuesday! :) Should be a fun year.

Bill Gates Goes to College Video

I stumbled across this very funny video via another blog that pairs Bill Gates with Napoleon Dynamite for a 2005 conference. It's very funny and can be found at:

Bill Gates Goes to College

The Microsoft bigwig teamed up with Napoleon Dynamite in this spoof video from PDC 2005. The camera's a little shaky, but you get the idea.

Enjoy

High School Starts Tomorrow

My daughter enters high school tomorrow. She's nervous. My wife is a wreck. We're going out to dinner tonight as a calm-before-the-storm celebration.

I doubt my daughter gets a good nights sleep. I'm certain my wife won't. I'm not as worried as those two, but I'm not sure if I'll sleep well either... their nervousness and anxiety is making me nervous.

So, we'll see how it goes...

The Moment After (1999) and The Moment After 2 (2007)

In 1999, among the rampant pre-millennium apocalyptic end times, ChristianCinema.com released The Moment After.

In this original low-budget Christian flick, two FBI agents are directed to figure out why so many Christians in the world suddenly disappeared. The agents, played by two of the films producers, Kevin Downes and David A.R. White, investigate the Rapture, each ending up on opposite sides of the faith scale. White gets arrested for harboring a Christian leader wanted by the new global enforcement agency and is thrown in prison.

The Moment After 2 continues the story eight years later, as White, now on death row, escapes while being transported to the location of his eventual death. He hides in the desert and comes across a band of other Christians-in-hiding. Downes, who quit the FBI years earlier, is forced back into service by the global police to hunt down White and bring him back in custody.

The production value and quality of both films is very good, but especially so with the sequel. The relationship between Downes and White plays very real and the positive Christian messages are seamlessly interwoven into the storyline, never feeling preachy. Both films are directed by Wes Llewellyn, who manages the story and the action sequences quite nicely.

What I like about these films most of all is that they tackle the massive scope of the Rapture successfully within their budgetary limitations. Instead of trying to capture the immensity of the End Times on a minuscule budget like the Omega Code films or focusing on blow-by-blow fundamentalist interpretation of Revelations, such as in the Left Behind trilogy, the film shrinks the scale of the story without losing the impact of the message. The end result are believable, satisfying and intriguing films.

Plus, both films affirm a personal belief of mine when it comes to low-budget films, in that it is more important to find the right actors than hire known actors. Films with actors such as Eric Roberts or Stephen Baldwin or Lorenzo Lamas are immediately assumed to be B-movies because of the celebrity baggage they bring with them. Relatively unknown, yet competent actors such as White and Downes are far more successful at relaying the story because they fit the role and can pull off the performances, but don't weigh down the film negatively with any audience-driven preconceived notions. Granted, it may be a little easier to get a movie sold overseas if Roberts or Baldwin are in them, but there's a price to pay in creditability if the actors are miscast, which often happens.

In any event, for fans of End Times story lines, The Moment After and The Moment After 2 are excellent Christian film fare.

Disturbia (2007)

Disturbia is a rock solid suspense film that is both a homage to Hitchcock's Rear Window and Cameron Crowe's Say Anything... an odd combination to be sure, but it works to perfection. The story revolves around a teen named Kale (the excellent Shia LaBeouf) who, after an explosive opening to the film, ends up spiraling down a growingly dangerous teen delinquent path. On house arrest and forced to stay in his house for three months, Kale spends his hours looking out the windows, peering into the lives around him. He spots a new neighbor, the lovely Ashley (Sarah Roemer) on one side of his house and the menacing Mr. Turner (David Morse) on the other. With the help of his friend Ronnie (the hilarious Aaron Yoo) and the eventual assistance of Ashley, Kale comes to believe that Mr. Turner may actually be a serial killer.

LaBeouf is one of those rare, inventive, talented and natural actors that is believable in just about anything he does. He plays a variety of emotions, from new teen romance to the loss of a family member to suspicion to humor to fear... all without a single false note. The newcomer Roemer is spot on as the beautiful and flirtatious Ashley, who's both strong and troubled. Her interplay with LaBeouf is great Hollywood teen love at its best.

A special nod goes to Morse who is able to be both charming and scary at the same time. Since we, like Kale, are unsure of Mr. Turner's guilt or innocence, in every scene Morse has to achieve both potential guilt and innocence by his mannerisms and inflections, not giving away one way or another if he is indeed a bad person. You are both intimidated and empathetic with the man who simple likes his privacy.

Directed by D.J. Caruso, Disturbia is a very successful teen suspense thriller with strong, layered characters, real life teen angst and the unfortunate outcomes one might face when we interject ourselves into other peoples lives. Check it out. It's a good, fun flick.

Training for Salvation

At Mass Sunday our priest, Father Morris, gave a wonderful homily about priorities and salvation. He spoke of the Bible's take on material things and that, in and of themselves, material things mean nothing. But, if we put them above God, if we worry about them more than we worry about our salvation, our obedience to God, then material things can become a problem. Do we worry about our homes, our investments, our retirement? Do we worry about those things more than we worry about God and His plan for us?

His best analogy was that of Olympic athletes. He talked about how focused they are on winning a medal and how much they sacrifice to get there. They sacrifice their bodies, money, time with their friends, time with their families, but the end result is a Gold Medal and when asked, Gold Medal winners will always feel their years of toil and sacrifice were worth it.

We should treat our salvation in Jesus as Olympic athletes do their Gold Medals. What are we willing to sacrifice, to offer up for eternal salvation? Our bodies, our time with friends and family, our money?

It's made me think more about that. Made we think about how much worry I put into treasures on earth instead of treasures in heaven.

It made me think I need to change banks and start worrying about my heavenly deposits instead.

The Importance of Feeling Important

At work I recently overheard a conversation about faith, or lack thereof. One person was an ex-Catholic who was very proud of their lack of faith. You could tell by the person's mannerisms, their certainty of spiritual uncertainty, the force in their voice. The other person in the conversation was a parent who's child was starting to ask questions about God. The parent is married to a spouse who's Catholic but the parent, in their own words, "is nothing" when it comes to faith.

As I listened to their conversation, getting more and more offended because of my own personal beliefs, I kept imploring the Holy Spirit to tell me what to say or what to do, but my emotions were getting the best of me, so the Holy Spirit had me say nothing. It was very frustrating.

Afterwards I thought about two things. The actor in me immediately started a self evaluation. What was it about their conversation that was getting me so mad? When they were dismissing Catholicism I felt as if they were dismissing a part of me. Plus, I was offended that they would have such a discussion in an open office without taking into consideration that others around them may have faith and even be Catholic.

The second thing I realized is that these two people reveled in their own importance. By dismissing organized religion, even though the ex-Catholic was baptized, received first communion, confirmation and was even an altar server, they were somehow elevating themselves above God. They bolstered their superiority about not needing organized religion and spouted some inaccurate comments about the Crusades.

I really wanted to say something, but instead felt called to simply pray for them. Their souls are at stake and they don't even know it.

The parent has a great and wonderful opportunity to enlighten their child about God and Jesus, yet is completely ill equipped to do so and has no real interest in trying. I wonder, on our judgment day, how we will be held accountable for our children's faith. And the ex-Catholic has fashioned strong legs to support their belief in their own disbelief and proudly stands on those legs in divine defiance.

The saddest part is that these are two very nice people who have confused being nice with being holy. And, what is even sadder, is that I hear more and more of these conversations from people.

In the end I simply thank God for the gift of time.

When I look back at where I was 10 years ago in regards to my faith, I cannot believe what I felt was appropriate then compared to what I feel is acceptable now. I am so much more aware of my actions, my sins and my failings... not in some morbid sense of guilt, but in the constant focus for spiritual improvement.

I hope there is enough time in these co-worker's lives to find their faith.

When I see a world so blatantly and openly faithless I can only ask God to help our children. And, most of all, be with those who have lost their faith or their way. As Jesus said, He is the light of the world. If only more people would realized just what a darkened life they truly lead.