In a strangely prophetic post last week, I mentioned that if God were to send a hurricane to Charlotte to disrupt the Democratic National Convention, then we would know that God was truly an independent and not tied to either party, since Hurricane Isaac disrupted the RNC. Well, we see through a glass dimly, but we see nonetheless. While it is not a hurricane, strong thunderstorms are expected to roll through Charlotte this evening which has prompted the DNC to move Obama's address from the outdoor venue, Bank of America Stadium, to the Indoor Time Warner Cable Arena.
I guess God thinks that both parties do not represent God's interests right now.
PSA: if you are taking this seriously, see my previous post here.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
The Dangers of Sarcasm in Print
Using sarcasm in print is always dangerous because print cannot convey things like tone of voice, body language, etc. Therefore, I would like to thank James McGrath for noticing that yesterday's post was indeed a parody.
McGrath calls for consistency among a certain brand of conservative evangelicals who see every natural disaster as God's judgment on sinners. At least be consistent and call Isaac God's judgment against the Republican National Convention.
No doubt, tomorrow morning we will probably read about how Isaac is yet again God's judgment against the "Big Easy," just seven years after his last smackdown of the sinful city with Katrina. But if these hurricanes were God's judgment against New Orleans, must we not also follow logic and declare that God deliberately took momentum out of the Republican Party's national convention in a similar judgment?
Perhaps the lesson to be learned here is: "Don't schedule your party's national convention in a hurricane prone area during the height of hurricane season."
Below is an image from McGrath's blog, speaking to the same issue.
McGrath calls for consistency among a certain brand of conservative evangelicals who see every natural disaster as God's judgment on sinners. At least be consistent and call Isaac God's judgment against the Republican National Convention.
No doubt, tomorrow morning we will probably read about how Isaac is yet again God's judgment against the "Big Easy," just seven years after his last smackdown of the sinful city with Katrina. But if these hurricanes were God's judgment against New Orleans, must we not also follow logic and declare that God deliberately took momentum out of the Republican Party's national convention in a similar judgment?
Perhaps the lesson to be learned here is: "Don't schedule your party's national convention in a hurricane prone area during the height of hurricane season."
Below is an image from McGrath's blog, speaking to the same issue.
Monday, August 27, 2012
God Declares against the Republicans
I guess we will have to wait to see if God also sends a hurricane to Charlotte in a couple of weeks, thus declaring himself an independent. As one who lives in NC, here's to the democrats.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
LOST: The Final Tally
Well, the re-watch is done, and I can say that the show is still every bit as satisfying on re-watch as it was the first time through.
One thing that my wife and I did this time through was to tally up several aspects. You can see my ragged tally list in this picture. One tally list records how many flash back/flash forward/flash sideways episodes a certain character got. That is, how much time did the show spend developing certain characters. Here is the list in order of episodes each character got.
- Jack: 12 episodes (7 flash back, 2 flash forward, 1 present, and 2 flash sideways)
- Locke: 10 episodes (9 flash back, 1 flash sideways)
- Kate: 9 episodes (7 flash back, 1 flash forward, 1 flash sideways)
- Jin and Sun (counted together because they could not be separated): 8 episodes (6 flash back, 1 flash forward/flash back, 1 flash sideways)
- Sayeed: 7 episodes (5 flashback, 1 flash forward, 1 flash sideways)
- Desmond: 7 episodes (6 flash back, 1 flash sideways)
- Sawyer: 6 episodes (5 flash back, 1 flash sideways)
- Hurley: 6 episodes (4 flash back, 1 flash forward, 1 flash sideways)
- Charlie: 4 episodes (4 flash back)
- Ben: 4 episodes (2 flash back, 1 flash forward, 1 flash sideways)
- Walt and Michael: 4 episodes (4 flash back)
- Eko: 3 episodes (3 flash back)
- Juliette: 3 episodes (3 flash back)
- Claire: 3 episodes (3 flash back)
- Ana Lucia: 2 episodes (2 flash back)
- Boone: 1 episode (1 flash back)
- Shannon: 1 episode (1 flash back)
- Rose and Bernard: 1 episode (1 flash back)
- Richard: 1 episode (1 flash back)
- Daniel: 1 episode (1 flash back)
- Miles: 1 episode (1 flash back)
- Jacob and Smokey: 1 episode (1 flash back)
- Nikki and Paulo: 1 episode (1 flash back)
Notice the number 23?
Other characters on the show with significant roles but no dedicated episodes:
Libby
Rousseau
Alex
Charlotte
Lapidas
Penny
Widmore
Eloise
Ilana
Christian
Cassidy
Nadia
Does this list by number of dedicated episodes fairly depict the importance of the characters in LOST?
Some surprises to me: That Desmond jumps ahead of both Sawyer and Hurley, that Daniel, whom I feel fairly connected to, only had 1 flashback, that Nikki and Paulo ever deserved an episode.
Monday, July 9, 2012
"Losties" vs. "Others": Body Count
So, Brooke and I are doing another lost re-watch. We started one which sputtered out last year, but this will be the first re-watch of the entire series, and the first time we have re-watched season 6 at all.
Several things have struck me during this re-watch, but what I want to post about here is the actual body count of "Others" vs. "Losties."
Lost is a great example of how point of view/perspective can shape our realities. In Lost, we are, at least for the first 3 seasons, given the point of view of the "Losties." From their perspective, the "Others" are a brutal and malicious group of practically wild savages, while the "Losties" themselves are a reasonable and logical group of people merely defending themselves. Yet, one surprising statistic might be all that is needed to show how perspective can change everything.
<> At the end of season 3, the body count of the "Losties" is 18, to 3 for the "Others." That is, the Losties have killed 18 of the "Others" while the "Others" have only killed 3 of the "Losties." That statistic might sound surprising to those who have watched the show, but I have kept a fairly rigid count during this re-watch. I have not counted some kills such as "Losties" on "Losties," like Ana Lucia's killing Shannon, Michael's killing of Ana Lucia and Libby. Nor have I counted "Others" on "Others" kills such as Juliette killing Danny or Mikael killing the two women in the Looking Glass station. Beyond season 3, keeping a body count becomes pointless as the groups have essentially dissolved or been realigned.
Some notable kills:
"Others":
1) Ethan kills Scott or Steve, can't remember which.
2) Goodwin kills Nathan
3) Mikael kills Charlie
That was all the "Others" kills in the first three seasons. Sure, Ethan tried to kill Charlie, Danny would have shot Kate and Sawyer, but I am going with actual kills.
"Losties":
Charlie kills Ethan
Eko kills two "Others" on the beach in self defense
Ana Lucia kills an "Other" on the beach during a raid
Ana Lucia kills Goodwin
Sun kills Danny's wife on the boat
The grand killing spree comes in the finale of season three when 7 "Others" are killed on their beach raid trying to take the pregnant women and are blown up with dynamite. 3 more "Others," including Tom and Ryan, are killed subsequently as Hurley runs over Ryan, Sayeed snaps the neck of another, and Sawyer shoots Tom at point blank range.
The other 2 kills are of "Other" extras during various skirmishes, one as Kate, Jack, Sawyer and Hurly are on their way to the "Others'" camp, and one during Kate and Sawyer's escape attempt.
So, which group is more malicious, bloodthirsty, and brutal?
Several things have struck me during this re-watch, but what I want to post about here is the actual body count of "Others" vs. "Losties."
Lost is a great example of how point of view/perspective can shape our realities. In Lost, we are, at least for the first 3 seasons, given the point of view of the "Losties." From their perspective, the "Others" are a brutal and malicious group of practically wild savages, while the "Losties" themselves are a reasonable and logical group of people merely defending themselves. Yet, one surprising statistic might be all that is needed to show how perspective can change everything.
<
Some notable kills:
"Others":
1) Ethan kills Scott or Steve, can't remember which.
2) Goodwin kills Nathan
3) Mikael kills Charlie
That was all the "Others" kills in the first three seasons. Sure, Ethan tried to kill Charlie, Danny would have shot Kate and Sawyer, but I am going with actual kills.
"Losties":
Charlie kills Ethan
Eko kills two "Others" on the beach in self defense
Ana Lucia kills an "Other" on the beach during a raid
Ana Lucia kills Goodwin
Sun kills Danny's wife on the boat
The grand killing spree comes in the finale of season three when 7 "Others" are killed on their beach raid trying to take the pregnant women and are blown up with dynamite. 3 more "Others," including Tom and Ryan, are killed subsequently as Hurley runs over Ryan, Sayeed snaps the neck of another, and Sawyer shoots Tom at point blank range.
The other 2 kills are of "Other" extras during various skirmishes, one as Kate, Jack, Sawyer and Hurly are on their way to the "Others'" camp, and one during Kate and Sawyer's escape attempt.
So, which group is more malicious, bloodthirsty, and brutal?
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Saying goodbye to "Pop"
This photo really captures Marvin "Pop" Schwarz' joy and love for life as he mans the grill. He was my wife's grandfather, a larger than life Texas Cowboy. He passed on Friday 3/23 and we will miss him. On the way to South Texas to perform his funeral. I'm glad I got to know him for the short time that I did.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Doctor Who 2-3: Tooth and Claw
In episode 3 of season 2 of Doctor Who, "Tooth and Claw," Rose and the Doctor visit 19th century Scotland and meet Queen Victoria.
Here we get the Doctor Who trope that some creature that has been relegated to folklore and mythology in the world is actually some advanced alien species. In this case, the werewolf is actually an alien that is passed on through a bite. None of the werewolf rules really change, but they are now explained through alien technology (although the technology is not explained).
We get another interesting connection between what is relegated to fantasy and what is relegated to science in this episode. At one point Queen Victoria mentions that to be a learned person means to have knowledge of both Astronomy (the hard sciences) and folklore. To truly have learning one needs to understand science and literature.
The episode is a fairly typical werewolf story line. Werewolf attacks, humans run, the Doctor finds the way to defeat the werewolf using technology. All is well with the world, except the fact that even though the Doctor saved the day, Queen Victoria is not amused. After knighting the Doctor and Rose, she declares the Doctor and enemies of the state and banishes them from the kingdom.
Interestingly, the episode takes place in Scotland, at the house of a Scottish Lord called the Torchwood Estate. This is now our second reference to Torchwood this season. At the end of the episode, Queen Victoria vows to set up an institute to study alien life and learn to protect England from its threats.
Here we get the Doctor Who trope that some creature that has been relegated to folklore and mythology in the world is actually some advanced alien species. In this case, the werewolf is actually an alien that is passed on through a bite. None of the werewolf rules really change, but they are now explained through alien technology (although the technology is not explained).
We get another interesting connection between what is relegated to fantasy and what is relegated to science in this episode. At one point Queen Victoria mentions that to be a learned person means to have knowledge of both Astronomy (the hard sciences) and folklore. To truly have learning one needs to understand science and literature.
The episode is a fairly typical werewolf story line. Werewolf attacks, humans run, the Doctor finds the way to defeat the werewolf using technology. All is well with the world, except the fact that even though the Doctor saved the day, Queen Victoria is not amused. After knighting the Doctor and Rose, she declares the Doctor and enemies of the state and banishes them from the kingdom.
Interestingly, the episode takes place in Scotland, at the house of a Scottish Lord called the Torchwood Estate. This is now our second reference to Torchwood this season. At the end of the episode, Queen Victoria vows to set up an institute to study alien life and learn to protect England from its threats.
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