Kyle Williams made my brain hurt this weekend

But in a good way!

Every time this kid has something profound to say - which is just about every time - I usually make a post about it with a link to whatever is his latest essay. I didn't forget about that this time at all. It's just that this week's Williams piece was very dense: we're talking on the scale of Tolkien or Rand here. It provoked a lot of things to think about and I wanted to make sure my brain was thoroughly wrapped around it before saying anything about it.

Suffice it to say, it's a BRILLIANT piece Williams has up at WorldNetDaily this weekend. Titled "Idolizing intolerance", this may be his most powerful piece yet. From his article...

It bothers me that many members of my denomination, Southern Baptist, claim that sending children to public school is a sin against God. It bothers me that the evangelical spokespeople in America were almost universally and emphatically pro-war during the Iraq campaign. It bothers me that abortion and homosexuality are the only issues that national evangelical activists care about. It bothers me that, according to surveys, evangelicals are more likely to be racist than unbelievers. These things bother me.

I don't have an opinion on homosexual marriage. I really don't care, but I believe it ridiculous for Christians to expect unbelievers to act Christian. I believe abortion is murder and should be outlawed, but I believe those who have abortions need love and a change of heart, not picket signs and hate. I don't believe in beating society over the head with morality, because outward signs of morality are worthless divorced from Christ. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that we must judge those inside the church, while God judges those outside...

I don't have the heart to steal his thunder by quoting his closing thoughts here. Mash here and check it out for yourself.

Read More

The things that make your phone ring at 11:30 p.m.

Last night was a little interesting. I was playing The Matrix Online with fellow mates of our faction (we're the Priory of Zion on the Method server) when the phone rang. A good friend - that I've mentioned here quite a few times already - called to see if I'd be willing to assist in something. I said "yes" immediately.

Now, the task itself is pretty neat, but what's really got me stoked is where this is going to be at.

Will be able to post more about it toward the end of this month. Suffice it to say, it's the kind of situation that might make some people crap in their britches when they learn where a guy like me is gonna wind up running around in. I just hope that my security clearance checks out :-)

Read More

Forcery "special edition" coming soon

I may even have it ready to go by tomorrow evening, depending on some factors.

Awright, this past week was a little harsh on my baby, the first movie I've ever made (hopefully not the last though). It was harsh on ME: something happened that seriously, seriously got me feeling rather despondent. Ummmm... "betrayed" would be a good word to use. That's one thing I don't take very well. Betrayal, especially after you've spent a long time earning a trust, is... well, that's pretty low.

It all had to do with Forcery. The details of which I'll be disclosing more about in the days to come. Yeah I was brought pretty low (and there's nothing wrong with admitting that) but in the past day or so there's been some things that have more than lifted my spirits. And I've been doing some thinking on the matter too.

(This'll all make sense soon, trust me. I'm gonna come out both barrels blazin' but there's a proper time for that, and right now ain't it. Suffice it to say, some hard things need to be said openly, about some people, and I'll be unloading that soon enough.)

But I can say this: Forcery picked up a... I'd say it's a pretty darned good endorsement, from someone who seemed pretty impressed with the film and if HE was impressed... whoa momma!! Not too shabby for a first film out the gate :-) The other thing is, we've found some possible venues that would see it promoted bigtime. But we're gonna "fix" a few things first. I know, the audio ain't that great: already talked about what happened there. Lo and behold, that's going to be fixed, and we found a VERY neat solution to it! A few minor things, stuff you probably won't even notice. I'd say that this upcoming "re-release" should be the definitive version, and this one out now just the "preliminary". Which isn't the usual way to do things: next time, we'll know. And we'll do better.

So anyhoo, I'll be posting a honking big write-up about some things soon, and will be bringing you an improved version of the movie. Hope you'll find it entertaining and enlightening :-)

Read More

Revenge of the Sith viewings to date: 4

Saw it with my friend Johnny last night, who I've always dragged into seeing a new Star Wars movie every time for the past eight years (since the Special Editions) but this time he dragged me! I don't know how well he liked The Phantom Menace and he kinda liked Attack of the Clones but he REALLY dug Revenge of the Sith! It sparked quite a lot of conversation late last night as we wound down the evening at the good ol' Krispy Kreme. That's four times now I've seen this movie (saw it again last weekend with a family from our church) and my goal is to catch it at least six more times before the end of summer. That way I'll beat my previous "most times I've seen a movie in first-run" which was 9 times for The Phantom Menace in 1999. Before that it was 7 times the summer of 1996 for Independence Day.

Yeah I still can't believe it either: watching Independence Day seven frickin' times in the theater! You can go ahead and ask, I don't care: "Chris what the *#&@ were you thinking? WERE you thinking?!"

The cool thing about that was at the time I was running an Independence Day website, and got a nice e-mail about it from Dean Devlin. That so ruled :-)

Read More

So ummm... looks like Bush lied to the American people so he could have his lil' war in Iraq...

...and really, can that be disputed, in any sane and rational way, at all?

I'll admit to being a late-comer to this whole "Downing Street memo" thing that's starting to heat up the newswires. Hey I spent the better part of the last two months making a movie, you tend to overlook a lotta things when that happens :-) So this morning I sat down and tried to catch up on everything that I missed, and this seems to be catching on in a big way. And why shouldn't it?

Because based on everything I'm reading, it's (A) been verified as accurate by Tony Blair's own government over there in Great Britain and (B) proves that the entire case that Bush and his gang built up to justify our going into Iraq was falsified!!

Y'know, King David cooked up a lie that sent Bathsheba's husband to the front lines where David knew he'd get killed. That was the death of one man that Nathan the prophet came and condemned David for. Now, think about the sixteen-hundred or so Americans that have perished since this mess started two years ago, for the sake of a lie: what might God have to say about that?

No doubt that some Bush-bot is going to be tempted to add a snide comment to this post, as they usually are whenever they find me writing about this. Something to the effect that I'm "un-American", that I should be "standing behind our president" or something REALLY asinine like "would you have preferred John F'ing Kerry?" Yes folks, these "good Christian Americans" think it's an act of virtue to use the "F-expletive" in constant reference to Bush's Democrat opponent in the 2004 election. That says more about a lack of civility than an abundance of stupidity but I digress... The point is, either myself or someone else, and probably a whole bunch of someone elses, is going to be slammed because we bring this - an impeachable offense and way moreso than a semen-stained dress could ever evoke - to the attention of others and based on that ALONE we'll get painted as "spineless evil Democratic liberal bastards".

Well, I ain't a Democrat. Or a Republican. I'm not even really an American, not in the greater scheme of things: I'm just trying to do what God would have me to do. And the God I've come to know demands that I seek out and adhere to the truth.

To NOT say something about this lie, in my own way, however it is that I'm empowered to say it, after knowing about it, would make me complicit with the execution of that lie. And I do not desire to stand before God and confess to Him that I did nothing to refute this lie that has not only cost the lives of countless innocents, but is a mortal sin in its own right.

Now, do any supporters of Bush still believe they possess something "constructive" to add to the conversation?

Read More

I just realized what's wrong with America

It's that too many people in this country have no way to create an identity to call their own, so that by the time they're old enough to want their own identity they've no idea what the hell to do. So, they grasp hold of whatever "identity" presents itself to them. It could be a sports team, or a political party. They latch onto it and lose any desire to ever have to think about why it is that they latched onto it in the first place because to do so destroys their identity. And for the rest of their lives, as is the case with a political party, they will defend that party and the "identity" it gives them to the death.

THAT is why so many people in this country do not think for themselves, instead letting a party - and whatever individuals that party has elevated out of its own interests - do the thinking for them.

I gotta wonder now: where does that leave the rest of us, the ones who DO think for ourselves, the ones with our own identities?

I'll admit there's more of "them" than there are of "us"... but sheer numbers never equalled moral or philosophical superiority, did it?

Read More

Back in the saddle again

The past few days were a little... trying, you might say. Hence my abrupt departing message.

Things are better now. I'd even dare say "better than better" :-)

More later. Need to finish putting some thoughts together before making the next move.

Read More