I thought this was a great discussion and has confirmed a lot of what I've been wrestling with as a believer lately. Say what you will about Peter Rollins and the ministry he is involved in, but this was very helpful for me and thought others may enjoy it as well.
I'd love to hear feedback and comments.
Follow-up: Check out more videos from Peter Rollins.
Remember my last experience?
Apparently, I didn't. Well, I did...but maybe it was the influence of the nitewang, my alter-twitter-ego that on occasion, takes over my wit when I'm sleep deprived from working at night.
Anyhoooooo....
It was 2 degrees outside this morning when I left work for home. 2. Two. To. Too.
[those last two don't count as numerical values...just driving a point, jerks.]
I needed to warm up my car, but to sit in the car that cold is nearly scandalous. So, I opted to get something hot to warm my bones, while the internal combustion engine warmed...itself in my car. The only coffee available to me is this "Black Coffee Lounge" that is literally, outside of the parking garage.
I went.
*sigh*
I went in, to find 3 pots of coffee on the counter, ready to delve out what should be delicious bean nectar. Only one struck my eye. The Festivus blend. I kinda chuckled to myself, wondering if the coffee tasted like an aluminum pole.
I said to the gal behind the counter that for some reason, looked as if she was still awake from the last time I saw her a few weeks back [likely due to the excessive drug use that is keeping her awake. Or a superpower. Who the crap knows?], "Say...what is this 'Festivus' blend? Is it like a light roast?"
"Oh no!" she said with some holiday crappy cheer. "It's a regular coffee flavored with..."
[are you even ready for this?]
"...chocolate, peppermint, vanilla, hazelnut, and cinnamon."
I seriously wanted to ask if they always serve hot cups of horse puke, but instead...my holiday cheery rebuttal was "Um...do you have anything...normal?"
I got their regular house dark roast. Not horrible..but I can't imagine the horror that the Festivus would've brought on. It would have been a Festivus miracle if I could've stomached it.
Come to think of it, I should have expressed my feats of strength to the 'coffee girl', but only after I gave an airing of grievances.
Idiots.
Remember right as MMO's became super popular, before World of Warcraft and the million other wanna-bee's? Remember an MMO called "Star Wars Galaxies?". Well, it existed.
I say existed because to say it thrived would be a bull-headed lie. A good friend of mine started playing it right when it came out, I would come over and watch him play for hours.
Not to say that SWG didn't have its great moments, its just that 400,000 players compared to 12 million is quite a difference.
All that to say, its being done again. This time much better. If you have any interest in Star Wars and the possibility of a good MMO, then watch the video below:
I have this deeply held desire to know what my hindquarters are going to look like when I’m older. Will I sag or will my seat remain firmly in the upright position? The entire time we were in the ladies’ room, it was on the tip of my tongue to tell one of the women, “I hope my butt looks like yours when I’m your age.”
On days like this when the wind is frigid as all get out, I feel like my bottom is never going to thaw out and it just seems ridiculous to keep it around if it’s doing nothing to keep me warm. With a permanent impression of how nice a rear end could look, I briefly considered lipo. Very briefly. Then I dismissed it on the basis that it would be my vanity speaking.
Unless I did it out of charity.
All these people in the world getting lipo and throwing out perfectly good fat! You know, I figure that stuff would have been pretty valuable to an 18th century lighthouse keeper with it being so whale-friendly and all.
Look, Ma! No harpoons!
Think of all the whales we could be saving if we all donated just a little of our wealth.
P.S. Although this isn't quite as profound and stirring as the Advent Conspiracy video, it's kind of in the same vein of thought: Living with less so you can give more.
P.P.S. A whale would probably have provided a little more blubber than I could. Just sayin'. I mean, it's really the jeans that make my butt look big.
P.P.P.S. Don't look at my butt.
The following is an actual email conversation that took place today regarding a box of cookies left in my office. These cookies were intended to be delivered to Whiz Kids, which is similar to a Big Brother, Big Sister program.
On Dec 8, 2008, at 2:03 PM, Lawrence Neisent wrote:
Please be advised Mrs. Marsh:
One Lawrence & Tracy Neisent dutifully presented the assigned items to be transported responsibly for the Whiz Kids Christmas party. Once on the premises one Shawn McEntyre, now referred to as the cookie monster, began eating said cookies. There are cookie remains in the cookie monster's office but the portion size has diminished substantially.
Blessings and please advise if you would like for me to provide further assistance in attempting to get the munchable items past cookie monster with additional efforts of provision.
Cc: cookie monster
Pastor Lawrence Neisent
On Dec 8, 2008, at 2:23 PM, Shawn Mcentyre wrote:
Dear Mrs. Marsh:
It is with deep regret that I have to inform you that one Lawrence Neisent purposely left said cookies on my premises whilst trying to fire projectiles at my person with what is known as a "Nerf Gun". These cookies were looked at by those persons habitating the premises as a form of apology for earlier stated actions.
There were four cookies accounted for that were consumed by myself and one Scott K. Guthrie, although the actual count consumed may be much more as many have access to the premises where said cookies are located. A suspect in the case of the unaccounted missing cookies is that of Nathan Davis. Although he may deny this accusation or may even be innocent. One cannot rule out one Joshua Sharpe as well.
It is my hope that true justice can be initiated. There are hungry children that were forgotten for the purpose of what is known as "covering ones own butt".
Cc: Lawrence Neisent
Shawn McEntyre
On Dec 8, 2008, at 2:58 PM, Jennifer Marsh wrote:
Dear Mr. Neisent and Mr. McEntyre:
I am writing in regards to the case of the missing cookies that occurred on December 8th, 2008 in the Destiny Christian Center offices. It is my understanding that Nathan Davis and Joshua Sharpe have not been on the premises for most of the day. As for Scott K. Guthrie, I cannot be certain of his whereabouts or his actions.
As for the attack, Mr. McEntyre, you will have to be very aware of your surroundings. I have heard of many complaints of attacks and crazy circumstances at that office complex. As for Lawrence Neisent, one should not leave cookies in range of hungry people.
I have decided in this case that neither party is responsible and so the case is thrown out.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Jennifer Marsh
On Dec 8, 2008, at 3:11 PM, Lawrence Neisent wrote:
Dear Mrs. Marsh:
You are most gracious even though you have offered a very suspiciously false accusation against my most merited character with the insinuation that I might have anything to do with these heinous crimes of crazy attacks. I'll keep a most watchful attitude in efforts to try to discover the culprit responsible for such behaviors.
Pastor Lawrence Neisent
On Dec 8, 2008, at 3:29 PM, Shawn Mcentyre wrote:
Dear Mr. Neisent and Mrs. Jennifer Marsh:
Thank you for helping mend this situation.
As far as the crazy attacks that were stated earlier, I must say that I'm not sure I feel entirely safe in my own office with this mysterious culprit running free. Just earlier today whist my back was turned a pack of OSU branded chewing gum was fired at my person from the doorway to my office. When I turned to see who had done this heinous crime, there was no one. I searched the office complex diligently but came up short.
I have full confidence in my leadership that this act of terror will be stopped, and the culprit brought to justice.
Cc: Lawrence Neisent
Addendum: It was not the attack by way of packaged gum that upset me, it was the OSU (Oklahoma State University) branded packaging. I believe the color red is much more appropriate over the solid orange. However, I have digressed.
Shawn McEntyre
On Dec 8, 2008, at 3:39 PM, Lawrence Neisent wrote:
To whom it may concern:
I would definitely have to agree that the OU colors indeed are much more fitting to heinous, blind and senseless attacks as this is the attitude of most OU fans. It has been quite to my astonishment to see just how infantile these OU fans can behave. If you live in Oklahoma then it's only the deeply confused and demonically distracted that would not be able to root for other Oklahoma teams.
I might also add that the majority of these asinine individuals who hold this particular attitude have not even attended school at the University of Oklahoma. As a graduate and fan of OSU I'm delighted to support both OU and OSU during the entire season. Then when the bedlam is taking place I certainly will be rooting for the team that is not so "upity" in their attitude and liberal on their campus. God bless you.
Pastor Lawrence Neisent
On Dec 8, 2008, at 4:02 PM, Jennifer Marsh wrote:
Dear Mr. McEntyre,
I, too, have been a witness of these heinous crimes. It did not start today with the cookies, but has been going on for quite some time. At one point in my career, I was scared for my life and the contents on my computer, that I would have to lock my computer down with a password just to use the restroom or go to lunch.
I strongly disagree with Mr. Neisent in the statement that it has to do with color. How awful is it to blame acts of violence on color. Red or Orange-we are all the same. Hopefully God will help Mr. Neisent before he crosses a line.
Jennifer Marsh
On Dec 8, 2008, at 4:03 PM, Lawrence Neisent wrote:
Why it always have to be a color thing?!?
This video is redunk. Enjoy, friends. Me and @rexbarrett twiitered on this earlier...enjoy.
If you don't know anything about it already, this is a World War II genre film about the last assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler by the Germans. There were 15 know attempts on his life by his own people.
This film has great historical value. I found it to be not only fascinating, but well shot, well acted, and at times very tense. There are a few things I'd like to go over:
2) The cast (Other than Tom Cruise) is primarily British actors playing German soldiers. The only German accent in the whole film came from Hitler himself. Its interesting to watch Nazis speak as if they just had tea time.
3) The movie opens with Cruise's character, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, narrating in German with English subtitles as he writes a letter, also in German. After a short while his German narration cross fades into his English narration. I think this was the directors way of showing the audience "Look, its all being translated for you now." I thought this was a great idea.
4) Eddie Izzard is in this and he is not funny. He does do a great job though.
5) The plan for overthrowing Hitlers regime is really quite brilliant. It uses his own system and plans against him. You can read more about Unternehmen Walküre here.
I give it a 8/10. This is mainly for its historic accuracy as well as its great performances. Although I did like it very much, I can see it as something easily forgettable. There's not a whole lot of wow factor that leaves you longing for more.
I suppose this review isn't really too redunk, but the true story of Unternehmen Walküre is super redunk.
Here's a modern quick recap:
(WARNING: There be spoilers here)
"Dude, Hitler needs to go down. He's really jacking things up. I know we've tried this like fourteen other times, but lets blow this mother to kingdom come and overthrow his government. Any ideas?"
"Yeah I got one, lets blast him with some explosives, kill all the commnications on his base, initiate a doctored version of Valkyrie that we'll get him to unknowingly sign, then initiate the reserve army, arrest all the SS and blame the coup on them, establish a new chancellor and end the war and try and sign a treaty with the allies."
"Ummm... ok, wow, that sounds pretty metal."
"Yeah, its way hardcore."
"Shiny, lets be bad guys... I mean, conspirators"
*The plan unfolds*
"Duece. They changed the meeting to another building, I'm not sure if this bomb is big enough now. Oh well, I'll just set it reeeeally close to him."
"Woah! I totally just blew up Adolf and like 10 other dudes!"
"Woah! you did totally just blow up Adolf and like 10 other dudes!"
"I know, now lets get the crap outta here and take some fools down!"
"So... I didn't really hear if Hitler had died or anything so I waited an extra three hours until you got back to Berlin before intiating Valkyrie... are you mad at me?"
"Dude, you are an IDIOT and I'm going to slap you like a drunkard when this is all through. Lets get that reserve army out there kicking some SS butt now!"
"This is crazy! We're actually taking everything over! Quick, we gotta finish taking Berlin"
"Oh man, Hitlers not dead, yo! Dude, we're screwed. Lets get the heck out of Dodge!"
"Awww crap. They caught us. We're going to die."
"You know, I know I'm going to die, but you were in on this too, don't think they won't light you up as well you freaking Judas."
*All conspirators are tried with treason and executed. Nine months later, Hitler commits suicide and Germany loses the war.*
Side note: Bryan Singer wrote and directed Superman Returns, and although I'd still like to see him publicly beaten for that steaming pile of crap, he did very good on this film and actually produced The Usual Suspects, which is also amazing.
