$HOLY CRAP FOR CRAP!$

you need to read this, yo.

 

what does it mean? you tell me…

let’s have a chit chat about things we ought not to take for granted.

gobbledeegook. my various thoughts leak onto your computer screen.

i was just going through the numbers by which we live (money, of course!) and getting little depressed. over the past 12 months, my income has gone down in 2 rather steep dives. it was a net 15% pay cut when i left Trinity, with a slight recovery during my 9 months at Ridglea. but ultimately, even with a new job title/promotion for the hotel (which is effective this week. wut! <–pronounced “whaaaat?” with an ascending vocal inflection. not “woot.”), it’s a gross 21% cut, not including Michael’s rent. i guess it’s only fair to include his rent, which brings it back up to only a 12% cut, but it seems like we’re making suuuuuuuuuch slooooooooooooow progress on paying off debt. i guess i need to spend less, right? and then the tax man comes around.

and apparently, i misfiled last year, leaving one of Michelle’s 1099’s off, which is costing another $1800.

guh-frickin-errrrrrr. (<– pronounced “guh’ frick’ in(g) errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr).

anyway, i read a good article today that really pickled some ears regarding calling. as a Church, we’ve done very well at relegating willing volunteers and servants to mind blowing opportunities like directing traffic, set-up, tear-down, shaking babies and holding hands, etc. this fellow wonders on paper if an unleashed church can afford such mighty dead ends in place simply to perpetuate and grow numerically. perhaps there’s more to the kingdom than manning the name tag booth? novel thought.

Chad is blogging fiercely again, and old friend Mike Deter is showing his brain waves for the world to see for the first time. i’m a comment pimp for them. they thrive on the limelight, although they’d both vehemently deny it. ahh, the denial abounds.

we have a real, 99% done website for Eikon. you can google “eikon church” or “eikon fort worth” to find it. if you have any thoughts or could let us know of any suggestions, we could really use them now. we’re about to start advertising it!

cheers.

watchmen review

something i generally like to do is to read reviews of a movie right after i see it. i have my own opinion forming, almost settled, but i do look around a bit to see what people who have actually studied cinema (formally or casually) to add any final facets to my take on a movie. michelle and i went with a bunch of friends to see the opening night of Watchmen at the Arlington Studio Movie Grill. this is the nicer big brother to the Movie Tavern concept, but don’t be fooled by the digital sound and projection–although the idea eating and drinking during a movie sounds great, no one has yet to do a respectable job. the service at both theaters is awful, unfriendly, and slow. the chairs are bottom of the line Sam’s Club office chairs. the servers stumble clumsily in the dark, they bump into you and elbow you in the shoulders and head (like an inebriated and aggressive older brother ) and at no point to they stop passing back and forth in front of you trying to upsell to larger machine-stirred margaritas. but i’m not bitter.

this notwithstanding, the primary impression with which i jogged out of the theater once the credits rolled was this: people, take an effing bath. use deodorant, and brush your teeth. if you have the courage to finally crawl out of mommy and daddy’s house to see and be seen in the real world, do the real world a favor, andcare about what your fellow human smells (even tastes) as you walk by. that theater, or at least the people around us, were the most rancid i’d ever smelled in an enclosed space. it made me gag the lights dimmed. i continued to gag for the next 3 hours. it smelled of bile, urine, other bodily fluids and secretions, and of greasy hamburgers. Studio Movie Grill, for the love of all that’s holy anddear, use some exhaust fans or at least provide adequate ventilation to all areas of your business. please.

the movie. finally…

i couldn’t figure out where i knew the Silk Spectre II from. it bugged me all night, as she seemed familiar, but i couldn’t quite place who she reminded me of. it turns out that she’s been a secondary in countless movies and tv shows, most recently 27 Dresses. haven’t seen it. don’t care to. so apparently, my wonderings will never be quieted (unless there are some obscure scenes from the Skullsthat are buried in the deep recesses of my mind). now, please bear in mind that i’ve never read the Watchmen novel/comic book. and now there’s no chance that i will. in hindsight, the plot is simple enough. 2 generations of masked heroes struggle to prevent the end of the world (why else bother, right?)  in what’s described as a parallel universe where VietNam looks like the Inland Empire, technology of flight becomes far superior to ours 25 years earlier than ours, and where the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution never quite got passed (as a  super popular but spineless Richard Nixon gets at least 3 terms as president).

for a 3 hour movie with ample nudity, carnage, and special effects, the plot can only described as plodding. if edited properly, Watchmen could have made a super 4 episode TV show. far too much story is left out to actually know anything or care at all about characters unless you’ve read the graphic novel ahead of time. it’s impossible to know what’s going on or why this character does what he does. from what i remember, only a few of the hero names were dropped at any point, which made things even more confusing. the old gang of vigilantes grows old andeither retires, gets killed in compromising situations, or is forced to quit becauseof a law that is passed outlawing  “Masks.”  or is it the next generation that is forced to quit because of that anti-Mask law? meanwhile, the Cold War brews tensely in the background, and everyone worries about nuclear war but not that much because once there was a scientist who got stuck in a time-locked scientific experiment vault with electricity everywhere and he turned blue and disappeared and then he gradually started showing back up again in bits and pieces and now he can fly, grow really big and then really small again, move things with his mind, sendphysical copies of himself around as he pleases, float, and be completely exempt from public nudity bans. through the movie (other than formal public appearances) he’s either rocking a wedgie-inducing speedo (without the logo–maybe it’s a knockoff?) hiked up to his ribs on his sides or nothing at all. when Dr. Manhattan is nekked, he’s very  nekked and his dong is everywhere you look. so, for some reason that’s not fully clear, America is +1 in the nuclear war game because the blue man is also red andwhite inside. perhaps he could float a bunch of different bodies around and dissolve the reported 51,000 nuclear capable warheads that are pointed at Nixon’s nose. the story rocks gently back and forth between impending radioactive doom and the person or group that has begun picking off the heroes, old and new.

the narrator, Rorschach (repeatedly pronounced incorrectly, incidentally), sported a super groovy knit mask that featured constantly changing ink blot shapes. i wish i knew how that worked, because it looked so cool, but served no apparent purpose. there didn’t seem to be any consistency to the shapes or sizes based on his mental state or the emotions others facing him felt. you had to admire his angry tenacity, that teetered dangerously into psychopathy, and his ideology, however twisted it was. he was of the old fashioned “eye for a mutilated body” school of thought in his fight against crime. the Comedian was the other loose cannon, killing on a whim without regret and blaming others for his lack of tact and delicacy. i couldn’t figure out why he was called a comedian. there was much conversation about jokes, practical andotherwise, but for most of those, the Comedian wasn’t around (he gets whacked pretty early on), and for what it’s worth, it seemed like a lot of Heath Ledger envy to me. the Night Owl was quaint but predictable. self-deprecating, but set free by the costume when he chose to wear it. Ozymandias was supposed to be super smart, andapparently snatched Cyclops’ visor/shades/hairband thing and spruced his look up by wearing it backwards on his head. Ozy was also super fast andsuper strong, which made him a difficult person to hit for all parties that tried. but it was his headiness that had everyone impressed. it turns out that he comes up with some super ideas over the story, but beyond that, he seemed like a successful pretty boy on the surface, and not much more.

 there were quite a few things that a quickly categorized into the “brilliant” category: the Handshake, for example.  you’ll know it when you see because you’ll be wondering, as i did, if the situation might suddenly explode into flames. some of the dialogue is as sharp as movies come, like Rorschach’s incarceration and his interaction with the bad boys he helped put away in prison. several of his monologues also convey the brilliance that is so hidden and stained by his propensity for violence. the arc and use of Rorschach’s diary is also a neat device. the different snippets that show alternate ending-type takes on historical events are clever enough to make you smile over and over.

unfortunately, the poor choices far outweigh the wise in this movie: several of the fights towards the end of the movie paled in comparison to the sleek and visciously efficient brawls earlier in the movie. they looked like normal people going casually through a cardio kickboxing routine… the soundtrack started off very strongly, using “Unforgettable” as well as any opening song i’ve seen. Jimi Hendrix and Nena both got some play (i wanted to see Zach Braff and Sarah Chalke dancing to 99 luftbaloons  in the background but didn’t get my wish granted). but the cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” may have permanently killed the song for me. of the 180+ recorded versions, they picked the most horrifying, least musical one possible. i hated it so much that i dare not research who sang it… the sex scenes were gratuitous. i guess that’s how Zack Snyder rolls, but the scenes weren’t even sexy. they weren’t romantic. they were tepid and juvenile… i didn’t buy several of the plot devices that were used: the question of Dr. Manhattan’s connection to his fellow humans (wait, is the blue man still human? or is he a god? and is it his abnormally limp dong that makes him god?). the necessity of incessant flexing then fighting with the nameless thugs that continue to assail the plainclothes superheroes. don’t they have a better burglar bureau or something that meets monthly so they can chat about steps to identifying more helpless victims? and what’s with the intergalactic travel? i was awed by the giant glass clocky/hovercraft thingie, but what was the purpose of that? perhaps the most damning choice is the complete lack of power in the story. compared to the recent comic book turned movies, few pressing questions and dilemmas are posed. it seemed that the writer or director told a decent enough tale, but after 160 minutes, had nothing unique or compelling to say. we get that nukes are bad news for the recipients and the givers and the people within 400 miles of both. we get that solely carnal relationships can’t provide meaning to life. we get that bad things happen to good people and that too frequently, great things happen for bad people. but for all the existential-speak and “humanity is being mutilated!” lines, the purported “visionary” director, especially in light of 300, fails to cast a vision.

this movie was a composition of great promise. many of the parts needed for a superb movie were present, but like a graphic novel with no binding, Watchmen falls apart under its own weight and the slightest of scrutiny. but still, if you give Dr. Manhattahn a surfboard and have him fly around on it instead while bringing doom to planet Earth, you might be on to something.

 

final note: it now strikes me that i’ve seen Malin Akerman on the Heartbreak Kid opposite Ben Stiller. ohmyscience her character was completely bonkers in that movie.

Euckon the First

 

 

a couple of thoughts from the widely talked-about church identity melting night, Euckon (a …

-it was kind of weird to see people segregated. the Eikoners were mostly sitting on the right side, the Euc-ers on the left. this is normal–to sit with people you know when given the option. and it also has to do with the fact that we’ve been there before and that we like to be closer to the screen, which isn’t big enough for our purposes by a long shot (but does fine in the pinch that we’ll be camping in for a while). but i was a bit disappointed.

-i got a chance to meet 4-5 people i’d never spoken to before. Craig Clarke, who was the guest speaker’s husband, a fellow wearing a Moody basketball hoodie (do they even know how to play at Moody?), and then Felicia and Mike. Felicia had a unique smiley face shirt on. Mike looked a bit older and more hardened, complete with stubbly face and black leather motorcycle jacket. they have a cute 3 or 4 year old named Kaylee, i believe. Felicia is a Fort Worth city employee (i believe) who has started or will be involved with a task force on human trafficking. fascinating stuff! i had to poke around a bit to find out how she came to even find out that we were doing this, but finally the truth slipped out. Phil had contacted her, but they’d never even met before and she was going to go introduce herself as we ended our quick conversation. i was as warm and welcoming as i could be to everyone new i met. and it felt good to be an initiator for the first time in forever (when’s the last time new folks have been at our services?)

-everyone was segregated again at Central. but apparently, there was now a good reason. someone was being combative about the speaker.

-Noel Clarke was great, i thought. after the fact, it seemed that she wasn’t normally a public speaker. she got quite a bit of criticism from more than several people, which i didn’t think was deserved on her part. her vocabulary betrayed a bit of charismatic roots, which seemed to irk some people. she mentioned wanting to raise an army of prayer warriors, which is a great word picture, but again, the violence conveyed by that term is perhaps unneeded. the video that she showed was from a group called Exodus Cry, a clear reference to the then-enslaved nation of Israel. the spokesperson was very passionate and even started yelling (speaking loudly and strongly) a bit towards the end. i appreciated that sort of passion, but again, it’s always weird to be around someone who’s screaming. especially when the person isn’t actually there. and they’re not yelling at you. feeling defensive is a knee jerk reaction to a screaming person, but when a person is keenly aware of the fact that said screamer screameth not at you, feelings of awkward tension follow. and as you might guess, this impassioned “cry” irked some people.

-perhaps everyone else has moved on, but i feel the need to defend Noel and x-odus Cryer from the undue critiques… first off, if Noel isn’t a trained or paid public speaker, then it’s hardly fair to expect her to be impressive, organized, crystal clear, and eloquent. she is a caring, open lady who came to share her story. so if people resent Christianese or churchy language, if they’ve had bad experiences with Christians or church leaders or denominations in the past, that’s fine (it’s too bad, but it’s fine), but expecting her to instantaneously chameleon into her post modern, post Christian, post denom surroundings without even having really hung out with Eikon or the Euc before seems unrealistic. some people are great at blending in and dropping colloquialisms like hot irons. others…. not so much. so be graceful, and unless you voice specific expectations ahead of time, don’t expect them to be met. secondly, if you are looking at action oriented organizations to serve with and invest in, wouldn’t you want your leaders to be passionate? perhaps yelling at a video camera isn’t the best PR in the textbook, but how many people are going to forget that? it made an impression and clearly communicated his point, which, in my book, is essentially a home run. the video was well made and compelling. i can demand nothing more.

-Ryan’s music was truly Texas appropriate. and i couldn’t pull it off like he did if i tried. i think i’ll stick to rock and roll.

-as for the actual subject of the night, i’m glad to have been a part of something that hopefully opens people’s eyes. ignorance is bliss in this case, and we just rocked a lot of boats. the human trafficking industries are truly the dirty secret of globalization. and just like illegal drug trade, Americans out -scum the rest of the world by far. we are the root of this evil, demanding the drugs which led to 6,000 people being slaughtered last year alone in Mexico as drug lords struggle against a recently wakened government. and the 20,000 people a year that are stolen from humanity are far too many, and Americans are the chiefs of thiefs. i’m not proud to be an American, because i see how we directly cause people to no longer be free…

-finally, i have to echo what several folks are saying… that it’s super that 2 church communities, regardless of size, just did this. yes, we’re small and young, but it was so neat to not worry about any spirits of competitiveness (we could never hang) or ego-centrism or arrogance. it seemed pure (even though Phil said “shitty” during the middle of the service. out loud.)

i eagerly await the next Euckon event.