The Golden Era of Sci-Fi Cinema

The Golden Era of Sci-Fi Cinema, according to me and my wife:

1981-1984

Dragonslayer - 1981

Excalibur - 1981

Time Bandits - 1981

Clash of the Titans - 1981

Beastmaster - 1982

Wrath of Kahn - 1982

Conan - 1982

The Dark Crystal - 1982

Return of the Jedi - 1983

Krull - 1983

Conan the Destroyer - 1984

Dune - 1984

Ice Pirates - 1984

Gremlins - 1984

Neverending Story - 1984

And for Honorable mention from the television miniseries division:

V - 1984

DID WE FORGET ANYTHING?

Pictures - Winter/Spring 08

The Death Penalty

The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments this week about whether or not the death penalty can be imposed for child rape, taking up for the first time in 30 years whether a crime other than murder can be punished by execution.

While reading through Exodus and Leviticus, I was taken aback by how many offenses where deserving of the death penalty, according to God.

Here are some actions listed in the Mosaic Law that carry the death penalty:

• hitting your mom or dad


• kidnapping


• dishonoring your parents


• an owner knowingly keeping a dangerous animal that kills a person (hello, pit bull owners)


• bestiality


• sacrificing children


• both parties who commit adultery (nowadays, this would mean a lot of dead people)


• incest


• mediums, sorcerers, and practicers of the occult


• blaspheming the Name of God

Getting harassed by the man....

Anybody remember Ryan the Aimless hitchhiker that I picked up last summer in Naples? This video shows what happened to him before I came along and brought him over to Ft. Lauderdale.

Ryan took the winter off, and spent it at home with his parents in Columbus. Now he's out gallivanting around the country again. Last I checked, he was hopping a train bound for Nashville.

Its Hockeytime in Hockeytown

I am a native of Hockeytown. Detroit may have a good basketball team. They may also have a great baseball team. But the Detroit Red Wings are dominant. This whole season, they have been whomping on the other teams, so it should be a pleasure to see them burn through the playoff series to another Stanley Cup. As a matter of fact, we're so used to seeing the Red Wings in the playoffs, that we usually don't even bother to watch the regular season games. (With the exception of the Detroit - Colorado series.)


My wife and I are not big sports buffs. Golf - boring. Baseball - boring. Basketball - meh. College football - I like to hear the marching bands in the background, but that's about it. Nascar - decent if you can actually stay awake for the entire race.


In the fall, we're pretty hyped to watch and root for the Miami Dolphins, but our enthusiasm usually fades as it becomes apparent that the Dolphins just never seem to make it happen.


The only other time of year that we turn our attention to sports is in late April and May - when the Red Wings enter the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Its only too bad that we live in South Florida and therefore, don't have any friends who truly appreciate hockey.


Red Wings Facts:

• They are one of the original six teams in the NHL.


• They have the most championships in the NHL.


• They have been in the playoffs 23 of the last 25 seasons.


• They are the most dominant team in all of professional sports.


• Fans throw octopi onto the ice during playoff games.


• Steve Yzerman was the team captain for 20 years (1986-2006). Wow.

My Shepherd???? What happened to 'Jesus'?

Did anyone catch American Idol Gives Back last night? (I know, this will cost me a man-card.)

Did anyone catch the finale which involved all of the Idol contestants singing the much over-played "Shout to the Lord". (Well, its overplayed if you've been to church at all in the past decade.)

Did anyone catch what was missing from the song?

They sang:

"My shepherd"

It should have been:

"My Jesus"

Now you all know me well enough to know why I have a problem with that, right?

Walken Family Reunion

Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet?

Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet? Or a stadium? Or a racing series? What is in a name these days? Simply dollars and cents?

What names do we hold dear? How about Wrigley Field, the home of the Cubs, in Chicago. My wife and I used to head over Chi-town a couple times a year and Wrigley was one of the highlights of that city.

I am still trying to accustom myself to calling the Winston Cup Series, that's Nascar for you non-rednecks, by it's new name: The Nextel Cup Series. Oh, wait. I mean the Sprint Cup series. Well, if you mess with the big names like the Winston Cup Series, then, surely it isn't a big deal to follow it up by changing the Busch Series to the Nationwide Series. Maybe its just me, but didn't Busch beer serve as a much better representation of the typical Nascar fan than Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company? But it really isn't about representation, or history, or tradition, or value. It is about money, and how much of it can be made off of so-called naming rights.

How much value do we still hold for Lord Frederick Stanley, the namesake for the Stanley Cup - the National Hockey League's highest prize? Will we soon be calling it the Reese's Pieces Cup or the Comcast Cup? Perhaps Lord Stanley is already rolling in his grave at the thought.

Maybe I'm not a big enough fan of Nascar, but it's name changes didn't really bother me that much. Living so close to the Bank Atlantic Center (home of the Florida Panthers and previously known as National Car Rental Center, Broward County Civic Arena, and Office Depot Center) has made me a little more aware and also annoyed at the impact of a simple name change for the sake of a buck.

But for some reason, the possibility of a name change for Wrigley Field really rankles me. Wrigley is more than a ballpark. It is an institution, a destination, and a proven source for fond memories held by many Midwesterners. What a shame, if they sell it's name.

Cremation or Burial?

Upon your death, would you like to be cremated or buried?

And do you have a theological/cultural/practical reason for your answer?

My wife and I are on opposite sides of the coin, and we joke that whoever dies first loses, because then the other will have their way.

A Theological Question concerning Sacrifice and Suffering

I have a question. This is not a hypothetical question meant to spurn discussion, but a real question that I've been thinking about this week. Here goes:

Why did Jesus have to suffer the way that he did, or did he even have to? Obviously, I understand that Jesus was required to die as a substitutionary payment for our sins. Given the foundation laid out in Exodus, I understand that Jesus' execution was necessary. But what I can't figure out is why was Jesus hit, beaten, spit upon, mocked, falsely accused, and scourged.

Under Mosaic Law, the animal that was to be sacrificed as a payment for sin was quickly and humanely killed. Why wasn't this the case with Jesus?

Was there some theological, divine reason that Jesus was punished above and beyond his sacrificial execution? (Did God have a purpose in it?)

Or was it simply man's doing that Jesus was made to endure these things in addition to the sacrificial death he was to bear? (Were the Jewish and Roman leaders just being a bunch of jerks?)

Why couldn't Jesus have simply been executed the way that the animals were under Mosaic Law?


This isn't a rhetorical question. I expect some answers.