Yesterday our church kicked off its annual Vacation Bible School. I love VBS and look forward to helping out every year. In year’s past I’ve done a lot of the upfront activities including the story time. This year I was happy to pass off the story time to a much more gifted teacher. Now I don’t have to worry about accidentally telling one of these inappropriate VBS stories. Read more »
Man of Steel finally made its way into theaters this past weekend and fans of boring super heroes everywhere rejoiced. On this blog I’ve done my fair share of piling on Superman. Plenty of you have let me know through the comments that I’m wrong about Superman and I just haven’t read the right comics or watched the right seasons of Smallville. To be fair I haven’t read that many Superman comics; I’ve always been a Marvel man. I’m no fan of Superman but, in spite of that, I thought Man of Steel was a great movie.
From the trailers I thought Man of Steel had a chance to be a good movie. Under the guidance of producer Christopher Nolan and director Zack Snyder, though, Man of Steel exceeded my expectations and made me more of a fan of Krypton’s last son. The movie didn’t waste too much time on Superman’s origins, the movie logically explained kryptonite and its effects on Superman and the movie had Superman punching dudes all over the place. Man of Steel had almost everything I wanted in a Superman movie and almost nothing I didn’t want.
Here are some thoughts I had while watching Man of Steel. I’ll do my best to keep things spoiler-free but, you’ll be happy to know, Man of Steel Superman knows how to fly, unlike Smallville Superman. Read more »
I love watching and reviewing new movies. However, there are a lot of old nerdy movies that I love and want to review. Flashback Reviews will take a look at some of my favorite nerdy movies from the past.
The Fifth Element is one of my favorite science fiction movies ever. I saw it in the theater at least five times and listened to the soundtrack nonstop on my Discman. I actually remember seeing Bruce Willis on Letterman promoting a different movie while filming The Fifth Element. He had his blond hair and said he was sworn to secrecy about the project he was working on. I could have done without the blond hair but his portrayal of Corbin Dallas was awesome.
Here are some reflections from The Fifth Element. I won’t keep things spoiler-free because the movie came out 16 years ago. Read more »
Man of Steel finally opens this week. I haven’t been shy about sharing my disdain for Superman. I think he’s boring, he’s too powerful and his weakness is pieces of his home planet, which can apparently be found in abundance on Earth. That being said, I’m actually looking forward to Man of Steel. In spite of my best efforts the trailers have gotten me excited and I’m ready to see Zack Snyder’s take on Superman.
Since Superman is so completely overpowered, there isn’t one single Bible character that encompasses everything about him. So here are some different Bible characters that display one of Superman’s powers. Read more »
Earlier this year Minor League Baseball’s Toledo Mud Hens paid homage to the Force by hosting a Star Wars night. Instead of just having Darth Vader throw out the first pitch or playing John Williams’s score throughout the night, the Mud Hens went all out by having their players wear Chewbacca jerseys. I love that Star Wars is popular enough to warrant baseball teams dedicating entire nights to it. I love the Chewbacca jerseys but here are some other nerdy jerseys I would like to see. Read more »
Yesterday Apple introduced iOS 7, its new operating system for iPhones and iPads. From what I’ve gleaned on Twitter, it seems like Apple has taken some notes from Android for iOS 7. I have an iPhone but don’t hate Android or Android users. New operating systems don’t really excite me that much but I’m sure I’ll download iOS 7 as soon as I can this fall.
Even though they don’t really get me going, new operating systems can be a lot of fun. I’ve been looking at the same basic operating system for the past four years. It’ll be like I have a brand new phone once iOS 7 gets up and running. Whether we’re representing iOS or Android, it’s nice to get a new operating system. Things may not change that much from update to update, but every so often there’s a major overhaul and we wind up with something almost entirely new.
I think Jesus works in our lives in the same way. Read more »
I was talking with a student yesterday and he was amazed that I play video games. He seemed to think that as an adult I shouldn’t play video games. I told him that I’m not much of an adult but, even as a 31-year-old man, I do love playing me some video games.
I was always a little scared of growing up and, even now, there are some days I wish I could go back to my younger years.
Every time I write a check for rent I wish I were younger.
Every time I have to have a difficult conversation with a parent or friend I wish I were younger.
Every time I have to go to work instead of sit at home and play video games I wish I were younger.
The student seemed to agree with me that getting older is a little scary. In his mind getting older means not getting play video games. For us who are actually adults, it means not getting to play as many video games and probably a lot more.
We can sit and dream about the days when we were younger and didn’t have as many responsibilities. We can fantasize about days spent sleeping in on summer vacation and hours wasted on video games. We can idealize when we had nothing more to worry about than what friends we were going to hang out with and getting home before the street lights came on.
We can think and dream about being younger, but it doesn’t change the reality that got wants us to grow up and he wants us to change. Read more »
Yesterday I participated in our church’s annual golf tournament. I play golf about once a year, usually at this very same tournament. I’m not very good at golf and don’t know if I have the time or money to get much better. While I’m not that good at golf, I do know a lot of its rules and etiquette. Golf has a lot of rules and they are always changing. Golf isn’t alone in its numerous rules; some of our favorite nerdclinations are also ruled by rules.
The Prime Directive
I have been to three baseball games this week. That much sports action made me think about a previous post about nerdy sports. Below you’ll find an updated version.
I consider myself to be a pretty big nerd. I’m well versed in a number of nerdclinations and keep adopting new ones, most recently Dr. Who. Even though I rep all sorts of nerd cred I have a deep, dark, non-nerdy secret.
I love sports. I love watching sports. I love reading about sports. I love talking about sports. I love listening to sports talk radio. Just last night I went to an Angels game with the youth group from our church.
Sports don’t have to be inherently non-nerdy. Below are some of the nerdiest sports around.
Read more »
This is one of the greatest nerd stories I’ve ever read.
JWT joined with Warner Bros. and the A.C. Camargo Cancer Center in São Paulo, Brazil, to craft a super-powerful campaign designed to help children with cancer better understand their treatment and be less frightened by chemotherapy. The initiative revolves around superheroes. The game room at the hospital is tricked out like the interior of the Justice League, and colorful chemo-bag covers bear the insignia of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern, transforming the oft-scary drugs into a “Superformula.” Specially drawn comic books tell medically realistic tales of the Dark Knight and his friends defeating cancer-like diseases to resume their war against evil. Although it uses D.C. Comics characters, this effort is a marvel, helping kids gain knowledge, courage and faith in themselves—the ultimate superpowers. – Adweek
Cancer is terrible and it’s made more terrible when it impacts children. The fact that this hospital is using DC super heroes to make cancer less terrible warms my heart. I love that this hospital is going to tremendous lengths to encourage children with cancer. Stuffed animals are great but a comic book about Batman overcoming cancer-like diseases is even better. Read more »
