Year: 2008
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All Animated Films Are Not Created Equal
Originally published in the North Central Chronicle in October 2008. Are all movies created equal? The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) doesn’t think so. With the creation of the Best Animated Feature category at the Academy Awards, animated movies that deserve to be nominated for Best Picture are unfairly pigeon-holed into this…
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You Are My Sunshine…
I just realized that I’ve written a bunch of posts in the last week or so. Oh, well. I guess there’s a lot to discuss. Like this: Copeland will be releasing a new album! On October 14! It’s called You Are My Sunshine. It seems like I’ve been waiting for a long time for their…
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I Never Really Processed 9/11…
It’s good to see The Office back again. Here are my favorite parts of the season 5 premiere (possible spoilers ahead!): –Another classic Psychopath Jan moment: Jan: “Remember last week when that girl went missing? Guess whose candles they used for the vigil.” Kevin: “Yeah, thank God they found her.” Jan: “They found her?” –When…
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A profile of Korn’s Brian Welch
Originally published in the NCC Chronicle on September 26, 2008. Brian “Head” Welch might be the most unlikely person to have become a Christian. He was a drug addict, a member of a popular heavy metal band, and is covered in tattoos. But in 2005, Welch, the former bassist of the heavy rock band Korn,…
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Kristen Wiig = Hilarious
I’m always annoyed when people say Saturday Night Live isn’t as good as it used to be. It’s unfair to judge a group of relatively unknown performers against their much more famous predecessors. Especially when their predecessors and their funniest skits have had time to become more popular and time-tested. That said, these first two episodes…
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Here’s Looking At You…
On WordPress, the moderator has a “dashboard” that keeps track of comments, number of hits on blog posts, etc. It also has a cool feature that shows Internet searches that eventually brought people to my blog. So if I write a post saying, for instance, “The Dark Knight explores complex moral issues by focusing on…
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Everybody Know What Time It Is?
You know what’s a good show? Home Improvement. A few years ago, I wouldn’t have said such a thing. I thought the cheeseball factor rivaled that of Full House. But in the last year or two, I’ve been catching the re-runs on cable randomly during the day, and it has really grown on me. The…
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Where Were You?
I was in 8th grade, climbing on to the school bus after an early morning swim class. The bus driver had the radio on. “A plane has hit the World Trade Center.” Oh, I thought. How dumb do you have to be to crash into a big building like that? That is the moment I…
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Happy First Win, Aaron – Here’s To Many More
I loved Brett, but he’s not the Packers’ quarterback any more. Congrats, Aaron Rodgers. I know you’ll do well.
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Forty-One
I’m watching the video tribute to George H. W. Bush at the Republican National Convention. It reminded me how great a person and American he is. World War II fighter pilot, Congressman, Ambassador to the U.N., envoy to China, Director of the CIA, Vice-President, and finally, President — there are few public servants with such…
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The Dark Knight – Round 2
Just saw The Dark Knight for the second time. I tried to take in all the theories and analyses I read after seeing it the first time and look at the film with a discerning eye. The big thing I noticed was that Bruce’s love for Rachel fuels a lot of his decisions and affects…
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Me, Myself, And An Ugly Sweater
I’m done with summer camp. It was my third summer at Lake Waubesa Bible Camp and definitely the most fun. Everyone on staff got along great. It was easy to have fun and joke around (a lot) but still be able to share the serious moments and enjoy God’s creation and his work all summer.…
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Doing Unspeakable Acts To E.T.
I stopped by Half-Price Books the other day hoping to get lucky. After perusing the record collection as usual, I ventured into the clearance section. I’m a bad book buyer because I’m so indecisive and there are so many classics I have yet to read that I eventually get overwhelmed and end up not buying…
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What’s Going On?
Haven’t been on much—camp is keeping me busy. It is nice, though, to be able to unplug from the world for a while and not be able to check your email and keep up on the news even if you want to. Here’s a few thoughts on random stuff: —The Dark Knight was just amazing. I’m…
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Where Am I?
Sorry for the lack of posts. I’m now at summer camp getting sweaty and tired every day. It’s awesome. I haven’t been catching up with current events that much, except to find out that Tim Russert died (which really, really, really sucks) and Tiger somehow won the U.S. Open. Nice.