Theological Doink Doink

You know, I was really worried when I saw that tonight's episode of Law and Order was going to revolve around some sort of Christian belief. Law and Order hasn't always been friendly toward the faith or Christian values.

But watching a case revolve around dispensational premillennialism? Maybe it's just me, but I liked it.

CSFF Blog Tour: Cyndere's Midnight Day Three

You know, as phenomenal as Jeffrey Overstreet's Cyndere's Midnight is, I've got nothing today. Not a single thing. Well, that's not true. I've got a few ideas rattling around in the far recesses of my brain about how Auralia's colors seem to have a shalom-producing effect on the inhabitants of the Expanse (and I'm deliberately using the Hebrew word for peace here for a reason). The problem is, my mind's a bit scattered right now and I can't get those thoughts to sit still for long enough to put them into any coherent order.

So I'll just ask you, dear reader, a question: have you bought these books yet? And if not, why not? Go. Do so now.

Brandon Barr
Keanan Brand
Rachel Briard
Valerie Comer
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Shane Deal
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Andrea Graham
Todd Michael Greene
Katie Hart
Timothy Hicks
Jason Isbell
Jason Joyner
Kait
Carol Keen
Magma
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
Nissa
Wade Ogletree
John W. Otte
John Ottinger
Steve Rice
Crista Richey
Alice M. Roelke
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Rachel Starr Thomson
Robert Treskillard
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Fred Warren
Jill Williamson

CSFF Blog Tour: Cyndere's Midnight Day Two

One of the reasons why I was looking forward to reading Cyndere's Midnight by Jeffrey Overstreet was because I wanted more data to work with on one of the enduring mysteries in the series, namely the identity of the Keeper. If you were around my blog a year ago when we toured Auralia's Colors and you have a phenomenal memory, you might remember that I originally believed that the Keeper was some sort of Christ-figure. Then our wonderful blog tour overlord Rebecca Miller said that Overstreet has said to hold off on identifying the Keeper as a God figure.

This has left me a little puzzled, because to be honest, that identification became a bit more solid. More than that, though. After reading through Auralia's Colors before reading Cyndere's Midnight, I'm beginning to wonder if the Keeper isn't supposed to be the Father and Auralia is supposed to be the Christ figure. Given Auralia's role (limited though it may be) in Cyndere's Midnight, and especially given the way that the ale boy interacts with her memory, that seems more and more likely.

But I'm still tripped up over what Rebecca Miller said. So I've come up with a whacky alternate theory: Auralia isn't Christ. The Keeper isn't God. Instead, the Keeper is the Church. Auralia is a "generic Christian." And the Expanse and its denizens are the unsaved world.

The Keeper is seen as a horrific monster by the denizens of the Expanse. And let's be honest, the Church is seen that way by many non-Christians. Auralia is sent in to confront House Abascar and its lack of color and vibrancy, much the same way that we Christians are sent in to do the same for our friends and neighbors who don't have a relationship with Christ.

Part of the reason why I wonder about this is because there's something missing so far in these books, and that's a codified religion that is an obvious parallel to Christianity and/or Judaism. As such, it's hard to really make everything fit.

Not that that's a complaint. I tend to overthink stuff like this. You don't have to agree with my new, silly theory. But you can bet I'll be waiting for Cal-raven's Ladder to see what further brushstrokes are added to the theological portrait.

Go and see what the other tourists have to say this month:

Brandon Barr
Keanan Brand
Rachel Briard
Valerie Comer
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Shane Deal
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Andrea Graham
Todd Michael Greene
Katie Hart
Timothy Hicks
Jason Isbell
Jason Joyner
Kait
Carol Keen
Magma
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
Nissa
Wade Ogletree
John W. Otte
John Ottinger
Steve Rice
Crista Richey
Alice M. Roelke
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Rachel Starr Thomson
Robert Treskillard
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Fred Warren
Jill Williamson

CSFF Blog Tour: Cyndere's Midnight Day One

I've been looking forward to this one for a while now. After reading Auralia's Colors a little over a year ago, I've been looking forward to heading back to the Expanse. And with Jeffrey Overstreet's latest book, Cyndere's Midnight, we get to go back to that fascinating realm.

The story picks up a few months after the first book leaves off. The survivors of House Abascar are clinging to existence in the Blackstone Caves. But the story itself focuses around the House Bel Amica. Cyndere, the "crown princess" for that house, and her consort, Deuneroi, have big plans for the beastmen of former House Cent Regus. But Deuneroi, on a trip to the ruins of Abascar, gets killed.

This sends Cyndere into a tailspin. She eventually retreats to an old Bel Amican fortress called Tilianpurth. Her family and friends believe it's to find some healing. In reality, it's to carry on her dreams.

This brings her into contact with Jordam, a Cent Regus beastman with a difference: he's met Auralia. He's seen her colors. And as a result, he's changing. This causes him a great deal of strife, for he's in a pack with three of his brothers. One of them, Mordafey, has big plans for himself and the rest of the Cent Regus, one that could topple everything Cyndere is working for and threatens to destroy House Abascar a second time.

There wasn't as much mystery in this book, but that's okay. For me, the description of the Cent Regus beastmen and their history was fascinating, especially when the Four Brothers entered the ruins. Overstreet's prose continues to shine through this story and when I was done, I was ready for the next book in the series.

I'm once again a little puzzled by the theology surrounding Auralia and the Keeper, but I'll get into that tomorrow.

You definitely will enjoy this book. Make sure you pick it up soon.

Brandon Barr
Keanan Brand
Rachel Briard
Valerie Comer
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Shane Deal
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Andrea Graham
Todd Michael Greene
Katie Hart
Timothy Hicks
Jason Isbell
Jason Joyner
Kait
Carol Keen
Magma
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
Nissa
Wade Ogletree
John W. Otte
John Ottinger
Steve Rice
Crista Richey
Alice M. Roelke
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Rachel Starr Thomson
Robert Treskillard
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Fred Warren
Jill Williamson

Dollhouse

So I've always been late to the party.

For example: I had heard interesting things about Firefly when it actually aired but I never bothered to watch it. Then a few months ago, I found the entire series on DVD and watched it all in a week. And then I spent a few months kicking myself because I had missed it.

Another example: Pushing Daisies. I heard good reviews and my wife insisted I had to watch it. I didn't, not at first. Then I eventually started watching and loving what I saw. Just in time for it to be cancelled.

So when I heard about Dollhouse, I was bound and determined not to miss out on a show, especially one created by Joss Whedon (see my first example above and, while we're at it, Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog). I didn't get a chance to watch it until just now.

For those unfamiliar with the show and its concept, Echo is an "active," an agent for an underground and illegal organization. They send out the actives after programming them with skills, personalities, and memories for various "engagements." Sometimes they're basically escorts. Other times, they're assassins. In the premiere, Echo acted as a negotiator/profiler to help recover a kidnaped little girl.

But there are flies in the ointment. First of all, there is an FBI agent determined to track down the organization and shut it down. And apparently, there's an "active" named Alpha who's a loose cannon.

After watching the premiere, my initial reaction is a bit of skepticism. The concept of this organization is a little hard to swallow. The FBI agent's superior made a good point: if all you want is an escort or an assassin, why go through all the trouble to hire one that's been programmed the way Echo and her compatriots are? I'm hoping that this question will get answered in more detail in future episodes, but let's just say that my suspended disbelief rattled its cage a few times.

I'm also worried about how well Eliza Dushku will fare in this role. It's hard to say after watching her switch into three personalities in one episode (a guy's perfect date, the negotiator, and the "blank" Echo). If Echo really is going to become different people each episode, that's going to take a lot of talent. This whole show is going to hang on Dushku's ability; if she can't pull it off, things might flounder.

There were bright spots. Echo's handler, Boyd Langton (played by Harry Lennix), will be interesting to watch. From what I gather, Langton was a cop who somehow wound up working at the Dollhouse. He had obvious problems with Echo's "engagement" this week; I'm expecting further conflict between him and his superiors.

I'm also thinking that exploring the Alpha subplot will be a blast as well.

Whatever the case, I'm looking forward to watching this one from the beginning. Hopefully it will live up to my expectations. And hopefully it'll be a good, long ride.

Escape from City 17

I've mentioned before on my blog that I'm a video game fan. Love 'em, love 'em, love 'em. One of the best first-person shooters I've played is Half-Life 2 and its attendant episodes. Personally, I'm looking forward to Half-Life 2 Episode 3, since they seem to be promising that we'll be able to play with the Portal gun. If that sentence made no sense to you, sorry.

So today, I logged on to Steam and I saw an ad for a video series that some Half-Life fans had put together. I now present it to you. Just to warn you, there is some violence and language issues.

Normally I'm not a fan of fanfic. But if all of it was this great in terms of quality, well, I would have to change my opinion.

The Shack

So I keep hearing about this book, this controversial book about a man who meets God out in a shack. Some people love it. Some people despise it. And to be honest, I had a hard time bringing myself to care about this controversy. I mean, let's face it. Literary brouhahas come and go pretty quickly. How often do people really argue about The DaVinci Code anymore?

But then some of my congregation members started asking me about it. And then my organist bought me a copy for Christmas. And I realized that, in spite of my ambivalence, I would have to read Wm. Paul Young's The Shack.

And so here I am, having just finished this book about a man named Mack who was in desperate need of healing. His daughter was killed by a serial killer and Mack becomes withdrawn and wrapped in The Great Sadness. And then he receives an odd invitation. He's asked to return to the shack where his daughter died. The note is signed by "Papa," the nickname his wife has for God.

And so Mack heads out to the shack, where he encounters God. And God is interested in healing Mack and teaching him more about Him.

Now I can understand why some people might be upset about Young's book. His portrayal of God is a bit unusual. I'll admit I was a bit perplexed by his Holy Spirit, especially her name, Sarayu. But even that was explained. And yes, Young's attitude toward organized religion is pretty obvious and that might rankle those of us who are part of the organization.

But really, I didn't see anything all that shocking. Sure, if you wanted to use this as a theological textbook, there might be problems. If you gave someone this book as the be-all and end-all of learning what it means to be a follower of Christ, they would receive a skewed impression. And sure, you can take stuff out of context and create big scary theological monsters, but really, it boils down to one man's ruminations on God and faith. Keeping it within that context makes it a thought-provoking read.

That doesn't mean that I'm all ga-ga over it. It was an average book, and one that had craft problems. The opening foreword was a massive info dump, stuff that should have been worked into the rest of the text. Young resorts to a lot of telling instead of showing. And most maddening to me is his constant need to both capitalize and italicize The Great Sadness. You can tell that this began life as a self-published book and in this case, that's not good.

So I guess I don't get what the big deal is about. Sure, it gave me a few interesting insights on God that will hopefully help my faith grow. And in the end, that's not too bad.

New in Town

This afternoon, I went to see New In Town, the romantic comedy set in New Ulm, Minnesota. It follows the story of Lucy Hill, a corporate executive from a food company based in Miami who is sent to New Ulm in the middle of winter. Her job is to downsize a factory and automate it. It's a typical fish-out-of-water story, complete with hunky Ted Mitchell (played by Harry Connick Jr.) as the local union rep who gets under Lucy's skin.

I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by how Lucy was portrayed. I mean, I thought it was nothing short of a miracle that the director was able to get a clay golem animated by an ancient kaballistic spell to act with such an emotional range.

Wait, that was Renee Zellweger? Oh. Well, that changes things.

All kidding aside, this was a horrible movie. Let's start positive. There were two bright spots, and they were Siobhan Fallon and a surprisingly rotund J.K. Simmons. Their characters were great (even if Fallon's Blanche was a ridiculous stereotype; more on that in a moment).

But we can't remain positive forever or for even very long with this movie. For starters, there's Zellweger's Lucy, a shrieking harridan of a character with absolutely no redeeming or endearing qualities. I get that she's supposed to be a corporate shark. I do. But there wasn't a trace of human warmth in her for most of the movie. That's probably why she didn't like Minnesota so much. Someone that cold blooded would risk death if they set foot in our state.

Which brings me to my biggest beef with this movie. Was this really supposed to be set in New Ulm? I get it, filming in Minnesota can be a bit expensive. I recently read an article that said that Minnesota hasn't kept up with surrounding states when it comes to giving breaks to movie makers. So it makes fiscal sense for Hollywood to head up to Winnipeg. But you'd think that they'd send some people to get a feel for what the real New Ulm is like.

Apparently not, though. The movie's New Ulm is ridiculous. It's portrayed as a dinky little town with a single main drag, a community where if the yogurt plant closes, everything will go down the tubes. Everyone wears flannel. TVs only get shows from the '50s. And everyone speaks with the stereotypical Minnesota accent, doncha know?

Small problem: that's not even close to the real New Ulm. I have family in New Ulm. I've been there a number of times. Where was Dr. Martin Luther College? Where was the statue of Hermann the German? And why, in a town founded primarily by German immigrants, does most everyone speak with a Norweigian accent that most Minnesotans only bust out to tell Ole and Lena jokes? Simply put, the New Ulm in the movie is nothing like the real one, which is odd since this movie is supposedly based on a real story.

What's more disturbing to me is that Hollywood seems to assume that a trip to a small town in southern Minnesota (not northern, you imbeciles!) wouldn't just be a trip across country, it'd also be a voyage back in time. The movie is riddled with stereotypes (Fallon's Blanche one of them), hollow characters that lack depth.

The real tragedy of this movie is that there are so many missed opportunities. It's pretty clear that Ted Mitchell's daughter Bobbie isn't too keen on Lucy when she first arrives. Why not explore that tension a bit? It was obvious that Flo, the town's diner's waitress, really doesn't like Lucy, yet she only appears twice. Given that the run time is only 97 minutes, they had some wiggle room to develop some of these dead ends.

Some might consider this movie a love letter from Hollywood to small town America. If that's what it's supposed to be, the message delivered is actually the title of another movie out right now: he's just not that into you.

The Wrestler

I usually am not an "Oscar" sucker. I'll go see the movies I want to see and if they wind up getting an Oscar nod, great! I think this is the first time that I've ever gone and seen a film because of its award ceremony buzz.

That isn't to say that I wouldn't have gone to see The Wrestler unless it hadn't generated such buzz. I know I've admitted to this before, but I am a professional wrestling fan. So I would have wanted to go see this anyway. But when I found out that the critics were falling in love with this performance, when talk of Oscars started floating around, I realized I had to go see this. And so I patiently waited for this film to make it to the Twin Cities so I could.

I'm glad I went and saw it. While the story's end was telegraphed from about a third of the way in, it was still heart warming and wrenching to watch as Randy "The Ram" Robinson tries to cope with a life outside the ring. He still wrestles against much younger men. He attends signings where his fellow wrestlers are in wheelchairs and wearing catheters. And he desperately seeks out contact with someone, anyone, who will accept him as Randy and not "The Ram."

I recently read an article by a critic that focused on that aspect of the film, how so many of the characters are looking for simple connections between each other, connections that would affirm their identities. It's also the story of a man who clings to something for too long, so long that it consumes him and becomes his identity.

But for me, what really stood out was how desperately professional wrestling needs to upgrade the way they treat the wrestlers. Especially the big names. Especially the biggest company of them all.

Another reviewer said that as he watched this movie, he said that the "ghosts" of deceased wrestlers like Eddie Guerrera and Chris Benoit came to watch with him. I thought he was being a bit melodramatic until I was sitting in the theater and Eddie came and sat down next to me as well.

Lets face it. Professional wrestling is a cruel business. While the stories and feuds are "fake" and scripted, while the moves are done with safety in mind, it's still a dangerous sport where people can get injured and even killed because of what happens to them in the ring. What's truly sad is that there are probably plenty of men like "The Ram," men who tried to make their fortune in the ring, got a little taste of fame and money, and then lost it all and are now trying to deal with the consequences of their lifestyle. It's a shame that they don't have a better system set up to help them.

So should you go see the movie? If you're a wrestling fan, definitely. If you're curious about the hype, do so. It's definitely worth it.