Confession and introduction.

Okay,I have a confession to make: I am a nerd. I know you are all very shocked but it is true. For example, I got the first twenty issues of The Amazing Spider-Man and have loved it. Also I got HitchhikerÂ’s Guide To The Galaxy and am enjoying that.
But enough about me there is a new blogger in our midst. Allow me to introduce to you

Sister Ames!

Also a happy new year to all people around the world.

Also, The Onion reports a frightful trend in the world of psychology and pop culture.

Merry Christmas...

Or Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza, or Happy Gift Getting Day (for when that is what it is when you have the wrong focus for Christmas).

My top twenty. (Songs that is.)

Number 1. Please by U2 --Something about this song just hits me right in the gut.

2.Harder to Believe Than Not to by Flemming and John --If you haven't heard it I can't explain it.

3.Wake Up (live at Fashion Rocks) by Arcade Fire -- I think the reason I like this song is just because of the music.

4. The Blues by Switchfoot --This call of desperation by Jon Foreman is just heart wrenching but not without hope.

5. Where the Streets Have No Name (live from Rotterdam) by U2 --A good song made better by the 90's U2 twist

6. Joel by Daniel Amos --A sort of answer to The Blues with God answering the questions of Jon Foreman.

7. The Silent Side by Eucharisto --I love this song.

8. Don't Wait by Buddy Miller --Alter call gone Southern rock/Country. Need I say more.

9. Which To Bury, Us Or The Hatchet? by Relient K --Break-up song of the ages with a modern twist.

10. Kingdom Come by Coldplay --What to say about this one hmmm... I don't know but it is a good song.

11. Paralyzed by Sixpence None The Richer --Gut-wrenching, heart-breaking every time this retelling of 9/11 this song is great mix of powerful music plus tear-jerking vocals gets me every time.

12. Free at Last by DCtalk --Can I say I like this song because it makes me happy?

13. politicians by Switchfoot --Once again a song that I like more for the music than the words. (If you haven't noticed already music is a big part of what I listen for in music.)

14. Nothing but The Blood by Jars of Clay --Jars of Clay+Blind Boys of Alabama+Good ol' gospel song = Great listening.

15. Live in Stereo by The Newsboys --I don't listen to this song very often but when I do it always makes me feel up-lifted.

16. Hurt by Johnny Cash --Looking back on life Cash wonders what happened to him and those around him.

17. Rocky Boat by Steven Delopoulos --The song of a new Christian bursting with joy.

18. Presto by Ludwig van Beethoven --Somebody has to have some classical music on their list. Besides, this song is really good. Really good.

19. I Want to be a Clone by Steve Taylor --A quote from the song "I asked the Lord into my heart/they said that was the start/but now you've got to play the part/I want to be a Clone"

20. Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys --If you haven't seen The Chick Flick you wont get it.

And number 21. Wake Up Dead Man by U2 --I might rate this song higher but well... you know.

Sir Lucioius

Hey all take a look at the prequel to "The Sir Lucious Chronicles". It is on Lukolas's blog who is one of the most unappreciated bloggers in our little ring. Take a look at his archives there is some really good stuff out there.

Funny

One of the greatest commercials of this year (that you will never see).

Also, best Christmas card of 2005.

Explanation

I guess I should explain why I haven't done any posting for over two weeks so here it is:
As a secret government agent my boss sent me on a mission to destroy two suitcases full of top-secret government documents that would reveal the location of the MBA's latest and greatest weapon. The code name for the plans was Duck Soup. Well if everything had gone as planned I would have been back on the 9th but the Secret Police of Spotsilvainea found me during my layover in their great land and opened fire on me in the terminal. If it weren’t for my quick thinking and dashing good looks they would have turned me into Swiss cheese right there in the airport. As luck would have it one of their bullets hit the glass overlooking the runway and shattered it to pieces and also just at that moment a baggage cart was going under the recently blasted window, seeing my chance, I jumped into the cart. After startling the poor baggage handler I quickly thought up a story that I was a movie star getting away from a mob of fans worse than even The Beatles knew in their heyday. Since I am so incredibly handsome it worked and he let me into the airplane and I made it to my destination earlier than expected. And then (“Hey wait! What are you guys doing? What the? ” {BANG BANG BOOM} SorryaboutthatfolksbutIhavetoleavenownotimetoexplainguysshootingatmetellyoulaterbye.

Sine, Cosine, Tangent oh my!

I still dislike English you see
Just not as much as geometry
Always and forever
Always and forever.

Math blues (to be sung to the tune of Technology from Napoleon Dynamite)

Okay

Now you can sing Christmas music. So to start it off... Angles we have heard on high, sweetly singing over the plains....

Need I say it...

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Times They Are a Changin'

Post a comment. I'm running out of time.

I'm gonna' let it all out.

To all of you advertisers, radio stations and retail store owners:
Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Stop with the Christmas songs, snow-flakey commercials and other things because, if you haven't noticed it isn't even Thanksgiving yet. After this week go ahead, play "Rudolf the Red Nosed reindeer" until we all drop dead but until that day I don't want to hear One Christmas song. Get it. Got it. Good.

P.S. I'm listening to the "Please EP" and Ohhh is it Sweet!

Little Joys in Life...

One of the greatest things in life has to be: playing laser-tag in a dark church, with whacked out, physidellic music playing at loud volumes. Did I mention the strobe light going full speed? How about the fact the church is almost totally dark? It's fun.

Huzzah!

I have triumphed! Thanks greatly again to the wise Foolish Knight himself I have now added pictures to my side-bar. This gift, like all others will needed to be refined but at least now I have the concept down. "Have hope comrades we are almost there; to the great court of Camelot we ride. Charge!"
[If you have no idea what I am talking about see previous posts.]

Part one done.

Part one of my valiant quest has been completed. The good Knight himself aided me {aided ha, he practically did it for me} and now I can have links in my side-bar. The next part of the quest is to get pictures in the side-bar. "Swords ready...Up the Ante! Charge!".

Changes

Well I changed my template to Mr.Motto or something like that. The reason being it will aid me in my quest to get things into my side-bar. You see with the old one, all the errors I had made wouldn't go away so I had to turn over a new leaf and try something different. The quest will go on!

Isn't that the truth.

Why bother spending months out of your home country or a good two years before you go out when you can just do this?

Bring Out Your Dead!

Right, See you next Thursday then.
Okay I stole it so shoot me.

Hello(just because I like doing pictures)

Mmhmm...

I now own Relient K's latest album Mmhmm. It is very good, although it is not quite on par with Nothing is Sound but then again the two bands have different things they're trying to communicate. For instance, K is singing about breaking up their girlfriend while Switchfoot is singing The Blues. But enough compare and contrast this is Relient K's spotlight. The lyrics of Mmhmm are witty and heartfelt ditties about, trite as this might sound, tripping, falling and getting back up again all the while losing their girlfriends in the process. That was an oversimplification but you get the idea, to put it into other words Relient K focuses on the physical side of life while Switchfoot takes care of the metaphysical. You dear reader will have to forgive me for my comparing the two bands but in my mind I cannot talk about one without the other. But back to the album; Mmhmm's music takes sort of a pop-punk standpoint on the world backing the lyrics with catchy riffs and hooks along with a few surprises on the way, like the banjo in Which to Bury, Us or The Hatchet. All in all the album is quite good just and my only complaint is that sometimes the music seems to have ADD and they just jump in to quickly but that is only a small quibble. Stand-out tracks: Be My Escape, I So Hate Consequences, More Than Useless, Which to Bury, Us or The Hatchet, Who I Am Hates Who I've Been.

Here it is.

A few weeks ago I was going to put up a link to a really interesting article but it wasn't online yet so I have waited and now here it is.

That's strange

Why does it seem that while it seems almost all the great poets are men (i.e. The Mentor Book of Major British poets has something like a 20/2 ratio), women seem to identify more with poetry?

High School

School has taken me by storm. Last year was a cake walk compared with the stuff I am going through. Well, it might not be that hard it is just that my books apparently conspired against me planning all the work for Friday. I mean my English book might at least have asked me to choose a poet at the start of the week so I could get acquainted with it but no drop the bomb on Thursday forcing me to do all the research that day and leaving the writing for Friday which I might add has a HUGE biology test. For an example of the scale of the test the first question asks me to define fifteen terms and then moves on to ask twenty-two more questions. And since I have been starting school so late I end school late in the afternoon leaving a small amount of time to read and be on the computer and stuff, you know. Well I shouldn't complain it is just a much larger work load then I am used to that's all. Anyway for you nuts out there U2 is performing at exactly 12:37 a.m. Friday morning (my time) on Conan O'Brien on NBC just so you know.

In Agreement with Princess Sparkle Puff.

Yup, it sure is fall. Here in the city it is wet, wet, wet and very grey. Fall has ambushed me seeing as Wednesday I was wearing shorts and was very comfortable now it would be unwise not to go out with raincoat and pants. How did it come so fast? I don't know but the good thing is in weather like this it is really good to curl up with a book but also it makes sports such as soccer really interesting and fun.
Another thing about this rainy weather is that it is good Coldplay music; I have listened to half of Coldplay's new album X&Y and have now been converted to Coldplay. The reason it took X&Y to convert me is that the music on Rush of Blood to the Head just didn't do it for me but on X&Y it is upbeat and…I don't know… happy which makes it interesting. Just don't ask me about Coldplay lyrics I have no idea what the're saying or what it means.

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! or otherwise entitled Rejoice peoples of the world.

Let it be known in all the lands of bloggerdom that I, Why do myself now own... A Porsche. And this is no model car or anything this is a real live working Porsche. Let's have a look at this sweet machine shall we.




Yes I can see you are all green with envy, that or completely confused as to what the heck this thing is. Well it is a Porsche as in the really nice sports car Porsche but it is no car. It is a 250 GB firewire hard drive designed by F.A.Porsche. You see with this sweet little machine I can now make movies without worrying about killing my current computer. Just a second Sweetness dawg!! okay I just had to let it out.
Also in other news I now have about three hairs on my chin so now I can technically stroke my "beard". I hope putting this picture up was totally legal on my part.

Two Things.

First things first

I am grieved to report that Agent 86 of CONTROL Maxwell Smart(would you believe Don Adams?) has passed away at age 82.










Also there was an article in Christianity Today that caught my eye... But after looking around I found out I can't post it yet so I guess it is just one thing.

Points of tension. Points of tension.

I did the famous movie one and now I'm Schlinder's List Two very different personalities all in the same body.

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!

On Foolish Knight I followed the link to the famous movie personality test and there was also a world leader test so I did that one. I came out as


















Adolf Hitler!??

Nothing is Sound.

Today I received for my birthday Switchfoot's fifth album Nothing is Sound. Needless to say it is awesome; although I am not sure if it is better than New Way to be Human. Then again they are completely different albums. New Way to be Human focused on ending the old life that they had left behind. Whereas Nothing is Sound is a call of desperation for the old life to go away and leave them alone. Nothing is Sound is like the psalms of this generation, lamenting the fall of society, calling for God in the darkness even though the name of God is never mentioned throughout the entire album. Jon Foremen has a unique way of writing that cuts to the core. Not to mention with cover art like this can the album really be that bad? In summary: Get thee to the store to buy this album. Stand out tracks:Lonely Nation, The Shadow Proves the Sunshine, The Blues, Golden, We Are One Tonight and Daisy

Good day.

They'rreeee Baaaaacckk

They have returnend.




All I want for my Birthday and Christmas

In case you haven't noticed...

Mere Image is going full steam ahead.

I am also reading "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and I would rate it a five star book.

Thoughts on "Chariots of Fire".

I watched the movie Chariots of Fire on Friday and as always thoroughly enjoyed it but it also raised some questions in my mind.
First and foremost: Would it really be unethical for a Christian to race on Sunday? Especially for a man like Eric Liddle who said himself that when he ran he felt God's pleasure. Also if Eric was right then should I be able to play Ultimate Frisbee in the park on Sunday afternoons?
None of this is to denounce Eric Liddle he was a great man of God and a devoted athlete just thinking of some things. What do you, devoted reader think of this?

The Beginning of the end of my hermitage.

Saturday the re-installation process for Midsummer and Hickory to move back into the house began. Wednesday I will have to get used to them being back for more than two days at a time. Also Thursday, September 8th school starts.

Blogger info.

I have just been informed and found out for myself that the "Blogger Stats" are now up and running again which means we can now see how many profile views we have which is a very nice thing to know.

What has been happening to and in my life in the past weeks.

Let's start with me leaving for SEMP (and no it was not in Ohio):
I go to SEMP on Monday August first and return on the sixth. The week at SEMP was eye opening, seeing what was happening in my own city I found out that my city has the largest homeless population in the entire country. That is because we have cheap meth and cheap heroin so the kids will come to the city and not be able to leave because any money they have goes to drugs and food.
Anyway with that as background info let me go through my week at SEMP for you. All us students eat, do devotions and then go to a two and an half hour training session where we learn to minister to people through listening, caring and seeing them through Jesus' eyes. Then we have lunch and then we go out to the streets of the city just to see what we can do. For example one group of kids helped paint rooms at a Salvation Army rescue shelter and a different group helped clean up a lady's yard which they described as "a jungle". That was Tuesday so now on Wednesday the group I am in decides that the best way to help the people in the place we were assigned would be to hand out sandwiches, water, snacks in bags with antiseptic wipes and socks. The socks were handed out because a lot of people in that section of town don’t have shoes, so when they do have socks they wear them out very quickly then they cut up their feet and get an infection. Also we set up game boards for chess and checkers. After we leave downtown, which happened to be our assigned region, we return to the college and eat. After that it was worship time followed by a speaker, then the youth groups broke up held a debrief and went to Bed. Thursday was different, instead of going downtown all the students had to break up and write letters to four friends who they thought weren’t Christians. After we finished we had free time with our youth groups to do just about whatever we wanted (not literally). It was on that Thursday that everybody in my youth group including myself just plain Cracked! For example in the car on our way back from a trip to a waterfall we started singing “99 bottles of beer on the wall” and made it down to negative twenty. Later that night a prayer meeting for all the letters was held along with the regular worship time. Then on Friday we did about the same thing as on Wednesday with the water, sandwiches and the like. Then Saturday SEMP ended and we all went home.

Monday the 10th to Wednesday the 13^th I did about nothing except play “Star Wars: Knights of the old Republic” and read. Later Wednesday I went camping with one of my friends until Friday evening. While camping I spent almost the entire time on a bicycle seat going on bike rides to the beach, on a mountain biking trail (much fun) and cycling about 5 miles to a jetty on one of the rivers. Saturday I with my family attended the wedding of my mom’s cousin to a most wonderful girl. Ah-ha I have just remembered something on Tuesday evening I DROVE a few around the church’s parking lot then on Sunday evening drove around the parking lot just this time I had to do it backwards which I found most difficult. And this coming Sunday I get to go to this.

Well sums up about all I have (and haven’t) done in the past two weeks.

Something to think about while I am away (clarified after I returned.)

Okay, here's the gist: you go to a U2 concert and LO AND BEHOLD you get to choose the set list OF TWENTY SONGS(Plus Encore).
What would you say. Decide, then leave a comment so all can see.

He Speaks! He Speaks!

Sorry I have said so little in such an extended period of time you see:
First I took a week off of the computer, then when I finally got back I had bigger fish to fry (AKA Star Wars: Knights of the old Republic really enjoyable).
And now guess what. This upcoming week I am going to be going here so that is another week without computer. Sorry but that is life. Now for the important news!

This is going to be NICE!

I liked this book a whole lot so now to see a movie coming out is making me jump up and down in my seat with joy! And to add to the joy it begins filming in Budapest Hungary which was my home for over two years!

Pop and Achtung Baby

Yes! Finally I have heard the two above mentioned albums and like them very much. Wake up Dead Man is really cool sounding despite Bono's rather strong depiction of the world. One has been going through my head all day and Until the End of the World has haunted me. It is safe to say that these albums rock. (Actually there is a mysterious lack of rock on these)

Goodbye Great-Papa

Saturday marked the passing of a great man. A man that survived the Great Depression was too young for World War 1 and too old for World War 2. Also survived the hardest blow of all losing his beloved wife fifteen years prior. Saw both cable and the car come into popularity. He was a beloved father and great-great grandfather. As lovable as he was tough and ‘O was he tough boxing in his younger days and still standing strong even after a car hit him at ninety-six years of age.

Now passes one of those of the greatest generation and may God bless his soul.

The Disappointment of the summer blockbuster

I was looking forward to these big name movies until I started reading reviews now I am not looking forward to these movies at all.

Fantastic Four
War of the Worlds

Note: On War of the Worlds go down on the page to "War of the Whys"

Weird

Okay, this is just weird. I commented on Eucharisto and my own blog just a couple of days ago and before I know it they just disappear. It is just bizarre I have no idea what is going on. Does anybody else know what is going on?

Happy Independence Day!

With Independence day coming upon us one begins to wonder:
"How much sacrifice did my fore-fathers make to preserve the freedom we enjoy today?"
"The founding fathers were really great men weren't they?"
"Do I really realize the cost of the freedoms enjoyed today?"
"What would happen if I soaked a tennis ball in gasoline before I launched it out of my tennis ball mortar?"
Yes this time is also a time of fireworks and picnics; well that is if you can call the things we use up here fireworks since the law states that it cannot go more than ten feet into the air. I can see it now a room full of Tennesseens laughing at our pitiful excuse for fireworks and the fact that Bar-B-Que is a verb up here and not a noun like it is way down south in Dixie. But Independence Day is Independence Day and that is nothing to be laughed at.
So Happy Independence Day everybody light some fireworks for me and may God bless America.

A black weekend for Winnie the Pooh.

RIP

Thought of the day. (The post mentioned in "Rage")

In a sense we are all hungry and in need, but most of us don’t recognize it. With plenty to eat in the deep freeze, with a roof over our heads and a car in the garage, we assume that the empty feeling inside must be just a case of the blues that can be cured by a Florida vacation, a new TV, an extra drink before supper.
The poor, on the other hand, are under no such delusion. When Jesus says, “Come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28), the poor stand a better chance than most of knowing what he’s talking about and knowing that he’s talking to them. In desperation they may even be willing to consider the possibility of accepting his offer. This is perhaps why Jesus on several occasions called them peculiarly blessed.

Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC.

Batman Begins.

I saw Batman Begins last night and all I have to say is that movie was Awesome. The Batmobile wasn't even like a mix between a Corvette and an Hummer those cars aren't near nice enough this car was like a mix between a Fararie and a M1-A1 Abrams tank. The Characters were all perfectly cast and Christian Bale does a excellent job as the Dark Knight. Our villain The Scarecrow is terrifying and our hero's love interest is almost exactly opposite of Mary-Jane Watson from SpiderMan and that is not a bad thing. If you want a real review look elsewhere I am just here to tell you that it is a really good movie and as with Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is worth the outrageous price of movie tickets to see it. Even though the fight sequences are a little choppy and you wish you could just back up a little bit to see what is going on.

"Why do we fall.. to learn to pick ourselves back up again."
"It's not who you are underneath but what you do that defines you."

Congratulations.

Good luck and God bless to the two young people getting married today. May they have long lives and live in bliss together and with God. Congratulations S&S!

"Star Wars:Episode III 1/2"

Some people take "Star Wars" waaayyy to far.

Everybody do the "Numa Numa" dance!

This dance routine is better than the "Happy Happy Cave Troll Dance"! (Be sure to click "Watch this Movie" on the site.

Best Batman movie I have ever seen!

I hope the link works. If it doesn't maybe you should just watch the live action one coming out on the 17th, it is recieving rave reviews.

Thank goodness for blogs!

Rage!

Die! Die! Die! I had a whole post typed up on blogger and what happens I hit the wrong key going for "Shift" and I delete EVERYTHING! ("Shoot a monkey" as one great mind once said.)
The intended post will be up soon and very soon.

Thoughts on Napoleon Dynamite

Napoleon Dynamite you've ruined my life! See! Right there under my nose in a protest against Napoleon Dynamite I quote it. Napoleon Dynamite has sunk into my sub-conscious in a most devious manner. I can no longer say "Yes" as an exclamation of victory without saying it slowly with a gentle pumping motion. The same goes for the word skills("Num-chuck skills, bow-fighting skills, computer hacking skills.") without thinking of those very lines. Gosh! See! There it is again; I didn't used to say gosh before but now (sob) it is a very evident part of my vocabulary. Encountered with a thorn bush today I found myself asking "Do the chickens have large talons?", I also cannot look at a llama without thinking "Tina you fat lard come get some dinner!". I didn't even like Napoleon Dynamite that much; not near as much as I liked Monty Python and the Holy Grail or The Princess Bride. In my own opinion the two more recently stated cult classics are much more intelligent comedies and a lot more fun than Napoleon Dynamite.

Sorry.

I haven't done anything on this blog for a super long time. "Why" you may ask has he/she/it not done anything for a really long time? Because my life has been cuckoo crazy for the past couple of weeks! that's why. The craziness of this last week was of epic proportions. Not that it wasn't fun it was just crazy that's all. Like really crazy. But I should be getting back into the swing of things in a couple of days.
PS: Did anybody read the articles I found interesting?

I found these three articles interesting.

Dare I say it Thought Provoking. They are here, here and here.
Please don't shoot the messenger I just found these rather interesting.

I have seen it all.

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith has to be one of the coolest movies I have seen this year; with all the explosions and lightsaber battles but I miss the lower budget intense one on one battles from the first three. Not to mention the snappy dialogue but it is forgiven because it delivers what it promised (who promised and where not I know) an action/adventure movie of epic proportions. I was not disappointed at all, actually I was pleasantly surprised at the acting of characters that had been somewhat bland before.
If you're looking for a good discussion of the film go here, the post isn't what matters it is the comments (man those things are long!).
A few disappointments, one not enough Wookie battle. Two not enough snappy talk. Three, why did Mace Windou have to go that way? Good movie worth all $6.75 of it. It might even be worth $8.00 come to think of it.

Capsule Reviews of six U2 albums

The U2athon over these are my thoughts on the six albums I listened to:

October: U2 getting on their feet and becoming the band they are today.

War: Adam Clayton's statement on "Rattle and Hum" are proved correct. (If you don't know what that statement is ask the Queen of A&E.)

Joshua Tree: Pure passion about what Bono is singing.

Rattle and Hum: "All right class repeat after me 'Bono is a rock star' "

All That You Can't Leave Behind: The love of what they do just oozzes out of this album.

How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb: Pure adrenaline; I get tired just listening to this album from start to finish.

There they are. Told you they would be capsule reviews.

Well, it's over.

The week without u2 is over, broken Sunday afternoon (Sunday Bloody Sunday) by Fast Cars from the everywhere except US release of How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb followed the next day by When Love Comes to Town. Soon I shall do a u2athon in order of release and give a few words that I think describe them.

P.S. Saw National Treasure last night and found it quite enjoyable.

Is this not cool? Is this not cool?!

ONE MORE WEEK!!

With Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith coming out in a little less than a week I thought it would be good to provide a link to why I am looking forward to this movie with great anticipation.

In other news I have seen a movie made by George Lucas's good friend Steven S. Close encounters of the third kind good movie, not sure how to describe it. Survived till Thursday well enough without U2 heard strains of With or Without You coming up the staircase. School ends next Friday.

Here it goes.

Sunday I began a fast more challenging than going a month without Age of Empires, more difficult than listening to Tim McGraw for an hour, I am:

Going a week without U2!!

I got to thinking that I was spending a good portion of listening time to U2 and not for all those other good artists that I have.
This fast means no listening to or reading the lyrics of U2 but I say nothing about singing their songs(Aha, a loophole).

Happy Mothers Day!

Thank you to those who have:

Burped us bathed us,

Spanked us spoiled us,

Led us loved us,

Cared for and caressed us,

Thank you.

That essay I was talking about.

Why Odysseus is an Epic Hero

An Epic Hero is the embodiment of a culture’s ideals of honor and valor. The Epic Hero usally appears in epic poems such as The Odyssey and the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Odysseus is an epic hero because he embodies the highest ideals of the Greek culture at that time. With his fighting abilities and good looks he is obviously the epic man which every culture strives for in its men and seems to have been missing since the fall of Adam. Adam’s fall in the Garden of Eden resulted in a lss of perfectiion that will not be regained untill the end of time. The loss of perfection after fall of Adam has been felt throughout all generations in all cultures as shown by the wars, lies and grudges that have been from that time on.

One of the many reasons Odysseus is an epic hero is his great wisdom and craftiness. Wisdom was one of the most sought after traits in ancient Greece and something Odysseus had in excess as pointed out by somebody almost every chapter. Wisdom is one of the most sought after things ever in mankind as made tragically apparent by Eve in the Garden of Eden when she chose a fruit from the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. But wisdom is also one of the greatest blessings to mankind.
When a king is considered great usually inxluded in his attributes great wisdom. Odysseus’ wisdom saves him from many scrapes and is one of his main weapons in getting revenge on the suitors who had been courting his wife Peneolpe and ravaging his wealth for seven years. This achieves for him a place of admiration by all Greeks-despite the fact he never existed.

Odysseus was also a very wealthy man. His flocks were second to none in size, his wine cellar over flowing and Odysseus had menservants and maidservants enough to take care of his palace and herds. The Greeks could not create a mythical character that would be an epic hero and not have him ridiculously wealthy. What self-respecting culture wants a beggar for a hero? A hero must be rich and Odysseus most undoubtedly was. He was able to sustain about one hundred and seventeen suitors at giant feasts twice a day for about seven years. Another thing that makes him such a rich man is his pure loving wife Penelope. Penelope was his greatest treasure because sshe was the driving force to return from Troy and the person who most awaited his return. The Greeks couldn’t give Odysseus a lazy ugly wife; he must have their ideal of womanhood to accompany their ideal of manliness. Odysseus’ vast wealth and good fortune at finding such a good wife make one suspect whether the events of the Odyssey really happend.

The final traits of Odysseus that will be touched on here are his strength and fighting capabilities which can be compared with no other man in the book who is alive. He, with three companions, destroyed the one hundred seventeen suitors; led the sack of Troy and broke the jaw of a much larger man after that man called him names and insulted his servants. Great strength was something far too important to the ancient Greeks to be left out of the makeup of their epic hero. The Greeks were aspiring for that great man that none of them were; that hero of times past that they could only dream of being. Through their epic hero they revealed the emptiness they had inside that could not be filled. Regardless of what they did or who they created it would always be there. The might they didn’t have they put into their mythology, but even the strongest of men could fall to a pair of lovely eyes. His encounters with Circe and Calypso show that he did not stay as true to his wife as Penelope did to him. Demonstrating that, like Samson in the Bible, even the strongest of men is susceptible to temptation.

In closing every culture has striven for a man like Odysseus of great power and might. Perhaps it is a longing of every human for the completeness lost after the garden of Eden. The Greeks were no different and they created a mythical character to do what they felt they could not do. Odysseus’ fighting abilities, his good looks and wisdom prove the Greeks were no different than any other civilization in their longing for something more.

Question.

I can now get to the first essay I did this year which is on my MAC. So I want to know will anybody not be able to endure yet another essay on ancient literature? If there is no negative response I will post on the 7th of May or there about.

This is the last thing I have to do for language arts this year! (updated)

The Character of God in Comparison to the gods of ancient Babylon and Greece.

The gods of the Babylonians and the Greeks differ greatly from the God of the Christian faith. The gods of Babel and Greece remain for the most part out of the lives of their people. The only exception is when the person is especially great-which are the only ones we hear about. While the God of Christianity is very personally involved in the lives of his people to the extent that he laid down his life instead of letting his creation suffer eternal death and punishment.

The gods of Babylon according to the Epic of Gilgamesh are probably the least personal gods of all the ancient cultures I studied this year. They remain out of the lives of the entire common folk; communicating only with Gilgamesh who was two-thirds god and one-third man. Which means they are practically talking with another god. The only major encounter any commoner has with any of the pantheon of Babylonian gods is when the people become so numerous that they create too much noise for the gods to sleep. The gods cause a cataclysmic flood over the whole world destroying the entire human race except for Utnapishtim whom the god Ea took pity on and told him to build a boat in similar proportions to that of Noah’s ark. The gods of Babylon are very human-like in nature needing sleep and food and are capable of breaking their own laws like in the case of Enlil who raped the lesser goddess Ninlil. They were also proud, lustful and capable of great of wrath of epic proportions. The goddess Innana, patron goddess of love, fertility and war, was infuriated by Gilgamesh’s refusal of love made on reasonable grounds, sent for the symbol of the gods wrath, The Bull of Heaven (before Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu slew the Bull of Heaven it killed three hundred men and caused famine for seven years). After the fall of Babylon the gods and goddesses of that culture made little or no difference in society.

The gods and goddesses of ancient Greece were also not very personal-taking a part in someone’s life only when they felt like it. They were also more human-like in their attributes and behavior but also seem to have more control of what they themselves looked like; changing from bull to light or other human beings all to suit their purposes. They were also less capricious than the gods of Babylon though that is not to say they were totally lacking in caprice as in the case of Oedipus on whom the gods sprung a cruel twist of fate The most powerful of the Greek gods was Zeus, he was the king of all the gods and was the creator of storms. Other gods and goddess include Athena goddess of wisdom, Pluto god of the underworld and Aphrodite goddess of love and beauty. The Greek gods were also more tolerant of the human race than the gods of Babylon reflecting the change of the cultures. The people of ancient Greece and their gods for the most part stayed out of each others’ lives unless the person wanted something or it was time for a festival, which was another name for drinking and revelry.
. There is also much more known about the gods of ancient Greece than those of Babylon thanks to the works of people such as Sophocles and Homer. Also more is known about the practices of the worshipers of their idols although the Greeks were not without secret cults and mystical practices. Even after all this is known about the gods of ancient Greece they too had no lasting effect on the face of the earth.

The God of Christianity on the other hand is the only one of the previously mentioned gods with any substantial following in this day and age. Christianity is also the only one of these religions which is monotheistic; requiring whole devotion to one God instead of halfhearted devotion to this deity over here and halfhearted devotion to that deity over there. The God of Christianity is also the only one of these gods that can be reached without sacrifice due to the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. God is all-powerful, not making compromises with peoples desires or demons pleading, following his just nature. In love He expressed mercy for his fallen creation without compromising His justice God is the most multi-faceted God of all. The character of the gods of Greece and Babylon seem very human like since they are the products of people’s imagination while God is outside of complete comprehension because he is the Producer of people’s imaginations.

When the gods of Greece and Babylon when they said love it more often than not meant lust, while when we say, “God is love”, it means something higher than our own understanding of love. While the gods and goddesses of Babylon and Greece just kept changing their minds, God is the same yesterday, today and forever. Christianity is also the only one of these three religions with only one God having created everything. The Greeks had at least one new god for each step of the creation process. The ancient Greeks also had to work for any hope of heaven. Christianity places all hope of salvation on the Creator instead of the created. The gods of Greek mythology also had no moral code regarding sexual ethics; there is a chapter in The Odyssey in which Odysseus is sent to the under-world and is confronted by spirit after spirit of women who said how this god or that god slept with her leading to the birth of many heroes and great men. God abhors sexual immorality of any sort. The children of God also have constant access to contact their heavenly father anytime anywhere unlike the ancients who had to wait to be contacted by an oracle, dream or vision. While the gods of almost all other cultures are human like in nature, God is superhuman in nature and is not physical but a spirit. God need not have any fear of death unlike the Gods of Greece and Babylon, who seem to have a fear of death, God is immortal entirely and not dependent on the imagination of other people.

The character of the gods of the Babylonians and the ancient Greeks differ greatly from the God of the Christian faith. The gods of Ancient Babylon and Greece are plural while the God of Christianity is the one and only God and makes room for no other.

5/4/2005 1:57:08 PM

Who is the tragic hero of Antigone?

Who Is the Tragic Hero of Antigone?

The Tragic Hero of a story or play is somebody who was once a great or mighty person but has been brought to a terrible end by a character flaw. That character flaw shows itself in situations where they might have done differently otherwise. The tragic story of Antigone is about the daughter of Oedipus, Antigone.
Antigone tries but fails to stop the war that kills both her brothers so then tries to bury the body of her brother Polyneices even though her uncle Creon forbade it. The importance of burial to the ancient Greeks is that after death your body can reach Hades. So, if somebody goes unburied their souls are doomed to wander about forever. Creon’s reason for not allowing Polyneices to be buried is that Polyneices attacked the city of Thebes, which was one of the greatest cities in Greece at that time containing many temples, leading Creon to believe that the gods did not want somebody like that to find rest even after death. Creon’s intentions however misguided were meant to be noble but even good intentions can lead to disastrous results. Antigone is caught giving Polyneices a decent burial and Creon sentences her to life imprisonment in a cave. Creon’s son Heamon is displeased by his father’s judgment for good reason and goes away from Creon to rescue Antigone. While Antigone is being taken to the cave she wails and whines about how she will never be married to Haemon and after reaching the cave she foolhardily hangs herself just a few hours before Haemon comes to rescue and that is only a few minutes before Creon, after being by the prophet Tireseus that what he did was wrong, comes to acquit her of all charges. Haemon in a fit of rage attacks Creon but fails at killing him so in despair kills himself. All of this news is delivered to Creon’s wife Eurydice who, blaming Creon for all of this, kills herself in heartache. The loss of his niece, son and wife all in one day drives Creon into the depths of despair.
So who is the tragic hero of Antigone? I believe that Creon is the hero of Antigone because while even though he starts off badly he ends the play with more grief and more nobility than Antigone ever had in the play. Creon wanted to do the right thing but he takes that to far when even after being reasoned with by Haemon he refuses to free Antigone. His legalizing is his downfall refusing to let his own nephew to be buried when he let his other nephew, who died in the same battle, be buried with honors. Creon’s legalizing is only broken when the old, blind prophet Tireseus, the same who prophesied concerning Oedipus, predicts the destruction of Creon’s household if he does not do something very quickly. Even though Creon changes his mind right away and buries Polyneices he is to late to prevent what happens to his niece, son and wife.
The reason I believe the tragic hero is Creon and not Antigone is because even though she tried to honor her dead brother’s request to be buried she pulled her innocent sister Ismene into the fray. And instead of waiting to be possibly rescued by Haemon or acquitted by Creon, she commits suicide and ends it right there instead of hoping for something better.
All tragic heroes have a tragic character flaw that will lead them to their demise and Creon has the flaw of legalism that could almost be thought of as pride. Creon’s legalism clouds his judgment when deciding what to do with Polyneices’ body. Legalism blinds Creon’s eyes when talking to Antigone and Ismene, after Antigone is caught in the act of burying Polyneices, about why he should release them and let them bury their brother. Creon lets his flaw get the better of him in the argument with Haemon when Haemon wanted to free Antigone from Creon’s harsh ruling. Creon full of pride, even talked back to the prophet Tireseus when he Prophesied Creon’s fate, but when Creon is able to finally see through his legalism at the end of the conversation with Tireseus he is to late to save Antigone from he pig-headed suicide, which lead to all the destruction that followed. Although Creon started the play badly he is a humble broken man come the end. Creon’s frantic rush to try to save Antigone was a far more heroic act than Antigone trying to bury Plyneices because of the fact that even though she was trying to follow through on her brother’s request, she committed an act that endangered her poor innocent sister Ismene. An act of such blatant disregard for the safety of her sister nullifies all nobility in that act.
The Tragic Hero of a story or play is somebody who was once a great or mighty person but has been brought to a terrible end by a character flaw. That character flaw shows itself in situations where they might have done differently otherwise. The tragic hero of Antigone is Creon who after being blinded by his pride and legalism is unable to prevent the tragedy that occurs because of those tragic character flaws.

This is again before the rough draft so pardon the grammar.

Shaylaman fans this is for you.

This has to be the worst song I have heard in my life.

You might wonder "What is that song that it is so bad?"
I will tell you.
It is William Hung's "I believe I can fly" it was so bad I do not know how to put into words. It wasn't the content that was bad, it was his vocals, so bad they are an unspeakable horror to the humans vocal cords.

For anybody who might recognize the name he was on "American Idol" sometime in the recent past. He is also on iTunes for anybody with program who wishes to scar himself that badly for life.

It's Narnia time!

Welcome to the land of Narnia
The land or Narnia is now open for extensive viewing by the public.
You can find downloads information on characters bios of the children who play the four children and much more!
To say I am looking forward to this movie is a severe understatement.
But which am I looking forward to more, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe or Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith?
It looks like both will be good movies and will be competing with each other for makeup and special effects Oscars.

I would like to say I am sorry.

Sorry my friends in the world of the web that I did not post at all last week...At all...Like zilch nada, nothing, no post at all last week I just didn't have a good post last week but I was thinking that for a name like "Tell me Why" I am not asking many questions so maybe you can say things on my most recent posts to make statements that might somebody out there think then they can comment and then it just goes on like a message board maybe...maybe.

But to revive the post I will provide a linkhttp://www.christianitytoday.com/movies/commentaries/top10movierobotsofalltime.html.

I'm going link happy now.

I am now going to place a link to somewhere you don't know and have to find.
A hint is that this conversation reminds me of the one in Alfred Hitchcock's Rope.

This is a test.

This is a test, I am going to try to provide a link to Foolish Knight and Silent Shrouds.

All is well that ends well.

All is well now I have found out how to change template that is very evident and also I have found out from Joel that the user stats are down for the time being. I have now annulled the post “To the people who have been blogging longer than me.” All is well in the world now. There is now no need to panic.

This is so embarrassing.

This is so embarrassing I created a post just a few moments ago proclaiming it as my eleventh post, well I could not have been more wrong. It was in fact my thirteenth post thankfully I was able to delete it in time. Whew, that was a close one I am sure glad that post did not last very long or else it would have been far more embarrassing than it is now. I am very sorry about that even though I do not see how that would have bothered anybody to much I am still very, very sorry.

The Easter Egg Question(Happy Easter.)

With Easter come and gone we have once again celebrated the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. After coming out of church it would be safe to assume that you went over to the home of your family members to celebrate some more, in this celebrating you most likely had an Easter egg hunt which brings me to the real purpose of this post. In this hunt there would be a few Easter eggs unclaimed and last Easter myself and a few others were in this same terrible situation. You look and look yet you cannot find it. You begin to feel more strongly about that egg the longer you search and I must have been searching for over half an hour in the dark and pouring rain looking for that thing.
So you begin to wonder where in the world that person has hid it. Which leads to the big question:

WHERE IN THE WORLD DID HE HIDE THAT EGG?

That question has been plaguing me for one whole year and will most likely bug me for the rest of my life.

Again, Happy Easter to all and to all a Goodnight!

The Apostles' Creed.

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth;

And in Jesus Christ His only begotten Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried; He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.


I believe in the Holy Ghost; The holy Catholic Church, The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body; And the Life everlasting.

Amen.

Hello All in the World of Bloggers this is a secret message if you can receive it. American involvement in World War 2 was 80 years after the beginning of the Civil War. The Battle of Midway was very important to the US effort in the Pacific.
Light moves very quickly.
Thank you Superman.

The bloggers code of conduct.

This is my list, if you feel differently just tell me.

1. I will not use somebody's real name unless it is their screen name.
2. I will not commit the sin of not capitalizing my "i"s when referring to myself.
3. I will not use IM shorthand such as ppl and ;( and will try to spell all words the correct way.
4. I will use spell check on my posts before I post. Feel free to fling this in my face if I do not comply to my own code of conduct.
5. If I believe in what I stand for I shall not be shaken unless one gives me morale or reasonable grounds to change my stance on the matter.

There are my Five Pillars of blogging.

Okay Penny you wanted to know now you know.

Penny wanted to know my passions and hates so here it is.

1. I hate it when people say they hate history. I mean come on history is an inexhaustible resource as soon as you finish all the history books there will always be another one on what happened in the world while you were reading the other ones.
2. I am bugged severely when people say reading is boring. Boring! Boring! Reading ain't boring mister maybe you decided to read "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" while you are only a new reader but it does not mean reading is boring.
3. Whatever. By this I mean when you say 2+2=4 and somebody says whatever it is like they don't care that there is an absolute truth in this world. And there is an absolute truth in this world we might not know it at this point in space and time there is an answer.
4. "My child is to old for legos." How can any body be to old for legos they may be "to old" for an imagination which is the key factor behind legos. That and whatever you build can always be taken down and built into something completely different.

That is all for now hope you enjoyed the trip inside my weird head.

To the people who have been blogging longer than me.

Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
how do you get the little box on the side of your blogger profile that has the total ammounts posted and the profile views and the like help me please!(I am now going to scream now quite primevily now.)
Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Another thing how do I change my blog template from what I have to something else; if I want to.

Useless Latin phrases of the day!

Domos dulcis domus, Home sweet home
Longo intervallo, After a long gap
Sine qua non, Something/someone indispensable
This I have to remember for "Risk": Si vis pacem, para bellum-If you want peace prepare for war.

Oedipus Rex.

This is an essay written for school tell me what you think and don't spare me the gory details if it's terrible.

Is Oedipus a tragic victim of fate?


Oedipus of ancient Greek mythology was made the king of Thebes after the Theban king dies and Oedipus saves the city from the Sphinx. It was foretold that Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother. To avoid the prophecy right after he is born the king and Queen of Thebes cast Oedipus out into the forest to die. But the person assigned the task could not complete it and gave Oedipus to the king and queen of Corinth who were unable to have children. In a few decades an oracle told Oedipus that he would kill his father and marry his mother unaware that the king and queen were not his real parents he ran from Corinth and at a crossroad he got in a fight and killed his opponents. Unknowing that this his real father he had just killed he moved on to Thebes which was being besieged by the Sphinx who would ask all passers by a riddle and if you did not answer correctly it would kill you. All had failed at this task until Oedipus came and solved the riddle. In shame the Sphinx cast itself off a cliff saving the city.
After a few happy years a famine strikes the land and disturbs the happy city. When Oedipus sends his brother in-law to discover the reason it is told the cause of the famine is because the murder of the former king has not been avenged. When a prophet tells Oedipus that Oedipus is the killer Oedipus finds that the prophecy has come true and that he has married his mother and murdered his father he is aghast. While Oedipus is making this discovery, his wife/mother has put the pieces of the puzzle together and has committed suicide in shame. Driven mad at all that has gone wrong Oedipus blinds himself and runs away from the kingdom in shame and horror.

Is Oedipus responsible for what happens in his life or is he a cruel victim of fate at the hands of the gods? Does Oedipus have a tragic flaw that contributes to his end? If so what is the flaw and how much does it contribute to his end?


I believe Oedipus is mostly a victim of fate since it was the gods that decided to wreck his life from the start even though he did no wrong. He was merely a pawn in their games of other people’s lives. Although Oedipus does bear some responsibility for what happens to him. But even in that did he really have a choice or did the gods manipulate him into situations where his god-given attributes took him down the path of destruction? Oedipus had a few flaws that brought him to the place of discovery on who he was and what he had done. These flaws include his anger issues such as when he kills Laius on the crossroads it was because he was angry that Laius told him to get off the road.
Another flaw of Oedipus is his rashness. When the prophet Tireseus accuses him of killing Laius Oedipus quickly shifts the blame to his brother in-law Creon and says he killed him and says Creon and Tireseus are in a plot to take over the throne. Another display of rashness is before the prophet comes; Oedipus has sent Creon to ask the gods why the plague has come on Thebes. When Creon says it is because the murder of Laius has not been avenged Oedipus immediately places a curse on the killer, before even suspecting it is Oedipus himself. This curse makes life miserable for Oedipus after the shepherd who saved his life all those years ago tells him he is not the son of the king of Corinth as he thought and that he is the son of Laius whom he killed and Jocasta who he later married. Oedipus would have lived on in happy obscurity had he not been so quick to run from Corinth and questioned the king and queen if they really were his mother and father. So then he is in a way responsible for what happened to him but did not the gods in the story make him that way? Did they not give him those characteristics that lead to his down fall? Did not they also fate that he would kill his father and marry his mother, so does he really have a choice in the events that follow? Nay I say nay he is a mere little puppet in the games of the gods toying with others lives callously and without care.

post script: this is before the paper has been proof read so it will be a little strange.

I have an idea.

While creating my last post I had an idea. I purchased a book a few days ago called "What If". The premise of the book is what if certain things in military history did or didn't happen, such as, Alexander the Great living a few years longer than he did or died at the beginning of his campaign. Just wonder what history would be like if that had happened. Anyway what if all readers commented on what would happen if something, did or didn't happen in history that proved to be pivotal to the United States or the world. Just something to make you think. I hope I also will think on it; leave your thoughts on the comments page or your own web log.

Was it a mistake to start my own blog?

I am thinking maybe I made a mistake in staring my own blog. I am looking for ideas so all suggestions are welcome.

Forgive me.

Dear readers(who might only be myself). I would like to apoligize for any bad spelling punctuation and all other gramatical errors that occour on this my blog. Again sorry for any inconvienence.

Sophie's World "Who are you?"

Sophie's World is a very good book about the history of philosophy but don't let the topic scare you away. It tries to instill the wonder we had but can't remember like when we first saw a dog or a horse, when we were making first time discoveries but couldn't share with the world what we were discovering because we couldn't talk. I dare you to read the first two chapters and if you wish to stop please leave a frog or something green so I will know you wish to stop.
Post script. I will not give away any plot so it will only be surprises and suspense as you read.

I have entered blog land at last

Hello all in blog land I have come so please come.