Tidbits

Have you all heard about the Golden Compass? I got an email a little while ago about it, and I think I've forwarded it on to most of you, if not all of you. Interested in some reading? Here is a piece from the BBC about it. Here is some commentary on it. I like the commentary piece, as I believe it gives some good insight as to why it's good to not necessarily avoid everything that might challenge our faith(s). Having said that, I still think that there is a certain amount of caution to take when learning/reading about things that conflict with our own worldviews.

I think the bigger point to make with this particular movie/book is that it goes right back to the idea that everything comes with a message attached to it. Sometimes they are entirely devoid of subtlety, and other times the ideas being communicated are wholly subversive. And that's where it gets really dangerous. I haven't read this book and don't really know anything about the story, but I think that's an important issue to carefully examine when you're going to ingest entertainment like that. I think the most awful part about Pullman's (author of the Golden Compass) retort to the Catholic League's call for a boycott of his work is that he passes the story off as just a story. I think that kind of statement should raise warning flags. When is a movie ever just a movie? Or a book just about made up people? There is definitely a message being communicated by every author, director, actor, and story-teller, and it is both naive and dangerous to think that nothing more is being delivered than just a story.

In listening to some talk radio this afternoon, one of my favorite hosts, Michael Medved, has a day dedicated each week to conspiracy theories. Today he was talking about the JFK assassination since we recently passed the anniversary of said event. I heard something that I've never known about in my entire life. Did you know Lee Harvey Oswald was a communist? Like a hard-core one at that. He talked about how conclusive the evidence is that Oswald was the lone gunman that fateful day and how nobody ever brings up that point in the discussion of the assassination. He essentially declared that the reason Oswald killed Kennedy was simply because he was a full-fledged communist who didn't like Kennedy's foreign policy, and was particularly irked about US attempts to depose Fidel Castro from power. For more information regarding Oswald's political affiliations, just visit his wikipedia page here.

Over the weekend I blew through the first Harry Potter book in two days. I bought all of the rest yesterday. I haven't read a children's/teen book since I was a child/teen. It's such easy reading, but I think really entertaining. I was mildly interested after the first movie, but I think with every subsequent film, the story gets much more developed and much more interesting and entertaining. I also finally finished that other book, Progress Paradox, a little while ago. I've got a post coming for that one, but it's gonna take me some time so be patient.

And lastly...my Raiders won on Sunday. It was quite a statement game and one that could prove to give them something to build on for next season. Kiffin did a masterful job managing the game and taking it to the Chiefs. They ended a lot of dubious streaks that day. Here's an article. I can't tell you how much satisfaction I get when my teams do well.