The Ordinary World

I can’t prove it, but I think that when God was deciding that heat would rise and that minor keys would sound sad, he defined some rules for Story. These are things that make a Story different from any other assemblage of words and ideas. And when he set the rules of Story, he designed them to parallel the  life of his son, Jesus Christ. Now, every time I look closely at a movie I see things that reflect the One True Story.

Modern story structure identifies 12 steps. I thought it might be interesting to reflect on the Gospel through the lens of Story, starting with:

The Ordinary World

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:1

Baptist Refrigerators: For More Than Potluck Leftovers

Have you ever seen a Baptist's refrigerator? Under a clutter of magnets there's always a dozen of those glossy postcards with family photos and little maps on them that they pass out at missions conferences. You might be a Baptist if you've got more pictures of other people's families on your fridge than you do your own. Seriously, I think some people collect and trade them.

Phyllis: I'll swap you two Send Internationals for your New Tribes.
Carol: Only if you throw in that AWANA.
Phyllis: But they're not even foreign. They hardly count!
Carol: Doesn't matter. The kids still look kinda weird.

Or maybe the postcards serve as some sort of dietary aid? You're up at 2am. That last slice of apple pie is calling your name. But first you have to get past the smiling faces of people sharing the love of Jesus with starving refugees. Of course, if you're like me, you then remember that you can't send any or all of them your pie, and it'd be a shame for it to go to waste. So you just eat the pie and go back to bed.

Just do a Google Image search for "Missionary Family." The entire results page is my grandparents' refrigerator.

Team Peaks

Last December sci-fi and pop-culture blog i09 did an interesting article on "The Smartest Man in the Room." Essentially, the author argues she's tired of the super-genius who gets away with being a jerk because he's a super-genius. Remember what happened on TV right after House became a huge hit? We got a TV show about an abrasive lawyer (Shark), an abrasive magician (The Mentalist), and an abrasive pathologist (Bones). And it's a trend that continues today, with Rainn Wilson's new show, Backstrom (premiering tonight to terrible reviews), hopefully being the apex.

Your new lovable anti-hero, America!

Don't Trust Ariana Grande with Your Keys

Late last summer one of the sci-fi blogs I regularly read posted a link to a new music video for the song Break Free. They said that it followed in a long tradition of music videos where the video has absolutely nothing to do with the song (how wrong they are!). But it is sci-fi in the tradition of cheesy old movies like Barbarella and Flash Gordon.

Colors while it burns your face off!

While I'd never heard of Ariana Grande (not to be confused with a "Grande Ariana," which is a 16oz. white chocolate and cherry flavored latte with two shots of espresso and a distinct lack of talent that I just made up), I do like Zedd. For a DJ not named Tiesto or van Buuren, he's not half bad. Also, he kinda looks like my cousin Josh, and who doesn't dream of a having a family member become an electronic music superstar? Just me? Okay, moving on...

A Spirulina Experience

On Halloween my overly kind little sister bought me an expensive bottle of spirulina powder. As far as tricks and treats go, spirulina is not a treat. Not even close. But I asked for it, so I guess no one was tricking me but myself. As I mentioned in my smoothie post, I first heard about spirulina in an article from Men's Fitness. In addition to being a good source of protein, B vitamins and iron, WebMD says the algae is used to treat... well, just about everything.

Yeah. You read that right. Algae. Most sane people don't ingest algae unless they're drowning in a lake.

"If only Hamlet would take me to Whole Foods."

Sonic Highways - A Review

My first year of college I was still living at home and commuting twenty minutes to the little Christian college on the west side of town. In order to make it to my 8am class, I'd have to get up early and gobble down a bowl of cold Mini-Wheats before jumping into my smelly old 1983 Buick LeSabre. The car was a boat with a tricky carburetor and rear wheel drive, and on really cold mornings it didn't even start to get warm until about the time I pulled into the school parking lot.

It Was Cool inCARnate 

Burpee Blast

Tuesday night I did 60 burpees. If you know what a burpee is, you probably think I'm an idiot. If you don't know what a burpee is, you still probably think I'm not that bright, but for totally different reasons. Anyway, for the uninformed, here's a gif (pronounced gah-if, and not like the peanut butter) I found.

AKA, how to swim on cement