The Rodeo

Biblical Christianity: THE least-heard marriage truth
Just remember the promise you made when you got married.

Freeman Hunt: Hey Kids, I Didn’t Think We Were Getting Enough Time Together, So I Killed Your Baby Brother
I’m pro-choice… but I think the choice comes when you decide to unzip your pants. After that, I’m pro-responsibility.

Getting in too-much touch (interruption is not collaboration)
When I want to get stuff done, I turn my email and IM off. You need to be uninterrupted to really get anything substantial done.

Del.icio.us links brought to you today by the letter J and the number 1.

…but words can cause permanent psychological damage.

Chadd gave a talk at church yesterday on James 1:19-27, with a few main points that struck home pretty hard.

Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger.
Ever noticed a dog’s ears prick up at the slightest noise out of the ordinary - they are quick to listen. We need to be slow to speak - once out of your mouth words cannot be called back. Stop. Think. Speak.
Before snapping at someone, think about what they said, what you heard, what they meant and what you took them to mean. Before you lose your head, make sure you aren’t the one who is wrong.

Words come from the overflow of the heart.
What you say reflects pretty accurately who you are - ever met a ‘Christian’ with a vicious tongue? All you want them to do is stop calling themselves Christian. Fill yourself up with good stuff, so good stuff overflows.

Words have the power to kill.
Most of us can remember a harsh word from years ago - we hold the things people say for decades. And the random comment of a stranger can affect the way we see ourself for the rest of our life. A stinging remark can hurt people. Words can drive people away from Christ. Words can damn.

Words have the power to heal.
We have been given the words of eternal life. What we say can save people’s lives, in this life and for eternity. A kind word, an encouragement, even a smile can change a life. Words can introduce someone to Christ. Words can heal.

RodeoClown: Stopping. Thinking. Posting.

Not so much because of the rain, which I think is awesome, but because the rain makes all of the city’s smokers seek shelter outside my building, and everywhere there is some shelter from the rain there is none from the haze of nicotine-filled, carcinogenic, horrid cigarette smoke.

RodeoClown: *cough*.

While walking to the station this morning, I started wondering what my reaction would be should someone randomly punch me in the face*.

I really don’t know what I’d do what I’d do - would I punch them back, drop and cry like a baby, run like the wind? What would you do?

*Afterwards I remembered this has actually happened to me, but the guy who did it has since become my best friend. Must have done something right, but what?

RodeoClown: not in the face! Not in the face!

Team Fortress 2 Teaser!
Yay - it’s just like the Incredibles, but with guns! Can’t wait till Christmas…

First Look At Valve’s Portal
This game looks awesome. I know what I’m getting me for Christmas…

The Paradox of Choice - Why More Is Less - Google Video
A lecture at Google about the impact of too much choice in modern society. Very informative, well worth watching, especially if you are in any kind of marketing or design postition, or even if you aren’t. (note, it is an hour long).

Marketing Interview
You know, I think he’s right (it’s a comic - quite funny).

TopOfCool.com » Hot Coffee: Why Video Game Sex is Worse than Video Game Violence
An older article, but one that sums up my opinion of sex and violence in video games.

Del.icio.us links brought to you today by the letter B and the number 8.

Superman’s one weakness proves to be his latest movie’s weakness too.

Magical green rocks.
Kryptonite.

Superman Returns was an OK movie. I enjoyed watching it and, contrary to what everyone else said, it wasn’t too long. It is two and a half hours, but takes it’s time and uses it well. We get to know who Superman is (the same guy he always was, and I agree with Bill, Clark Kent is definitely the costume) and see what happened to Lois Lane (she shacked up with Cyclops and had a kid*).

We don’t really see why he left and what state the world was left in without him. A brief text introduction imforms us that some astronomers found Krypton (exploded) and Superman left (in a hurry) to check it out and see if there were survivors (there weren’t). No time for goodbyes**, not even for his (dream) girl…

Kevin Spacey is a great Lex, and Brandon Routh could be mistaken for Christopher Reeve (who’s desire to kill unborn babies to try and walk again made me think a lot less of him). Kate Bosworth was acceptable as Lois, and whoever it was that played Kitty, seemed like she’d just stepped out of the original movies.

There is no doubt catching aeroplanes and launching space shuttles looks awesome. Walking into a minigun firing 900 rounds per second without flinching and then taking a bullet to the eyeball is trés cool. But when the only thing that can hurt Superman is Kryptonite***, it’s hard to generate much empathy for the character. Spiderman is just a kid, and although he’s pretty tough, when he jumps in front of a train to try and save everyone on board, I know that it’s really going to hurt. When Batman gets punched and stabbed and generally beaten up, I know what it feels like (thanks Callum). But I have no frame of reference as to what it feels like to fly through lava and blink off bullets. There’s nothing in common with my experience.

Smallville’s Clark generates a lot more empathy, not because we can relate to his super powers (cool as they are), but rather because we know what it’s like to love someone who doesn’t love you back, and what the death of someone close means. Keeping secrets is hard. What do you do when your best friend does something wrong?

It’s the small things that we can relate to, not picking up really, really big rocks.

I liked the movie, but it doesn’t come close to Batman Begins and the Spiderman movies in terms of comic conversion greatness. Superman is just too alien and I didn’t ever get the sense of him being one of us, but just a bit faster/stronger/smarter. As much as wanted to, I can’t relate to Bryan Singer’s Superman.

RodeoClown: not so super.

*De facto relationships are OK now. Really. The movies told me so. Despite the fact that Lois seems to have jumped into bed with a guy the same day that Superman left and now has a kid and hates her life and took up smoking, it’s cool to live and sleep with people you haven’t married. At least until someone better comes along.
If you haven’t noticed I really hate that common culture says this is now acceptable.

**Also, why is it that no-one notices that Clark and Superman have both
been gone for 5 years, and then both appear on the same day?
Fortunately for humanity’s future, at least one kid notices that Clark and Superman are quite obviously THE SAME PERSON. Unfortunately for him, a spontaneous asthma attack stops the secret being revealed. Forever apparently.

***Also also, it would seem that 90% of Krypton landed on Earth after exploding. Sucks to be allergic.