Special Features
Lately, I've been watching movies here and there. I bought the movie Saved! a while ago, and have watched it a few times since. One time I watched it with the commentary by Jena Malone and Mandy Moore, the whole movie, which was admittedly lame. Before I decide to watch a movie, I can add commentary by actors or directors etc., subtitles in a variety of languages, adjust the resolution, etc. All of those things can enhance the viewing experience.

What I would like is to be able to watch the TV version, why can't that be available on the DVD? Whenever a movie makes it to TV, some stuff is cut out to make it fit the time constraints, and the language and sexual content gets toned down to fit a prime-time viewing audience. If they can do that for the TV viewing audience, why can't I get that feature added to my DVD purchase? I understand the use of swearing, violence and sex and artistic ploys to add in the entertainment value and plot development, but much of it is unnecessary.

In fact, for people like me, the movie viewing experience would often be enhanced by having that taken out. Also, since this is my idea, can I copyright the name? DVD makers could advertise that they include the Loewen version of the movie. That'd be sweet. Sure it would mean mockery and ridicule for my children after me, but I'm all about the Egyptian theory that as long as your name is being said on this earth, you get to stay in heaven (or whatever they called it).

   [ posted by William @ 9:22 AM ]

Through the Historical Looking Glass
A little while ago, I was watching Enemy at the Gates, a WWII movie about the Russian sharp-shooting sniper who single-handedly saved Stalingrad from falling to the Nazi's. I enjoy a good war movie. I find it helps me personalize war, and helps form my pacifist identity. There's a scene in the movie where Russian soldiers are running away from the Nazi machine guns, only to be gunned down by their own generals who wouldn't put up with cowardice. Watching that, it hit me, Joseph Stalin was our ally.

The classical pro-war argument is always, "we had to go to war to stop Hitler." If we would write a list of the most evil men of the last 100 years, Stalin and Hitler would be pretty close together. Looking back, to justify war, allying with an evil man is inexcusable. Should we then have fought them both? Truly if we were on the side of truth and justice, and Hitler and Stalin later proved to be evil, then we should have allied with neither. Would God have helped us to victory against both Russia and Germany? No historian I know would say that the Allies would have won the war without Russia. If Stalin and Hitler could have gotten along (impossible of course because of Hitler's expansionist agenda, blah, blah, blah, I know), could they have been stopped? Would we still be saying that God helped us to victory if we lost? We won the war because Hitler hadn't played enough Risk to know that a two front war is a terrible idea, not because God supported our cause, nor because God was maintaining the Jewish race for the resurrecting of the 144,000.

I am not trying to remove God from history, but trying to put history back in history. God supported the Jews who were persecuted during the war, just like he supported the blacks that were being persecuted twenty years later in the southern US. The Kingdom of God has no earthly borders.

   [ posted by William @ 1:37 AM ]

Educate, Schmeducate
Recently, the province of Ontario introduced legislation that would ban ownership of pit-bull terriers, a breed of dog with a reputation of being particularly aggressive. I've heard, and I understand, both sides of this argument.

The supporters of this ban point to many cases in recent history of pit bull attacks, and to the serious harm done to various helpless people. They point to hard-wired character traits of this breed of dog as a result of it's bloodline.

The opponents of the ban point to countless examples of friendly and harmless dogs within the pit-bull breed, and will point to a large number of attacks from dangerous dogs in other breeds. They say that the public needs to be more educated and that kind of education would really prevent these kinds of attacks. This is where I have a problem.

How much can we educate people? Should you have to show a certificate of education to walk a certain breed of dog? Does education cure all? One of the most educated societies in all of history was Nazi Germany. It seems to me that this is kind of similar to the left vs. right argument in the US, where the democrats proudly show off that the smartest states based on IQ scores support Kerry. If you're saying that education will make people support you, aren't you claiming to be smarter? Also, how much can we educate people? Of all the things that we expect the general public to pick up on their own, or from an intentional educational process, is the merits of various dog breeds all that high up on the list? I think that some people (people that aren't as smart as me of course) use the "let's educate people to our way of understanding" mantra to readily, without really thinking about it.

   [ posted by William @ 5:16 PM ]

The Best Game You Can Name
I'm sitting at my desk, with an aching back, burning leg muscles and a fresh memory of the sensation of sweat in my eyes, and I couldn't be happier. That's right, today was my first hockey game of the year. I know, I know, most hard core fans and players have already hit the ice quite a while ago, but the group I play with here are mostly farmers, so only now, when the corn is almost harvested, can we meet weekly for a game. I fell a lot, scored a few times, and held my own in the dressing room verbal war, so all in all, a good outing.

Novel readers, I apologize for the halt in writing. I hope to get back at it, as my week has slowed down a bit. I still have a bunch of other projects on the go, so November doesn't look promising to finish it. On the other hand, the script version of it is getting closer to completion, one Old Testament class at a time.

   [ posted by William @ 3:31 PM ]

Following the Letter of the Unwritten Law
This past week, in a chance encounter, another guy acted like a jerk to me. Given the context of the encounter (which I won't divulge to protect privacy etc.), I understood his mindset, and immediately forgave the behaviour. That being said, assuming I encounter this guy again (the likelihood of which of course is dependent on the secret context), I wasn't sure of how I should approach it and what is required by each of us. One of the advantages of being male, is that relationships don't necessarily need to be complicated by emotional baggage and immature grudges. I can think of many relationships with friends that I have now, that have, in the past, included 'jerk' incidents by myself or them, and yet the friendships remain.

Part of me wonders if the nature of the 'confrontation' necessitates an apology, or even a mutual apology. Upon deeper analysis, I now see that no apology is necessary on either part. If I were to apologize, it would only be as a formality, or to evoke an apology in return. I now see that the only thing required is a demonstration by each party that they are not intrinsically a jerk.

Problem solved.

   [ posted by William @ 11:15 AM ]

Conversation Excerpt
This is a snip-it from a recent conversation, not of a conversation that actually happened, but one that could have happened, and likely would have, had I set it up right.
Will: "Among other things, I'm writing a novel right now."
Mark: "A novel?"
Will: "Yeah, it's a long story."
Mark: "I know what a novel is, just tell me why you're doing it."

   [ posted by William @ 1:02 AM ]

It All Started With Football
Those of you who have been reading my novel, will notice that there haven't been many developments lately. On Friday, I accompanied some friends to a football game, and my return was quite late, to the tune of 4:30am. Saturday included office hours and other social engagements (including watching the movie "The Motorcycle Diaries", which I might discuss later). Sunday had a farewell service for our departing senior pastor, which included a potluck lunch, which necessitated a nap, which was on the couch, which was in front of the TV, so yeah, I didn't get much of anything done that day. I had a Greek test yesterday, so any productive time that I did use, was for that. I wrote yesterday and I will catch up, but from now on I won't be posting about each update, I'll just have that info on the side, under the coming events list. Any comments about the novel can be emailed to me.

   [ posted by William @ 11:01 AM ]

It's Christian Union Jim, But Not as We Know It
Yesterday, when I could have been doing productive things like studying for my upcoming Greek test, or working on my semi-neglected novel, I took a nap, followed by much TV watching. I watched parts of The Haunting, which was lame, and most of Enemy at the Gates, which I loved, almost as much as the first time I saw it.

In my channel surfing, I found two things that particularly captivated me, both courtesy of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

The first was a news story about United Church pastors seeking to unionize (read it here). Being a pastor myself, I understand some of the issues that are bringing about this decision, but I had trouble understanding completely. While I don't think I'm completely void of those problems, I do feel that Mennonite Church Canada structure is different enough that I have less to worry about. I'm sure my friends in the Emerging Church would have a hay-day with this one (maybe they already are, but I didn't see anything about it at Resonate.ca, the Canadian hub of EC'ers). It does bring to mind the relevancy of the position, and questions the nature of the "job" of a pastor. After I pondered the necessity of unionizing pastors, I started to visualize certain ways that it could act itself out. People generally unionize so that they have more collective power, and that power is ultimately realized in a strike. Picture with me what would happen if United Church pastors across the country went on strike. Is the image of a pastor (sometimes the sole employee) picketing outside of his church funny to anyone else? What kind of confrontation would take place if scab workers were called in? Could I as a Mennonite preach the occasional sermon there, or wouldn't I get through the picket line? Would the parishioners get through the picket line? Could regional pastors get together and sing "So we march day and night, by the big church bell tower, they have the church, but we have the power."

The other CBC item was a documentary on the life and work of Pastor Benny Hinn. It took a critical look at his healings, how he backs them up, and the flow of money in and out of the ministry. Trying to be fair to my friends who support his ministry, I watched critically, but it's tough to deny the financial records. He claims on his program, that none of the money that comes in to the ministry goes to him. The show then documented some of his lavish spending, all written off as business expenses, as well as his $10 million house in LA, his manse, the house purchased for him because he's the pastor. The most compelling piece of evidence, is the lack of visible illnesses that are cured. Nobody ever comes on stage with a wheelchair, or any other kind of visible ailment, and secret interviews and hidden cameras revealed how those people aren't even allowed near the stage. The whole documentary seemed very tabloidish, and was put together with a critical bias, but it presented some good points. My question has always been with faith healers and semi-shady traveling preachers if they are actually crooked, or if they sincerely believe they are doing God's work. To me, wealthy luxurious life seems to run counter to Christ's model of leadership, but I know that a lot of people see that wealth as a blessing from God as well as the lifestyle it affords. You almost wonder if it's like wrestling, do some people start thinking that it's all real, but then get taken into a back room somewhere to explain to them what really happens. What added the most credibility to the show were the words of fellow evangelist Justin Peters. His masters thesis was on Benny Hinn's ministry etc. For more details, read the article here.

   [ posted by William @ 4:11 PM ]

Fourth day of novel writing in the books (pun intended). Click here for it
Also, check out my blog being quoted at Leaving Münster. He usually quotes real theologians, it's quite an honour.

   [ posted by William @ 2:25 AM ]

Sorry for being hypocritical
I'm tired of the election, and I'm glad it's over so that the free world can get on with their lives. Of course I'm so sick of it that I am going to dedicate this post to it.

Once upon a time, I cared about politics. I held a membership in a political party, donated to their cause and voted along those lines. Since then, I've realized that the political process requires deep though every step of the way, not just once when you form your allegiance, and then never again. Partisan politics, and especially the way in which the two parties and the media polarize everything, makes me want to throw up.

Maybe I've been in too many bad arguments, but I feel like every political discussion is one wrong word away from an emotionally charged argument. Today of course, those "discussions" were all over the place. One of my liberal-minded friends jokingly said to a pretty level headed Republican, "we'll be praying for you." I leaned over to her and said, "You can pray, but I don't think God cares." Pretty blasphemous words, I know, but if there is no power except that which is instituted by God, that that's as true with Bush winning the re-election as it would be had Kerry won. It was as true when Bill Clinton was not having sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky as it was when GWB overlooked the death of thousands of innocent civilians in Iraq.

This Republican, at some point, said, "You can't blame me, I'm a fifth generation Republican." Maybe that shouldn't have sounded as dumb to me as it did, but it made me wonder, "has nobody in your family done any independent thinking in four generations?" If a large number of people always vote a certain way regardless of the candidate, you can't have a fair election. If entire states always vote the same way, you don't have a fair election process, because opponents are discouraged from even letting their votes count.

I really do believe on a spiritual level, that the results are meaningless. I know that Bush will take a re-election to mean that all is well, and he'll continue war-mongering and neglecting the poor in his midst. If Kerry had gotten in, he would have stirred the proverbial crap, just to flex his political muscle, and no good can come of a politician exerting power for the sake of exerting power.

To my pacifist friends, neither candidate was going to be a harbinger of peace. To my pro-life friends, abortions will continue under both candidates, until American culture changes enough to dissuade unwanted pregnancies from happening in the first place. To everyone, pro- or anti-Bush, Christian or non, American or Gentile, I say this, live your lives. Bush and Kerry were not the polar opposites the media and their respective campaign advisors painted them as. Life goes on, oh bla di, oo bla da. Let's move on to more important issues, like the NHL lockout, what's up with that?

   [ posted by William @ 11:15 PM ]