it's official... ppl who vote at sprite nba countdown don't know a good play when they see one... stupid shaq dickriders... dwayne wade crossover i can understand... but the bounce pass alley oop got no respect, and ditto w/the feed from kidd to rj...

PASSION OF THE CHRIST REVIEW:

hmm, there's a lot to say... first of all, i'd like to say, i truly enjoyed the movie... mel gibson is a very talented director... combine that with his strong religious faith, and this is what occurs... the movie is also very well crafted... let's start w/the bad sides... (i'll try not to spoil the movie too much, but if you want the ending, just read the ends of the gospels :D)

some scenes/stuff could have been done without... me and jon sorta agreed with this, like:
-jesus w/the table and mary his mother scene... humorous, wasn't UNNECESSARY, but could have been without... i think gibson was just fooling around here :D
-the raven at the cross... you'll understand when you see it
-the person playing the devil was nice, but at the same time, the very last scene was unnecessary... TOTALLY unnecessary...(i find it funny how all the secular ppl analyzing the movie thought it was too violent, but didn't say anything about this scene being unnecessary) also, you might not have gotten what was going on when it looked like the devil was carrying a demented child... i had an idea, jon was wtf on that one
-the high priest should have been slightly more hesitant; he knew that jesus was the messiah... he is depicted as totally callous until the very end when the temple is torn in two
-who is that girl who offers him a drink but is pushed away? it's not mary... not his mother either... me and jon couldn't figure out who...
-and there's a slight inconsistency when they hammer the nails into his palm, not his wrist...

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ok, that said, this is an excellant movie... however, i will say this: it is NOT recommended for the person who is not a christian and doesn't have a good understanding of the bible; i say this because after seeing the movie, i now understand why so many secular ppl write this movie off... it COMPLEMENTS the gospel, but doesn't provide the entire picture... that's why you hear ppl either say:

-the movie is too violent(they don't see how the hatred of the crowd makes jesus' love for them and unwillingness to fight them even more appearant)
-or, the fear that anti-jewish feelings will occur(ppl might think that jews had to be the most thick-headed ignorant ppl to allow this tragedy to occur and get pissed, but so far, that hasnt occurred, god bless)...

also, there are often cutscenes that go away from the main crucifixation scene... this is good in movie directing, because it you keep exposing the audience to blood and gore they get numb to it... stick in a few cheerful scenes, and it makes the blood and gore seem fresh and still exciting... but some of those cutscenes are impossible to pick up if you're not a christian... for instance, the way they depicted the time when jesus forgave mary for being a prostitute was very short, too short for a nonbeliever to get, but long enough that a christian would be "bam, i know what's happening" (i especially liked the camera angle which they did this scene... makes jesus look that much more powerful, and the others that much more weak)

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that said, throughout the whole movie, i was just seeing every prophecy refulfilled in front of my eyes and going bam with the exact verses that came up... "my bones are out of joint... they will look on the one they have pierced... etc..."

it was awesome how throughout the movie jesus keeps looking to his father for strength... probably my fave quote of them all was when he was about to be whipped, and looked up, saying, "father, my heart is ready..." i wish i had that type of heart...

i did not cry(:D) during the movie, but my throat occasionally got really stiff, and i think it was when one of the ppl crucified next to jesus stated that he deserved to be condemned, but pleaded that jesus remember him, and that jesus said that he would be next to him in paradise, that my throat got pretty stiff... also, when they pulled his bones out of joint, i had a similar feeling...

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so what did i think mel was trying to depict with this movie? that jesus came to DIE... many ppl don't really realize that jesus came to die in the most horrific death possible... this movie, in my own words, says JESUS DIED with a huge exclaimation point near the end... it makes you realize how terrible the suffering jesus had to go through, how it was so terrible that jesus is stressing so hard as he was praying before he was captured, debating whether to run or stay(further complicated by the devil tempting him by saying "no one can carry this burden... too heavy... no")... often, even us christians know about the crucifixation, those of us who do our hw can even explain scientifically how gruesome and how it occurs, but i bet none of us truly can take it if we see it full color in front of our eyes with jesus suffering so hard(he mustve fainted like 6+ times going up to the hill)... this movie is good to nail that point(no pun intended) into our heads... secular ppl won't get it, they think this movie is too gruesome... they don't understand what mel was trying to do...

secondly, the other main important aspect is that love kept Jesus from saving himself... this IS a film of love, not hatred(contrary to what the other critics say)... power is demonstrated in what we do do, as well as what we don't do... jesus could have EASILY turned against the crowd, walked through them, performed miracles to save himself... but he chose not to, although the taunting and the pain must have been insanely difficult for him to take... in this way his heart and strength are elevated beyond anything you can think of... in most of the film, he remains fairly silent even as he is being taunted, spit upon, whatever...

and yet, even as christians watching the movie, we knew that if we were there right beside him, we would be so scared, we would run... like peter, or be hesitant like all the others... we would not be able to stand by him... not of us would... humanity is at its worst, but christ is at his very best...

i hope that the reader of these words, whoever that may be, if you go see this film, that it strengthens your faith, or if you're a nonbeliever, forces you to again seriously question who jesus of nazareth really is... that's all from me on this point... saying even more would more or less be overemphasizing previous points... til then, god bless

since bob is a lotr fan, i thought this foxtrot comic was funny:
click here

like how my site now has sound? :D how'd ya like that, you xangans? you're not the only ones now! (unfortunately, i wanted to put up 12 stones- let go instead, but the version up at the site is tainted)

i promised a review and i'm writing that in the next post

just watched passion of the christ; man, i was blown away... because it's late sat morning, i will write a review when i wake up...

(i planned on going to sleep earlier anyways... btw, i figured out a really neat way of helping myself go to sleep... reminding myself... and not staying up too late playing games... i've used the task scheduler program of win xp to open a file i've called GoToSleepMessage.txt, which states in HUGE BLOCK LETTERS, GO TO SLEEP... i have it do this every 10 min starting from 11:20 all the way to about 4:00 AM... very hard to ignore... and it helps a lot IMO)

i must learn to write more legibly more quickly... i just got msm's church directory, and my info is wrong... probably cause i was writing too fast...

that said, here is something else on a lighter note: i remet one of my small group buddies... playing tekken 3... i was playing jin, and someone joins in alongside me... chooses true ogre, and about 3 rounds later i lose, but it was close, was like 2/3 i think( i think i got 1 round win, or at least pulled it close the 2nd round)... we then turn and eye each other, and suddenly he goes, "richard?" :D so that was fun... we played a few more, then parted ways afterwards... i also managed to whup an incoming guy playing law, cause after we played a few more rounds, some ppl started coming along and playing w/us as well... man, i love tekken 3, but i suck so much... because i know how you're supposed to play(poke, not mash, to set up your big damage moves), but my execution is crap(i can't consistently do a dragon punch motion, and other times, other stuff doesn't come out like it should)... it was fun though... i loved punt kicking his true ogre some like 5x along the ground before he got up simply cause true ogre's so fat... and i LOVE the mishima 1,1,2... hei, jin, nina are all fun... but a +/- side to tekken is that damage is reeked out SO FAST... this is good, but also bad... i'm not a millionaire... i can't wait til they emulate the system that tekken 3 or tekken tag uses... that'll be some fun times...

man, i have to go downtown to get the bball stuff that i need?(not bballs and clothing, but i was thinking small accessories, like the exotic stuff: finger sleeves for one...)

ok, i'm done for tonight... review for passion tomorrow... as well as work...

i gotta post some happening during my bio lab session cause it was just too funny:

first i gotta give some background: basically, there's this short azn fob in my class... at times he seems to suck up to the TA, but the truth is, he really loves bio; you can tell by the way he's fascinated by his actions... however, at times he's not too good with words; sometimes it gets under my nerves, because some of the questions he asks our TA seem like he shoots them out without thinking of the answer first.

today in our lab we were more or less prepping for the huge lab practical to come next week; sprayed all over the place were animals of all sorts; spiders(i still detest spiders, esp black, large and hairy ones, but somehow seeing one contained in a cage like it was a pet hamster made it look adorable... after all, even poisonous spiders aren't out to hunt you down; that's just their defense mechanism; sometimes they can be downright friendly... it was made cuter by the paper tag on the cage saying "hi my name is henry"... anyways, where was I?), scorpions, crabs, worms, centipedes, some were dead, others contained within a cage... it was hectic, cause we had to do a lotta writing to get down the stuff we needed to memorize, but for me, it was enjoyable after i finished and just walked around watching how god's creatures are l33t... anyways, i was slower than more others in finishing, so by the time i finished, only me, the fob, and the TA were left in the room... the fob's busy trying to get down in his mind info for the test... he picks up a worm and walks up to the front...

fob: (TA's name), how come this worm isn't moving?
(TA's name): it's dead...

that got me cracking up like crazy, and yet i feel saddened when he spun around and asked me "what?" in a defensive manner... as you know, the way i laugh out loud sounds like i'm laughing at other ppl harshly... it's a bad habit... something that i might wanna consider working on... but it was still funny to see this dialogue play out... if the TA was harshly sarcastic like some bay area ppl, i could see him going, "hmmm... i thought he was dead... but not really, just asleep... go on, poke him... he'll wake up eventua- no, no, don't be shy..."

msm rented out a movie theatre(!) for the sole purpose of watching "passions" after our large group this friday... a review to follow from me on saturday... as for now, do some hardcore reading and praying... hope for big things from this...

me: one of the audience members at a evanescence concert showed a "show us your tits" sign to amy
sam h: wow
sam h: same with switchfoot
me: yea
me: oh?
sam h: i dont think half the audience are christian
me: that's true
me: switchfoot doesn't come out and go "we are christian" like other christian bands
sam h: yeahh
me: they sorta get you to think "is there something more?" and leave it at that
sam h: yep
me: heh... when you told me "yup" to switchfoot, for a moment i wondered why in the world someone would show a "show us your tits" sign to the band members :-D
me: unless if some queers were in the concert....
sam h: oooo haha

ok, i added too much corn starch to my curry soup and overcorrected the problem from last time... a huge hunk of my curry soup tasted like a nasty derivative of jello

that is the very last time i will ever procrastinate til the last minute and then cram for a midterm/paper/whatnot... today, i change everything... i've had enough of myself screwing myself over, procrastinating by idling around on the web, letting my readings go undone... sometimes it works, but it requires a lot more heart than doing some each day... and lately i don't have the heart... i tired of letting myself grow spiritually and mentally hungry... i don't deserve the grades i would get from this crap, and i don't need it... unnecessary... 4+ years down the road, you don't earn your bread from being able to do combos on emulators consistently... and you get good grades from just doing a little bit each day... today, i turn over a new leaf and bring forth the sacrifices to get there... i used to say this stuff all the time, but now, i truly mean it...

"cause i... hate the way i feel tonight/ and i know i need you in my life/ yes i hate the way i feel inside/ and i promise to make the sacrifice"
(12 stones)

(it seems that the more you relate to the words of a song, the more you like it... well, in the above case, "the way i feel" is now probably my favorite song)

that said, i'm not spending any more time typing... i've got some reading to do