in the open space: God & culture

“Should this be true, I assume that they will probably use digital effects to make The Rock even bigger (some manuscripts have the giant standing at almost 10 feet tall), but I think that [Taylor] Lautner isn’t right for this part. While he’s only 5’10”, which puts him in the average category with American men, the big problem is that his six pack abs are his most famous feature. The whole point of the David and Goliath story is to pit the weak against the strong, and they pick a young actor who spends 90% of his time shirtless on screen? I understand it’s a ploy to draw in the Twilight crowd, but they should at least be trying to respect the story a little.” ~ CinemaBlend Osmar Schindler (1869-1927): David und Goliath, 1888 News came yesterday that Dwayne Johnson is in talks to star as the giant Philistine in Scott Derrickson’s Goliath , which will bring the epic biblical tale to the big screen (maybe 300 -style).   David is one of the most intriguing and larger-than-life cha

Well, we survived Hurricane Irene here in the DC Metro with little damage to our neighborhood in the Alexandria area. If you're curious as to what it was like around these parts, here's a selection from the  tweets and Facebook posts I made in the last 24 hours or so. If not, feel free to skip this post, heh.

Heh. For what it's worth, Facebook and Twitter were the only ways I could communicate with friends and family for a little while after the quake as my cell service failed and I couldn't make calls or send texts. We've now added those media forms as our family's fallback for communicating during disasters.

And I just tweeted yesterday how relieved I was that Jim Cantore wasn't anywhere near DC, heh.

created at gliffy.com “The best decision makers are the ones who know when   not  to trust themselves.” ~Dr. Roy Baumeister Earlier this week, I read a fascinating article in  The New York Times,   “ Do you suffer from decision fatigue? ” The article explores several studies and includes interviews with researchers that conclude “the very act of making decisions depletes our ability to make them well” and then asks: “So how do we navigate a world of endless choice?” According to the studies and researchers, our willpower weakens as the day goes on, like a tired out muscle—and our ability to make good decisions wanes with it. The more decisions we make, the harder it becomes to make good decisions and the easier it becomes to give into desires that thwart our goals (like eating that candy bar when we are on a diet or sending that e-mail when we know we shouldn’t). In addition, the level of glucose in our bodies also affects our decision making ability—the less glucose, the wor

mine Today, the DC Metro region was shaken by 5.8 magnitude quake centered just to the southwest of the Capital. The kids and I were in a parking lot approaching our truck when it started to rock like someone was jumping on it and the ground started to tilt back and forth under our feet. My husband said his third floor office in DC was shaken very intensely. I was in Fresno and felt the San Francisco quake of 1989, but this felt much stronger. But all is well. There are few reports of damage, and the only damage we had were a few knocked over picture frames, a tipped angel and another that lost a few parts when she fell from her comrades.

Last week I ran across a couple of things that, well, made me grin. Since I've tweeted , Facebooked and GooglePlus'ed them, I figured I might as well post them here, too. Heh. Julian Sunmi Park and Benjamin Jinsuk Lee First, click on the photo above to see the best, most creative and, um, unique wedding photos  ever . I'm not kidding. Trust me, if you enjoy speculative fiction (with a somewhat darker twist), you won't be disappointed. So go see them . Now . Please . Henrique Alvim Corrêa/ The War of the Worlds Next, some scientists at NASA and Penn State University released a joint report entitled " Would Contact with Extraterrestrials Benefit or Harm Humanity? A Scenario Analysis"--which, among other things (not so far-fetched), suggests global warming may invite an alien attack in order to save the rest of the universe from we humans. No kidding. Read a synopsis here . Or the whole thing here . Okay, I'm done.  Heh.

Present Pictures/Capewatch Pitures Imagine if you had a way to know the exact moment you would meet your soul mate. That’s the premise of TiMER (2009), a light and modern fable-like story (albeit rated R and with some limitations, as both those who panned the film as well as those who liked it point out ) that nonetheless echoes some key truths about life. In TiMER , technology has caught up with love: a device implanted on your wrist counts down the days until you will meet your true love and then goes off when the two of you encounter each other. After 15 years, the device has a 98 percent satisfaction rating, divorce rates have plummeted and it’s generally accepted that the TiMER works. But, for the device to actually start counting down, both parties must have one—and therein lies the plight of about-to-turn-30 Oona (Emma Caufield), whose TiMER is blank. Her plight is accentuated because everyone in her family (including her teenage brother) has met their soul mate or know

via GoodReads It's not easy to convey a sense of wonder, let alone resurrection wonder, to another. It's the very nature of wonder to catch us off guard, to circumvent expectations and assumptions. Wonder can't be packaged, and it can't be worked up. It requires some sense of being there and some sense of engagement. ~Eugene Peterson, Living the Resurrection: The Risen Christ in Everyday Life

Michael Tompkins/Syfy In SyFy's  Haven , “the troubles” abound. A wide range of “supernatural afflictions” and abilities that have laid dormant in the small town’s population for decades — including things like  moods influencing weather, bringing stories to life, and the inability to feel pain or physical sensation— are surfacing again. Alongside the town’s acting sheriff (who himself is afflicted by a “trouble”), FBI Agent Audrey Park helps to uncover the troubles and works with the townspeople to confront and overcome them—even as she searches for the truth behind her own mysterious connection to the small Maine town. In last Friday's “ Roots ,” Audrey ‘s date with town resident Chris Brody is interrupted by another appearance of the troubles:  tree roots are attacking people during preparations for a wedding between a bride and groom from feuding families. While somewhat heavy handed, the episode provides a good image that helps us understand the nature of anger and

I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself. I watched. So, does this look to anyone else like an update versus a remake? So many scenes look exactly the same. Though the dancing is, um, a little more, um, you know.

Concept art for Riddick via Movie Moron Moviehole has posted some news (including that casting has begun)  on Riddick , the third installment in the science fiction film series about our anti-hero (Vin Diesel) that began with Pitch Black and continued with Chronicles of Riddick .  We get more information on characters and plot, which reveals much of the film will likely take place on a hostile world with dangerous critters and equally dangerous mercenaries bent on hunting down Riddick. If that sounds somewhat reminiscent of the first film, Moviehole confirms that this is on purpose: "... Riddick is a direct sequel to Pitch Black – the events tie into that film. In much the same way the upcoming Dark Knight Rises will tie up any loose threads and plot points from Batman Begins , Riddick will return to the mystery and monsters at the centre of Pitch Black .” Interestingly, there seems very little reference to or presence of the events and implications of the second fi

According to Variety , HBO is teaming with Tom Perrotta (author of the acclaimed Little Children ) to develop a series based on Perrotta's upcoming novel The Leftovers (due August 30) that "explores the Rapture and how the sudden disappearance of loved ones in a suburban town affects everyone left behind."  By now, you may be somewhere between rolling your eyes at the possibility of another Left Behind or you are piqued by that very idea. But you should know this novel doesn’t sound much like the LaHaye/Jenkins franchise. According to Publisher’s Weekly , the novel is riddled with grief that “focuses on four members of a family that survives a world-shattering event in which people randomly disappear, dividing the world into Before and After. ” The event is treated as “secular” rather than religious, though the story itself “ charts the spiritual journeys that two members of the family begin after the traumatic event. ” In another PW review , one of those journeys ta