- Finished watching Equilibrium yesterday morning. It stars (as you can see) Christian Bale, Emily Watson, and Taye Diggs. Oh – and Robert the Bruce from Braveheart, whatever his name is. I am gearing up for Batman Begins, so I rented it, not just because Christian Bale is in it, but because Joss Whedon says it’s the best Batman movie ever filmed. Even though it’s, uhhh - not a Batman movie. The plot isn’t much. It steals from Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 pretty liberally, and is generally unimportant to what I wanted to see. If Christian Bale’s Bruce/Batman is anything like his character in Equilibrium, this might really be the Batman film we fanboys have been waiting for. The hand-to-hand fighting scenes are MIND-BLOWING, and though it can get a little silly at times, the gunplay is RIDICULOUS. It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen. Aside from the guns – this is Batman. I hope that Batman Begins in turn borrows liberally from Equilibrium when it comes to fight scenes. You should check it out. If you’re into that kind of thing (you are).
- Speaking of Batman Begins – suckachumps moved the release date on me. Instead of Friday, June 17th (2 days before my birthday), it’s now scheduled to drop on Wednesday, June 15th. And I had all these great plans to rent the party room at Rave, and invite all my friends for cake and ice cream, popcorn, soda, and Batman party hats. I guess I could still do it. It’s a good thing I don’t have to work on Wednesday nights, or anything. Oh, wait. Jerks.
- This week’s Entertainment Weekly Summer Movie Preview issue confirms what I have known all along – that Katie Holmes and I share something very special. Something that obviously transcends all known kinds of human relationships, and is sure to result in everlasting bliss, as soon as we get together (WOW – textbook stalker language. Nice.). In EW, she mentions that during the filming of Batman Begins, she had to ask Christian Bale not to speak to her when he was in the Batman costume, because she had such a crush on him. So A) She has a real thing for Batman (not Christian – Batman.) and B) She’s got a thing for Tom Cruise. Kindred souls, I tell ya.
- Last Friday I finished reading the new Brian McLaren book, The Last Word And The Word After That. Bought it on Tuesday, started reading on Thursday afternoon, finished reading on Friday afternoon. All in all, it took about six total hours. SIX! I couldn’t put it down. When I heard him say that it was a book about Hell, I just assumed that that was one of many topics he’d cover, or that it would be the most controversial topic, so his critics would make it a book about Hell. Pretty much, no. It’s a book about Hell. How interesting can that be, right? Did you read the first part of this paragraph!??
Now, I'm not ready to just swallow all of his theology just because I like some other parts of it, but I can see how this argument could be very persuasive, and compelling - a relief, even, to people who are looking for answers outside of traditional Christian teaching on this subject. Sometimes I have to temper my response to his ideas. I am afraid of being a reactionary, and latching on to something just because it is a relief from my particular context. However, his point is at least worth considering, to even the most conservative among us. Do yourself a favor and read the New Kind Of Christian trilogy.
