a couple weeks ago my girlfriend and i were in petsmart getting something for her beta and we decided to take a walk past the fish tanks in the store. some couples take walks along the breeches, some on the fit trail, still others jog the breakfast loop. sandie and i, we walk past the fish tanks either admiring or look on with horror at the misshapen fish before our eyes. there’s always a large variety of shapes, sizes, colors…and prices. as we meandered past the goldfish tanks, my heart cried out for them. while all the other fish had space to spare in their abode, these goldfish barely had room to swim.

the question that has been haunting me ever since is this: what makes a $.17 goldfish any less of a fish than a $3.75 scissortail? let’s hash this out a second. why do we deem goldfish less valuable than a scissortail when goldfish have that vibrant orange and scissortails are colorless? what is it that makes a scissortail worth 22 times more than the goldfish? i understand the concept that value increases as demand increases and stock decreases. but here’s the problem, the only reason goldfish are so plentiful in stores is because we breed them so rapidly! why don’t we breed scissortails at the same rate of goldfish? how much would a scissortail cost then? in my time logically considering this topic, i find no reason as to why goldfish are in essence expendable comparatively to the scissortails. it is horrendous that we treat these fish with so low regard that we allow them to swim amongst their dead without second thought.

my point is not to drone on about issues that animal rights activists organizations such as peta should be addressing, but to ponder this issue in a broader context. you see, as humans we do the same thing. what makes me a goldfish and tom brady a scissortail? more close to home: what makes a student with a 3.1 gpa worth so much less than a student with a 3.2? what has our society come to when individuals are qualified or disqualified from certain jobs, grad schools, or internships due to a mere .1 of their gpa?

i am haunted by these questions of worth. why do we assign values of worth arbitrarily in our society (even in the christian sectors)? why do i do this? more importantly, how can we stop this trend?

you see, our perception of worth permeates our lives and informs our decisions. it isn’t just “oh, that fish is only worth $.17″ but “oh, that fish is only worth $.17 so i’m just going to ignore it because it isn’t worth my time unless i need it as a feeder fish.” the first is bad, but it would be less destructive if it stopped there…but theoretical knowledge generally informs practical knowledge and thus we have the second statement.

i have no answer to these questions and i don’t know how to logically unpack them to reconcile society-informed worth with biblical-informed worth. for now it is a question that i will continue to ponder as i watch the fishbowl of goldfish and scissortails that we all live in.

this post chronicles my movie watching on friday and saturday. hope you all enjoy!

die hard: live free or die hard
i’ve never really been a “die hard” guy…i only have vague recollections of two of the past three movies. even then, i don’t have an overwhelmingly great impression of the die hard series. i’ve never been a huge supporter of the “blow the crap out of everything for no apparent reason” movies. though i would strongly affirm that “live free or die hard” is one of those types of movies, i can’t stop myself from reliving some of my favorite moments from the film.

i must say, the movie was quite impressive. i think a lot of my interest was around the technology aspect of the movie. the whole plot revolves around some computer geniuses hacking into the government’s network and crashing it. i think my interest in this was not because i understood what was going on, rather because part of me wishes i could be half as smart as the characters in this movie!

i cannot attest to the fidelity of this movie to the die hard series, but i can say that this was two hours well spent. i would definitely watch this movie again (but not before i see transformers again).

4 out of 5 nalgenes

memento
this was one of those movies i saw on a list, checked it on imdb, and decided i needed to watch it. i had never even heard of this movie, but from the synopsis and reviews i could tell it was a decent film.

the basic jist of this movie (and i really have to bite my tongue so i don’t give anything away) is that there’s this guy searching for the person who killed his wife. the problem is that he has short-term memory loss and can’t remember anything from just minutes ago. he’s on this mad search for the killer and as he gets clues he tattoos them onto his body so he won’t forget. what makes this movie so interesting is that it plays clips of perhaps a day or two in the life of this guy but in reverse. it begins with the husband killing this guy and then works back to showing the viewer what exactly led to this event (and believe me…there’s a lot going on in this plot…more than i can explain here because i don’t want to give the whole plot away).

in the closing minutes of this movie, i was sitting on my bed with my face basically plastered to my computer screen. there was enough ambiguity throughout the movie that i felt everyone was to blame at some point or another. this tension kept my attention throughout the movie and left me with very little down time while watching it. i don’t know if i’ll watch this movie again, but i’m definitely glad i gave it a chance.

4 out of 5 nalgenes

windtalkers
ok, so you need to know something about me before i review this movie. i am by no means a war history buff. i have, however, watched a fair amount of war movies (especially ww2) ranging from “tora, tora, tora” back in the day to the more recent “band of brothers” series from hbo. so i would say that i’m a relatively seasoned war movie watcher and thus have authority to utter the words i am about to write.

i had heard so many good things about this movie. i was so excited to see this movie and was disappointed when i didn’t get a chance to see it in the theaters. i finally got around to watching it on saturday night and i have to tell you, i was less than impressed. i will even go so far to say that i was offended by this movie. for instance, there is a delicate balance in war movies between the actions and the music. this is such a delicate balance that it is hard to explain if you’ve never watched a war movie. during the second battle sequence of “windtalkers” the music was so inappropriate that i almost turned it off right there. i couldn’t believe the music they applied to that setting. one of my biggest pet peeves with certain war movies is their glorification of war…and the music was just one of the ways “windtalkers” depicted this glorification.

the plot, which was hard to discern, was meaningful. i had never heard of the role the navajo native americans played in ww2, so i was very interested in learning about it. the plot at least attempted to touch on this, which was encouraging. however, the lackluster acting and overall feel of the movie left me quite disturbed (honestly not overreacting here).

i was so upset with this movie i was unable to finish it. i have a rule that if i start a movie, i make an honest effort to finish it…give it it’s fair chance. i was well over half way through (perhaps at the 2/3 mark) and could not justify the wasting of anymore of my time for this film. i was extremely disappointed in this movie and hope that someday someone decides to tell the story about the role the navajo native americans played in ww2 in a quality film.

0 out of 5 nalgenes

knowing that thanksgiving break was coming up, i started to prepare myself for an extended weekend of intense movie watching to catch myself up to the times. what i thought i would do is give you my thoughts on the movie…so that my movie watching has a little more purpose than to escape the pressures of classes. i’m going to rate the movies on a scale of 1 to 5 nalgenes (it’s a brand of water bottles i use when i hike).

transformers
i’ll be honest…when i heard this movie was coming out i was extremely skeptical. i pictured it being the cheap animation of the past transformers shows. then when they said it was going to be w/ real people, i became even more skeptical because i didn’t know how they were going to pull that off.

well, as i sit here at my computer, i am humbled and owe an apology to those who had a hand in this work of art. transformers left me dying for more. all throughout the movie i was yelling, “heck yeah!” in approval of everything from the storyline to the attention to detail for the transformers themselves.

all told, you need to see this movie. the romance story is mildly touching but in the end i didn’t buy into it. the rest of the movie (if you can get past the romance crap) far surpassed my expectations.

old school
for the longest time i have been wanting to see this movie. will ferrell is hilarious and i always enjoy his movies. so i definitely was excited to put this movie on my list of movies to watch this break.

unfortunately, i’m not sure it lived up to the expectations. don’t get me wrong, i laughed at points and enjoyed some of the humor. the rest of it was just a little bit much for me. the theme of “infidelity” ran throughout the movie and frustrated me a bit.

all in all, i would recommend this movie to will ferrell fans and those who like movies that are a little bit stupid. i won’t be watching this movie again and part of me wishes i could have my 2 hours back.

2 out of 5 nalgenes

batman begins
regardless of how this movie was received by the critics, i really enjoy this movie. this was my second time watching it and it was just as good the second time around. i think that christian bale is a great batman and did a particularly good job portraying what is a believable early batman. in all, the cast (from qui-gon jinn to nigel powers) was phenomenal.

my only complaint, and understand this is just personal preference, was katie holmes/cruise. i think she’s a believable actress but i can’t shake her from the dawson’s creek era. i guess that’s the price you pay for starting out in a tv series. i think slowly she’s distancing herself from dawson’s creek, but it’ll take more time for me to cut that umbilical cord.

to sum up, i appreciate this movie. i will most likely watch this movie again…or more likely buy it some day. it’s a good movie to watch and does a nice job of keeping the…um…”skin” out of the big screen (as most movies nowadays fail to do). i definitely recommend this movie to those who like action movies that have more of a purpose than to blow stuff up.

4 out of 5 nalgenes

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!

there are many times when i ignore my cell phone when it rings. this isn’t because i’m a jerk and like to make those who call me worry. it’s because when my phone rings, the first thought that comes to my head is that something is wrong. someone lost their job, someone died, someone’s house caught on fire…all things bad and depressing come from phone calls and so i avoid them like the plague.

that is, i avoid picking up my phone when there’s only one “missed call” from an individual. but when i have 4 messages on my phone from the same person, i know i must face the grim reality that is before me. fortunately, most times someone calls me, it is not to inflict pain or notify me of an untimely “parting.” my mind runs contrary to this “reality” however.

unfortunately, yesterday was one of those days when i should have ignored that conduit of evil (also known as my cell phone). emotions burst into incoherent thoughts as the words of my dad rang through my head that one of my cats had to be put to sleep. kidney failure induced by the old age of my 15 year old cat, abby, was the culprit. though this is understandable due to her age, i find it to be no comfort to me as i reminisce about the past 15 years with her. there was a special bond between us and i will greatly miss her.

to avoid making comments that may perhaps come back to haunt me, i will bite my tongue and proceed with caution.

in a clear 17-1 decision in favor of the other team, there is no room to say, “well, that was a close one.” however, some 16 hours after the incident, i still find myself agitated. this is not due to the final score…6 players against 10 (college sports players none the less) is far from even playing ground…so the score really isn’t indicative of our achievement and competence. my agitation is directed toward aggression that has no place in a friendly rec hockey game. in an attempt to be fair, both of our teams dished it out…though i will firmly state that ours was merely a necessary “rising to the occasion.”

further explanation is not needed for it is not constructive nor is it appropriate for this medium. i will leave you with this parting photo of some of the damage.

bruised left shin

37:18
my time for a 4 mile run last wednesday in class

18-2
the score of the rec floor hockey game later that night (in favor of the other team)

so it was probably mid summer of ‘06 when i decided i was lonely and should do something about it. understand, i am an extremely introverted person. i am energized by personal reflection and quiet dialogue with myself in the comfort of my own room. with this in mind, my loneliness had to be filled by something that would accommodate for my needs.

i forget when it first occurred to me that fish were the most viable option available. i think it started out that i wanted to get a turtle, but messiah college tends to frown upon creatures of that nature since it isn’t a “non-carnivorous fish.” deciding that it was in my best interest to buy into “the man” (and that “the man” was probably right about this one) i cast my desire for a turtle to the wayside for the time being. fish. that was the answer. they’re legal, easy to take care of, and, well, cost-efficient.

so to make an unnecessarily long story short, the local petsmart and i became best friends that summer. i got two scissortails (fish) and quenched my thirst for something with legs by getting two african dwarf frogs (and yes, they were non-carnivorous). i was a proud parent and tended to their every care and need.

well, time has passed and so have the two frogs (along with three other fish i got…snap, crackle, and pop). among the living are the two original scissortails (swingline and boone) and a gigantic algae eater (appropriately named sucher-german for sucker…in reference to his alias “sucker fish”). due to a lot of reasons, they have stayed home for the past 6 months or so. this past saturday was the big day for them to come home finally. it was a day of celebration for all (especially the fish because i finally was able to clean their tank which hadn’t been cleaned since i got them).

i hope to post some photos of them soon…since i’m at work right now it’s hard for me to take a picture of them! stay tuned for photos of my underwater critters!

i remember coming in as a freshman determined to battle against the college dating life. i remember after discussing the concept of “love” in my philosophy class sternly declaring to my friends that “i don’t believe in love.” my desire for academic achievement served as a proper distraction from the alien female race…and i was content with this. i had a simple life, really. i woke up, went to class, did my homework, and went to sleep. simple and predictable.

we all know how this story is going to end. in a matter of a year at college i had come to get to know someone i knew would be special. her name is sandie and today is our one year anniversary of dating.

the past year has been a growing experience for the both of us. she has taught me, among other things, that learning is not only a classroom or textbook thing. despite my selfish nature and my inability to express stress in a constructive manner, she has stuck by me and taught me what it means to live in a relationship.

i thank her for all that she has meant to me the past year!

what?! you haven’t heard this news? it’s all over msnbc…oohhh maybe that’s the problem. no one watches msnbc anymore. cnn? foxnews? which one is the popular one this year?

anyway, whether you believe it or not, monday nights are the new friday nights! you don’t believe me? have i ever lied to you? though my misplaced sarcasm at points may mislead some, it is official that monday nights are cool again (and this has nothing to do with the supposed art of overweight and overpaid men running into each other for four prolonged quarters).

at the beginning of this semester i began attending a group that is called the collaboratory. a good friend of mine is the student leader this year, so he encouraged (though encouraged might be too soft of a word…he likes the phrase “heavily recruited”) me to come check it out on monday nights. the whole basis of this group is striving to become “approved workers” of god. this might sound daunting, but the reality is, they achieve this in many creative and tangible ways. i think that’s what intrigued me the most about this group. it’s composed of all sorts of people with all sorts of talents and skills. they all come together (in small groups of varying interests) and pursue a certain need in a community (whether it be in america or in a different country).

for example, one of the groups deals with water purification. so this group has designated a specific area in the world (honduras, i believe) and they’ve made it their goal to use items that the community has at hand and create a large scale water purification device.

i think the thing that excites me the most is that the groups in the collaboratory live out their faith. that’s always been a struggle for me…i can theologize all i want, but when it comes to getting my hands dirty, i fail miserably. it excites me that there’s a way to do what i enjoy doing and still contribute to a greater good. granted, my tasks consist of handling photography and helping out with the ministry end of the meetings, so i’m not quite getting my hands literally dirty yet. but it tickles me that something i enjoy doing (like taking photos or helping to prepare some sort of meaningful message for the group) might make a difference for someone else (or at least make their life a little easier).

but that’s what i’ve been up to. if you’re ever looking for me on a monday night between 6 and 8, chances are you can find me in frey somewhere. it’s been a lot of fun for me so i would highly recommend checking it out.