(This is a sort of update to my Summer 2008 Blockbusters post from earlier in the week.)

This past weekend, Nicole and I took the kids to see Horton Hears a Who! It was Joshua’s first time in a movie theater, and he did okay. (He got a bit whiny toward the end, so I took him over near the door and held him a bit, and he calmed down.)

Anyway, the movie was a lot of fun. I had trouble keeping track of whether Horton and the kangaroo represented “mainstream culture vs. evil, close-minded fundamentalists” or “believer vs. atheist.” It was a little too disorienting to try and embrace both models at the same time—maybe due to my taking personally the homeschooling dig early in the film.

As with previous Dr. Seuss theatrical adaptations, a number of additions were made to convert the 72-page book into an 86-minute film. Unlike previous live-action Seussian projects, however, these additions (for the most part) added something to the story without mutating it into a children’s book version of Ace Ventura. Even the anime fight sequence worked! The main exception in my mind?

“In my world, everyone’s a pony and they all eat rainbows and poop butterflies!”

At first glance, Katie seems to have been intended to play the part of the cute toddler who sometimes makes strange remarks. She ends up just being creepy, though. Her character is so dissonant in relation to the rest of the movie that she doesn’t just seem out of place… she seems like a saboteur, intentionally seeking to derail the story.

Aside from Katie, the movie just works. So, since she doesn’t have much screen time, I’d give the movie 4.5 (out of 5) stars!

I’d like to just come right out and say it: I’ve never watched a single episode of Speed Racer, so I don’t know how faithful this adaptation is. That said, something tells me the Wachowski Bros. are going a little overboard here. This looks like it’s going to be another Batman and Robin, or maybe two hours’ worth of the virtual reality sequences in Spy Kids 3.

Don’t get me wrong—it looks like it’ll be fun. I just think films like this (that try to make the real world look cartoony) and films like Beowulf (that try and make cartoons look ultra-realistic) ultimately aren’t able to hold the viewer’s suspension of disbelief. At least, not long enough to deliver an engaging story. If it’s just about being a popcorn flick, then fine… but these days it’s getting harder and harder to justify paying movie theater prices. As of right now, Speed Racer is on my “rent on DVD” list. We’ll see how things progress as the film develops. (A pun! Get it?)

But hey, don’t take my word for it! You can see the teaser trailer for yourself at Yahoo! Movies.

On a mostly unrelated note, LOST fans will he happy to know that even this trailer has a “Jackface” contribution (Matthew Fox is playing Racer X):

This could be a good thing. Let’s just leave Cobra-La out of it, though, okay?

Then I found VLC. Here’s a few of the reasons why I like it so much:

Unobtrusive: VLC doesn’t sit in the background hogging system resources from the moment you turn the computer on, and when you turn it off, it really turns off. (Take that, Quicktime and RealPlayer!)

Versatile: VLC handles pretty much any and every type of audio or video format I use, right off of a fresh install. And it’ll play files without trying to make itself the default player/viewer. I like being able to make that choice for myself, especially because the day may come when I move from VLC, and I’d like to be able to do that without worrying about what it may have done to the Windows Registry.

User-Friendly: I don’t need to be at Nicole’s side when she wants to watch something. That’s important to me.

Free: Praise God for the open-source community!

I’ll admit that there’s probably better software out there, but VLC seems to have the best mix of features and operability. And that’s not even getting into how VLC can record streaming audio and video…

Now that I look at ‘em together like that, I can’t believe I never saw it before!

But really… he’s so cute! Can you blame me?

I may not be able to get enough, but it looks like Joshua’s getting bored, huh?

Yup, I’m a dad. Can you tell?

Me? I think the dad should know better than to put his son in a position like that… without protective eyewear.

Happy Friday!

Rhett & Link crack me up!

Yup, that’s right: a 30GB iPod G5. It’s great—I’ve loaded all my podcasts onto it, finally consolidated my home and office iTunes libraries, dumped in Address Book contacts and played around with the photo gallery. I can now listen to sermons (or American Radio) while I walk during my lunch break, and with the iTrip add-on I picked up, I now have my own truly conservative talk radio to listen to in the car.

The Downside: This means I’m now one of them.

Protestant Reformer John Calvin, unbounded by the petty restrictions of time and space, has traveled through time engage in kung fu combat with a mutated plum, one grotesquely transformed by FDA-approved mutational drugs.

My take? It’s the only time they have the budget for massive CG water.

(Must… stay… awake!)

It bothers me to no end to have a web page I’m working on misbehave, leaving me with no clue why it isn’t doing what I want it to do. And most of the time, it’s some really dumb mistake I made somewhere.

This is what I’ve been dealing with for about 45 minutes now. Lack of sleep hasn’t helped the matter… but the problem is solved now, and I can move onto other issues!

Like VeggieTales. Has anyone (currently reading my blog) seen the films? What do you think of them?

Well, well. That was a nice resolution, and in another context I’d love the film.

But it was creepy. I think I’d have bad dreams, if I were going to sleep tonight.

I’m sorry, I just can’t get far enough past a Biblical view of death and the afterlife to really enjoy this film the way it was intended. I almost wish I could…

And with that, Nicole is off to bed. I’m now the only person in the house who’s awake — and I’ve got to try and keep it that way.

DVD Timestamp: 0:50:08

Okay, so we’re starting to see some actual story here. For some reason, I don’t think that new guy is very nice.

And is Victor even still alive at this point?

DVD Timestamp: 0:24:26

Psychadelic skeleton jazz… yeah. And what’s up with the constant “whoops, it’s a skeleton, so the arm’s gonna break off!” gags? Once or twice I get. I think we’re over the two-dozen mark at this point, and we’ve only seen dead people for what, three minutes?

Nicole: Well, I like it…

DVD Timestamp: 0:08:56

So far it’s okay. Haven’t really seen much yet, aside from the first song(?). I didn’t know this thing was a musical… and what’s with the butterfly? Seems this monochromatic hero-dude is attracted to the few symbols of beauty that exist in this gray, gray world he’s in…

Omigosh. Could this be… foreshadowing?!?!

Nicole is a Tim Burton nut. I think it almost killed her (no pun intended) that we didn’t see The Corpse Bride in the theaters.

Well, she’s exacted her revenge. She got it at a RedBox in the local Giant, and she wants to watch it on the computer.

Because that’s how we watch movies. We don’t have a television.

So… I’m going to liveblog the movie! Yeah… let’s see how well that gets pulled off.

UPDATE: She wants to check eBay auctions for rubber stamps, too. Oy vey.

Meltdown? What meltdown? Katie runs in circles talking gibberish all the time!

~Travis (inspired by Pandora’s Darty Award entry.)

Okay, I’m officially hooked. Forget 24 and Lost — they’re just passé. Nope, my favorite adventure/drama on television right now is The 4400. I even created a Squidoo lens on the 4400 because I’m so crazy about the series.

So check out my Squidoo lens and my primary competitor’s lens, too. Who knows? You just might get hooked yourself.

(EDIT: I deleted my 4400 Squidoo lens a while ago— it just doesn’t make sense to do that when I’m always a season behind.)

Wow, I like this! At least, I think I like it. It’s always hard to judge a parody when you’re unfamiliar with the original. I’ve been looking all over the Internet for the Cowboy Bebop intro theme this thing is a parody of, but I can’t find it.

“Class? Anyone? Anyone?”

UPDATE: Silly me! The guy included a link to the Cowboy Bebop intro on this piece’s profile page!

Apparently that last post was too much of a downer; I got the lowest daily traffic in a long time! (Hmm… or maybe a Narus 6400 just decided my blog was too unpatriotic for the general public to access. Stranger things have happened!) Anyway, I wanted to lighten the mood a bit, so here’s some short videos from iFilm for you!

It’s amazing to see such solidarity! Amazing! I have to hand it to FOX News — it’s rare that you find such likemindedness outside of a group of cheerleaders. Like, so rare it’s… impossible.

That’s great, Jack, but tell us how you really feel! (I’m not familiar with the Cafferty file, but this seems like a CNN segment I might actually like!)

C’mon, Georgie, baby…stop treating the Constitution like it’s set in stone! The acting in this thing is a tad wooden… almost as if these guys were born before acting lessons became popular. (Must-see surprise ending!)

I guess on the bright side, this whole crisis isn’t bad enough to keep us from laughing at it? I’d like to (once again) commend the folks in the MSM who are looking into matters we’re too busy to be bothered with.

Well, I guess I’ll have to set one up for her now! Sounds like we need to go over “Christian work ethics” again, though.

“Did dinosaurs really become extinct millions of years before the existence of humans?”

Jordan had the “companion book” to this film years ago—in fact, he may still have it today. (I never realized it was “just” a companion book, though!) I remember being rather surprised that no one else seemed to consider that there might be more than a kernel of truth within the plethora of “dragon myths” around the world. Check out the 20-minute video presentation they’ve got online before you write ‘em off.

Perhaps, as that great philosopher Weird Al once said, “everything you know is wrong!”

Okay, this is about the coolest thing I’ve seen this year!

Blumpy.org : In-Brain 3D shows how you can see any ol’ regular movie in 3-D, simply by playing two copies side-by-side and offset by a fewframes, then crossing your eyes like with a stereogram. (Like this cute little Paddington Bear… but in motion!)

Now let’s sit back and watch, as 15 million Americans all sit cross-eyed at their computer screens…

• Kneon Transitt is now blogging. Sweet!
• I have finally seen Disney’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. It was good, except it seemed they couldn’t decide who to have up front: Peter or that lion dude.
• We moved servers. Hosting is now graciously provided by Plus Web Design. No longer do I need to beg for mercy from some fly-by-night operation that doesn’t know the meaning of the phrase “customer service.” (Thanks, Joshua!)
• Easter sunrise service at Beachmont, followed by an Easter cantata at Hanover First Church of God and hours of fun with the family. Good stuff!

Now that the server transition seems to be complete, I’ll get back in the swing of things!

I thought for sure that Jordan would post this… but perhaps he’s forgotten he has a blog?

I love a capella music, and I love the soundtracks to games for the Nintendo Entertainent System; but oh, how I adore the two put together!

Katie turned three on Sunday, and she’s memorized her first scripture now, and it’s (rather appropriately) the first verse in the Bible: Genesis 1:1. Here, see for yourself:

Next up: the book of Jonah!

We are currently wealthy, fat, comfortable and complacent. We have currently a built-in allergy to unpleasant or disturbing information. Our mass media reflect this. But unless we get up off our fat surpluses and recognize that television in the main is being used to distract, delude, amuse and insulate us, then television and those who finance it, those who look at it and those who work at it, may see a totally different picture too late.

This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box.

— Edward R. Murrow, in a speech to the Radio and Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) convention in Chicago (15 October 1958).

Nicole and I watched Good Night and Good Luck on Friday night, and I highly recommend the film! (This isn’t a review, though; there are plenty of those around already.) It’s incredible how many parallels can be drawn to current events… I don’t think the release could have been any more timely.

Have you heard yet? We’re living in a time where the United States has a President who thinks he’s an emperor: this nation was founded on the Rule of Law (“Lex Rex”), but George W. Bush claims the “Divine Right of Kings” every time he refuses to comply with the laws enacted by Congress—as he has been doing for at least the past four years. To top it all off, anyone who opposes him (no matter the reason) is labeled a “lover of terrorists’ rights.”

May I ask you, do you “love this land”? Do you want to consider yourself patriotic? Then prove it: read the Constitution; read the Federalist Papers; read Max Farrand’s Records of the Federal Convention of 1787. (Then repeat at least five times.) If you remain ignorant of what America was intended to be, then all your flag-waving and cheerleading amounts to nothing but hatred and contempt for what our Founding Fathers fought for.

It’s amazing just how much Pres. Bush’s administration resembles McCarthyism. Yesterday’s “Communists” have been replaced by today’s “Al Qaeda,” and the nation in general is just as complacent as it was in the 1950s. And just as with yesterday, we need men like Edward R. Murrow who are willing to stand up to this usurper.

Earlier, the Senator asked, “Upon what meat does this, our Caesar, feed?” Had he looked three lines earlier in Shakespeare’s Caesar, he would have found this line, which is not altogether inappropriate: “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.”

[...] His primary achievement has been in confusing the public mind, as between the internal and the external threats of Communism. We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men — not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular.

This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy’s methods to keep silent, or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of a republic to abdicate his responsibilities. As a nation we have come into our full inheritance at a tender age. We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.

The actions of the junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad, and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his. He didn’t create this situation of fear; he merely exploited it — and rather successfully. Cassius was right. “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.”

Good night, and good luck.

— Edward R. Murrow, from the March 9, 1954 “See It Now” television broadcast on Senator Joe McCarthy.

If this man is not stopped; if this nation is not restored to the Constitutional Republic it began as; I see no reason to believe we will leave the next generation with anything but a Dictatorship… or perhaps an ash heap.