is a little blah because the safe life, enforced to keep people from pain, was also vilified for keeping people from their telos – pleasurable love. Pleasurable human love, deep emotion and joy isn’t the end all be all either. In addition to boring sameness, liberal ideology also falls short by epitomizing human emotions. Saints seek something higher.
is a 2014 indie, low budget time travel film that may or may not have fatal errors (link includes spoilers). I like how it works anyway and many times prefer minimalistic staging with maximalistic psychology. From Wikipedia,
“Time Lapse is a 2014 American indie sci-fi thriller and the directorial debut of Bradley King. The film centers upon a group of friends who discover a machine that can take pictures of things 24 hours into the future, causing increasingly complex causal loops. It premiered on April 18, 2014 at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival.”
*my spoilers here on out* I won’t get into the mechanics but instead explore the morality from a Darwinian survival of the fittest or one with the most knowledge point of view. Yes I think it is the one with the most knowledge who survives the longest, but this cannot override fate. Niceness overrides selfishness too, but again, not fate.
The girl wanted to be loved by the boy, the boy wanted to paint, and the friend wanted money, or perhaps just winning. The girl and the friend were probably the most selfish, but the boy was stymied, and possibly a coward. The girl and friend were the most committed to their gain and the boy to altruism, but blocked. The girl’s selfishness unblocks him somehow. But her selfishness was willing to bargain. Her goals were more mutually beneficial. Letting him stay stymied didn’t do him any good either. He blamed himself for her fall, and maybe that’s fair. Her alternatives, besides the one she chose, were to give up on him and commit to someone else, which I think he would have let her do (his apathy may have made this option less attractive) or to live a life of mutual death. Both of these alternatives required giving up, which she could not make herself do.
Looking on the bright side is a game of relativism. Hey, paraplegic, aren’t you glad you’re not a quadriplegic? Thanks, says the quadriplegic. Well, aren’t you glad you can breathe on your own? Thanks, says Christopher Reeves, whose dreams were always able bodied. Well at least you have a lot of money to have the best equipment and to research a cure. But some things don’t get better till heaven.
Transcendence is a thought-provoking movie. How far should technology go towards making Utopia? Luddites don’t fare well in it. Their world seems impoverished, to use William Dembski’s word. Maybe the producers, including Christopher Nolan, were confused about nano’s vs. God’s Spirit, who is everywhere present and fills all things. And the takeover of people to be more suited to the hive may be an Absolute Diving Simplicity fault.
Kayaking has been more on my mind lately than writing, but I did write about some of our recent trips here.
I have also neglected reading and cross stitching lately.
I could write about the BBC TV show, Sherlock, though.
After recently rewatching the first 4 episodes, Sherlock’s and Mycroft’s conversations about how “caring” is useless are occupying my mind. John, on the other hand, is so empathetic, especially when Sherlock says indelicate things about Molly. Yes, humiliating someone is bad, but so are tactics that you think you’re getting by with. Both Molly and Irene Adler try to ensnare Sherlock, but Adler is more successful. Her look of triumph at the end of “A Scandal in Belgravia” shows it. Molly is not as narcissistic as Irene, and takes Sherlock’s observations to heart. She loves even when she’s not getting what she wants out of it. She adjusts her expectations for the cause. Irene is more ruthless and committed to getting what she wants. Sherlock identifies more with this, but keeps his goals in mind and will not spoil them to give into hers. Maybe both women do get what they want: intimate unattainability. They don’t want their entrapment to be ultimately successful. Does Molly not really want to be The Woman? Perhaps not. She is more casually driven than Irene. And she’s not from Conan Doyle’s cannon.
In order to finally return a Netflix DVD we’ve had since last Halloween time, we watched Hollow (be warned of partial nudity) last weekend. It’s a creepy movie set in an old English churchyard over a weekend when two couples come to retrieve some of the estate of one of the young people’s deceased clergy grandfather. The supernatural things that happen heighten the negative parts of each of their characters. The question is, are they revelations from God about themselves or from demons? The current clergy does not want to deal with it, and the young people are quicker to criticize each other than themselves. The blond girl, not the descendant, is blatantly herself, and also calls people out the most. The descendant is a goody two shoes who gets accused of wanting people to love her and her goodness for selfish reasons. I thought it was pretty well done.
I suppose self-revelation is a pretty risky business inspiring one to easily go the wrong way into giving in to it, or loathing/flagellating oneself too much, or dismissing it by blaming it all on demonic suggestion. There is another option of handling it through confession and more positive repentance, however.
spoiler alert. In Episode 5 of Alone, the Omm guy also prays, so it’s not just about being chill. He’s interesting, but my favorite guy is the young carpenter who is a little overzealous with his plans. At least he has plans, though. Interesting that he interprets Darwin and gets on his knees to ask for help. And the youngest guy is doing suprisingly well. The older Georgia, or was it North Carolina, guy has a fun flare for the dramatic.
After watching 8 episodes, I’m thinking either Kierkegaard wouldn’t like Lark Rise to Candleford, or he would consider it very illustrative.
*contains spoilers* Unlike Teresa Halbach’s brother, who seems to believe God guides all things, even gruesome murders, I believe God can use all things for his purpose. It seems Calvinists believe that God’s end game is to make sure that justice prevails where the right (chosen) people live happily ever after and the wrong (unchosen) people are punished. But what about his sister? The prosecution played a video tape of what a sweet, loving person she was. I suppose they think God will reward her in heaven, but caused her to be killed to bring punishing justice to the poor white trash inbred Averys.
One internet theory is that she committed suicide and that county officials used her body to frame Steven. That fits with her brother’s affect during the whole trial and weird statements about the grieving process and how messages got erased from her voicemail. If so, then her brother would believe himself an agent of God to punish the unchosen Averys.
I don’t think this was all God’s plan A. Calvinists believe that the fall of man was God’s plan A because evil was part of man and then was a necessary deterrent for the chosen ones. I believe the Orthodox position is that evil is allowed because of man’s free will, so that he has an option. God can use the freely acted evil actions of others to correct a person, though. Even if Steven was falsely accused again, it seems that all of this light shining on their family sins has had somewhat of a cleansing effect that previous jail time didn’t have. To me, that means that there’s someone in the family who desired or deserved saving. Maybe a young Avery girl who would have been victimized.
Light has gotten shed on the county officials who behaved very badly as well. The difference is that they didn’t think they were bad people. The Averys were more resigned to and accepting of their reputation.
I love how this documentary equalizes both sides: the frozen chosen and the unchosen. There is a hero, though, the humble defense attorney who believe everyone deserves to be presumed innocent. He was the most shaky when trying to accuse Lt. James Lenk of tampering with the evidence, however, but you have to have an alternate explanation. He wasn’t wanting Lenk sent to jail, though, just to shed doubt on Avery’s guilt, which was his job. A google search will show that a lot of people think he’s a modern Atticus Finch.
“Have you been getting recognized on the street?
Yes, on the street or out and about. More often by twentysomethings, by millennials. Occasionally by people in other age groups as well, but it’s been noticeable how frequently it’s people in their 20s, early 30s who either recognize me or will come up and say something. I think [millennials] get such an unfair rap or label of being apathetic or disinterested or self-absorbed.”
from slate.com
All right now, we done binge-watched the whole dang thing. *slight spoiler* It’s so weird how confident people can be in spite of dubious supporting evidence. And how people of a certain social standing can feel so superior. Not that you should start dating prisoners who you believe are wrongfully accused.
This brings me to a recurring theme in my head about the ability of lives to be ruined, deservedly so or not. There are some blows that stick. I think in America we don’t believe that is ultimately possible and that is why we say, never give up, never surrender! It is weakness to admit defeat. It’s not that I don’t admire bravery in the face of bad odds, it’s that I don’t think we should panic so much at losing, as if something being ruined is the end of life. Since Christ conquered death, even death is not the end. We should strive to live, but if it doesn’t work, we can peacefully give up. There’s more beyond. One can still pray in prison, for instance. I’m sure praying for deliverance is included, but if one’s ultimate hope is in God, not release, then one can leave the outcome to Him. If your ultimate hope is in God, not health and prosperity, then you wont hate Him if someone dies or suffers or mistreats you.
But I wouldn’t say with Theresa’s brother that God’s guidance was involved in her killing.
Words 