17 August 2003 
Gods and Generals
I finished watching the epic Gods and Generals on DVD this weekend. I say “finished” because I watched it over a period of three days. Yes, it’s long. Yes, it’s slow in places. And yes, after all the shots were fired, I loved the film.
Several things struck me about this first in a trilogy of Civil War movies (Part Two, Gettysburg, was completed in 1993). First, this film portrayed the South in a much different, much more accurate light than the usual, modern-day politically correct fare. Many today would say that the Southern soldiers were fighting for slavery, but Gods and Generals portrays most of them as fighting for their autonomy and independence. Slavery was certainly an issue (and an important one at that), but one must remember that most Confederate soldiers were not slave owners. Many were probably were racist in some form or fashion, as can also be said about the Union soldiers from abolitionist states. The abolitionist-slavery debate was the fuse that lit the powder keg of the war.
Second, the biblically-infused language that the characters in the movie used is difficult to get used to. There is ample time in the three-hours plus film, however, to overcome this “foreign” style of speech. The speech, laden with biblical imagery and Scriptural references sounds strange to our postmodern ears. Most people in our culture today are almost completely biblically illiterate (save, of course, for “judge not lest ye be judged”—that most oft quoted Scripture known by all). The strange language of Gods and Generals helps (consciously or not) the viewer to see just how much our culture is alienated to the Bible.
This should be further evidence to the Christian today that we are speaking a different language in our culture. We should still speak it, and speak it loudly—but we should also be able and willing to translate some things. Does a statue of the Ten Commandments in the courthouse speak clearly to today’s culture? Perhaps, but perhaps also there are better ways to speak the Faith. Perhaps I’ll write more about that later.
Back to the film: third, this film depicts how dangerous the virtues of duty and honor can be if used unwisely. Duty and honor must always be tempered with wisdom, otherwise one might find oneself standing in a firing line hoping that you are not the one who will fall next, regardless of how good a soldier you are. The old, “courageous,” stand-in-a-line-and-get-shot method of fighting may indeed be honorable, but to me it seems ultimately stupid.
Rating: 8.0 out of 10
15 August 2003
Blackout
To those of you who are without power in the Northeast USA (and SE Canada), I would just like to say, “How are you reading this if you don’t have power?”
14 August 2003
No Skin Off His Nose
I love this! University of Tennessee football player Parys Haralson broke his nose in practice, went to the hospital that night, and showed up for practice the next morning. I think we’re going to have a great season!
Possible Vacation Spot
I would love to visit this town.
12 August 2003
Day Careless?
There’s an excellent discussion on day care going on over at Mere Comments. David Mills posted regarding the article “Bring Back the Stay-At-Home Mom“, by Rich Lowry. This is such a firey topic that even I tremble a little and duck for the incoming arrows in agreeing that day care is not the answer to raising children. A couple of points brought up:
3. Day care and school as we now know it go hand in glove. Essentially, school is nothing but a warehouse for children, who are mildly entertaining but quite inconvenient. After school programs, eroding more and more of any real life a child may have, are logical extensions of day care.
4. Not one single adult reminisces about either day care or about after school programs — not even those young enough to have experienced them. Not one adult who puts his children in day care would have wanted that for himself when he was a child.
Culturally, day care is a relatively new phenomenon, so we shouldn’t be quick to deride those who for whatever reason decide to place their children in day care. Having said this, parents who are using/considering day care should consider very carefully the reasons, motivations, and consequences of such a decision. I think if the issue is examined honestly and comprehensively, the case for putting children in day care usually ends up being ad hominem, often flowing from a feminist philosophical framework.
11 August 2003
The Tiger Himself
No, not that Tiger. For all of you who are interested in Tom Clancy and his novels, here’s a good article/interview with some hints about the new book, The Teeth of the Tiger. Funny, he didn’t mention anything about anyone else writing his books…it seems the burden of proof is on the Fox News article.
UPDATE: You can read the entire prologue of The Teeth of the Tiger here.
10 August 2003
Fowl Play
If you’re thinking the above photo has absoultely nothing to do with anything important (not that good food isn’t important), you’re right. I took this photo at a cookout at my wife’s family reunion over the weekend. The chickens were cooked sitting atop a punctured can of beer. I had never seen anything like it, but the chicken turned out to be very good. The can, which eventually boils to empty, heats up enough to cook the chicken from the inside as the grill cooks it from the outside. Ingenious and delicious.
So now TruePravda has covered the culinary arts–you can’t say we don’t have variety here!
8 August 2003
Land of the Free…
…software, that is. Yes there are still some worthy software titles out there that are without cost. Since I’ve been referred to as a computer geek from time to time, I thought that I would list a few of the free software tools that I use or have used:
Mozilla Firebird .61. I use Firebird for 90% of my web browsing. It is faster than IE 6.0, and I never see a pop-up ad because it blocks them. Also the best feature is its “tabbed browsing.” I can have several browser windows open inside the program which are qucikly accessible.
OpenOffice.org. This is a free office suite that rivals Microsoft Office. Although I’m using MS Office XP now (got it for $50 when I bought my computer), I would not be heartbroken if I had to switch to OpenOffice–it’s that good. The only thing missing is a comparable product to MS Outlook.
CDex. This is a freeware program that allows you to rip CDs to mp3. At work I like to rip my CDs to my hard drive so I don’t have to carry CDs back and forth. This tool does it well, and it is free! CDex also can convert WAV files to mp3 and vice-versa.
I have no idea how some of these projects make money, but I would rather download and use the programs rather than ponder that notion.
Oh No!
Actually, this is sort of exciting news–Tom Clancy is releasing a new novel August 11, 2003. It’s called The Teeth of the Tiger, and it centers around Jack Ryan, Jr.
The reason for the negative title of this blog is my own dismay of the publishing date. Why does Clancy alsways publish his books in August? With little over a week until classes begin, there is little time to read an entire Clancy book (no, I am not like those Harry Potter fans who will read a 1000 page novel in 48 hrs or less). This will be the last August in which I will have to resume classes, so perhaps this will be the last time Clancy will upset me such.
UPDATE: DID CLANCY EVEN WRITE THIS NOVEL? A recent Fox News article suggests otherwise. The article focuses on Clancy’s Op-Center series which was Ghost-written, and speculates that many of the other projects are ghost-written as well–even as far back as The Hunt for Red October. The problem with this theory is the question of how Clancy, an unknown at the time of his writing Red October, would have managed to attach his name to it. I’ll admit that some Clancy novels are sub-par (take the plot of Rainbow-Six, for example), but it’s a quite a heavy allegation to suggest he didn’t write the books penned under his own name.
That said, I do find it odd that Clancy has departed from his usual two-year schedule (Red Rabbit was released last August) to write a new book. I remember reading somewhere last year that Clancy was scheduled to wrap up the Jack Ryan series next year with a final book. Hmmm…
6 August 2003
A Laugh
Aren’t you glad TruePravda is not like this weblog? (Or maybe you wish it were…)