Just got around to watching Premonition starring Sandra Bullock with my wife. In short, one of the most disappointing movies I’ve seen..ever.

I had high hopes for this movie; had it been a summer blockbuster action movie or a kids movie I would have looked past the script problems and attempt to throw a thought-provoking moral in at the last 30 minutes of the film. There was a great concept, a great cast, and admittedly great work throughout most of the movie.

For comparison, the other movies I consider great disappointments are Pirates of the Carribean 2: Dead Man’s Chest (I was one of many that did not know it was just a trailer for the third movie, and VGcats captured my sentiments and emotions well) and Superman Returns (not sure what storyline they were using, but it didn’t draw from the comics, the other movies, or anything. It was like watching a sequel to a Superman movie that had never been made, and very much wishing you had watched them in order.)

What was wrong with Premonition? The biggest obstacle to my enjoyment was the biggest, most amateurish continuity issue I’ve ever seen. In many movies, there might be a bandage that in one scene is on an actor’s right side of his face, but in the next it’s on his left. It happens. In Premonition, a little girl get badly hurt and scarred on Tuesday, still has those scars on Wednesday, is miraculously untouched on Thursday, but scarred again on Friday and Saturday. How the heck do you miss continuity on a major plot point like that?

But to partially redeem the movie, there is an important point made (perhaps too late in the plot) about nature abhorring a vacuum – even a spiritual one. It is made clear that belief does not have to be in God, it can be in anything – even hope and love. Loss of even that belief can lead to disaster.

For Church of Man readers, the lesson is twofold: Don’t think that belief has to be in a deity, and don’t try to live life without faith or belief is something. What then should we believe? Let’s figure that out…

Tags: Premonition, Sandra Bullock, movie

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Heard news of a cultural/spiritual/philosophical crossover today in the form of a book entitled “The Way of The Christian Samurai: Reflections for Servant-Warriors of Christ” Stuck with me as I’ve been on a bit of a “samurai” bent lately, and have been itching to re-watch Seven Samurai.

The gist of the book seems to be the identifying of the modern Christian with the samurai of Japan; both are, in the ideal, wholly and fully devoted to their masters, willing even to give their life for the one they serve.

Of course, some samurai were stuck-up, judgmental snobs, and the same can be said for an all-too many modern Christians as well.

(Side note: yes, I have had a lot of Christian themed info lately. A little factoid – that is my personal background so I’m more versed in it than other world religions.)

Tags: spiritual, Christian Samurai, Seven Samurai, Christian, samurai, Japan

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Finally getting back to some reading, and figured I might as well share.

Scott Adams is well know for creating the insightful, wacky, and sometimes thought-provoking office-space style comic Dilbert. This being said, he book God’s Debris has nothing to do with bad managment or equally bad hair, stealing office supplies, or power-hungry canines.

The basic plot (yes, this is a fictional story with philosophical theories) is that of a delivery guy who ends up in a days-long conversation with a myserious old man (which might explain why your order from eBay isn’t here yet). Over the course of the dialogue, the old man explains the reality of the universe to the young man, while we, the readers, are given pieces of the conversation to mull over ourselves.

Religion, God, probability, light, ESP, and even women – the old man seems to have an answer for everything. And the answers are surprising – for the theist and atheist alike. In one chapter the theory of evolution is criticized as “incomplete and useless” and in another – well, it would suffice to say that most organized religions would consider the “reality” of God blasphemous.

An entertaining and quick read, but certainly worthwhile to get your mind going or to start converstations.

Oh yes, and one cannot complain about the price – Adams is now giving the eBook version of God’s Debris away free on his blog.

There may not be an original thought in the book, but something must be said in the way of congratualtions to Mr. Adams for creating a mass-market book that talks about “first things.” No one seems to do that anymore.

Tags: Scott Adams, Dilbert, Religion, God, probability, atheist, eBook, God’s Debris, free, first things

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