Biblical Christianity

Hither and thither 11/27/09

2009-11-27T09:00:00.000-08:00

I'm afraid it's going to be a lonely HT; half my visitors seem keyed to workdays. If HT were food, I'd say — "That's more for us!" However I'm still feeling Thanksgiving dinner. Regardless, I have the usual assortment for y'all. So let's dig in!

It may be an old strip, but this is about right, isn't it?

Those of us who thought the Terri Schiavo saga (on which I wrote a fair bit) was one of the most shameful episodes in recent history will read this story and nod bitterly. However, we should proceed with some caution. The man's words are being conveyed by the assistance of "facilitated communication," about which legitimate questions have been raised.
Okay... I don't get this.
Odd Title of the Week comes from The Hill: Hayworth raises money, toys with race against McCain. Now, I can see why Hayworth would raise money. But why toys? Is he going to challenge McCain to a duel, using Nerf-swords? I'd like to see that. Even more, I'd like to see a conservative un-seat McMeMeMe. But Hayworth would need money for that. Not toys.
There is enough idiocy in this story to power a city for a year. It tells of a Vallejo mayor opining that homosexuality was (gasp!) a sin... and then apologizing. Huh? Wait... so is it, or isn't it? Anyway, the homosexual council member's okay with him. But some 65-year-old "straight" female is outraged because, and I quote — well, before I quote, take a deep breath. Swallow your coffee. Okay? Go: "we have a responsibility to serve the entire community, not just the ones who believe as we do." In the context of her complaint and demands... make any kind of sense of that.
I swear, these days — it's as if the topics of homosexuality and abortion are to rational thought as Round-up is to plants.
For Thanksgiving, President Obama pardoned a 45-pound turkey named Courage. Hunh. Should've had his personal chef fix it up and serve it to some out-of-work family.
On the Phillips Administration's first Thanksgiving, we would serve a ___-pound turkey named "Yummy."
Here is a collection of 100 classic movie lines. It's pretty well-done. They have some of the best, and at least two of the worst. What do you think they missed?
Hee hee hee.
Go, kitty! (We know the feeling!)

Justin Taylor, beyond question a good guy and the collector of some of the best links and resources in Blogdom, really admires the creativity of this commercial (while not, of course, agreeing with its payoff). I guess I'm not artsy enough to separate the cute wrapping-paper from the three pounds of dung inside. I'd re-make the commercial to have the young man ask each person whether he can say that 2 + 2 = 5. My punch-line would be, "It doesn't matter what anyone says: a thing just isn't what it isn't."
But then Justin Taylor also told his deservedly massive readership that it's a great idea for a bunch of Christian leaders to say that religions that preach a false and damning Gospel are also Christians, also equally preachers of the (undefined) "Gospel," merely separated by "historic lines of ecclesial difference" — as long as they disapprove of homosexuality and abortion.
You already know what I think. I think a lot of people who disapprove of homosexuality and abortion — and embrace the "gospel" preached by Rome and Orthoborgy — will be in Hell. I think getting people or societies to disapprove of homosexuality and abortion, while a laudable civil goal, won't move them an inch towards Heaven. In fact, if that shift of opinion were accomplished by many of the signatories of this "declaration," it might well make them "twice the child of Hell" as those signatories (Matthew 23:15).
I think whatever was gained by having a bunch of names say what all real evangelicals were already well-known to believe was lost by their joining hands as with "fellow-Christians" with apostates and Gospel-perverters.
I further think the Gospel is immeasurably more central and crucial. I'm absolutely certain that Justin thinks so, too. Which makes his expressed enthusiasm, and the participation of men whose shoes I quite literally am unworthy to shine (~~i.e.~~ e.g. Ligon Duncan), all the more baffling.
To happier thoughts. I kind of like this. You can wear a button that says It's Okay, wish me a Merry Christmas. (Accompanying story.)
In related news, Liberty Counsel has released this year's Naughty and Nice list.
The "____, I Am Your Father" cliche. Since SWV, it's come up in a number of movies or books. Now we just chuckle. But how much of a bummer would it be to find out that Charles Manson was your father? Me, I don't know. But ask Matthew Roberts. I hope someone can get through him that we all have evil in our heritage. What matters is having God as our Father, and being transformed to that likeness.
If you'd like to settle down for a somewhat longer read, check out The Competing Narratives of Barry and Sarah. It's a provocative and telling comparison of Obama's and Palin's chronologically-parallel, but very different lives; and of their memoirs.
Say you become exasperated with Daniel Suelo, and say to him, "Look, dude — do you live in a cave, or something?" He'll say, "Yep." My assessment: he's in the down-side of 2 Thessalonians 3:10.
Well, that explains a lot. Jimmy Carter says that he was dead when both he and Bill Clinton were president. At least, that's the only way I know to make sense of this headline.
I guess it had to happen. Burqua Barbie.

Um, so... if they touch each other, does the universe explode?

Hey, lookie there: Voyage of the Dawn Treader (A) has a Facebook page, (B) has completed filming, and (C) has released some photos! Like these two:

Leaving us, as it must, with....

And when they ask, "How did the Thardons from Vreda 12 know we'd be so easily conquered?", the answer will be...

2009-11-26T07:59:00.000-08:00

...because they found this floating past one of their exploratory drones.

(I get to go silly here, today, because you can get Thanksgiving-day "substance" over at Pyro.)

Manhattan Declaration, very briefly

2009-11-25T12:31:00.000-08:00

Before a number of big names made their statements, back on November 20, I said this in response to an encouragement to sign the declaration:

Not a chance.

Here’s enough to lose me, period, no need to read further:

“We, as Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical Christians… We are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences….”

I still affirm the necessity of the Reformation, and its recovery of central Biblical truths. I don’t see Roman Catholicism or Orthoborgism as variations on a theme. I could never associate myself with something that gives that false impression. The Gospel is not an “Oh, yes, well, that” issue.

ADDENDA:

Alistair Begg sees it similarly
So does John MacArthur
Dr. David Doran adds some helpful thoughts here and here
...and Brian Maclaren manages to focus on everything that doesn't matter about the Declaration, and to get even that wrong

When "damned" isn't a swear-word: a few words about cancer

2009-11-25T06:01:00.000-08:00

Some words are irredeemable. For some words, there is no context in which they are not offensive and wrong, and surely under the condemnation of Ephesians 4:29 and 5:4.

"Damned" is not one of those words. It's a janus-word; it can turn either way. If you're throwing it at an uncooperative computer program, or a stripped screw, or a car, or (worst of all) a person, I think it falls under that condemnation. Christians should never use it thus.

However there is a sober Christian use: to describe the reprobate, the dead who are under God's eternal sentence of condemnation. Then it is a substantive, and it is appropriate: the damned, people justly without hope forever.

Or it is properly used as a simple adjective to describe such a person or fate. The KJV uses some variation in 15 verses: damnation (11 verses), damned (3 verses), damnable (1 verse). Each translates a Greek word for "judgment" (i.e. krima, krisis, katakrima, etc.).

And so I have said (for instance) "damn cancer, anyway," and meant it. When I do, it isn't a pique. It's that I hate cancer, a lot. I see it as yet another dark, death-dealing fruit of the Fall. When Adam heard God warn him that, if he were to eat the forbidden fruit, môt tāmût — "You will surely die" — he had no idea the black, teeming, swarming hordes of pestilent miseries that lay behind the words.

Or so I hope, charitably. But I've often wished that I could flash back in time, and show him. Show Adam a montage of what was lurking behind that shiny, delightful-looking fruit. Show him what his moment's disregard of God, his attempted twitting of his Creator, would bring on himself and all his children.

Would it have mattered to him? No clue. I've known enough people to walk into (and persist within) absolutely ruinous, idiotic sin, completely heedless.

So I see cancer as a result of Adam's sin, of the Fall. And I see cancer as having no part in the new heavens and the new earth. When God deals with sin and its effects, He will deal with cancer.

My first memory of cancer was a little seven-year-old boy down the street from me named Todd. Little Christian boy, and I was a new Christian myself. Lung cancer. Horrible, just horrible; heart-breaking. He died in 1975, and his mother actually wrote a book about it.

Then I remember a friend's dad, lung cancer again. And others. There have been minor bouts in my family as well.

The worst of course was my dear father. Walking into work today, I spoke with a man older than I, who talks on the phone with his 91 year old dad every morning. Older than I, but his dad still lives. I really envy him.

Now, were my dad alive, he would be 103. But he might have made it. His was a long-lived family, and Dad was in very good health at 86.

Until that damned cancer took him.

My dad died of bone cancer, after months of painful mis-treatment under the misdiagnosis of arthritis. "Heart-breaking" is a pale description. I had dreams for months and months after his death. Cancer is such a vicious tease, such a robber, such a heartless, cruel villain.

The pastor of the church we're attending has a special ministry to cancer sufferers; a fellow in that church recently learned he has bone cancer, and is clearly and quite understandably scared.

So yeah, I feel about cancer as Joni does about her wheelchair. In her terrific talk at the DG conference on suffering, Joni speaks of finally seeing Jesus, of thanking Him for what He taught her through that wheelchair, and then saying, "...and you can send it to Hell now."

Amen.

And He can damn cancer there, too.

Before I leave this topic, however, I'd be remiss not to say one more word. Perhaps you have cancer; enough people stop by this blog from all over that it is possible.

What you need is life, life that no cancer can take away. There is only one way to find life, one source of life, and that source is Jesus, who is the Resurrection and the Life. He is the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Him.

Learn how to find that life in Jesus, and come to Him. Because whether cancer lies in your future or not, death is a certainty. Only a fool faces death unprepared.

Don't be that fool.

"Bohemian Rhapsody," by... the Muppets?

2009-11-24T15:35:00.000-08:00

You betcha!

(Thanks to faithful reader Berry Davis)

Maybe you didn't need a humor-break today, but I did. Besides, you want substance, got some for you over at Pyro.

Living proof: your job is what you make of it

2009-11-24T06:42:00.000-08:00

(Other things being equal)

This guy makes me think of Proverbs 22:29.

Read more about Matthew Kermode and his position as a "Spinstructor" here — but be warned: it's SF Weekly, and some of the other things on that page are nasty. Pity, because the article is fun.

Make you think of anyone you've known, worked with, or done business with?

Monday music: Brazilian guitar duo performs "Tico Tico"

2009-11-23T04:17:00.000-08:00

Last week we had eight hands on one instrument. This week, four.

This fantastic performance outshines the imperfect quality of the recording.

Notice in particular when the duo splits who is picking and who is fretting — that is, when the left hand of one pairs with the right hand of the other.

Two Obamacare toons

2009-11-22T07:47:00.000-08:00

The first has a point, the second — well, it's just silly.

Jan has just given birth, and....

The crocs think they have a new angle in their pursuit of their yummy next-door neighbor:

Answer: twenty-eight words

2009-11-21T19:31:00.000-08:00

Question: how long does it take the Associated Press to turn a should-be news report into an exercise in mind-reading editorializing?

See for yourself.

In case the AP later changes it, here it is:

Invoking the memory of Edward M. Kennedy, Democrats united Saturday night to push historic health care legislation past a key Senate hurdle over the opposition of Republicans eager to inflict a punishing defeat on President Barack Obama.

You see, the first twenty-seven words are (mostly) just the facts. It is what the Democrats did. Ah, but with #28, we find the reporter uninterested in reporting what the Republicans did, nor in any reasons they themselves gave for what they did.

He has read their minds, their hearts, and found them vengeful and malicious.

And, to him, that is the story.

So the Democrats make history... while the Republicans are just vengeful and spiteful.

Does Sarah Palin = Dan Quayle II?

2009-11-21T08:53:00.000-08:00

So argues David Greenberg, in Slate. The reassuring (to himself?) subtitle is, "There's no way she will be president."

The article can be undone definitively and decisively in two brief observations:

Two days after the 1992, where was Dan Quayle? In national terms, gone forever.
One year after the 2008 election, where is Sarah Palin? Well, put it this way:

Greenberg's article is, like, Part 8,495,676 of the media's ongoing series of reports on Why Sarah Palin Is Inconsequential
Google "Sarah Palin," and you get 22,700,000 hits.

Can she be President? Will she be President? Should she be President?

No idea.

But as long as the lefties and the squishes keep ranting and raving, "yes" remains a possibility for all three.

Hither and thither 11/20/09

2009-11-20T05:56:00.000-08:00

Been a particularly rugged week at work. Maybe for you, too. If so, you'll be relieved to know... we still get to go Hither and Thither! And (if I may say so) a surprisingly good one at that.

Now, here's a suggestion for a presidential pairing in 2012 that would have the emptiest (or most ill-filled) heads detonating on the west and east coasts, like a grand Fourth of July celebration. Gotta love it, if only for the pyrotechnical aspect.
As a public service, my DAOD cautions us all to be very careful about how we phrase and deliver our McDonalds' orders in Utah. I'm thinking the folks who pressed charges were some manner of -ites.
That is, BTW, my favorite verse in the Book of Mormon. So far.
Gosh! What An Idiot! alert. The only thing noteworthy about "Franky" Schaeffer is that his dad was a great man. And that "Franky" has traded shamelessly on his dad's name. And that he's a media darling for his frequent acts of public micturition on his dad's grave.
Me, were I "Franky," I'd be far more concerned about Proverbs 28:24 and Proverbs 30:17 than I would about any sinister "religious right."
Hunh. So Levi Johnston thinks his tiny baby son is a paint-thin, amoral, unaccomplished, self-obsessed leech. Or... am I misreading this title?
Maybe Johnston and Schaeffer should write a book together.
All right, maybe there is an app for that. But why is there an app for that?
We might have quite a discussion about this:

Why? Because it's a statue.

It is, in fact, one of a collection of startlingly realistic sculptures. What "discussion"? Well, it's beyond dispute that these are all stunning bits of craftmanship, remarkable achievements. But should "art" be about beauty, about lifting the spirit? Few if any of these would meet that standard; most achieve the opposite effect. What do you think?
What's the only thing cooler than spending vast stores of other people's money to no measurably good result? Why, doing it again, of course!
Hey — who says that Democrats don't value marriage? Fact is, they value it highly — more highly than singleness. In tax terms, that is.
Bow wow.

The story that accompanies the sign pictured below irritates me to the point where commenting wouldn't even be fun. But you feel free.

Truism: if you don't want to learn, you won't. Example: Assemblies of God.
The title of Sarah Palin's book ("Going Rogue") dates back to her disagreement with the geniuses who ran the McCain campaign, who decided to give up on Michigan. She felt it could be won, and wanted to go with her husband and campaign there. She's come there now, with her book tour — lifting spirits, encouraging folks. Like a good president would do. Wish we had one.
Oh No! Not That! alert. It's been much in the news that Dems like voting for massive, hideously harmful bills that they've never read. In the case of the massive health care takeover attempt, Senator Tom Coburn — who may have replaced Senator Jesse Helms as the most indispensable member of that august body — is threatening (!) to force the reading of every word of that monstrosity.
"If do right, no can defense."

I know, I know, I'm a terrible person. I'm very sorry. But it cracked me up!
Okay now, that was a joke. But was this one real?

"Hey! We're not that apostate!" is the message I get from this story about an ELCA split-off group who is leaving the denomination over approving homosexuality. Ironically, the departing group are called the "conservatives." I guess that's a relative term. They're forming a new denomination. Why? Why not just join with the Missouri Synod? Because they want to ordain women as pastors. My readers are smart; I don't think you need me to spell that one out for you.
Hitler didn't much like the idea of keeping that Jewish baby, Jesus, in Christmas. (h-t reader Brodie Carroll.)
Tim LaHaye is fixing to make yet more "reformed" heads explode. Dude just can't get enough.
Knowing that I am blessed with many readers who are also exacting writers, I offer this as a public service: when to use i.e., and when to use e.g. (I actually learned something, myself, from it.)
Okay, so maybe this British guy is the dream employee... but eeyikes!
On my list of Things I Do Not Want for Christmas, Nor At Any Other Time, you would find this $50 Yoda Christmas Tree Top.

Bringing us inexorably to....

Friday Eve chuckle: The Onion "reports" on TOTUS malfunction

2009-11-19T04:23:00.000-08:00

Thanks to reader CR:

Obama's Home Teleprompter Malfunctions During Family Dinner

100 free audiobooks

2009-11-18T04:26:00.000-08:00

I can't say anything positive or negative about the site on which they're posted, but this site has a listing of 100 free audiobooks "you should have read by now."

Quite an array of diverse books are laid out, ranging from Pilgrim's Progress to Dracula and The Strange Case of Benjamin Button; from the gaseous and soporific Beyond Good and Evil to Moby Dick and Robinson Crusoe; from Democracy in America to Christmas Carol — and scores of others.

Check it out.

Church History in Four Minutes

2009-11-17T07:05:00.000-08:00

Monday music: One cello, four players

2009-11-16T04:18:00.000-08:00

Obama, the world's superbower

2009-11-15T09:35:00.000-08:00

Remember Obama bowing to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia?

At the time, the President's simpering act received some well-deserved criticism, and some absurd attempts at cover-up from the White House.

Well... he's done it again.

If Obama bowing to Japan's Emperor Akihito strikes you as merely polite at best, or odd and irritating at worst, Scott Johnson helps bring out the implications, and highlight the inappropriateness (at best) of the act. Mark Steyn thinks its about time for someone to "speak truth to bower."

In his speech to Japan, Obama again served his seemingly-insatiable ego by bashing his predecessor and again presenting American history as beginning anew with himself. With his expressed desire to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki, one wonders whether Obama is about to apologize yet again.

And if so, would that finally be the last straw with Americans?

After viewing which, your boys — whatever they may be — will seem sober and sane

2009-11-14T18:11:00.001-08:00

I know mine do.

Well, pretty much.

Hither and thither 11/13/09

2009-11-13T06:40:00.000-08:00

Another brutal week at work. But does that stop me from slaving away in the cyber-fields for y'all? Hah!

Tolerance America. Here's what "harassment" is. Rub your Christian coworker's face in your perverse mockery of marriage? No problem! Enduring such obnoxiousness repeatedly, then finally being provoked into sharing your view that such behavior is (duh) immoral? Terminated for harassment! (A couple of readers noticed this after I also had.)
Regular readers — heck, for that matter, casual readers — know that I have about as much use for Roman Catholicism as I do for Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism, or any other cult. (It's called "Biblical Christianity blog" — hel-looo?) But I have to admit, I like a man who actually seems to believe what he says he believes. Like Bishop Thomas Tobin. Evidently he actually believes what the RCC claims for itself, and doesn't quail and cower before the name "Kennedy." When pro-abort Rep. Patrick Kennedy tried the lame dodge, “the fact that I disagree with the hierarchy on some issues does not make me any less of a Catholic,” Tobin called him on it. "[W]hen someone rejects the teachings of the Church, especially on a grave matter, a life-and-death issue like abortion, it certainly does diminish their ecclesial communion, their unity with the Church," he fired back. Then he continues: "Congressman, I’m not sure whether or not you fulfill the basic requirements of being a Catholic," and he calls Kennedy to repentance and conversion.
Now, me, I call both men to repentance and conversion. But I do admire a man who is straightforward, and who doesn't seem to be playing games about his religion.
Leading me, inevitably, to think of some of evangelicalism's walking, talking unpaid-bills, and the apparent lack of courage among its leaders in calling to similar repentance and conversion.
Hunh. Who knew Jumbotrons could be fun? Well, this guy, and this guy. Now, in Korea, you don't even need a Jumbotron. (Thanks to reader Tim Margheim for the first tip.)
Reader Julie Garrett knows we'll like this Legoptical illusion, the work of Erik Johansson, whose site has some disturbing images.

This is just weird. Remember the much-watched 23rd congressional district race in NY? Where the DIABLO candidate Dede Scuzzywhatchadingdong dropped out, and Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman nearly won, but conceded? And the Donk candidate was instantly sworn in and supported Obamacare, which persuaded one GOP congressman to jump ship, all of which aided the bare victory of socialized medicine in the House? (Readers nod.) Turns out... the reported election results that moved Hoffman to concede were wrong, and he actually might not have lost. (Thanks to CR for the tip.)
While we're remembering, remember the Planned Parenthood clinic director we mentioned, who changed her position after seeing the sonogram of one of PP's intended victims. Well, she's getting flak for her change. "Nor surprised," you say. Yeah... but from her "church"? Perhaps you'll understand better when I add that it's an Episcopalian church.
Reader Pam Siegrfied watched a Huckabee interview of the young lady, Abby Johnson.
Staying with Legos, here's a Lego Lunch Succeed.

Think you've seen every kind of clock there is? I'll bet not.

If she cries, she dies. Mercy, that sounds like a setup for a Twilight Zone episode. What would it be like, raising such a child, fearful (though no fault of hers) of doing anything that might make her cry?
Mm. Poor kitties, or Feline Cone of Silence?
Fellow Joe-lovers might enjoy this cute (and informative) coffee info chart. Warning: one bad word, and one bad acronym.
So first you think, "I'd like to know the story behind that." Then you think, "Wait -- maybe not so much."

You have probably seen the video of the drunk woman who falls in front of a subway train and is spared. Thanks to an anonymous reader, we learn the driver prayed that the woman would be unhurt. I wonder whether anyone has pointed out Proverbs 23:29-35 to the drunken woman who almost gave that driver a lifetime of undeserved nightmares. We do know she thinks she does not have a drinking problem.
No relation. Trust me on this. Neither the kid nor (especially) his parents.
With so many homeschooling readers, odds are that at least some of you are into....

And hey! Look at the funny pictures!

"Charlie bit me" (he sang)

2009-11-12T15:41:00.000-08:00

One of the funniest videos I've ever posted — at least, if you ask my boys and me — is the "Charlie bit me" remix.

And now... it's been "auto-tuned"!

Veteran's Day

2009-11-11T18:19:00.000-08:00

In America, today is Veteran's Day, the day we honor the men and women willing to lay down their lives for our rights and freedoms. I characteristically thank those I know who have served our country in its military.

To all my readers who have served, who stood ready to give that last full measure of devotion, from the Phillips family's heart: thank you for being the "sword" that keeps down the forces of lawless violence.

If you would like to do more than just say "thank you," one good work is Soldiers' Angels.

Olive Tree sale: 23% off!

2009-11-11T11:13:00.000-08:00

Use this coupon to get 23% off of almost al products when you purchase through their web site.

Visionary vs. Airy Vision

2009-11-11T08:29:00.000-08:00

You'll both smile and be sad.

I do not, however, agree with the message the end. As far as I know, there is no reason to impeach Obama.

Until there's a change of heart among the ignorant, deluded masses who either (A) voted for him, or (B) enabled his election by abstaining or going third party, nothing has really changed. It wasn't a coup. Obama was elected by fools. Unrepentant fools wouldn't want nor support a better, truly visionary, remotely-Constitutional, pro-American president.

"Pendragon: Sword of His Father" — movie review

2009-11-10T04:33:00.000-08:00

Movie: Pendragon: Sword of His Father
Length: 110 min
Rated: [Phillips family rating: PG]
Starring: Aaron Burns, Andrew Burns, Chad Burns, Marilyn Burns, Nicholas Burns, Raymond Burns (— noticing a theme, here?), Erik Dewar, Wally Patton (—hey! how'd they get in?)
Director: Chad Burns
Producers: Ray, Chad, Marilyn, Andy, Aaron and Nick Burns
Screenplay: Burns Family Studios

Whoa. It's like... a Burns-a-palooza. Can that possibly be good?

Read on.

My dear wife pointed this movie out to me. First impression came through the trailer. I clicked with low expectations... and for the first 30 seconds or so, thought, "Wow, this actually looks cool."

Then the first actor spoke, and I thought, "Uh-oh."

So when we made this a Burger Night movie for the whole family, I said, "This movie may be a disaster, I really don't know what to expect." Why the warning? Several factors. To wit:

It was from an independent studio.
IMDB had no reviews, external or internal.
IMDB featured fewer than two dozen votes, total, for a movie made in 2008. And...
It was direct-to-DVD.

These are often red flags. But we watched.

What is Pendragon about?

The movie is set in Britain. The year is 411 AD. Our tale generally follows the story of Britain's King Arthur, called Artos here. Artos' father is killed, Artos is held captive, and he pursues a vision of driving the Saxons from Britain. At a pivotal point, Artos meets Lailoken (played by the director, Chad Burns), which in some legends is another name for Merlin. Artos/Arthur encounters tragedy, battle, intrigue, treachery, love, and challenges to his Christian faith.

Is Pendragon a good movie?

It is a remarkable movie, particularly considering its genesis (more later). It is also an uneven movie — but if one takes the movie for what it is, the good well outweighs the not-so-good.

In fact, what is good about Pendragon is almost startlingly good. We said an appreciative "Wow!" more than once. For a low-budget independent movie put together by two homeschooling Christian families, it is clear that this was a labor of love with literally not one wasted penny.

The scenery and camera-work, for instance, is sometimes remarkably beautiful and convincing. The screenshots at the official site do not highlight this aspect of the movie as they should. I think this is a regrettable choice, since Pendragon's visual feel is worth showcasing. Every aspect of the production is crafted with evident care. The movie contains some truly beautiful images of castles, green moors, smoky villages by the light of a full moon. Again, for a low-budget movie, some CGI is employed to top-notch effect.

However, my readers deserve the best. I snagged these, just for you (click to enlarge):

Additionally, the camera work is often very clever. Relatively small crowds and sets are made to look large and imposing by the use of close angles and very well-conceived pans. Dramatic cuts and editing often effectively highlight the tension. Particularly for the first 2/3 or so of the movie, Pendragon has a sure and professional feel.

Yet this too is uneven. At times, the picture is out of focus or shaky, then it snaps back to clear focus. One odd shot of the random back of a head gives a "Huh?" moment. There seem to be switches to video-quality footage at arbitrary moments.

Some edits are abrupt. A couple in particular were unintentionally amusing. For example, Artos makes an impassioned plea of the lady Wenneveria, who is then abruptly seen dashing out of the room in high-speed, hands over her face. Gales of laughter from the boys and a "What th--?" from Dad.

Plus, I'd swear that Artos' beard changes configuration within the same time-frame. In fact, a number of the beards were too neatly-trimmed for the time. These were exceptions to the overall very authentic and era-appropriate feel of the production.

The music similarly ranges from adequate to really good, stirring and enhancing. The costumes are better than those in big-studio movies in the 50s, usually looking authentic and lived-in. The sets are very well-designed, and again have a gritty, real feel to them.

The action and the battles are mostly very well-done, very impressive. Some vast flights of arrows and of flaming projectiles call to mind Peter Jackson's The Two Towers, which is an accomplishment. There are clashing swordfights, swinging trebuchets, crashing rams. Similarly, a couple of pivotal hand-to-hand duels are gripping — not Princess Bride nor Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, yet my wife and sons liked them a lot, and the boys will be watching them again.

The story is interesting and layered, if not always easy to follow. I had to pause a couple of times and ask if anyone understood what had just happened. Usually, someone did. But the transitions are not always smooth. Once, with no transition, Artos is suddenly — we have no idea how — conferring with his mentor Lailoken, whose presence is never explained.

Still, we all really appreciated two aspects of the story. Unlike most dramas set in this period, the Christian faith is present and robust. Artos and his family are Christian, Lailoken is Christian. A portion of an early worship service is shown. The expressions of faith may be anachronistic, but they are better than the usual Christian-Schmistian-what-Christian? approach of Hollywood. Also, Artos faces challenges to his faith, and not only sees them through but himself bears witness to Christ in the face of his enemies.

But now reluctantly I must come to the single, most consistent and glaring weakness of the whole: the acting. The impression I had of the trailer held true through the whole movie. It was as if a high school acting troop, or a small community theater, had been filmed in (relatively) high-quality — with amateurish acting intact.

As with the trailer, the very first words in the movie give one a lurch, an "Uh-oh." Artos' father may be played by a very good man, but he's not an actor; ditto Wenneveria's father, and ditto virtually every person with anything to say.

Perhaps worst of all is the actress who plays Wenneveria (Marilyn Burns). Unfortunately, hers is a major role. Pleasant to look at, lovely smile, probably a delightful person — but oh, my. Virtually expressionless. At critical, intense moments, she either displays no emotion whatever, or an inappropriate emotion, or she hides her face in her hands. I'm afraid her performance brought inappropriate mirth when it ought to have been moving us to other emotions.

Thankfully the actor in the main role (Artos; played by Aaron Burns) was adequate, though he's no Mel Gibson nor Sean Connery. The most "invested" performers may have been The Bad Guy (Caydern; played by Nicholas Burns) — a bit cartoonish, yet at least bringing his character to hateful life —; the little sister — who, however, did not age over the passage of time —; and the lead Saxon, tromping about, grabbing people, being menacing, and growling out Saxonspeak like an evil Schwarzeneggar.

See, they're all (or just about all) of them Burnses. And there's the weakness as well, I fear. Every other aspect of this movie was given such careful, devoted attention — effects, sets, costuming, music, camera-work — only to fall to the ground on distractingly amateurish acting. This holds even after forgiving the fact that only one of the actors playing British characters attempts a British accent.

What did your family think?

Most of what I've said represents all of our impressions.

My dear wife Valerie agreed with Jonathan and Josiah that the battles were very good, very well-done. Jonathan (10) liked the movie a lot, as did Josiah (14). Josiah felt the transitions from scene to scene were sometimes hard to follow, but he really appreciated the respectful way Christian faith was presented.

Plus — two Wilhelms!

All of us found a sequence at the end jarringly ill-conceived. No way to tell you about it without a spoiler, but you'll know it when you see it. It involves the generally expressionless Wenneveria smiling fondly at a sword, then dropping it. (The boys are still laughing about this one, and re-enacting it.)

Would you recommend it?

Having set your expectations thoroughly, yes, I would. It's fun for a family to watch together: family-friendly, Christian-friendly, earnestly-made. We were all glad we saw it together.

Also, the film truly is a remarkable achievement. One is not surprised at the awards Pendragon has accumulated. It is the realization of a vision developed by two home-schooled families, helped along by an all-volunteer assemblage. A little knowledge of the background highlights the accomplishment that this epic independent Christian film represents.

I'd like to see the Burnses again, behind the lens, bringing the same commitment to excellence and earnest, family-friendly film making to telling another story.

Only this time, put talented actors in front of the lens, to adorn the Burns' otherwise earnest and artful labor of love.

Much as I love my iPhone, this is pretty good

2009-11-09T11:00:00.000-08:00

iPhone, yay; AT&T, not so much:

Though I will say I was pleasantly surprised at AT&T's coverage on our recent trip to the Sierra. It was pretty much at least as good as Verizon, if not slightly better.

Indie version of Michael Jackson's "Beat It"

2009-11-09T00:01:00.000-08:00

I have so many cool music vids online that we could have a week of nothing-but. Here's one from Pomplamoose.

Once I got over the initial shock at the singer's interpretation, the "feel" she gives the song, I actually liked it a lot. Monday music is all about creativity and eclectics. Stick with it:

Don't quite get the random ending, though.

REQUEST: please comment on the vids themselves. If my vids make you think of other vids, don't link in comments. Email them to me (filops@yahoo.com), and if I use them I'll credit you, as usual.