Movie Review

I know some of these movies are older and some all have been reviewed before.  But with a sick kid, I have lots of time on my hands.

Equilibrium -

This movie was phenomenal and not just because it was a spectacular shoot em up but the visuals were amazing.  To be honest the world Wimmer created was a bit reminiscent of so many future worlds that it bordered on over done.  The parallels to religion of the Tetragrammaton are blatant and unrepentant.  This is more than just a bit distracting to someone who is a christian.  However, it does do a good job in displaying the corruption that can take place when the religion is controlled by the State.  

[aside: I am a staunch supporter of the separation of church and state in keep State out of my Church but my religious beliefs will always influence my political beliefs. ]

The use of the drug Prozium to control/remove the emotions of the public makes me think of the trend to medicate every problem we have rather than try to fix it.  

The struggle of the main character John Preston with his emerging emotions is a bit ironic given it is the control of those emotions that has given him the skills to overcome "The Father" and the Tetragrammaton.  It is also the control over those emotions that he must master to complete his task.  This is evident in the use of the "gun kata" throughout the movie and the "gun fighting" that is the ending.  The martial art that is this way of the gun also a good example of this since a key to many "martial arts" is the control of ones emotions.  

There was a bit of disappointment in that this didn't provide a true sense of freedom from the control.  There was no release, there was lots of build up talking about emotions, then there was a short talk about the need to control emotions but it bordered on the same drivel spouted by "The Father".  

All in all, even though most of my statements are negative I did enjoy this movie mainly for the wonderful action.  The fight choreography was some of the most inventive I have seen in a long time.  The blending of CGI and live action in the scenary is amazing based on the small budget.  This was a wonderful early contribution from a young director.

Expelled: So the best Darwinists can come up with is Aliens?

OK, I know I am biased. I am a christian and a firm believer in my creator and his design for my life. That being said, I am appalled by what is going on in our scientific community. I was amazed that so many of the "greatest minds in science" are so closed minded on the subject and that they are applying their belief system and politics before they apply good scientific thinking. The very thing they are screaming those in favor or at least open to Intelligent Design are doing.

In my education I had the privilege to be taught by some science instructors that taught me some basics of scientific thinking. One of the most important principles is that everything is theory until proven. The difference between law and theory is a law is proven through repeatability among other things. As far as I have seen there are several factors in evolution that can not be reproduced, nor have any explanation that does not require "faith" to believe. (Which is one of the reasons they say Intelligent Design can not be good science, because it requires "faith".) The most glaring of these is how an inorganic world created life. No scientist has any evidence as to what created life. Most of these "greatest minds in science" would entertain a theory of an alien life form "seeding" our planet to create life but will not even consider that life could have been directed by some form of intelligence. Another is a phenomenon called "spontaneous evolution". This is where in some mutation a million years worth of evolution happens in almost an instance.

This brings me to my most favorite principle. (I can not honestly say this is truly a scientific principle or just one of open mindedness that should be in science) Lack of evidence for something is not evidence against. Noteworthy, is the fact that this is the explanation used by evolution scientists to explain the two points in the previous paragraph. Each of the scientists in the film stated that the reason there is no "Intelligent Designer" is that there is no evidence to support it. So, using this admission and the same logic scientists use to prove their own theories, no scientist can conclusively say "there is no God" because there is no evidence either way.

One of my most favorite instructors had this philosophy: As a true scientist I am open to the disproof or alteration of all "laws" of science. To explain this he stated "I know that each time I drop this pencil it will fall to the table because of gravity. However, if it didn't one time would not completely surprise me."

As I see it, there is little difference between Darwinism and Religion (any). They both require "faith" in things unseen. They have a loyal following that believes that the other is wrong and that there is evidence the other is wrong. They have either in the past or currently taken steps to disallow the opposing view in academics.

Now we come to the scary part, if there is no designer, no purpose, we are just clumps of matter, atoms floating around and nothing we do matters. There is no conscience, no morality, no creativity, no intelligence for that matter. Because if you reduce us to simply complex patterns of atoms, we are no different from the rock. And survival of the fittest is the only law. What does that mean for the future of the weakest? What empowerment and justification can that lead to? We've seen one such empowerment and justification. It was the justification used in the Holocaust. This is not shock factor, this is fact. (OK, before you start, I know all of the atrocities done in the name of a religion, and can probably name as many as you can.)

The belief that we are nothing but atoms arranged interestingly is the most scary part. Imagine how much life is worth with that view.

Introducing the Dooley Family

Okay, I admit blogging is not really my thing; however, I am going to make a go at it and see if it catches on for me. Let me begin by introducing the Dooley family.


Me - Diane

I'm turning 30 this year. I am married to my best friend and have 2 wonderful children, James and Michaela. I grew up as an Army brat and lived in Germany, Georgia, Texas, Arizona, and California, before finally settling in Lakewood, Colorado when I was in 5th grade. I graduated high school from Green Mountain High School, class of 1996. My parents moved us to Texas (where they both grew up) in October of 1997. Since that time many things happened: I had my first child, James; I graduated from the University of North Texas with my B.S. in Emergency Administration and Planning; I currently work for FEMA and love it; I got to marry my best friend; and now we have our beautiful daughter, Michaela.

My wonderful husband is Brent. He just turned 30 in January (He's almost exactly 6 months older than me, so I can call him an old man!) We have been best friends since we met in February 1998 through the College Life ministry of Denton Bible Church. When He has been there for me through all my stupidity and trials and tribulations and I have been there for him through all of his too. Well he finally came to his senses and realized after 8 years that I was the woman he wanted to marry.








Our son James is turning 7 next Saturday. We are having a Star Wars themed party for him, since Star Wars is his latest obsession. I say "latest obsession" because he has a tendency to become completely engrossed in things and has his whole life. When he was a baby/toddler, he LOVED Blue's Clues. LOVED it! He watched it with a great deal of interest. Then he was obsessed with dogs (still is actually), the movie Cars, and an assortment of other things including his life long love of television. He is incredibly smart. He's reading at a level M (which I think is a late 2nd grade or 3rd grade level). He can already do math exceptionally well and loves math (he sure didn't get that from me). He has always been amazingly able to understand shapes. I think he'll be an engineer or architect. He has other goals though, he wants to take over for George Lucas.


And then there is our little Princess Michaela. She was born in September 14, 2006. She has quite a personality too. Oh she just cracks us up!
She's a little show off, she loves to dance and "sing". She is a big time "talker" too, we just don't know what all she's trying to tell us yet though. Although she has several toy cell phones, she only wants to play with mommy's. She could care less about t.v. (how different she and James are!) and would rather play with her blocks and cups. She has also decided that hunting for Easter Eggs is just about the funnest thing in the whole wide world to do.

Everyone who knew me when I was a child swears that she and I look just alike...act alike too.


Well, that's the Dooley family....stay tuned for more to come.