Nate Fleming's Blog, page 37
August 3, 2014
Noah (2014)
Will be rewatching Noah tonight with my mother’s church, and having a discussion afterwards. This is a great reflection on the theology of the film, and hits many of the points I want to discuss. Well done, Jason!
Originally posted on ponderings:
At the sound of his name, Noah has become quite a controversial figure these days. The film has been declared “unbiblical” by many, while deeply theological by others. (For example, there is this YouTube video that someone thought I needed to see after posting a comparison chart and some discussion questions.) What follows is a theological reflection on the film. I know that there will be some readers who will disagree with me, and that is okay. I am assuming that you have seen the film. If not, I recommend reading this spoiler-free review.
Entertainment Weekly was perhaps one of the first outlets to say that the director
faithfully follows the message of the slim biblical text in the Book of Genesis, but he fills the gaps with spectacular CG effects, Tolkien-esque creatures
The film is based on the Genesis narrative of Noah, the man who found grace…
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August 2, 2014
Thimblerig’s Ark Reduced Rate • for a limited time!
For the next few hours you can still download Thimblerig’s Ark for only $1.99, and then it goes up to $2.99. Hurry up and get your copy now!
I Don’t Want Kent to Die
What he said.
Originally posted on Ramblings of a Seeker:
How you do life is your real and final truth, not what ideas you believe. -Richard Rohr
THEOLOGY MATTERS. MOSTLY.
I love theology and Bible study and good, healthy debate. What we think about Jesus matters, but only so far as it prompts us to action. This sounds harsh, but I really don’t care what your theology is if you’re on the broad road with everybody else. If you’re part of the individualistic, materialistic, comfort-driven crowd who hasn’t sacrificed so much as a scrap of life for another person, then I just don’t care about your theology. As Jesus said, the wise man hears Jesus’ words and puts them into practice. The fool hears them and does nothing.
Think of the number of us who listen to (and preach) sermons, read (and write) dozens of blogs, tweets, and Facebook posts every week telling us what to think about God…
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July 31, 2014
Guardians of the Galaxy – Thimblerig’s Review
Tonight, I took my kids to our final summer blockbuster of the year before we head back overseas in a week, and Guardians of the Galaxy ended the summer on a great note. Being that I live in China, I don’t often get to see films on their opening, much less a day before, so this was a real treat for me.
Before I get to the review, I have to ask you, dear reader, if you know the names Jason Heyman or Julie Darmody? These are the folks who represent Chris Pratt, and they must be pretty proud of themselves at this moment, because Mr. Pratt is on a roll.
First, Pratt has starred as the goofy and lovable Andy Dwyer for years on Parks and Recreation (I like Andy, but I’m more of a Swansonite, myself); then he performs strong supporting roles in such critically acclaimed films as Moneyball and Zero Dark Thirty; Pratt’s next big role was providing the voice of main character Emmet Brickowski in the spring’s uber-popular The Lego Movie; then he won the part of Peter Quinn, the lead in this review’s subject film; and finally he took over one of the leading roles in one of next summer’s highly anticipated movies, Jurassic World, after Josh Brolin left the pic.
Good on you, Chris Pratt, as you seem to be a pretty decent guy. I wish you all the best in your present and future endeavors.
But now to Guardians of the Galaxy.
I’ve been reading some of the reviews that have been going up for the past couple of days, and was encouraged by the positive responses I was reading. At the same time, the positive reviews also made me a bit nervous, as they started to build up a film that had previously only moderately gotten my interest.
I mean, I read comics as much as anyone when I was a kid, but the film’s incarnation of the Guardians of the Galaxy came around in the mid 2000’s, when I was living in Kazakhstan and completely out of the loop when it came to comic lore. When the news came out that Marvel would be making this film, my response may have been a shrug, but I just don’t remember. I do remember that I just didn’t care very much.
That started to change when the first trailer was released, and I realized that this was going to be a movie that had some interesting characters, and didn’t take itself too seriously (Marvel’s secret formula?). I didn’t quite get the music from the 1970’s playing in the trailer for a big space movie, but that just made it more intriguing.
But I really started to care when I saw the less-than-stellar summer movie lineup that we were facing. I remember sitting in China back in early June, looking over the release dates for the summer, thinking, “What a big fat zero of a summer for movies!” When part IV of a Transformers franchise is the only interesting popcorn flick on the horizon, you know you are in trouble. And we were, I thought. I thought so moreso after actually watching the curiously pro-Sino trainwreck that was Transformers: Age of Extinction.
And then I paused as I looked at August 1, and saw that Guardians was coming. What’s this? A big summer movie that is not a sequel? Something original on the skyline? Something that looks funny and exciting? A family movie in space?
My interest was piqued.
And so, with a week left on our time in the U.S., I packed up the kids and drove 45 minutes away to Danville, Virginia, for a preview showing of Guardians of the Galaxy.
It was worth it.
Director James Gunn (Super, Slither) opens Guardians with a prologue set in 1981 where we see a young Peter Quinn sitting in a hospital waiting room, listening to a walkman play a cassette tape labeled “Awesome Mix #1″, a soundtrack which almost went on to become a character in the film (the sixth Guardian?). Peter is ushered into the room where his mother lays dying of cancer, and where he’s given a final gift before she dies. Devastated, Peter runs out of the hospital and is promptly abducted by a massive alien spaceship.
You really don’t have time to wonder about this before we fast forward several years to find a mysterious masked figure making his way across the surface of a desolate alien world. It is – of course – a grown-up Peter Quinn (Pratt), doing his best Indiana Jones in space, taking a mysterious spheric relic from the ruins of an ancient alien structure. When some obviously bad bad guys show up to steal the sphere that Quinn is trying to steal, we get to watch Quinn get away in the first of many big set pieces of the film, and this is also when we’re introduced to the fact that this film will have plenty of humor.
It’s still early in the film, so it’s not a big spoiler to say that Quinn gets away from the obviously bad bad guys, and then the sphere becomes the central prop in the film to bring together the others who make the title of the film plural: We have the seemingly cold-hearted living weapon Gamora (Zoe Saldana from Avatar and Star Trek), 
Rocket Raccoon (voiced by a fantastic Bradley Cooper), the little talking raccoon who is anything but cute and snuggly; Drax the Destroyer (WWE wrestler David Bautista) who is hell-bent on revenge against Ronan the Accuser, the one responsible for the death of his family; and finally my family’s personal favorite, the tree creature Groot (Vin Diesel), who manages to communicate so much with only three words and had some of the best facial expressions of a CQI creation in a while.
We go on to spend quite a bit of time watching this group try to become a group, and failing over and over again (Avengers, anyone?). Initially, they agree to work together to sell the sphere for a huge profit, but they are finally brought together in earnest when the sphere turns out to be much more dangerous than they expected. The sphere is stolen from them by the aforementioned Ronan the Accuser, who is a maniacal xenophobe chiefly interested in committing genocide on a galactic scale, and they predictably have to learn to work together in a pretty drastic manner to get it back from him before he can begin his reign of destruction.
When we got back into the car and started heading for home, I asked my kids what they liked the most about the movie, and they both agreed that it was funnier than they thought it would be. I would agree with their assessment. The film is not the most original, following many expected beats, and not having any huge surprises, but it was fun. A whole lot of fun.
Pratt does a fantastic job with his character, mastering and mixing humor and a certain gravitas in a way that is a bit surprising in a film such as this. The script is quite clever, seemlessly inserting 1970’s and early 80’s references into a space opera in believable and humorous ways. The five main characters are also quite likable, each in their own way, with each bringing their own unique personalities to the table. For a CGI heavy movie, I found that the special effects didn’t distract me, as they usually do (Hobbit, anyone?). We did see the film in 3D, but it’s not at all necessary for this film, and it didn’t really add anything to the experience, except for the scene where Groot makes the cool floating lights.
If you’re looking for a summer popcorn movie to redeem the dearth of choices we had this year, a good movie for escaping the reality of crime and wars and disease that we see in the news each day, then Guardians of the Galaxy is a good option for you. It’s not the best of the recent Marvel movies, but it is in my top five (behind Iron Man and the Avengers). I also look forward to seeing how the minds orchestrating the future of the studio plan to link this storyline with the earth-based storylines.
Thimblerig’s Verdict: We recommend that you go have fun seeing Guardians of the Galaxy in 2D.
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But before you go to the theater, take a minute and download a copy of my novel, Thimblerig’s Ark! Available for the next couple of days for the reduced price of $1.99! Go here to check it out.
July 29, 2014
Thimblerig’s Ark Flood Sale!
One of the cool things about publishing your own books on Amazon is that you are able to set your own deals from time to time. In this case, I’ve decided to offer Thimblerig’s Ark for only 99¢ for a limited amount of time. In a couple of days, the price will go up to $1.99, and then a couple of days later it will go up to $2.99, before finally returning to the normal price of $3.99 a couple of days later. So skip over there post haste and get a wonderful novel for the same price as a 99 cent cup of coffee! Or a 99¢ movie rental! Or a 99¢ pair of sport socks! Or a 99¢…
Well, you get the idea.
And remember, you don’t need to own a Kindle to read this book! You can also download a free Kindle app for any device here, and then you can read Thimblerig’s Ark on your Ipad, or your Android, or your Atari 2600!
What are you waiting for? Run over there now and download Thimblerig’s Ark for only 99¢!
Oh. I didn’t realize that you had another tab open. Sorry. My bad. Go on about your business.
That is, if your business includes downloading Thimblerig’s Ark for 99¢!
July 27, 2014
The Christian Perception Problem at Comic-Con
I was perusing my twitter feed today, reading a bit from folks who’d been enjoying the madness that is Comic-Con when I came across this:
Wow. The Christian protestors outside #SDCC have gone high-tech. I just got a Twitter warning of condemnation from them.—
Donna Dickens (@MildlyAmused) July 27, 2014
I was a bit surprised, having never been to Comic-Con (I missed my one chance when I was in Los Angeles a few years ago. I still regret not going). Christian protestors? What’s this all about? And so I went to Mr. Google to ask him what was going on, and I found this surprisingly kind and evenly-told story over at Verge.com:
For Comic-Con’s street preachers, hate gets results
photo from here: http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/2960823/IMG_4506.jpg
I was surprised, but not, to find that a variety of Christians feel led to stand outside the pop culture beast that is Comic-Con to try and share the Gospel. It makes sense, considering that you have a huge captive audience of largely unchurched youth who are heavily invested – can I say obsessed? – in and with the entertainment culture. I do believe that God calls some to be street preachers, and I have heard some really good ones in my day, who are able to communicate the offensive message of the Gospel in a way that is well-received by some who have open hearts. However, as I read this story, I found myself thinking…
There we go again.
It’s that Christian perception problem, rearing its ugly head once more.
Why does it happen? Why do Christians – who represent the amazing and fantastic Good News of Jesus Christ – come across to much of the world as being hate-filled, small-minded, and (as the Verge writer said) showing the ugliest of faces? Yes, the idea that we all sin can be offensive. Yes, the idea that we need a savior, and that Jesus is the only savior can be offensive. Yes, the idea that hell is real and many people are going there can be offensive. But does that mean that we have to be offensive? There are many adjectives I would use to describe Jesus (who Christians are supposed to emulate), but offensive is not one of them. And yet so many Christians think that it is their calling to offend, by being hateful, small-minded, and ugly in situations like the one described by the writer of the Verge article.
Photo found here: http://www.utsandiego.com/photos/2014/jul/26/1394930/
As I was reading this article, I started thinking that it’s sad because there were plenty of Christians in attendance at Comic-Con. But these Christians were not having any articles written about them. They were not making obnoxious noise for Jesus. They are just quietly toiling away for their faith.
From the inside of Comic-Con.
I thought that it was sad that we aren’t reading stories about these Christians, because I know they are there. They are writing movies that they want to premiere at a future Comic-Con. They are creating new comic books that they’d love to have featured on the floor. They are plotting novels that would be read by the multitudes that attend. They have the same goals as the guys standing outside with their signs and their tracts, but they have invested their lives to impact not only the crowds at Comic-Con, but the culture at large.
But then I started feeling less sad about this, because of the cool, unspoken, unwritten-about thing about these men and women: they are being much more effective than the ones who are standing outside, holding signs and handing out tracts. They are living the same lives of the youth attending the pop culture beast that is Comic-Con, to a point. They walk beside those youth on a daily basis, at work, in their neighborhood coffee house, on the internet. They understand them because they love the movies, they are just as excited about the trailers being revealed, they are also willing and enthusiastically standing in the long lines for the opportunity to hear the stars talk about where their favorite shows are going, just like the youth the ones outside are trying to reach.
I want to take a moment and celebrate those quiet Christians at Comic-Con who are walking the floor, buying the merch, wanting the autographs, trying to network, because they deserve to be encouraged and supported. They are the ones who are presenting the offensive message of Christ in a way that the Comic-Con youth can receive, and they deserve our prayer and our respect.
And I hope that they get that movie made, and that it finds a huge audience at a future Comic-Con, and I can’t wait to stand in line to hear them talk about it, if I ever get a chance to attend again.
July 24, 2014
Thimblerig’s Ark 99¢ Sale Coming Soon!
Tell your friends, coming up on July 29, in honor of the release of Noah on DVD, Thimblerig’s Ark will be available for 99 cents for two days only! Then, from July 31 to August 2 it will be available for $1.99, and then from August 3 to August 5 it will be $2.99.
Please help spread the word!
And if you’ve already read Thimblerig’s Ark, please go to Amazon and write a short review. Thank you!
July 23, 2014
Remembering Afruz
I was able to speak today with Syafique Shuib, a reporter for Astro AWANI, Malaysia’s 24-hour news channel, about Afruz and his family.
July 21, 2014
July 18, 2014
A Memorial to the Family of Tambii Jee, lost on MH17
When I heard about the Malaysian airliner going down in Ukraine, I was upset, but upset in the way you are when you hear about bad things happening far away. It was a pity, but at the end of the day, my life was going on, and I had a book signing to get to. In the evening, I was on Facebook and saw an update from an old friend with whom I taught in Kazakhstan. She wrote that she was devastated, having known someone on the flight. I sent her a PM, and she wrote back that the tragedy had claimed a family we’d all known at the QSI school in Atyrau, Kazakhstan, and suddenly the far away terrible story was personal.
Tambi Jiee, 49, from Kampung Gobielt, was with his wife Ariza Ghazalee, 47, and four children from left – Mohd Afruz, 13, Mohd Afif, 19, Marsha Azmeena, and Mohd Afzal, 17.
I didn’t know the entire family well, but I did teach three of the children. Two, I only saw once a week in music class, but they were very pleasant, well-natured kids. I want to speak more specifically of the boy who was in my homeroom, Afruz, the youngest sibling, to remember him, and to honor him.
Afruz came to my fourth grade class in the middle of the year when his father was brought to Kazakhstan with Shell. He entered school with a handful of other Malaysian boys his age, as the families were brought in at the same time. When I think of Afruz, those first days, I mostly think of his smile. He was a nine-year old boy coming to a new school in a foreign country filled with kids from all over the world, who all spoke English (which he didn’t speak very well when he entered), and he could have easily been withdrawn or sulky, having to adapt to this strange new world. But he wasn’t. As I said, he was always smiling. As the year progressed, and as Afruz became more and more proficient in English, he gained more and more confidence to join in the classroom, it became evident that he had a fantastic sense of humor. All the other kids loved him, and I began to see that it was because his easy-going personality.
All three students were incredibly bright, constantly doing well in school, and pushing themselves to do better. Another friend who taught Marsha, the young daughter in the family, told me that she learned an entire year of math in four months by coming to him for an extra hour each day to do extra work and get extra tutoring. On the family’s Facebook pages, there are pictures of all three of the younger students winning science fair competitions for their age groups, and this was par for the course for these kids. These were kids who would grow up and make a difference.
My family left Kazakhstan that summer, and so my time with Afruz and his siblings was limited. I was able to keep up a bit with them from China via Facebook, as much as I did many of the students, but I wasn’t so close to the family as to maintain regular communication. Their pictures on Facebook regularly showed a loving expatriate family, always smiling, enjoying the world together. They were on flight MH17 because they had completed their time in Kazakhstan, and were returning home to Malaysia.
On Wednesday, that family was lost, senselessly, violently, in a way we all struggle to understand. We don’t know who is responsible yet, and we may never know exactly. The world’s hope is that investigators will figure it out, and whoever gave the order and whoever followed the order will face justice. But even that won’t bring back Afruz’s family, and the others who were lost.
I have to be honest. This has rocked me to the core, especially when I think of those kids, who were such wonderful members of the school community. They came from a devout Muslim family, and as a family they were fantastic representations of the Islamic faith to the rest of us. They will be sorely missed by those who knew them best. And while my understanding of God’s will has been challenged by this loss, I just can’t help but think that His mercy will extend to this family and the other 292 souls who were lost in such an unfair manner.
At least I pray that it will, because they didn’t come close to deserving to have their lives ended this way.
None of them did.
اَلرَّبُّ رَاعِيَّ فَلاَ يُعْوِزُنِي شَيْءٌ. 2 فِي مَرَاعٍ خُضْرٍ يُرْبِضُنِي. إِلَى مِيَاهِ الرَّاحَةِ يُورِدُنِي. 3 يَرُدُّ نَفْسِي. يَهْدِينِي إِلَى سُبُلِ الْبِرِّ مِنْ أَجْلِ اسْمِهِ. 4 أَيْضاً إِذَا سِرْتُ فِي وَادِي ظِلِّ الْمَوْتِ لاَ أَخَافُ شَرّاً لأَنَّكَ أَنْتَ مَعِي. عَصَاكَ وَعُكَّازُكَ هُمَا يُعَزِّيَانِنِي. 5 تُرَتِّبُ قُدَّامِي مَائِدَةً تُجَاهَ مُضَايِقِيَّ. مَسَحْتَ بِالدُّهْنِ رَأْسِي. كَأْسِي رَيَّا. 6 إِنَّمَا خَيْرٌ وَرَحْمَةٌ يَتْبَعَانِنِي كُلَّ أَيَّامِ حَيَاتِي وَأَسْكُنُ فِي بَيْتِ الرَّبِّ إِلَى مَدَى الأَيَّامِ.
مزامير 23
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
Psalm 23
