Deatlhy Hallows Part 1

I have to agree with Brandi, there are really no movies that are worth going to a midnight premiere of. What are we really gaining if we see the movie at midnight instead of going opening weekend or opening week?
"Dude, what's wrong with you?"
"Watched the midnight showing of (insert new epic movie here) movie last night. I didn't get to bed until after three. It was awesome though!"
We're begging for this response, "Yes well, I can still function correctly. I'll be watching it this evening. We can talk about it tomorrow."

That said, I've been known to go to midnight movies on occasion. The first one that I saw was in high school with some friends. We went to see the second Matrix movie. We also went to see the third one at midnight as well.
Harry Potter 6 and now Harry Potter 7 part 1 I can add to my list of midnight movies.

So, what is the point of staying up past an unreasonable hour to go see a movie? Because my friends go. Because now, not only can we talk about how great the movie was, we can also talk about our friend that got a free ticket. We can also talk about how when the guy was talking to us before the movie started his walkie-talkie went off quite loudly announcing "Theater 3 has no sound" followed by someone in the crowd yelling, "Which theater are we in?" (We were in 10 by the way, so no worries). We can talk about all of the people that dressed up. Heck, some of us even dressed up.
We can also talk about the awesome trailers that we got to see before the movie (like this one).

Also, we can now joke about how out of it were the day after, sort of like a midnight movie hangover. So, maybe the movie itself, though fantastic, wasn't worth staying up late, but hanging out with friends was.

One Big Table

When it comes to meeting college students, I've come up with a fool-proof plan. It involves a bright orange shirt with a spork on the back (I even met my wife while wearing that shirt). But when it comes to meeting older folks, I tend to freeze up. And if said older folk has any sort of fame attached to them, the more awkward I can be (the phrase "You're number one in our book" comes to mind).
And yet, Friday night, I found myself at Erin's Restaurant torn between enjoying my dinner and wondering what I was going to say to Molly O'Neill when she finally showed up. She's spent the past ten years traveling around the country in an attempt to determine whether or not America really has stopped cooking for themselves (thankfully she has come to the conclusion that it hasn't). The result of her travels is a cookbook containing 600 recipes. Weighing in at 5.5 pounds this is quite possibly the most intimidating cookbook ever. I mean, I wouldn't want to meet it in a dark alley at night.
After my food was eaten and the bill was paid I made my way over to her table and we began to chat. Well, mostly she asked me questions about myself and Brandi (who wasn't there at the time, but she signed the cookbook to her). All in all, it was a good experience. Brandi ended up being able to meet her towards the end and after quasi-swapping contact information we parted ways.
Who knows, maybe this positive experience in meeting a semi-famous person and not making a fool of myself will lead to other opportunities. There is a Relient K concert in about a month....

Was I jumping to conclusions?

I posted last night about the people who came onto Winthrop's campus yesterday to preach. My initial reaction was of disgust and dismay that once again there are people out there giving Christians a bad name.
But I watched a video from that the school paper posted on youtube and I've got to say that it wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting. Then I started thinking about the people who were telling me what happened yesterday and that I'm not sure that either of them are believers. And if they aren't believers than how can they be reliable sources for retelling something that may have involved the Gospel.
At the same time, that video was only two minutes out of the something like five hours that they were on campus.

So, tell me, if you saw or heard anything yesterday what was it? Is it as bad as what I was told or were they just warning people of the consequences of sin?

Winthrop never makes it in the news for something good

I love Winthrop, I really do. But can we please make the news for something other than our President being involved with hit and runs or a fraternity getting caught partying it up in a U-haul going down Cherry Rd.
In Winthrop's defense it wasn't their fault the people hater's that call themselves Christians came to campus.
I must say though, by all accounts, the true believers on campus really stepped up to the plate and called these guys to the carpet. Or at least they got up and preached the Gospel of love and redemption instead of hate and hopelessness and that is exciting to me.

I wish that I could have been there to see and experience this first hand.

"Happy October!" or "Two Blogs in One Week...Crazy!"

I bought candy corn the other day. It was a mixed bag containing regular candy corn, candy corn pumpkins (my favorite in the candy corn family) and the kind-of-weird-but-still-tasty chocolate candy corn. For me, this was the welcoming of Fall, my favorite season.
I love the warm colors and the cool temperatures. Fall also means football. I've actually been able to watch a couple of Clemson games this season which is something I haven't been able to do in a couple of years.
And, Fall means that the holiday season is right around the corner (confession: Relient K's "Santa Claus is Thumbin' to Town" came on shuffle the other day and I didn't skip it). To be honest, I'm still trying to figure out my thoughts on Halloween but I will hopefully get the opportunity to get lost in a corn maize this year.
Another holiday staple that I enjoy are the shaped Reese's candies. Right now there are the pumpkins but shortly there will be the Christmas trees followed by Hearts in February and Eggs during Easter.

What about you? What is your favorite season and how do you celebrate it's beginning?

SCL: Copying Popular Fads

(This is my entry in a writing contest for Stuff Christians Like. I hope you enjoy.)

The bookstore that I work at was one of the first places to start selling Silly Bandz. In case you don’t know what Silly Bandz are (or their equivalents; Zany Bandz, Crazy Bandz, Insert Synonym Here Bandz, etc…), they are rubber bandz that have been molded into various shapes. Sounds simple right? Nothing too special? Tell that to the kid who exclaimed to me at work one day, “I’ve only got 90 of them!” as she held up both of her arms that were adorned with so many colors that Joseph himself might have gotten jealous. Because the bookstore was one of the first venders of these things, I had the rare opportunity to watch this fad grown into fruition.

I was born in the late ‘80s, so I was in on the end of the slap bracelet phenomenon. I was on the front lines of the P.O.G. revolution as well as the Tamagotchi invasion and the Pokémon card wars. Over the years, I’ve learned the pattern of fads. And I knew that, eventually, the Christian companies were going to stick their products into the mix. Sure enough, since the fad began I have seen no less than four different sets of Christian-themed Silly Bands come into the store.
I don’t think that there is anything wrong with Christians making their version of the current fad, but what if, instead of going on the defensive by copying fads, we went on the offensive by creating fads? We had the W.W.J.D? Bracelet phenomenon back in the ‘90s and that was cool, but I think that we’re long past due for creating a new fad.

What about coins that bear the faces of various Bible characters? People like Paul, Steven, David, Moses, Jesus of course; the possibilities are endless! They could take them to school and trade them with friends. And, as a bonus, teachers can’t take them away without looking like sinners.
Or what about T-shirts with fake advertisements that reference obscure Bible stories. Even though the concept of fake ad shirts isn’t new, we could make up our own.

Got She-bear problems? Call Eli @ 2SA-M224
Right-handed assassin not getting the job done? Call JUD-G315

Or, for the less morbid:

Tax troubles? Call MAT-1727 and we will help you fish for a solution.

What are your ideas?

*Edit: All of the 's's have been changed to 'z's. I should have known that the only thing that could make these rubber bands cooler is to make them rubber bandz.

Coney Island

It should be stated that I love amusement parks. And because of a venture out West that I took with a friend a few years ago with Campus Crusade for Christ, boardwalk parks have a special place in my heart. So when the opportunity came to go to New York, Coney Island was on the top of my to-do list.

The main ride that I wanted to experience was the Cyclone, which was built back in the early 1920's. In 1968, it was declared a New York City landmark and in 1991 it was placed on the National Registrer of Historic Places.

There is a legend that speaks of a coal miner who had aphonia (which means he couldn't talk). Even though he hadn't spoken in years, he screamed on the way down the coaster's first drop. As the train returned to the station, he said, "I feel sick" and promptly fainted at the realization that he had spoken.

Coney Island is also the home of the Polar Bear Clubs, those crazy people who jump into freezing waters. Why do they do it? For health reasons. Many people who have tried this say that they haven't been sick since. They believe that swimming in cold water at least once a week will strengthen the immune system and make them stronger.

Fact or fiction: feel free to decide for yourself.

photo by voigti fox behind the lens