JonathanLIVE

Evan Almighty - An Almighty Laugh

Posted on July 20th, 2007 by JonathanLIVE.
Categories: Evan Almighty, Movies.

The movie Evan Almighty was a clever sequel to the Bruce Almighty hit from a few years back staring Jim Carry. It was certainly funny and in it’s usually simple manner effectively conveyed a small morsel of how God’s wisdom sometimes works in our lives. The one quote I particularly enjoyed was:

How do you change the world? One Act of Random Kindness (ARK) at a time.

– God — From Evan Almighty

I recommend anybody to see this movie as it will give you a good laugh while in an entertaining manner give you a fresher perspective on a particular element of the Bible that often has been misunderstood by most. I am sure whatever your background, you will appreciate the lite hearted humour.

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Fantastic 4 - Rise of the Silver Surfer - Leaves Me With Fantastic Confusion

Posted on July 18th, 2007 by JonathanLIVE.
Categories: Fantastic 4, Movies.

I saw the Fantastic 4 - Rise of the Silver Surfer last week. There hasn’t been much of a response to this sequel probably because the story line about the wedding and the responsibilities of saving the world getting in the way of trying to live a normal live is just too unrelateable to most. Regardless of this, I enjoyed the movie all the way up until the end… that is when I was totally LOST.

If you have not seen the movie yet, I am about to blow the ending here, so stop reading if you really want to see it for yourself. My biggest problem with this movie was the ending of it…. IT MAKES NO SENSE!

Small recap here: The Silver Surfer is a servant of this monster creature that basically eats planets to survive. The reason the Silver Surfer is serving this thing is because as long as he does, the monster will not go to his planet and eat it along with his wife whom Jessica Alba reminded him of… thus where the relationship was forged between the Silver Surfer and the Fantastic 4… he had a little stigmata for the pretty blond.

OK… so now you know why the Silver Surfer was serving this monster planet eater. Now of course just at the climax, when this thing appears and it is about to swallow the earth up, you are thinking to yourself just how the heck are they going to beat this thing?! It was thought that their only hope was to have the Silver Surfer simply lead it away from earth, and if that didn’t happen, they (all of us) were screwed. Well (and this is where I lost it) suddenly the fate complacent Silver Surfer decides there is another way to save earth and the girl who reminded him of his love back home. He gets his surf board back takes off into the middle of the planet eating monster, and just before he does his super magic trick says “This is the end for the both of us” and blows the monster away into little cosmic dust.

Forgive me if this is just so blatantly obvious to me, but if the Silver Surfer was always capable of just killing this planet eater, why the heck didn’t he do it when it came to his planet in the beginning?!??!?! Seriously, his powers has not increased being there… if anything he was weakened after what he was put through. In the time the Silver Surfer served planet eater, I am sure it just got stronger and fatter. So the obvious question is… how the heck could the Silver Surfer just go about constantly serving this thing because it protected his own planet from being eaten, when really he could have just killed the sucker any time he wanted?!?!

I was hoping for something really cool to happen… maybe the whole world launches all its nukes at once at this thing… maybe Mr. Fantastic gets stretched into a giant sling shot and the Silver Surfer changes his molecular makeup to be able to sling the planet eater into the sun… who knows… but to have it where the Silver Surfer was capable of destroying this thing the whole time and he does… that just sucks as far as telling a story goes. It is almost like the movie makers came to the end and went.. ‘oh crap, how does this end anyways?’ … and the first idiot who came up with an idea (ie. Silver Surfer turns around and kills it with a big burst of Silver Surfer power) got the go ahead.

The movie could have been better if the writers made the underlying storeline to be more relateable to the audience, and gave it an ending that was not such a planet eater sized disappointment.

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Named Must Your Fear Be

Posted on July 18th, 2007 by JonathanLIVE.
Categories: Quotes.

Named must your fear be before banish it you can.
- Yoda

This has been added to my collection of random quotes here

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Martyrdom of The Bab

Posted on July 9th, 2007 by JonathanLIVE.
Categories: The Bab.

On July 9, 1850, the Bab was publicly martyred in front of tens of thousands of onlookers. The day is now commemorated as a Baha’i Holy Day. The story of the Bab is a powerful one. Many do not know it, but historians and theologians alike have written various works on the striking parallels of The Bab (which in English means ‘The Gate’) and the life of Jesus Christ and His ministry.

Right now you are listening to a very special production that was done by Baha’i youth back in the early 1980s. It is called A Midsummer Noon and it gives an account from various people in the life of the Bab describing their own unique experiences of knowing Him in their lives. Then at the end it reaches it’s climax with the powerful reenactment of the public execution of the Bab.

For the full story of the significance of the Bab and what He accomplished in the Revelation I have posted a special transcript that was taken from another audio account of the life of the Bab in a very abbreviated formate the short life of the Bab. I have also included A Midsummer Noon there also if you would like to continue to listen to it while you read. If you have any comments to make about the story, or have corrections, please do post them. Midsummer Noon July 9 1850

If you would like to get the original MP3 copies of the story, please leave me a comment and I will send you a link to download them. I recorded them off of a tape, so the sound quality is not the greatest. I fixed it up as best I knew how, but I am no audio tech.

For your quick reference the following is a snip from the full account of the Bab in Midsummer Noon July 9 1850:

This curtain rises to the final act in the great drama, such as history had never witnessed before. Conscious of His own end fast approaching, the Bab put all His writings, pen case, seals and rings in a box, and through a Letter of the Living, sent them to Bahi’u'llah. Included was a very finely written three hundred sixty derivatives of the word Baha in the shape of a pentacle. During the last few months of His captivity in that fortress, He revealed the Arabic Bayan.

Now is the midsummer of 1850, to be exact, the first days of July. Amir-Nizam sent the order to the governor, Hamzih Mirza, to transfer the Bab to Tabriz which he did. Then the second order came to execute the Bab which Hamzih Mirza refused to do. Two years earlier in another province, Hamzih Mirza had admired Mulla Husayn and had given great consideration towards him. He absolutely refused to slay an innocent descendant of the prophet. Amir-Nizam assigned his own brother, who was the messenger to the governor, to carry out the task.

The Bab’s green turban and sash which indicated His lineage were removed by the attendants who took Him on foot from the house the governor had put at His disposal to the barracks. On the way to the barracks, a barefoot youth threw himself at the feet of the BAb, beseeching Him, “Send me not from Thee, O Master, wherever Thou goest suffer me to follow Zee.” The Bab replied, “Muhammad`Ali, arise and rest assured that you will be with Me. Tomorrow you shall witness what God has decreed.” As you recall, this had been promised to him two years earlier in a vision and foretold about four years earlier when He said His farewell to Uncle `Ali.

That night in that room by the square of the barracks, the Bab was joyous. His mission, in spite of the opposition and tyrannies, was fully accomplished, and the next day, to the utmost desire of His heart, He would be sacrificed in the path of Baha’u'llah. He told His disciples on His last night on earth, that He preferred to meet His death at the hand of a friend rather than at the hands of the enemy which dumbfounded His disciples. Only Muhammad `Ali dared to accept the task as his companions tried to restrain him. The Bab said, “This very youth who has risen to comply with My wish will, together with Me, suffer martyrdom. Him will I choose to share with me its crown.”. Then He added, “Verily, Muhammad`Ali will be with Us in paradise.” What a priceless bounty.

The sun hesitatingly arose that infamous summer day, but by noon covered its face to the shameful crime committed by men similar to that day on Calvary centuries before. The Bab instructed His scribe and his brother to recant their faith to be able to relate the final events and words for posterity. The scribe, Siyyid Husayn-i-Yazdi, later was martyred during the blood-bath of Tehran in 1852, the year Baha’u'llah was put in the Siyah-Chal. As the Bab was talking to His scribe, the chief attendant came, pushing the scribe aside, and said he had to take the Bab for His death sentence from the clergy. The Bab told him, “Not until I am finished, even if all the armaments of the world arise against Me, they would be incapable to deter me from what I have to do.” The attendant ignored His admonishment and took Him and the youth for their sentencing. This walk through the streets of Tabriz was in contrast to His entry into the city three years earlier. As they went from house to house, each clergy refused to see the Bab face-to-face and had the death warrant signed and sealed, ready to give to the attendant. The stepfather of the youth tried to persuade him to change his mind by bringing his young boy to him but his resolve remained unshaken.

While they were taken for their death sentence, the commander of the Armenian regiment, Sam Khan, who had the assignment for the execution, ordered his regiment of seven hundred fifty men to the square, but felt more and more uneasy about the task.

On that July 9, 1850, close to noon, the Bab and the youth were returned to the square Sam Khan could no longer resist the voice of his conscience. The prisoner looked kind and compassionate and, after all, He had not done any crime. So he approached the Bab and said, “I am a Christian and have nothing against you. If your Cause is divine, enable me to free myself from the obligation to shed your blood.” To this, the Bab replied, “Follow your instructions. If your intention is sincere, the Almighty is surely able to relieve you from your perplexity.”

The square and surrounding rooftops were packed with ten thousand spectators. A nail was driven in the wall to which the Bab and His disciple were suspended with ropes. At the youth’s request, his head was placed on the chest of his Master to shield it. The soldiers were lined in three rows. The order was given. One row fired after another. When the smoke of the musket guns lifted, the Bab had disappeared and Muhammad-’Ali was standing by the wall under the nail, smiling and unconcerned. The onlookers cried, “Siyyid-i-Bab gha’ib shud.” “Siyyid-i-Bab has gone from our sight.” A frantic search followed. The Bab was found in the same room He had spent His last night, finishing His earlier interrupted conversation with His scribe. He told the chief attendant, “Now I am finished. Carry on your duty.” He remembered the words of the Bab earlier, and terror-stricken, ran away and resigned his post. Sam Khan, also stunned, removed his men from the square and refused to repeat it even if his refusal meant the loss of his own life.

Aqi Jan-i-Khamsih, a Muslim, volunteered to perform the shameful act. As his regiment lined up for firing, they tied up the Bab and the youth in the same manner on the same spot. The Bab addressed the crowd with these final words, “O wayward generation! Had you believed in Me, every one of you would have followed the example of this youth, who stood in rank above most of you, and willingly would have sacrificed himself in My path. The day will come when you will have recognized Me; that day, I shall have ceased to be with you.”

At noon on July 9, 1850, seven hundred fifty bullets united their two bodies but the face of the Bab was untouched. The curtain falls on the final act with a gale of sandstorm darkening the day until the evening. When night fell they dragged the bodies through the streets of Tabriz and threw them at the edge of a moat surrounding the city with guards stationed. Next morning the Russian consul took an artist who made a drawing of thee remains. Sulaymin Khan, the prominent and faithful disciple who had attained the presence of the Bab in Chihriq, had come from Tehran to rescue his master, but that was not to be. Knowing the mayor of Tabriz and through his help, the bodies were rescued under the eyes of the guards and taken by Sulayman Khan to a silk factory of a Babi in Milan. They were enshrouded and hidden under bales of silk, and the next day placed in a wooden casket and carried away to safety. As soon as the news of rescue reached Baha’u'llah, He assigned Sulayman Khan to move them to Tehran.

Shiraz, the Bab’s birthplace and where He declared Himself but treated Him so harshly, experienced that same year an earthquake, aggravated by cholera and famine. Mirza Taqi Khan-i-Amir-Nizam and his brother met their death within two years by the order of the young king. Of the firing squad who slayed the Bab, two hundred fifty with their officers died the same year in an earthquake. The rest of the five hundred, as punishment for mutiny, were shot twice by a firing squad and their bodies pierced with lances and spears.

Forty years after His martyrdom, Baha’u'llah, standing by a cluster of cypress trees on Mount Carmel, pointed to `Abdu’l-Baha where the Holy Dust should be laid to rest. `Abdu’l-Baba built the shrine on that spot.

After fifty lunar years of keeping the remains in various hidden locations in Iran, it arrived in `Akka on January 31, 1899. Ten years later on Naw-Ruz of 1909,`Abdu’l-Baha deposited the casket containing the remains of the Bab and His companion within the vault of the shrine He had built. Shoghi Effendi, forty years later, adorned the shrine built by `Abdu’l-Baha with a beautiful superstructure crowned with a golden dome.

The memory of the sacrificial life of the Bab will be forever remembered and revered by all Baha’is throughout the world.

For more information on the Baha’i Faith and The Bab, please visit the Official Baha’i International Community website.

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Transformers The Movie

Posted on July 8th, 2007 by JonathanLIVE.
Categories: Transformers, Movies.

Transformers is the #1 movie to see for the summer of 2007. Being a Generation Xer, I grew up with the Transformers. I loved the cartoon, I loved the toys, and now, I love the movie.

Transformers are a simple classic of good vs evil in the metaphor of robots that are capable of taking any form that is common place to us. The transformational aspect of the Transformers illustrates the need for the human condition to look beyond what we think something is on the surface, because what really matters, is what is on the inside. For the Transformers, it means turning from an inanimate object, into a living being.

The Dreamworks movie makers have outdone themselves in the making of this classic story. I was lucky enough to watch the making of Transformers just before I saw the movie. I was so impressed with how they turned away from CGI for all the action scenes, including really blowing up actual cars, having real cars fly, and actually having the actors running through and getting blown up in the explosions. What was also interesting about the making of the movie was the liberal multiple ‘fun takes’ they allowed the actors to take during filming. You better believe the DVD is going to be a MUST HAVE with all the behind the scenes clips in it and the fun takes where they let the actors themselves improvise on the script and come up with funny if not witty alternative lines.

I understand this is only the first one. We all know there will be more. However, I do hope they give more attention to the actual Autobot and Decepticon characters. In this movie there was a basic introduction as to who they were, but not enough about what each of them represented as a character. I can still remember all those cartoon episodes where the various Transformers went through various conditions where they had to go through self development, and learn life lessons just like we all do. There was not enough of that in this movie. I think being a Transformer kid I was able to fill in those blanks, but for those who just have no idea, it might have made all the Transformer characters appear somewhat shallow and simple.

I highly recommend EVERYONE to see this movie. It is by far one of the best movies I have seen in a long time.

I have opened a nice gallery of images for you to see just how cool this movie is.

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