Mugen Summary for January

Volzzilla has been kind enough to give us a full summary of what was released in the Mugen Community for January 2009. If anything is missing, please feel free to speak up. Please join me in thanking Volzzilla, and all the creators in the Mugen community for their painstaking hardwork and talent!

January Marvel/DC Releases and Updates

Infinity Mugen Team’s various releases and updates:

The Infinity Mugen Team released Beta Version 4.0 of their headline team project, Marvel vs. Capcom: Eternity of Heroes. The following characters have not received independent releases and are only playable in their beta form in the game:

- The Punisher, Wolvenom, Captain Mar-Vell, Sentry

To download it, go to: Infinity Mugen Team and click projects.

Redhot, of Infinity Mugen Team has released Marvel vs Capcom 3: The Final Battle of Heroes; Beta edition

- In its Beta edition, only 6 characters are currently available but it gives you a taste of what is to come.

Ms. Marvel by UltraRoboNinja and Zvitor was updated with the following changes:

- more sprites to binary mode

- more damage and combos do binary mode

- less damage to some specials

- more faster basics

- more combos and linked with specials

- AI for binary mode

- More useful prism blast

- some beams and hit sparks changes

To read about this update, go to Miss Marvel by UltraRoboNinja and ZVitor v1.1

To download this current version, go to Infinity Mugen Team and search through the characters section

Mr. Fantastic by Zvitor was updated with the following changes:

- Satellite beam and movement

- quit propeller arms if hold down

- control glide left and right

- ball attack if kick while in glide

- less damage to FF hyper and it is level 1 now

To read about this update, go to Mr. Fantastic by ZVitor v1.1

To download this current version, go to Infinity Mugen Team and search through the characters section

Daredevil by Team Spoiler announced their updated to version 1.41 at the IMT Forum, with the following changes:

- asymmetric sprites ! (chest logo and billy club holster look right on both sides of the screen)

- new face

- new stance

- some sprites edited in the grab animation

- new intro : Born Again

To read about this update and to download, go to Daredevil v 1.41

As part of Scruffy Dragon Productions 12 days of Christmas, many releases were made in January:

Ironman version .99 was released by Magus with the following changes:

- speed and movement improved

- new acts, effects, and sprites

- fly mode and throws

- custom states (burned, electrocuted, iced)

- iron torpedo new super

- classic proton cannon added

- air strike new hyper

- ironmen assemble new hyper

To read about this release, go to On the 8th day of Christmas - Scruffydragon.com

Isela and Twinmage released their Alpha version of Darkseid.

To read about this release, go to On the 9th day of Christmas - Scruffydragon.com

Salvage Hulk version 1.0 was released by Bobstarsky and Buyog with the following additions:

Specials

- Hulk Bash (charge B, F + kick)

- Hulk Smash (D, DF, F + punch)

- Road Rage (Hold down and press all 3 punch buttons to grab some asphalt... then press any attack button to throw it)

Hypers

- Hulk Smash (hyper) (D, DF, F + 2 punches)

- Thunderclap (D, DB, B + 2 punches)

- Rage mode (D,DB,B + punch and kick of equal strength)

To read about this release, go to On the 10th day of Christmas - Scruffydragon.com

Tunglasher later upgraded the AI with a downloadable patch that was approved by Bobstarsky and Buyog. You can find it at Savage Hulk AI - Scruffydragon.com

Electro Beta version 0.4 was released by verz36 and Wucash

To read about this release, go to On the 11th day of Christmas - Scruffydragon.com

Superboy version .95 was released by Titan Goku and Seth Zankuten with totally updated gameplay changes that fit more in line with his comic counterpart.

To read about this release, go to Happy 3 Kings Day - Scruffydragon.com

At that location you can also find a brand new stage by Wucash named Titan Tower

Invisible Woman Alpha release by Angelic Charon was also announced at Scruffydragon.com

To read about this release, go to New Years Gift Release #2 of 2 from Angelic Charon - Scruffydragon.com

The Russian Killer from ‘The Punisher’ series was released by cravb at the SonicX/Team Spoiler message board. To learn more about this character you can click the following links:

Russian (comic book character) - comicvine.com

Russian (comics) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

To read about the release yourself and download, go to SonicX :: russian killer "punisher"

MarvelvsDCU’s Demon06 updated his version of the Green Lantern.

To find out more information, as well as to find the download, go to SonicX :: Green Lantern by Demon06 updated[/b]

Arellon released a number of Marvel and DC stages at the SonicX/Team Spoiler message board. Stages created focused on the following characters:

- Batman, Dr. Doom, Flash, Ironman, Joker, Red Skull, Ultron

To read about it for yourself and find the download locations, go to SonicX :: arellon Marvel vs DC Stage

Sic – 1 from Sic Graphics Mugen Team and their Amalgam project released the following stage:

Gotham Rooftops!!! Released!!!

The Unlimited released the following stages from this announcement, Unlimited :: View topic - NEW YEAR'S RELEASE OF... UNEXPECTANCY?

- GCPD Break In, Hydra Base, Scaffold, Siberian Outpost, Sanctum Sanctorum

Then, as part of their 15 days of Chinese New Years Release Party, the Unlimited released the following stages:

- Stages: League Of Assassins HQ, Gotham Bay, Crime Alley, Suicide Slum, Stamford At Dawn, A Night At The Fairgrounds

Take the following link for download locations: http://unlimited.pyche.net/downloads.htm

And finally, as part of Favorite Fiction’s release coverage of Team Omega Pwnage Supreme’s Silver Surfer version 2.0:

- Team Omega Pwnage Supreme Interview

- T.O.P.S. Silver Surfer 2.0 Review

- Promotional YouTube video plus download (make sure you click more info to find the zshare.net location): Silver Surfer Version 2 released

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Heroes: The Recruit

Well, all 5 parts for The Recruit have been released and with Volume 4 just five days away, Here is the last webisode series in a single playlist. I really enjoyed the series. I hope we see more of Private Mills in volume 4.

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Watchmen - March 6, 2008

Here is the "final" movie poster for Watchmen.

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Calm down, Putin

Yesterday, I heard of an exchange between Vladmir Putin (pictured), the Prime Minister of Russia, and Dell CEO, Michael Dell. I think Putin overreacted to a simple question.

Michael Dell:

How can we help you?" (in regards to expanding information technology in Russia)

Vladmir Putin:

"We don't need help. We are not invalids. We don't have limited mental capacity."

Talk about getting your hand bitten when you are only trying to offer a hand up. I think Putin has an inferiority complex or something. Where did the defensiveness come from? I looked up in another source to see if I could find out what happened so that I could why Putin was so rude. Another post on a different blog, suggested that some of the hostility came from over-paid consultants from America dispensed really bad advice after communism ended. The article also stated the following:

The slapdown took many of the people in the audience by surprise. Putin then went on to outline some of the steps the Russian government has taken to wire up the country, including remote villages in Siberia. And, in a final dig at Dell, he talked about how Russian scientists were rightly respected not for their hardware, but for their software. The implication: Any old fool can build a PC outfit.

Ouch!

source

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Apologetics 315: Are All Religions Created Equal? Doug Groothuis MP3 Audio

Here is a great lecture about to distinguish between religions and how to test if what they are saying is true. By Doug Groothuis (pictured)

Apologetics 315: Are All Religions Created Equal? Doug Groothuis MP3 Audio

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Top 10 Marvel Heroes of 2008

Well, I did a post for the top 10 villains of 2008, so here is Marvel's picks for the top ten heroes of the Marvel Universe in 2008. You can read the article and then watch the video!

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Murder/Suicide - Indicative of Hopelessness

We live in a society in which so many people fear the future. Many people have lost the security that they hold on to that give life their meaning. I was reminded of this because I heard today that in the Los Angeles area about a man, Ervin Lupoe, who killed his whole family - 5 young kids, wife - and killed himself. He even faxed a letter into the local television station explaining his actions. He was distraught because both he and his wife lost their jobs at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center West Los Angeles as medical technicians. The letter has been released in a redacted form, but still shows just how distraught Lupoe was. He thought that there was no hope and no one cared. In the letter, Lupoe contended that his boss told him and his wife had been better off if they had blown their brains out rather than show up for work that morning. Kaiser will not confirm this but if that had happened it could have only worsened their situation. Here is a video report:

Embedded video from CNN Video

Here is copy of that letter and here is a report. I think that we need to really ask ourselves what could have driven this man and woman to this level of despair, that you loose all hope that even your children's lives can't be improved. Because of the economic downturn, we are going to see more people loosing the things they hold on to. Ask: What do you hold on to? Your job? We all know that can be gone in an instant. What do you hold on to? What reason would you have for not giving up no matter what valley you find yourself in?

It's easy to judge. It's easy and true to say those 5 children did not deserve to die at the hands of the one who was supposed to protect them. The fact that he thought that he could not do that, could have been what sent him over the edge. With the way things are going, I have to say again, we will have more of these things go on. None of us know what we will do in a given situation. That's why I can't judge. Only by the grace of God go I. What I can say for sure is that my hope is in the one who sustains and keeps me and my family safe. Like David wrote in Psalm 37:25, I can agree:

I was young and now I am old,
yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
or their children begging bread.

Hope is important for anyone. What is yours? Who do you turn to when life falls apart (and it will to some degree of another)? I turn to the author and finisher of my faith. Jesus.

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GI Joe - Movie Data

IGN has put together a video explaining who the cast of the new GI JOE movie will be. It's well put together video. I am looking forward to the movie because I grew up with GI JOE. Time has changed so much. GI JOE was most definitely part of the American Armed forces when I was a kid. They seem to distance that image in the movie today so that all the world can embrace and identify with the characters. I kind of disagree with the idea that the movie version's cast is more diverse than the Joes have been historically. In the cartoons and movies, they had characters from every states and all races. By far Snakeeyes (pictured on the left) and Storm Shadow have always been my favorite characters from GI Joe mythology. I still think ninjas are cool. Here is the video for everything you need to know about the movie.

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Nancy Pelosi's Answer to Help Economy

At one time children were considered a gift. A treasure. How do we get to the point, as a society, where the speaker of the House of Representatives could suggest that contraception and birth control could be methods to cut costs and bring the economy back into balance. It's suggesting that children are at best an expense and at worst, a liability. I think it's only a manner of days, when someone is going to suggest abortion as a viable method to save costs. I would say that most abortions in the United States involve terminating a human life in the name of convenience. Human life has become so cheap and will become more disposable if we look at our children that way. Here is what Nancy Pelosi actually said.

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Toddler Comments on Bush

I found a video today on YouTube where a little girl lets you know right off the bat what she think of George W. Bush. I noticed by some of the comments that people thought it was in poor taste to put a child up to this. I'm sure that girl's parents taught her what to say, but I've got to admit that my 2 year-old little girl does not like George W. Bush at all. I can't figure out why. I did not teach her to prefer Barack Obama, but it is possible that she has picked up this attitude from me. Here is the video:

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Mock Newscast for "Watchmen"

Now that all legal issues have been cleared concerning the Watchmen movie in March between Warner Brothers and Fox, we now get to move full steam ahead experiencing great viral marketing. Check out this wonderful video put together spotlighting Dr. Manhattan from the movie like an archival video. I think it's awesome! Extremely well-done!

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Top 10 Villians of 2008

I usually put this kind of thing on my main blog, but I think it deserves to be here on the blog concerning my favorite fiction. Marvel comics has placed on it's website a video counting down the most important villains in the stories they published in the past year!!! Take a look. I'd like to make sure to get a mugen post for each of these.

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Response to Naon Tiotami

Blue is me being quote. Black is his response and Red is my response to his comments

"Um, excuse me. It appears that you are all saying that Tiklaatik is evidence that today's fish and amphibians have the same ancestor but Tiklaatik is not that common ancestor. I so, where is it? What is it? Macro evolution supposes that it is possible to trace an unbroken descent from fish to us, but by everyone's own admission we don't have that evidence. All I said was that we have no transitional fossils which you agreed. We can pretend all we want that one day evidence will be found but so far...na"

The reason why we don't have an unbroken line of fossils is that fossilisation is a rare process, and certain conditions must exist for it to take place. Shallow seas are a great place to find fossils though (accounting for why about 90% of the fossils we have are from marine creatures), so we should probably find more Tiktaalik-esque fossils in the near future.

I have no problem with your explanation as to why we have no transitional records indicating direct descent from fish to amphibians. It's plausible. It's logical. You only omit one possibility: There aren't any to find.

"I don't see any "goal post" moving. Initially, I was only talking about transitional fossils between apes and humanity. Dave brought up the link between fish and amphibians and tried to apply it to people."

Mmm, but you wanted a transition, you got one, then asked for a full, unbroken sequence. You moved the goalpost.

I asked for a transitional fossil proving that apes and humans have a common ancestor. Not for transitional fossils showing common links for today's fish and amphibians. Look at the context in which I wrote that post reviewing Nephilim Rising. I didn't move any goal post. David expanded the playing field.

"Want to know a better definition for the origins of life on this planet: "In the Beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth." Genesis 1:1"

Well, I wouldn't read the Bible for that. It's incompatible with modern scientific findings (if read literally).

I'm not sure what by definition: do you mean "explanation"? If so, I don't have one at the moment, no one does.

The Bible has a explanation. It does not give details as to how He did it. That is what scientific inquiry is for. God allows you to accept or reject this explanation. But nothing else makes sense. Something came out of nothing. Physics agrees with this. Some how Entropy became less than 0. Order came out of nothing. Direction-less, random processes does nothing to explain the origins of reality let alone life. The Bible does not answer all questions and not all of it is to be read literally. There is debate as to what it means to say that earth was created in 6 days. Was each 24 hours as we measure them today? Or was it many eons? We don't know. The Hebrew does not specify. What we do know is that God can do anything. If he wanted to do it in 6 24-hour days, I see no reason why not.

"Not all my rebuttal links are from creationists. One of them is from Evolution News & Views. Also I would like to know what arguments would you guys use against all of these sources that I pointed to against the fossil being used as a "transitional fossils"."

First of all, "Evolution News and Views" is run by the Discovery Institute, a pro-intelligent design thinktank that, for all intents and purposes, is a creationist organisation.

"Intelligent Design" does not equal "creationism". Not everyone who believes in Intelligent Design believe in an omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, transcendent, personal God who created everything. I think they're nuts...but at least they have enough sense to know that you don't get anything complex by chance. If you do, then I have some swampland in Florida I'd like to sell to you. I know what you're thinking because you already made the point that evolution is driven by many factors. None of these factors are in a vacuum or can be thought not to interact with each other. Let's say, that the Judeo-Christian God is not responsible as some folks say. Even so don't you think anyone able to design life on earth would also be able to manipulate all those factors too!

Secondly, to debunk the claims found in those articles, I would have to spend time looking up stuff. I don't want to do that now, but I may do that in the near future. Look out on http://naontiotami.com to see if I ever do get around to it (I have to write an essay for the Discovery Institute Academic Freedom Day contest, so it might be after that).

I look forward to seeing you try to explain the holes these scientist who disagree with the theory of evolution easily points out.

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Hallelujah, Fox and WB Will Play Together

I just heard that Warner Brothers and Fox have come to an agreement concerning the Watchmen film. ReelComix reports the following:

Word has hit the street that the Watchmen Lawsuit has come to an end with FOX of course coming out on top. FOX will receive between $5-$10million as a flat settlement as well as getting a chunk of revenue share. They will get between 5% and 8% of the films revenue. Add to that they will get residuals for any and all spin-offs for the film.

Watchmen goes ahead as planned with FOX getting clearly what they wanted and Warner Brothers not getting bent over to badly.

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Heroes: The Recruit pt 5

Here is the fifth and final part of the Heroes Webisode series: "The Recruit"

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Rick Sanchez Owned Joe the Plummer

I found a video where CNN's Rick Sanchez lays into "Joe the Plummer" so hard you can hear the disgust in his voice. You can tell that he does not like this guy or anything he stands for.

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Wolverine and the X-men Premieres

Wolverine and the X-men premieres on Nicktoons January 23, 2009 at 8 pm. I've already checked Comcast; I've got it!!!! Now, when does the new Iron Man Animated Series starts?

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More News on the Black Panther

Marvel has released a trailer for the new Black Panther Comic book. T'Challa is down and someone takes up his mantle as the Black Panther - a woman. The video gives clues as to why T'Challa can't be Black Panther now and gives us a hint as to who will be replacing him. I hope it's his wife, Storm, standing in for him. They are probably doing this in February because that is when the Black Panther Animated Series is supposed to debut on BET. I can't wait for that.

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Iron Man 2 Casting News

In the past week a lot of news has been released concerning who would be playing roles in the upcoming Iron Man 2 movie. We know that Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell have signed on to play villain but we don't know which ones. Some have speculated that it will be Crimson Dynamo and Justin Hammer, respectively. Today I have heard that Black Widow will be in the movie played by Emily Blunt. It's only a rumor. Follow the link to find out more about who Black Widow is in the comic books. At the bottom of this post is a picture of Emily Blunt, Black Widow (from the comics). Also, even more upsetting that Don Cheadle replacing Terrence Howard as Rhodey, is talk that Samuel Jackson will not be playing Nick Fury. Here is what Sam said:

"There seems to be an economic crisis in the Marvel Comics world. It now appears that somebody else will be Nick Fury or maybe Nick Fury won't be in it."

I'm flabbergasted! No way! The Nick Fury in Iron Man is the same version of the character in Marvel's Ultimate universe. The writer and artist originally had Samuel L Jackson in mind when they re-envisioned the character from the regular Marvel Universe. He is Nick Fury. I think it might be a play for money. Sam knows that Iron Man 2 will probably make more money that the original and he, of course, wants a larger piece of the pie especially if he has more of a major role besides a short cameo. All I can say is if Sam in not in Iron Man 2, Nick Fury should not be in it either!

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More "PUSH" Buzz

ReelComix has announced a new website promoting PUSH. IT looks great and the website has a lot of good information about the movie and the world in which the movie takes place. I'm looking forward to seeing it. Find the website at: PUSH - The Official Movie Site.

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Heath Ledger Won A Golden Globe!

I just heard that Heath Ledger won Best Supporting Actor for his role as The Joker in 2008's The Dark Knight. I am a life-long comic book fan and I think that movie stands as one of the best comic book adaptions ever! One of the things that made it standout was Ledger's role. His death was very tragic, not just for his family but for the whole acting profession. He was good in every role he played. I can't think of one in which he stunk. I liked his work very much and he will be missed. All that said, I don't think that Ledger would have gotten this Golden Globe if:

a. Had he not died.
b. The Dark Knight had not grossed almost $1 Billion.

Keep in mind that once the movie is re-released this quarter to remind the ones voting for whom the 2009 Oscars will go to...the movie will gross over $1 Billion all together. (I will go see it in IMAX, I think others will too especially if you didn't see it in IMAX). Warner Brothers is going to be pushing this. The perception of comic books have changed. Now when the mover and shakers look at them...they see dollar signs not dead weight. Heath Ledger helped change that.

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New Word: "Bushism"

What do you call it when people think you are so stupid...so utterly bereft of intelligence that a name is coined to describe the things you say: "Bushism". Yes, there are things that George W. Bush has said in the past 8 years that will live on and be remembered for several decades to come, but not for their inspiration but because they are funny, silly, and makes you wonder "How in the world could someone like this could have become President of the United States...twice?!!" I'm sure several book will be written. For now here is a video playlist of some of them.

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The WII is not just a Toy!!!

Google has posted a video showing a way the Nintendo WII can be used in a real world application. An engineer has written software that turns the Nintendo Wii's board peripheral (for snowboard, skateboard, and surfing games) into a controller for Google Earth. Users can virtually surf the earth. The even better news is that he's making the technology freely available (in techspeak "open source"). This means that some people are going to be using it in other applications....endless possibilities.

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A New Tablet Device

At this week's CES in Las Vegas there was announced new tablet device: Giinii Movit Mini. It's an IPod Touch like device but it's runs the same operating system as the G1 Phone: Android. It seems really nice. Unfortunately, it doesn't have as much software and support as the IPhone, but the potential is there. Look at the following links for more information.

Google Android Tablet No Threat To Apple iPod Touch -- Yet (GOOG, AAPL)

Hands On Giinii Movit Mini: The Android Tablet

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Sony's Answer to Apple: "Oh, Yeah?"

In the 1980's, Sony set the standard in personal media content players with its Walkman. Everyone had one. Sony's monopoly on that market dried up in 2000 when apple released its first IPods. Apple quickly refined its technology to not just include music and audio content but also video and web browsing. I for one thought that Sony had given up on this market and let Apple and Microsoft (with is Zune players) have that market. I was wrong. Their "IPod Killer" was announced this week, referred to as "Touchscreen Walkman". Here is a blurb from G4TV's blog:

The NWZ-X1000 features a 3-inch OLED touchscreen, WiFi, noise-canceling and comes in two sizes: 16GB and 32GB. That, my friends, is all anyone knows about it. No doubt Sony is saving the juicy details for the press conference they're holding in the next hour, so keep your browser pointed to G4's CES 2009 coverage for a live blog of all the juicy Sony details.

Personally, I would like more on board memory space. Grant it, it may have SD Card support. I don't know because I haven't seen Sony's Press conference yet. I hope I can see it on G4TV tonight. That is one gripe I have against IPods is that there is no expandable memory capability. This is offset by the ease of connecting a computer to an IPod and seemlessly managing your content, but I admit it: I'm lazy. I'd rather pack music and videos on my personal media player on and on without end. Another thing that lessens my enthusiasm towards the new Walkman is that Sony is rumored to come out with a tablet version of the IPod Touch. It will do everything the IPod devices currently do but with a bigger screen! I love large screens. So unless Sony really impresses us with more features in the Walkman, they should stick to PS3s, PSPs, DVD/BluRay players, and HD televisions!

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Look, Ma, No Keyboard!

Today at the MacWorld conference, Apple has announced a keyboardless notebook. It looks nice. Instead of a keyboard, the notebook has a wheel like the input interface of an IPod. My wife has an IPod Nano and it has such a wheel. It does make navigating and making selections easy, I'm not sure about typing on the thing. There's a demo on YouTube. I was excited about it until I saw the process to type on it. Does not seem easy or intuitive to me at all. See what I mean:

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Apologetics 315: Bart Ehrman and Peter Williams MP3 Audio

Apologetics 315: Bart Ehrman and Peter Williams MP3 Audio

I just found this on the Apologetics 315 blog. It's worth reviewing. We need to know how to defend the the authenticity of the Bible. We need to know what we believe, why we believe it, and how to articulate it.

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Four Year-Old Shoots Babysitter

What kind of world is it when a four year-old child premeditatively shoots another human being? I saw a news article today stating that a four year-old boy, angry because his teenaged babysitter accidentally stepped on his foot, announced that he was going to get a gun, left the room, went to where the adults hides a gun and to the separate place where the shells were stored, loaded the gun and then shot his babysitter, wounding him and another teenager. In Ohio!!!!? Not some inner ghetto. I'm still shocked. What I want to know is what has this child seen that makes him think that shooting someone is effective conflict management? And how does a four year-old learn to load a gun, let alone shoot straight enough to hit an intended target? No words.

I'm sure someone would try to blame violence in the media - video games, movies, and television. I blame the sins in the human heart that we are all susceptible to. My own two year-old daughter sometimes hits people when she is angry with them. I know I was the same way. My parents taught me that it was wrong to hit people no matter what they say if I'm not defending myself. I do the same thing for my daughter. More frightening is the lack of compassion and empathy shown by the calculated action that boy went through to. I mean think of it. He had to find the gun. Find the ammo. Load the ammo - one shell. He knew what he was doing. Some will argue that he was too young to understand that he could kill someone. I'm not so sure. Be that as it may I can't say since i don't know the boys heart but I notice a lot of children seem to be lacking compassion. My own daughter, thankfully, shows that she cares about other people when they say ouch or visibly unhappy. She asks "You, Okay?" If this is something you are born with? Is it taught? I don't know but it should be praised and encouraged. If not, more things like this is going to happen....and will be worse when they grow up.

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Heroes: The Recruit pts 3 &4

The Third and Fourth parts of the Heroes webisode series known as "The Recruit" has been released.

Part 3: "Do What We Have To Do"


Part 4: "Day of Reckoning"

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The Spirit Review

Well, I finally saw The Spirit tonight While my wife and I were waiting to go inside, the audience from the previous showing were coming out. One man told his wife as the walked past us, "Two hours of my life that I will never get back." She replied, "Yes, that was pretty bad." After I reassured my wife that it could not be that bad, we went into the theater. I realize that if you have not seen it, I'm sure you have heard nothing positive about it at all. I didn't detest it, however it was not the best movie of 2008. In my opinion to appreciate the good qualities of this movie you have to be a fan of Frank Miller's work (he directed, wrote it, and produced it) and have a love for the comic book genre. I personally am a fan of his work and I enjoy the comic book genre of storytelling in general. People who are not into comic books had to wondering:
a. About Frank Miller's sanity?
b. Why would Lionsgate allow him to make a movie with so many over-the-top acting and such an obscure character?

About Miller's sanity, all I can say that the majority of society always mistakes genius for madness while the artist lives. And as for the studio motivations: money. Frank Miller's work is the source material for 2 block buster films in the past 5 yeas: Sin City and 300. They were considered cool and cutting edge by the general public but if you knew anything about Frank Miller than you knew that all they did was shoot the movies the way he draws and tells stories. What the producers of those films did was translate Frank Miller's vision into a from that people who are not into comic book could accept and they did it will. I think the problem with The Spirit was that Frank could not translate his vision into something everyone could get. It was lost in translation from comic book to screen. It was gorgeous. It looked like a living comic book. Unfortunately the acting was overdone and a lot of the lines and dialog did not work well. Some of the action and fight sequences looked like something out of a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Such actions works great with cartoon characters but falls way flat with real actors. Even Samuel L. Jackson could not save this thing....and that, my friends, is frightening. Some situations made the majority of the audience I was with laugh and I don't think it was meant to be funny. And there were some things that was meant to be funny, but were not. I love Miller's work. I'm hoping that this won't be the last time he gets a chance to film one of his visions. He didn't create The Spirit character but he is a fan and this film seems like a love letter....a bad one...but a love letter nonetheless.

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