Format Change

For those of you who care, I just felt like changing the format again. Since it's as quick as clicking a button, why not?

I'm posting pre-march. Got another night road march tonight. We're "stepping off" at 0200 and marching through the night, just like last week. Tonight's trek will be a little bit longer, about 7.5 miles. Eventually, I'll be able to do the whole 13-15 mile march, but I don't want to hurt myself this early in the game.

With that in mind, I'm going to try and get a nap in before I have to go. Talk to you all later.

What a Week!

Sorry for the eerie silence for you my avid readers, but it was quite a week. Let me recap:

Monday: 4 mile run with A Company
Tuesday: 5 mile road march (with 40 lbs. rucksack) that started at 2:00 a.m. That's right...no sleep on Monday. Followed by 8 hours of class on Suicide Prevention.
Wednesday: Following 12 hours of sleep ( 5 p.m. to 5 a.m.), it was back to class for 8 more hours.
Thursday: All day on the range as C Company goes through Rifle Qualification.
Friday: Meeting with the Brigade Chaplain and an afternoon nap.

Saturdays are usually full of just personal stuff: groceries, cleaning, hair-cuts, all that jazz. This week, it was spent sleeping because I knew today was gonna be full.

Today, I had two services, back-t0-back. A common occurrence back home, but a rarity here. Follow that with a trip out the the field where A Company is on their one-week Field Training Exercise (FTX). I was out there to give them a field service and let them know what religious support will be like in the field, namely, chaplains will be few and far between. It's just kinda the way it is.

So, that's what I've been doing. Maybe it doesn't look like as much as it felt like, but it's good to have this week over.

Movie Review #1

The first movie that I saw this weekend was the remake of the classic thriller: The Manchurian Candidate. Frank Sinatra won an Oscar for his role in the original and I think it safe to say that no one will win an Oscar for the remake. Well, actually, Meryl Streep does a fantastic job in her role, so I'm going to recind that remark.

I wish I had understood this before I went, so please understand this. The problem with a remake is that people already know how it ends. Personally, I haven't seen the 1962 version, a problem I shall remedy some rainy Sunday afternoon, but I have heard enough about it to know the plot of the modern rendition.

The whole movie is a bad re-build of the memory of MAJ Marco, a Gulf War veteran who was subject to some memory implanting while in Iraq. All this so some multi-national corporation could buy control of his politically-wired sergeant, Raymond Shaw, and wait for the time when Shaw would become president and then control the fate of the free world...and profit nicely.

The movie is obvious and slow. Early on, we can figure what's happened and so we have to wait and watch as Marco tediously labors on trying to figure it out for himself. When he finally does, we learn just how deep this mind-control goes. In a surprise twist, Marco has a role to play in this plot but the movie tries to make a double-back that as subtle as a 300 offensive tackle.

Again with a movie that thinks that funky camera movements make good art. Listen, you can't heighten the suspense of a remake by moving the camera around. I almost thought I was watching a 60's acid film sometimes. Sheesh.

I paid full price, but this is definitely a Video. While you're renting this one, get the original. Even though I haven't seen Frank's version, it can't be any worse than this.

Last Week's Movie #2

Last weekend I saw two movies. I'll start with the second one first so that, when these are posted, it will be second. Confused. S'ok...just keep reading.

Saturday afternoon I went to see the move Collateral, with Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise. You know the gist of the story if you've seen any of the ads. Tom Cruise is Vincent, a contract killer with a few "stops" to make. He hires Max, played by Jamie Foxx, a somewhat obsessive, timid cab driver with a nice personality to do his driving throughout the night. This gist was enough to get me into a movie theater.

I expected a short-plotted, general shoot-'em-up with Tom playing an overly aggressive and confident character, like he always does. However, Jamie Foxx surprised me with his ability to play a believable low-key guy. In his days of In Living Color, he was always out there and in some of his earlier films, he was the same way. Jamie tones down a bit to play a believable and versatile character. Even the cool, calm Vincent shows some signs of humanity and a little humor.

The thing that struck me the most about this movie was some of the camera work. Not all the usually herky-jerky running with a hand-held camera, but some really solid shots where you found yourself being entertained by different scenes from around LA as much as you were entertained by the story itself.

Bottom line: I got a real bargain on this movie. Because of Tom Cruise, I took this one in at a matinee, selling it short from the get-go. But, in my new rating system, I give this one a solid full-pricer. Don't drop everything to go see it, but if you're looking for some good value for the $8 your gonna plunk down, you might like Collateral. I did.

Movie Review System

My carreer as a movie critic is growing! I got an e-mail from Gary who told me that he adjusts his viewing based on my reviews! Woo Hoo! Maybe I should consider a carreer change? Nah...Gary would probably tell me, "Don't quit your day job." Not to worry; the Army won't let me leave too soon.

Since Gary and others are reading my reviews intently, I figured it was time to develop a grading scale. Mine's simple. While I love movies, I HATE paying almost $8 to see them. So, nothing irks me more than paying $8 to see a real dog of a movie. So, with my frugal nature in mind, I'll be rating movies into three categories.

The best movies are "Full-Pricers." These are the instant classics that are worth the 8 bones to see when they first run. The next group are the "Matinees." These are movies that are worth seeing when they first run but you definitely don't want to pay full price for them. The last group are "Videos." These are the movies that I go back the ticket counter and try to get my money back because I should have waited until it came out on video. So, it's really simple but there is some gray area. Each of you can make up your own mind. This is just the way I'm doing it. That being said, lemme give my reviews for the two movies that I saw this weekend.

Ending the eerie silence

Hey everyone! Did you miss me? After a week of catching up from my week off, I'm back. Here's what I was doing.

I was at lovely and scenic Camp Okoboji, a ministry site for the Iowa West District of the LC--MS. I was the topic leader for Youth Week, a week-long retreat for high school students. By the way, Camp Okoboji is one of the few camps I have found who host a weeks for high school students to be ministered to, instead of having them serve as ministers. But I digress.

The topic for the week? Oh yeah! It was S-E-X. Nothing can strike fear into the hearts of youth workers as quickly as 120 high school students gathered for an hour a day to listen to some "balding, fat, middle-aged guy" (they actually said that, yeah) talk about their sex lives. It was...interesting to say the least. Actually, I just resolved to tell them the truth. I used some colorful language and some straight talk to tell them what a big deal sex really is. There were more than one uncomfortable moments, which I won't share here. But I'm sure that I left an impression.

In fact, I know I did. I've had a lot of kids from camp e-mail me and IM me to talk about the new information they received. Many kids came to grips with their own sexual sins while they were there. The Holy Spirit enlightened teens left and right and that resulted in confessions galore. The grace of Christ flowed freely and so many young people realize anew how much our Father loves them. A lot of people have broken up with girl-friends and boy-friends back home because of the things we talked about. Praise God for that! I love it when kids learn the truth and use that truth to change their lives.

It was also a great vacation for Sara and I. The accomodations were rustic but nice. And we got to spend a week with some dear old friends from our high school camp days and I had the opportunity to meet a lot of new people and start some new friendships as well. The price to be paid was 18-hour days and having to talk about sex, but I'd go back in a heart-beat.