Wednesday Wellness: Just like Jessica

When you think of beautiful women in Hollywood, one girl that absolutely must come to mind is Jessica Biel. The spunky brunette has been gorgeous since her days on 7th Heaven, and has only gotten more so as time has gone on. That beauty however, has not come without a LOT of work, discipline, and dedication both to her diet, and to her intensive work out routine.

Jessica Biel’s Workout:

- Stretch: One of her favorite warm-ups is the walking lunge. How-to: With feet together, lunge first with right leg. Bring left foot alongside right. Lunge with left. Do 8-10 per leg.

- Cardio: Cardio is arguably the most important part of any workout.. After a ½-mile jog, she hits the track for two 200-meter, 150-meter and 100-meter sprints.

- Core: Jessica does hanging leg-raises to tone and flatten her tummy. How-to: Hanging from a high bar or rings, pull knees up slightly above waist. Do three sets of 15 repetitions.

- Plyometrics: For the record: I’ve done these, they flipping suck but they’re awesome as well. How-to: Jump from the bottom step of a flight of at least 20 stairs to the third. Keep going, skipping a stair each jump.

- Weight Training: Ms. Biel does a lot of light-weight work, with high repetitions. This allows for a toning rather than a building of muscle and combined with speed is also a decent cardio workout.

- For the waist: She does the Russian Twist. Sit down and lean back slightly. Hold a 5-lb. medicine ball and twist from side to side, 15 twists per side, three reps.

- For shoulders/biceps: Stand with knees slightly bent. Hold 10-lb. weights in each hand. Curl to chest. Rotate hands, palms face outward. Press overhead together. Do 3 sets of 10-12 reps

Jessica Biel’s Diet:

- “Clean foods”— those that aren’t processed—are on the menu Jason Walsh, Jessica’s trainer created. “She eats complex carbs at the beginning of the day,” he says, “and tapers off by the end.”

- Breakfast: 1 cup of oatmeal with handful of berries.

- Snack: 1 slice whole wheat toast, 1-1 ½ tbsp. of almond butter and sliced bananas on top.

- Lunch: Salad with 5-6 oz of chicken, vinaigrette dressing.

- Snack: A banana, apple or strawberries.

- Dinner: 6oz. of fish, plate full of veggies, 1/2 cup of low-glycemic basmati rice. Sweets A couple of pieces of dark chocolate.

The above information is from an interview Mr. Walsh did with People. However it is also important to note that Ms. Biel also lives an active lifestyle; she jogs, plays volleyball, all kinds of things that burn calories but are not directly a planned “work-out”. It should also be noted that on five different sites discussing this topic, five completely different routines and diets were good; I chose to use the above because out of the five websites I read it seemed the most realistic and healthy.

Also check out a video of Ms. Biel discussing the Blade 3 Workout (She looked ridiculously awesome in that movie): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tISVO9CcEBQ

Source for workout/diet information: http://www.fitsugar.com/117770

Tuesday Talking Points: Henry Gibson

A few weeks ago, on September 14th, one of the great comedy character actors of our time passed away of cancer at his home in Malibu. Henry Gibson was a regular and stand-out on the show Laugh-In, which I experienced in re-runs on Nick at Night growing up. His most famous role was as the leader of the Illinois Nazis in John Landis' 1980 film, The Blues Brothers.

Henry Gibson's real name was James Bateman. He chose the stage name Henry Gibson as a play on the name of the famed playwright Henrik Ibsen, of whom he was an admirer. Here are three examples of his poetry:

How I Saved A Baby Rhino from Slippin' In The Quicksand,
Whilst In Search Of My Fountain Pen,
Last Summer Along The Amazon River

With great difficulty.

Patacake

Patacake, patacake, baker's man
Bake me a friend.

Dogs Are Better Than Ants

Dogs are better than ants
Because you don't have to bend so far to pet them
In addition, they are sturdy old muzzlers
Who fetch us our slippers, papers, and twig chunks
Twig chunks
But most of all, they stay out of jelly jars and
Never go squish if you happen to step on them.

Here are some good YouTubes of Mr. Gibson:

Henry Gibson (the one in purple) on an insane episode of "Wonder Woman"

A clip from Blues Brothers

and some bits from Laugh-In.

Rest in peace sir.

Tuesday Talking Points: Snakes of the Plane

Today I have four stories for you.

1. Bees? Forget Bees.
The Christian Science Monitor reported that Florida officials are increasingly afraid of a new hybrid-breed of pythons emerging. Apparently with the illegal introduction of exotic breeds of pythons the likelihood of a hybrid has gone up significantly; this is scary for locals because when animals from different regions mate there is a propensity for recessive genes, most notably aggression, to become suddenly and poignantly excessive; think Africanized Bees. While this is still a few steps shy of Scientist Dane Cook’s fear of killer horses, man-eating snakes are definitely a step up from bees on the ladder-of-things-that-scare-the-crap-out-of-me.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0915/p02s01-usgn.html

2. What is Terrorism?
This is exactly the question that Hugo Chaves and Muammar Gaddafi are asking. The two have gone public with a desire to redefine terrorism, but are mute on what they think it should be. Let me guess: “We want ‘terrorism’ to be defined as the bombing of innocent civilians by anyone except us, and any action taken by America.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE58S0GZ20090929?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

3. I’m going to take my ball and go home!
So said Iran when the European Union called them out on the newly discovered Nuclear Power plant. Iran has been indignant about the situation saying that they will not let in inspectors and will simply ignore the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if the “Zionist pigs and American dogs” keep up their persistence. My question: Can we please execute the part of the treaty that says “We will destroy the plants you do not let us inspect”?

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSLT56449320090929?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

4. Sydney, I’m sorry that sucks.
Earlier this week Sydney, Australia was buried in an incredibly huge dust storm. No snippy comments here, that seriously sucks. For the full story and satellite pictures of the storm as it occurred, check the link below.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/09/sydney-dust-storm-from-space/

In Defense of Science Fiction and “Surrogates”

When some people think of science fiction, they think of aliens in rubber suits, clumsily constructed robots and unbelievable plots. When I think of science fiction, I think of contextually safe morality plays. Here's what I mean by that.

If we make a movie about Native Americans (and of course many have been made), we are stuck in the current vocabulary of cultural knowledge when telling the story. For example, films made fifty years ago could collectively describe Native Americans as “Indians”, could portray them as unapologetically savage, could even show them committing atrocities against Europeans. Films from the last twenty or so years, however, can do none of those. Native Americans are referred to by the names of their separate tribes (sometimes in their original language), are always shown in complimentary ways, and are always the victims of the European colonial invaders. This has been a positive move overall for our culture, but there have been some trade-offs. What was in history an incredibly diverse group of people has been transformed into bumper-sticker sized cultural icons like dreamcatchers hanging from rear-view mirrors or turquoise jewelery. Were (and are) most Native American tribes peaceful? Undoubtedly. Were there some that were violent and aggressive, certainly, but we're not going to see those stories in film. Recently, scholars have been debating whether the ancient Anasazi tribe were practicing cannibals. The physical evidence is persuasive. The reaction was immediate and severe that the research was racist and was trying to portray Native Americans as ignorant savages. In an “unsafe” politically loaded discussion, objective reality or even a discussion of objectivity have no place. (Here's a good article about the controversy.)

That is the purpose of science fiction. When Ray Bradbury wanted to tell stories about Native Americans, he simply changed them to Martians, and we are left with the amazing group of short stories called The Martian Chronicles. In this way, science fiction can tell stories that are removed from their context, rendered “safe” by that conceptual distance.

In “Surrogates” we find this type of classic science fiction. The story is ostensibly about robotic avatars and their use in a future world, but like all good science fiction, the story is really about us. It is a story about human excess, and how our desire for physical perfection could backfire. It is a story about how humans, and especially Americans, tend to deal with their problems by running away. It is a story about online gaming, online dating, and online living. The “Surrogates” stand in for our public selves, the “self” that we show to other people on our terms. Our public selves walk around for us so that the real emotions we might experience can stay safe and ugly at home. This was the theme of one of the important sociology books of the twentieth century, Erving Goffman's 1959 book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. I have no idea whether any of the people behind “Surrogates” are familiar with Goffman's work, but it might serve as a starting place for those seeking more information on the issues raised in the movie.

The film will disappoint those looking for mindless action, and while the “twist” won't go down in movie history, it is compelling. You know what's going to happen, what should happen, and you're satisfied when it does. The film makes an argument for the beauty that only comes from imperfection, for the satisfaction that only comes when things are little off. People that are ugly become attractive, and the perfect-looking surrogates become ugly by the end of the film. Most of all, it asks us to examine which parts of ourselves we show to the rest of the world, and which parts of us have been at home hiding beneath the covers the whole time.

Monday Movies: Movies to Watch For

After the strike in Hollywood (not the writers, this time it was the actors) there has been kind of a lull in good movies; a lull which has been defined by really…NOT good movies. Thankfully, there are a few soon to release that look like they will be worth seeing.

1. Surrogates – Bruce Willis stars in a not-so-far-fetched science fiction in which humans now live through robotic “Surrogates” which have allowed for mankind to live out any fantasy without any danger, until someone dies when their surrogate gets killed.

Check out the trailer at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwTJ7mCcFoY

2. Law Abiding Citizen (10/16/2009) – Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx star in this action-packed movie about a man who watches his family get murdered, and then watches as the justice system lets the murderer go free. Done with watching, Clyde (Gerard Butler) embarks on a jihad to kill every single person related to the injustice that befell his family.

Check out the trailer at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA10RDU9quU

3. The Box (11/06/2009) – This moral question of a thriller stars Cameron Diaz and James Marsters as a couple who are at the end of their financial rope when a box mysteriously appears at their doorstep. They are told that if they push the button within the box two things will happen; 1) They will receive a payment of one million dollars and 2) Someone, somewhere in the world whom they do not know will die.

Check out the trailer at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVK-hVGqCpo

4. The Fourth Kind (11/06/2009) – Since 1972 there has been a system for rating encounters with extra terrestrials; the First Kind is sighting, the Second is evidence, the Third is contact, the Fourth is Abduction. Milla Jovovich stars in this thriller reminiscent of “The Blair Witch Project”, not in style but in spirit of making the audience believe it to be true. The story is of a psychiatrist (Jovovich) who is interviewing patients who all claim to have been abducted by aliens.

Check out the trailer at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbQXxNWNxyY

5. The Blind Side (11/20/2009) – Sandra Bullock stars in this film depicting the true story of an upper-class suburban mother (Bullock) who takes in a young man who is homeless. I am going to go ahead and declare this as a must-see for anyone who likes a feel-good movie.

Check out the trailer at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khtBvQdxta4

Thursday Theology: Discipline of Prayer

“Prayer catapults us onto the frontier of the spiritual life. Of all the Spiritual Disciplines prayer is the most central because it ushers us into perpetual communion with the Father. Meditation introduces us to the inner life, fasting is an accompanying means, study transforms our minds, but it is the Discipline of prayer that brings us into the deepest and highest work of the human spirit.” – Richard J. Foster

Nearly all Christians pray, in fact nearly all people pray. The things that most never ask are: Why and How do we pray? Herein I shall, with the help of Mr. Foster, give answer to these questions that should absolutely be asked by every follower of Christ.

Why do we pray?

There are many reasons to pray. The greatest reason of all is that it is the most direct way in which man connects to his Creator. Prayer is the method through which man can go before God and ask “What do you want of me?” This search for God’s will is directly related to the second major reason for prayer: Intercession. Prayers of intercession are most commonly prayers for healing or protection but can take any form of aiding another person.

How do we pray?

Before getting into the specifics, first let me say: Do NOT be ashamed to ask this question! The Apostles asked it! Like all things in life, prayer is learned. Feel free to question the way you have been taught so far, experiment, even fail at it! There are literally infinite ways to pray, and ones that work for me, may not work for you! However, there are some things that you can do to enhance your prayer life.

1) LISTEN – Without exception every single one of the great Contemplative Christians has written at length about the importance of listening to God. Think of prayer as you would a radio tuner; while reading this dozens of radio, cellular, and various other forms of waves bounced around you, but you did not notice them because you were not tuned in; prayer is setting your tuner to God. Just like the radio however, if you talk all the time, the music can get drowned out, so be still, be calm, be quiet and listen.

2) SIMPLIFY – Remember that the Bible tells us to approach our King as children would their father. Your prayers should be open, honest, and trustful to God (trust me, He already knows the crap you want to hide). Also, pray with the complete expectancy that your prayer will be granted; think of a child asking their parent for a sandwich; the child feels no need to stash the food in case there would be none tomorrow, they have full expectancy that a sandwich will be given whenever it is asked, nor do they need to ask in a complex way, “Hey dad, I need some food,” suffices. A child is open with how they speak, honest about what they need, and trusting that it will be provided. Pray as such.

Remember the point of prayer is to talk with God. Ask Him to heal or protect someone, ask for His guidance, listen to Him speak, even change His mind! Just talk to Him.

Some things to be aware of:
1) Do not wait until you feel you are perfect and know everything about prayer to embrace it! Those great Contemplative thinkers I talked about earlier? Most of them wrote books on how amazing it was to continually be discovering new aspects of their prayer lives, so did the Apostles! Do not worry if you are good enough to pray about something, or for someone, the very act of earnest prayer is proof of enough faith!

2) Prayer = Warfare. Never forget that the Enemy prowls the Earth like a raging lion. Pray for yourself and others that the Enemy will not succeed in his efforts. Pray for people who are angry or depressed or busy; just a quick prayer asking Christ to fill them with peace and love is more powerful than you can imagine.

Now the intelligent person is forced to ask: What if this whole “prayer” thing coming true is all just coincidence? I’ll grant that it could be, but, as Archbishop William Temple notes, the coincidences occur much more frequently when I pray.

Remember that all of these concepts and some of the text come directly from Richard J. Foster’s Celebration of Discipline. I encourage you to employ these ideas over the next week (and the rest of your life) and if you do I would love to hear about your experiences! Next Thursday I’ll be talking about fasting, something that has greatly fallen out of practice within the vast majority of Christian lives

Wednesday Wellness: Walk it Out!

Feeling stressed? Have a lot on your mind? Want to lose some weight? Well, go on a long walk! A favorite pass-time of mine, long walks allow you a time to center your thoughts, to see areas of your home town you have not yet seen, and to burn some calories without killing yourself. In fact an hour of walking can burn as much as 300 calories in an hour even at a slow speed (2mph), upwards of 1000 at 5mph! Now you might say, “Well, that’s not a huge amount of calories,” but hey, that’s between 300 and 1000 calories that you would have just sat on otherwise, so remember that every little bit helps!

So take your dog for a walk, listen to music, go see some side-streets you haven’t checked out yet, and have fun! It’ll relax you, and give you a decent work out.

For a chart of how many calories you'll burn based on speed x weight check out: http://walking.about.com/cs/howtoloseweight/a/howcalburn.htm

Tuesday Talking Points: "Taking the Tom Sawyer Approach"

No, I am not going to be talking about the books, although if you have not read them, let me say: GO DO SO NOW! What I AM going to talk about is an article I found in the Christian Science Monitor about a pair of friends who embraced simplicity.

If you’d like to read the article there will a link at the bottom of this post, but the gist is: Two friends decided to leave behind the busyness of society and just, float, down the Tennessee River on an inflatable raft. No cell phones, no iPods, no modern anything; just them, a guitar, a harmonica and a copy of “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”. (If this sounds like paradise to you, we should hang out more often because I totally agree.)

I just think it is really really cool that someone did this. I am in fact jealous. So I am not going to say anything else about it; I am just glad I could bring it to y’all today. It’s a happy story, and I encourage everyone to do all you can to just step away from the insanity of everyday life, slow down, and just float on the river for awhile.

Link to the Actual Story:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0921/p18s02-hfes.html

Monday Movies: Zombies should ALWAYS be killed by a gorgeous Russian Girl.

Milla Jovovich. I could stop right there and it would be a satisfactory day. Say it with me “Milla Jovovich”; could her name be more Russian? If you are not familiar with Ms. Jovovich she is the star of several films, including the Resident Evil series which recently announced that there will indeed be a fourth movie released in 2010. I for one am incredibly stoked. For those who are wondering if they should see the RE movies, fear not! I will hereby give you 5 reasons to go see these movies, and 2 reasons not to.

Pros:
1) They are actually somewhat believable. Yes yes they are about zombies and whatnot, but the premise of the zombies’ rising I actually buy. I mean, it’s basically a pharmaceutical company trying to revive dead cells on a molecular level so that diseases like Muscular Dystrophy will be cured, oh and so that people will never have wrinkles; how much are you willing to bet someone is working on that exact thing somewhere right now? I’m willing to put down a lot.

2) The first movie is not the only good one. Unlike so many other series, RE keeps delivering. I say that, but take it with a grain of salt; if you go in to RE2 after seeing the first and expect the same film, you will be disappointed. The first is definitely a suspense movie with a little action thrown in, the second is really an action movie, and the third is action with a little suspense. All of them HAVE elements of horror, but they are more about the exploding zombie heads.

3) Exploding zombie bits. ‘Nuff said.

4) The movies actually understand the “Less is More” principle of horror. Several times in each movie there will be something akin to a person getting pulled into an elevator by several zombies. Yet rather than showing the person get ripped apart, the doors close and the audience is left just hearing the person’s agonizing screams of pain; FAR more disturbing, trust me.

5) Milla Jovovich. Alright, for all the guys out there: the games did well because they were based on the premise of having amazingly attractive girls going and shooting zombies; the movies have done well because they have amazingly attractive girls going and shooting zombies! Shocker. Go watch, it’s awesome. Ladies, I do not know. If you like watching other girls shoot huge holes into zombies, and kick more ass than any of their male counterparts, cool, if not, these movies may not be for you.

Cons:

1) It is not THAT inventive. I mean really, how many times can we see the “Zombies rise up and we all die” movie line? I think these are still worth watching, but I fully acknowledge that they are not new ideas.

2) There are some major plot holes. For instance: Where did Jill Valentine go after the second movie? She survived, was one of the core group, everyone ELSE was in the third movie, but she was never even mentioned. I am not asking for a lot, three lines of dialogue.

ALICE: What ever happened to Jill?
CARLOS: (Looks down) She died; got bit two months ago.
ALICE: Damn.

That’s it. Still good movies, but would love for just short explanations now and then.

Friday Free Day: My Favorite Poems - Part 1

As you may have noticed, this blog is an all you can-eat multi-ethnic buffet of writing. I have decided to devote at least some of the Friday entries to poetry, to add yet another dimension to the efforts already on this site. I would like to start with some poetry from one of my favorite authors, Rumi.

Rumi lived from 1207 to 1273. He was born in modern-day Afghanistan, and ended up in what is now known as Turkey. His real name was Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi, and became known as Rumi "Roman" since he lived in land that was formerly part of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire). He is a poet, theologian, and mystic among other things. Perhaps not every Friday, but I plan to share several of my favorites in upcoming weeks. A great collection for newcomers to Rumi is The Essential Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks. The translations are wonderful (I can't speak to their accuracy obviously) and the organization is deliberately non-western, grouping the poems into esoteric groupings of theme. The following is from the first chapter, in which the poems all connect the metaphor of wine or taverns.

The Many Wines

God has given us a dark wine so potent that,
drinking it, we leave the two worlds.

God has put into the form of hashish a power
to deliver the taster from self-consciousness.

God has made sleep so
that it erases every thought.

God made Majnun love Layla so much that
just her dog would cause confusion in him.

There are thousands of wines
that can take over our minds.

Don't think all ecstasies
are the same!

Jesus was lost in his love for God.
His donkey was drunk with barley.

Drink from the presence of saints,
not from those other jars.

Every object, every being,
is a jar full of delight.

Be a connoisseur,
and taste with caution.

Any wine will get you high.
Judge like a king, and choose the purest,

the ones unadulterated with fear,
or some urgency about "what's needed."

Drink the wine that moves you
as a camel moves when it's been untied,
and is just ambling about.

Friday Free Day: Writer’s Block; beat it in 3 easy ways.

Writer’s Block is one of the unavoidable and unpleasant aspects of every writer’s journey. Even great writers such as Stephen King have voiced that they still struggle with it. However there are a few things you can do that will help get through it.

1) Stop Self-Editing! One of the most common (and most detrimental) things that writers do is self-edit as they are writing. Stop it. Finish the work before you edit. Trust me when I tell you, you will (if you are worth your salt) edit your entire manuscript at least four or five times before you even send it to an agent. Just accept that your first draft IS rough and WILL need edits, and get the ink out; you can’t edit a blank page. *

2) Walk away. Seriously, just walk away. The human brain is an amazing creation and one of the most incredible things about it is that it will be working on thoughts even while you are not focused on them. Go spend time with your family, go have a drink with friends, go for a long walk, just go and leave your writing where it is for a day or so. (In his book On Writing Stephen King said that while writing The Stand, he hit a horrible block and discovered the fix to his plot while on a long walk.) Let your brain work and do not freak out about it.

3) Go read. If there is one thing every writer needs to understand it is that you need to be reading as often as possible. You will draw inspiration from good literature and will learn lessons from bad literature. Good writers read at least 25 books every year, great writers read between 75 and 100.

*It bears mentioning that one common reason for writer’s block is that people did not plan out their work well enough and thus write themselves into a corner. If this is the case then obviously you must amend that area before finishing the work, but do everything you can to ONLY edit the things that you have to to get the book rolling again.

Thursday Theology: The Inward Discipline of Meditation

“In contemporary society our Adversary majors in three things: noise, hurry, and crowds. If he can keep us engaged in “muchness” and “manyness” he will rest satisfied. Psychiatrist Carl Jung once remarked, ‘Hurry is not of the Devil; it IS the Devil.’”

These words mark the opening to the chapter on the Discipline of Meditation contained within Richard J. Foster’s prolific work Celebration of Discipline. I strongly encourage any who are interested in learning of the spiritual disciplines to go out, buy, and read this book; it will change your spiritual life, I assure you. However, as many cannot afford the book, or do not have the gumption to read hundreds of pages on the disciplines I shall, over the next several weeks, be going through this work and posting some very short summaries on each chapter. (To give an idea of the shortened nature of the post in comparison to the book: The chapter on meditation on the book is twenty pages in length; this blog will be significantly less.)

When people, especially Christians, hear “meditation” they often conjure up long taught preconceptions of mysticism, idolatry, and paganism. These are, almost without exception, misconceptions. Meditation has been a part of the Christian Life for centuries; great minds of the church such as Augustine, Aquinas, King David, Brother Laurence, St. Theresa De Avila, and even a prolific guy by the name of Jesus spent hours upon hours in meditation. Each one of these people taught that meditation was a key component in the pursuit of growing closer to God; however, this very thing is another reason that Christians have rejected meditation. The history of religion has been one of an almost desperate scramble to have a king, a mediator, a priest, a pastor, a go-between so that we do not have to go to God ourselves; even the Israelites, after witnessing the plagues and being freed from Egypt, when they heard the voice of God coming down from the mountains, cried out to Moses and asked him to go and then relay the message back to them because they were so terrified of coming into contact with God. A major goal of ours should be to conquer this fear, and draw close to God.

Christian Meditation can present itself in many ways; it can be seen as listening to God’s Word, reflecting on His works, rehearsing His deeds, ruminating on The Law, and many other things. At its core however, Christian Meditation is concerned with three things: Hearing God’s voice, obeying it, and growing into a closer relationship with The Creator. Meditation is also one of the, if not THE most important skill one must have in order to begin the life-long endeavor of taming the mind.

Types of Meditation:

Central to all Christian meditation is meditation upon the Scriptures. It is this form of meditation that all other forms are based upon. Meditating upon the Scriptures is different than studying them; studying is about analysis, gathering of material, exegesis; Meditation is about internalization and personalization of the Scriptures. Take a single event, a few verses, or even a single word and just ponder over it. If you are reading a story let your imagination take you there; feel the sea air on your face, smell the salt air, feel the crowd of people around you as your savior begins to teach from The Mount, or wherever your story takes place.

Remember when meditating upon Scripture your task is not to study the passage, but to be initiated into the reality of which the passage speaks. (e.g. “Be still and know that I AM God.”)

Another form of meditation is what contemplatives of the middle-ages came to call “re-collection”. The idea is to picture all of the things that are currently seperating you from, or hindering your relationship with God. There are various physical exercises that go along with this practice, but they all involve the visualization of God taking those things from you. Then you ask God for, and imagine all of the things that God can give you to replace those things.

Now as you employ these ideas, keep in mind that as with all things, meditation takes practice. Do not expect to sit for three hours the first time without distraction; if you make it five minutes you beat me…if you make it thirty seconds you beat me. If you start making this a regular thing, if you begin to incorporate contemplative practices into your everyday life, you will see marked improvement both in your ability to meditate, and your relationship with God.

Remember that all of these concepts and some of the text come directly from Richard J. Foster’s Celebration of Discipline. I encourage you to employ these ideas over the next week (and the rest of your life) and if you do I would love to hear about your experiences! Next Thursday I’ll be talking about Prayer, something most Christians do, but very few understand how or why.

Thursday Theology: The Theology of Christian Missions – Part 1

Writing an article entitled, “The Theology of Christian Missions” is kind of like writing a leaflet entitled, “People Named John”. You can try, but it just won’t work. In this article, I’m not going to pretend to even give an overview of the topic, but will just skate over a few key points that I find personally important. I will continue in subsequent weeks.

First, a mission is not about numbers, or timeframes. Jesus said to, “…go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19, NIV) He didn’t say how long it would take, but it does suggest that whatever it is you’re doing on missions, the goal is a growing believer who has made a public profession of their faith by being baptized. I had a chance to spend some time this summer in the Middle East, and a number of people I spoke to mentioned the high turnover among Christian field workers in this region. Apparently, many people are becoming discouraged when they don’t find new disciples within the first few months or years of their ministry. Of course, making a public profession of Christian faith in that area of the world can be sometimes very dangerous. We would expect that a higher percentage of the baptisms would be sincere, but that the number would be much less. Many of those workers burn out, and end up either quitting altogether, or going to other areas of the world where the people are more “ripe for the harvest” (to borrow Jesus’ metaphor from John 4:35). Missions are not about forcing things, they’re about presenting things.

Let me explain by comparing two sayings of Jesus that are not usually examined side-by-side. In Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus says, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Sounds like a fairly decent Sunday school description of missions. Won’t everyone want to come to the light? Jesus in John 3:19-20, however, says, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.” So, the job of a Christian is to “be” the light and “shine” the light, but some people “will not come into the light”. That is not to say we should be passive in our “shining”, but it does mean that if we all leave an area because no one is coming to the light, there will be only darkness in that region.

For next week, I’ll discuss the modern church’s Gnostic tendencies concerning missions, and how the modern church likes to “boast” about how amazing their overseas efforts have been.

Wednesday Wellness: Goooo Play!

Before I get into the specifics of the discussion I want to preface this particular day by saying that each week as I post about Wellness and Working Out and whatnot, I am likely going to be posting about things that I am trying. Whether it is plyometric exercises or lifting weights or boxing, chances are these are things I am trying myself. For those who do not know: My goal is to lose between 20 and 30lbs between now and January 1st. That’s just under 15 weeks away which puts my needed weight loss at ~2lbs/week; doable, but difficult. So, much of what I bring to this discussion will be reflections on what I am learning and employing myself.

Moving on. Today we’ll be talking about cardio work. I hate it. Chances are (if you are honest) you hate it. Hard Fact: We all need it.

The standard in cardiovascular work-outs is: Running. I hate running, always have, and now that I’m 6’2” tall and 280lbs running hurts my knees; I do not know about you, but I would like to walk when I am 40, 50, even 60 years old so I don’t want to damage my knees now (however at seventy I’m getting a powered cart even if I CAN still walk. Screw it, I’ll be old I’m going to go honk at kids). Normally I ride an exercise bike on some mountain-like pre-setting.

I, however, hate “working” out. I enjoy playing. This is why I encourage all of you to go and PLAY instead of working out. I play racquetball with my dad, enjoy the occasional pick-up game of basketball, and I’m a HUGE fan of going for long walks to think and listen to music (walking for an hour is not bad exercise folks). A quick note: I suck, and I mean SUCK at both the sports I mentioned but they’re still better than running on a treadmill; walking I have down, mostly.

So here’s the point: Go out and so something you enjoy doing. That way you’re more likely to do it again! Consistency is THE key to losing weight and staying healthy. Consistency in diet, Consistency in working out (*cough* playing *cough*), Consistency in Mindset. If you enjoy riding a bike, go do that, if you enjoy shooting hoops, go play some basketball, if you like running…I do NOT understand you but kudos, go do it! Go have FUN; life is in too short a supply of fun to our time “working” out.

Wednesday Wellness: The Psychology of Soda

What is soda? In its simplest form, it is a mixture of syrup and carbonated water. What role does it take in your life?

If you view soda a water-replacement, you are most likely more tired than you need to be, you struggle being outside on hot days, and your body has trouble getting rid of toxins in your body.

If you view soda as a dessert, something to be experienced in moderation and always accompanying water, then you have very little to fear from soda.

I recently tried a bottle of Pepsi Natural, which is made using real sugar (not high fructose corn syrup) and Kola nut extract. It’s amazing. It’s also close to five dollars for a pack of 4 bottles. Worth it, but probably not something I’ll be able to buy every time.

Research (like http://www.slu.edu/x15990.xml) suggests that high fructose corn syrup decreases your ability to feel “full” and leads to obesity, among other problems. Of course, some of the replacements for high fructose corn syrup in diet beverages are also controversial. When possible, we should be drinking things with natural sugars like fruit juices.

What is soda to you?

Tuesday Talking Points: Not Regular Flu, No Not Regular Flu, but SWINE FLU

If a person was to simply watch the news, they would be led to believe that millions of people were dying from swine-flu, but this is simply not the case. World-wide the H1N1 strain of influenza has led to only 28,000 deaths, most of these in third-world countries with little to no healthcare available. Even in those countries the majority of deaths occur among the elderly and infant populations, just like the normal flu.

Now keep in mind that that number, 28,000 is WORLDWIDE; the normal strain of flu hospitalizes 300,000 and kills 36,000 people on average every year in the US alone.

The big news right now is that the government has developed a vaccine to combat the H1N1 virus and it is being hailed as the miracle drug that will save us all. The problem with that: Science. H1N1 is a virus, which is to say that it is constantly evolving just like the regular flu virus, which is why people have to get a new flu shot every year, it will be the same case with the H1N1 “vaccination” (which they should really just start calling the “Swine-flu-shot”). This is great but do not let the media lead you to believe that this will be the end-all be-all of cures for the Swine-Flu; it simply is not true.

And this is the real tragedy of how the media has handled the information on the H1N1 disease; it completely contradicts what the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and every other medical professional has been saying. The CDC says to treat the H1N1 strain as any other flu; bed-rest, liquids, no heavy activity, that sort of thing and you will probably be fine. It really is that simple.

So next time you turn on CNN, or MSNBC, or (shudder) Fox News, and they turn Canada a bright fiery red because of a few reported cases of H1N1 remember that according to the CDC 98% of all reported cases of influenza this year were in fact Swine-Flu, and most of the people were fine. Just do a little research, and get your facts straight.

Tuesday Talking Points: An Attempt at Clarity Concerning U.S. Health Insurance

There's no substantive debate that health insurance specifically, and the health care industry in general need reform. The debate going on in the U.S. is over how to do that. I have a few points:

1) Don't accept the argument that "republicans" are blocking President Obama's health care proposal. Republicans are heavily outnumbered in the senate and the house. If there is a "block", it is the President's fellow democrats that are doing the blocking.

2) The President argues that his health care reform bill will be paid for by savings achieved by cutting waste. There is no logical reason why this waste could not be cut in a separate bill that would pass overwhelmingly at the next congressional meeting. It's as if the Democratic Party were saying, "Yes there's waste, but we're not cutting it unless you give us what we want in medicare changes."

3) The argument that health care could pay for itself, and that the government's involvement would reduce costs is counter-intutitive, and empirically denied. The government created the very waste that the President would like to cut to pay for more government involvement. The simple reason why the government will not reduce costs and increase efficiency, is that they don't have to. Unlike a private enterprise, they can simply run at a loss and increase taxes. Which brings me to...

4) It is disingenuous to argue that with a government option in place, people who get their insurance through their employers would be able to stick with their current plan. While they may not be "required" to choose the government option, the government could (and would, according to their proposal) run at a loss and force private insurers out of the marketplace by unfairly competing. No company C.F.O. would last long if they ignored the cost savings of moving many of their employees to the government plan.

5) The President argued on 60 minutes Sunday night that checks on malpractice awards don't work, and while I have never seen this evidence, let's assume for a moment that's true. I've seen far to little detail shared about other Tort Reform options, and I suspect that the massive trial lawyer's lobby is responsible for the lack of conversation among Democrats as to these options.

6) The argument is always made that the U.S. spends more than any other country in the world. I accept that because we have the best health care in the world. Our life expectancy rank is somewhere in the 30s (depending on which source you like), but if you factor out our crime and massive amount of car accidents (among a few other things that are not related to health care), you find that our life expectancy is the highest in the world. See http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2009/08/us-vs-europe-life-expectancy-and-cancer.html. To take one snippet from that information, a United States male has an 81.2% chance of surviving prostate cancer, while a citizen of England with the same type of cancer has a 44.3% survival rate. Why? Because the best drugs are made by companies that can make a lot of money in a freer market, because the best doctors are the ones that can make the most money in a freer market, and because treatment can happen faster without bureaucracy.

7) The President would like to make it so that private insurers can not turn you down for health insurance due to a pre-existing condition. Perhaps I'm missing something, but doesn't forcing companies to take on insurers that they can't financially carry mean that either rates go up or the health insurance companies close? It's a policy idea that sounds and feels good, but it doesn't make any rational sense.

8) So, what should we do? Even if we could find hundreds of millions of dollars lying around by cutting waste, putting more people on medicare is not the best answer. Instead, we should spend that money opening up more free clinics around the country, lowering the burden on the truly-crushed emergency room system. We should also lower the costs of malpractice insurance and unnecessary tests by modestly limiting the amount that could be gained in a malpractice suit. For example, if you will never earn more than two million dollars in your life, it doesn't make sense to get twenty-five million dollars as payment for never being able to work again.

Sorry for the length. Deep breath. Done.

Monday Music: Kanye-gate and "Glee"ful times

Have you noticed the media trend lately of idolizing males that are complete sissies? Women on television seem to be the intelligent half of the equation; they are calm, collected, and in control. The men are buffoons. In music, women seem regularly to be singing about how the males in their lives are completely replaceable, and how stupid men look when they apologize. Men seem to be often singing about how much they miss their woman. For all these reasons I would like to thank Sean Kingston for his song “Face Drop”.

I first heard Mr. Kingston when he was featured in Natasha Bedingfield’s “Love Like This”, and have managed to miss every blessed thing he has done since. But “Face Drop” may just change that. It has an amazing beat, and is the first song in a long time where a guy tactfully tells a woman who has dumped him how much of a mistake she has made. I highly recommend this song to everyone who has a head in need of bobbing.

Another new feature in the landscape of media is the television show “Glee.” It is a musical turned into a one-hour weekly series on Fox. Since it is actually entertaining, Fox will probably cancel it in the next few minutes, so go watch while you can. The show is incredibly well done corn-ball-goodness. Don't expect to see some crazy-smart but crazy-angry doctor walking the halls insulting everyone and popping some pain meds like so many Tic-Tacs; this show is all about making people smile and enjoy the music; even the background music is a capella. It is safe to say that House would hate this show.

So far the story line is entirely predictable and cornball, and that’s why I love it. To be frank, sometimes the world sucks enough without television reminding people of that fact. Unlike many shows that just capitalize on the tragedy of everyday life, “Glee” takes one away for an hour and lets them enjoy an escape. It is well directed, acted, and choreographed. So if you’re looking for something entertaining, new, different, and uplifting to watch, go check out “Glee”.

Now this post would not be complete without talking about the MTV Video Music Awards (VMA’s). And in usual fashion, who won what is in NO way the news that matters. But before I get to Kanye, can I just ask: What was with the host and his joke about slipping Megan Fox a roofie? It was both creepy and tactless; it was just weird. Another great thing that happened was the opening of the show; Madonna made an incredibly moving speech about the late Michael Jackson, and while I was not and still am not a fan of his, I was moved by her words; it was a good speech. It was however surpassed by Gerard Butler getting the entire crowd outside the theatre to shout “Ah-WOO” like they were Spartans; for the record: Gerard Butler is a BAMF. Annnnd now to Kanye West. I think if his actions taught us anything it would be: Don’t insult Taylor Swift; the crowd literally screamed “Boo” every time his name was mentioned! I do want to give MTV credit for throwing him out of the show for doing that; that showed class on behalf of the network, class that was shown up only by Beyonce’s letting Taylor speak during her time. Beyonce should also receive credit for the best performance of the night.

With the VMA’s out of the way, the next major musical award show is the Country Music Awards (CMA’s). Just this past week the nominations were announced and the big talk is, unsurprisingly, on Miss Taylor Swift who received an incredible four nominations including “Entertainer of the Year”. That illustrious award that has not been given to a female nominee since Faith Hill in 2000 with the smash hit “Breath”. The other nominees include Keith Urban, George Strait, Kenny Chesney and the only person to get more nominations than Miss Swift, Brad Paisley, who received an astounding six nominations. The CMA’s will air November 11th at 8/7c and will be aired on ABC.

Finally, I know it’s probably bad policy to point people to something better than what you do, but hey, I was pointed to this article about the Beatles and their new re-mastered release that was incredibly well written; probably the best thing I have read online. Links to that, and everything talked about can be found below.

Links:

Everything Taylor/Kanye (a la Phillip Defranco): http://www.phillyd.tv/2009/09/13/kanye-west-disrespects/

Sean Kingston’s “Face Drop”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGYwXeJbD9U

Taylor Swift Nominations Reaction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnN7kIqDgz0

Glee on Hulu: http://www.hulu.com/search?query=Glee

Blog on the Beatles: http://www.avclub.com/articles/chuck-klosterman-repeats-the-beatles,32560/

Monday Movies: Five Reasons Inglourious Basterds is the Most Important Film of the Year

A common way to think of Quentin Tarantino is as a purveyor of shallow and violent films. The claim of violence makes sense. As he himself said, “Sure, Kill Bill's a violent movie. But it's a Tarantino movie. You don't go to see Metallica and ask the fuckers to turn the music down.” Good point.

I should admit that I have not enjoyed all of Tarantino's films. I loved Resovoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, I enjoyed but did not love the Kill Bill movies, True Romance, and Four Rooms, and I was frankly bored by Jackie Brown and Death Proof. So, in which of these three categories do I place Inglourious Basterds? I agree with Roger Ebert, who said about this film that it, “is a big, bold, audacious war movie that will annoy some, startle others and demonstrate once again that he’s the real thing, a director of quixotic delights.” It is a truly great movie. Five reasons:

1. Tarantino is a master of cinematic narrative. He never tells a story the same way twice. Resovoir Dogs is told in retrospect, Pulp Fiction is out-of-order (making, for example, John Travolta's character invulnerable in the final diner scene, since the viewer already knows how he will die), and Kill Bill is told in independent chapters. For Basterds, Tarantino plays with our expectations of how World War Two movies are supposed to end, and how truth and justice are “supposed” to play out on film.

2. Christopher Waltz's performance as a Nazi, hunting Jews in occupied France, is reason enough for every adult to see this film. His is a complex character that you love to hate and fear equally.

3. Tarantino succeeds in his stated goal of making a spaghetti-western set in the Second World War. This movie very much feels like a twisted vision of A Fistful of Dollars.

4. While most of the previews emphasize the buddy-war movie aspect of this film, a la The Dirty Dozen, the best scenes in the movie are Hitchcock-inspired, dialogue-heavy and subtitled scenes of suspense.

5. The movie is Hamlet-esque in its self-examination. One of the various plots of the film explores the ethics of propaganda war movies, complete with Nazis laughing at the portrayal of allied soldiers being killed. The viewer is drawn toward hatred for the Nazis for this sub-human reaction, and then equally drawn to cheer when the violence against the Nazis is even more brutal and graphic. This work is, in itself, a self-aware propaganda film.

While some may mistaken believe that Basterds is a cartoonishly violent film, the truth is that this film is the type that will need to be broken down at a coffee shop for at least a couple of hours with friends to truly appreciate. Those looking for cartoonish violence will likley be bored, but those looking for an interesting experience will likely enjoy this film.