District 9

I just came back from watching District 9. It was a very interesting and somewhat disturbing movie; I think that's why I need to process it here. I'm also very glad that it was made by a South African.

The movie has a lot to say about apartheid. The basics are that a group of aliens fly their mother ship into a position over Johannesburg and park it there. Humans go up and explore the ship bringing the aliens down to earth. The aliens are put into a camp and basic apartheid problems arise. The humans decide to move the camp and the project is given to a low level guy who's kinda inept as a fall guy. Except on a mission into the district he gets sprayed with some kind of liquid and begins to change into an alien. This of course makes him highly valuable as a source to the aliens weapons systems which are genetically controlled. Now he must try to survive as well as find allies in the alien camp. He of course finds the one alien who's trying to escape the camp and return to the mother ship. He of course does some stupid things and shows his cowardly side then redeems himself in an act of bravery.

This movie was really disturbing because it showed apartheid and also some of the WW2 atrocities in full light. I like that they did it in a science fiction format because it takes the edge off, but it was still hard to watch. It definitely got me thinking about how some people groups oppress others and how we just never seem to learn from our mistakes. The movie is also kinda gory so I wouldn't recommend it for people who are put off by that. What was kind of nice is that the hero wasn't really a hero. He was just as bad as everyone else until the end when he redeems himself by helping the one alien escape.

I'd give it a cautious thumbs up.

Recent Read

I'm trying to get back into blogging. I think it's important, but I've tried this before and I don't know how well it worked.




Anyway here's a recent read. Very good for those of us who are getting bogged down in the incessant speed of our society. "In Praise of Slowness" Carl Honore. It's a pretty easy read, but it does have some really good ideas on how to slow down without giving up.

Day One

Today marks the first day at CMU without our former Director of Communications and Marketing. I'm not sure what this will mean for a place like CMU. I know for a fact that we don't have anyone to replace him full time, but have an interim person for the next six weeks.

In the life of any organization the person who crafts the story is probably the most important person. I know we all think the president is the most important or the CEO or CFO. And these people do play a major role in how the organization grows, but the person who tells the story of an organization is the one who shapes the vision that other people have of the organization.

In the world of marketing it doesn't matter what's actually behind the doors; it only matters what people think is behind the doors.

Quick thought

So when I ask the question what would you different if you were in charge I always get an interesting answer. It always depends on what job you have and your company, but today was "Activity Based Accountability".

Reach out and touch someone.

Interesting...

Something brewing

It's been a long time since I had anything I really wanted to share in this blog. Perhaps for good reason I have refrained from posting anything that could be anything either meaningful or trite or even mean and in poor taste. I find that being in an emotional state where I'm pushed the point of not knowing what to do besides get it all out online is a bad method of dealing with that emotion. So rather than spew out something I'll regret later I will pose a question that I'm sure will never be answered by anyone.

Do we ever really leave high school and all our social structures and behaviors behind?

I hope one day we will.

Who knows why....

Who really knows why I stopped blogging these past seven months. In any event I'm never really sure how long it will take me to get back into blogging as a full time past time. What I can tell you is that Katie and I have decided not to get internet in the apartment we'll be living in when we're married so my access will be limited to work. I think in the end it will be a good decision for us at this point.

I'll do my best to be in touch.

Good Friday Thoughts

Dear Friends, I've had a few thoughts that I'd like to share regarding Good Friday. The first thought is why exactly do we call Good Friday good? I think that some personal research should be done, but how can we call today good?

Now the deepest thought I had today was about how we approach Good Friday. As far as I understand this holiday is about the death of Christ our Lord. It seems to me that this death is incredibly important in our Christian tradition, but it is still a death. If we are to fully understand what Good Friday means we should begin to embrace the idea that this is not a happy day. The death of Christ was not a joyful experience or something done lightly on the part of Jesus. It is important to keep in the back of our minds the knowledge that there was a man who was also God who lived on earth and was beaten almost to death; beaten to almost to death. I don't think there was any joy at that. There certainly wasn't any joy on the part of the disciples.

I believe that as Christians we need to remember not only the actions and the reasons, but also the emotions connected to Good Friday. I think we should be able to allow ourselved at least one day of mourning. In society as especially the church we have lost the ability to mourn effectively and purposefully. Good Friday is a day of mourning not celebration. Celebrating comes on Sunday when Christ rose from the grave. There is a day of celebration coming in two days we can wait. It's like giving away the ending of the best story on earth. The great ending becomes less meaningful if you always mention it throughout the story.

Easter is coming in a couple days and then we can celebrate, for now it's time to mourn the fact that we killed our Lord and Saviour.