All posts by mjfelker1980

Popular Culture

The Bat-Man

In a matter of minutes I will unshakle myself from this desk, jump in the car with my wife, and drive to the local multi-plex to experience Batman Begins. Batman is, by far and away, my favorite superhero and I am looking forward to Chris Nolan’s interpretation of the Dark Knight.

In 1992, a CNN camera crew caught yours truly waiting in line for Batman Returns in the hot, humid Texas sun. (It was the first movie I went to without a parent.) I doubt CNN or FoxNews or even MSNBC will be there today to document this screening.

For more Bat-info, check out Movies.com’s 40 Things You Must Know About Batman. There are alot of interesting tidbits including #24:

Batman almosts: Mel Gibson, Alec Baldwin, Pierce Brosnan and Charlie Sheen were Michael Keaton’s rivals for the titular role in Batman; Tom Hanks was the studio’s first choice to replace Keaton in Batman Forever

I can’t imagine Tom Hanks as Batman. Can you?

40 Things You Must Know About Batman

General

No Matter Where You Stood

Months ago, news about Terri Schivo dominated the airwaves with every talking head throwing their two cents into the fray. I didn’t not take up the debate here because, quite frankly, it seemed like none of our buisness. I felt saddness and pain for everyone involved. Now, the autopsy report for the 41-year old has been released by the AP. Below are a few excepts and a link.

An autopsy on Terri Schiavo backed her husband’s contention that she was in a persistent vegetative state, finding that she had massive and irreversible brain damage and was blind, the medical examiner’s office said Wednesday. It also found no evidence that she was strangled or otherwise abused.

Autopsy results on the 41-year-old brain-damaged woman were made public Wednesday, more than two months after Schiavo’s death March 31 ended an internationally watched right-to-die battle between her husband and parents that engulfed the courts, Congress and the White House and divided the country.

Thogmartin (Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner) also said she did not appear to have suffered a heart attack and there was no evidence that she was given harmful drugs or other substances prior to her death.

She died from dehydration, Thogmartin said.

He said she would not have been able to eat or drink if she had been given food by mouth as her parents’ requested.

“Removal of her feeding tube would have resulted in her death whether she was fed or hydrated by mouth or not,” Thogmartin told reporters.

He also said she was blind, because the “vision centers of her brain were dead.”

“The brain weighed 615 grams, roughly half of the expected weight of a human brain,” he said. “This damage was irreversible, and no amount of therapy or treatment would have regenerated the massive loss of neurons.”

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Popular Culture

The Last Hour

Here is what has been playing in my office over the last hour. You gotta love shuffle!

Gimme Shelter :: The Rolling Stones (Forty Licks)
Spies :: Coldplay (Parachutes)
King Nothing :: Metallica (Load)
Lemon (Serious Def Dub) :: U2 (Lemon Remixes)
Yahweh :: U2 (HTDAAB)
Man of the Hour :: Pearl Jam (Rearveiwmirror: Down)
I Will Hold My Head High :: Third Day (Wire)
You Wreck Me :: Tom Petty (Wildflowers)
Rain King :: Counting Crows (August and Everything After)
Pride (In the Name of Love) :: U2 (The Unforgettable Fire)
Who Am I :: Zoe Worship (Desperate)
Magic Carpet Ride :: Steppenwolf (Easy Rider OMPS)
This Road :: Jars of Clay (Furthermore)
Poetically Correct :: TobyMac (Diverse City)
Let It Be :: The Beatles (1)
Lord, Raise Me Up :: Matisyahu (Live at Stubb’s)

Theology

Woo-Hoo!

The latest from the ONE Front:

Together as ONE, we have helped do something incredible!

This past Saturday, the U.S. joined together with other wealthy nations to free millions of people in some of the poorest countries from crushing debts. The finance ministers from the ‘Group of Eight’ or ‘G8’ nations agreed to write off billions of dollars of debt, and in return for cancellation, the qualifying countries will invest these savings in their own people — to help with more schools, health clinics and wells.

Debt cancellation will quite literally save millions of lives — but this deal was struck by only eight men huddling around a table. Eight men and the millions of us watching them, asking them to do the right thing. You called for this, with one voice, and they got it done.

ONE Campaign

Books, General, Popular Culture

This is the Morning Report…

Good morning! I had a great and lazy weekend. I hope that all of your were as lucky. Although I sat on the couch all day Saturday I did manage to catch up on (and even finish) some reading.

I finished Freakonomics: A Rouge Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner. What a great book. It delivered what it promised by causing me to look at the world, experts, and conventional wisdom with a skeptical look and a wink. Go get this book.

I began reading David McCullough’s 1776 on Sunday. Hey, my dad’s a history teacher. Back off!

This morning (6/13) I picked up a copy a CD with my morning coffee. Starbuck’s music partner Hear Music has a excusive deal to sell Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill Acoustic: 10th Anniversary Edition until July 26th. The album sounds great. It is the decaf Alanis for you morning commute.

General

Simple Dream

I had someone ask me recently what am I trying to accomplish with the campus ministry.

The Campus Ministry is steadfast in making disciples of Jesus Christ who in turn make disciples of Jesus Christ.

There it is plain and simple.

Ministry

Coach’s Responsibility

One of the most difficult aspects of the campus ministry here is the lack of unity between our teachers. When I first arrived, many teachers were all too happy to tell me their problems with Teacher X or how Y Church was doing such and such wrong. It drives me crazy. I wish that I could model the right attitude and say just the right things to build unity between our faculty. These problems were here long before I arrived but I don’t want them to be here when I leave. I feel that God is calling me to build bridges. Ok, so how am I going to accomplish this? Good question. Right now, I’m reading about Coach Wooden. Coach Wooden knew how to lead teams. He led his UCLA Bruins to 7 national titles in a row! In the book Developing the Leader’s Around You, John C Maxwell explains that Coach Wooden knew that leaders have a responsibility to the people that they lead.

A Leader’s Response to the People They Wish to Develop
1) Appreciate them for who they are
2) Believe that they will do their very best
3) Praise their accomplishments
4) Accept the personal responsibility to them as their leader

This is a good start. For me, 2 and 3 look to be the most difficult. Some teachers here are hard to believe in and harder to praise. I sometimes wish that Jesus had made following him easier. It comes down to being willing to carry out for yourself what you expect others to do.

I will choose the difficult path. I will lead.

Popular Culture

For those about to “Slurp”

1 Comment

Living in this small southern state is ok.
We have a Best Buy and a Barnes and Noble. We have 2 (count ’em 2) Starbucks. We have a Moe’s. We have a couple of malls. We have a great park. We even have a good movie theatre.
The one thing I miss about Dallas is… a 7-Eleven. I loved having that orange convenience store right down the block from where I lived. If it was 104 degrees in the shade there was a nice Slurpee in my hand. Tired after a long day at work? Have a Big Gulp. Brrrr… It’s cold. I think I’ll have a cup of joe. The possibilities for refreshment were endless. Now it seems that Apple and the Slurpee are combining their powers to bring people music with their beverage (a la Pepsi Co).

Apple and 7-Eleven have kicked off a new promotion to give away 8 million songs from the iTunes Music Store. According to the official rules, specially-marked 32 oz. Slurpee fountain cups at participating 7-Eleven locations will have a 12-digit alphanumeric code redeemable for one free song from the iTunes Music Store. It appears every cup is a winner.

So, if anybody out there in bloggdom needs to quench their thirst with a great big Slurpee and doesn’t have iTunes, drop me an email and I’ll tell you where you can send your winning tickets. Enjoy your summer everyone!

Link