Category: Blog

{Spoilers (as always)} Welcome back to my journey through Star Wars. Last time I took a look at the hope we had for Han Solo and Darth Vader. Now I'm taking a look at Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Just two things come to mind in this movie before we move on to the next: First, Lando betrayed his friend because he was afraid of Darth Vader and wanted to keep his business running. His first impulse was to protect what he had, but in the end, he very nearly loses something much more valuable. From a worldly point of view, its...Read More

{Spoiler Alert} At Last! Here we are at the end of this series on the Hunger Games. I followed the movies, so this is the second part of Mockingjay. Recall that throughout the series I've been following two threads of influence: Love/resistance vs. hatred/violence. When I got to part 1, however, these two shifted focus a little into the difference between hatred/cruelty vs. "just war." Indeed, those two trains of thought emerge almost explicitly right at the beginning of this movie, which takes us quickly to the battle in District 2 against "The Nut," an important military compound. They can't get in...Read More

aaaaaand we're back! This is the second post in the series on Hunger Games. Last time I tried to look a little at what it means to pursue freedom under oppression. Recall that I tried to emphasize two related but different streams of influence in the overall plot of revolution: violence and resistance - it'll come up again. This time I'd like to consider another question: what is love? It's becomes clear very early on that Katniss' "love" for Peeta was primarily an act in order to save their lives, but Peeta is no doubt in love with Katniss. Right away,...Read More

Greetings! Today I continue my journey through Star Wars. Last week I began with Episode II  and Anakin's failure to keep to his integrity. This week, I've taken a look at Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and guess what I've found? A Catholic Sacrament! Well, sort of. There's actually a ton of material here for reflection (how the devil lies, pro-life, how evil can look good, the dangers of relativism, etc.), but today I'll just focus on Jedis going to confession, and the sad reality that we can't all just get along after all... Bam! Fshwoon! VVMMMMM! KSCHHH! "Good... Kill...Read More

Heyo! It's the Ephesian again. I'm back from a little trip through cyberspace and decided to drop in and share some thoughts about outer space. I went to see "The Martian" and a few things stood out that I'd like to write about if anyone is willing to read it, or even if no one reads it. I guess it's kind of like Mark's video logs - no one is watching them, but they just might someday ;-). Anywho, much of the movie is about dealing with the technical problems regarding staying alive on Mars. As for the scientific accuracy...Read More