Weekend Links: Week 11, 2009

Friday, March 13, 2009


Three notes before we dive in:

1. I stated that a clever name for this weekly feature is coming. I've come up with a few, but they're just a little too...inadequate. Until I come up with one I'm really satisfied with, we'll stick with the vanilla title. If you have any suggestions, please share them in the comments.
2. I changed "Books" to "The Written Word." This gives me flexibility to link to items such as the one featured this week.
3. I fully realize that the links posts are the only items I've produced for this site recently. This will likely continue to be the case until I get a new computer to replace my poor, poor laptop.

Christianity
Michael Spencer of the Christian Science Monitor, an evangelical, posits that the evangelical community is on the verge of a "major collapse." Rod Dreher, apparently an orthodox blogger on conservative politics and religion (his little logo makes me sick to my stomach), responds.

I'll simply pull a couple of interesting quotes from Spencer's article, with the caveat that I want to explore this thesis more thoroughly in its own independent post. (Or in the comments - come on guys.)

1. "Evangelicals have identified their movement with the culture war and with political conservatism. This will prove to be a very costly mistake...We fell for the trap of believing in a cause more than a faith."

2. "Expect evangelicalism to look more like the pragmatic, therapeutic, church-growth oriented megachurches that have defined success. Emphasis will shift from doctrine to relevance, motivation, and personal success – resulting in churches further compromised and weakened in their ability to pass on the faith."

3. "A small band will work hard to rescue the movement from its demise through theological renewal. This is an attractive, innovative, and tireless community with outstanding media, publishing, and leadership development...We can rejoice that in the ruins, new forms of Christian vitality and ministry will be born. I expect to see a vital and growing house church movement"

4. Despite all of these challenges, it is impossible not to be hopeful. As one commenter has already said, "Christianity loves a crumbling empire."

Sports
Fighting has come under fire recently in hockey. Mike Heika, who covers the Stars for the Dallas Morning News, takes a look at the honor code that players follow when fighting. Take a look at this video after you read the story.

Now comes news that the NHL is thinking about adding ten-minute game misconduct penalties for "staged fights" - fights that occur immediately after face-offs, like in the video above. Scott Burnside, who writes this opinion piece, thinks that this won't be much of a deterrent to staged fighting, but I think that, if passed, we will see reduced fighting as a result of this rule. Coaches can get fined if too many game misconduct penalties are assessed or if they happen at the wrong time. I hope to write a more in-depth post about fighting in hockey at a later point.

Film/TV
The New Yorker profiles screenwriter Tony Gilroy, who wrote and directed the upcoming Duplicity. The piece is supposed to be flattering, and it is in parts, but I think Gilroy comes out looking like an arrogant jerk. Most notably, Gilroy, who wrote all three movies in the Bourne Trilogy, completely trashes the Robert Ludlum novels on which the films are based, as well as the readers who have enjoyed them over the years. Note to Tony: I loved your movies, but they were nowhere near as good as the books. Gilroy still remains compelling for me, however, and I now have a desire to see Duplicity that I didn't have before.

Music
The A.V. Club takes a look back at Johnny Cash's American Recordings. Contains audio.

The Written Word
It is my humble opinion that Calvin and Hobbes is by far the best comic strip ever produced. Bill Watterson stopped writing it much too early, in 1995. Calvin was perpetually 6 years old throughout the life of the strip, and some artists have imagined what a teenage Calvin would look like. At the bottom of the page you can find a fictional final strip that reveals the end of Calvin's and Hobbes' relationship as we know it. The actual final strip was full of optimism, and it is the image at the top of this post.

Games
Leonardo Notarbartolo is being released from prison this week. The April issue of Wired details his exploits as mastermind behind the World's Biggest Diamond Heist. How many screenwriters do you think have taken notice of this story?

Dallas
A follow-up to last week's post about the DART: Now they're talking about raising rates. Yeah, because the people who need to be shouldering the financial burden right now are the ones who depend on public transportation. What about the stimulus package? Incidentally, if the DART is going to start raking in some extra dough, how about figuring out a way to provide transportation to the Ballpark in Arlington?

Politics/World News
Texas Governor Rick Perry is trying to reject $556 million of the $16 billion dollars Texas is due to receive from the stimulus package. At best, this irresponsible, and at worst, it is a grave injustice to jobless people. More than likely, it is a publicity stunt designed to give Perry ammo against KBH in the 2010 governor's race. Governor Perry, Texans pay taxes too. You may be against the stimulus package, but it has passed. Do not give our tax dollars to California.

Humor
It appears that a Japanese baseball team may have shaken its own unique curse involving Colonel Sanders. You can't make this stuff up.

Youtube
And now, something completely silly.

Movie Trailer of the Week
This week's trailer comes from a movie that will be shown at AFI Dallas International Film Festival on Wednesday, April 1. Sugar is the story of a 19 year-old Dominican baseball player trying to break into the big leagues.


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