Avatar - Review

Impatience got the better of me. I sighed while waiting for my friends who had decided to buy frozen cokes at the snack bar, despite the fact that we were already running late for the movie. Despite my impatience I couldn’t shake the niggling doubt in my mind that Avatar was going to be a disappointing movie. 161 Minutes later I had reached the conclusion that while Avatar was visually stunning and while I enjoyed the movie and would recommend it, I was left wanting more from the characters, the story and even the message of the film.

If you’ve haven’t seen the trailers, Avatar is about a mining company from earth who are trying to get to a precious resource known as “unobtanium” which is found on a lush alien world. Unfortunately the world’s native inhabitants happen to be living above a massive deposit of unobtanium, making it impossible to get[1]. Enter Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) a former marine who is tasked with gaining the aliens trust and convincing them to move, before the mining company’s military arm get’s its turn to make the natives move by raining destruction on the natives’ home.

Simply put, Avatar’s visuals are stunning and I can not recall when I last had so many ‘wow’ moments while watching a movie. Avatar’s use of 3D alone makes it worth seeing at the cinema in all its visual glory. A huge strength was the lack of visual clichés, no objects flew out of the screen to try and make the unwary cinema goer jump. Instead the 3D added to the feeling of being immersed in the world of ‘Avatar’. Use of colour was also a highlight with beautiful vibrant and earthy colours forming the basis of the alien environment contrasting with the clinical and sterile colours of the human colony.

Avatar is not without its flaws, the predictable storyline and two dimensional characters are just about as generic Hollywood as you can get. Unfortunately the story and the characters provide a lacklustre counterpoint to Avatar’s visual effects. It could be argued that a good story would draw focus away from the impressive visuals which Avatar is showcasing, I say bollocks to that! I want a good story and compelling characters to go with my eye candy.

The take home message of Avatar also felt sadly like it was doing nothing more than appealing to current mainstream sympathies without trying to push your thinking in any new way. The movies message included:
Destruction of the environment for more money is bad
Foreign cultures are the way they are for a reason
Trying to change foreign cultures is bad
There is more to life than the physical world around us
All life is connected

While the main ideological conflict is between those who say that the physical world is all that there is (the human military) and those who say that there is a spiritual world (the alien natives). There is also conflict between the natives and the humans who are trying to educate the natives in human affairs in order to make them civilised. This could provide an effective segue into a gospel conversation as you discuss why teaching the gospel to people who are not from Christian backgrounds and educating them is important and is not a bad thing.

I would recommend Avatar, though I would caution anyone who goes to enjoy the visual extravaganza and not walk into the movie expecting to find a deep and enriching storyline. If you are interested in seeing it, I would recommend catching Avatar at the movies as I suspect that the DVD will be far less worth seeing.

[1] If only the scientist who discovered this material had the narrative foresight to call it easytobtanium the whole thing might have been a non-issue.

Weird Dream Story Idea - Your thoughts?

So I don't know how often this happens to people, but I had a dream last night that potentially had the beginnings of a cool story. And by cool I mean hopefully has the potential to get the crap marketed out of it and make me a fortune.

I don't remember all the details but it played out like a cartoon in my head. Not a warner brothers cartoon (although, subconscious, if you are listening that would be cool for tonight) but one of those new cartoons that seems part anime. Kind of a Ben10 style of animation.

I can still picture some key parts but it's fading and I want to write this down somewhere and seeing as my notebook is filled with notes for F.T.E. and this feels like a side project, I figured why not write it hear. There are two scenes that stand out in my mind.

First was brief, it was kind of like a mechanised octopus... without a head... and where the suckers would be were red lines that met in the centre and it scanned things (sounds a little cylonish not that I think about it).

Second was like a council that governed the land, I got the feeling that they were the bad guys (though some seemed worse than others) and they were all somewhere along the spectrum between humans and mechanised animals (real animals and fictional animals). I got the impression that the different groups don't get along on principal but they were united in this one issue that they were dealing with.

I get the idea that there was some sort of meeting taking place about trying to get a small remnant that had not yet 'mechanised' in some way to join them (become mechanised). For some reason they thought that the world would be better if everyone was 'mechanised' to some degree.

Different individuals had different ideas about how to do this, the two that stand out were one mostly mechanical dragon-ish creature who wanted to somehow force them to change (oddly enough through some sort of dragon dance which, if it is what the guy in my dream did, involves stomping and waving your arms up and down while standing on the spot.

A different guy who was human (though only his face was fleshy) and wore robes seemed to think this was a silly idea. Didn't actually suggest anything but I got the distinct impression he though that the un-mechanised humans needed to be lured into changing.

Anyhow, that was a more colourful dream than I usually have.

Thoughts as a story idea?

The Resistance – Take a Stand Against Corruption!

Muse has been gaining more popularity in recent years. You might be most familiar with two of their songs, either ‘Knights of Cydonia’ that gained notoriety through the awesomely addictive game, Guitar Hero or ‘Super Massive Black Hole’ which was tied in with the ‘Twilight’ movie. The Resistance is Muse’s latest album and is difficult to pin down into a particular genre, as there is just so much variety on the album. Words I have seen used to describe the album have included: Rocking, Anthemic, Symphonic and Quirky with influences of Pop, Disco and Queen. I enjoyed The Resistance, and I suspect many people will find something on the album that can appeal to their tastes.

The Resistance has several themes that resonate with the Bible and two of the big ones are the total depravity of humankind (i.e. the way that any human endeavour is corrupted due to our nature) and the need for something to be done about this. At its heart The Resistance is a lament about corruption in the world and the way that people ruin things for each other. Uprising, the first track on the album sets this tone. Uprising calls people to rise up against corrupt authorities and the first step is to wake up to the reality of the world we live in with all its injustices, stop buying into the lies and comfort of the world around us that we find so comfortable and start making a difference.

The tracks on The Resistance have a strong emotional undercurrent, alternating from the extremes of pursuing love in the face of opposition to feeling so passionate about social inequality that you are willing to instigate civil disobedience to make yourself heard. While the album continues to discuss fighting against corruption, the writer seems to realise that the problem isn’t just the people he is rising up against; the problem is with all of us. Our corruption spreads anywhere we go and impacts all parts of existence.

While The Resistance does share some themes raised in the Bible, it is a markedly different message. Religious words like ‘sin’ are not used in the album nor does it claim than our sinful nature is humanities big problem, instead it suggests that humanities needs lie in social reform. I can’t help but feel the album concludes on a question mark. The final request in the last song is for another chance, a last chance to be good and forgive ourselves. The ending seems so bleak as humans have already had plenty of chances and failed to get it right moreover, unasked questions like “Whose standard have we fallen short of?” and “Why would it matter?” remain unanswered. If you, or someone you know, are listening to the album these might be some good questions to ask.

Ultimately The Resistance misses out on humanities biggest problem: Sin, our rebellion against God. The Bible tells us that it is Gods standard we all fall short of. In Romans 3:10 – 12 we read:

"There is no one righteous, not even one; 11there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one."

Ultimately, falling short of God’s standard results in our death and judgement, which can only be dealt with through the blood of Jesus. But praise God we don’t need to end on a question mark like Muse, we can know that Jesus died and rose again so any of us can have our relationship with God fixed if we have faith in Jesus, the one who took our corruption on himself.

... and in a flash, he skipped the face that he hasn't blogged in over two years...

As I stand on the grass, the cool of a spring evening brushes past me. A shout from my left lets me know one of the guys is getting restless. The game better start soon.

Darkness has settled over the field and obscures the people around me, the only clearly visible objects are bands of light around peoples ankles, dancing around as players stretch and move. And one other.

With a bellow, the glowing sphere took flight as it was kicked down the field leaving a faint trail in its wake as it crossed over my retina.

Visual chaos erupted as the bands descended on the ball, a rainbow of colour feuding in the darkness.

A bands strike the sphere and send it across the field. A band on the opposing side jumps up and blocks the sphere before retaliating, sending it back from whence it came!

The colours continue their feud over the sphere, back and forth, up and down the field. Shouts of encouragement, groans of disappointment and gasps for air accompany the frenzy.

These are the wonders of Disco Soccer.

An excerpt from Lachlan’s thinking:

I need to decide if I can work here.

No matter how many benefits there might be, if I am teaching people something contrary to the gospel or in a situation where there is a good chance that it is expected I will teach things that oppose the Bible. I can not do that. The question is, ‘Will this place put me in that position?’

My thinking shifts through phases:

* It will place me in ‘that’ situation. It’s only a matter of time.

* I can probably adjust my interactions so that I don’t technically advocate something that I think is ultimately a false truth. But I’ll spend so much time and energy doing adjusting how I need to word what I am saying, so that I don’t disagree with it that I’ll severely reduce my efficacy as a worker.

* Never do I think that it will be fine here and I won’t have any issues.

Methinks I know what the decision I need to make is.

The tricky thing is:
- Where can I work?
- Will I have the same issues there?
- Did I waste four years of uni?

Okay I might be making things out to be a little worse than they could be, but they are still concerns.
Whoever said being a Christian was easy.

- Lachlan

The World of Today

Well another weekend has reached its conclusion.

Although I am working this afternoon, which has given me the morning off, I am not incredibly thrilled about going back to work. It seems especially bitter when everyone else I know seems to be on holidays and I am used to being on holidays at this time of year.

But enough whining.

Last night at church we had an outreach night where we looked at 'Treasure that really counts' Rob gave a great talk that clearly explained that we need Jesus to be able to have a relationship with God.

Okay so this is another short post and I'm still getting into a blogging groove but I figure I'll work on my regularity first. I wonder if there is an internet equivalent to all bran to help with that.

Prelude to Greatness

In an attempt to rediscover my nerdish heritage, I am resurrecting Let's Loch It In.
For all you people out there anxiously awaiting something to happen here (Simon) here is 'The Prelude to Greatness!'

More posts, indeed great posts to follow.

-Da Loch