All three of today's readings talk about the things of this world being ultimately inconsequential. In today's homily, our visiting priest talked about how the ancient Israelites based their hopes on rewards in this world rather than recognizing God's promise for all of eternity. I, too, find it easy to get caught up in the comforts that this world can provide. However, this is precisely what Jesus warns us about in today's Gospel.

In today's Gospel, the rich man in the parable does not consider sharing his abundance, but instead creates plans so that he can hold more and more for himself. As mentioned by our visiting priest, this rich man then blesses himself for his accomplishments and feels set for years to come--not realizing that he would die that very night. With his energy focused on the amassing wealth in this world without any care for others, he ultimately finds himself with nothing.

"Everything is vanity" is repeated in the first reading. To work in vain means to work without producing any real result. When a person looking in the mirror is called vain, that ultimately means that the appearance which they care so much about does not truly matter. I recently wrote about why I would not want to win the lottery, but I unfortunately did not list the vanity of it as one of the reasons. 

I need to work on refocusing my energies away from the vanities of the world and more towards building the kingdom of God.

I've had a few people recently mention the approaching school year to me. It's often phrased in a way that suggests stressful times are ahead. Perhaps they are, but there's also a real excitement to the beginning of the school year that I deeply enjoy. Don't get me wrong; the school nightmares have been in full force with their greatest hits including all time favorites such as: I can't find my classroom, I have a completely different course to teach than I realized, I can't find any of my materials, none of the technology is working correctly, and (of course) horribly disrespectful students. All of these have some level of connection to real-life experiences, but one thing that I've noticed about nightmares in the past few years is that I seem to be handling the situations rather calmly (and was recently accused in a dream of being too calm about it).

I'm excited about this year. Should the schedule not change, I have courses that I enjoy teaching. I also have the Rome and Athens trip this coming spring break. Connor will be in the school (likely trying to avoid me). Also, I won't have to rush out to pick up the boys from Sterling like I have almost the entire time we've lived here, giving me more time after school to meet with students or get stuff done.

Speaking of stuff, I once again brought home a lot of material with the intention of doing some advance planning. Once again, it didn't happen. I thought about it a lot, but the books are just sitting there. Thus, the week before school is going to be another one of those cram weeks to get everything ready.

Yet, in the ways that really matter, I am ready. More than that, I'm looking forward to it. May this be a great year!

Apparently, some American lottery crossed the billion dollar prize mark this week. Also apparently, that makes it equal in news-worthiness to stories about the flooding in Kentucky, the Retrumpagains voting down the PACT bill, the missing DHS and Secret Service texts from January 6th, and the falling debris from China's uncontrolled rocket. I mean, don't get me wrong, a billion dollars is a LOT of money ... but I wouldn't want it.

Seriously.

Sure, I would like to not worry about paying bills or wondering if we have enough to go out to eat on a date night. For example, I would like it if I could get Scarlet (my ATV/plow) running again, our living room carpet replaced, many of our windows replaced, and the kitchen and bathroom remodeled. However, even if I were to add in paying off the home, car, and student loans, that would still leave me with over 99.9% of that billion dollars (yes, I know the winner would not actually have a billion dollars). Even if I gave a million dollars to each of the 33 members of my immediate family (wife, children, grandchildren, parents, siblings and spouses, nieces and nephews, both on my side and Janelle's), I would still have over 96% of that billion dollars left over.

Winning that billion dollar jackpot would make it so that jackpot became my life. It's different when the money one earns pays for the lifestyle to which one is accustomed. To suddenly exceed that would change my place in the world. I would doubt any new attempts at friendship. I would likely question any renewed relationships with family or friends. I would continually worry about the money and what my ethical, Christian obligation is with it. After all, Jesus said "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." I don't know if I (let alone anyone) is capable of dealing with that level of responsibility.

I know that people might say, "If you don't want it, give it to me," but I wouldn't want to curse them with it either. With that money comes the power that such an amount of money represents, and as I said, I don't think anyone could have that and not have it change them. And, of course: "With great power comes great responsibility." Even in giving it away, I would be responsible for ill that might befall due to those people having that money and others not.

Still ... if I were a rich man ...

This week I finished watching the Divergent trilogy, the Snyder Cut of The Justice League, and the second season of Picard. I still have large piles of unopened movies that I did not get around to watching this summer for one reason or another, but I am glad that I got through these. While none of them were great, I enjoyed watching all of them even if I don't think that I will likely revisit any of them again (maybe, Picard). 

The Divergent series is the discount Hunger Games (which has its own weak elements) that came out when that rush of teen-dystopian books, movies, and shows flooded the market a little while ago. It was a bit of a mess despite some great star power, especially due to studio executive's decisions which tried to divide the final book of a trilogy into two movies (after the successes with Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Hunger Games strategies) only to find the decision bomb in the box office to the point that they first discussed spinning off into a TV show (due to the popularity of the 100) and then just dropping all plans altogether, leaving the movie version of the story incomplete. This would explain why I was able to get the three movies at such a discount several years back. That said, I ended up enjoying each movie (especially the last two) much more than I expected (which was, admittedly, a low bar). Rowen is a fun person to have in the audience when watching action movies, and the two of us were able to critique the more ridiculous elements of the stories.

I really wanted to like the Snyder Cut, and there were parts that were certainly better than the theatrical version (or at least made more sense), but I didn't like Ezra Miller (let alone as the Flash) even before all his real-world controversy, and I just don't like Snyder's ultra-bleak take on the DC Universe. Thus, for all of the cringe-worthy portions and poor design choices of the "Whedon-cut," I still preferred its build up of Superman's legacy in the beginning, and the use of John Williams' triumphant Superman score when he comes to save the day at the end. Meanwhile, the Snyder version (despite only holding 10% of the theatrical cut's film) was basically the same story as the theatrical cut except with more slow motion, a darker palette, and an overall lack of hope, but at least a better development for Cyborg's character. I'm still glad I saw it as I can appreciate the labor and art put into it, but I could do without the Snyderverse, which is a shame because (aside from Miller) I like the casting choices.

As for the second season of Picard, I enjoyed the journey even if time-travel in Star Trek can be a bit iffy (and this one was full of holes). I end the season still confused about a few things as the continuity was not fully developed or explained, but I enjoyed the character development and particularly loved having John de Lancie chew the scenery again as Q (I would not have minded seeing even more of him). Still, with only a few of the other regular cast members from The Next Generation making an appearance--and none from the other shows other than Seven--it felt like this season was missing something. Hopefully, the third season (which comes out early next year) and its reunion of nearly the entire cast will scratch that particular itch of mine.

We had our first D&D session since back in the middle of June. We ended up going past our intended end time. On getting home, I discovered that there were a number of electronic forms that Connor needed me to fill out for football (which had its first official day of practice today). I did not have as much fun filling out these forms as I did playing D&D--especially since I am up considerably later than I intended. It does not help that our Internet connection is running slow at the moment.

It looks like everything has finally uploaded. With that said, I'm heading to bed.

The San Diego Comic Con has been filled with loads of wonderful news for geeks and nerds such as myself. This past weekend had some amazing trailers for some of the films and shows coming out this year. However, ​one stood out well beyond the rest, perhaps beyond any other movie trailer that I have seen. Now, I know that some of you might think that I might be overselling it, but I dare you to watch the trailer for the upcoming sequel to The Black Panther and not be moved.

I knew a few things about the movie before the trailer was released. The biggest issue was how the movie was going to deal with the death of Chadwick Boseman who had played the titular character so well before. Disney and Marvel said that they were not going to recast the role of T'Challa (Black Panther), but that they would likely pass on the mantle of the Black Panther to another character. This had led me to wonder how they were going to handle the death or disappearance of T'Challa. The answer is: respectfully and powerfully.

I also knew that this movie would introduce one of Marvel's oldest characters: the Submariner, Namor. Although lesser known, this is the character on which DC based Aquaman. What was interesting to me were the rumors that they were going to tie Namor's Atlantian culture to Mesoamerican traditions. In short, those rumors are true.

Now, as much as I liked the original Black Panther movie, and despite it being groundbreaking in so many ways, it is not my favorite MCU film, and I was not certain that I would want to watch the sequel in the theater. However, I watched the trailer yesterday [which I am linking below] and found myself unexpectedly tearing up before it was over. I immediately had to watch it again, and my eyes still welled up. I saw that Eric Voss of New Rockstars (my favorite host and channel for spotting Easter eggs and references) had a reaction video to the trailer, so I watched that and found that I was not the only person moved to tears by this amazing tribute.

Since then, I have watched the trailer dozens of times, often by watching other commentators' reactions to it. The cinematography, the music, and especially the powerful lines by the outstanding Angela Bassett (playing Queen Ramonda, T'Challa's mother) all come together to form an amazing tribute, a message of both mourning and hope, and the greatest movie trailer I have ever seen. I don't know if this movie will be able to live up to my expectations at this point, but this trailer alone is a masterpiece. I am definitely watching this movie in the theater.

Link to YouTube video of the official teaser trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

The Weather Channel says that we are only getting 17 mph winds this evening. However, HEA (our electric company) sent out a notice that they are expecting significant wind gusts that will likely knock out more people's power through the night. As I look out my office window, I can see some of those gusts blowing trees back and forth. The spruce beetles have devastated so many trees that it has been impossible to take them all down. This leaves a lot of dead trees our there to be jostled by these phantom wind gusts.

In general, our summer has been quite mild. Despite the early dry spell, we have since received enough rain that our burn suspensions have been lifted. This makes it so I am not as concerned about this evening's wind if our fire danger had been higher. Still, I would prefer to not lose power.

Today's first reading and Gospel illustrate the need for persistence. As stated in today's homily, the Greek word that was translated into persistence has a closer meaning to shameless audacity. When talking about prayer, Jesus tells us to be shamelessly daring in speaking to God--treating Him not just as a "god," but as our Father. Here, too, the original text does not use the formal word for father, but instead uses "Abba" which is closer to Papa or Daddy. In doing so, we claim our descendance from God Himself worthy of a full inheritance.

The issue of paternity was greater then than it is even now. Children not claimed by a father had no family, no inheritance, no rights. These bastards were shunned by society. For one to outright call to a powerful person as a father would have brought severe punishment. In the case of gods at the time, those accepted as the human children of gods were literally called heroes. For Jesus to tell us to call on God as our Father is truly shameless and audacious. 

What's truly important is that God recognizes us as His children. In the recent Thor: Love and Thunder movie, we see that the "gods" are decadent and uncaring about humanity. This is emphasized in the beginning when Gorr comes face to face with the god that he had been devoted to his entire life. This powerful being laughs at Gorr's misfortunes and claims Gorr as a servant or slave rather than as a child. This is a fairly accurate portrayal of how the other religions of Jesus' time viewed their gods. It was the norm. Thus, Jesus' teaching that we should call upon God as Abba was utterly radical.

Paul talks about this in today's second reading. Jesus paid all of our debts out of his total love for us. As our Father, our Papa, our Daddy, God sees to our needs, provides our daily bread, and forgives us of our faults. That unconditional love is always there for us; even if we turn away from our birthright, He will leave it for us until we are ready to accept it.

The San Diego Comic Con has brought out a great deal of interesting news concerning upcoming projects for geeks and nerds such as myself. DC has me hyped with the trailers for Black Adam (starring Dwayne Johnson) and Shazam 2. Meanwhile, Marvel let fly that Phase 4 of the MCU will conclude this year with the Black Panther sequel this November. The trailer looked amazing! They then gave a big surprise by laying out all 12 projects of Phase 5 (which will take us from February of 2023 to July of 2024) AND noting three projects of Phase 6--The Fantastic 4 to start it in November of 2024 and two Avengers movies to tie together Phases 4, 5, and 6 in May and November of 2025.

Thus far, Phase 4 has been as disjointed as titles like "Multiverse of Madness" might suggest. Unlike the previous Phases, there hasn't been a strong narrative thread holding them together. However, today's announcement that the three Phases will be collectively referred to as the Multiverse Saga (the first three Phases are called the Infinity Saga) with a two-part Avengers storyline to conclude it (like the last one) gives me some hope that the MCU is not simply spiraling out of control. It does, however, make me a little concerned about ever being able to marathon all of these stories together.

Now THAT would truly be madness ...

As much as I would like to identify with the heroes in action movies, the sad truth is that I would likely be one of the extras in the background who is watching in stunned disbelief or running in terror as the events unfold. On occasion, movies give us glimpses of the perspective of the bystanders--in some cases that bystander even becomes a central part of the plot (and even action) of the movie. However, I would like to see an entire action movie done from the perspective of one of that story's "extras."

Better yet, like the extras in movies, this focal side character would not have a single line in the enter production. It will be clear that the character can talk, and may even be seen in the background talking at some point, but any actual lines of dialogue will not be heard by the audience. I envision at least one scene (like was done with Morn on Deep Space Nine) where the scene opens to a group of people responding to a joke that the protagonist had clearly just told. In fact, the movie should end with him just about to say something.

Like at least one other story idea of mine, I envision that the protagonist's story is one of a normal week where he has some major event (like an anniversary) that he trying to set up. An early shot will show his schedule for the week and the various locations that he will have to go--locations that will just happen to coincide with the action movie plot that will be taking place in the background. Various events could include things like him driving to work as a Michael Bay style car chase erupts around him, him being taken with a group of other hostages, him being on a subway (because his car is being repaired after the earlier chase) as a martial arts battle erupts, etc. In at least one scene, he's trying to take a picture with his phone when the action hero says, "I'm going to need that," and takes it.

To be clear, it would be nice if the action story also made sense and developed as the extra's everyday story is going on rather than just existing as disjointed action set-pieces (although, that IS the plot of many action movies). To work best, the audience would have to feel connected to both stories for, while there is a definite comic aspect to this set up, this idea would work best if it was taking itself seriously too. If it was done right, I would love to watch this movie.

While I am still playing through the absolutely massive Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt (as I have been since before summer break), I chose to sneak in a couple of smaller games that recently came out. I finished both of them today (in one case, I only started the game yesterday). Despite their short lengths, I highly recommend both of them as I am glad that I played them and would be willing to do so again. They are Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge and Stray.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge is a lovingly crafted homage to the beat-em-up quarter-sucking arcade games of the past. In fact, the game was amazingly similar to one of my favorite Super Nintendo games, Turtles in Time which was, itself, quite similar to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games in the arcade and on the original Nintendo. While available on multiple systems, I had to get it for the Switch for one main reason: six-player couch co-op play!

All of the boys enjoyed playing the game, giving us something other than Mario Kart that we can play together. Although fairly straight-forward, this game does make improvements on the earlier games. Beyond the six-person team-up, this game also makes each playable character feel unique to the point that, if playing with fewer than four people, you will want to strategize on who is playing which character. It also includes interesting challenges (although some feel nearly impossible) and fun Easter eggs throughout. Although the environments were better, the graphics for the on screen characters seemed slightly worse than on the SNES's Turtles in Time due to the dark outlines, lack of shading, and slightly smaller character models. 

Still, it was an enjoyable, nostalgic that I plan to keep playing.

Stray is a completely different animal. Set in one of my favorite genres--a post-apocalyptic society--this amazing adventure game has you playing as a cat--a normal cat, albeit with your intelligence. I have long argued that video games are their own medium of story-telling that are worthy of comparisons with (and are sometimes superior to) great literature. This game is one of those. With solid gameplay and exploration this game tells a simple, yet philosophically deep, tale of a society after the fall of humanity. 

Meanwhile, you get to experience this cute and wonderful, if sometimes horrifying and sad, story through the point of view of a cat. Although the controls are not as precise as I would have liked, they do an admirable job of making me feel like a cat with suitable puzzles and tasks that might have not been particularly challenging, but were still quite enjoyable. More so, it let's the player just be a cat from time to time with plenty of opportunities to sharpen the claws, knock objects off of ledges, nap in comfortable places, and meow to one's heart's content. Honestly, I grew a better understanding of why cats choose to do these things through this gameplay.

It is also a very short game. I was able to complete it in just over six hours while finding all but a handful of collectables. Still, that makes it more likely that I will pick it up to play again later. It also makes it quite accessible for even casual video game players. I highly recommend the experience.

Today, I finished watching the first (and so far only) season of Halo and the fourth season of Stranger Things. Rowen and I have been watching Halo at lunch when it's just the two of us. Meanwhile, Janelle and I only started watching season four of Stranger Things once we got Rowen caught up on the first three seasons. In both cases, I mostly enjoyed watching the seasons, but felt let down by the finales. Don't get me wrong, each of the finales had great moments, but I did not like the cliffhanger formula that was used. In both shows, the larger threat is still out there, at least one main character is severely injured, at least one main character is dead, and the fate of one main character is still in serious doubt. Basically, it doesn't feel like the seasons actually concluded.

Of the two, Halo is the weaker show. I can see why fans of the game are so upset about how much liberty the writers took with the source material. That said, I still found it to be an interesting story with characters that I came to genuinely like: especially the Spartans and Cortana. I am interested in seeing season two, if only to see how the stories built in season one develop ... oh, and for the characters to actually see a Halo in something other than a dream-walking sequence.

Stranger Things is still one of the best shows out there even if there were parts of this season which made it my least favorite season so far. In particular, I did not like this season's portrayal of the military, churches, and drug use. I was also disappointed that the parents are still largely caricatures even though there had been strides made with Karen (Nancy and Mike's mother) in season three with her pep talk to Nancy. Still, despite my issues with several elements of this season, it also had one of the most powerful moments that this series (and maybe any series) has ever had. In short, there is good reason why so many people are suddenly interested in Kate Bush's song "Running Up That Hill." I was in literal tears.

Unfortunately, we have to wait a while to see what happens as Halo's second season will not be out until next year, and the fifth (and final) season of Stranger Things might not debut until 2024. 

I just returned from dropping off my brother, Jon, and my sister-in-law Laura at the airport for their flight home. The two of them have been on a trip that took them from Vancouver, up the inland passage on a cruise ship, into the Yukon, over to Fairbanks, down to Denali, on a train to Anchorage, and finally to visit us for about four days. They seemed to really enjoy their trip.

On their first full day with us, we went on a trip to Seward where we took a 6 hour cruise of the Kenai Fjords National Park. We saw a humpback whale, a pod of orcas, a group of seals, millions of sea jellies (which were told that we shouldn't call jellyfish), several different types of birds, a bear, and a glacier as it calved an iceberg. We also learned that Dramamine significantly reduces Rowen's issues with motion sickness, but does not solve Trevor's issues with it. Even though the continual rain and rough seas reduced visibility and made the trip a bit more uncomfortable, I'm still really glad that we took it.

Other highlights from the trip included a trip down to the Homer Spit, playing games outside on the one clear day we had, playing Codenames (the Disney version since we couldn't find the original) and cribbage, and visiting Whittier. Their time with us seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. In fact, it went fast enough that I hardly took any pictures.

I'm glad that they made it up and had a good time. I certainly enjoyed sharing my love of Alaska with them. I hope that the trip made them want to visit us again.

We got the basketball hoop up today. Sure, it's a bit tilted nearly all of our yard is uneven, but I'm still glad to have it up. It's been a while since I've had a hoop in the yard to shoot--and it shows.

I wasn't that great of a basketball player to begin with, but this was a really poor showing. My first several shots were either well below or well short of the rim. Even hitting the backboard was more of a problem than it should have been. 

I slowly started making more shots as we kept shooting, even hitting only the net a few times, but my feel for it is completely off. While there were plenty of times that I knew I was going to miss before the ball completely left my fingers, there were multiple times that I "felt" that the ball was going in--just to have it bounce off the rim (and miss completely a couple of times). Clearly, I need to practice more.