The Humble and the Modest

Posted on December 7, 2010 by benjaminfrog

I’ve come to realize that modesty is wrong.

Modesty, as I’ve seen it used, is down-playing one’s own worth in front of others for the sake of not appearing big-headed. People are modest when they know they are awesome, and they know that everyone else knows they are awesome, and they are afraid of people disliking them because of their pride. So they down-play their worth in order to eliminate any reason for someone disliking them.

Modesty is also a sign that someone still views themselves as their own creation. If everyone is a creation of God then down-playing the worth of anyone, including yourself, is wrong. God wants your awesomeness to shine because you reflect the awesomeness of your Creator.

The ideal solution is to accept your awesomeness, not pretend it isn’t there, and at the same time acknowledge the awesomeness of others. Instead of down-playing yourself and saying, “No, I’m really just as crappy as you are,” recognize the giftedness that both of you have and say, “We’re both awesome! How awesome is the God who made us!”

Humility, on the other hand, is good.

Humility, though not arrogant, has nothing to do with down-playing one’s self worth. You don’t have to view yourself as crappy to be humble. Humility is simply having an accurate perception of one’s self in relation to an Almighty God. In humilty you can still recognize your awesomeness for what it is, you are simply aware that it is infinitescimal next to that of God’s. Humility in social interactions is being respectful of others and their awesomeness, because we are all made in God’s image. But it doesn’t mean letting people walk all over you, because you bear God’s image as well.

Humility is carrying out one of Jesus’s commands to us, which is to treat everyone as we would treat Him.

I don’t write this to put anyone down. Modesty is something we as Canadians have been trained to do – and at first glance it sounds perfectly fine. Many times in my life I fear I’ve been more modest and less humble (because I still viewed myself as my own creation and not God’s creation – one of many causes of my perfectionism), and this is something I want to reverse in my life. This is me analyzing the reasons behind what we do, and looking for a better solution.

P.S.: Does “The Humble and the Modest” sound to you like the title of a weird action movie?

Posted in Spiritual | 13 Comments

How To Train Your Dragon – (a film review)

Posted on December 4, 2010 by benjaminfrog

When this movie was first advertised I didn’t think much of it – just another lame kids movie trying to appeal to dragon lovers while taking advantage of the 3-D craze. Then I got a look at the main dragon starring in this movie – not a cliché red or green, goofy-looking dragon – a cat-like, ferocious-looking black dragon! This movie looked hopeful. But I decided as I researched it that I would approach it as the most critical version of myself that I know – Kid Ben.

(Now for some background on my childhood psychology.)

As a child I loved dragons. I had a fixation on dragons. And I thoroughly hated nearly every movie to feature a dragon, because the dragon would always get killed by the self-righteous “heroes”. Whether in movies or TV shows, I hated every lead character I ever saw – with very few exceptions. I saw these people murder innocent dragons just for glory’s sake – and it angered me to no end!

As a child I always connected better with animal characters than humans, and I even hated some animal characters if they possessed too many human traits (such as clothing or the ability to speak).

As I learned more about the film I realized, “Wait, there’s also humans in the movie. – It’ll probably still suck.” Then I realized all the humans in the movie are Vikings – which were the only type of human I liked as a kid because they’re always so…not like most people. So it still seemed hopeful. Then I got a look at the main human character…and lost all hope.

When I finally saw this movie it was a total surprise to me. I loved the main dragon, of course. I thought the name the main character gave it was lame and meaningless – who would have a pet Night Fury and name it “Toothless”? (I understand the name makes more sense in the book – but events are different in the movie). Unfortunately the Night Fury is one of the few types of dragons in this movie that isn’t goofy-looking – the rest are all a bit too cartoony for my taste.

I loved the community of Vikings. Kid Ben would’ve totally had the hots for Astrid. The flight and battle sequences were awesome. And Hiccup (the main character) totally redeemed himself by the end. (Spoiler Alert) Being the only Viking in a community of dragon-killers to not want to kill a dragon brought him from being just weak in my eyes to being tolerable. But by the end of the movie he goes through such a heavy change in character that even Kid Ben would’ve found him unique enough to be relatable – and respectable. (Spoiler Ended)

This movie made me want to get into the lore of this land and the creatures living in it. Dragon fans finally have a movie that actually understands and delivers what they want to see in a dragon movie.

Spectacular!

Posted in Autism, Pop Culture, Review | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Lethal Weapon 4 – (a film review)

Posted on November 29, 2010 by benjaminfrog

This was actually the first Lethal Weapon movie I saw. It came out in theaters just as my mother decided I was old enough to watch blood & guts on the big screen. Since then I’ve watched the original trilogy on DVD and haven’t been as impressed with them. As a whole I might enjoy the series more if they didn’t have constant jazz music in the background – but unfortunately they are those kinds of 80’s movies.

The first thing I remember about Lethal Weapon 4 was the theatrical trailer, which was basically a clip of the epic highway chase. That sold me. I didn’t even know what Lethal Weapon was but I wanted to see Part 4 as soon as possible. That’s one of the best trailers I’ve ever seen.

I remember at the time this was one of the best and most inspiring action movies I’d seen. The action sequences in this movie are insane. The swearing was a bit too much – which is to be expected. And the comedy is histerical. The combination of Joe Pesci and Chris Rock in one film is rediculous. The cellphone sequence is particularly memorable. Thoroughly entertaining!

Watching it recently, it struck me how many good things this movie launched. It’s a very relevant film for it’s time.

Most significant is that it introduced Jet Li to American audiences. I had seen Kung Fu fighting before but there was something about this new guy that made it look so seamless.

It spawned the myth of pulling a gun apart in one move – which my friend has tried.

It spawned the myth of “bashing” a dislocated shoulder back into place.

Laser-sighting was in use long before Lethal Weapon 4, but this movie seemed to bring about a new appreciation for it.

It was the first time I’d seen two heroes fight one villain in a (well-balanced) melee fight. – A concept that continued in The Phantom Menace in one of the few sequences in that movie that Star Wars fans consider worth watching again.

One thing this film spawned that we would probably rather live without – the idea of bringing back a film franchise a decade later to add another film onto a perfectly fine trilogy. These guys pulled it off pretty well – but many following in their footsteps have crashed and burned horribly. Perhaps there’s something about this particular “Part 4” that future film makers need to study and compare with other “Part 4s” in an effort to discover what works and what doesn’t.

Come to think of it, I’d like to see a Mythbusters episode dedicated to this movie. I wanna know how much of it can actually be done. …You know – just in case.

Posted in Pop Culture, Review | Tagged | 3 Comments

Times Have Changed

Posted on November 22, 2010 by benjaminfrog

While watching a video cassette of some TV shows from the early nineties, I came across this ad in which one kid says to another kid, “Well I don’t do drugs because when I grow up I wanna be a Baseball player…”

Posted in Bite-Sized, Random | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles – (a eulogy)

Posted on November 17, 2010 by benjaminfrog

It was a big hit to me when this show got cancelled. I never felt it got the attention it deserved, I had come to really love the characters, and worst of all it ended in a very awkward place. But it is not truly gone, not as long as you can still pick it up on DVD.

Okay, there are some reservations to watching it, all of which are valid, I had the same concerns as I got into it.

First off – it is by no means a Terminator movie, but then again neither was Terminator Salvation. You have to remove the expectations you would have of a Terminator movie before you can begin to appreciate this show for what it is – a well-written action serial set in the Terminator universe. This show explores aspects of the Terminator concept that a two-hour movie just doesn’t have time for. Nowhere else will you see a 1930’s gangster Terminator.

Second – who are these people? This show uses none of the original actors from any of the films. Lena Headey takes on the role of Sarah Conner in this show. And no, she’s not Linda Hamilton, but you know what – she is a very believable Sarah Conner. At no point in the show did I feel like she wasn’t being true to the character, I found her to be protective, passionate, dangerous, and scary – exactly like the Sarah Conner I know.

Thomas Dekker is still the most believable John Conner that we’ve had since Terminator 2. Mainly because he doesn’t act weak.

Summer Glau took a few episodes to grow into her character. Unfortunately the show had to get the whole it’s-a-hot-teenage-killer-robot-girl-who-doesn’t-know-how-a-VCR-works out of it’s system before it could actually take the character seriously. Her performance reflects that. But as the character developed, Cameron really found her place in the Terminator mythology.

Third – the plot for this show seems to either misunderstand or completely ingore the third Terminator movie, which is a pro or a con depending on how you felt about the plot of Terminator 3. If you try to reconcile the two plots you will probably give yourself a headache, personally I’m inclined to ignore the story of the third movie completely.

One problem you might not have foreseen is that – apart from a few exceptional scenes – the villains are not particularly scary-looking. Perhaps that’s what the director was going for, to get across the fact that even a totally mundane-looking person could be a killer robot, but the end result is still a lack of coolness.

Also, the fact that the heroes had to jump forward in time (from the nineties to present-day) is difficult to accept at first. BUT, it was necessary to have the events set in present-day in order to make the whole thing relevant and scary – an essential element of the franchise that Terminator Salvation lacked.

If you gave Terminator Salvation a shot, then you definitely owe it to this show to give it a chance. It feels far more like a proper continuation of the story from Terminator 2 than either of the last two films.

I understand the Terminator franchise as a whole is in a flux right now as it changes hands. When all settles down and people start making Terminator movies and video games again, I hope they find room for an obscure, little, killer robot chick named Cameron.

Posted in Pop Culture, Review | Tagged | 6 Comments

Deep Question #1

Posted on November 12, 2010 by benjaminfrog

If a tree falls in the woods and no one’s around………who cut it down?

Posted in Bite-Sized, Random | Tagged | 2 Comments

The Last Temptation of Christ – (a review)

Posted on November 8, 2010 by benjaminfrog

(Warning: This entire post is one big spoiler.)

I think this story would’ve been more effective (and less attacked) if the vision of a possible future had made up the majority of the film, instead of the entire film being… essentially a re-imagining of the life of Christ.

Clearly the intention with this story was to focus on the humanity of Jesus. I could totally appreciate that in the form of a vision of what his life might’ve looked like if he had come down from the cross and avoided the sacrificial death. An entire movie about the ripple effects of that decision would’ve made for a very compelling story. But instead this movie focuses too much on it’s own version of the gospels – with a lot of offensive results.

It’s interesting for this movie to be brought to my attention when it was, because my small group is currently doing a study on how the devil takes the truth and twists it just slightly so that it still sounds believable but now means something completely different. This film does contain a lot of things that you’ll find in the Biblical account of Jesus, but it’s mixed in with what the film writer thinks Jesus would’ve, or should’ve said. And in some cases it takes existing quotes of Jesus and changes the words just enough so that it means something very different, but still sounds totally right.

People without thorough existing knowledge of the Gospels will walk away from this movie with the information that…
1. Jesus was constantly plagued by the guilt of his own sins.
2. Jesus and John The Baptist didn’t know each other at all before Jesus’ baptism.
3. Judas was the first one to follow Jesus and was his closest friend.
4. Jesus renounced his mother.
5. Jesus incited a mob to storm the temple and then gave up halfway through. And…
6. Jesus asked Judas to betray him.
And you get the idea.

The truth is there are a lot of Jesus movies that I take issue with. This film doesn’t stand alone with the problems mentioned above. I find most Jesus films portray my Saviour as weak or take liberties with him that make me angry. It’s all just people looking for ways to express their curiosities about this mysterious and powerful person. That curiosity is a good thing. As people use the film medium to try to describe this person, or the impact that this person has had in their life, they will inevitably run into inaccuracies. Which is why I would strongly recommend reading the Gospels (Mathew, Mark, Luke and John) for the most historically accurate accounts of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

But anybody who’s ever wanted to see Jesus settle down and find himself a girl (and get his groove on) will enjoy the possibilities presented in this film. I should warn anyone considering this film as small group material that there is some boobage in it – and a bit of full frontal (because that’s how John The Baptist rolls). There are some interesting worship styles in this movie.

Side Note: I’ve seen some of Scorsese’s other films – this doesn’t have the same feel as most Scorsese films. I think I would’ve been more entertained if this movie had Robert DeNiro as Jesus and Joe Pesci as Judas. Or perhaps Joe Pesci as the guy who cuts off people’s ears – that would be hilarious!

PS: Keep an eye out for David Bowie.

Posted in Pop Culture, Review, Spiritual | Tagged | 3 Comments

Technical Difficulties

Posted on October 29, 2010 by benjaminfrog

Have you ever had one of those moments where you tell a computer to do something and it doesn’t do that? – In fact it sends you a message stating that it can’t do that? – And you know full well that it can do that? – Because you’ve seen it do that before? – It’s just choosing not to do that now?

I had a printer, and I told the printer to print something, and it sent me a message  stating in summary, “I can’t do that.”

I thought, “Well why did I buy you?”

If something says “Printer” on it, and it can’t print, isn’t that false advertising?

Sometimes my computer tells me it can’t do something, but I know full well that it can, so I repeat the command. Sometimes I have to repeat the command several times, but eventually it does the thing I commanded it to do. It’s like it just forgot that it could do that and it had to be told a specific number of times before it would remember.

“I can’t do that.”

“I can’t do that.”

“I can’t do that.”

“I can’t do that.”

“I can’t do that.”

“I can’t do that.”

“I can’t do that.”

“I can’t do that.”

“I can’t do that.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Oh, wait – I can do that.”

Isn’t it frustrating when something doesn’t do what it’s told to do? – Especially when you know that it is the very thing it was created to do?

I have to sympathize with God here. He made each of us for a specific purpose, something we are fully equipped to do, something that is the very reason for our being – and we refuse to do it. Sometimes we feel the need to inform God that, “I can’t do that,” since he obviously doesn’t know what we were made for.

God gave us free will, so it’s expected that we will do whatever we choose to do with ourselves. Except I don’t recall giving my printer free will.

You will never be more fulfilled than when you live your life according to what God designed you specifically to do. If you ignore his prompts, he’s gonna keep reminding you all your life, until you do what you’ve been called to do. If you fight your very purpose for being, then you’ll be as useful as a printer that doesn’t print.

Have you ever created something for a specific purpose and been annoyed when it didn’t work? Have you ever felt the pride of seeing something you’ve created perform the task you made it for?

Whatever quirks you may have, whatever issues some people may have with the real you, when you walk, talk, act and think the way God personally made you to, God looks on you with delight and says, “Look at that! I made that!”

Posted in Spiritual | 2 Comments

Highlander – (a poem)

Posted on October 20, 2010 by benjaminfrog

I was a Highlander, with my war clan I did ride,

Until the day that I died,

The next day I woke up and all my wounds were healed,

My brothers kicked me out and drove me from the fields,

It’s the ninteen hundreds now and all my clan died out,

But I am still about,

[Break]

I was a robot, sent back in time to kill John Boon,

But I was eighty years to soon,

I bought a hotel lot where he would one day call,

I built the rooms and waited for him in the wall,

But he never came and after a good long life he died,

But I am still inside.

[Break]

I was a corn, among many others I did hide,

With all my brothers by my side,

One-by-one we all were taken from the cob,

Taken by the teeth of one man’s hungry gob,

Into and out of his digestive tract I came,

But I am still the same.

[Awesome Guitar Solo]

I was a zombie, because I’d already died,

That’s not to say they haven’t tried,

I clawed my neighbor Jim and he took out his gun,

He shot me, cut me up and then began to run,

And in the end it was that scratch that took him down,

But Jim is still around.

Posted in Bite-Sized, Music, Random | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Masquerade

Posted on October 15, 2010 by benjaminfrog

Re-watching Labyrinth unexpectedly opened up another memory from my childhood – my distrust of grown-ups.

I can’t think of a particular event that started this, I just remember having a general awareness that who adults were when they talked to me was different than who they were when they talked to each other. There was a keen hypocrisy in their expressions. They wanted to be seen by me as innocent, but clearly, by the way they spoke to each other, they were anything but.

I remember watching Sesame Street, enjoying the puppet characters, which I saw as innocent. But whenever an adult walked into the scene I felt as though a world of innocence was suddenly violated. The pretension caused by the puppets having to pretend that the adults were as innocent as the children often destroyed the scenes for me.

Labyrinth stars a teenage girl who desperately wants to hold on to the innocence of a child’s heart, but is being forced into a world of adults and responsibilities that she doesn’t feel ready for. At one point in the movie she finds herself at a masquerade ball, filled with people wearing goblin masks behaving indulgently with each other.  They are grown-ups trying to look as innocent as the puppets in the rest of the movie, while clearly acting depraved.

It’s a perfect metaphor.

Growing up was a fact of life that was difficult for me to accept. I didn’t want to become one of them. Of course my body clock didn’t give me a choice – sooner or later I was going to become one of them whether I wanted to or not – and I would lose my innocence. But before my teens I made a pact with myself to never forget what it was like to be a child in a world of grown-ups.

My innocence is gone. I can’t pretend it’s still there, nor do I want to – I know some kids can see through that. My best bet when I’m interacting with children is just to be honest. They appreciate that. I try not to swear or anything in front of kids, but neither do I act as though I never swear at all.

Posted in Autism, Pop Culture, Spiritual | Tagged | 3 Comments