Brawl

I know many a fanboy...

Whether it be Apple, coffee, VW, Catholicism, or Gilmore Girls.
I know people that just eat certain things up. Everybody has a favorite brand that they can't get away from if they tried. It is what we are loyal to because it makes us happy and no matter the thick or the thin of it, we want to love them.

I am a Nintendo fanboy myself.
I stood in line for 6 hours to get a Wii at midnight on release, and now, nearly a year and a half after I got my Wii, I have finally gotten to another game I can't wait to own. After getting Wii Sports in the package, and buying The Twilight Princess right away (and enjoying its epicness), I had to wait until SSX Blur, which was fun but not deep. I played Metriod Prime 3, and I liked it, but shooters just get tedious to me, so I don't own it yet. I want Super Mario Galaxy, but the money is keeping me off of it until the summer (I soooo want it too). Guitar Hero 3 is a great idea, but I'm so bad and don't have the time to get better.

However, in a little over a week (or a WiiK if you're an uber-nerd) SSBB hits the shelves on this side of the Pacific Pond. That's right folks, Super Smash Brothers Brawl. I cannot wait. I will probably not be getting it upon release, but I do know that I'm super stoked. In my mind it should have been out a month ago (and a year ago if I want to get nitpicky), but I will trust that perfection was worth waiting for. It has such depth that I can't even get into it all. It looks to be similar to Family Guy in it's cultural references. There will be so many things from games of old to games of new that I will only recognize a fraction. There are about a bazillion modes, and I can finally play my friends or anybody who fancies, online. I guess I had to just let you know how excited about this game I was. I would love to play with you too on my nice tv in my house. It is gonna be incredible.

Grades, prepare to be challenged.

This is as political as I can get I think

Barack Obama getting some play all over the web

Mr. Bean and Spain

Maybe you've seen this, maybe you haven't. The Prime Minister of Spain (Zapatero) and Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) share a striking resemblance. It is at least a neat five second enjoyment for your day.

And check out the morphing video

Good or Evil...

Photo Credit: Milky Toast on Flickr (Mike Bordlemay)

I was doing a little studying of the Bible with some friends yesterday and we were in the book of Mark. I don't think I've ever been so struck by the following passage as I was last night

Mark 3

Doing Good on the Sabbath

Then he went back in the meeting place where he found a man with a crippled hand. The Pharisees had their eyes on Jesus to see if he would heal him, hoping to catch him in a Sabbath infraction. He said to the man with the crippled hand, "Stand here where we can see you." Then he spoke to the people: "What kind of action suits the Sabbath best? Doing good or doing evil? Helping people or leaving them helpless?" No one said a word. He looked them in the eye, one after another, angry now, furious at their hard-nosed religion. He said to the man, "Hold out your hand." He held it out—it was as good as new! The Pharisees got out as fast as they could, sputtering about how they would join forces with Herod's followers and ruin him. (Message)

The think that gets me about it is the quote, "What kind of action suits the Sabbath best? Doing good or doing evil? Helping people or leaving them helpless?" This kind of talk leaves no room for a middle ground. Either you are helping or you are hurting. Now I don't believe that means that in every situation we are only helping or hurting, but when we are presented with a situation, it is "doing evil" to leave them alone. This really struck. I've been convicted a lot lately about people asking for help or things. I know in the Christian realm, this idea comes up a lot. But still, what do we do? Does stewardship trump service, or does service trump stewardship? Or should we who are meant to live apart make more time in our schedules free so we are able to be there in these situations, so we may do good or evil.

Jesus highlights this service multiple times, another of which is the story of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25

The Sheep and the Goats

"When he finally arrives, blazing in beauty and all his angels with him, the Son of Man will take his place on his glorious throne. Then all the nations will be arranged before him and he will sort the people out, much as a shepherd sorts out sheep and goats, putting sheep to his right and goats to his left.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what's coming to you in this kingdom. It's been ready for you since the world's foundation. And here's why:
I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.'
"Then those 'sheep' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?' Then the King will say, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.'
"Then he will turn to the 'goats,' the ones on his left, and say, 'Get out, worthless goats! You're good for nothing but the fires of hell. And why? Because—
I was hungry and you gave me no meal,
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
I was homeless and you gave me no bed,
I was shivering and you gave me no clothes,
Sick and in prison, and you never visited me.
"Then those 'goats' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and didn't help?'
"He will answer them, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me—you failed to do it to me.'
"Then those 'goats' will be herded to their eternal doom, but the 'sheep' to their eternal reward."

This concept has his me as well in the epistles of scripture, specifically the book of James, which I will leave you with (4:17)...

Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.

NFL Combine

So the NFL combine was/is going on, and it's been a good weekend for the Illini's two invites to the combine.

Rashard Mendenhall (who I love sooooo much) helped solidify his first round status moving his way up to the 13th best player in the draft according to Mel Kiper and the second best running back behind McFadden out of Arkansas. He was consistently in the top performers in the combine events and his size/speed combo makes scouts drool.

J. Leman didn't wow statistically, but I still love the guy. He is considered a top ten linebacker, and hopefully his moxy will gain him a bit more credit.

LOLMendenhall #2

Not as funny I think. Still pretty wacky

Sledding Photos

Well, this could potentially be my last Facebook photo upload...maybe. I just got a Flickr Pro account for my birthday, so I'm uber-excited. But, until that is officially active, here are my pictures from my Facebook album of a glorious afternoon spent sledding.

Album Link