Spiderman: The Prideful Nephite

Stardate 05-23-2007

Its happened to the best of them: The Backstreet Boys, Corey Feldman, Brittany Spears, Marie Osmond, Enron. Their start is humble, eagre and full of ambition. They are willing to work hard, put forth the effort and do whatever it takes to reach their goals. Soon their hard work pays off; they are rewarded for all of their time and effort that they have put forth. For these people, their rewards could have been self satisfaction, recognition, promotions, gigs, record contracts, acting roles, money and fame. They continue to live right and work hard, but soon, living right and working hard are forgotten and replaced with what is making them happy in that moment, which are of course, the fruits of their hard work. They soon forget what got them to the top and they start to care more about the fruits than the labors. Before they know it, Litte Nicky of BSB aint so little anymore; he's a fat drunk and his best friend AJ is checking into rehab. Corey can't act anymore because he's got too much coke up his nose. Brittany's shaving her head and becoming the laughing stock of the media. Marie decides not to love her kids anymore, and Enron's top exectutives are stealing the pensions of their hard working employees. Their pride and wickedness have lead to destruction and suffering. Not only for themselves, but for those around them. They have fallen and they are no more.

The scriptures teach us that this can happen to all of us. It can in fact, happen to an entire civilization. Those who have read the Book of Mormon know that the Nephites constantly fell into this vicious pride cycle. Their humility would lead to righteousness and prosperity, which would lead to pride and wickedness, which would lead to destruction and suffering, which comes full circle with humility and repentance. Over and over again. The following is a scripture from the Book of Mormon that illustrates this point-

"Yea, and we may see at the very time when he doth prosper his people, yea, in the increase of their fields, their flocks and their herds, and in gold, and in silver, and in all manner of precious things of every kind of art; sparing their lives, and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; softening the hearts of their enemies that they should not declare wars against them; yeah, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of his people; yeah, then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One--yea, and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity." -- Helaman 12:2

We can now add one more to the luandry list of those who have fallen into the Pride Cycle. I recently went to see Spiderman 3 and was suprised to see how closely this movie followed this cycle. The first thing that we see in Spiderman 3 is that Spidy has risen to the top. Everyone loves him and crime is at an all time low. Peter Parker is also on top. It appears that he has finally figured out how to balance his personal life, MJ and school, with his life of fighting crime. Pretty soon Peter starts to love how famous he has become. He even has advice on what its like to be famous for his broadway star girlfriend, MJ.

The time comes for Spidey to take on the Sandman. Spiderman basically gets worked and can do little or nothing against this new villain. Luckily for Spidey, a strange alien has fallen from the sky. It looks like stringy strands of gooey black tar that can attach and mold itself to whatever it wants. We eventually find out that it can also take over whoever it molds itself to. Well, this black goo molds itself to Spiderman's suit and when Peter tries it on, he finds that he is faster, stronger, more powerful. Powerful enough to take out the Sandman. This new power doesn't come without its consequences. It makes Peter mean and hutful. He cares about no one but himself. For me, this black goo is an obvious metaphor for pride and both Peter and Spidey have fallen victim to it.

It takes while, but Peter is able to see how terrible he has been treating those whom he loves. He realizes the evil of the suit and tears it off of his body. At the end of the fim, Spiderman has to humble himself, swallow his pride and ask the help of one who used to be his enemy in order to save MJ from both Sandman and Venom.

Hopefully my literally thousands of readers can learn from Spiderman, the Nephites, and others who have come before them and not fall victim to the pride cycle. Unless of course you want to become a Dark Lord of the Sith. In that case you should use pride to make you more powerful.

Heroes

Stardate 05-14-2007

I keep going back and forth, trying to decide which is my favorite drama on TV: Heroes, Battlestar Galactica or Lost. All three are amazing and in my opinion, there isn't another drama out there that even comes close. I don't know why people waste their time watching garbage like CSI, CSI New York, CSI Las Vegas, CSI Miami, or SVU (I can sort of understand why people watch SVU--who doesn't love Ice-T?) etc.

Anyway, I've been really excited and getting into Heroes as of late. They are leading up to the end of Volume (season) 1 and things are lookin hot!!! The following are a list of observations and things that I've read about the show. First my observations and questions.

1. If Peter has absorbed Claire's power to heal, why does he have a scar on his face in the episode that jumps five years into the future? I believe that there is sometihng significant about the scar. I believe this because 10 or so episodes before the future episode, when future Hiro stops time in the subway to tell him to save the cheerleader, the first thing that he says to Peter is, "You look different without your scar." Any ideas as to the significance of the scar?

2. The little girl Molly will be very important in the next episodes. We actually met Molly the second episode of the season. She is the little girl that Parkman finds when he first discovers that he can hear other's thoughts. Linderman's company now has Molly in their care, but she is suffering from some sort of disease. They have enlisted the help of Mohinder in order to cure her. It appears that there is a disease that affects young girls who are developing their special powers. I believe that this disease that she has may be a future story line. Mohinder's little sister had special abilities and suffered and died from this disease. Molly, a special young girl also is suffering from the disease, but hopefully from the help of Mohinder, will not die. There was also an episode where Claire's mother told her that they had tried once before to find Claire's real parents. They did this because she was suffering from an unknown disease and wanted to find out about her family history. My guess is that because of her powers, Claire was able to heal on her own. What do you think?

3. When Nathan Patrelli meets Linderman, Linderman reveals to Nathan that he also has special powers. He tells Nathan that when he first found out about what he could do, himself and others with powers got together to form a group that would help those who needed it. He then says that the others in this group ruined things because of their desire to use their powers for personal gain and they broke up, though to me, it seems as if this is exactly what Linderman has done. In the future I hope to learn the back stories of these people and to find out where they are now. Are they the future evil ones that the Heroes will fight against? Or will they join them in their attempts to bring down Linderman?

The following comes from what I have read:

1. From an interview with Sulu- In the season finale, Hiro will travel back in time to learn how to use his sword. (On a few occasions, Hiro has told Ando about the history of the sword and who wielded it. It is Darth Spencer's belief that we may see that this is an ancestor of Hiro or possibly even his father. Perhaps Sulu has a similar ability to travel through time and space and it is he, who is the Bushido sword master)

2. From an interview with Tim Kring, creator of the show- Season 1 will end with a clear idea of what is in store for season 2. Season 2 will deal with the history of what is happening. The older characters, Sulu, Mother Patrelli, Linderman, will play a larger role in helping us to understand how these special powers are passed from person to person.

3. From an article in Newsweek- Season two will include a spin-off series. There will be 8 filler episodes that have nothing to do with the main Heroes storyline. These episodes will introduce new heroes and give a back story on them and their abilities. At the end of the season, the audience will be able to vote for one of these people to become a regular cast member. These episodes will appear during weeks when the show would usually be on a break. This way we get a maximum amount of Heroes. Pretty creative. Though it won't progress the story, I'd rather see this than another episode of Deal or No Deal.

4. Each week, a couple of small comics come out on NBC.com that give back story and filler between the TV episodes. I've finished them all and recommend them for those who really like Heroes. Some are great, some are pointless. The coolest thing that I found out is that Linderman served on a special ops mission during the Vietnam war with Nathan and Peter Patrelli's father. The father does not have special powers, but was actually healed by Linderman after being shot in the gut. Upon return to the States, Patrelli tries desperately to tell others in the army about Linderman's powers. Linderman denies everything and tells them that Patrelli is mad. This puts a serious scar on Patrelli for the rest of his life. Years later, Patrelli is married and has a little boy. He is contacted by Linderman and Linderman begs his forgiveness for not telling the truth. The comic ends with what looks to be the start of Linderman starting his company.

What do you think is the best drama on TV?
What ideas do you have about Heroes?
What do you think or hope is in store for season 2?

And the World Moved On...

Stardate 05-10-2007



"The greatest mystery that the universe offers is not life, but size...The child that is most at home with wonder says, 'Daddy, what is above the sky?' and the father says, 'The darkness of space.' The child, 'What is beyond space?' The father, 'The galaxy.' The child, 'Beyond the galaxy?' The father, 'Another galaxy.' The child, 'Beyond the other galaxies?' The father, 'No one knows.'"

"You see, size defeats us. For the fish, the lake in which he lives is the universe. What does the fish think when he is jerked up by the mouth through the silver limits of existence and into a new universe where the air drowns him and the light is blue madness? Where huge bipeds with no gills stuff it into a suffocating box and cover it with wet weeds to die?"

"If you fell outward to the limit of the universe, would you find a board fence and signs reading, 'Dead End?' No. You may find something hard and rounded, as the chick must see the egg from the inside. And if you should peck through that shell or find a door-- what great and torrential light might shine through your opening at the end of space? Might you look through and discover that our entire universe is part of one atom on a blade of grass?

"Imagine the sand of the desert. And imagine a trillion universes, not worlds, but universes, encapsulated in each grain of that desert, and within each universe, an infinity of others. We tower over these universes from our pitiful grass vantage point. With one swing of your boot, you may knock a billion, billion worlds flying off into darkness; in a chain, never to be completed. Size. Size."

"Yet suppose further. Suppose that all worlds, all universes, meet in a single nexus. A single pylon. A tower."--Thoughts by The Man In Black

These were a few excerpts from book one of Stephen King's seven book series-- The Dark Tower. Book one of The Dark Tower series is The Gunslinger. Many have said that The Dark Tower series is King's greatest achievement. Book one was written in 1982 and the series wasn't complete until books six and seven were released in 2004. King has said that during this time period, the number one question that his fans asked him was, "When are you going to finish book seven?" Though there is violence and some gore, this series is not horror, like most of King's other works, but a fantasy. I listened to The Gunslinger on CD and really enjoyed the story and the narration. The narrator sounds like an old cowboy with a raspy voice and a bit of a drawl. The voice of the narrator reminded me of the voice of the old guy from Young Guns II who claimed he was Billy the Kid.

In book one we meet Roland of Gilead, the last of the Gunslingers. He is on a quest to find the mysterious Man In Black, who will start him on the path to find The Dark Tower.

The book is set in a world that feels like the old west, where light and dark magic exist, and its people are strewn out over a vast desert plain. From the start the reader knows that there is something strange about time in this land and that things don't fully make sense. For example, there is a part where Roland walks into town and coming from the local saloon, he can hear Hey Jude being played ragtime style on the piano. Stranger things occur when Roland finds Jake, a young boy from New York who explains that he died in a car crash and then woke up in this strange land. There is also talk of In-World, Mid-World, and End-World, though it is unclear which they are in and how they get back and forth from one world to another.

A lot of people have said that book one can be slow at parts, but that the rest of the series is just amazing. I personally didn't find it slow at all. I really enjoyed the whole thing and I'm very excited to read or listen to the rest of the series and find out what awaits Roland in The Dark Tower.

Ender's Shadow

Stardate 05-01-2007

Whenever I was assigned to write a book report on the book of my choice from grades 5-12 I did that report on Ender's Game. The funny thing is is that it wasn't until my 6th or 7th go at the book that I actually finished it. In fact, it may be possible that I have attempted to start Ender's Game, but never finished it, more times than I have done so with The Book of Mormon. Now, the last thing I want to do is turn my literally thousands of readers off of Ender's Game. Since high school I have both read it and listened to it on CD from start to finish and it is by far one of my favorite sci-fi novels.

Years later, Orson Scott Card decided to look at possibly expanding upon the "Enderverse," and looked at the option of letting other authors write the stories of Ender's friends from Battle School. After lots of thought and contemplation, Card decided that he didn't want to let others write about the characters, but that he wanted to do so himself. He decided to try out an interesting experiment and write the same novel, but from a second characters perspective. Those who have read Ender's Game know that Bean becomes Ender's right hand man and only confidant. Card decided that Bean would be the logical person to write about and so he wrote Ender's Shadow.

Though I did like Ender's Game more, Ender's Shadow was also excellent. Card does an excellent job of expanding upon the original story and even the parts that overlap are not dull and seem entertaining and original. Just like in Ender's Game, this story progresses and is mostly told through the inner dialogue of the main character. There are of course some differences with the largest being that Ender is always thinking about the buggers and Bean is more focused on politics. This of course translates into the rest of the books in the "Shadow" series where we find Bean back on Earth where he is now in Ender's older brother Peter's shadow. I have not read these books but look forward to doing so.

Another item of interest to note is that at the end of the Ender's Shadow, there is an original afterward from Orson Scott Card where he talks about Ender's Game the movie. Here are the highlights from what he said.

He has run into numerous problems trying to get this movie made. At first, the most common problem was that they wanted to make Ender 16 years old, rather then 6 years old. This means that they would most likely cast a 24 year old who looks young to play a 16 year old. They also wanted to give Ender a love interest. This infuriated Card so much that he stalled production. The production company then lost the rights to the movie and Card took control of them. For the next few years he ran into the same problem, but has finally found a production company that will work with young children.

This creates another problem. Children are only allowed to work half days which translates into a longer shooting time and more money. Another problem is that for the most part, children are bad actors and he is very worried about finding someone to play Ender, let alone the rest of his friends from Battle School. Card mentions that after seeing Finding Neverland he feels more confident that he will be able to find children who can actually act.

The largest problem has been the fact that the story of Ender's Game is driven by Ender's inner voice. It has been extremely difficult for Card to come up with a screen play that progresses the story at a good pace, but that does not use Ender's inner voice let the audience know what is going on. After years or toying with different solutions, Card's production team came up with the idea of molding both Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow into one story. The interaction between Ender and Bean will drive the story rather than relying on inner dialuge.

At the time that this afterward was written, Card mentioned that he had chosen Wolfgang Peterson as his director. He did not give any reasons why except for that he has enjoyed his work. I checked IMDB and Wolfgang is still slated to direct. Some of his past movies have been Outbreak, In the Line of Fire, Das Boot, Air Force One, Troy and Poseidon. I enjoyed Outbreak and In the Line of Fire, but some of his other movies seem like cheesy action films. I hope he does a good job with Ender.

Tears of Sadness-Tears of Joy

Stardate 04-17-2007

Its not often, but every once in a while a movie gets made that trandsends greatness and in my opinion, reaches a level of immortality--living in our hearts forever, never to be forgotten. This week I would like to focus my thoughts on two movies which have no doubt reached this level of immortality. Somewhere In Time and The Lake House.

How can two movies be so beautiful? I'll tell you how. All you do is combine two of my most favorite genres: Time Travel and Romance. LOL, I guess I shouldn't say, "All you do," as if its that simple to make such a great movie. Here is a brief synopsis of both movies.

Somewhere In Time- A mysterious old woman walks up to dreamy, young, and fully mobile Richard Collier (Christopher Reeve) and gives him a watch and tells him to remeber her, but here is the catch, he's never met her before in his life. How mysterious, neh? So Richard visits an old college professor to ask him what he knows about bending time and space. The wise old professor tells Richard that it is all in the power of the mind, and that if your will is strong enough, your brian will send you back or forward in time. However, there is one pitfall. If the mind has any remeberance of the time that it is truely from, it will be too much to handle and the mind will revert back to its true time. So Richard actually does it, he returns back in time and finds the beautiful actress Elise McKenna (Jane Seymour), who turns out to be the very same mysterious old woman who gave him the watch at the begining of the movie. Through test and trial, Richard is able to win the heart of Elise and they fall in love. What takes place next is truely tragic. After Richard and Elise pleasure in the delights of the flesh, they sit down to enjoy a warm bucket of fried chicken. Its at this moment that they are the happiest. Elise looks beautiful and Richard is in true form. He's joking and making Elise laugh, and then tragedy rears its ugly head. Richard pulls a modern day penny out of his vingage 1940s suit and his mind is reminded of its true place in time, and Richard is hurdled back into his true time. Though I loved this movie, it brought me Tears of Sadness.

The Lake House- The year is 2006 and the lovely doctor Kate Forester (Sandra Bullock) is moving out of her rented lake house. She drops a letter in the mailbox asking the future resident to please forward all her mail to her future address. The year is 2004 and frustrated architect Alex Wyler (Keanu Reeves) is just moving into his famalies lake house, and right away notices that there is a letter waiting for him. He opens it up to find that someone is asking him to forward all future mail to her new address. How strange? Young Alex knows that no one has lived in his famalies home since he was a child. This cannot be, so he decides to investigate and the impossilbe happens. He finds that somehow the mailbox sends letters from the past to the future and from the future to the past. How can this be? Is the mailbox equiped with a flux copaciter? Is Hiro Nokimora saving the world by somehow bringing Alex and Kate together for some strange future reason? Well we never find out the magic or science behind the mailbox, but we do find out about the staying power of love and the written word. For two years Alex and Kate write back and forth until one day Kate finds out that Alex is to die. In a mad dash she races to the lake house to send him a letter begging him not to try to meet her on that fateful day. At the end we find that Alex got the letter and did not try to meet her and by doing so, was not hit by that car, in turn also avoiding laying in his own pool of carnige and dismemberment. In the end, future Alex and future Kate embrace and stay together forever. I loved this movie and it brougt me Tears of Joy.

I'm pretty sure that casting is what made these movies what they are today; amazing. So this post is dedicated to Keanu and Christopher. Champions of acting.

Children of Men

Stardate 04-04-2007

Last night I sat down and watched Alfonso Cauron's Children of Men, which was so gripping and intense that at times I lost all sense of self. All of a sudden I would find myself gasping for air, and then realize that for the last 30 seconds or so, I had forgotten to even breath.

This is the best movie that I have seen in a long time. The story is set in the year 2027. Britain and the world are in a state of turmoil and shock because for some strange and unknown reason, women have become infertile. On top of this, the Argentines "bajaron la media cana" and killed the youngest boy in the world, 18 year old Diego, for refusing to sign autographs while vacationing in Buenos Aires.

A rouge group of rebels, pinned as "terrorists" by the British Government, has found a refugee girl who has miraculously become pregnant. The movie follows this group as they try to get her to a group called "The Human Project, " that will protect her and her child. Deceit, betrayal, and murder ensue.

Besides the great story, this movie is amazing for many reasons. First, the camera work is brilliant. The whole movie is filmed by a camera that is carried by hand. This gives the viewer an amazing sense that they are moving around with the characters. Something similar was done in The Bourne Supremacy, but at times, I felt almost too close to the action and could not tell what was going on. These pitfalls do not exist in Children of Men. The second thing that blew me away was the direction. Just about every scene is one long take, and each scene usually involves multiple people doing various different things. Because they are all part of one long scene, the timing and acting would have to be spot on, and it is. Third, the special effects were done so well and seem so realistic that at times I didn't even realize or think that they were using special effects.

I've never been more impressed with the forethought and planning that goes into making movies as I was with Children of Men.

Extremists, Part 1

Stardate 03-28-07

I've been reading a great book lately called Them: Adventures With Extremists. Them was written by Jon Ronson, the same guy who wrote the book The Men Who Stare at Goats which I wrote about in an earlier post. Ronson is hilarious and I really think that most of those who read my posts would get a kick out of his books. They are also incredibly interesting.

This book is also a full length piece of journalism where Ronson follows around and interviews those who the media has pinned as "Extremists." Ronson interviews a wide variety of extremists which include Islamic Terrorists, a Grand Wizard of the KKK, Militia men, and many others. Surprisingly, Ronson finds that though these extremists have very different views, they all share a common belief about the world.

Over the next couple of weeks I plan to showcase each of these extremists and then finish of with an examination of their common belief in The New World Order.

Omar Bakri Muhammed was once called "the most dangerous man in Britain." Bakri formed Al-Muhajiroun, an Islamist organization which was based in the United Kingdom. Bakri has claimed to be Osama Bin Laden's right hand man in Britain and has released statements that he claimed were prepared by Laden. Bakri has also said that he will not rest until the black flag of Islam is flying over Britain. He also claimed that he who practiced homosexuality, adultery, fornication, or bestiality would be stoned to death (or thrown from the highest mountain).

Here are some interesting moments from the book. At one part, Bakri has asked Ronson to drive him to a store called Cash and Carey so that he could purchase collection boxes that he would use to fund raise money for Hamas and Hizbullah, but all the store had left were large plastic novelty Coca-Cola bottles. After placing a half dozen of these bottles in his cart, Ronson commented to Bakri that he found it strange that he would collect donations for Hamas and Hizbullah in novelty Coke bottles. Bakri replied that he is not against the "imperialist baggage," just the corruption of "Western capitalism." Ronson then commented that nevertheless, "Coca-Cola is a powerful symbol of Western capitalism." After saying that he agreed, Ronson then asked Bakri, "So you are utilizing our symbols in your attempt to destroy them?" Bakri then replied, "Oh yes."

In a similar instance, Ronson drove Bakri to Office World so that Bakri could get some photocopies made of a pamphlet that was titled, "Crush the Pirate State of Israel." On the way, Bakri explained to Ronson that Office World is the best place to go for these services because, "if you find a photocopying service that's cheaper, Office World will give you a discount." "Capitalism," replied Ronson. "Capitalism," said Bakri, "Oh yes, I benefit from your capitalism to convey the message. I benefit from your freedom of speech."

It was around Bakri and his followers that Ronson first heard of the Bilderberg Group, The New World Order, who were the secret rulers of the world. Supposedly, this tiny group of men and a few women meet in a secret room and determine the course of world events.

Since this book was written, Omar Bakri has left Britain and is now living in Lebanon. He left of his own free will, but when he tried to return when the skirmish between Hizbullah and Israel broke out, he was denied entrance back into the country.

Stay tuned for my next post where we will examine what really happened at Ruby Ridge. We'll also unmask more secrets about Bildeberg. Hopefully they don't shut me down.

300

Stardate 03-09-2007

I couldn't help but thinking while watching 300 that the people at the rating system are getting so touchy. I could not believe that this got an R rating. I'm pretty sure this one will be rated PG-13 up in Canada. There are really only a couple of people who get killed.

That said, here are some more thoughts on 300.

-I'm glad that it was historically acurate.

-Zerkzies I, the Persian ruler and bad guy was 9 feet tall.

-Spartans can kill anyone. Even the best that Asia has to offer. This includes: Immortal Persian Samuri, Bomb throwing China Men, and Giant deformed beasts (whose ethnicity I could not quite pin down).

-Beautiful 17 year old virgin Oracles don't always get thier predictions right.

-At age 7, Spartan boys are taken from their parents to be trained as warriors. They are also baptized in the blood of their foes.

Snape: Good or Evil?

Stardate 03-02-07

SPOILER ALERT!!!!
If you have not read Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, do not procede.

Though I know that it will bring utter destruction and an end to the world, I cannot not help but be extemely excited for the 7th and final installment of Harry Potter. My excitement caused me to give HPY7 another listen. I listened to HBP with one thing on my mind; Is Snape good or evil. In this post I will try to present evidence pointing towards both sides of the spectrum. I'm excited for all of your insights as well.

Background- As most of us know, Snape has always been enticed by the Dark Arts. He was terrorized as a student at Hogwarts by James Potter, Serious Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Petigrew and because of this, has a serious hate for all of them, especially James and Serious. After leaving Hogwarts, Snape became a Death Eater and was in the service of The Dark Lord. After time, Snape returned to Hogwarts and took up the post of Potions Master, though it was always his desire to teach Dark Arts. Dumbledore allowed him to come back for reasons that are still unknown to us. Though his loyalties have always been in question, Dumbledore claims that he is sure that Snape is remorseful for his past and has chosen the side of good. We know that Snape is double agent; a Death Eater and member of the Order of the Pheonix, but we don't know to which side he is truely loyal.

None of the following is hard solid evidence. Just my interpretations and observations.

Is Snape Evil?
1. HPY6-Snape swore an Unbreakable Vow and killed Dumbledore after Draco Malfoy failed to do so. The unbeakable vow is key here. If Snape did not kill Dumbledore, he himself would have to die. The text reads, Snape gazed for a moment at Dumbledore, and there was revultion and hatred etched in the harsh lines of his face. Dumbledore then says, "Severus...please..." Snape raised his wand and pointed it directly and Dumpledore. "Avada Dedarva!" Snape had revultion and hatred etched on his face and acted withouth hesitation.

2. Both Snape and Voldemort have muggle fathers and magic mothers. Because of this they play up their hate for wizzards and witches who are muggle born. Voldemort calls himself the Dark Lord and Snape calls himself the Half Blood Prince. Emphasis on Lord and Prince.

3. In HPY4, Harry and Cedric get transported to the cemetary. The Dark Lord's soul has been returned to its body and he has called the Death Eaters to aid him. If you will recall, the Death Eaters have encircled Harry and Lord Voldemort and Voldemort is going around the circle, one by one and pointing out each one for what they have done wrong during his absense. Its at this point that he says that his most loyal and trusted servant is at Hogwarts. Later in the book we find out that one of his Death Eaters, Barty Crouch Jr has taken pollyjuice potion and has taken on the form of Mad-Eye Moody. At first, I thought for sure he was speaking about Bartdy Crouch Jr. It later occured to me while reading HPY6 that he could have been refering to Snape.

4. What made me think that he could have been referring to Snape was at the begining of HPY6 when Narcissa Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange visit Snape at his home and Narcissa asks Snape to make an unbreakable vow. Its at this point that Narcissa says, "You are the Dark Lord's favorite, his most trusted advisor."

5. Though at times it can be on the brink of annoying, Harry tends to get things right. In HPY5, Harry knew that Voldemort was back and was after something at the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic. Most everyone doubted him, but Harry was right. Voldemort was after the prophesy. In HPY6, Harry suspects that Draco is a Death Eater and is up to no good. Not even Ron or Hermionie believed this. In both instances, Harry was correct. Harry belives that Snape is still in the service of the Dark Lord.

6. Snape is a very accomplished Oclumence, meaning that he is a master at the magical defence of the mind and can protect himself from those with the talent of Legilimency, which is the ability to extract feelings and memories from other's minds. In HPY6, Snape tells Bellatrix that the Dark Lord is the most accomplished Legilimens the world has ever seen.

7. In HPY6, Dumbledore tells Harry that most of the time, he gets things right, but he does seldom make mistakes, and when he does make mistkes, the consequences are monumental. In HPY5, Dumbledore tells Harry that he made a mistake about not telling him things sooner and that if he had done so, Serious may have survived. It is possible that the mistake that he could have made about Snape cost him his own life.

Is Snape Good?
1. Dumbledore knew the whole time that Snape had made the Unbreakable Vow and knew that it was part of the overall plan to bring down Lord Voldermort. In HPY6, Hagrid overhears Dumbledore telling Snape that he must go forward with the something. Snape says that he can no longer bare to do it. Hagrid never heard what that something was.

2. The hate and revulsion that was etched on Snape's face was directed to the act that he was about to commit, not at Dumbledore.

3. Snape protected Harry in HPY1 during the Quiddich match when Professor Squirel was trying to make him fall off his broom.

4. After Snape has killed Dumbledore and he and the other Death Eaters are fleeing from Hogwarts, Snape blocks a Cruciartus curse that is fired at Harry. When Harry attacks him directly, Snape simply parrys his attacks and tells him what he is doing wrong, all the while emphasizing that he needs to learn to block his mind. Snape hardly fights back and activly prevents other Death Eaters from attacking Harry.

5. During his converstation with Bellatrix in HPY6, Snape tells Bellatrix and Narcissa that he has done his upmost to get Harry Potter kicked out of Hogwarts, yet when Harry performs the Sectumsempra curse on Draco Malfoy and almost kills him, Snape only gives Harry detention.

6. Probably the most important thing is that which we do not know. For some reason, Dumbledore is possitive that Snape is good.

So now you have some things to think about. Here are some more questions that come to mind:
What bennefit does Snape have for being either good or evil?
What does he stand to gain?
What does he stand to lose?
Is it important for Harry to believe that Snape is evil?
If Snape is good, the he and Dumbledore had to decide who's life was more important. The unbreakable vow would only allow for one of them to live. With all that Harry still has left to do, why would Snape's life be more imporant then Dumbledore's?

I look forward to your questions, comments, and arguments.

The Road

Stardate 02-21-07

Katie, of Katie's Cafe, gave me The Road by Cormac McCarthy for Christmas this year. Ian alwyas seems to be going off about Cormac McCarthy and how great he is. I've decided that if Cormac is good enough for Ian and Matt Damon, then he's good enough for me.

The Road is a post apocalyptic tale about a father and his son and their journey to the South. The scene that McCarthy paints is a chilling wasteland of death and decay. The world has been destroyed and polluted and seems to be in a state of perpetual winter. Everything is black; either scorched or covered in black ash and nothing lives except for the few remaining humans who roam the earth, scavenging for food, supplies, or anything that will keep them alive.

I really loved this book. It is both beautiful and terrifying. The little boy and his Papa share a very tender relationship. I've never found myself so concerned for characters in a book before. But I must warn, that this book is not for the light of heart. Father and son are put through some shocking and awful ordeals that are both violent and disgusting. There are parts that will leave you sick to your stomach.

I've decided that the reason that this book is so freaky is not only because of what McCarthy says but also because of what he doesn't say. We never find out the characters names, the time frame for when these events are taking place, or where they are. It gives the reader nothing to hold on to or to orient themselves to. You find yourself almost as lost as the young boy and his Papa. For me, the best example of this, and the one that freaked me out the most, was not knowing why the little boy and his Papa were so afraid to meet other people while traveling on the road.

To find out, you'll have to go down The Road yourself.

Night Watch

Stardate 02-09-2007



Darth Spencer's post has been approved for distribution as conductive to the cause of Light.

-The Night Watch

Darth Spencer's post has been approved for distribution as conductive to the cause of Darkness.

-The Day Watch

They walk among us, and we have no idea who they are. They are the guardians of Light and Dark. They are vampires, warewolves, wizzards, witches, shape shifters, and those with other supernatural powers. They are called, "The Others," and they are at war.

In order to maintain a balance of power, the choice is given to all Others as to which side they will join. Each Other must choose his or her own path; the rules of war dictate that before they choose, they cannot be negativly or positivly influenced by either side. Both sides lay in wait for the prophisied chosen one of unthinkable power to come forth, join one side, tip the balance and destroy the other side.

This book, Night Watch, by Russian author Sergei Lukyanenko, is about the agents of Light, the Night Watch, who are the guardians of Light. They police the night and make sure the Dark Others obey the rules. It is also about the Day Watch, the agents of Darkness who patrol the day to make sure that the Light Others also obey the rules.

This fantasy novel takes place in modern Moscow and is the first in a four book series. The others in the series are Day Watch, Dusk Watch, and Final Watch. Night Watch centers around Anton, and mid-level Night Watch agent. There are three parts to the book and each is set up as some sort of mystery where Anton needs to figure out what is going on. Along the way, the reader learns more about the history of the Others and the rules that help maintane the balance. I personaly would have enjoyed a bit more about the history, but I guess there are still three more books in the series.

I first heard about Night Watch from a movie trailer that I saw on Quick Time about 8 months ago. I looked into it and found out that the movie was based off of this first book. As it turns out, this series is just huge in Russia. The Night Watch movie has been Russias highest grossing non-foreign film. The movie is now out on DVD, but I do not highly recommend it. I rented it with my Blockbuster Online account and it is wierd. They've turned the movie into a horror/thriller rather then sticking to what the book truely is, which is fantasy. I've read that Miramax is planning to follow up the Russian release with an American version. Lets hope its better. If your interested, you can follow this link which will lead to the movies web page and you can watch the trailer.

I do however, recommend this book. Its a good story and a fun read. It has original ideas and unexpected twists. I'll be honest that its not the best writing in the world, but its not bad eitehr. The translation and language can be a little awkward at times. According to Amazon.com, the next two books in the series are slated for American release in March and then again in July. I think that my fellow nerds will enjoy this book.

Harry Potter Year 7

The end is near. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows hits the streets July 21, 2007 and it shall usher in the end of a new era. I don't know what a world without anymore Harry Potter books will be like, but this is not the "era" that I am referring to. You see, when I saw that date, 07/21/2007, a strange feeling came over me. I couldn't stop staring at it. I knew that there was something deeper that I could not yet understand. So I started playing with the numbers.

7+21+2007=2,035 (nothing)
7-21-2007=-2,021 (still nothing)
7x21-2007=-1,860 (no meaning)
7-21x2007=-28,098 (still no meaning)

I soon realized that I had to dig deeper. Using the cryptography skills I picked up from reading The Da Vinci Code, I made a terrible, but at the same time, amazing discovery. 07/21/2007 was an anagram, and this is what I found.

707-21-20=666

Harry Potter is the Beast. Not only will Year 7 bring us to the end of the Harry Potter series, it will bring the END OF THE WORLD.

Suddenly, the name of the book, "The Deathly Hallows" doesn't sound so strange and ambiguous. It clrearly refers to the killing fields of Armageadon.

I guess this is a good time for me to tell my literally thousands of readers that I love you all and I will cherish your comments all the way up until the end.

Our Chosen One

Stardate 01-26-07

Anakin Skywalker restored the balance to the Force, Neo saved us from the Matrix, and Paul Maud Dib became the Kwisatz Haderach on Arrakis, Dune, Desert Planet. These characters are commonly referred to in fiction as "Messiah figures," meaning that they are special or chosen to save those around them just as Christ saved humanity.

In case you haven't already heard, I have a very exciting announcement to make. Tom Cruise has been declared by the leaders of Scientology as Divine and a Chosen One of our times. According to an unnamed source in Britain's Sun, "Tom has been told he is Scientology's Christ-like figure. Like Christ, he has been criticized for his views. But future generations will realize he was right."

I am sure the question on all of our minds is this, "What will he save us from?"

Do not fear for I, Darth Spencer, have found the answer. However, at this point, I must please ask those of you who have not yet attained a Scientology Operating Level of III or more to please stop reading, because your Thetans will not be ready to hear, "The secrets of a disaster which resulted in the decay of life as we know it in this sector of the galaxy."

You see, about 75 million years ago, Earth, which back then was called Teegeeack, was part of the Galactic Confederacy which consisted of 26 stars and 76 planets. The Galactic Confederacy had a huge problem of overpopulation, averaging 178 billion people per planet. Xenu, an evil dictator of the Galactic Confederacy was about to be disposed of his power, so he devised a plot to eliminate the excess population from his dominions. Xenu, along with a group of renegades fought and overcame the "Loyal Officers," a force for good which opposed Xenu. Then, with the assistance of psychiatrists, he summoned billions of people to paralyze them with alcohol and glycol injections, under the pretence that they were being called for "income tax" inspections. He then kidnapped them and loaded them into space planes and brought them to planet Teegeeack(Earth) for extermination.

When the space planes reached Teegeeack, the paralyzed people were unloaded and stacked around the bases of volcanoes across the planet. Hydrogen bombs were then lowered into the volcanoes and were detonated simultaneously. Not only were those who were brought to earth viscously slaughtered, but many of the local inhabitants of Teegeeack died in the explosions. Only a few peoples physical bodies survived. Listen to how L. Ron Hubbard describes these sad, terrible events:

"Simultaneously, the planted charges erupted. Atomic blats ballooned from the craters of Loa, Vesuvius, Shasta, Washington, Fujiyama, Etna, and many, many others. Arching higher and higher, up and outwards, towering clouds mushroomed, shot through with flashes of flame, waste and fission. Great winds raced tumultuously across the face of the Earth, spreading tales of destruction. Debris-studded, and sickly yellow, the atomic clouds followed close on the heels of the winds. Their bow-shaped fronts encroached inexorably upon forest, city and mankind, they delivered their gifts of death and radiation. A skyscraper, tall and arrow-straight, bent over to form a question mark to the very idea of humanity before crumbling into the screaming city below..."

The now-disembodied victims' souls, which Hubbard called "Thetans," were blown into the air by the blast. They were captured by Xenu's forces using an "electronic ribbon" and sucked into "vacuum zones" around the world. The hundreds of billions of captured thetans were taken to a type of movie theatre, where they were forced to watch a "3-D super colossal motion picture" for 36 days. This movie implanted what Hubbard termed, "various misleading data" into the memories of the hapless thetans, "which had to do with God, the Devil, [world religions, Roman Catholicism and even the image of the Crucifixion]." This implementation of new beliefs into the thetans is called the "R6 Implant."

The R6 Implants deprived all thetans of their personal identity. When the thetans left the theatres, they started to cluster together in groups of a few thousand, having lost the ability to differentiate between eachother. Each cluster of thetans gathered into one of the few remaining bodies that survived the explosion. These became known as "body thetans," which are said to be still clinging to and adversely affecting everyone except those Scientologists who have performed the necessary steps to remove them.

From my reseach, I have determined that there is one of two ways that Tom Cruise will be able to save us.

First, as Tom Cruise spreads the good word of Scientology, we will all learn what we need to do in order to cleanse ourselves of all of our thetans, which will in turn help us to achieve our highest level of spirituality.

or

Second, the Loyal Officers of the Galactic Confederacy were finally able to overthrow the evil Xenu and locked him away in a mountain, where he was imprisoned forever by a force field powered by an eternal battery. Some have suggested that Xenu is imprisoned here on Earth in the Pyrenees. Teegeeack/Earth was subsequently abandoned by the Galactic Confederacy and remains a "prison planet" to this day. It is my opinion that Xenu will find a way to escape, and it will be up to Tom Cruise to fight and save us from his deadly grasp.

Either way, we are in good hands. Thank you Tom Cruise.

The Men Who Stare At Goats

Stardate 01-17-07



If you're at all interested in psychic spies, real life Jedi Knights, or men who can stare goats to death, then this book is for you. The author, Jon Ronson, a columnist for the Guardian, swears that everything in this book although secret, is true. In a nutshell, this book is about an army Lieutenant Colonel who became disillusioned with war and killing during Nam'. He felt that there had to be a better and more humane way to fight. So, he set off on a journey, which was fully paid for by the US Military, to figure it out. His journey led him to California where he studied with the new age Gurus and Monks. He learned about auras and alternative forms of healing and fighting. At the end of his journey, he compiled all that he had learned and created the First Earth Batallion Manual.

The book also talks about the various influences that this manual has had on individuals and events such as the tracking of General Manuel Noriega, The Branch Dividians and Waco Texas standoff, events surrounding Hale Bopp Comet, Guantanamo Bay, and even Abu'Graib.

But perhaps my favorite part of this book are Ronson's interviews, especially the ones with the psychic spies. In one interview with a psychic spy named Glenn Wheaton, Ronson is following a lead, trying to find a mysterious person named Ron, who supposedly has started to re-activate the psychic spies after the events of 9/11. Here is part of that interview:

Glenn was a big man with a tight crop of red hair and a Vietnam vet-style handlebar mustache. My plan was to ask Glenn about his psychic spying days and then try to broach the subject of Ron, but from the moment I sat down, our conversation veered off in a wholly unexpected direction.
Glenn leaned forward in his chair. "You've gone from the front door to the back door. How many chairs are in my house?:
There was a silence.
"Your probably can't tell me how many chairs are in my house," said Glenn
I started to look around.
"A supersoldier wouldn't need to look," he said. "He would just know."
"A supersoldier?" I asked.
"A supersoldier," said Glenn. "A Jedi Warrior. He would know where all the lights are. Most people are poor observers. They haven't got a clue about what's really happening around them."
"Whats a Jedi Warrior?" I asked.
"You're looking at one," said Glenn.
In the mid-1980s, he told me, Special Forces undertook a secret initiative, codenamed Project Jedi, to create supersoldiers--soldiers with superpowers. One such power was the ability to walk into a room and instantly be aware of every detail; that was level one.
"What was the level above that?" I asked.
"Level two," he said. "Intuition. Is there some way we can develop you so you make correct decisions? Somebody runs up and says, 'There's a fork in the road. Do we turn left or do we turn right?' And you go"--Glenn snapped his fingers--"'We go right!'"
"What was the level above that?" I asked.
"Invisibility," said Glenn.
"Actual invisibility?" I asked.
"At first," said Glenn. "But after a while we adapted it to just finding a way of not being seen."
"In what way?" I asked.
"By understanding the linkage between observation and reality, you learn to dance with invisibility," said Glenn. "If you're not observed, you are invisible. You only exist if someone sees you."
"So, like camouflage?" I asked.
"No," sighed Glenn.
"How good are you at invisibility?" I asked.
"Well," said Glenn, "I've got red hair and blue eyes, so people tend to remember me. But I get by. I'm alive today."
"What was the level above invisibilty?" I asked.
"Uh," said Glenn. He paused a moment. Then he said, "We had a master sergeant who could stop the heart of a goat."
There was silence. Glenn raised an eyebrow.
"Just by..." I said.
"Just by wanting the goat's heart to stop." Said Glenn.
"That's quite a leap," I said.
Right," said Glenn.
"And did he make the goat's heart stop?" I asked.
"He did it at least once," he said.

After this interview, Ronson goes on to learn about Goat Lab, which is a secret lab out at Fort Bragg where they actually tried to train soldgiers to stare goats to death.

Enjoy.

2007: The Future Is Now

Stardate 01-04-07

Ever since I was a wee young Sith growing up on my home planet of Korriban, I have had many dreams. One of those dreams was to play a video game against someone on the other side of the world. My young Sith aprenti, the future is now. For Christmas I recieved a shiny, white, Nintendo DS, which is Nintendos latest and greatest gameboy. Here is the skinny on the DS. The DS has two screens, one of which is a touch screen that allows you to use a stylus, adding a whole new level of gameplay to the mix. The DS has pretty impressive graphics for handheld. They are basically the equivelent to a Nintendo 64, making for bright and beautiful colors and 3D world gameplay. Perhaps the greatest thing about the DS is its built in wireless capabilites. All you need is wireless interweb and the right game, and you can play for free on a worldwide DS gamers network.

My first time was amazing. I've been addicted to Tetris DS since I bought it. The only downside is that I dont have wireless at my house on Korriban. The second we got up to SLC and got the car unpacked, I sat down to take advantage of the wi-fi, and logged on to two player battle mode. As I sat in the queue and waited for my oponent, I was honestly shaking like a madman. I knew my Tetris skillllzzz were amazing, but I had no idea how I would compare to Boris in Russia, Liam in England, Mao Lee in China, or Stan in America. I drew some chick named Gloria. Our first game was a fierce battle, but I lost. Devistated, I realized that I was too nervous, and reached down deep to harnous the power of the force. It flowed freely through me and I felt true power as I wished for her blood. The next three games were a slaughter; RIP Gloria.

It is honestly so much fun. It keeps track of all of your wins and it gives you a point ranking based on your performance. The coolest thing is that if any of my readers decide to get a DS, we can play against eachother in Find a Friend mode.

I also got the New Super Mario Bros and Star Trek: Tactical Assault. I will purchase Mario Cart DS with my remaining Target Gift Card money. I have heard that it is a blast online. The game works well with a DS. As you recall, an important part of the game is shooting stuff at those in front and behind you. The second screen acts as a rear view mirror, making it all the easier.

Darth Spencers Year In Nerdness 2006

Stardate 01-01-07

So I sat down and tried to think of all the nerdy things that I did over the last year. Though I know that I can't possibly think of everything, I did come up with a fairly good sized list. I must say that I am a little dissapointed in myself. It seems like there is a lot more that that I can do in order to more fully engulf myelf in all things nerd. It will be my new years resolution to try to be even more nerdy in 2007. I know that Allison will be pleased. The following is a list of items and a thought or two about each of them. They were not necessarily released in '06.

Movies:
X3- better then the first, not even close to the second.
Superman Returns- boring. how many times do we have to see something falling and him swooping down to save the day.
V for Vendetta- Remember remember the 5th of November. I learned that terrorism is ok, as long as its against a Totalitarian Govt. Totally awesome.
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galexy- Very funny. Can't wait to read the book.
Lady in the Water- about the importance in believing in stories. Excellent.
Original Star Wars on DVD- finally. All looks amazing except for when they replaced old Anakin with new Anakin at the end of Return of the Jedi.
The Prestige- Visually amazing. Great story and great movie.

Audio Book
Eragon- narration is a little cheesy, but the story is awesome. I want to be a Dragon Rider.
Eldest- narration is still cheesy and it starts a little slow for those of us who are not completely interested in Elf etiquite. The ending will blow you away.
Across the Nightengale Floor- This is one that most of you probably have never heard of so I will take a little more time on it. This is a four book series about and ancient tribe of Samuri Assasins who have mystical powers. The nightengale floor refers to a specail floor constructed of wood that creeks at the slightest touch. Its purpose is to let those who are sleeping know that an assasin is sneaking in to kill them in their sleep. I enjoyed this download very much and plan on reading the other three.
Snow Crash- my first venture into the Cyber Punk genre. It totally sucked and I could not even come close to finishing it. I will give cyber punk one more chance when I read Neuromancer.
The Prestige- a good listen, but much different from the movie. For me the movie was so much better because you actually get to see the magic.

Books
Star Wars: Heir to the Empire- My first ventrue into the Star Wars expanded Universe. I loved it. I can't wait to read the other two in the series.
Boys Life- a murder mystery about a boy and his father who witnesses a murder. the book is full of mystical happenings. Pretty good, but not great.
The Handmaid's Tale- Precious free time wasted that could have been spent reading a book written by a male. I wont make that mistake again.
The Third Policeman- a book referenced by the TV series Lost. This book is pretty funny, but very wierd. After commiting a murder, the main character gets lost in land where people become bicycles.
Watchmen- probably my favorite thing that I read all year. This is a comic book written by Alan Moore. This thing has influenced just about everyone, including Joss Whedon, JJ Abrams, Paul Greengrass, and the list goes on. Its a comic book about what super heros do after they retire. They are forced into retirement by the goverment. Some of the events take place around a secret lost island. There are many influences from the comic book in the TV show Lost.

TV and TV on DVD
Heros- my favorite new show this season. Mutations in DNA causes changes in the body that bring on super powers. Its pretty much the same as X-Men, but the cool thing about this show is seeing how the charaters have first gained their powers and are learning to use them.
Lost- the end of season two was great. The start of season three has been crappy. I still have hope.
Battlestar Galactica- the best show on TV. Hot cylon babes, great special effects, fast paced action, drama, religion, great story telling and violence. Can't beat that combo.
Firefly- not as good as I had hoped, but very original and entertaining. Great characters and music.
Roswell Season 2- How do you make shows like the OC and Dawsons Creek even better? you set them up in Roswel, New Mexico and add aliens to the mix.
Freaks and Geeks- my favorite new old show. I want to own this one on DVD. Too bad it only lasted one season.

Please let me know if there is anything nerdy that I missed in '06 so I can add it to my list of items to partiake of in '07.

Firefly on DVD

Stardate 12-20-06

I recently finished watching Firefly, the complete series on DVD and I must say that I have mixed feelings about the widely acclaimed series. There were so many things about it that I just loved that were very original and clever, but at the same time, I can sort of see why Fox cancelled it. Here is a little back story.

The story takes place in a post apocalyptic era where the United State and China were the only two remaining super powers. The two societies and cultures combined to form one super power called, The Alliance. Because of this, everyone speaks both English and Mandarin Chinese. The Alliance's territory expands from the Core, which is the center of the galaxy, all the way to the Outer Rim. Because of the wide spread corruption of the Alliance, there has been a Civil War. The independents fought against the Alliance and lost; most survivors have scattered to the Outer Rim. The captain of the Firefly and his first mate both fought in the Civil War against the evil Alliance.

One of the interesting things about Firefly is that the Vulcans have not yet made First Contact with the Humans. There are no alien bad guys or good guys in the show. In fact, there is zero focus on the discovery of alien life. Instead, the idea of exploration is more like the idea of a western and the taming of the wild wild west. This is what makes Firefly so unique and original. It is a clever mix of the Science Fiction and Western genres. They dress like cowboys, they carry guns in holsters that still shoot bullets, they drive cattle from one planet to another, and every once in a while, the visit whores.

For those of you who don't know, the Fox Oligarchy cancelled Firefly after airing just 11 of the 14 episodes. They didn't even make it a full season. The People of the Abyss raised their fist to resist. Their outcry of love for the show was enough to bring the story to the big screen and finish the story. Like so many others, I have come to the conclusion that the network screwed this show. But I cannot put the full blame on the network. What we saw on TV just moved too slow.

After watching the series, movie and some special features on the DVD's, it is clear to see that from the start, the creators of the show and the network wanted two different things. The creators wanted a character driven epic, the network wanted action. The result is an uncomfortable blend of both parties trying to please each other. While watching, I kept thinking to myself, "this is so slow" or "nothing is happening here" I soon realized that the creators were thinking long term. They were setting up a story line that would carry the show for four or five seasons and all we got, were 14 episodes; three or four of which were totally awesome, the others however, seemed like slow filler episodes.

I would recommend Firefly and Serentity to all interested in both sci-fi and westerns. The music track for the show is excellent, and the special effects are amazing. One cool thing that I read about the special effects is that the CGI team who created them decided to make shots of seem as if they were being shot by hand, and not a stabilized camera. The result looks really cool. Another cool thing is that the special effects team for Firefly got hired for Battlestar Galactica after Firefly was cancelled. There is a brief homage to Firefly during the Cylon invasion of Caprica. Supposedly you can see a shot of Firefly flying away just before the Cylons attack.

I cannot however say that Firefly is one of the best sci-fi/fantasy TV shows of all time. It wasn't around long enough to make that statement. Its great...but not amazing.

The Son of the Suns

Stardate 12-03-06

Some insightful comments from my last post, plus my own curiosity has caused me to research the Jedi Chosen One and Sith'ari prophecies a bit further. I found that there isn't much out there on the subject, but what is out there is pretty interesting, and I wish that Lucas would have expounded a bit further on some of these ideas.

It seems pretty clear that the first mention of a chosen one or a prophesy of some type came from Lucas' original script for Episode IV, where it references The Son of the Suns. Here is the reference,

"...And in the time of greatest
despair there shall come a savior,
and he shall be known as: THE SON
OF THE SUNS."
Journal of the Whills, 3:127

There is no explanation given about this prophecy, but it appears to be from some sort of scripture from Yoda's people, the Whills. Some ideas that I have read from blogs that others have written is that it refers to either Anakin or Luke Skywalker. Some think that Son of Suns could be a reference to Tatooine because it is a planet that has two suns. My initial thought was of Anakin and his miraculous conception. He, being the "Son," and those who helped create him being the "Suns." I think that the sun could be a metaphor for the Jedi and the light side of the force. My idea does not seem to mesh well with what we know from Episode III, where Anakin learns of Darth Plagueis the Wise and his abilities to create life from manipulation of the midichlorians. I thought for sure when I saw Episode III that Anakin would connect the dots and realize that perhaps he was created by a Dark Sith. Maybe he didn't know where or how he came into existence? Here is what Lucas has to say on the subject,

"Now there's a hint in the movie that there was a Sith Lord who had the power to create life. But it's left unsaid: Is Anakin a product of a super-Sith who influenced the midi-chlorians to create him, or is he simply created by the midi-chlorians to bring forth a prophecy, or was he created by the Force through the midi-chlorians? It's left up to the audience to decide." -George Lucas, Rolling Stone, June 2005

Hopefully, Lucas will answer this question in the future.

Another question that we need to ask is; Are the prophecies of the Jedi Chosen One and the Sith'ari the same, or do they refer to two seperate people?

Here is what I have found about the Sith'ari:
Sith'ari was a title that, in the ancient Sith language, meant "Lord" or "Overlord." Sometime during the early history of the First Sith Empire, the coming of the Sith'ari, an exemplar of the Sith ideal, was foretold. Inspired by the legend of Adas, the Sith'ari was prophesied a perfect being—the ultimate Sith—free of all restrictions who would rise to power to lead the Sith and, according to the legend, destroy them—yet, through their destruction, make them stronger than ever. Here is the exact quote, "One who has freed themselves from all restrictions has reached perfection, their potential fulfilled. Perfect strength, perfect power, perfect destiny. Imagine it." --Yathura Ban

So, in order for the prophesy to come true, the Sith'ari must be: 1) Perfect, the ultimate Sith, 2) free of all restrictions so that they may rise and lead the Sith, 3) then destroy the Sith, 4) through their destruction, make them stronger.

Now lets look at what is said about the Jedi Chosen One, which is even less:
In Episode I, reference is made to the Chosen One, a prophecy of a person who is "to bring balance to the Force". Despite fan confusion over the definition of "balance", Lucas affirms that the Dark Side represents imbalance. So, Cblakes was correct when he said that he always believed that the phrase "balance to the force" meant that good would prevail over evil. Meaning that I was incorrect in my last blog to state that Darth Vader brought balance to the Force after he killed all the Jedi, leaving just himself, Darth Sidious, Obi-Wan, and Yoda alive. One last thing that we can intuit from Episode I about the Chosen One is that he must be conceived by the midichlorians. We learn this when Qui-Gon first speaks of Anakin to the Council of the Jedi, he states that he has found a boy who has, "the cells of the highest midichlorian I have ever seen in a life form. It is possible he was conceived by the midichlorians." Mace Windu quickly replies, "You refer to the prophesy of the One who will bring balance to the force. You believe its this--boy?

Because of this we know that if the Chosen One and the Sith'ari are the same, that it cannot be Luke Skywalker because Luke was not conceived by the midichlorians, he never rose to lead the Sith, and he did not destroy them. He helped, but it was Vader who ultimately destroyed Darth Sidious. Anakin comes much closer to fulfilling both prophecies. He was born of a virgin mother, possibly being created by the midichlorians, he has the highest ever midichlorian count-making him the most perfect, he rose to lead the Sith, and then destroyed them. After Vader killed Darth Sidious and returned to the light side of the Force, he successfully brought balance to the force.

It appears that Anakin is the Sith'ari and the Chosen One, but I still have some questions. The Sith'ari is supposed to rise and lead the Sith. According to the rule of two, there can only be two Sith, master and apprentice. Vader was the apprentice and Sidious was the master. Also, the Sith'ari is supposed to bring more power to the Sith through their destruction. I cannot see how Vader brought more power to the Sith by destroying them. Perhaps that is something that we will understand if Lucas ever does Episodes VII-IX.

Even though some of my questions have not been answered, I believe that the Sith'ari and Chosen One are one in the same. I believe that Anakin is the Chosen One and the Sith'ari.

What do you think?

The History of the Sith, part 2

Stardate 11-19-06

Fear leads to anger.
Anger leads to hate.
Hatred leads to power.
Power leads to victory.
Let your anger flow through you.
Your hate will make you strong.
True power is only achieved through
testing the limits of one's anger,
passing through unscathed.
Rage channeled through anger is unstoppable.
The dark side of the Force
offers unimaginable power.
The dark side is stronger then the light.
The weak deserve their fate.
-tenets of Sith philosophy

At the end of my first, and most excellent post on the Sith, we learned that Darth Bane and the Sith had evolved into a new enemy for the Jedi. Darth Bane took his apprentice, Darth Seer, to Coruscant where they used special Sith powers to hide themselves from the Jedi Council. Darth Bane died of old age and his apprentice, Darth Seer took up the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith. He formalized and established the Code for the Sith Order, which required that every new Sith apprentice had to construct his own red-bladed light saber, every Sith would now take on the title of "Darth," which means, "Shadow Warrior," and the Sith Rule of Two would strictly be enforced. Darth Seer continued to train his apprentice, Darth Mongerer, on Coruscant until he died of old age. Darth Mongerer faithfully continued the Order of the Sith, but was discovered by a Jedi. He was beheaded by the Jedi in a duel, but hid from him the fact that he was a Sith. His apprentice succeded him as Sith Master.

Darth Plagueis the Wise
Some of you may recall a conversation from Episode III that Grand Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious had with the young Jedi, Anakin Skywalker about a Sith Master who could control the midi-chlorians themselves, and through that, create and preserve life itself. Plagueis was a Jedi who discovered the Sith on Coruscant, and tracked them down. He found Darth Imperious and forced him to teach him the ways of the Sith. Plagueis was able to force Imperious to take him on as an apprentice because Plagueis had discovered a kyber crystal. A kyber crystal is a crystal that is forged with, and contains the dark powers of the Force. It is said that a kyber crystal will greatly boost the dark powers of those who wield it. Imperious accepted him as an apprentice, but had planned in his mind that he would slay him while they were training. Plagueis was too powerful and after they finished training, Darth Plagueis sliced of Imperious' arms and then sliced him in half from head to hip.

Soon afterwards, Darth Plagueis apprenticed a young boy from Naboo named Dantius Palpatine. Plagueis payed Palpatine's patents a large sum of money to not allow Palpatine to be taken by the Jedi for training. Palpatine was soon named, Darth Sidious. By means of his kyber crystal, his knowledge of dark Sith magic, and his Jedi training, Darth Plagueis did indeed discover a way to tranfer the spirit of an old body into a clone by manipulating the midichlorians. Before he could do so, Plagueis was murdered in his sleep by young Darth Sidious. Plagueis never even saw it coming.

Palpatine continued to use the dark side of the force to block the Jedi Council of his true identity. He soon became a powerful senator and used his genious to slowy plot the demise of the Jedi. As Darth Sidious, he took on Darth Maul as his next apprentice, and as Palpatine, he took the first step to gain complete dominance of the Galactic Senate. To do this, Darth Sidious approached the Trade Federation and persuaded them to blockade the planet of Naboo. Outraged, the Galactic Sentate sent two Jedi, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, to negociate with the Trade Federation. The Jedi were ambushed by droids, but easily escaped. Around the same time, the Trade Federation's droid army attacked and captured Queen Amidala. The two Jedi rescued her, escaped, but soon had to land on the planet Tatooine. While there they stumbled upon the Sith'ari, Anakin Skywalker, a child with an off the chart midichlorian levels, and who was born of a virgin mother. Qui-Gon believed him to be the Jedi Chosen One, and took him with them back to Coruscant. Back at Coruscant, Queen Amidala appeared before the Galactic Senate to plead her case. Palpatine represented Naboo in the Senate and assisted Amidala in the Senate proceedings. Outraged that no army had been sent to protect her people on Naboo, Amidala called for a Senate no-confidence vote for Supreme Chancellor Valorum. Amidala and the Jedi retuned to Naboo and with the Gungans, fought and defeated the Trade Federation's droid army. Their victory, however, came with a crushing blow. Before being sliced in half by young Kenobi, Darth Maul killed Qui-Gon Gin in a brutal light saber duel. Moments before his death, Qui-Gon pleaded with Kenobi to take Anakin on as his padawan. Palpatine's devious plans has worked; with defeat of the Trade Federation, Senator Palpatine was named the new Supreme Chancellor.

Soon after Palpatine became the Supreme Chancellor, he secretly sent Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas to the planet Kamino and commanded him to create a clone army. Sifo-Dyas was a friend of Jedi Master Count Dooku who shared the same discontent with what they believed to be a corrupt Senate. Dooku, who was chosen by Sidious to be his new Sith apprentice was told by Sidious that he had secretly sent Dyas to create this clone army. Sidious commanded Dooku, now Darth Tyranus, to kill Dyas and erase Kamino from the Jedi archives before he left the Jedi Council.

10 years later, Dooku/Tyranus emerged as the leader of the Seperatist Movement. Dooku traveled from system to system in search of those who also felt that they were serving a corrupt Senate. As a the number of systems to suceed from the Republic began to rise, concern grew in the Republic of a possible civil war. Because of their fear of a civil war, the Senate created the Military Creation Act, giving its authority to create a huge army. Up until this moment, it had been the job of the Jedi to police and protect the Republic.

Senator Amidala strongly apposed the Military Creation Act. Because of this, there had been many assaination attempts on her life. The Jedi Council commanded Obi-Wan and Anakin to protect her. After one such attempt, Obi-Wan followed the bounty hunter, Jango Fett to Kamino, where he discovered the secret clone army. At the same time, Anakin was sent on his first solo mission with Amidala back to Naboo. On Naboo, Anakins' forbiden love for Amidala continued to grow.

Although Dooku/Tyranus was his Sith apprentice, Tyranus was simply a pawn in Sidious' plan to destroy the Jedi. Sidious used him to create the clone army and to lead the Seperatist movement. Because of their fear in the movement, the Senate voted and gave Supreme Chancellor Palpatine emergency powers, which gave him total dictorial control over the Senate. Palpatines first act was to activate the clone army and crush the rebellion. This started the Clone Wars, which raged on for months; both sides won and lost battles and sustained heavy casualties.

Towards the end of the war, the Seperatist army, now lead by the cyborg General Grevious attacked the capital of the Republic, Coruscant and kidnapped Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. Palpatine staged his own kidnapping to draw out Anakin Skywalker, who in the process fought a bitter light saber duel with Count Dooku. Torn between his Jedi value of life and eliminating a very dangerous foe, Anakin sliced off the head of the disarmed Dooku.

Upon return to Coruscant with the Chancellor, Anakin meets his now wife, Padme Amidala and finds out that she is pregnant. Anakin's joy is mixed with fear because of recent dreams that he was having about Padme dying during childbirth.

The Jedi Council started to suspect that there was something wrong with Chancellor Palpatine, but only believed that a very powerful Sith had taken control of him. When Palpatine requested that the Anakin become his personal representative on the council, they readily accepted, but only because they believed that they could influence Anakin to spy on the Chancellor. Reluctantly, Anakin agreed to do so and soon found out that Palpatine was actually a Dark Lord of the Sith. Anakin rushed to Mace Windu to inform him of what he had found out. Windu and three others fromt he Jedi Council confronted Darth Sidious and engaged in a costly battle. Windu was about to kill Sidious when Anakin came to his aid and cut off Windu's hand. Unarmed, Darth Sidious attacked with a force bolt that led Windu to his demise. After this, Sidous was able to convice Anakin that the Jedi were power hungary and should be destroyed, and that the dark side of the Force was the only thing that could save his wife from death.

Anakin became Sidous' new apprentice and took on the name of Darth Vader. With the Jedi attempt on his life, the Chancellor transmitted Order 66, in which the clone army was commanded to kill all Jedi. Across the galaxy, Jedi were slaughtered by Clone troopers that turned on them. Vader went strait to the Jedi Temple and killed all younglings and Jedi that were there. Sidous then sent Vader to kill the remaining leaders of the Seperatists. He was met there by Obi-Wan. Vader and Obi-Wan dueled on the molten planet of Mustafar, but Vader was young and unlearned in the ways of the dark side, and Obi-Wan was able to overtake him. Vader was chopped up and then slipped into the lava. He lost most of his limbs and was burnt to a crisp. Not long after Obi-Wan's departure, Vader was found by Sidous and was repaired with numerous mechanical replacement parts and the infamous black Darth Vader suit was created.

Over the years, Vader and Sidious continued to hunt down and slaughter the remaining Jedi, but was the prophesy of the Sith'ari fufilled? Anakin had faught to bring down the dark side, but then turned and became a Dark Lord of the Sith. After that he wiped out almost all the Jedi; all except for Obi-Wan and Yoda who survived in hiding. With Yoda and Obi-Wan on the light side, and Sidious and Vader on the dark side, a balance was brought to the force, and the prophesy of the Sith'ari was indeed fufilled.

My Solution For Getting the Troops Out of Iraq

Stardate 11/08/06

As we all know, the Dems won the house last night and may possibly take the senate. It is a dark day indeed for our nation. I don't know about the rest of you, but I was terrified to wake up this morning and leave my house. Even with the Dems in power for less then 12 hours, I fully expected to see terrorists and suicide bombers roaming the streets of St. George, looking for their next target. Gays and lesbians freely frolicking; painting the town in various shades of rainbow. Globs of stem cells that resemble humans selling their body parts on the black market, or should I now say "rainbow market." In fact, I dont know why I even decided to leave my house and go to work, because I knew fully well that when I got there, I would find that some Mexican had stolen my job.

Then, in flash of inspiration, it came to me. LET THE DEMOCRATS CREATE A CLONE ARMY. This brilliance came to me while I was watching Star Wars Episode II, Attack of the Clones, and thinking about the dems satanic desire to do more stem cell research. Now a lot of you may be thinking, "Wouldn't it be sinful to create a clone army?" Well we wouldn't be sinning, the dems would, and they are going to hell anyway. Its the same thing as when you ask your inactive brother to go buy you pizza on sunday. He's the one who is actully breaking the sabbath and sinning, but we all get to enjoy the delicous outcome.

Think about it...we would be able to bring all of our troops home, we could keep the clones there for as long as it takes to successfully inforce democrocy, and if they were captured by the insurgents and tortured, no one would really care. Well, I can't guarantee that no one would care, there would probably be some stupid liberal group out there crying for the rights of American Clones. Maybe we could look into creating Mexican Clones...well, mabye not, who would be affraid of a short skinny Mexican Clone? Unless, they looked like a gang member...well, we can work out the details later.

We can only pray that the Clones dont become self aware, such as the Cylons, SkyNet, or the Artificial Intelligence from the Matrix Movies.

ALL FEAR THE DEMOCRAT CLONE ARMY