Monthly Archives: September 2006

“Rocket Man” on the verge of obsolescence; Seahawks honor high school football

1)Superman outraged at the competition
A German man is developing a strap-on wing. Originally conceived as equipment for extreme sports enthusiasts, it is now being considered an exciting military tool. Instead of slowly drifting to their targets using parachutes, soldiers could fly quickly and precisely to a destination. Also, he is developing jet nozzles for the wing, an advancement which would increase the distance the wing and its user could cover.

At present, there is no word on whether or not he is also developing a cape.

(Thanks to Zippy for the link.)

2)They all started somewhere
When they built their new stadium, the Seattle Seahawks made a nice gesture: they included a display of helmets from every high school football team in the state. That’s superb; I’d like to see more displays like it.

Off-Broadway Baptist

Harvester Christian Church, a large church in the St. Louis area, has a busy drama ministry. However, their website’s drama ministry page is a bit confusing to me:

“The Creative Arts Production Ministry His Mercy produces three full stage productions a year, including a Christmas Eve production. These plays are full length, original, musical productions geared to sharing the gospel and the Word of God in a non-threatening manner. They provide the perfect opportunity to invite friends, family and co-workers to our church for a fun evening, and to begin to plant the seeds for the Lords kingdom. All are welcome!

“The Fall of 2006 we will be presenting the musical ‘You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown.’ This show will be done in a dessert theater format.”

I am confused because the first paragraph says their productions are geared to sharing the gospel, while the second says they are presenting “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” I am having trouble reconciling those two statements. Specifically, I am not certain how “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” shares the gospel. It is a wonderful production, but I am not sure how it fulfills their goal of “productions geared to sharing the gospel and the Word of God.”

Please, don’t get me wrong: “You’re a Good Man” is a fun musical, and I am not upset that they are willing to use such a production. I just hope they don’t try so hard to repackage it as a gospel presentation that they drain the charm out of the musical. This would be better if it were simply a theatrical presentation, and not a church production. In fact, there ought to be more quality non-church productions by Christians … but that’s another topic altogether. Simply put, this is a good idea with mismatched wrapping.

Besides, were it to be a Biblically accurate production for the church, they would have to change the title. It would not be “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown”; it would be “You’re a Fallen Man in need of Jesus, Charlie Brown.”

(Of course, it does not help that in the spring of 2007 they will be presenting a “Christian rewrite” of Pinocchio. I have already expressed my position on Christian rewrites, so I think it’s clear I won’t be going out of my way to see that production.)

What might Alanis call this?

At the end of each email sent by a Yahoo user, Yahoo includes an advertisement.  This was attached to one recent email I received:

“Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around”

Do you think their spam protection would protect me from their spam?  This reminds me of Earthlink’s pop-up advertisements selling their pop-up blocker.

Hail the Chairman Brady

The NFL announced a first: next season, New England and Seattle will play a preseason game in China.  As a part of the marketing of the China Bowl, the Patriots are selling a Chinese Tom Brady jersey.

It would be fun to see them actually wear those for the game.  Confusing for U.S. fans, but fun.  Just imagine the amusement of watching the referees try to announce the penalized players by number!  “Intentional grounding, number … uh … t equals?  Ah, forget it, I’m sure there was a receiver somewhere.”

Military presence at Michigan Stadium

Michigan beat Wisconsin on Saturday; that was good.  And the day was even better because I finally got to meet the UM Army man!

I have been wanting to meet him since I started wearing my helmet to games, and I finally got the opportunity on Saturday.  He is a great guy — very friendly, and a staunch Michigan fan.

In every game, be this our aim, V-I-C-T-O-R-Y: Week 5 vs. Lincoln

Chelsea High School Football record through week 5: 12-3 (3-0 week 5; 10-2 SEC) .

Not much to say about this week of football. Lincoln put up no real fight at any level. The Chelsea freshmen won 36-6; the JV won 58-0; the varsity won 55-0. No drama.

The state of the Lincoln football program is dismal, and I hate to see it this way. Perhaps in the near future there will be changes on Willis Road, changes that will help the program begin its climb out of the basement. Until then, Lincoln football players have to suffer through miserable seasons of losing.

Eye-catching: 29 seconds into the varsity game, Chelsea led 14-0. McClendon returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, and on Lincoln’s first offensive play, Bradburn intercepted the pass and returned it for a touchdown. Seven minutes into the game, Chelsea led 35-0.