Movie Review: Fast & Furious 6
10 Things You Need to Know About Babies That Doctors WILL NOT Tell You
Concert Review: The Shins, Minglewood Hall, 5/18/2013
Political Passport: Everything You Need to Know about the IRS Scandal
Jack Bauer, Michael J. Fox, and Agent Coulson - They're Back!
Movie Review: The Great Gatsby
I am stepping outside of my normal post category. My posts in the past have consisted of football, basketball, test drives, and sports video games; but today I feel moved to write about something that has been weighing heavy on my heart—the idea of trying to replace God by idealizing non-eternal objects or ideas. Read more
The first ever faith-related blog post I wrote was last summer. In the midst of busily spinning my wheels to keep my head above water in life, I was drastically confronted with the story of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. Seeing the story differently from the typical focus on Christ wrestling with his impending arrest, betrayal, and crucifixion, I thought about the disciples who fell asleep. The savior of the universe and the One in whom all things are held together asked them to stay awake and pray. And they couldn’t do that.
In that post, I focused on what our generation’s Gethsemane distractions are. But today, I want to take a few moments to point out what I personally focus on every Good Friday. I’m no theologian. This post is not intended to be complex or persuasive. Whether you’re a Christian, an atheist, a person of another faith, or somewhere in-between. Maybe you pray that you believe, but you desperately pray that God will help your unbelief.
Wherever you fall, this post is simply meant to be my reflection on the Good News that I don’t reflect on enough.
In September of 2012, American Pastor Saeed Abedini was arrested while building orphanages in Iran. After being denied full access to a lawyer, being tortured in prison, promised freedom if he’d only renounce his Christian faith, and being convicted of crimes against the state in a sham trial, Pastor Saeed finds himself persecuted daily in an Iranian prison. His wife and children live here in the United States. His case is one of many human rights violations in Iran. And, on Friday, there’s a bipartisan human rights hearing in Congress discussing Saeed and others who are persecuted in Iran.
Ben Affleck is my boy now. Sure, I liked The Town. I’ve always liked how he loves to play in the World Series of Poker. He’s had some decent performances to combat the horrific, J Lo era ones. (coughGiglicough) His true-underdog-story rise to stardom with Matt Damon for writing Good Will Hunting inspired 10 year-old me that I could graduate from college and be on the Oscars not long afterwards.
Much has been written about Affleck’s fall from grace and climb back to the top of the Hollywood mountain. I have no desire or need to recap those pieces. As I stated in my Oscars recap with my wife, I loved Argo and think it’s a deserving Best Picture winner, even if it was the 4th best movie of 2012 on my list.
But none of this is why Ben Affleck is my boy now. Ben Affleck is my boy because of the touching, rambling, emotional acceptance speech he gave at the end of the Oscars telecast.
Growing up in an environment where you are constantly being taught things in a community where you are constantly pressured to conform creates moments where one inevitably questions everything. You might question why you are in the environment in the first place, or why you follow what every other person in the environment is doing. You start wondering and coming up with answers as to how or why something is done. OR, you might even ask yourself if it is okay to question these things. Read more
This post was written after viewing the movie, Dead Poets Society. If you do not want to spoil the movie before seeing it for yourself, it is recommended that you read this after viewing one of the best movies of all time.
Watching movies is a particular past-time that I thoroughly enjoy. Good movies, anyway. Recently, I had the opportunity to re-watch a movie that I am quite fond of - Dead Poets Society. Being one of my favorite movies, it captured all of my attention and had me thinking about it well after the credits rolled. Actually, this time, I saw a new side of the story.
As 2013 gets started, we’re honored at The Wise Guise to not only add new contributors and guest writers, but also expand the topics we cover, questions we raise, and issues discussed. Today’s post is written by one of Joseph’s best friends in law school, Parker Hancock. We hope Parker will continue to contribute to The Wise Guise. Today’s post stems from some current events that Parker and Joseph discussed in detail recently as they caught up during the first week of the new semester.
Today, silently simmering below the lead stories on firearm accessories and commemorative coins was a story about an evangelical pastor asked to give the benediction at Obama’s inauguration, who had to step down because of a fifteen-year old sermon on homosexuality. It was a tremendously hopeful story that has turned tragic. The story really starts in 1997.
Movie Review: Silver Linings Playbook. **** out of 4. Starring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver, and reintroducing Chris Tucker. Written and Directed by David O. Russell.
For those of you who frequent The Wise Guise often, you know that I have published writings from younger versions of myself. As Clayton has commissioned me to write a series of Christmas posts, I thought it would be time once again to go to the archives. After my first Christmas post of 2012 yesterday, I thought it would be time to share with you some writings from 2006 Joseph, who was a sophomore in college at the time. My original plan was to edit the writings, make them better both in writing style and to better reflect the person I am today and the perspectives I’ve gained from graduating, teaching, and getting married and starting “adult” life. My goal was to make them less cheesy, less corny, and hopefully better. But that would have required work and I quickly realized it would have been a difficult venture. Whereas I feel Christmas time and Christmas joy are often about connecting with the pure of heart and the childlike wonder at both the birth of Christ and the magic of Christmas, I decided to publish the two Facebook notes as they were originally published and still sit deep within the Facebook archives. Ironically, these were my first attempts at blog-like writing and Clayton posted comments on both of them. It should have been a sign we were destined to blog together. So, without further ado, I present to you two Facebook notes I wrote about my love of Christmas back in the fall/winter of 2006. Unedited and as cheesy as they’ve ever been. Enjoy!
It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged. Clayton has commissioned me, as King of Christmas Joy, to write a good number of Christmas posts. And that is going to happen. I’d planned on starting on Friday before leaving for a few days experiencing Christmas time in New York City. While I was beginning this post, the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut happened. As I was plugged in, absorbing the news (true and false) as it rolled in, I was in no place and it was no time to post about Christmas joy during the holidays. It was one of the most tragic days I can ever remember in our country in my lifetime.
