Anlic_Sceadu

The Dark Knight

2008-08-01T21:26:49-06:00

I know Stan Lemon has already reviewed The Dark Knight for Higher Things, so don’t worry, this isn’t another review. But, I have to say that I have seen the movie twice now, I think it's pretty bloody awesome! Of course, Batman has been my favorite Superhero since I was little, so I was bound to like it anyways. So, instead of writing a review, I thought some of you might enjoy this article my Aunt sent me from "The Wall Street Journal." Be prepared though, it has spoilers and won’t make much since if you haven’t seen the latest Batman movie. Also, it is slightly political so even though I agree with what it states, it doesn’t necessarily represent the views and stand points of all those involved with Higher Things…

Ok, so now that the disclaimer is over, said, and done with…I hope y’all read and enjoy this article by Andrew Klavan!

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

2008-05-28T22:19:46-06:00

Ok…so Stan Lemon has already reviewed this movie for Higher Things and I respect his opinion on the movie, but I can’t say that I agree with it. I LOVED Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and I really want to see it again. I recommend it for a fun summer film. I actually even liked it better than Ironman. So, here are some of the reasons why I thought it was an awesome movie…

First off, if y’all don’t already know, I’m going into my junior year of college for a major in History, and I hope to someday obtain my doctorate in Ancient History. As cheesy as this is going to sound, Indiana Jones was one of the reasons I first started to get interested in history…I mean, who wouldn’t want to be just like him. I’m now older and understand it is just fiction, but I love history and I even research it for fun during my free time. Anywho, I was excited about the film when I just heard the title, because it was about the “Crystal Skulls.” For those of you who don’t know what the Crystal Skulls are, here’s an article written for FOX news about the subject and also an article written for “Archaeology (a publication of the Archaeological Institute of America).” So, if you read the articles, this is actually an idea that comes from possibly the biggest archaeological hoax that has fooled and continues to fool people to this very day. How cool is that!

When the skulls were first discovered, it was believed that they came from the pre-Columbian Mesoamerica culture. At the time, it had some backing because human skulls were used in the natives’ worship of their gods, through sacrifice. I mean, the Aztecs liked to rip the beating heart out of their victim for the god Huitzilopochtli. So, the people in the 19th century probably had no problem believing that the crystal skulls were part of some pagan practice, especially when it was prevalent in the Mesoamerican drawings. Later, theories developed about the skulls being made by Aliens or coming from another galaxy, and this crazy idea does make for a great movie. What’s cooler than a bloody pagan religion and aliens? Sounds like a blockbuster hit to me.

I think one of the coolest parts in the movie was the pagan beliefs that were presented. Like I said, I want to get a doctorate in Ancient History, and one of the most important parts of studying them is understanding what their pagan beliefs were. Let me tell you some of them are so far out there, the idea of Aliens teaching the Mayans how to farm sounds pretty sane. Anyways, the Mayans did have a religion that was centered on the movements of planets and stars, and some people out there do believe that the aliens taught the ancient cultures, including the Mayans, how to do things. Oh, and this belief does not solely belong to the atheists, I know plenty of people who proclaim to be Christian and they actually believe in stuff such as this. Surf the web about aliens, and I bet you’ll find some people out there, just like the ones I’m talking about.

Actually, one of my favorite TV shows puts a spin on this idea and it became the longest running sci-fi TV show, because of it. I’m talking about Stargate SG-1, of course. Now that I think about it, the whole movie was basically Indiana Jones meets Stargate in the middle of the Amazon. In fact, now I know why I loved it so much…it reminds me of Stargate…it’s all just good clean sci-fi fun.

Personally, I think you should just take it for what it is. It’s a fun, clean, cheesy movie just like all the other Indiana Jones films…I loved the story and found it funny, because I read about people talking about this stuff all the time. I love to study the Mesoamerican mythological beliefs and loved to see this fun little spin placed on it. Plus, the Greaser references and the fact that it takes place during the Cold War make it a good movie from yet another historical perspective. So, I have to say I give this movie 4 ½ out of 5 stars, because I really enjoyed it. I hope y’all give it the chance it deserves, and if you don’t like it, oh well…I loved it…and I hope some of you enjoy it at least as half as much as I did. Just remember to keep in mind that it is an Indiana Jones movie, so be prepared for unbelievable fight scenes and the stars living through situations where a normal human being would die. I have to say that I’m hoping they continue with the franchise…possibly starring “Mutt.” ;-)

Also, I almost forgot to add, those Army Ants or Dorylus ants scared the heck out of me…I remember reading about them years ago…and yeah it was over exaggerated…but it’s still slightly scary to watch.

Names...because I have nothing better to talk about at the moment...

2008-05-23T17:56:27-06:00

I’m figuring all of you have already heard…and if you haven’t, then you must not know me personally…that I, Kelsey Ann Fischer, am going to be an Aunt. My dear older brother (Nathan) and my sister-in-law (Katie) are going to be blessed with their first child sometime around November. Right now they are in the process of picking out names on whether it’s a boy or a girl. Well, I’m of course not going to tell you the names their thinking about, because that’s for them to know and us to find out! But I have heard some of the latest ones they're thinking about, and they’re great!

Anyways, this led to a little discussion between me and my friends, for fun of course, on what we are going to name our future little ones. Being the crazy person that I am, the names I picked out had very mixed reviews. Due to the fact that I have nothing better to write about at the moment, I thought I would share with y’all the boy names I would pick at the moment and why…

First up would be my exact favorite, Alexander. The namesake (of course) is the one and only, Alexander the Great. If you don’t know who he is, then you must have never had to sit through an ancient history class. Alexander was the ancient Greek king of Macedon and conquered half of the known world before his death in Babylon. He may not have been the nicest or most moralistic person in history, but he was a great warrior, and what kid wouldn’t be lucky to bear his name? The middle name for this lucky kid would be Lucius…first of all because it just sounds cool and second, because of reasons I’m too lazy to type out, so you can read about him here. Also, it was just a popular Roman name…and did I mention that “Alexander Lucius” just sounds cool?

Well, my mom thought naming any poor kid after a Greek King was crazy. But I think I scared her even more when I told her that if I ever had more than one son, I would name him Octavian, after the first Roman emperor who came to the throne after Julius Caesar’s death. Upon hearing this, most of my friends said that the poor child would grow up to hate me, to which I simply replied that it’s a lot better than naming him “Gaius”…which was actually Octavian’s first name…so yeah…I thought it was a funny joke…but apparently none of them got it…and I’m guess you didn’t either…so moving on …

So, those are two of my personal choices on awesome baby names…well that and Augustus, which my mom thinks is a really good name for a boy, even though I originally thought of it for a girl…so maybe I might just have to go with that one. Well, I think I have a long time to decide, so no use thinking too much about it right now. Anyways, I hope to actually write a good blog post sometime in the near future, so hopefully I haven’t scared you away by this creepy randomness….

Finals Coming Up...

2008-05-06T11:49:18-06:00

The great joys of finals have just begun here at SHSU...so I thought I would just post some random words of wisdom, from the crazy mind of Kelsey Fischer:

"Life is like a box of chocolates. You may not like all the chocolates in the box."

Thank You...those are my very random thoughts for the day...enjoy ;-p

"Lord, Help Us Ever to Retain"

2008-04-20T13:52:07-06:00

Lord, Help Us Ever to Retain
By: Ludwig Helmbold

Lord, help us ever to retain
The Catechism’s doctrine plain
As Luther taught the word of truth
In simple style to tender youth.

Help us your holy Law to learn,
To mourn our sin and from it turn
In faith to you and to your Son
And Holy spirit, Three n One.

Hear us, dear Father, when we pray
For needed help from day to day
That as your children we may live,
Whom you baptized and so received.

Lord, when we fall or go astray,
Absolve and lift us up, we pray;
And through the Sacrament increase
Our faith till we depart in peace.

"Transylvania"

2008-04-15T23:11:33-06:00

Just because I have this song stuck in my head...and it won't leave, I decided to make y'all suffer too by posting it. Actually, I love this song, and I'm totally addicted to this band. So, my random thoughts of the day are as follows: (to watch the music video for the song go here, or the acoustic version)

"Transylvania" -by: McFly

Anne Boleyn she kept a tin,
Which all her hopes and dreams were in,
She plans to run away with him, forever (never to be seen again)
Leaves a note and starts to choke,
Can feel the lump that's in her throat,
It's raining and she leaves her coat in silence.

We're sorry but we disagree
The boy is vermin, can't you see?
We'll drown his sins and misery
And rip him out of history

[Chorus:]
People marching to the drums,
Everybody's having fun to the sound of love,
Ugly is the world we're on
If I'm right then prove me wrong
I'm stunned (to find a place we belong)

Who is your lover,
I couldn't tell,
When hell freezes over,
That's when I'll tell,
Who is your lover,
I couldn't tell,
When will this stop.

Racing,
Pacing,
In the dark,
She's searching for a lonely heart,
She finds him but his heart has stopped,
She breaks down.

Sorry but your majesty,
Refusing orders from the queen
Results in a monstrosity

Remembers a voice and hears him sing

[Chorus:]
People marching to the drums,
Everybody's having fun to the sound of love,
Ugly is the world we're on
If I'm right then prove me wrong
I'm stunned (to find a place we belong)

Who is your lover,
I couldn't tell,
When hell freezes over,
That's when I'll tell,
Who is your lover,
I couldn't tell,
When will this stop.

People marching to the drums,
Everybody's having fun to the sound of love,
Ugly is the world we're on
If I'm right then prove me wrong
I'm stunned (to find a place we belong)

Who is your lover,
I couldn't tell,
When hell freezes over,
That's when I'll tell,
Who is your lover,
I couldn't tell,
When will this stop.

[Repeat till the end]

When will this stop!

Tag Once Again...

2008-04-08T10:49:13-06:00

So, I was tagged by Jon to take this quiz, and here are my results:

You Are Kermit

Hi, ho! Lovable and friendly, you get along well with everyone you know.
You're a big thinker, and sometimes you over think life's problems.
Don't worry - everyone know's it's not easy being green.
Just remember, time's fun when you're having flies!

I choose to tag: Anna, Nathan, Katie and Lynea...

Early Christian Art

2008-03-14T10:37:08-06:00

This past spring break has been a wonderful and relaxing experience, and I only wish it could have lasted longer. Anyways, don’t worry I’m not going to bore you with details about sleeping in, eating good food, and sitting around watching the first season of "Battlestar Galactica." Instead, I thought y’all might be interested in the museum exhibit I had the wonderful opportunity to see while being home from college.

The Kimball Art Museum in Fort Worth has been presenting the exhibit, “Picturing the Bible; The Earliest Christian Art.” Now, I know when many people hear “The Early Christian church” they immediately think Roman Catholic, and hopefully you weren’t one of those people. Pre-dating the Roman Catholic Church, there were numerous Christian communities and churches around the known world. Now, this is not to say that the Roman Catholics are not renowned in the art world for their portrayal of Bible stories through pictures. However, the beginning of the exhibit focused solely on art that predated the Roman Catholic Church.

In the early church, in the 4th century, the art focus was on the Holy Sacraments and the means of forgiveness given to us by Christ. They used Old Testament motifs to represent the important beliefs of the church. They focused on the salvation from Christ and not on good works. One example that was used quite frequently was that of the story of Jonah. They depicted Jonah being lowered over-board into the open mouth of a great dragon like creature and then three days later being spat back out. This picture symbolized, in the early church, many things including Baptism, Salvation, and Christ himself. During this time-period, Bibles where also being hand copied and illustrated, but sadly none of them remain today.

It wasn’t until the sixth century that the early images were replaced by those showing the life and miracles of Jesus. This switched the focus of the pictures from saving grace to good works. This also coincides with the rise of the Roman Catholic Church. This artwork included the “gem-encrusted gold cross presented by the emperor Justin II to Pope John III in the late sixth century, on loan from the Treasury of Saint Peter's in Vatican City. This cross functioned as a reliquary, containing a piece of the True Cross.” The center of the cross has to be covered whenever it leaves the Vatican, because it is able to perform miracles for those people who look upon it. I think you know what I’m getting at with this, so I’m not going to spell it out for you. I have to admit that, this cross was one of the gaudiest things I have seen in my life. However, it was still insanely neat to see it, considering that it was one of the very things Luther wrote against, when he talked about all the relics circulating in the church.

Overall, this exhibit was wonderful to see, and I’m overjoyed that I had the chance to walk through it. So, in closing I just couldn’t resist mentioning that I saw, along with all this art, three illustrated Bibles from the 6th century. “Illustrated manuscripts are among the rarest and most treasured objects in the exhibition. Only a handful of illustrated Bibles from the sixth century have survived, and an unprecedented three of these are included in the exhibition. The Rabbula Gospels, on loan from the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence, were inscribed by a monk named Rabbula in a Syrian monastery, who in 586 A.D. recorded the moment when he had finished the manuscript. The Bibliothèque Nationale de France is lending an illustrated folio—only five of which are extant—from the fragmentary Greek Sinope Gospels, the entire text of which is written in gold on purple-dyed vellum. On loan from the British Library are several fragments of the Cotton Genesis, a Greek manuscript probably produced in Egypt. Although the manuscript was tragically reduced to fragments in 1731 during a fire in the Cotton Library, several fragments survived.” I think that was one of the coolest parts. The Word of God was and forever will be the most important piece passed down from generation to generation. To see the actual texts from the 6th century that were so lovingly copied down by hand just so that it could be preserved was totally and utterly awesome.

Robert Frost

2008-02-11T18:20:37-07:00

So I thought I would post something a bit different and share some of my favorite Robert Frost poems with y'all. I was printing them out to post on my door, but I thought y'all might enjoy them too...so I hope you like them!

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

(And my exact favorite, because it was used in one of my most beloved books, that was my exact favorite when I was younger, The Outsiders:)

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

Tag...I guess I'm it!

2008-01-31T23:29:30-07:00

Jon just had to go and tag me in this...so I guess I have to reply ;-p
1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

My closest book is Next by Michael Crichton...so here goes nothin'.

"They owned more patents than the US government. 'The notion that someone owns part of the human genome strikes as unusual,' Bellarmino said. 'But it's what makes America great and keeps our innovation strong.'"

hmmm...sounds a bit odd out of context <shrug>.

So...I tag:
Nathan, Lynea, Pr. Cwirla, Anna, and Kennedy.