Analog-Theater 2.0

Everywhere I turn, I hear that one of the series I watch that survived the last round of cancelations is getting renewed again and/or is announcing stuff for the new season.

I just read an article from E! Entertainment about Fringe’s second season. They have some very interesting stuff coming down the pipe. Spoilers here. Season 2 will premiere on Fox on Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 9:00 PM. The DVD release of Fringe: The Complete First Season
is also in September.

At San Diego Comic Con this month, the cast and creators of Chuck had a panel where they discused what we can expect in Season Three coming out March 2010. NBC has currently ordered 13 episodes, but put a clause in the contract where they reserve the right to order 9 more when/if they feel like it. You can watch the panel here.

Lastly, USA Network has recently announced that Burn Notice will recieve a 4th season according to the Hollywood Reporter, but no other information has come out yet.

10 points to anyone who can name that reference.

For some reason, Robert did not think it important to share the news, so I will.  He got married over the weekend.  He seemed to be happy about it.  And the whole fiasco has strengthened my convinction not to get married.  When and if he returns from his honeymoon, I will let him talk more about it and post pictures and what not.

Now to more important matters.  When the next Harry Potter movie comes out, everyone should buy stock in movie theaters.  I went to the local Regal Cinemas on opening night.  They had 8 midnight showings.  I got there at 11pm and all 8 showings were already sold out.  They had even created some 3am showings for the people who couldn’t get tickets.  I decided to run over to the Multiplex.  They had 2 showings, one of them was not sold out, so I got a ticket.  I heard afterwards that they had created a 3rd showing.  So, the theaters are making tons of revenue off of the opening night (which was a tuesday).

Harry Potter is now the second highest grossing movie series of all time (adjusted for inflation) with $4,879,806,875 (though the latest movie is still in the theaters so that number is probably already incorrect).  It is rivaled only by James Bond for the sheer fact that James Bond has 22 movies to date.

Now, my thoughts on Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.  Boring.  Spoiler alert.  Most of the movie seemed to be about Ron and Hermonie and how they were not getting together.  It was like Harry Potter and the Teenage Soap Opera.  Ron and Hermonie are in love with each other, but neither one wants the other person to know about it, so after Ron becomes the Quidditch superstar, he hooks up with another girl that returns his attention.  Hermonie, now angry that Ron is with another girl who have the backbone to make an advance, decides to make Ron jealous by going out with some guy that Ron doesn’t like.  Nothing can go wrong with that plan.

In the last 5 minutes of the movie (probably more than that, but it felt like 5 minutes), Harry decides that saving the world would probably be better than sitting around with Ron and Hermonie.  So he and Dumbledore go to find some special item that is hidden away so that no one would ever find it.  The only way to open the magic door is to prick your finger and put blood on it, because a wound that severe will naturally weaken the person who does it.  Then they find the locket and return to the school.  There is the dramatic duel between Dumbledore and Draco Malfo (who is actually the most interesting character in this movie) where Dumbledore and Draco do absolutely nothing.  Snape shows up and kills Dumbledore and then leaves.  And Harry finds out that the locket was a fake.

Apparently there were some major changes from the book.  For instance the movie leaves out the whole deal between Snape and Harry.  Harry is using an old potions book filled with notes from the Half Blood Prince, Snape wants it, but Harry won’t give it to him.  Harry gives him a different book and then hides the real one and Snape gives him detention on the day of the Quidditch championship so that Harry can’t play.   The movie also cut the final battle in the book and the funeral, and several characters and flash backs and anything else that might have made it more interesting.

My hope is that the next two movies will be more interesting, though I doubt they will.  I read the book and it was a little boring.  On the bright side, G.I. Joe comes out in 2 weeks.

Before I go into my idea for my next book, I wanted to update my Voltron idea.  I’m thinking Josh Duhamel (Transformers and Transformers 2) as Keith, the pilot of the black lion.

With my manuscript for The Roadmap to Happiness pretty much finished (just waiting on my proofreaders) I have started thinking about what to write next.  My latest and greatest idea is a series of investigative articles on different mysterious, unexplained, and/or paranormal stuff.  The idea is that I would go around (to the ones I can) and do serious research on the subject, seeking out the original sources and give my “professional” opinion on whether they are true, false, or undecided.

I have been putting together a list of stuff to include.  So far I have come up with the Bermuda Triangle, Roswell, Area 51, the statues on Easter Island, King Arthur, the Lock Ness Monster, and Atlantis.  I also thought of a couple more local and less well know ones including Robert the Doll, Beale Ciphers, the Chase Vault, the Chantilly Ghost Hitchhiker, and the Remington Cellar.  If anyone has any other suggestions, let me know.

I just finished what I hope to be the final draft of my upcoming book.  Unless I decide to make any major changes in the immediate future, I will be sending this to a publisher.  But I decided to give you, my loyal fans, a preview of the book. 

Chapter One

Happiness without a pill            

Who wants to be happy?  Almost everyone does, if they’re not happy already.  People look for happiness in many different places; drugs, alcohol, video games, books (like this one) and hundreds of other places.  I enjoy being happy, myself.           

From the year 1999 though 2001, I served full time as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (more commonly called the Mormons).  During that time, I had a question that puzzled me to no end.  At one point I went to my mission president and asked him the question.  In his wisdom he decided not to give me the answer, but he pointed me in a direction so that I could find it for myself.  He told me to study the Plan of Salvation more thoroughly.  Trusting him, I did.           

As I studied, I took notes.  Over the years, I have continued to work on those notes, adding to them as I understood things better.  Those notes evolved into the book you are now holding in your hands.  And I did find my answer.  I will share it with you in the final chapter.           

God is our father in Heaven and He loves us, even more so than our Earthly fathers.

“Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?  Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?  If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” (Matt 7:9-11)            

Like all fathers, he wants us to be happy.  He prepared a way for us to find this happiness.  It is called the Plan of Salvation or the Plan of Happiness.  This plan answers the four big questions that each of us is faced with as some point.  Not “would you like fries with that?”  Questions like “who am I?”, “where did I come from?”, “why am I here?”, and “where am I going after this life?”.           

If we follow this plan, we can find the happiness we seek and more.  God revealed a very important truth about what he has prepared for us. 

“For behold, this is my work and my glory – to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” (Moses 1:39)            

Living forever with God is the ultimate happiness we can hope to achieve.  However, that is not the only thing the Lord promises us. “Prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” (Malachi 3:10)            

Who doesn’t want so many blessings we cannot fit any more in our lives?  In the following chapters I will explore the details of this plan of happiness and how we can receive the blessings that have been promised to us.  I have also included numerous passages from the scriptures.           

While I was a missionary, I invited the people I taught to think about what we told them and try following the teachings.  I would like to invite all of you who read this book to do the same thing.  Think about the plan and how it can help you in your personal search for happiness.  Test the promises that the Lord has given us to see if you receive the blessings. 

Chapter Two

Who is this God person anyway?            

I was talking to a friend of mine about this book while I was working on it and he asked me a very interesting question.  Which God?  I sometimes forget that people have different interpretations of God.  There is the jealous God of the Old Testament, the merciful God of the New Testament, the Trinity of the Catholic Church, Allah, the singer Jewel’s depiction of God in a certain movie, etc.  So which of these gods has a plan for us?  My answer to him was all of them.  All of these gods are just different interpretations of the same being.  He is both vengeful and merciful, punishing the wicked and blessing the righteous.             

After having this conversation with my friend, I felt that I needed to add this chapter to my book so that we all start off on the same page.           

In the Book of Mormon, an account of the followers of Christ that lived on the American continents during the time of the Bible, there was a missionary named Ammon who went to teach the Lamanites.  The Lamanites did not believe in God.  Ammon became a servant of Lamoni, a Lamanite king.  After performing many great works as Lamoni’s servant, the king called for Ammon and asked him to teach him about his beliefs. 

“And Ammon began to speak unto him with boldness, and said unto him: Believest thou that there is a God?   

“And he answered, and said unto him: I do not know what that meaneth.   

“And then Ammon said: Believest thou that there is a Great Spirit?  

“And he said, Yea.   

“And Ammon said: This is God. And Ammon said unto him again: Believest thou that this Great Spirit, who is God, created all things which are in heaven and in the earth?  And he said: Yea, I believe that he created all things which are in the earth; but I do not know the heavens.   

“And Ammon said unto him: The heavens is a place where God dwells and all his holy angels.” (Alma 18:24-30)                        

There is a God.  You can call him Heavenly Father, Allah, Yahweh, or the Great Spirit.  He is the creator of the universe and is the father of our spirits. 

“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect.” (Matt 5:48) “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,” (Matt 6:9)                        

And on top of all that, he looks like us. 

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.   

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” (Gen 1:26-27)                        

Think of all the amazing feats you have seen or heard of.  Weight lifters holding hundreds of pounds over their head, people pulling trains and airplanes, geniuses performing complicated math problems in their heads.  Our bodies, though imperfect, are capable of many great and marvelous things because we were made in the image of God.  We have so much potential within us, all we have to do is put forth some effort.