Doom to the Silver Screen

Ok, I've been wanting to post on this for a couple of days now but I haven't been able to just sit down and do it. Well, now is the time.

One of the best video games of all time is finally getting a chance to make it big on the silver screen. Doom revolutionized video gaming, and more specifically first person shooters (fps), as we know it. id Software, the masterminds behind this demon-killing, bloodbath of a video game, shocked the gaming world when they released the infamous Wolfenstein 3-D on the PC. I can speak from personal experience and say without reserve that I played this game to death (pun intended, of course). I was a video game maniac, and Wolf as it was commonly called slowly brought me into the fps world. Wolf put you into the fatigues of B.J. Blazkowicz as you rooted around the mysterious Castle Wolfenstein to stop all Nazi activity and eventually eliminate Hitler himself. This game held nothing back in every manner of speaking. Language wasn't a big part of the problem but the constant spewing blood and riddled bodies were more than enough to earn it one of the first 17+ age ratings known to the gaming world. id Software obviously saw how successful Wolf had become and eventually released an under-the-radar expansion called Spear of Destiny. However, id's claim to fame would come in their next project: Doom. The premise of Doom? Secure the moons of Mars, where military bases have been established, of all hell-spawing demons and eventually making your way to the final showdown with the Cyberdemon, the half-demon/half-machine you didn't want to mess with.

Doom let it all out. Tons of weapons (including a chainsaw), any manner of imps and demons, and more shoot-em up, blow-em up, rip-em up than you could imagine. Doom did so well, Doom 2 was just a matter of time. In fact, I believe it did better than the original. I remember spending LOTS more time on the sequel than I ever did on the original. However, in Doom 2, instead of fighting on moon bases, you were on earth where the portal to hell had to be closed. This addition was bigger, longer, and much more intense. And while the graphics left MUCH to be desired, it revolutionized gaming as we know it. And for the most part, that was it from the Doom world until id Software released the most recent, Doom 3. Graphics that made your head spin. Weapons that made you drool. A dark, frightening environment that, if played under the right circumstances, scared the life out of you. A truly worthy sequel to it's two younger brothers. Doom 3 follows chronologically after the first two. After the portal to hell on Earth is sealed ... scientists venture to Mars for research purposes. However, a little too much meddling around and here we go again. Another portal to Hell is discovered and it's your job, the Marine, to go in and reseal it. Eh. No problem. Honestly, it's one of the best games I've ever played.

And really, that's where the silver screen comes in. Sure, I took a short digression but I felt it was necessary. Whenever I play a good video game, particularly a first-person shooter, I always wonder if it would make a good transition to the big screen. I've seen a lot of video games fail in that regard (Resident Evil, Tomb Raider), so I'm always a little hesitant when a movie shares the name of a popular video game and derives its story from the basis of the video game. I loved Mortal Kombat. I know it wasn't a favorite and yes I do believe the sequel (MK: Annihilation) was a total waste of time and a shame to the Mortal Kombat name, but I have always been a hardcore MK fanatic and I thought the first movie, while flawed, was pretty good. Being a hardcore gamer, I'm extremely picky about movies that attempt to expand on the game.

Now you must know, before I saw previews, I had absolutely no idea Doom was even going to be a movie. In any case, there I am, watching TV and I happen to stop on MTV for some weird reason (trust me, it doesn't happen often). It's a commerical break and previews come up for a shoot-em up, "hell breaks loose," Aliens-type movie. But the more I saw, the better it looked. And the more I thought about what I was seeing, the more this looked eriely like Doom. But I quickly dismissed that thought and instead figured the title was going to be something stupid. The preview comes to a dramatic end and there was the title: Doom. My jaw literally dropped open. Then I saw it was in theaters October 21. Yes, I will be there. I couldn't believe it. The only downside now is my expectations and hopes are rather high and have more of a chance of coming crashing down.I'm hoping that doesn't happen. I'm hoping this movie learns from past video game movies and actually earns respect. Video game movies don't have a history of respect. I only know two of the actors playing: The Rock takes on the role of Sarge and Karl Urban (Eomer from Lord of the Rings) portrays the soldier known as Reaper. The Rock hasn't impressed in the past but he looks like a good pick for this movie. Maybe it's just wishful thinking.

So there you have it. I had a lot to say and I could have said more. The plot of this movie hasn't been too fleshed out yet, but it seems to follow the basic premise of Doom 3 (which is the game it's mostly based on) pretty well with a few changes here and there, but that's expected. I have my doubts, as always, but I also have high hopes and high expectations. I really hope Doom doesn't disappoint. I guess we'll know on October 21.

Hornets, Song of Solomon, and Rita (or lack thereof)

Well, the weeks are picking up speed. I hate that I'm not finding time to sit down and update my blog. Once I actually sit down and write something, I enjoy doing it and tell myself that I'll do it more often, but I never do. Sad, really.

Anywho, lots of things have been happening in case you haven't noticed. In the sports world (surprise, surprise, I start with sports), particularly the NBA, the New Orleans Hornets have found a new (and hopefully a happy) temporary home in Oklahoma City. After Katrina ousted the Hornets from their home town, about 4 or 5 cities started jocking for position and tried their hardest to get the Hornets into their respective cities. But, in the end, the Ford Center in Oklahoma City will serve as the surrogate for 35 "home" games this season. Two of those home games welcome the Mavericks into the City: November 12 and December 31. November 12 is the Saturday when Texas A&M pays a visit to Norman. Hopefully, on Dad's Day, this game will be early in the morning so I can attend both. The Mavs game takes place at 7pm local time and the Sooners have yet to stamp a time onto what hopefully will be an interesting matchup. Speculation has been that single game tickets will cost no more than $20 at the Ford Center. I can only hope. With ticket prices as cheap as they're going to be, I will be trying my hardest to get as close to the court as I can. I've watched a Mavs game from the highest seats in the American Airlines Center in Dallas and it was one of the coolest experiences of my life. I can only imagine what down near the court would be like.

But that's a few weeks away. Just this past weekend (to shift gears out of nowhere) I had the privilege of traveling to Edmond for the Song of Solomon conference held at Henderson Hills Baptist Church. The Song of Solomon man himself, Tommy Nelson, was the keynote speaker (as if you needed me to tell you that) and while he didn't get to share as much as he does in his video series, he did an incredible job of using the time he had to go through the entire book and give us a sort of a "mini-series" version of the video series. Speaking of, I did pick up his newest edition of the series, now on DVD. This is, if I'm not mistaken, the third edition, which was published just this past February. The previous two editions came in 1995 and 1999. That conference was worth every moment of my time. A few of the staff from Trinity BC and their wives made it along with a few guys from the BSU. At the end of the first night, we were asked if that was a good way to spend a Friday night and I thought to myself that I wouldn't have rather been anywhere else. I almost arrived late on Saturday morning. I wanted to wake up at 7 and leave at 8, but instead ended up waking up at 8 and leaving at around 8:10. The conference started at 9 and I ended up arriving at around 8:40. It makes a world of difference when OKC isn't plugged with traffic. All in all, if I may quote Kels, a "phenomenal" conference.

And then there was Rita. Was being the key word. As of late Sunday night, you can't even tell where she is anymore. Earlier this past week, Rita was forecasted to smash right into the middle of the Texas gulf coast and basically travel up I-45/Hwy 75 and then make its way into Norman. That was the consensus viewpoint, right up until 1 or 2 days before she actually made landfall. Then, because of a stupid ridge sitting its fat self on top of us, Rita makes a quick turn to the North/Northeast and barely even clips Texas. Houston dodged a HUGE bullet. Galveston received a relatively small amount of what they could have seen, Beaumont got smacked pretty good, and once again, Louisiana endured the brunt, ugly side of Rita for the second time in as many weeks. So instead of Norman witnessing a tropical cyclone transitioning to an extratropical system, we get, you guessed it, sunny skies. The Norman Dome/Hole strikes again. I didn't think it had the power to ward off a category 5 hurricane but apparently I was wrong. I've seen it destroy the occasional thunderstorm and make complete fools out of squall lines, but never a hurricane. Well, at least it's going to start feeling like autumn around here this week. We get to see our first, real cold front!

Over the next week, I get to enjoy my first round of tests. I'm not looking forward to it, but I know God is faithful and He'll help me balance my time and my energy so that His glory is seen through it all. That'll be my prayer. It may not be easy and it may not be fun, but I will give glory to God and give Him all of the thanks He deserves. I've been giving Him thanks a lot lately, particularly for Rachel. We've only been dating for just over a week, but I can already see God being glorified through our relationship. It's so refreshing to have God at the center, and as I've said before, it's something I've never experienced before. And we've told each other that it's an incredibly exciting time in both of our lives. God is so incredibly faithful and worthy to be praised. I love Him.

Oh, and I get to go home in 2 weeks. Don't think I'm not looking forward to this. I think it's the longest I've gone since the beginning of a semester before going home. I was a little homesick today and I know I probably will be in the coming days but these two weeks will go by fast.

And just a VERY random side note, I like sprinklers at night. I don't know what it is, but when I'm driving around campus at night or around the south side of town and there are sprinklers going, it's just a comforting feeling. Maybe it's my love for rain, maybe it's because I'm a HUGE nerd, I don't really know. I just thought I'd share.

Crowder's new album, A Collision, is out on Tuesday. A woo hoo.

"A doctor who specializes in skin diseases will dream that he has fallen asleep in front of the television. Later, he will wake up in front of the television, but not remember his dream."
// Rusty Ryan, Ocean's Twelve

What to say?

Over the past several days, I've wondered that very thing. I have seen more of God in the past several days than I have in a long time. He's shown Himself to me in so many different ways.

For those of you I haven't told yet, I am dating a wonderful, Godly girl I met on my ministry team. Her name is Rachel and she is such a blessing into my life. We started dating this past weekend, but have become really good friends over the past few weeks and I can say with no reserve that I see God in her life. I see it in the people around her. Those she meets with, her roommates, her family members. Her life. I'm so thankful God is allowing me to share a relationship with her. This is for His glory and His renown, and I pray that every part of us will shine and reveal that. She is an awesome girl and a blessing to everyone she meets. God is working in a powerful way in her life to minister to others and to love them and it's amazing to see Him work through her. Safe to say, this is an exciting time.

God's also shown to me just how worthy He truly is. One of my good friends who was to be wed this coming December just recently found out that the wedding along with the relationship was called off. Not by parents, not by friends, but by the groom-to-be. Not good. From what she said, he sort of just "left." I hope I'm not saying too much, but guys like that really get under my skin. In my opinion, that isn't honoring to a daughter of the Kingdom. And this applies to all my sisters. I've learned from some very Godly men about honoring our sisters in Christ. As men, we are to show them and treat them with the honor they deserve. And when I see or hear about a guy who claims to know God and does something to dishonor God's daughter, I get a little perturbed. As men of God, we need to be searching His Word and desiring to show our sisters how much they mean to us. I know the brothers I'm close to and know well on our ministry team are learning this and that more and more men are stepping up to reject passivity, accept responsibility, lead courageously, and to expect the greater reward ... God's reward.

No matter what's going on in our lives, God's name is to be blessed and honored and praised. I can give you no better example than my good friend Job. You couldn't take more from a man that was taken from him. He even acknowledged that. God gives and God takes away. Was God's name ever cursed by Job? Not once. Take that, Satan. If we never received any earthly blessings, God's name is to be praised. This is not our home. Our blessings are in heaven. They're eternal. And God is worthy of every single part of our lives. He is worthy to be praised.

And those words still aren't enough. Our finite minds will never be able to provide adequate praise that God so righteously deserves. I could blog and talk and think for eternity and that would MAYBE provide a small glimpse of His glory. Maybe. Very small. Sometimes I just have to sit and think about Him. Just to dwell on His love. My poor, finite brain hurts when I try to comprehend His amazing, neverending love. And as Rachel and I were discussing, we'll never live long enough to understand it. We won't understand it fully in heaven. Why? Because He's GOD. If we could understand Him, He wouldn't be God. If it were possible to fully see Him, he wouldn't be God. If He desired anything less than our entire lives, He wouldn't be God. We're just not going to understand Him fully. And honestly, I'm just fine with that. My God is bigger than thought. He's bigger than me. He's bigger than my life. He bigger than this world. He's worth it.

Jeremy Camp said it wonderfully in "In Your Presence" on his album, Stay.

As I stand here in Your presence
Of Your beauty I will always stand in awe
I reach my hands out to the heavens
And I lift my voice to You alone

As I bow my head before You
I lay my burdens down at Your nail pierced feet
Every ounce of you radiates Your glory
With You I know that I'm complete

And I sing
Hallelujah You are my God, Maker of the Heavens
Hallelujah You are my Lord, I bow before Your presence

And I sing
Hallelujah You are my God, Maker of the Heavens
Hallelujah You are my Lord of all, Maker of the Heavens

I can only kneel before Your presence
You alone the nations praise Your Name
You are the great I AM, more than I can reason
I realize more than I am needing You


Hallelujah.

The days are growing...

Man, I just can't seem to find time to update anymore. I guess that's what I meant by my title. They're going fast, but they seem to be getting bigger and longer at the same time. I'm trying to cram so much stuff into each day, and frankly, it's wearing me out.

I'm enjoying my classes, though. Yeah, they're tough and have equations that would make most normal, grown men burst into tears, but 4 years of meteorology is finally starting to all come together.

I'm really thankful our football team won this past weekend. I'll admit, when we were down 9-7 early, I was worried. Granted, the fourth quarter was dominated by no other than the best running back in the entire country (surely you've seen the huge TD run he had when he literally threw off 3 defenders), single handedly winning us that game. And our defense scored a touchdown! It's been a while since I've seen that. However, Bomar didn't even attempt a pass in the second half, which I still can't believe. And all of this was against Tulsa. We have much harder opponents awaiting. One of those being a certain Texas school we've dominated over the past 5 years. They went into Columbus and beat Ohio State. No small feat by any means. October 8th is going to be a day long remembered.

I get to start OU Nightly this week. For those of you who don't know, it's the OU student newscast, which is being aired in 5 minutes blocks right now at 5:25 each afternoon this week. Next week, we move to 15 minutes newscasts and then we play it by ear to see when we move into full-blown half hour broadcasts. Cox Cable Channel 4 (the OU channel) on Thursday, September 15th. That's when I'll give my one minute quickie of a on-air forecast. I'll get more time in the weeks to come, alternating with our other weather gal, Carrie. It's an exciting time and I believe it's going to be an exciting semester for OU Nightly. Hopefully I'll have material to put on my resume tape.

I've been a little sickly the past couple of days, so keep me in your thoughts and prayers. It started with a sore throat (probably from the game) and developed into a bunch of different symptoms that aren't any fun at all. Especially with a reasonably full week. Sleeping in Saturday is now mandatory. I haven't done it in a while, so this Saturday is my time. We don't play until 2:30 anyways, so I can sleep in.

Forecasting for Wilmington, North Carolina in the midst of Tropcial Storm/Depression (depending on when you read this) Ophelia is not the easiest thing in the world to do. Our Synoptic Lab class is participating in a forecasting contest with a few other universities that spans several weeks. Each town we forecast from is somewhat reflective of one of the universities participating in the contest. For Wilmington, the "home field advantage" so to speak belongs to NC State. We'll forecast for other such cities as Lubbock (ohhh, exciting!), Oklahoma City, Denver, and San Francisco. Texas Tech, OU, U of Northern Colorado, and San Jose State. Florida State has also been thrown into the mix. After being a meteorology major for 4 years, I regret not participating in any previous contests. Experience would be welcome right now. However, when forcasting a tropical storm which, as our synoptic professor put it, is "slowly killing itself," it pretty much boils down to the "crap shoot." Where will the rain bands go, how much rain will fall, how fast will the wind blow, etc, etc.... Baptism by fire to be sure.

I know this was more of an update than just blogging on a topic, but I'd thought I'd mix things up a bit. And, to do so again, I've decided to put a movie quote at the end of each blog, just because I can. I quote movies like it's going out of style, so why not share it?

The premiere quote comes from none other than The Princess Bride, which I am fresh off of viewing.

"Let me 'splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up."
--Inigo Montoya

The Father's House, LEGO Style

My dad sent me an email this morning so diverse, I have to share it.

You see, I was (and still am) a huge fan of LEGO building bricks. I've had them for as long as I can remember. All the way from grade school until now. Well, now, I'll share with you some pictures that my dad found of a LEGO church, constructed to scale with LEGO mini-figures.

Here are the specifics:

How long to build it?
It was about a year and a half of planning, building, and photographing.

How many LEGO bricks were used to build it?
Over 75,000

How big is it?
About 7 feet by 5 1/2 feet by 30 inches

How many LEGO mini-figures does it seat?
1,372

How many windows?
3,976

It also features a balcony, a Narthex (entrance hall/entryway), restrooms, coat rooms, several mosaics, a nave (the central part of a church), a baptistry, an altar, a crucifix, a pulpit, and an elaborate pipe organ.

Here's the homepage for the entire project:

http://www.amyhughes.org/lego/church/index.html

Football and such

Well, I haven't posted in a few days, and the events of this past weekend more than merit a post. Although, I'm not going to type a huge, long ginormous post about how bad we sucked. If you saw the game (and even if you didn't), you only need to look at the score to know that we played pretty poorly. I mean, it's TCU. I don't care how good they think they are, we should have beat them. Sigh. So now, as I just read, Stoops is going to start Bomar this Saturday against Tulsa. I would have said give Thompson another chance but I'm not the one getting paid to make the decision. I'm not mad, just kinda puzzled. Stoops has been acting weird lately, at least from a coaching standpoint. He got outcoached in a big way against TCU. But that wasn't the only time. You could easily look at K-State, LSU, and USC. All big games. All with significance. Granted, he's done exceptionally well against Texas, so I hope that trend continues. I'm just getting a little worried that things are slowly starting to become unravled. But I digress. I'll blog more on football after the game this weekend.

I've decided that TobyMac is definitely the coolest member of dc Talk. I mean, when all three of them are together, they're pretty rockin', but ever since they took an "intermission", it's been all Toby. You can't deny it. He has 4 albums (2 of those being remixes) and he gets the biggest crowds at shows. And yes, he puts on an incredible live show. I've seen him twice and each time it's been awesome. Especially when he was with Third Day back in December at the Ford Center. K-Lai and I went and I was able to get him to autograph my Diverse City CD as well as my ticket stub. In my opinion, he mixes hip-hop and rap almost perfectly. His latest offering, Renovating Diverse City, a remix of his sophomore album, is another solid, innovative mix of an already intense album. Grassrootsmusic.com puts it perfectly ... and much better than I could:

"Retro R&B, reggae, rap, rock and Latin influences are all stirred in, as well as a few other pleasant surprises best left to the listener to spot – kind of like a hip, musical “Where’s Waldo?” party, and just as hard to resist."

Yeah, that does it. And to top it off, it was only $7.99. You can't beat it.

I wish Revenge of the Sith had been showing at the dollar theater this weekend. Right as I want to see it, they took it out. Literally. Oh well, November 1st is the release of the DVD. Just a month and a half.

Ok, so just a little more about the game Saturday. I talked about how much it sucked, but there were highlights. The weather was nice. Granted, it was a little warm, but there was a breeze and it wasn't as hot as it could have been. It was only in the lower 90s. We're fortunate isn't wasn't in the 100s. That would have been unbearable. And I got to sit with a lot of cool people. My bro went for the first time, David and Gabe (a friend from meteorology), 3 of the Yellow House guys, and my new friend Rachel and her roommate. It was Rachel's first game also, and I wasn't a good example. I yelled a LOT, mostly at the refs and at our lack of football playing. I lost my voice because of it, and she was sitting/standing right beside me, so she probably didn't appreciate my barrage. She said it was ok, but I'm going to try to tone it down a bit. Even I thought I was a little out of hand. After all, it was the first home loss I had experienced. She's a cool gal and only 4 days older than me! She said she's going to hopefully go to the Tulsa game this weekend, so perhaps the results will be more pleasant.

What else is exciting is compiling my resume and getting it ready to have it critiqued. Kind of weird and exciting at the same time. It's a different feeling know this time next year I hope to be on television somewhere telling people how hot it's going to be and how much rain they'll see over the next week. And lets not forget about wearing a suit everyday. I'll have to get used to that.

And I leave you with words of wisdom from the hit movie, Airplane:

"Striker, listen, and you listen close: flying a plane is no different than riding a bicycle, just a lot harder to put baseball cards in the spokes. "