God Is Merciful

Hold on. I'm having a moment.

Read this while you wait.

Finished?

Ok, me too.

posted by Headless-in-GR @ 3/29/2007 11:12:00 PM | (0) comments

Do You See What I See?

Oh. Wow. You definately want to go to the link and see this full size.



***

Click here for hi-res, expandable version. Click here for the moment of unveiling (it's an article with a video link) with Arthur Levine, who says that he "sobbed and sobbed" but only says "it's a very emotional book" and won't give any clues as to who might die.

posted by Headless-in-GR @ 3/28/2007 09:59:00 PM | (0) comments

Pregnant Lucius Malfoy?

This is a kinda funny, kinda cute interview with Jason Isaacs, who plays Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films.

For those who just want to know - he describes Lucius' costume as a "tight, leather thing - it's so tight I couldn't eat in it - you could see! If you swallow a tomato you look pregnant..."

posted by Headless-in-GR @ 3/26/2007 11:09:00 AM | (0) comments

Hahahahahahaha!

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!

posted by Headless-in-GR @ 3/24/2007 09:02:00 PM | (1) comments

The Magical Number Of 784

784.

That's how many pages are going to be in the last Harry Potter book.

And I'm actually disappointed.

See, I was hoping I'd have to prop both doors open in order to get it out of the store.

posted by Headless-in-GR @ 3/21/2007 02:46:00 PM | (0) comments

Quote Of The Day

From an article supporting the Harry Potter books:

Harry Potter is to the "real occult" what Fred Flinstone is to real anthropology - and what the Lucky Charms leprechaun is to the ancient Celtic god Lugh. If the Potter critics were consistent, they'd give us charts connecting sugary stars and moons to ancient Babylonian symbology.

~Mike Hertenstein

posted by Headless-in-GR @ 3/17/2007 05:25:00 AM | (0) comments

Awww!!!

*


*
Panther: What video games do you play?
Dirk: I’m not really big on video games.

Panther: How tall were you in 5th grade?
Dirk: How old am I in 5th grade?

Panther: Is it hard to dunk?
Dirk: Not at my size.

Panther: What size shoe do you wear?
Dirk: These are 15 ½

Panther: Could you play with us on Saturday?
Dirk: What time is the game?

Panther: When we go to shoot around, can you do a slam dunk?
Dirk: I’ll see what I can do

Panther: (drawing a circle in the air) Can you do a three….
Dirk: A 360? I can’t do all that. I don’t have any hops.

Panther: Did you like going to the All Star Game?
Dirk: I liked it!

Panther: How much do you get paid?
Dirk: (laughs)

Panther: Why did you cut your hair?
Dirk: Because I felt like it.

Dirk: Who is the top scorer on your team?
Panther: Mason
Dirk: I’ll take Mason one-on-one.


Listen to an interview...
*****

posted by Headless-in-GR @ 3/13/2007 01:29:00 AM | (0) comments

All Things Permissible...

And in this case, beneficial...

"Is it a Romp, Aslan?" cried the youth. And apparently it was.

The crowd and the dance round Aslan grew so thick and rapid that Lucy was confused. She never saw where certain other people came from who were soon capering about among the trees. One was a youth, dressed only in a fawn-skin, with vine-leaves wreathed in his curly hair. His face would have been almost too pretty for a boy's, if it had not looked so extremely wild...

There was even, unexpectedly, someone on a donkey...who was old and enormously fat. "Refreshments! Refreshments," roared the old man. Everyone began eating, you have never tasted such grapes. Really good grapes...more than anyone could possibly want, and no table-manners at all.

...and when the feast was over, everyone flopped down breathless on the ground and turned their faces to Aslan to hear what he would say next.

At that moment...Lucy remembered something and whispered to Susan,

"I say, Su, I know who they are."

"Who?"

"The boy with the wild face is Bacchus and the old one on the donkey is Silenus. Don't you remember Mr. Tumnus telling us about them long ago?"

"Yes, of course. But I say, Lu-"

"What?"

"I wouldn't have felt safe with Bacchus and all his wild girls if we'd met them without Aslan."

"I should think not," said Lucy.

~C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian

posted by Headless-in-GR @ 3/12/2007 02:47:00 PM | (0) comments

What I Say

I'm only interested in reaching people who are reaching.

posted by Headless-in-GR @ 3/09/2007 12:55:00 PM | (0) comments

He's A Star(fish)!

The thought of writing fiction had been rolling around in my head for some time, and I even had come up with a fantastically interesting character when I stumbled across Dirk.

I was at Baylor when Dirk Nowitzki came to the States from Germany. I have vague memories of him and later, as he and Steve Nash developed their game, the two of them. I wasn't much of a NBA watcher though, so I confess I never actually saw him play. My information came only from the media.

Fast forward nine years, I'm thinking of fiction, Steve Nash plays for the Suns and Dirk is leading the Mavs to the Finals for the first time. All it took was one game. I realized I had been channeling Dirk Nowitzki in my character. It was eerie, really, but at the same time, inspiring.

If you saw the movie "Stranger Than Fiction" (which was fabulous, if you didn't) you'll have a picture of me when I saw Dirk for the first time. It wasn't that my character looked the same - and quite frankly, my character is not 7ft, tall and gangly. My character loves playing defense, and if anything, he's closer to Devin Harris than Dirk in a game of basketball.

BUT...but the personality is what was striking.

There's a book on the market called "The Spider and the Starfish". I haven't read it. Because when it was explained to me I was like, "I already believe that." But, the book is essentially about so-called "leadership" - which is becoming profanity in my world. (I have friend who says that he won't shop in a Christian bookstore until they have as many shelves labeled, "Christian Servantship" as they do "Christian Leadership" - I agree!) This book says that the greatest "teams" (whatever they be) are not led by an individual, or even a committee of individuals, but by ideology. The thought is that the longest lived groups are those who cannot be stopped or started or motivated or oppressed through and by their "leaders" but instead, these ageless groups draw their identity on a worldview, or an ideology.

So, if you want to get rid of a spider and his web, kill the spider and that's that. But if you chop up a starfish, it just reproduces itself - growing into starfish from the pieces. The ideology is in the DNA.

Now this ideology of course, may come at first from an individual's mind, but once it is accepted, adopted and spread, the ideology no longer belongs to one person, but becomes the group's "air they breathe", if you will.

So what does all this have to do with my character and Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks? Here's what a recent article said about him.

The Mavericks' torrid start (which is sixth best in league history), their 11-0 record in the second half of back-to-back games, and their 21-6 record on the road (a winning percentage of .778 that is superior to any team's record overall) is proof that Nowitzki at 28 has become the most effective leader in the league. He posts dominant numbers without exerting a dominating personality. He sets an example of hard work that defines the roster from top to bottom, while his humility creates an environment that allows teammates to express themselves in the locker room and on the court. In the crucial moments, Nowitzki is there to knock down sensational threes or fallaway jumpers that look routine in a Larry Bird sort of way.

"He is the same guy today as when I bought the team,'' owner Mark Cuban says. "There is never an element of himself over the team: He trusts his coach, the system and his teammates. His focus is on always learning, whether it's a new part of his game or watching tape or reading books to become a better student of the game.'' ~Ian Thomsen, SI, (read the entire article here.)

posted by Headless-in-GR @ 3/07/2007 05:53:00 PM | (0) comments

Ode To A Pedantic Rose Garden(er)

Oh grassy knoll,
I sigh for you...

Oh cursed grassy knoll.

Rich and green this summer's day,
And yet you lay,
And yet you lay...

Trampled.

Bested by this florid furtherance,
Man tamed your wilds with un-feng shui.
His soldiers of dis-ambiance,
marching in grotesque parade.

Of colors there are many:

There is orange and pink and fuchsia,
and purple, gold and red.
There is mauve and white and cream,
each obscenity royal bred.

In perfect lines that make no sense,
footmen in this lost parade -
mocking all the passers-by
driving on Cascade.

We are bound by asphalt,
but you could roam the lushness.
Hark, but see there's more than two
offending birds in these bushes.

Oh that we may dance
upon that grassy knoll,
For we would set it free
from that pedantic troll...

Who lives in yonder house of brick
and plants his roses 50 thick
in perfect lines of 10 and 5.
What a rosy, thorny prick!

posted by Headless-in-GR @ 3/05/2007 12:56:00 PM | (0) comments

The Return Of A Great One Liner

For All Those To Whom I May Have Ranted:

The Order of the Phoenix movie stills - seen a month or so ago which showed "I must not break the rules" on Harry's hand instead of the CORRECT "I must not tell lies" have been trashed! YAY! Either the massive fan-base outcry changed their minds, or maybe even JKR stepped in - but one way or the other, reports from an early viewing of the movie in Chicago say that it has been corrected and now says "I must not tell lies".

Whew.

Yes. It's a big deal.

Also, the same report says that the girl who plays Luna Lovegood is out of this world - like, "expect to see her at the Academy Awards someday" stuff.

And finally, fans are told this movie is vastly improved over Goblet of Fire and that we won't be disappointed with character portrayal and weird invented scenes that aren't in the book. In other words, hopefully Dumbledore won't strangle Harry in this one.

Won't that be nice?

If you would like to read the review - at first very generalized followed by a summation of more detailed information, click here. Be patient, it always goes first to the homepage and then to the article - just wait on it and it will come up.

posted by Headless-in-GR @ 3/05/2007 12:26:00 PM | (0) comments