I have entirely too many books to read.

I always love free books. There's a bunch across from me at Redeemer and I grabbed the most controversial ones and the ones that will make me the most angry. So I took the one that predicts how Russia is going to be the instrument of Satan in the end times; the one that speaks in critique of cults; the one that debunks magic myths (I'm pretty sure they're going to call anything supernatural stuff that doesn't involve praying to God as demons); the one with essays about abortion; and the one that defends Christianity.

So far, all I've come away with is that God will help the US fund weapons to completely destroy Iraq, Iran and all their civilians.

Bands should always be changing members. It helps keep the music alive I feel if new blood is coming in and if members are coming and going as they please. Like Dallas Green from Alexisonfire. If you have 5 guys in a band and the lineup never changes, eventually the music may get formulaic after awhile. Thoughts?

My friend told me today that they don't like people who over spiritualize. I agreed with them. It's great to talk about God in both the abstract and the concrete sense, but I also want to talk about things like the merits of apple juice over orange juice and why it makes sense for high schools to let kids drop out earlier to get into trade school. I'm just going to leave if you keep talking about God for hours and hours on end. Just so you know.

Lonely Soldier, Go Home

It's been some time since you've heard from me, or so says my Brittany.

First, a quote: "Everyone has the right to not be harassed; but no one has the right to not be offended"
Sharon Klassen, my theatre/literature prof from years 1 and 3

Second, a musing. It seems to me that the whole feminist movement as I understand it was a good thing... for girls. I was watching some kids today, and I struck me that girls seem completely content to be bouncing back and forth between gender roles even at that age. They are allowed to be sweet and girly, and then be the macho leader. All in the span of 2 minutes.
the boys on the other hand, looked like they wanted to get in on this gender role confusion. they want a piece of the pie too. But sadly, they are only allowed to be the macho leader.
Is this the natural evolution of society? Or is the male gender going to continue to sequester their more sentimental psyche?
I personally think this is why some guys have bi polar.

Third, another musing. In the interest of fair play, I recently read 2 books from "The Kingdom Series". I say fair play because I had a low opinion of the series before I read them and my mom said I can't judge something until I try it. So I tried it. My opinion is very low.
It's a collection of kid's novels that are basically a re-wording of the Old Testament, set in a fictional land ala Middle Earth/Narnia. I'm pretty sure I won't recommend these books to anyone, kid or adult. For instance, the main character's name is Leinad and the city that is meant to symbolize Babylon is called Daydelon.
Zero character development. Leinad is happy. He is sad. He is confused. That's the emotional depth we get to experience from the main character.
And the series is riddled with Just War theory.
Some of my thoughts on said theory:
1. I don't condemn those who fight. I probably will never be in an army so I don't have the experience to back up any opinion on the military. I respect those who are fighting and who have fought because they put their lives on the edge for what they believe. I hope I have the courage to do the same.
2. I don't like freedom and war together. In my mind, it's impossible to use the one to gain the other. There's a line in the second book that says how Leinad knew that peace could only be achieved through war. Granted, it was war on "shadow warriors" who symbolize demons; but they are men in the books. Will the new generation truly make a distinction? Especially if they're told that fighting for your country is right? I'm actually not exceptionally worried, kids are smart if you let them be.
3. Nationalism and religion should never mix. To do so puts God on the side of the country that worships him. God is never a citizen of any nation.
4. There's a verse in the Bible where Jesus tells Peter, a freedom fighter for the Jewish nation, that those who live by the sword die by the sword. He never says whose sword they will die on. In my mind, it's a 50/50 chance that it's my own or my enemy's.
5. Satan is called "The Dark Knight" in The Kingdom Series. If these books catch on, there is potential for an entire generation of humans to reject Batman. And this just should not happen!

Alright, I ranted. But it's better that these things are online for public display than stuck inside my head right?

Will the future blame us?

Sometimes the world just makes me emotional.
This is part of the liner notes for Our Lady Peace's 2005 album "Healthy In Paranoid Times":

1165 days were needed to record Healthy In Paranoid Times...
Within these 1165 days...
43 songs were written and recorded
220 hours were spent on flying in airplanes
10 different studios were used
2,000 hours were spent both discussing and playing music
6,000 gigabytes of hardware storage was needed for recording
58 packages of guitar strings were used
11 thousand dollars was spent on food for the band
30 active wars were fought across the globe
Iraq was invaded for a second time
9.8 million people died from AIDS
19.2 million people had cosmetic surgery in North America
2,000 American soldiers died in Iraq
300,000 civilians died in Darfur
2 million were displaced in Darfur
30 billion cases of soft drinks were sold
6,708 hours of T.V. was watched by the average child
4,042,030 people died of cancer in North America
40,000 hybrid vehicles sold
118,000,000 gas vehicles sold
3 trillion dollars was spent on global arms trade
138 million people ate at McDonalds
38 billion dollars was spent on pornography
815 billion dollars were profited by pharmaceutical companies
54 million people died from extreme poverty
Apple iTunes sold it's 500,000,000th song
0 weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq
42 insects swallowed by the average person while sleeping
6 billion people walked on the planet
3 billion people lived on 2 dollars a day
9 billion dollars was all that was needed for all the third world to have clean water
27 billion was spent on music in the US
30,000 animal and plant species became extinct
1 billion metric tons of hazardous waste was generated
29 billion dollars was spent on video games
400,000 dollars donated by Paris Hilton to charity from sales of her porn DVD
4.8 million children taking Ritalin

This was 5 years ago; reading it again today makes me curious about what's different now.