MOVIE REVIEW - "God loves Uganda"

A friend of mine invited me to "Outfest" a couple of weeks ago & we decided on the following movie.  Here's my review of it:

GOD LOVES UGANDA

Here's the trailer:  



PLOT:  This documentary by Roger Ross Williams follows several religious groups - most notably, a church known as the "International House of Prayer" - and explores the influence that these groups have over the country of Uganda, focusing primarily how each Church's views on homosexuality have affected the society there.  

Review:  I was originally interested in watching this movie because I've always found religion to be interesting; almost everybody I knew in college had a strong opinion about it (specifically Christianity) & the majority of it was negative.  And after seeing this movie - I understand why.  

One example that springs to mind is how the people from the "House of Prayer" keep mentioning that the 'homosexual agenda' is trying to "recruit kids into their army" & so forth; it becomes clear by the end of the movie, though, that this is exactly what the House of Prayer is doing with their pilgrimages to Uganda.  The church sends missionaries teach people in Uganda "the ways of the Lord" - what's right & what's wrong - and end up instilling all the moral bigotry that is usually found amongst Evangelical Christian groups.  

What also kinda scared me was the fact that the Church is called "The INTERNATIONAL House of Prayer" with churches all over the world.  

I recommend seeing this movie if only to see what Evangelical Churches do & the influence they have on the world.  It's pretty unnerving.  

Sci-fi vs. Fantasy

I’ve noticed that the “Fantasy” genre has been getting increasingly popular over the years.  I’m judging this mainly by the number of movies I can list off the top of my head that are based off of Fantasy novels: 

Harry Potter

Lord of the Rings

The Hobbit

Twilight

Percy Jackson
Beautiful Creatures
Jack the Giant Slayer
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

It made me wonder about why the sci-fi genre hasn't been producing as many movies.  Lord knows it has as much reference material to draw from (if not more): But I couldn't think of anything other than the latest Star Trek movie, Ender's Game (which I will not be seeing for personal reasons), & the upcoming ones from Star Wars more than a few.  I had to rely on Google to find this list of “sci-fi movies” for me: 

Prometheus

Looper

Total Recall

Men in Black IV

Oblivion
Robot & Frank (?)  

But I guess science fiction has always been more of a niche genre than fantasy & maybe comparing the two is a little unfair.  It just strikes me as interesting how much more popular fantasy movies are becoming the further we get to the future.  

Touching Base - Summer 2013!

So when I created *this* blog, I was really hoping it would inspire me to write more posts & stuff (because a lot's been going on!), but I usually try to find time to blog at work and that's just been incredibly busy this past YEAR, so I haven't really had the time....!  

Luckily, I found some time tonight!  Now let's see.  

I think I'm finally adjusting to being on my own.  It was a little lonely at first & I didn't quite know what to do with myself (there were some long, aimless walks in the city at night and a few marathons of "Mad Men" on DVD on my Sunday afternoons), but I think I've finally remembered how to be single.  

Being single has afforded me a few adventures this year, such as: 

- seeing "They Might Be Giants" at the Anaheim House of Blues

- Vacationing in Des Moines, IA to see my ole' friend, Maren (pictures here!)

- Learning how to two-step (country western dancing) 

- seeing a film (Documentary - "God loves Uganda") at Outfest 2013

But what I really wanted to write about in this post is whether I should start dating again.....and how exactly to go about doing that nowadays.  

I felt the 'urge' last night when I was at Outfest with a friend of mine.  I managed to sit in front of a rather tall guy whose head blocked the lower-center of the screen.....until he laid his head on (I assume) his boyfriend's shoulder.  

And every so often during the movie, I would just watch them - one with his arm around the other - and get jealous.  Envious, even.  

But when the movie was over and people got out of their seats, I wondered if that's what I *really* wanted.  I've gotten used to making my own plans and having something to do almost every night of the week - fitting in a date here & there's going to be difficult.  But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself.....!  

I'm really dreading going on dates again.  Everybody I've asked has suggested "online dating" to me and, while I agree that it's a great way to meet new people (I know, I've tried it before), it tends to be a very.....mechanical(?) process.  

There's all this pressure & investment in it, yet it makes me feel like I'm going to a job interview - to apply for the position of "boyfriend" or something - a position with an extremely selective screening process. 

   

"Do you think this person *really* is the best candidate out there for this position?  Or is there someone better out there?"  

So yeah.  Wondering about all that.  If anyone has any thoughts / two-cents they'd like to contribute, feel free!  That's what blogs are for, right?  

Sorry for the ranting & lack of focus in this post.  I'm a little drunk (it was a hard day at work today) & wanted to put a lot of things in this post that didn't really go together.