What happened to Christmas?

I had lunch at a local Mexican fast food ‘joint’ today. When i walked in, i did my usual sweep of the room for Christmas cheer in the form of decorations, music, and Santa hats on willing employees. What met my startled eye was something quite out of the ordinary.
Hanging precariously from the light fixtures were snow men's heads.  
Yes, just the decapitated heads of Frosty’s clones.
I was first struck by the cleverly disguised morbidity, and couldn’t help noticing, the heads still had their sales tags. This was a sure sign that the employees had not simply severed the snow men’s heads from their roundish bodies. They had actually bought these heathen, head-hunter-style, Christmas decorations, hanging from thin cords on the lights. Perhaps this was a warning issued to wayward snowmen that this eatery was a no-snow-zone. Perhaps somewhere in the far north there are snowmen in restaurants with human heads hanging as symbols of Christmas cheer...
Anything is possible.
Turning on the radio i flipped to the Santa’s Sleigh radio channel. This is a regular channel that goes ‘All Christmas, all the time’ from the day after Thanksgiving, till the day after Christmas.
What i heard was far from comforting, and even less enlightening.
Selections such as “I’ll Be Blue on Christmas Without You”
and “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree”
and “It’s a Marshmallow World in the Winter” met my scandalized ears.
What happened to Christmas?
Did i miss the worldwide announcement that Christmas was now to be completely secularized? Turned into one, very large, very obnoxious, advertising campaign?
Nah...not possible.
Right?
I was truly hoping that my local tree farmer was the only one in the world who dared to sell firetruck red and neon purple Christmas trees to the general public.
I was truly hoping that Nativity scenes would appear in the neighborhood yards, instead of big fat “ho ho” Santa’s on sleighs drawn by undernourished, skeletal, reindeer.
I was truly hoping that Christmas wouldn’t be lost in the flurry of preparing for the “holidays”.

Christmas is the day that Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, became man.
Christmas is the day that Heavens gates are opened the widest to shower blessings and light upon the earth and all of mankind.
Christmas is the day that we all look back on the past year and thank God for what He has given and ask God to bless our lives in the years to come.
Christmas....

Call me a dreamer, but at this point, i would rather dream than live in this ‘Marshmallow World” reality that everyone has dreamed up. However, we’re young, there’s still time, we will change this.

Season’s Greetings,
Happy Holidays,
Merry Christmas,
Fight on,
Galilee

Tron: Legacy, Review

Seriously?
I don’t know what exactly is going on here, but i am becoming more confused by the day.
The movie was Tron: Legacy.
The chances of this film leaving a legacy are similar to the chances of a lightening bolt striking my dog’s i.d. tag on a summer afternoon.
The acting wasn’t bad at all, but the actors skill was smashed under the weight of poor dialogue and plot. The costumes were very plain, but i suppose that if you pin neon glow strips to the contours of tights and a leotard, all’s well that ends well. This film was treated like a budget-crunched disaster.
I can say that the 3D was intense, and well done to boot, but it was painfully obvious that they spent all their time on the special effects, and about ten minutes before breakfast on the plot and script. Which only shows that this film had great potential.
I guess what i want to know is, why can’t incredible plots and scripts be put together with incredible actors, sets, effects, etc.? Why are movies like Tron: Legacy allowed to escape and be integrated into the general public? Why can’t we write good dialogue, so that we don’t have to compensate by throwing in random and misplaced wisecracks?

EM rating: B-
EM final comment: we like the music, done by Daft Punk.


Fight on,
Galilee

Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Review

I am happy to report that the 3D was an experience all its own, and well worth the three dollar surcharge. However, if your wallet will cry because you remove that much money from it, seeing this particular film in 2D is just as good.

The plot followed the book to a tee, save a few tiny things that were lost in the translation from page to screen.

I would call this movie a “examination of conscience”, as it did a broad sweep of the seven deadly sins. The seven deadly sins, pride, lust, anger, covetousness, envy, sloth, and gluttony (easily remembered by the acronym "PLACES G"). When watching the movie, if you keep these sins in your mind and look for them, all are shown, even gluttony and lust. The theme of temptation to commit the seven sins was clearly pulsing throughout the plot. 
The seven lost knights who Caspian and the crew of the Dawn Treader were searching for each lost their 'swords' to one of the temptations.
Redemption, conversion of heart, and forgiveness were also demonstrated in the character of Eustace Scrubb (a favorite literary character of mine).

I have seen it twice already, the first time with two 24 year olds, and a 20 year old. All of them enjoyed it very much. The second time i went to see it, i was accompanied by a 15 year old. He also enjoyed it.
I highly recommend this movie to all ages, and all creeds.
There is not much i can say that is negative about this movie...which is different for me, since usually i enjoy standing on a soap box and ranting about the poor quality of today’s entertainment.

EM rating: A
EM final comment: go see this movie, nuff’ said.


Fight on,
Galilee

Narnia Fever: the epidemic thats sweeping the nation

Can you feel it?
That’s the magical pull of Narnia roping you in and dragging you off in the direction of the local cinema.
Oh yes, to the joy of us here at Erecti Moriamur H.Q., Narnia is back...with a vengeance. We had been questioning the sanity of Disney studios after they dropped the series (based in Walden Media) after the release of the second instalment, Prince Caspian, but we forgive them. Now we throw confetti and congratulate Fox on its adoption of the series. And to top it all of with a massive, juicy, sugar coated cherry, Narnia is now in 3D. (Yes, you read that right.)

The Narnia series, based on the book series of the same title by C.S. Lewis, has a strong Christian theme.
Allow me to illustrate.
In the first film, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, the character Aslan, the great lion is a portrayal of Jesus Christ.
Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, are the apostles St. Peter the leader, St. Thomas the doubter, Judas Iscariot the traitor (only during his betrayal of his siblings, then he becomes a modified St. Matthew or Philip later on), and St. John the youngest and beloved, respectively.
Obviously the White Witch is satan or, it is also argued, an incarnation of sin.
The plot closely mirrors the story of Christ’s life, death, glorious Resurrection, and conquering of sin and death.


The second film was slightly less religion oriented, and substantially darker than the first. However, Prince Caspian  did carry heavy Christian themes.
The deposition of Prince Caspian (mankind) from the throne of Narnia (the world) by Miraz (the devil) is the story of the plight of all mankind who are now living in a world where satan reigns over those who willing to serve.
Aslan (Christ) and His Church (the returning Pevensie children) come to the rescue with Grace (Aslan reawakens the trees), and a little positive pep talking (the Gospel message).

The third film, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,  still carries the same strong Christian themes. We will wait to illustrate them till after the release of the film (due to plot spoilers). However, you can brush up on them (and spoil the movies for yourself) by grabbing a copy of the book and reading it.

So go--see the third film, and the first two as well, if you haven’t already. Then be sure to click back here and read an illustration of the Christian attributes.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe rated PG (appropriate for all ages, though some frightening images may scare small children)

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian rated PG (appropriate for all ages, though some frightening images may scare small children, and an innocent kiss at the end may give tween boys cooties)

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader rated PG  (appropriate for all ages, though some frightening images may scare small children and puppies)

Fight on,
Galilee

Martyrs of the Third Millennium

In 1989 a journalist questioned the late Pope John Paul II as to why he hosted the World Youth Day, he responded: “I have come to greet the martyrs of the third millennium”.

 The response of the Holy Father amazed the world with what he saw in the youth.  But what John Paul said was merely telling the youth of the words of Jesus Christ Himself,  “For whosoever would save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it.” (Matthew 16:25)  
 What do these words mean? What does it mean to lose your life for His sake? What does it mean to be one of these "martyrs"? Does it mean that in order to find the life of Christ you must first  be decapitated by pagans or fed to lions in the Colosseum? Probably not. What these words tell us is that we must die to ourselves and to the world to allow God to live through us and in us.  To die to the world, to die to ourselves is not an easy task and it is takes us our whole lives long to complete.  And that is why Erecti Moriamur  was created.  To support fellow Martyrs on this, and all spiritual endeavors, and to more fully understand what it is to be a Martyr of the Third Millennium.

  - Merwin <3

Gainsay

Walking down the street with Him,

Your eyes are opened to the seething mass of the human crisis.

They see you, yet are blind to you--they feel and notice nothing.

They sleep in compromise, and false contentment.

The walking dead--dead in the graveyard of the deceptive world.

Are you content with this?

Will you walk on and allow the world to remain in your wake as it was before?

He--your companion and guide--urges you: “Set the place on Fire” He insists.

You agree--Why not?

And so it begins.

You have become an Arson, a Bounty Hunter, a battle-hardened Renegade.

And all for Him.

You will stay awake. You will stay alive.

He has shown you a world--a Kingdom--within the world, but not of it.

His Word is your power and you wield it as the greatest weapon man has ever known.

The world will never be the same.

This is War.

The Battle has begun.

Erecti Moriamur.

Salve!

"Erecti Moriamur"

We Die Standing Up.

"Happy the man who death finds spiritually, even physically, standing up." Dom Hubert van Zeller, O.S.B.