The World of Joel

So I sent in my Xbox 360 for repair on July 20th and it arrived there on the 23rd of July. I called last night to check on the repair status and my replacement unit for the three flashing red lights and they said it was received and they were processing the exchange for a new unit. They said it would ship by the end of this week. We shall see, last time I sent my Xbox 360 in it took a bout two more weeks from now, but it seems to me that they are getting better on there repair system. We will see as I now have seven Xbox 360 games to review and it is piling up! We shall see if Microsoft gets the replacement unit out soon!

Often times when you read a critics review of a movie they seem ultra-biased or just overly critical, however many of the top critics panned the movie I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. Being a fellow critic I usually go into things with as free of a mind as humanly possible, and going into this movie I tried, but in general I was really looking forward to it. From the opening scene this movie threw out mixed signals on gay acceptance and gay stereotypes I have ever seen. The movie starts off with two Latino women fighting over Adam Sandler’s character Chuck who near a kiss. From that point on the movie goes on this homosexual roller coaster that not only has very little plot line, it is misguided from start to finish.

Getting my own personal views on Gay Marriage is easy, I didn’t support it a few years ago, now I am under the persuasion that if we live in the land of the free we should have the option to marry who we choose but that is something I am still processing and praying on and something that I work through quite a bit. With that being said this movie is not helping anyones case whether heterosexual or homosexual. My biggest problem with this movie was that its initial idea is to support gays on there quest for just simple acceptance, but along with this package comes one of the most stereotypical gay bashing I have ever seen. There is a scene where they are shopping in a grocery store finding all the “gay stuff” they can find. A little over the top don’t you think? There are so many “gay slams” throughout the movie that just go so far overboard there is no rescuing this movie.

The movie stars two of the funniest men in comedy, especially Kevin James who was brilliant in Hitch and if you haven’t seen it, Sweat the Small Stuff on Comedy Central is one of the best stand up routines of all time. However neither man could pull together this disjointed offensive movie. To top it off you have poster boy Lance Bass from N’Sync make a last minute showing which once again really feels like another gay joke slapped with the rest of the close to two hours of bad comedy. If you can’t tell already this movie went in every wrong direction possible and outside of a few mildly entertaining scenes this movie was a complete flop and for me an utter disappointment. When the best part of the movie experience was the previews, something is not right.

Every Sunday I plan on giving a little Christian update with a good verse from the bible, maybe a quick story, and a great Christian song to check out. The format will I am sure evolve a bit but here is my first induction into my new weekly update, Searching Deeper with Joel Szerlip.

Verse of the Week: “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” Isaiah 26:3 NLT

Song of the Week: Let it Fade by Jeremy Camp

Devotional (By Greg Laurie): A man who fell over the side of a cliff was hanging on to a branch that was starting to give way. Recognizing it was only a matter of time before he would fall to his death, he shouted, “Is anybody up there? Somebody help me!”

Suddenly Jesus appeared, leaned over the edge, and said, “Young man, reach out and take my hand, and I will save you. But first, you must let go of that branch you are holding on to.”

The man didn’t want to let go of the branch.

Jesus told him, “You must take hold of My hand and let go of the branch, or I cannot pull you up.”

The man paused for a minute and said, “Is anybody else up there?”

A lot of us don’t want to let go. We still want to hold on to a part of our old lives. But there has to be a moment in each of our lives in which we have recognized we are sinners and have asked for God’s forgiveness. Then Jesus Christ comes in. But we have to let go. Then some changes must take place.

The Bible says there is a spiritual blindness in all those who have not yet turned their lives over to Jesus Christ. So we must have our spiritual eyes opened. We must turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God (see Acts 26:18). As we yield to God and His will for our lives, then we will receive the forgiveness of sins. Then we will see the incredible benefits of making those changes.

But we have to let go of our branch and take hold of His hand.

Hope you enjoyed this weeks edition of Searching Deeper. Hopefully I can continue this weekly edition of the new feature each Sunday. Thanks for reading and as always God Bless!

So in an ongoing effort to get everyone familiar with my network of TV Blogs I am showing off todays blog HeroesInsider.net! This blog in my opinion has by far the best design I have customized, it seems to flow pretty well and manages to really give a good Heroes feel. In general I have to say that I am finding a lot of success with this blog mainly from a few e-mails I have received. It is probably the most well received blog on my network right now and should have two writers at the beginning of Season 2. As always any suggestions or comments on this blog would be great, I am always looking to improve the sites!

So Monday evening I went out to go see Michael Moore’s latest tirade on screen in his latest documentary “Sicko”, and here are some of my reactions to the movie

* First and foremost this is a Michael More film, thus it has a Michael Moore slant to it meaning that the clips throughout the movie are meant to hit your emotions and always go with Moore’s objective on the movie.
* The clips about European lifestyle seem true to form, from my experiences in Europe there culture is extremely laid back and it is not about every dollar that you earn, but instead on how you can enjoy life. The fact that they get five weeks vacation sounds pretty good to me.
* I liked how this movie seemed a lot less partisan then previous movies, he showed how both sides of the aisles were affected by medical lobbying, including Mrs. Clinton.
* There is a scene in the movie where they took 9/11 victims to Cuba to get medical care, and although I am sure they have universal health care it sure seemed they were overly helpful given the camera crew.
* What I thought was most interesting is how content the citizens of Canada, France, and England were with there Universal Health Care. I have talked to a few people from Canada and I know my boss at Kunzo is very content with his health care and laughed with what a pain is down here in the states
* What I thought was the most interesting or most real to life was a scene on a man who lost two fingers in an accident and had to choose which finger to keep. To me that doesn’t seem right, and seems ridiculous that we have to choose something like that.
* Although Moore definitely gives you the worst of the health insurance plans, we all know that we are paying a ton of money each year on health care, whether we are sick or not, and I truly believe the health insurance goal is not to help people but to make money which is an example of capitalism not working the way it should.
* I personally believe and have believed before this movie that a Universal Health Care system would be a huge step forward for this country. We are turning to many people away, and making to many people bankrupt because they are paying for there care.

My personal feelings on this movie was that it was extremely well made and that Michael Moore knows how to make an entertaining documentary. I always feel that he goes a bit extreme on some of his takes but the fact that he remained behind the camera for most of the movie was a big change for Moore. In general the movie was a great watch, it was eye opening to how our health care system feels like something in the stone age. I don’t necessarily agree with everything in this movie but given the fact that I am open to other ideas I would say that Moore does a great job of grabbing ones attention, even for a two hour documentary.

So I have been tagged by David Lithman on a new link chain that is going around, the basic idea is to gain exposure with blogs around the net. This one is Blogging Tips.
-Start Copy-

It’s very simple. When this is passed on to you, copy the whole thing, skim the list and put a * star beside those that you like. (Check out especially the * starred ones.)

Add the next number (1. 2. 3. 4. 5., etc.) and write your own blogging tip for other bloggers.

Try to make your tip general. After that, tag 10 other people. Link love some friends!

Just think – if 10 people start this, the 10 people pass it onto another 10 people, you have 100 links already!

1. Look, read, and learn. ****
- http://www.neonscent.com

2. Be, EXCELLENT to each other. ****
- http://www.bushmackel.com/

3. Don’t let money change ya! ***
- http://www.therandomforest.info

4. Always reply to your comments. ****
- http://chattiekat.com

5. Spell check is your friend. **
- http://thingsbymike.com

6. Be the blog. ***
- http://www.meandmydrum.com/

7. Your readers are your treasure.*
- http://www.brownbaron.com/blog/

8. Learn From The Pros. *
- http://www.shaunlow.com/

9. Pay a visit to your visitors. Be active in your community. *
- http://www.leochiang.com

10. Make Your Blog Your Own **
- http://www.bobbuskirk.com

11. Don’t be afraid to evolve. *
- http://www.lithman.net

12. Speak the Truth
- http://www.worldofjoel.com

-End Copy-

I have always wondered the success of these link trains, most of them seem to fade, but we shall see, it reminds me of the good old days of chain letters.

So now I am supposed to tag some people to keep this train alive. So I will tag Matt Propst, Stuart Hannig, and Ms. Caesi.

I know I am a little late on this one, but it was officially announced yesterday that Drew Carey will be taking the role of host on the Price is Right. I am a huge fan of the show, I remember spending countless summer mornings watching The Price is Right and just hearing those key words “Common Down Your The Next Contestant on the Price is Right”. Bob Barker really redifined the role of a game host, and showed that you don’t need the million dollar prizes to bring in the audience as The Price is Right always seemed true to itself. So how will Drew Carey do as the host? I personally love the choice, much stronger then the ever controversial Rosie which would have been interesting but nevertheless no where near as true to the Price is Right show. Hopefully Drew Carey can keep the franchise alive for many more years to come.

So as many of you know from my experiences with my Macbook, that American Express was my saving grace. I began using American Express back in 2005 with my American Express Blue card and quickly upgraded to a free year of the American Express Gold card in the middle of 2006. What I love about my American Express card is first that the customer service has been fantastic, and with the Gold card you have no preset limit so whether I was putting my down payment on my Car or I buying the Macbook I never had any problems. And when I cracked my Macbook screen there 90 day Accidental Insurance kicked in and covered the repair 100%. So when I received the notice of the ability to upgrade to there Platinum card (one step below the ultimate Black or Centurion Card) I was all game. There is a hefty yearly charge for using the card but with 24/7 Platinum Card Concierge service, some great travel benefits, and a lot of other really strong features I am really excited to have the Platinum card. Check out the nice little box and portfolio it came in!

There are very few movies I will watch that I haven’t heard of before, but today I watched a British romantic comedy that I really enjoyed. I first heard of it on Ebert and Ropert and just got a copy from HBO for Movie-Stop which isn’t still going, but I will review the movie anyways right here. The movie itself has an interesting plotline that stays truer to real life then I have seen in other romantic comedies. In general I have to say the movie was predictable to the point where you know its going to end but the best part is how it gets there. The british actors and actresses are brilliant, and there accents make the movie even stronger. I think the confusion and the mistakes that are made in this movie really feel like real life issues that many people go through. In general you might have some problems finding the movie but if you have Netflix I know it is on there and I would highly reccomend putting it on your queue.

So there are very few times that I take something from UC Irvine and feel the need to post it on here but in the case of Milgram’s Obedience Experiment I felt a strong urge to share it with everyone. Many of you probably have heard of it, but for those of you who haven’t I am going to give you a terrible brief on it. Basically the experiment wanted to figure out if the German Nazi’s were wired differently and whether the US citizens would have slaughtered other people given the same circumstance. This is a little different for my blog but the results are astonishing. I am not a huge Sociology guy, but my gosh this stuff is crazy. My professor said this is a reenactment, so enjoy it.