Gravity

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My Top 5: Reasons I Love Friday Night Lights

Regular readers of Hoping For Something to Hope For might recall that I watched my very first Friday Night Lights episode last September when I reviewed it for my OMENS project. Since then, I have gone on to watch the first four seasons twice over. I can't watch the fifth and final one since I don't have DirectTV, so I have to wait until April when the season will be released on DVD and air on NBC. I shouldn't have to say it, but I will anyway, DO NOT SPOIL SEASON FIVE FOR ME. For those unfamiliar with the series, this post contains no spoilers.

Anyway, Friday Night Lights has indeed become a show as beloved in my books as Firefly, and for some of the same reasons. Friday Night Lights has joined Firefly in my list of shows that I must make everybody I know watch, and just like how I won't take "I don't like sci-fi" as an excuse to not watch Firefly, I won't take "I don't like football" as an excuse for not watching Friday Night Lights. The 'excuse' is irrelevant because in the grand scheme of things, both shows are more than that.

Here are my top five reasons I love Friday Night Lights:

Green Lantern: Emerald Knights Trailer

If you saw the live action trailer, I'm wondering what you might think of this one in comparsion. I'm personally excited to hear Nathan Fillion is voicing Hal Jordan. I don't count myself amongst the Green Lantern fanbase, but this looks like it could be fun. I'm still dying to get my hands on a copy of All Star Superman.

Han Solo vs Malcolm Reynolds

I'm thinking of writing a piece over who I'd choose but thought I'd put it out there first (hopefully it'll make whatever I write more convincing when I know what others are thinking). This is not a battle to the death scenario necessarily. It's about the characters themselves, which one do you prefer, but if imagining some kind of battle scenario in which one clearly comes out on top helps make your decision, then that's just fine.

P.S.: If you're sitting there going "I don't know who either of these people are," then shame on you.

Han Solo

vs

Malcolm Reynolds

Is God A Mathematician?

Book time. I know I almost never talk about them on here, but I actually do spend quite a bit of time reading whenever I'm not watching movies or television, so I thought I'd briefly talk about a book I really enjoyed reading.

Don't let the title mislead you. Is God a Mathematician is not a book about religion. It's not a book about mathematical proofs of an all powerful deity. Is God a Mathematician is an exploration of the history of mathematics with the ultimate goal of answering the question of whether or not mathematics is invented or discovered. The author Mario Livio tells the story well and with apt interpretations of how it answers the question he looks to answer. The book's emphasis is on historical contexts of mathematics, so you don't necessarily need a degree in the subject to read and enjoy (any more than you need a degree in Astronomy to read and understand Carl Sagan's The Cosmos). Many people (myself included) would think the answer to whether mathematics is invented or discovered has a simple straightforward answer: naturally it is discovered. The English language is invented, but mathematics exists whether we observe it does or not. And yet, this book does make quite a case for the other side that was extremely fascinating.

If you have an open enough mind to read a book about the history of mathematics (which I feel is certainly worth the time), then Is God a Mathematician is for you. If you think the answer to the discovery/invented question is simply answered, then the book is definitely for you. In many ways, it's a more philosophical approach to the mathematical field than you were likely exposed to in high school, so it could very well change your opinion on the role of mathematics in the universe.

Just Discovered this Gem

If you haven't seen Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, you should. If you have seen it, but haven't read the graphic novel series, you should.

8-Bit Features #7

Everything guessed last time. I don't know if I made it harder, easier, or just the same this week, but here they are. Good luck.

Rules:

• Be the first to correctly guess the movie for each screenshot in the comments and be awarded
• 1 point for Image 1 and 2
• 2 points for Image 3
• If any image has not been guessed correctly by Thursday evening, I'll post a hint in the comments at approximately 7:00PM (PST) that same evening

Leaderboards:
DustinR- 4
Univarn; Wendymoon- 3
Jess; Andy the Time Lord- 2
Andrew Robinson; Fletch; Vanessa- 1
Stumped- 3

Image 1

Image 2

Image 3

Read more to see last week's results:

OWENS: Penelope (2006)

Ok, OWENS hiatus officially over. I was motivated when I saw a movie on my Streaming queue warning that would only be available until Feb. 1, so I knew I had to watch it now or never.

Penelope (2006)
Director: Mark Palansky
Starring: Christina Ricci, James McAvoy, Catherine O'Hara, Reese Witherspoon, Richard E. Grant, Peter Dinklage, Ronni Ancona, Richard James, Lenny Henry, Burn Gorman, Tallulah Evans, Simon Woods, Andrew Bailey, John Voce, Andi-Marie Townsend, Simon Chandler, Paul Herbert

This has been a long time coming. I've actually wanted to see Penelope ever since I first saw the trailer for it before its original theatrical run. The tone seemed right up my alley, and I hadn't seen Christina Ricci in a movie since I was in my early teens. I attribute not seeing it to a combination of not paying close enough attention to its release and a lack of critical support. This was a movie that's been sitting in my Netflix disc queue for almost the entire time that I've been a subscriber, so now that I've finally seen it, was I a major dingus for waiting so long?