First, I created a new Circle called “Test”, then I added a new friend to that circle–the person I wanted to try inviting to Google Plus.

Then I posted to my stream and mentioned my friend in that post.

Several hours later, he received an email from Google notifying him of the post and inviting him to join Google Plus.

Fortunately it’s a style choice. As long as you’re consistent. I feel that punctuation belongs within the quotation marks only if it’s part of the quote. Also, I think the following real quote looks clunky.
This guy has something that might be referred to as a “mumble:” consonants, vowels and entire syllables are often reduced or elided completely.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/slashfilm/~3/Xw6FEJZRTzQ/

1. A CGI costume completely makes sense since it is a construct to begin with.

2. I loved the original Parallax View story arc. Hal had a skewed view brought on by all of the emotional and psychological turmoil he’d been through since becoming a Green Lantern. He became fixated on restoration. The writers did a fantastic job, and even Hal’s eventual sacrifice to restore the sun didn’t seem contrived.

What did seem contrived, however, was the later revelation that Hal had been infected during this time by another entity. He hadn’t been himself, and it was the Parallax creature to blame for his actions. This seemed to, in my mind, flip the bird at the original story arc’s writers and kitschify the character. Fortunately for me, that was when I was weaning myself off comic books.

Now, though, the Parallax creature and takeover of Hal are canon. However, I’m saddened that it’s in the first GL movie.

Here’s what I predicted for the GL movies, but surely can’t happen now that Parallax is introduced so early (or can it!):
Origin story, maybe with some Ganthet’s Tale, and some adventures alluding to Coast City’s eventual destruction. Possibly squeeze in a GL/GA road trip. Have Coast City destroyed, and the Guy and John subs. Hal goes mental as Parallax and it’s an all-out battle for Oa. Then Justice League tie-in with sun-eater consequences.

Maybe by introducing Parallax now, the above can be in the films, and when Hal’s mental breakdown is revealed to be an alien infection, it’s not contrived.
Here’s hoping.

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Who built the four-toed Egyptian god statue?

Why didn’t Jack gain mystical superpowers à la Jacob? Was it because it was river water and not the bottle of wine? Were Jacob’s powers limited somewhat to just the tools he used, like that lighthouse? And, when Ben took Locke to see Jacob, who threw the room all round?

Why did the smoke monster only push trees down in the beginning seasons?

What about that chain and hook that pulled people into the hole? What happened with that?

Where did Jacob’s fake mom come from? How did she get her powers?

Why, exactly, did Whitmore try to find the island? What was he specifically trying to do?

How did those pylons work? How did they keep out the smoke monster, and how was that figured out?

This may have been answered and I just missed something, but how was the plane able to take off in the last episode when it was too full of explosives a few episodes prior?

Penny got a phone call from some Siberians when the button wasn’t pushed, which gave away the island’s location somehow? How did that all work? How did she arrange that? Why did she presumably give up her search? Once we found out about Whitmore’s boat, we kinda lost track of Penny?

So, Jack volunteers to protect the heart of the island from the smoke monster…only to lead Locke right to it the first chance he got?

Why is it that Sideways Desmond needed a violent jolt to rekindle his memory of the island–and he presumed Locke did, too–yet Sawyer and Juliet were able to just bump fingers while holding an Apollo bar? Why did Sawyer and Juliet only remember each others’ romance, but neither remembered their romance with Kate or Jack respectively.

So what was the deal with the women unable to conceive and bring a child to term on the island? All those tests were for naught?

And what, exactly, was going on with Dharma? You had people watching and recording things into notebooks that shot into an open field? But the focus seemed to shift from psychology and animal experimentation to exploration of electromagnetic forces.

Jacob and Richard were able to leave the island willy-nilly? Ben, too? How is this?

How, exactly, did the wheel work? Why was it so cold down there when Ben turned it?

Did Bernard and Rose ever run low on food in their secluded island home?

What was the deal with the wreckage during the credits? And the plane flying over Jack…contained Sideways Jack successfully missing the island?

What was the point of the beard, etc., of Walt’s kidnapper? That disguise served no purpose. What, on earth, did they want with Walt and the other kids, anyway?

Why was Sayid matched back up with Shannon? What became of his post-pool transformation?

What was the deal with the people in the temple? Where did they come from?

Why the hieroglyphics on the timer? And why 108 minutes?

How did they get polar bears to the island? What what with that experiment, specifically?

Why did Miles’s father use a different name in each Dharma film?

How is it that the Dharma founder was able to find the island, but Whitmore and his resources barely could?

Why didn’t Danielle and Alex remember Ben with the nifty remembering flashbacks?

We need to be stewards of everything God has given us (and, well, that’s everything). So we need to be stewards with our talents, our time, our money, and our stuff.

And part of that is giving back to God what he has given us. That’s part of worship, too. God gave us voices, so we use them to praise him. He gave us talents, so we use them to praise him. He gave us time and money, and we use them to praise him.

The church is a means to corporate worship. Instead of sitting on your sofa watching television on Sundays, you go to church and give attention to Him. Instead of going out to the movies during the week, you gather in Bible study. Instead of learning all about the latest celebrity gossip, you learn about God’s word. And the church presents areas where you can be of service, whether it be working in the nursery during a sermon or participating in a trash-pick-up event. It presents ways for you to give of your time, your “elbow grease”, your talents, and your money.

Church is, among other things, a vehicle for giving back to God.

My brothers-in-law are Italian, and one is particularly fond of The Godfather. He romanticizes the Italian mafia as the film portrays it, and imagines that life would be pretty sweet as a member of the Corleone family. When my wife and I became godparents to our nephew, he kissed me each time we met for a good year, since I was a godfather.

One thing you learn from Hollywood’s portrayals of the Italian mafia is that you don’t mess with the family. The bigger your crime boss, the better off you were. The don takes care of the family by way of offering protection. And you get to remain an associate as long as you abide by the mafia’s code of ethics.

Ephesians 2:19 states that we are “no longer strangers and aliens, but…members of the household of God.”

Pastor Adam Thomas explained: “Being a member of a household meant refuge in a volatile situation and climate, at least as strong as the master of the house was able to provide.”

When I heard the phrase “God’s family” before, I thought of it only in the context of some wholesome ideal, where God was the Santa-like father gathering the people to him like a Walton’s reunion special. I never thought of it with a mafioso spin until this sermon. And unlike the mafia, we are free from the law that would condemn us (Eph. 2:14–15).

God protects us, not just like a father, but like a don. And since the law is abolished, we don’t have to worry about sleeping with the fishes. Kind of an odd metaphor, but certainly a positive spin on the love and protection we find in God.

Inevitably, it’s the fun-colored candy you’re drawn to. Until you’ve been around the trick-or-treating block a few times, you don’t realize that the bright colors and kooky characters mask some pretty low-quality chocolate. The not-so-decked-out goodies are better quality and, quite frankly, worth eating. By the time you’re trick-or-treating for the last time, you’re ignoring the scarecrow and bat altogether.

I’ve been wondering why I get so distracted on the bus by my iPhone apps, or why at home I’m eager to read the latest fiction series. I think that, though I’m much more mature in my faith than ten–even five–years ago, I’m still attracted to the kooky characters and shiny paper than to the quality that is really worth ingesting.