Random thoughts

Recently the term "act of God" was mentioned online. In particular, a car-deer crash. The insurance company calls this an act of God and waives the deductible.

Think about this. Why is a deer running out in front of your car an act of God? Did God in his infinite wisdom send one of his creatures to crash your car? Why would he do this? Were you in his radar? Why would such an important personage care about your car so much that he felt that it needed to be destroyed. Oh wait. This is one of those tests God is always sending, huh? Your faith needed to be tested so he wrecked your car by killing an innocent and beautiful animal.

I appreciate that insurance companies recognize there are some things we can't control or prevent. But why call it an act of God? Wouldn't "natural causes" be a better term. And really, does it reflect the kind of god we'd want? The bible toters say God is wise and good, blah blah. It's God's will if you survive a disaster, and it's a measure of your faith how you get through it. Bullshit. It's dumb luck if you survive and a measure of your strength how you get through it. Your strength comes from within you and not some intangible outside force.

I was thumbing through a Reader's Digest the other day, and a letter to the editor caught my eye. It was from a Jehovah's Witness in response to an article about door to door sales. I kind of remember the article and it gave tips on how to handle unwanted door-knockers. This JW felt he had every right to knock on your door, take up your valuable time, and spew his theology. I should mention it's not just JW who do this. Many Christian denominations do it, too. They feel their right to religious freedom is the right to infringe upon your freedom. Where did they get this idea? From their bible of course, and they take what they want literally. Interesting that they don't take everything in the books literally, just the parts that work to their advantage. In this case, the advantage is to recruit more members to fill their church's tills.

A few years ago, a family member was accosted by JW on Christmas Day! No shit! He couldn't believe it either. In the midst of their brunch and opening gifts, this band of JWs wanted them to listen to their sermon and of course convert to their way of worship. Which apparently doesn't include one of the main Christian holidays.

Enough about that. TV time.

Dancing With The Stars. What a great season this has been! The best I can remember in a long time. It was about dancing. The stars who deserved to stay are still dancing, the ones who didn't cut it are gone. Plain and simple and honest. We're down to the finals and it's going to be a close call. The freestyles are next and we're looking forward to it.

Hines and Kim. What a guy! I think the entire country is madly in love with him and it helps that he can dance. Unfortunately, Kim's injury (her neck was seriously sprained attempting a difficult trick in rehearsals) has them both gun shy and the freestyle might not be as outstanding as it could be.

Kirstie and Maks. I'm actually surprised she made it to the finals over Ralph Macchio, but he did lose ground with less than great judge scores. I'm sure the tallies were very close. I love her too, and she and Maks get along so great. But one thing has bothered me. Who the hell is dressing her??? I get that she's a full-figured middle-aged woman who can't get away with skimpy costumes, but most of her outfits have been horrible! Even for the elegant dances that called for beautiful flowing gowns. They've looked more like bad bridesmaid dresses with extra bling, or silly Halloween costumes. UGLY!

Chelsea and Mark. What a cutie she is! And she is a really good dancer. Mark is my bitch here. I've decided I really don't care for him. He is supposed to be showcasing his partner's strengths and instead seems to be channeling his inner choreographer wanna-be. He always outdances his star instead of being the frame and support he's supposed to be. The judges have called him out more than once for his edgy routines. It's similar to how Lacey Schwimmer (brought onboard as a pro fresh off her successful run on So You Think You Can Dance) was called on the carpet for showboating her edgy style at the expense of her star. Mark justifies it by saying Chelsea is young and the routine should be young. Young doesn't mean edgy, the judges still want traditional ballroom. In one of the early weeks, his routine was so out of the box, even Carrie Ann didn't like it. She said there's a time and a place and this wasn't it. That particular routine was really good, but not for then. It would have been a great freestyle. What's left if you've already done freestyle more than once. I am looking forward to their freestyle and hope he doesn't go overboard for Chelsea's sake.

I'm sure it will come down to Hines and Chelsea, but I'm not taking bets on either. I can't call it.

Smallville. The much anticipated series finale was kind of anticlimactic and a little confusing. From the beginning, it was said that Clark wouldn't wear a cape and he didn't. We were teased by glimpses of the red and blue suit, and it was even hinted that Clark's mother sent it to him. In the end, he did wear it, but we didn't see the whole thing. Just that final image of him tearing off his shirt to reveal the suit as he leaped into the sky. Yes, he finally learned to fly. Lex Luther returned from the dead as expected so the mythology is as it always was. I really liked the small story in the background of the last few seasons about how Martha Kent entered politics and then used her connections and resulting power to help her son in his battles. She went from a simple farmer's wife to a formidable woman.

BTW, you're right if you're thinking I'm a closet comic book nerd. At a young age, I was ridiculed by my "peers" for my fascination with comic books, and subsequently left them behind. If not for that, I'd probably be a comic book junky to this day. Instead, I indulge in film based on comic books.

There were a lot more season finales this month, and summer reruns and a few summer series will start up. Mostly notably (for me) So You Think You Can Dance starts in 2 weeks. Yay!

Maybe I can catch up on Netflix now. They've got their money's worth out of me lately! I've held movies for way too long while I watched what I had on DVR. I had to, the disk was nearly full almost every night. I've got a few series in waiting to watch in their entirety after the season finale, and they take up a lot of space. Looking forward to Supernatural and Merlin marathons.

Good morning.