Alright so there I was, reading my dear friend Kellum's blog about this new movie...you might have heard about it...called Avatar. And I thought I would be unoriginal and write about it as well. May I say-it was amazing! Not just the visual effects, not just 3-D, and not just the I-MAX that I saw it in-I thought the movie was astounding.

But before you go see it, know this, I am pretty sure the movie is based on Pocahontas.

For those of you haven't seen this movie it is about a group military-trained soldiers and company bureaucrats (the English) who come from Earth and make a colony on another planet called Pandora (Pre-Colonial America), which is inhabited by scantily clad warrior tribes with blue skin and cerebral cord strands disguised as long hair-braids (the Native Americans) and they are called the Na'vi. The Na'vi have something the humans want, a rare mineral called obtanium (the gold the English think is all over the place). However, the Na'vi's home (a giant tree) is sitting right on top of the obtanium, and the humans want it. In an attempt to be diplomatic and keep the hippies on earth happy, they create Avatars for humans to use to get to know the Na'vi better. A human just lies in a pod, then his or her mind is transferred into a Na'vi clone body. There is one Avatar-using marine named Jake Sully (John Smith) who falls for the Na'vi princess, Neytiri (Pocahontas!!!). There is even a cruel military commander (Ratcliffe from the movie), a native desiring to marry the princess (Kocoum), and even an all-seeing, magical tree (Grandmother Willow).

If this isn't based on Pocahontas than you might as well say Christopher Paolini "accidentally" copied the story-line from Star Wars.

This movie had a lot of things most movies don't have today: a heart and soul to it. The characters were real and had their flaws. The movie wasn't just a mess of stupid, pointless graphics and annoying sex-apopeal. True the Na'vi could have worn a little more clothing-but they were aliens so no lust there.

This movie has gotten a lot of flack for being racist. If anything it is racist against white people-but I think James Cameron (the director) wanted to make the Na'vi look like indigineous people as we think of them so that we would make the connections. As for being overly "green", the movie did not have that "oh you are a stupid American because you drive a hummer and shop at Wal-Mart and don't recycle, so let's all go get dread-locks and discuss politics in dimmly-lit coffee houses." The movie was more about taking care of the planet because it takes care of you too.

I know there are lot of Christians who feel that we don't have a duty to take care of the world because this is not our home. Well, that's fooey. God still took time to create it and you should take care of it or you're saying "this isn't my mess to clean up and I don't care what happens to you beautifully-crafted oceans."

Sorry for going off on a tangent, but I think we do need to get a little more focused on keeping the enviroment clean and not bulldozing forests for another Starbucks.

The movie was great, and to you critics who review movies and gave it bad reviews-who gives a crap what you think?

So I'm sitting in the library writing this and listening to Lady Gaga's latest phenomenon-Bad Romance (right now it's at the french-speaking part). Oh, and I did I mention-it's raining...again.

I seemed to have developed a bad romance with rain. During my pre-Harding years, the rain was one of my great loves. The dark, sinister clouds crowding the sky, rumbling with thunder and frenzied electrons, hurling lightning bolts and sheets of water were enough to excite the imagination of any preadolescent. There was also another reason why I loved rain: no lacrosse. Lacrosse could not have picked a better season than the season of april showers and may flowers.

Rain is one of those epic/romantic settings God sent the world for love-lulled couples to kiss in and for dramatic scenes of good vs. evil facing off once and for all (Matrix Revolution anyone?)

Rain meant going outside, spinning around in the wet air, singing with the thunder and playing with lightning. But now , we have a bad romance.

Rain now means getting drenched on my way to class, trying to cross teacherous rivers of dirty water on my way to the cafeteria, having to change my shoes three times a day because they're sogging beyond repair. And Harding doesn't help any in that area. Thanks to our crudely made sidewalks and awful drainage system, Harding University quickly becomes the lost city of Atlantis, complete with currents that take you to your classes and mermaid ring ceremonies.

The sun has been hidden by darkness-but light always wins-I just hope it does soon and before I have to change shoes again.