Rotundus.com

The way that the commenting system is setup here, my hope is that you'll never see a spam message on this site. However, as of late Rotundus seems to be getting hit by about 50 comment spam per day. I have better things to do than read ads for casinos, drugs, and other such stuff.

A SPAM detection module should now be checking any anonymous comments but registered users should be exempt from this filter. If you notice any error messages popping up let me know. If you're finding the SPAM filter a nuisance ... then sign up for an account and use that instead.

Annoyingly this SPAM filter would only properly install after I manually checked all bracketing in 150KB of source code. (The original product seemed to like to use curly brackets as string delimiters in SQL statements which my database server didn't like.)

MGM TV has commissioned an animated series based on Mel Brooks' 1987 "Spaceballs" movie and sold exclusive rights in the U.S. to Comcast's G4 cable network.
Encompassing a one-hour pilot and 13 half-hour episodes, project represents the first scripted series greenlit by the new TV division at MGM, led by Jim Packer, president of the worldwide TV distribution group. Series kicks off on G4 in fall 2007.

Although the movie grossed only $38.1 million in U.S. multiplexes, Packer said "Spaceballs" has become "a successful franchise for our library" through sale in video and DVD and to cable and pay TV nets.

Brooks and Thomas Meehan, who co-wrote the movie with Ronnie Graham, have penned the one-hour pilot, and Meehan will supervise the writing of the 13 half-hours. Brooks will do two of the voices, President Skroob and Yogurt.

Germany's Berliner Film Companie will provide the animation.

Packer said he expects brisk international sales of the show at next month's Mipcom festival in Cannes.

G4, which has 59 million subscribers, will become involved in the making of "Spaceballs," which is a joint production of MGM Studios, Brooksfilms Ltd. and Berliner.

I'm currently about 60% of the way through Don Carson's Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church. While he has many criticisms of the emerging church movement's approach to the nature of truth, at the same time it is not only negative things that he has to say Rather, he also devotes some substantial time to some of the positive elements that the emerging church movement has brought to greater attention. Although I'm not yet done reading through the book, I think that at this point I can already reccomend it to those of you looking for something to read. While the book is a heavier read than light fiction, at the same time Carson seems to have a way with words such that it flows rather easily.

What I wanted to share with you here is approximately a paragraph of Carson's book (from p. 55/56):

Although these Christians were steeped in one particular theological tradition, they did not come across as arrogant, even when they were encouraging deep confessionalism. Their denomination was poorly represented in the demographics of their city, so the growth they experienced was not achieved by stealing sheep from sister churches of similar pedigree: it was mostly conversion growth. Penetrating the sealed apartment blocks and yuppie culture of a major city is never easy, but hundreds and eventually thousands were converted, generating a congregation where the mean age was late twenties or early thirties: it was the postmodern generation that was most powerfully affected. Across two decades this church planted numerous other congregations in their large metropolitan area and then reached out to help plant still other churches in other metropolitan areas. The irony is that while this sounds like an outstanding examplar of the emerging church movement, this church - Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City - is thoroughly unlikely to identify itself as a candidate for emerging rolls. The reason I talk about this church should nevertheless be clear: it displays all the strengths of the emerging church movement while avoiding most of its weaknesses.

Interestingly, as my pastor brought to my attention on Sunday, Tim Keller, the pastor of this church, was also recently granted the opportunity to present the gospel with the national media standing nearby. (How many church leaders are written about in both the New York Times and People Magazine within the same week? That said, the two articles are quite different - with each author drawing different things from the sermon and I think also missing the point of it) Everytime I've thought about this the first phrase to come to mind has been "wow!". I was listening to the Ordinary Means podcast last night, and since have been digesting the comment made by one of the hosts that most christians seem to be functionally deists. Just how often do you really expect to hear an answer to your prayers?

I think that I may have mentioned this in the past, but one of the things that I really appreciate about the PCA is its emphasis on urban evangelism. One ministry outlet of the church that I've been talking about is the Redeemer Church Planting Center and you can find an interesting video on their resource page. Tim Keller brings out in the video that cities are (in his words) "the influence centers a particular region or culture." On a more biblical note, Tim Keller also begged viewers to consider where the Apostle Paul went on his missionary journeys.

Classes have kicked into gear once again, and that means

• The good: I don't have time to spend money
• The bad: I don't have time to spend money

Add up prepaying 8 months of Shaw, prepaying utils for a while, paying off my BC student loan in one lump sum, finishing furnishing my place, buying textbooks and school supplies, a flight to Vancouver, and considerable eating out while visiting or visited and you have August as a rather expensive month!

On a related I seem to have come down with a case of new-furnituritis, as the fumes from the glue in new plywood furniture and I don't get along so well. Any suggested remedies beyond ventilation, allergy medication, and time?