Habakkuk's New Writeups

Knightriders (thing)

2008-02-01T18:44:02Z

A film directed by George A. Romero and released in 1981. Knightriders starred Ed Harris, Tom Savini, Gary Lahti, and Amy Ingersoll.

When I was seven or so, my friends and I who played in the neighborhood decided that we were going to become super-heroes. I don't mean that we decided that we were going to play like we were super-heroes - we decided that we were going to be super-heroes. If I remember correctly I was going to be the Green Lantern, even though I had no ring that created visualized mental constructs by the force of my will or no lantern to charge it up every 24 hours. If I remember correctly, my entire reason for wanting to be the Green Lantern was that I had a green turtleneck shirt. But this didn't change our earnest belief that we were going to be super-heroes, damn the obvious logistical issues that society and (quite honestly) reality threw in our way.

As cute as this is in a seven year old (and I would question whether or not that is cute), such…

Getting Things Done (thing)

2007-05-17T16:37:57Z

Getting Things Done is a book about personal productivity and time management. It was written by David Allen and first published in 2001 by Penguin Press.

Getting Things Done is subtitled The Art of Stress-Free Productivity and outlines a personal productivity system focused on managing the tasks and projects by getting them out of your head and into a trusted system which allows the user to review their tasks on a regular basis. Getting Things Done (or "GTD" as it is often referred) is the result of years of consulting and work by organizational consultant David Allen. Allen through his self named company trains participants at seminars in how to begin using GTD to achieve a heightened efficiency with low stress.

The basic notion of GTD is that the majority of us hold many things in our minds reducing the overall capacity for thought and creativity because our minds are having to spend so much time remembering the the things we are not doing but that we feel need to…

The Orb (person)

2007-02-08T15:54:49Z

The Orb is a villain published by Marvel Comics and created by writer Len Wein. The Orb first appeared in Marvel Team-Up #15 in November 1973.

I have a hand full of comics-related memories from my childhood that has stayed with me over the years. There is an issue of the Justice League of America where the entire team gets beat by some adaptable alien blobs that adapt to take them all out: they fire kryptonite rays at Superman, pound on the the Flash until he is limping around on crutches, and turn Aquaman into a mer-man. The issue ends with the team waiting for help from Hawkman, but he has run off to Thanagar in their moment of need and left them in a lurch. I never saw the next issue, so I have never known what happened and quite honestly it has bugged me for years.

One of the other comics-related memories involves Marvel Team-Up #15 and The Orb. Marvel Team-Up was a vehicle for Spider-man to have adventures with other members of the Marvel Universe on a…

Superman Returns (thing)

2006-06-30T15:18:32Z

You wrote that the world doesn't need a saviour, but every day I hear people crying for one.
Superman, Superman Returns

Movie released in June 2006, directed by Bryan Singer and starring Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth and Kevin Spacey.

Being old enough to remember seeing the Richard Donner film Superman when it was released in 1978, I was pleased to hear that director Bryan Singer was going to draw heavily from the original movie and the first sequel in the making of this new film. Singer decided to make his new film a continuation of the story line of the first two films, wisely ignoring the embarrassing Superman III with Richard Pryor and laughable Superman IV. And from the opening credits, fans of the original film will be pleasantly surprised with the touches and homages that the new film gives to that original work.

The film finds Superman (played by newcomer Brandon Routh) returning to Earth after a five year…

A Moment with a Bad Seed (idea)

2006-03-29T19:07:46Z

Phillip could hear his father muttering from under the car, as he searched for the lug nut that his son had so "carelessly" let roll there.

"Got it!" he heard his father say.

It was then Phillip released the emergency brake and let gravity and Lampton's Hill do the rest.

BrevityQuest 2006

The fear of the LORD is the ending of freedom (idea)

2005-08-02T19:13:01Z

Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God - Romans 1:1

Those who follow the teachings of Jesus Christ have often chosen to wear what others would consider as derogatory labels with pride, often because they indicate a teaching that was espoused by Jesus or the apostles after him. Apart from the aforementioned sheep, one of the other terms that is oft used in the epistles by Paul is slave or more literally "bond-servant."

Paul in using this phrase is presenting the picture that was rare in his day, but not unheard of. Slavery during this period included a group of people who came under bondage in an attempt to pay a debt that was owed. Once the debt was paid or forgiven, the slave or servant was allowed to resume his or her life as a free person. But, occasionally, something extraordinary would occur. On a rare occasion, the slave would choose to voluntarily give up his freedom and serve…