The Gimcrack Miscellany

Bruce Willis Tells Hollywood to Shut Up.

That’s right, you heard me correctly. I’m so tired of Hollywood telling people how they should live their lives, what’s right and wrong, and how much better they are than us. I mean, just read my brother’s post about Sheryl Crow’s stupidity.

Bruce, keep rocking my socks off.

Dr. George Bebawi came to my church last night and lectured on the differences between Christianity and Islam. I was pretty impressed with his ability to “bash” Islam without really bashing Islam. This skill comes from his tenure at Cambridge University, where he taught Christian and Islam students in a very politically correct environment.

I won’t go into every point he hit on, but I will tell you what I took away from it. One of his first points was how the word Islam itself means submission, more specifically submission to God’s law, whereas Christianity focuses on God himself, manifest in Christ here on Earth. If you are constantly thinking about the law and what’s right and wrong, you tend to be thinking about yourself instead of God, thus you are not drawing closer to Him but further away.

Another thing he said along these lines is that Islam views right and wrong in terms of reward and punishment. You are supposed to do the right things not because they’re the right things, but because you’ll receive a reward. Likewise, don’t refrain from evil because it’s against God, but because it leads to punishment. On the contrary, Christianity teaches that God is love. This simply means, as Dr. George put it, that you do good deeds because they’re good, not because you’ll receive a reward for doing them (although that is naturally the outcome). We are made in the image and likeness of God, and He sent His son to die on the cross for us only because He loves us, so we are to do what’s right only because we love Him.

Lastly, I gained a deeper realization for how Islam differs from other nations that the USA has had trouble with (i.e. the Russians, Germans, Japanese, even the IRA - although I don’t know how much that has affected Americans). Other nations have risen up out of patriotism, which can be quelled with alliances, shifts in power, and even negotiation. However, Islam is different, and I think this is by far the deepest and most important point having to do with all of this. Islam is not based in patriotism, it is based in religion. There are no alliances, no negotiation. Muslims are ultimately instructed that they will only be in the house of peace when everyone on Earth is either Muslim, a slave, or dead. Until then, it is the house of war.

I read a book called The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and The Crusades) by a man named Robert Spencer, and since then I’ve been letting these ideas sink in. It was great to hear Dr. George, an expert on the subject, speak at our church. His topics really paralleled the book I read, and I would highly recommend it if you are interested in learning more.

I remember back when my paladin was edging closer and closer to the coveted level 60 by questing in the highest level places like the Plaguelands and Silithist. Now he’s sitting in Shattrath City drinking ale with a bunch of drunken Scryers. I got him all the way to 70 and bought him a nice snowy griffen mount before I decided I didn’t want to play him anymore. At least not enough to keep him as my main.

There’s a new kid in town. Well I guess I should say there’s an old bald wizard in town. His name is Yot and he’s hungry for the Outlands. There he is riding his horsey in Silverpine Forest on his way to kick some butt in the Scarlet Monastery (I need to get some updated screenshots as that was about 15 levels ago). The reason I decided to make Yot my main is because he is simply more fun to play than my paladin.

Sure, I’m going to miss not dying. I mean, my paladin could outlast any opponent. The trouble is, a paladin simply can’t DPS like a mage, which means he can’t succeed in player-vs-player combat. Plus he has no way of stun-locking players like a mage or rogue, so if he does get in range of slaying a foe, all they have to do is run away.

That being said, here’s something I’m going to miss: having awesome fiery angel wings shoot out of my back whenever I want (ok, there’s like a 60-second cooldown on them, but still). The holy warrior of God thing really appeals to me, as does choosing between being a damager, healer, or tank. With Yot I have only two roles, crowd control and DPS, and I don’t get to choose between them because I’m required to do both.

I don’t care though. Yot is 54 and he is very close to the Outlands. Heck, he’s already been there - in fact his home is set to Shattrath City. Mages get to instantly port to any city, which means I get to use a Boeing 747 for all my annoying FedEx quests while you have to use a rickety old FedEx Ground box truck.

One last screenshot to say goodbye to Atanamir, the male human paladin from Elwyn Forest. I call it “Atanamir turns 70, and dies.” I’ll miss you, little buddy.

In other words, thanks for the good word Arthur. Since the shout-out, my Technorati rating has skyrocketed to 2,042,882, and my authority has been boosted to 2! YES!

If you don’t already, you should read Life In The Shadows. The dude has an English degree. Enough said. Plus he’s funny and humble and posts on a frequent basis. Let’s boost his rating to Top 100! Or hundred thousand.

’s website. LOL n00bs, L2P.

I was going through some old projects and came across this mock-up of a new Thief in the Night website I was working on, when, alas, they broke up. Obviously the domain is no longer there, but I have hosted it on my site for archival purposes.

There’s not much there, but it reminds me of the good old days when AJ cut grass and planted trees for Cory, Birch donned a brambly hermit beard, and Shawn drank coffee straight from Satan’s espresso machine while smoking a cigarette in the shower. True musicians.