Day: April 19, 2007

My first book review is from Publishers Weekly . It is the fourth review on the page or take a look below!

Peppermint-Filled Piñatas: Breaking Through Tolerance and Embracing Love
Eric Michael Bryant. Zondervan, $12.99 paper (224p) ISBN 978-0-310-27384-4

Relationship evangelism is the message of this book from Bryant, “the bald white guy” on staff at the 80-nationalities multicultural Christian community Mosaic in Los Angeles. “Love is the new apologetic,” writes Bryant. For too long, he argues, the world has been made aware of what Christians hate rather than whom they love; what they are against rather than what they support. Christians, he says, “have created an environment where we are seen as judgmental, irrelevant, mean, and hypocritical.” Mixing scripture, humor and personal anecdotes (including a great one about a filling station clerk), Bryant invites Christians to develop a “party theology”: invite others to share in your life, and accept invitations to participate in other people’s lives, especially if they are different from you in some way. The content is familiar: look to connect through a common cause, hobby or passion. Learn conflict resolution and practice it. Break stereotypes, whether they are ethnic, economic, sexual, religious or political. Apart from one confusing anecdote about a schizophrenic who seems to get well through Christian service, this is a solid book for Christians who have “head knowledge” about relationship evangelism, but need encouragement rather than how-to steps to put that knowledge into action. (June)

On our day off today we watched a classic, Back to the Future. It is hard to believe this movie is 23 years old now. Just think, Marty McFly traveled from 1985 to 1955 which seemed like a great distance. We are almost as far from 1985 as he was from 1985. Time sure flies!

The movie kept my kids attention, which is remarkable considering how slow-paced it actually seemed to be at points. For me, George McFly makes the movie. Crispin Glover is a genius in this role throughout the three Back to the Future movies as well as the more recent Charlie’s Angels movies (I can’t remember if I have seen him in anything else).

If you haven’t watched it in a while, go back and do so. Just as funny as the differences between 1985 and 1955 appear to be, pay careful attention to the differences between now and 1985. Some of our favorites included the tight jeans, the socks on the outside of the jeans, the feathered hair, and the Van Halen music.

Living in LA made this a fun movie as well since so many of the locations are places we have been or frequent often such as the Puente Hills mall (where the movie was filmed), the Gamble House (Dr. Emmitt Brown’s mansion which is actually in Pasadena) along with the McFly family home and Marty’s mom’s home (both of which are within a couple of blocks of our old apartment in South Pasadena.

Even more amazing: watching Back to the Future in HD. The picture was better than we ever saw it on the screen 20+ years ago or on our old VHS tape. You could tell the driver of Biff’s car wasn’t Biff. You could even see the make up on the actors which aged them the 20 years.

Can’t wait to watch the two sequels!

Currently I am reading a a book by James Canton, the CEO and Chairman of the Institute for Global Futures. The book is called The Extreme Future. Here are some general trends he predicts:

Fueling the Future – a post-oil future with alternatives such as hydrogen

Innovation Economy – driving the world economy will be innovations in nano, bio, IT, and neuro.

Longevity Medicine – research dealing with nanotech, neurotech, and genomics will be lead to longer and healthier lives for many.

Securing the Future -the risk landscape of the future includes challenges such as terrorism (cooperation between Islamic extremists and drug lords) to mind control (www.cognitiveliberty.org).

He also mentions global trends connected with “Weird Science,” climate change, and the emerging influence of China.

Since Peppermint-Filled Pinatas deals with creating a diverse community, I found the following trends very interesting and timely:

The Next Workforce – businesses will be dealing with challenges associated with multiculturalism.

The Future of Globalization: Cultures in Collision – the future will include a clash of cultures and an ideaological battle for the hearts and minds of the nations.

The Future of the Individual – we are on the verge of either greater freedoms around the planet or fewer freedoms. How we use our freedom (to serve those who aren’t free) will determine which direction we go.