Short takes...

Spring
This morning as I was brushing my teeth, I heard a bird singing through the window for the first time this year. The days are getting longer, and next Sunday we gain an extra hour of daylight. Spring is definitely here... even if we only had something like 6 days of sun the entire month of March.

Upset
I'm not much for college hoops, but watching the last 5 minutes of George Mason's upset of #1 seed UConn was surprisingly exciting. Did you know that the term "upset" comes from an old racehorse beating Man'O'War? I learned something new this week.

Weekend church happenings
Last Friday night, the youth guys put on an Appreciation Night for the youth girls. They did a pretty nice job... got all dressed up and hosted a pleasant night with skits, sharing, and food. The planning reminded me of the old college days where a bunch of the guys would get together at someone's apartment to brainstorm ideas... I'm going to have to see if I can dig up any that they can use in future years.

On Sunday, we had the chance to catch up over a potluck with Crystal, who was back from her overseas missions work for a short while. The kids (Lucas, Jacob, and Sarah) stole the show as usual. Lucas learned how to play foosball and swing a baseball bat, as well as charming the socks off all the young adult women by flexing and dancing on demand. He's going to be such the ladies man when he gets older.

24
The past two seasons of 24, I found myself growing increasingly dissatisfied with the increasingly bludgeoning nature of the show's plotlines. Threats ever-increasing in magnitude, the lack of genuine mysteries... I found that I had to basically begin turning off my brain more and more and just enjoy the production aspects of the show (which are admittedly some of the best on TV).

I found this quote that summarizes my feelings on good plot writing (mouse over since it contains some spoilers on previous seasons):
Thank you for bringing up such writers as Agatha Christie. A part of Christie's brilliance was the introduction of clues in the midst of the commonplace so that the clue is there, not hidden - but you've failed to notice it.

At the end of season 1, were you really saying to yourself: "I should have known that Nina was a mole because of the way she acted in episode xx"?

Shock writing produces a "I can't believe that" response. Great writing produces a "How did I miss that?" response. Here's a simple exercise: watch the previous seasons on DVD (I have). Knowing how it turns out, look for clues to the outcomes in the early hours. Are there meaningful clues that were present, but you missed them the first time around?

In an Agatha Christie novel, something innocent like a comb lying in the wrong place on page 45 is later revealed to be the key to the murder. We don't get enough of that on 24.

Fortunately, this season seems to be bringing back more complex plots and interesting characters. It's no longer the Jack Bauer show, as cool as he is... the supporting characters are more fleshed out and can stand on their own. This is probably the best season since season 1.

Oh, and "The Sentinel" movie? Might as well call it 24: The Movie, with Michael Douglas playing the old-mentor Henderson role to Kiefer's Jack.

Prayer
Check out this week's Operation World to see and pray for China. I find it helpful to include the Operation World website in my daily group of bookmarks to make sure I spend some time expanding my vision beyond my own little world.