Fina's Commonplace Book

The agent sits, tied to a chair in the middle of a concrete room. Around him, half a dozen gang members lounge against the walls, rifles hanging from their hands. There's nothing to worry about. They have Agent Smith, and soon, they would have the information he possessed, too. No need to be alarmed. Suddenly, the steel door flies open with a bang. There stands Agent Smith's partner, Lady Ross, her black leather jacket spotless, her hair and makeup all in order, a pistol cocked in each hand. "Hey, fellas." She smirks at the guards, who, stunned, don't raise their guns until it's too late. Lady Ross kicks one in the face, sweeps another's legs out from under him, and takes out the rest in short order. "Come on, Smith," she says, cutting through his bonds with a single swipe of a knife. "You men just always have to get captured, don't you?" Photo by  Sofia Sforza  on  Unsplash Lady Ross is probably an all too familiar fa...

I am a young earth creationist and am not afraid to admit it. I believe that God created the heavens and the earth in six literal days, and that He created all of life in that time as well. It is to me the only logical and explanation of how we all got to be here. But obviously, not all Christians would agree with me. Recently, I watched a video of a presentation by Francis Collins, who is a founder of the theistic evolution website, BioLogos. Theistic Evolutionists believe that God created all of life using evolution, and just "got it started". While this view presents numerous, undeniable problems, I will only focus on one today, one which I think is the most important aspect of the evolution/creation debate. While I was watching Dr. Collins' presentation, I was appalled by the twisted theology of sin, death, and humanity he presented. According to him, God started the evolutionary process and sat back, watching eons of death and mutation and "survival of the f...

Here we go. Superhero movies seem to be a topic of great debate in today's culture. "Are you DC or Marvel?" "Batman or Iron Man?" You can't escape it. Well, I'm going to be up front with you - I like some Marvel movies. I like some DC movies. Batman movies are the best (not up for debate.) Get ready for my list of the best superhero movies to date. Prepare to be amazed. Or not. 1. The Dark Knight Trilogy I'm sorry, all you Marvel fans, but The Dark Knight Trilogy has to be the best series of superhero movies I've ever seen. And here's why: it wasn't created to satisfy popular demand. It wasn't one of those movies that have to be churned out within a couple months to keep on schedule. The writers, director, producers, the actors - all of them worked together, and worked hard, to create, not an acceptable superhero movie, but a great superhero movie.  And that's what they accomplished. The Dark Knight Trilogy encompas...

Fairy tale retellings strike a special chord in our hearts. We all know the stories of Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty - mostly from the classic Disney cartoons. But recently, movie-makers are looking to experiment with fairy tale movies. Unexpected twists on old favorites, or remakes of older retellings are everywhere. Here are some of my favorites: 1. Maleficent  This spectacular movie was released by Disney Pictures in 2014. It retells the story of Sleeping Beauty from the perspective of the evil Queen - who turns out not to be as evil as we first thought. This movie has a beautifully realized backdrop, as well as a few interesting twists in the classic fairy tale (Maleficent becomes a sort of fairy godmother to Aurora, for example). We also get to see Maleficent's backstory - one that makes her less of a heartless villain, and more of a sympathetic one.  This is a story of love, and it is honestly breathtaking and beautiful. Prepare to be amazed....

Science fiction is a fascinating genre. From outer space dramas like Star Wars to dystopians like The Hunger Games, it has become firmly entrenched in our popular culture. But, like any other genre of storytelling, some science fiction stories are better than others. Here, I've collected a list of my personal favorites. 1. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer An enchanting mixture of science fiction, dystopia, fairy tales, and romance, this series captured my interest almost from the first sentence. The protagonist, Cinder, is a likeable, strong character, and the host of other POV characters are well-developed with unique personalities that shine through the narrative.  Each of the four books is based on a popular fairy tale - Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White, so some of the plot is predictable, but it is made up for by the fun twists the author pulls on main story events - the pumpkin carriage is an orange car, for instance.  With ...