I saw Prince Caspian on Monday, and I sincerely hoped for the best. Really, I did. I was slightly disappointed by The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe for minor deviances from the book, but all in all it was pretty faithful and thus palatable. Not so much with Prince Caspian.

I guess the big problem comes in the fact that I don’t see the Chronicles of Narnia as “nice stories.” They’re powerful depictions of Christian truths, and as such they can’t be directly adapted by Hollywood, who seems to want to have nothing to do with traditional values.

In order to get on with the story more quickly, Prince Caspian makes some early changes to the book, which are certainly understandable and not really objectionable. But quite rapidly the movie degrades: it’s all about the girl power. Susan is transformed from a doubting yet proper girl into a butt-kicking Amazon warrior. Puh-lease! Rather than the “High King Peter” leading, she often overshadows him, and doesn’t hesitate to jump into battle, even though Aslan has discouraged her and Lucy from doing so (”You must use the bow only in great need, for I do not mean you to fight in the battle…battles are ugly when women fight”). To say that gender roles have been modernized in this book would be an understatement.

Speaking of Aslan, he is almost entirely removed from the plot, despite being the central theme around which the book revolves. (But again, it seems as if Hollywood cannot handle having such a strong Christ figure!)

Finally, Susan kisses Caspian at the end of the movie, despite knowing she’ll never see him again. Is this the moral we’re left with? Forget about protecting hearts and guarding purity, if you can grab a quick rise from some one-time-only intimacy, go for it?!?

The Bottom Line: Watching Prince Caspian was like seeing an old friend be horribly mutilated. It just hurt too much to watch the solid morals of the book die to Hollywood values and sensationalism. I’m the kind of guy who enjoys about any movie out there…but I just plain didn’t like Prince Caspian. Lisa and I both agreed: when we have children, they will not be watching this movie, at least not until they’ve read the books (multiple times!) and are old enough to discern the seriously lacking values set forth in this movie.

They come up with ideas like the name of this MP3 Player

Josh, who is much more of a creative guy, challenged me to sum up my life in 6 words. It’s tough to do, but this is what has come to me so far. There’s so much missing, but so much here.

(oh, if you’re using Internet Explorer 6 or lower, this will look like crap. You should upgrade to Mozilla Firefox today so you can experience the internet like it was meant to be seen)

So whoever said that ibex clothing is the best ever….wasn’t kidding. I love my Shak Jersey. The cloth has a super-durable feel to it, it’s comfy through an incredible range of temperatures, and it just doesn’t stink.

That’s right. I decided to give it a rugged field test: my Shak showed up Tuesday afternoon, and I put it on. I’ve worn it every day since, including through 1/2 hour of moderate basketball.

And, despite the sweating while playing basketball, and despite the fact that I haven’t been wearing an undershirt with this thing, it still doesn’t stink. Amazing!

The wool is a little bit more “coarse” than say a cotton or fleece shirt, but I kind of like it. At any rate, it’s not itchy, and despite being recommended as a mid-layer it functions fine with nothing underneath. It breathes well, is well-made, looks great, and due to its merino wool construction, is naturally anti-bacterial (hence the no smell).

So I’m going to keep wearing it until it starts stinking. How long will that be?

Bottom Line: If you’re looking to buy an ibex Shak Jersey, it really is as sweet as they say. Get one already!

UPDATE: after 11 days, it was still smelling great! But the sun came out and I wanted to wear a T-shirt, so I took it off. Then I washed it, so next time I need a shirt for two weeks in a row it’s all ready to go. Honestly now though…it’s my favorite shirt by far, and I wear it a LOT. Ibex is some sweet stuff!

So if you haven’t gotten a letter yet, you will. You’re getting some free money from the Government if you pay your taxes this year. That’s right, the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008. I read some guy’s blog who claimed that this was similiar to 2001, when people got their next years’ tax refunds a year in advance (and were thus pretty mad), so I did some looking, and found the IRS Webpage ESP FAQs.

Q. Will the payment I receive in 2008 reduce my 2008 refund or increase the amount I owe for 2008?

A. No, the stimulus payment will not reduce your refund or increase the amount you owe when you file your 2008 return.

Rock on! So Lisa and I should be getting a check for $1,200 back of that $2,400 we paid extra to Uncle Sam this spring. As a good boy, I intend to blow it all per the Government’s instructions! (well, OK, maybe I’ll only blow some of my half, because I’m too much of a tightwad to blow $600.) Let’s see, I can get…

• BDAG Greek Lexicon ($120)
• 171 Gallons of Gas (at $3.50/gal)
• 0.97 credit hours of tuition at Trinity ($615/hr)
• 20 days’ rent
• Nintendo Wii ($250) (impossible to find…)
• Some more Ibex clothes ($ ? - this is actually possible…)
• A new Graphics card for my computer ($100?)
• An HDTV tuner for my mac, so I can record Lost in HD ($150)

How about you? Are you going to be a good citizen and try to revive our economy with your extra cash? Just make sure it has a Made in USA sticker on it! (Sorry, shameless plug.)

Oh, yeah, and you better enjoy having cash, because rumor has it that the Government may just raise taxes by 4 times as much as they dole out in rebates. I hope those rich suckers are the ones that have to pick up the extra tab, ‘cuz I can’t afford more taxes!

So I spent too much money on a shirt. This is certainly not me: it should have been some new technology, or at the very least some media, or a stinking expensive Greek Lexicon. But it’s a shirt.

Through Step2, I made a contact with Ibex Outdoor Clothing last year, and he highly lauded the merits of the merino wool Ibex makes their clothing from. Supposedly, it’s like the holy grail of materials for making active wear. I went a year without really getting interested in the stuff (I’m not too active…), but they happened to send me an email this week at the exact right time. (Long story, I actually was going to buy a new graphics card…)

I checked out the site, and the Shak Jersey really caught my eye. Not only were the reviews overwhelmingly positive, but they also reinforced what this guy had been telling me. I looked around the internet, and lo and behold, I couldn’t find anything negative about this jersey. So I crumbled, and busted out the old credit card number. (Granted, I did get a discount on it, but still pretty pricey for something you can get in synthetic for much cheaper)

But now I’m super excited about this shirt (tracking info says I’d get it on Saturday, if TIU’s mail room wasn’t closed! ) If it’s half as sweet as everyone says, it will be more than worth the cost. I’ll post a further review when it comes in.

In the meantime, have any of you had any great (or not-so-great) experiences with Ibex clothes? Typically I’m pretty frugal, but this merino wool’s supposed to be worth it!