[Ian Cameron McLaren]

I was just recently informed of the fact that my #1 dog has started a blog.

Drop what you’re doing and check out the blog stylings of the one and only Mike Mackneer.

AND … I have created a new home for my blog. It will now be found @ imclaren.wordpress.com. Please bookmark that up and go there from now. I repeat, this site will no longer be in service. That’s all. Have a good night.

I was at Chapters the other day and noticed a copy of geez magazine on the shelf. I remembered reading about it on Nathan’s blog recently, so I picked it up and took a look inside. The magazine, which bears the slogan holy mischief in an age of fast faith, takes a look at various issues pertaining to Christianity and the Church. To make a long story short, I picked up the issue which takes a look at evangelicalism. I have only read a couple of articles so far, but it has been well worth the dollars spent. There is an attitude of authenticity in the articles that I find very appealing, and it appears to be a good venue for the author/reader to wrestle with different issues, questions and doubts in a positive and engaging way. Yes, there is some element of satire and critique that might rub some people the wrong way, but I dig it. And, it’s published in Winnipeg, so it’s good to support Canadian publications. I would recomment it as a strong pick it up.

Along those lines, I’m taking a bit of a book break right now. I’m the kind of guy that always has a book on the go, and I honestly can’t remember a time when I wasn’t all into one or more books. Right now, I just can’t seem to settle on something to read. I’ll dig into this mag for a bit, and Lauren and I are reading one for our devo time, but other than that I think I’ll dig into the Bible if I am itching to read. Too often it’s an afterthought, and that’s no good.

I am also still taking suggestions on future reading material, so if anyone has some favorites, pass them along.

I finally got to see Borat yesterday [matinee, $2!], and after all the hype, I must say I was left feeling a bit underwhelmed. Don’t get me wrong, I was laughing hard, but perhaps this movie experience for me was another victim of pre-exposure. I had seen so many promos and read a few articles about the movie, so I guess I kind of knew what to expect and it kind of lost a bit of its impact and edge.

Having said that, I do think this was a very good movie, for a couple of reasons. Yes, the Borat character is incredibly rude and offensive to many, and for that reason I would not recommend that everyone rush out and see it. I get that there are people out there who do not appreciate seeing Borat wrestle a fat, naked man in a hotel or hearing him make his jokes about Jews, homosexuals, his brother Milo or his sister, the #4 prostitute in Kazakhstan. However, to stop there would be to seriously miss the point.

This movie is not really about Borat himself; his wacky persona and his filthy mouth are not to be the focal point of the schocking content found within these 82 minutes of film. It’s the real life people that Borat meets along the way that had me sitting in my seat with my jaw dropped. The ones who didn’t even hesitate to respond favourably to Borat’s anti-Semetic and anti-homosexual remarks; who encouraged him to shave off his moustache because he looked too Muslim; who cheered when he announces his support for America’s ‘war of terror’ and his hope that Bush will one day ‘drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq’; who expressed that it wouldn’t be too hard to ‘Americanize’ the nice foreigner; who, instead of lending a helping hand, just wanted to get him ’saved’ and speaking in tongues.

The genius of Sasha Baron Cohen lies in his ability to put on the Borat character and to get people to go along with the utter nonsense that comes out of his mouth; in expressing his false prejudices, he is able to reveal the very real and scary attitudes of others. I also am astounded at his ablilty to stay in character no matter how ignorant the people around him are being or how precarious a situation he puts himself in.

Overall, I would give this movie a 3.5 out of 5, but I think if I could go back and not allow myself to know anything about Borat and this movie in advance, my perception of the movie may have been different, for better or worse. I think it was important to have background info on Cohen and what he was trying to accomplish, but the laughs were wasted in the preview as opposed to in the theatre where they belong.

What a flippin’ week. First of all, the weather out here has been out of control cold, topped off by a windchill of -48 yesterday. The good news was that classes were cancelled at the school that I work at so I was able to go to the clinic to get this nasty cough looked at. The bad news was that our car wouldn’t start until I was able to get it jumped at 4 in the afternoon. We made it to the clinic just in time [2nd last patient they took in] and was told to pick up some Buckley’s MD, which is about the sickest thing I have ever tasted in my life … but it works! Then we had a 3 hour 24 marathon and finished of Season 1. Excellent viewing, I loved it. Probably have to hold off on SeasonDeux for now with Lauren starting school, but that’s fine with me; my heart needs a rest too.

Weather check: -39 windchill this morning. Yipee!

Two good concerts in one week coming up in Winnipeg, and I can probably only swing going to one of them.

And so I pose the following question:

If you had to choose between seeing Switchfoot or Jars of Clay, which band would it be?

Any assistance in helping me to make this difficult decision would be much appreciated.