Peter Faur

Grammar Friday

Peter Faur — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 10:30:07 +0000

Today’s two grammar tips:

For two things to collide, they both have to be in motion. You can’t have a head-on collision with a pole.
“The proof is in the pudding” is a popular saying, but you might have noticed that it makes no sense. The actual saying is “the proof of the pudding is in the eating,” which means the best way to determine the quality of your dessert is to try a sample.

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A quick poll about online mortgage shopping

Peter Faur — Thu, 31 May 2012 17:43:39 +0000

If you have a LinkedIn account, please take a moment to participate in this poll. Just pick one answer from the choices below. This is for a client. Thanks.

Humor Thursday

Peter Faur — Thu, 31 May 2012 10:30:58 +0000

Noise to Signal Cartoon

Phoenix Comicon – an eye opener

Peter Faur — Tue, 29 May 2012 18:01:52 +0000

Al Sparrow, owner of Phoenix-based Studio Fugazi and co-creator of the comic book Thugs

Sometimes as you age, it’s easy to think that things you leave behind have disappeared for everyone. The Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, for example, faded from my view for a few decades, coming back into sight only when I had a son and a daughter of my own.

The same is true of comics. When I was a kid, I read just about everything that was available, from Superman, Batman and the Flash to Casper, Archie and Richie Rich. (Marvel Comics weren’t big when I was growing up, or if they were, I missed them.) Again, as I grew older, the comics scene receded, along with my hairline.

This past weekend, I learned that comics are bigger than ever as I attended Phoenix Comicon. More than 30,000 people turned out for the event, many of them dressed as a comic book hero they loved. It was a far cry from the images normally associated with Arizona – cowboys and survivalists. It also was a lot of fun, and it brought an estimated $5 million into the Phoenix economy.

On Saturday, I attended a panel session on the comics scene in Arizona, moderated by Al Sparrow, owner of Phoenix-based Studio Fugazi. Al and his collaborator, illustrator Stephen Reid, are trying to hit it big with a comic series they call Thugs.

Al says he got the idea for Thugs when, while watching the Batman TV series from the ’60s, he noticed that the arch villains would change from week to week, but the henchmen and goons – the Thugs – always stayed the same. It was as though the Thugs worked for a temp service and would be hired out each week to whatever arch villain was in town.

A would-be Hulk and friends

What if one day, he thought, one of the thugs got off a lucky shot and actually took Batman out? He’d been scorned both by the superhero community and the arch villain community. I’m working my way through the first four issues, and they’re a fun read.

Like just about everything else in the entertainment industry, comics have been democratized and revolutionized by the Internet and the media explosion. It’s a relatively easy thing to print your own comic books these days. The tough part, of course, is getting an audience connected and engaged with what you’re doing and willing to put down good money for your product.

The dream lives on for lots of aspiring comic book artists. In the exhibit hall, more than 300 booths hawked everything from comics to toys to the latest video games. I estimate that at least a third of the exhibitors consisted of self publishers with a collection of goods ranging from Christian Comics to Carnal Comics.

Phoenix Comicon also attracted all manner of celebrities, from William Shatner and Ed Asner (currently popular for his voice work in the movie Up) to Wil Wheaton and LeVar Burton for the Star Trek: Next Generation crowd. Lou Ferrigno appeared to be especially gracious in his willingness to spend time with fans.

This was the 10th Phoenix Comicon. A couple of people I talked to said they prefer it to the Mother of All Comicons, San Diego, because Phoenix is more affordable and more navigable. Put No. 11 on your calendar for next year, and come to the desert for a weekend of escapism and fun.

Summer reading? How about tackling Miracles by C. S. Lewis?

Peter Faur — Mon, 28 May 2012 10:30:30 +0000

C. S. Lewis

I just had the pleasure and honor of teaching Miracles, the C. S. Lewis book that was first released in 1947 and explores the question of whether miracles actually happen. Nearly 50 people took part in the class at La Casa de Cristo Lutheran Church. You’re welcome to download the study guides I prepared for the class; you’ll find links to all five of them at the end of this post.

Lewis is always a rewarding read, and I think this would be true whether you’re Christian or not. He had a disciplined, creative mind; he taught at both Oxford and Cambridge universities.

He invariably will help you see religious issues in new ways. He appeals to me personally because he, along with other British Christians, brings an intellectual rigor to the faith that has all but vanished on this side of the Atlantic. (For more about this, check out this article about Lewis, John Stott, and J.R.R. Tolkien.)

In Miracles, Lewis notes that much of the world of his day had come to the belief that nothing exists except for what we can see, hear, taste, smell and feel. In other words, there is nothing more than the natural world and the universe in which we live.

Lewis has no problem with the idea of a universe billions of years old or with acknowledging that the evidence for most of evolutionary theory is strong and convincing. (Like any Christian, he would differ with the idea that there was nothing more than chance behind what we know to be the natural world.) When it comes to Scripture, he is not a fundamentalist, a literalist, and most assuredly not a six-day creationist. You can learn more about him here.

He makes a persuasive case that there things we deal with every day that simply could not have developed from an evolutionary process, namely, the ability to reason and the fact that nearly every human has a conscience. Those, he argues, had to come from something supernatural that lies outside and above nature.

Lewis notes that Christianity itself hinges on the grand miracle of the Incarnation, God become man in Jesus.

Lewis would be extremely cautious about calling any modern event a miracle. Certainly a miracle would be possible today, but typically miracles come at pivotal moments in spiritual history, and God doesn’t sprinkle them down freely as if falling from a pepper shaker. He also asserts that you probably wouldn’t want to be around when a miracle happened because they often occur in the midst of misery.

Lewis died on Nov. 22, 1963 – the same day President Kennedy was assassinated – but he continues to be heard today. He spent many years as an atheist before being drawn to Christianity, so he understood both sides of that coin. It’s part of what makes him such a compelling voice.

Miracles is a rewarding read, but not an easy one. I’m hoping the study guides below will help you get through the book if you decide to tackle it. If you read it, or if you’ve already read it, let me know what you think.

Here are the study guides:

Miracles, Chapters 1-5

Miracles, Chapters 6-10

Miracles, Chapters 11-13

Miracles, Chapters 14-15

Miracles, Chapters 16-17