Check this out.

And, really, how often can you say “parking ramp” and “awesome” in the same title?

HT: Rob Donaghue

Most Pixar movies are kid movies that adults can appreciate. WALL*E was an adult movie that children can appreciate.

I may write more later, if I have time.

This is rough; both transitions and sound need work. But I thought I’d put this trailer for A Flower for Mara up for comment. Any thoughts?

Yeah, you think that sounds weird. But it’s actually weirder. And very cool.

HT: Vincent Baker

I’m going to combine two posts into one. Fear my blogging power!

Yesterday was Mother’s Day. I’m doing okay, actually. Had a bit of a moment when I read this, but otherwise I was on an even keel for the day. That’s good, actually. Looking back at previous years, this day has been better or worse, depending on stuff.

Elder James McDonald grabbed me after worship and said that he had been praying for us. He lost his mother a few years ago, too, and he said that he’d been thinking about us. On the one hand, it’s a positive indication that it took me a moment to figure out what he meant. On the other hand, I was deeply moved and appreciative that he had remembered. Made me feel loved.

The day before that, I watched Baby Mamma with Crystal. She wanted to see it, and it was for her birthday, so I said yes.

Now, before I launch into my cultural critique, I need to say that I enjoyed the movie. As my father would say, “It was diverting.” It followed the romantic comedy formula without the central relationship actually being a romance. In other words, it was about a relationship founded initially on a lie that needed to be transformed to a relationship founded on truth. Maybe it was a buddy movie…or maybe buddy movies are related to romantic comedies.

Anways, the bits about pregnancy and childbirth were pretty funny, and I laughed at the right places. At least, I’m pretty sure that they were the right places.

Then I left the theater with Crystal, opining that our civilization is doomed.

Providentially, as we wandered the Shoppes after the movie, we stumbled upon the display of the Dirty Laundry Project, which essentially reinforced my concern.

We have disconnected love, sex, marriage, and childbearing. In the movie, one of the characters says to another one, “What does being married have to do with having a baby?” One of the T-shirt said, “Love does not equal sex. Sex does not equal love.” While it’s certainly true that sex doesn’t always equal love, isn’t it supposed to? Several of the T-shirts talked about waiting to have sex. Wait for what? Marriage was never mentioned. Apparently, you’re supposed to wait for “the right one”. But, in the heat of the moment, the one in front of you is “the right one”.

And, ultimately, we take love, sex, marriage, and childbearing, and turn them into ways to satisfy our own lusts and desires. Yes, even childbearing. It’s the new way to self-actualize, to find meaning in your existence. Having children has become about being fulfilled as a person, not about giving to the next generation.

The more I wander the world, the more that I realize that the simple act of establishing a household, centered on the marriage of a God-fearing man to a God-fearing woman, raising God-fearing children, is a revolutionary act of epic proportions. The kind that makes the foundations of this corruption system tremble.

Here’s one from the quote file:

“Surely avant-garde enemy rebels of the system never had to change diapers.”–Bruce Sterling, Islands in the Net

I wouldn’t be so sure about that.

Happy Mother’s Day, everyone.

I haven’t forgotten about this. However, this Friday, the folks at Film and Theology at Mars Hill Church in Seattle will be watching this. I’m waiting to hear what James Harleman has to say before writing up my thoughts. This is mostly because I’m still gathering what I thought about this movie.

There’s important background to this post. Ready?

I don’t like dancing. I mean, I understand the logic of it and all. I guess. But I don’t find that it’s a way that I express myself, and I find it very awkward when people want me to be a part of it. (In fact, I’m coming to realize that I’m very uncomfortable with my being embodied, but that needs to be a topic for another day.)

So, check this out. These are two people from my church (brother and sister, in fact), who are swing dancing. All those things I said about dancing go double for swing. Don’t get it, don’t like it.

But, there’s something about watching someone engaged in an activity that he loves that makes that activity attractive and beautiful.

So, I’m watching this little video of David and Anna, and I’m thinking, “Wow! I didn’t know that David and Anna could dance like that!” I’m also thinking, “I get it now. I understand why they love dance so much.” Nothing explained, just their love on display, shown by what they did.

I really enjoyed it.

I’m working and listening to Cordelia’s Dad, when I came across this song, from their “Spine” album. According to their liner notes, it was originally penned by Samuel Stennett, an English Baptist.

Pilgrim

On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand
and cast a wishful eye,
to Canaan’s fair and happy land
where my possessions lie.
Oh, the transporting, rapturous scene
that rises to my sight!
Sweet fields arrayed in living green,
and rivers of delight.
There generous fruits, that never fail,
on trees immortal, grow.
There rocks and hills and brooks and vales
with milk and honey flow.
O’er all those wide extended plains
shines one eternal day.
There God, the sun, forever reigns,
and scatters night away.
No chilling winds, nor poisonous breath,
can reach that healthful shore.
Sickness and sorrow, pain and death,
are felt and feared no more.
When shall I reach that happy place,
and be forever blessed?
When shall I see my Father’s face,
and in his bosom rest?
Filled with delight, my raptured soul
can here no longer stay.
Though Jordan’s waves around me roll,
fearless, I launch away.

Tune: Idumea
Author: Charles Wesley
Source: Here

Click here or here to hear a portion sung

1 AND am I born to die? To lay this body down? And must my trembling spirit fly Into a world unknown-A land of deepest shade, Unpierced by human thought, The dreary regions of the dead, Where all things are forgot?

2 Soon as from earth I go, What will become of me? Eternal happiness or woe Must then my portion be; Waked by the trumpet’s sound, I from my grave shall rise, And see the Judge with glory crowned, And see the flaming skies.

3 How shall I leave my tomb? With triumph or regret? A fearful or a joyful doom, A curse or blessing meet? Will angel-bands convey Their brother to the bar? Or devils drag my soul away, To meet its sentence there?

4 Who can resolve the doubt That tears my anxious breast? Shall I be with the damned cast out, Or numbered with the blest? I must from God be driven, Or with my Saviour dwell; Must come at his command to heaven, Or else-depart to hell.

5 O thou that wouldst not have One wretched sinner die, Who died’st thyself; my soul to save From endless misery! Show me the way to shun Thy dreadful wrath severe, That when thou comest on thy throne I may with joy appear.

6 Thou art thyself the Way; Thyself in me reveal; So shall I spend my life’s short day Obedient to thy will; So shall I love my God, Because he first loved me, And praise thee in thy bright abode, To all eternity.

…all of you a post about No Country for Old Men. I’m still collating my thoughts on the film, and then I’ll write them up.

I’ll probably use my writing time today to work on A Flower for Mara, though, so I’m putting this here so that I’ll remember to write about this movie.

Or, alternately, so one of you will nag me in a bit.

I found this post to be rather inspiring, as it described how Gygax used games and the hospitality of his home to connect with teenagers as they were growing up. In a similar respect, this post discusses the generally open and inviting aspects of gamer culture, especially contrasting with our Christian culture, again, especially in connection with teens.

Hmm. I want to reach out to young men. I play games and use them to build relationships. Hmm.

Making me think, it is.

Anger can be such a useful emotion at times, and angry music can be a great motivator. Of course, in our day and age, most angry music is yelling and screaming a la Rage Against the Machine. I’m not opposed to yelling and screaming music; however, that sort of music tends to be hot anger.

On the other hand, cold anger tends to be rarer, so I appreciate it when I see it. Like this song, which is about a factory fire in Fall River, Massachusetts on September 19, 1874. Melodic, yet furious.

I object to musicals on the ground that they violate my sense of reality. In real life, people don’t just suddenly burst into song and dance.

A Minnesota night club uses improv to skirt the no-smoking ban.

Too bad it won’t last, but it’s a good try.

I saw this a couple weeks ago and hadn’t gotten around to writing about it. I’m not going to be particular about spoilers, so I’ll put this one below the fold.

But first, the trailer.

Oh, and a mention that this is a must-see if you’re at all into Dirty Secrets.

Read the rest of this entry »