I get a newsletter from Chrisianity Today movies which I usually enjoy. The discussions and reviews can be insightful. But every now and then I scratch my head and say, "Okay. What?"
The latest one was about foul language in PG movies. Apparently, moviemakers are seeing a rise in ticket sales for PG movies without aforementioned language. The author of the newsletter applauded this.
This is without commenting on the fact stated elsewhere in the newsletter that violence and sexual content had no negative affect on sales. So a character can shoot at people and say double entandras as long as he or she says "gosh" and "heck" the whole time. At least our priorities are in the right place.
It's nice that we don't want children saying bad words, but is that really a moral issue? I grew up believing that "shut up" was swearing. Since I thought using naughty words was the ultimate evil, I grew up to be polite in that respect. But I still got angry and tried to punch people out when I got frustrated. (Thankfully, I wasn't that good at it.) Which one was the bigger issue?
Manners are good, but they also help us whitewash the exteriors so we look good. Are we doing this with our speech as well? Why doesn't it extend to our actions?
I guess what I'm trying to say is, what the #&^$%&@*^%&@% happened to our moral compass?
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Food Fight
The video I found below is a Eurocentric history of war as told by our nations' foods. It's creative if more than a bit disturbing. Of course, most of it is about the hamburgers.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Kids are not idiots
Despite pronunciation issues, this child sounds quite precocious. WARNING! She kind of curses.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Value if Fiction 2: Movies
I know why churches want to show movies. As I said in the previous blog, stories resonate. I remember movies I saw in church ages ago. I wish I could forget, but that's a different story.
Three movies I saw last week reminded me of this. Lars and the Real Girl, There Will Be Blood, and For Your Consideration. The first and last reminded me of the church (how it should be and how much of it tends to be, respectively). The former was a community striving to help a troubled young man even when it meant acknowledging his imaginary friend.
The latter had interviewers asking actors "What have you been doing lately?" When the actors began to talk about their lives, they were cut off with "It was a rhetorical question." It was funny and sad, especially since something close to that has happened more than once in my life. Why do we ask "how are you" when we don't expect an honest answer?
There Will Be Blood is a frightening picture of greed and evil and the connection between them. We watch an oil tycoon slowly slip into madness.
All three movies and countless others could be discussed in churches. But we'd never see them there. For better or worse, I couldn't say. We just wouldn't.
Three movies I saw last week reminded me of this. Lars and the Real Girl, There Will Be Blood, and For Your Consideration. The first and last reminded me of the church (how it should be and how much of it tends to be, respectively). The former was a community striving to help a troubled young man even when it meant acknowledging his imaginary friend.
The latter had interviewers asking actors "What have you been doing lately?" When the actors began to talk about their lives, they were cut off with "It was a rhetorical question." It was funny and sad, especially since something close to that has happened more than once in my life. Why do we ask "how are you" when we don't expect an honest answer?
There Will Be Blood is a frightening picture of greed and evil and the connection between them. We watch an oil tycoon slowly slip into madness.
All three movies and countless others could be discussed in churches. But we'd never see them there. For better or worse, I couldn't say. We just wouldn't.
The Value of Fiction 1: Writing
I started writing a story today. I'm not sharing it to boast or even to promote it in any way. None of that is interesting, really. How it makes me feel is.
I realized how much I missed writing stories. It's the same reason I enjoy reading novels (or great non-fiction books that read like them) and short stories. It's why Devil in the White City or Life of Pi resonate more than A Purpose Driven Life. There's a power in storytelling.
The ideal "sermon" for me would probably be reading a parable or a narrative from the Bible and sharing about it. There's even value in short stories and books, but I wanted to give credit where it's due first.
Does anyone remember explanations from Sunday school classes (childhood to present)? I'm sure they gave them, but those aren't the parts that stick.
Maybe it's the "show not tell" aspect of writing for me. But I'll take vivid images over explanations any day.
I realized how much I missed writing stories. It's the same reason I enjoy reading novels (or great non-fiction books that read like them) and short stories. It's why Devil in the White City or Life of Pi resonate more than A Purpose Driven Life. There's a power in storytelling.
The ideal "sermon" for me would probably be reading a parable or a narrative from the Bible and sharing about it. There's even value in short stories and books, but I wanted to give credit where it's due first.
Does anyone remember explanations from Sunday school classes (childhood to present)? I'm sure they gave them, but those aren't the parts that stick.
Maybe it's the "show not tell" aspect of writing for me. But I'll take vivid images over explanations any day.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
This World is Not his Home
Larry Norman, the quintesential Christian hippie, passed away. His song "I Wish We'd All Been Ready" was a family favorite. "Some Said He was an Outlaw" and "Shot Down" are current favorites. He had a great balance between simple and profound.
I'm posting some quotes below from an interview he had in the 70s with the Door magazine. Enjoy.
I would drop 80% of all the music off all the labels if you want Christian music that represents Christ. In fact, not much music really represents Christ's glory or even His message. But unfortunately, there's a lot of Christians in the record business and they need a lot of artists because they need to sell a bulk of records or the company will go under.
I once got Paul McCartney's autograph. I felt so stupid. It was after we were talking for about twenty minutes and we were having a nice chat. He'd known about some of the music I'd done with my band and he accepted me on a musical level because he liked the record. Then at the last minute, as I realized I was going to go someplace, I thought, "I've got to get his autograph. I just have to. After all, he is a Beatle." So I asked for his autograph and he was very visible disappointed. It was like, "Oh, I thought that we were both people." I was so embarrassed that while he was signing it, I didn't even want it.
Some groups go so fast through their repertoire that there's not much chance for the Holy Spirit to slip in there. And sometimes it is very manipulative. Americans like to be entertained. If I've learned anything from, doing concerts, I've learned that. They don't really want to be reached. The majority of people on the majority of nights don’t want to be reached and they don't want to be touched because that means they'll have to change. There're always those special nights when everybody just wants to fall on their face because God has been there, for some reason, He decided to attend the concert in a mighty way. But most people want a nice time and maybe a little bit of truth and wisdom that they can put in their pocket. When they get bored they can take it out and decide whether or not they want it. But any time you accept truth, you have to change. You have to make room for it and I don't think people like that. I've alienated many an audience by telling them exactly what I knew I had to speak.
I may not know that many of his songs, but I'm starting to become a fan.
I'm posting some quotes below from an interview he had in the 70s with the Door magazine. Enjoy.
I would drop 80% of all the music off all the labels if you want Christian music that represents Christ. In fact, not much music really represents Christ's glory or even His message. But unfortunately, there's a lot of Christians in the record business and they need a lot of artists because they need to sell a bulk of records or the company will go under.
I once got Paul McCartney's autograph. I felt so stupid. It was after we were talking for about twenty minutes and we were having a nice chat. He'd known about some of the music I'd done with my band and he accepted me on a musical level because he liked the record. Then at the last minute, as I realized I was going to go someplace, I thought, "I've got to get his autograph. I just have to. After all, he is a Beatle." So I asked for his autograph and he was very visible disappointed. It was like, "Oh, I thought that we were both people." I was so embarrassed that while he was signing it, I didn't even want it.
Some groups go so fast through their repertoire that there's not much chance for the Holy Spirit to slip in there. And sometimes it is very manipulative. Americans like to be entertained. If I've learned anything from, doing concerts, I've learned that. They don't really want to be reached. The majority of people on the majority of nights don’t want to be reached and they don't want to be touched because that means they'll have to change. There're always those special nights when everybody just wants to fall on their face because God has been there, for some reason, He decided to attend the concert in a mighty way. But most people want a nice time and maybe a little bit of truth and wisdom that they can put in their pocket. When they get bored they can take it out and decide whether or not they want it. But any time you accept truth, you have to change. You have to make room for it and I don't think people like that. I've alienated many an audience by telling them exactly what I knew I had to speak.
I may not know that many of his songs, but I'm starting to become a fan.
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