Da Da DAAAAAAA!

Hey everyone! I'm back! Isn't this exciting?

So, as a sort of blog ice breaker, here are some film thoughts for 2008.

This has been a very interesting year for film. At least for me anyway. I recently typed up a list of my five favorite films this year. At the beginning of the year, I don't think I would have imagined it looking like this:

1. Twilight

Okay, so this very scandalous for me. I have avoided reading the series partially because so many people have been crazed over it (I have a tendency to be contrary like that.) However, I went to see because my girlfriend wanted to on her birthday... plus I think I was curious. I was very impressed with the film. It maybe wasn't the best technically, but I chose it not so much for technical reasons. I chose it because the film had such a positive feel about it and it gave more to chew on than anything I have seen in a long time. Twilight wrestles with temptation and shows love in a way that reminds me of God's love.

2. The Tale of Despereaux
This is another surprise for me. Recently, I have not been impressed by very many animated films outside of Pixar. However, I quickly fell in love with this unusual film. The Tale of Despereaux is taken from the book of the same name. Now, I have not read this book either and I hear that it differs considerably from the film (my younger sister has read it), but I think this film has done what few other animated films dare to do: Be serious. Shocking isn't it? This film is not a comedy and if you watch it continually hoping for it to become funny, you will probably be disappointed. It's not that the film doesn't have funny moments, but they are more true-to-life moments. Therefore, if you can't laugh at awful situations, then this movie will probably strike you as terribly serious. I could go on and on about this film: it contrasts dark and light in a refreshing way, brings in some of the darkest parts of historic cultures, and shows that a person does not have to be Hollywood gorgeous to be worthy of love and respect.

3. Kung Fu Panda
I love this film! Before the previous two came along, I think this was an easy winner for me. Why do I love this animated, also not Pixar, film? It is beautiful, funny, and has enough meaning to satisfy. Jack Black is the lead vocal talent and, like David Spade in The Emperor's New Groove, is just funny to listen to. Furthermore, anyone who is interested in martial arts and Asian culture will probably appreciate Kung Fu Panda. It manages to both parody and honor martial arts and Asian culture at the same time. When I want a film that makes me laugh, this is one of the first I turn to.

4. WALL-E
This is a film that has grown on me more and more every time I watch it. Although it may not be my favorite Pixar film (Ratatouille probably holds that spot), it is possibly in a category of it's own. One reason why is that this film is different in that it has very little dialogue for much of the film (I think the first 20 minutes have zero actual dialogue.) However, this fact only makes the film more endearing. There are many interesting things to be taken away from WALL-E, but I think the greatest is the beautiful love between the two main characters. Inspiring.

5. Iron Man or Prince Caspian
This is a difficult choice for me because these two films are very different. Therefore, I will simply leave them as a tie for now. Here is what I love about these films: Iron Man fascinates me because of the technology in the film. It doesn't matter if it's real or not. It's cool! I love that the film takes so long in setting up the character of Iron Man. Also, I LOVE the acting. Robert Downey Jr.'s performance should win him an Oscar. He plays the role of Tony Stark (Iron Man) so calmly, but I don't think it's nearly as easy as he makes it look. Truly though, it is the connection that I see between Robert Downey Jr. and Tony Stark that I think will keep me coming back for more. Robert Downey Jr. has had a very troubled career. He has fallen into substance abuse problems over and over. However, those problems seem to be over. I think Robert Downey Jr. was able to connect with the character of Tony Stark (who goes through a major focus change) because of the troubles he has experienced. I think this is the main reason of love Iron Man so much.

Why I enjoy Prince Caspian is not very difficult to explain. Unfortunately, no character in the film really gets to me personally. However, it is moments here and there that really affects my emotions. Prince Caspian is much like the book in that respect. C.S. Lewis always managed to put small but meaningful messages throughout the Narnia Series. I'm glad Prince Caspian has done that as well. It also has captured the excitement and adventure of the books (something I felt that the recent film version of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was missing.) Even though it does not follow the books like many wish. It has the feel of Narnia and because of that I am glad. If you have not yet seen this film, then do.

Well, there are my top five as of right now. I say "as of right now" because I have only seen the top two once each. We will see if anything changes with further viewings.

Now it's your turn: What films did you enjoy that were released this year? What older films have you discovered?

Henna Tattoos!

I was at a friend's 16th birthday party and a friend of hers was giving a bunch of people Henna Tattoos. For anyone who doesn't know, Henna is a reddish-brown that lasts for about 1-4 weeks.

My tattoo is almost faded now, but here is what it did look like:

In case anyone can't tell what it is, it's a tree with the trunk being on my wrist and the roots being on my forearm.

Much thanks to the artist! You are amazing!

Music: An Idol?

Since I have been carrying over PSEO this summer, I have still been writing papers. Here is one I just wrote for my Intro to Music class. Although I had multiple topics to choose from, I chose this particular one because it seemed like something I needed to think about. As is said in the film Luther, "We preach best, what we need to learn most."

Here is my essay. I hope you enjoy!

Music: An Idol?
Can music become a “god” for a believer? Can and do some Christians use music as a substitute for God? My answer to these questions: “yes, I believe it is a definite possibility that music can become an idol.” I believe this because of two reasons: first, music is emotional and second, because the statistics show that American’s are heavily focused on music. Furthermore, once believers realize the potential problem, I believe there are several steps they can take to safeguard themselves.
I think music can become a “god” because music is emotional and more and more it seems that people are looking for emotional experiences to fulfill them. However, instead of looking to God, they are looking to things to fulfill them, such as love, sex, sports, hobbies, philanthropy, and all media, which includes music. All of these things are good in their own right and I think they can point us to God, but they should never be used in place of God. 1 Corinthians 6:12 says, “‘Everything is permissible for me’-but not everything is beneficial. ‘Everything is permissible for me’-but I will not be mastered by anything.” Paul here is talking about things of a sexual nature, but the same concept applies to music. I know that it is far too easy for me to turn to music for comfort rather than to God.
I think music can become an idol because the statistics show that American culture focuses heavily on music. I would argue that the people of today don’t know what it’s like to be without music for just a week. I’m not just speaking of the Ipod Generation, but most Americans 40 and younger. In America, we have music constantly filling our day. Even if someone doesn’t often buy CDs or doesn’t own an Ipod, he or she can still hear music on the radio, in stores, at church, and from friends. However, not just American culture is focused on music. Most, if not all, other cultures have deep roots in music as well. However, no other country focuses on music as much as the U.S.
If anyone isn’t convinced that music is a gigantic piece of American life, then consider that according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the global market for the music industry in 2004 was estimated at $32 billion! Consider also that from the 1900s-2000s the United States has led in album sales share for the entire world (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_industry)! The United States is listed at 37-40% of the world’s album sales. The second is Japan at only 9-12% (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_industry).
Is this love of music wrong? No! Music is something that God created and is pleased with. However, can one put music in the place of God? I believe that that is possible. When we turn to anything for help rather than turning to God, that thing becomes an idol. Exodus 20:3 says, “You shall have no other gods before me.” Consequently, believers ought to be very careful that our music does not come before our Lord. How can we do this? I don’t think there will ever be a simple solution, but I think these three things will help: First of all, music influences us strongly. We need to make sure that what we listen to is not separating us from God. Secondly, when we are struggling with something, we need to turn to God instead of turning to our music. Letting music be therapy is not wrong, but music should not get in the way of the Lord’s healing work. If it seems at some point that music is part of God’s work in us then we need to go with His leading. What is important is that we are receiving God’s healing however it comes. Thirdly, we need to not confuse an emotional experience with a God experience. Certainly, music can bring us closer to God and God affects us emotionally, but let us not fall in love with music or musical worship. Let us fall in love with God.
None of these are cut and dried. They are only beginning ideas. We need to follow what God tells us about our relationship with music and our relationship with Him. In this way I hope that music will not become an idol for any believer.

Jon Foreman!!!

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't posted in so long! Honestly, things have just been busy and I haven't really made time for blogging, but I'm back now. :)

Jon Foreman In Concert

On July 11th I got to see Jon Foreman play at the Coffee Bene in St. Paul. For those of you who don't know, Jon Foreman is the lead singer for the band Switchfoot. However, over the last year he has put out four solo EPs named after the four seasons. Each EP contains his own musings on numerous subjects, but they are also in the style and feel of the particular season. "Summer" was the last EP so we were able to pick from all of his songs (he had the audience write down what songs they wanted to hear.)

The Coffee Bene is no larger than your everyday Caribou and even though my friends and I managed to get there early, I still ended up in the fifth row back. About 45 minutes before the performance was supposed to begin, Jon Foreman walks in with some of his friends. He shakes some peoples hands, they order their drinks, and then began to set up. The cool thing is that it was one of the most natural things ever. It just felt like a bunch of friends hanging out.

The concert itself was amazing. It was as Jon said, "professional" because it was free. I just love the fact that he did four free shows just because he wanted to give to his fans and because he loves performing like that. I didn't know all of the songs, but I still thoroughly enjoyed them. The only performers were Jon Foreman (playing acoustic guitar and harmonica) and another man on a cello (which happens to be one of my favorite instruments so I was VERY excited.) The music was beautiful and Jon's voice is amazing. Also Jon was so laid back as he talked to the crowd, it just gave a feeling of family.

Afterwards, tons of people wanted to talk to Jon and he still had another show to play at 11:00 that night so I only got to talk to him for 30 seconds to a minute. However, I got to talk to Chad, the drummer for Switchfoot (he was just chillin' there), for about 15 minutes. That was a very cool experience. Both Jon and Chad are extremely friendly people who have the love of Christ overflowing from them. That was the first time I got to see Jon Foreman playing solo. I sure hope that I will see him again in the future.

Review of Жизнь Студента

I am part of a forum called Christianfilmmakers.org. We currently have about 550 members and Colton Davie is one of them. This is an experimental short film of his called Жизнь Студента which I believe is Russion for Student Life. Anyway, I was extremely interested by this work and wrote up a very detailed review.

I suggest watching the short, trying to figure out what it means to you, reading my thoughts on it, and then sharing your thoughts. I hope you enjoy!


http://openlightstudios.com/ZhiznStudenta.mov

Hey Colton,

I just watched your short twice and here are some thoughts:

I was very confused the first time and wondered if there was any point at
all... I think part of me, though, thought that there might be, but it had just
gone way over my head. However, I did really love the cinematography. Encouraged
after reading the posts about the short, I watched it a second time, this time
with my brother and I bounced ideas off of him of what I thought things
meant.

Opening credits: Just now, listening to the opening music a third time, I
get a early morning/sleepy feeling from it. Also, the way the credits disappear
is very sleepy.

Cell phone alarm goes off and then box alarm: This is something I've done.
I wake up to my alarm in the morning and then look at the time and go back to
sleep. Then, my box alarm (that I set to go off later as a safety measure) goes
off. While I can't identify with a loud dorm roommate, I do sympathise with the
obnoxiousness of it all and everyone has been rudely awoken at some time or
another.

Dropping down to the concrete floor: This seemed symbolic to me. To me it
represents how one feels in the morning. He has passed from the warm,
comfortable, wonderful bed onto the hard, cold, depressing floor. He has left
the comforting, restful world of dreams for the difficult, laborious, and
stressful world.

Everything in the opening part of the short is very sleepy. It seems that
he is taking a hot shower which may not be the best thing to wake one up, but it
is what one feels like doing in the morning. I'm not sure if the soaps signify
anything, but I noticed that two are upside down and one is right side up. Yeah,
maybe there's nothing to that... yet perhaps there is. *wink* Back to the
drowsiness thing, even pulling the towel down is down in a sleepy, morning
way.

I love the shot with the leaf rolling in the upper right corner. It gives
the feeling of freshness. The music also picks up here and I get the feeling
that the main character is more awake now, but not quite awake enough to be
almost-tackled by a friend (the friend has either more energy than the main
character or has been up a lot longer... afterall, it is at least 11:00.)

Some of the later stuff just feels like school or is confusing.

I think that the colored stuff is what he is dreaming rather than the black
and white. This goes along with the idea that the dream world can seem way
better than the real world. All the dream stuff is more random, but overall
feels more pleasant.

Talking with the girl: I love this part! I love the exchanged glances! I
think the green light shot goes along with the glances. Once they both smile at
each other, the main character feels like he has a green light to talk to her. I
think they both go to the same school and are perhaps even in a class together
(maybe Russian?), but he has never really talked to her. I think they say "hi"
to each other and then he asks her how she is. She responds by saying something
like "not too bad" or "alright" or "pretty good." I'm confused about what the
main character says next. I kinda get the feeling, but I'm having trouble
placing my finger on it.

Cutting back to the obnoxious roommate: From a cute dream to shocking
awakening... Once again the difference between the worlds.

Scene with main character, girl, and lights: Great lighting effect!
Beautiful! I don't completely get the point here, but it is comforting. The
scene feels like it's saying, "It's going to be okay." This is the last
comforting thing before he wakes up.

The second alarm and screaming roommate: He's back to the real world.

So, I'm not sure what I got right, but I love that I was able to pull all
these things out of the short even though the film is so out of the ordinary.
Thank you for sharing!

Two Small, But Impactful Blessings

Already I have not kept my goal of posting often. I will try to make it up. :) This last week has been crazy! RJ left on Wednesday and that was shocking for our whole family. We are slowly recovering. Also, for most of Saturday, I was gone at the Rebelution Conference (a conference rebelling against low expectations for youth) held in the Twin Cities.

So, I suppose I should get to the point of my title. Twice, within about the last week, I have been blessed with having an amazing opportunity to take some fantastic pictures. Both came on days where I would later be rather stressed out. I think that maybe this is God's way of making my day bearable since He knew what I would go through. He has been teaching me to appreciate the things He does bless me with rather than always focusing on what is wrong in my life. These were just a couple opportunities to put into practice what He is teaching me. Taking these pictures was such a joy and I thank God for them.


With this last pic, let's see if anyone can tell me what reoccurring theme there is, but if I already told you, please don't share. :)

RJ: World Traveler

This is a picture of Ljubljana, one stop on RJ's travels.

In a day and a half my sister RJ will be leaving for Europe. She will be there for three months. Because of this, on Sunday, we held a farewell/ blessing (and since she turned 21 on Sunday, it was also a birthday) ceremony for her. It was extremely fun. She had family attend as well as many of her friends. Since she will be in Europe, the style of food was Mediterranean. IT WAS AMAZING! If I could eat like that every day, I wouldn't be disappointed. :)

For the blessing ceremony, RJ sat in front of everyone and then people came
up and said some of the things they appreciated about her and then they usually blessed her with something. For instance, RJ is very different than anyone else I know and I blessed her with accepting that and knowing that God rejoices in her differences and that He will use them.

So, why a blessing ceremony? Well, I think most other cultures in the world, besides the extremely Westernized ones, have some sort of release into adulthood. For instance, the Jewish culture has Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. However, Westernized culture seems to have lost this valuable tradition of blessing a person and releasing him/her into adulthood. I think it is so important to receive that blessing, especially from one's parents because this is where the parents show the child that he or she is respected completely as an adult, that he or she is no longer under their parenting, and that they completely release that adult into God's plan for his or her life. I would suggest that it is crucial to receive this blessing.

I am going to miss RJ, but I am so glad she is going.

RJ, I pray God's blessing over you and your trip, I pray that it will be safe and God-filled, and I bless you with and pray for you Isaiah 30:21: "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.'"

Pride

My heart is heavy right now. I am reading further in Surprised by the Power of the Spirit and realizing so many of my deficiencies. Praise God!

Jack Deere, the author, is talking about Mary's (as in Mary and Martha) passion for Jesus. Here is what he says: "Mary walked in during the middle of dinner with a pound of pure nard, a perfume worth at least a year's wages. Then she 'wasted' that expensive perfume by pouring it on the feet of Jesus. Next she let down her hair and wiped the feet of the Lord with her hair (John 12:1-3).

This was an extraordinary act. It was also an improper act. Mary interrupted the dinner, she approached a male guest, she let down her hair in the manner of an immoral woman, and she did the work of a slave. What led her to humble herself and transgress the bounds of propriety? What led her to such an extravagant waste?

It was this: she recognized the greatness of Jesus, and she knew that he was worthy of all of the extravagance she could lavish on him. He was worthy of the deepest humiliation she could suffer on his behalf. Mary was driven by a holy passion for the Son of God."

Why don't I have this passion? I think it's because I am so prideful that I can't even see it. Why am I afraid to be extravagant for God? Why am I afraid of humiliation? Pride is an illusion. We don't really have anything to lose unless we aren't truly sold out wholly to God. Jesus, who is completely holy, suffered the greatest humiliation because He loves us. Can't we, out of love, humiliate ourselves for Him? Mary was the one who instead of serving Jesus just wanted to sit at His feet and listen to Him speak. I find that often I am more of a Martha than a Mary. I am so eager to do things for Jesus, but I don't know that I'm that eager just to listen. Maybe it's because by doing things for Jesus, I feel better about myself and can get some sort of recognition or pride out of it. I want to be willing to sit at Jesus' feet out of love and to humiliate myself for Him out of love. I wish that it was just natural, but right now it isn't. Only God truly understands all of our motives and I think He may be showing me just a glimpse of how prideful I am. How can I be more like Mary? I think the answer lies in asking God. I truly hope that He will make me so focused on Him so that I might love Him like Mary.

Now, after all of that, I'm going to go make some pancakes!! Have a blessed day!

Passion

Passion... What are we without it?

Lately, I believe God has been trying to create passion in me. I feel starved for passion. I fear that I am not passionate enough about my relationship with God, yet I am passionate about becoming passionate. I feel like a starving man. I am starving for a closer relationship with God.

I've been reading a book called Suprised by the Power of the Spirit. In a section I read today the author talks about a time in his life where some things in Psalms made him uncomfortable. One of them was how hungry the psalmists were for God. At this time in his life he did not have this passion and so naturally he was confused by it. Psalm 42:2-3 says, "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, 'Where is your God?'"

Reading this I realized that I don't have that same hunger and passion, yet I want it.

Passion... What are we without it?

Lord Jesus, please create in me an overwhelming passion and hunger for You.

Welcome!!!

Well, I've finally decided to start a blog. I've been wanting to do this for some time and now here it is!

I hope to write consistently (hopefully several times a week) until I go to the Challenge conference in Utah and then I'll see what happens.

This blog is to write down my thoughts so that I may better understand them and what God is doing in my life. It is also so that I and others may get to know each other better and inspire one another.

I hope you enjoy! :)