birthday buddies: TODAY!

Pretty sure a photo or two will express nicely today's birthday buddy...

and how I feel about sharing a birthday with her...

That's right--happy birthday Carrie Fisher (!) (1956)

And happy birthday to me! Since I share a birthday with someone who was a princess, I'm prolly one too, right? At least for today? ;-) And if that's not what that means, I hope that at least it means I can have a little bit of her courage in being open about her difficulties and past poor choices and moving forward into healthier ways of living.

But first I think I'll take the princess... :-)

Six Flags Great America

Today was a perfect day for Six Flags...and apparently everyone else within driving distance of the place thought so too.  It was packed.  Though my surgeon said all's well, I am still a little sore and he didn't sound excited about riding roller coasters, but I decided to go for it.  Well, sort of--I only ended up riding one because I wasn't willing to stand in line for ages for any others.  Plus you now have to put all your stuff in a locker at the ride entrance/end of the line, which costs $1 at every ride (and you can only use once--it ends when you open it).  That is NOT cool.

Cecily and I rode the train around the park several times--as in, for just over an hour.  haha!  It was relaxing and shady, which was nice.  On the train, however, there is a recorded audio tour-ish voice.  At one point, as you pass the frontier-town area of the park, they say something about the "Crazy Buffalo restaurant."  Except they pronounce it "buffay-lo."  Which made us laugh repeatedly!  Only when driving home, 4 hours later, did we realize (having gone in to check the place out) that it's a buffet.  What are the chances they did it on purpose and said "buffet-lo"?  (the sign definitely says "buffalo"...)  Our slowness made me laugh even more.

There are lots of things about Six Flags that annoy me greatly...the main one being the whole business of the FlashPass.  Paying more than the cost of your ticket gets you special line-jumping privileges.  Meanwhile, the rest of us just stand in line for hours and hours and hours.  So obviously if one has more money, one gets to cut to the front of the line.  Money gets you ahead, not just in life but at Six Flags too.  Gag--this reflection of our culture's obsession with both $$ and getting ahead makes me ill.    (end rant.  prematurely, perhaps, but whatever.)    

Okay, I lied.   I've also noticed that there is no honor system anymore--the locker thing is part of this, as is the business of getting a ticket while you're standing in line (also new) that has a number on it.  If your ticket is out of order, they know you cut and they kick you out of the park.  Cuz they can't just trust you not to cut.  Again with the reflection of the culture--is it possible that we have reached the point where we've lost honor, so the honor system doesn't work?  Are we an honor-free culture?  disturbing.  Okay, for real...no more ranting.  

I'm watching the movie Atonement as I type this.  It's weird, and slow enough to blog and follow at the same time.  This movie came highly recommended...and I've been waiting a couple months for it to come in from the library (when I put it on hold I was like number 130 in the queue).  It seems well done but I don't get it yet.  Maybe all will become clear....

living the movies?

I picked up a bunch of movies as potentials for tomorrow's senior high youth group activity: "Holy Hollywood, Batman!" I also picked up several movies I haven't seen before. So I, naturally, grabbed Because of Winn Dixie and Bridge to Terebithia to complement Lord of the Rings and Saved from my own collection.
For movies I haven't seen, I picked up Enchanted, Babel, the Kite Runner, Dreamgirls, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

When I started watching that last one, I thought "hmm...this seems familiar..." and after about 20 minutes I was pretty sure I'd seen it before. Yes, in fact, I have--by the time we got to the memory-erasing part that happens at night, I knew it for sure.

The irony of this is not lost on me.

I just hope that I don't start to live out the other movies too...

(I've finished Enchanted--cute but predictable, Eternal Sunshine, and most of Dreamgirls so far. I might be able to use a scene from dreamgirls tomorrow, but other than that so far I'm going with my originally planned clips...)

Reading Challenge 2008

I've been reading quite a bit...I got behind on posting while I was away. So, while I was gone, I read two books about young people and the church. "young people" being me. And then I got home and read another.

The first two were unChristian and They Like Jesus But Not The Church.

Both were researchy-books and also were very us-them--as in, "young people, they they they"--which was hard because I am they. I found that very frustrating. Also they both seemed to be about conservative evangelical Christianity. And the things the books said were right--I feel that way! But I'm a Christian, and a pastor, and obviously I don't feel this way about all Christians--just the ones who make the media all the time. So the books were both right and wrong, I guess.

Then I read Tribal Church. And it was so right on. Everything about it was right. I'm very impressed. I loved it and read it in one day. Good work Carol. I know I shouldn't have been surprised since Carol actually is a young adult who is in the church. But the first two were disappointing so I guess I felt a little jaded. No longer!

I have to say, I'm typing this while I watch Enchanted. It's cute, but sort of predictable. And a little odd. I don't think I'll be using it in youth group tomorrow...

slightly depressing Sunday evening movie...

Last night I came home after a very long day (preached three services, had youth group, taught confirmation class about forgiveness/salvation/atonement) and ate all my leftover mashed potatoes and vegetarian brown gravy for dinner. Pretty much the best dinner ever (I make really good mashed potatoes!).

I finally watched the movie I got last week at the library--it's officially overdue so I figured I might as well watch it at least! Kolya is a Czech movie set in the time just before the end of Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia (try typing that a bunch of times...). Kolya is a little Russian boy who is sort of the victim of his mother's ambition and lust. Mom gets into a fake marriage with a Czech cellist (who got tossed out of the Philharmonic for political reasons) who is in financial trouble and agrees to the fake marriage only under duress. Mom runs off, unannounced, to "the West" to be with another lover (married) and to take a job only a couple of days after the wedding, leaving the boy with his grandmother, who ends up dying, leaving Kolya (who speaks no Czech) in the care of his now-stepfather-by-accident (who speaks no Russian). They learn to get along together and to care for one another and the whole thing is terribly sweet even if it is a little depressing (what with the whole communist thing, the we-hate-russians thing on the part of Louka's older mother, the whole poor-because-I-only-play-at-funerals-since-I-got-kicked-out-of-the-orchestra thing, etc). The boy is clearly traumatized--abandoned by his mother and seemingly by his grandmother as well (he's simply told she's asleep). There's a heartbreakingly beautiful scene where Kolya is in the bathtub, using the showerhead as a phone, talking to his baboushka, saying he went to visit but she was asleep and won't she please wake up and come back? He's crying into the "phone" the whole time...telling her what's going on, etc. Adorable, but so sad.

anyway--here's the big spoiler--soviets leave and mom comes back to take the boy with her. He doesn't want to go at first, but he eventually does, and now its stepdad who is forlorn. He gets his orchestra job back, but loses his only real human connection (all his other connections are standard man-crap, using and discarding women). I thought it was the saddest thing ever that the kid ended up being reunited with his mom. I wish he'd stayed with Louka! Alas, no.

The film was beautifully made, wonderfully acted, and generally all-around good. I just cried at the ending. I know this movie is totally old (1996) but I hadn't heard of it before...so in case you haven't either, it's now on my recommended list.

movies movies movies

I've been previewing movies that might work for the 30 Hour Famine lock-in. So here are my basic reviews (nothing in-depth, just surface thoughts...):

The Ultimate Gift: Very good. Made me cry at least 5 separate times. Was a beautiful story. I don't recommend the special features as they remind you that the movie has "a moral point" (as you might say). There are even 12-gift-kits you can buy to practice the 12 gifts for yourself. Avoid those features. But the movie was sweet and does have a good message.

Because of Winn-Dixie: Adorable. I really liked it. The way Opal finds friends, the way they learn to listen to one another, the way the story is told--all great. The growth of the preacher, the healing of telling the story about Opal's mom, his confession to Opal, etc...all good. Plus, the dog is extremely cute.

The Girl in the Cafe: So far, so good. I'm about halfway through as I write this. It's endearingly awkward--you know, older British man, no social skills, etc...girl with no knowledge of world economics getting a crash course at the G8 summit and becoming something of an activist to end hunger. It's not a "real movie"--as in, it's made to educate people about hunger and the Millennium Development Goals, not just to entertain. But it has been rather funny so far. (I'm a little distressed, though, by the age difference between the government man and the girl--he's at LEAST twice her age!)
(update: it looks like there's about to be a sex scene, and I definitely just saw boobs, so that's unfortunate for it's use with high school youth group....)
(second update after the end of the movie: It was an off-screen sex scene, though there was a boob shot or two. The movie was good and I loved the way Gena understood that even if shew as considered a nuisance or an uneducated girl, she could stand up for what she believed and she could try to make a difference.)

The Famine begins tomorrow--we'll be going without food, we'll be making a labyrinth on the floor of the Fellowship Hall using 29,000 pennies (as a visual for how many children die of hunger each day), we'll be playing games, we'll be learning about hunger, we'll be doing a scavenger hunt for the food pantry, and we'll be finding out how much food you can buy on a week's food stamps. And, of course, we've got some movies to choose from. (Watching a movie on Saturday afternoon really hits home the whole not-eating thing. We are so conditioned to eat whenever we're not moving that watching a movie with no popcorn, candy, or Coke is brutal!)

Reading Challenge 2008

I just finished Light from Heaven, the final book in the Mitford Years series. It was delightful. I'm a little sad that I'm done with this series, actually--especially given the way it ended! I want to know what happens to that strange cobbled together family! I'm not sure if the Father Tim series is one I'll pick up--we'll see.

In the non-reading sector, I watched Freedom Writers today. I'd not seen it before (big surprise). I really enjoyed that movie--I thought it was well done and it really told a story. I can see using it, and also the idea of youth writing their own stories, in church. My favorite scene (well, one of my faves, anyway!) is when "Mrs. G" (Erin Gruwell, played by Hillary Swank) keeps one of the kids in the hallway at the beginning of class. She tells him that his self-evaluation is unacceptable, and she says, "I can see who you are. Do you understand me? I. See. You. And you are not failing." Sometimes--in fact, often, I think--really seeing and really being seen are so rare in our world these days that it can be an important, moving, and healing thing. More than any other words, I think. "I see you." So great...

Amazing

Amazing Grace, the movie.

I just saw it, for the first time.
As the credits were rolling, I added it to my Amazon cart.

It's that good.
The soundtrack is wonderful. The acting is pretty darn good. The costumes are great. And the way the characters develop and the story is told...impressive.

Not to mention the bagpipes at the end....

I'm planning to use it in the confirmation lock-in tomorrow, and may use it in regular youth group soon as well. If/when I do, I'll post more about that.

:-)

Also amazing: the way y'all have come through for me on the Aveda front! thanks!

updated:
PS...I didn't cry at all in the movie Amazing Grace, which was something of a surprise to me. But right after that I watched Bridge to Terabithia and cried like a baby. The part where Jess thinks it's all his fault? Right on. The dad saying "it's gonna be okay"? Exactly the wrong thing that people always say. The dad saying "it's just a bad thing; it don't make no sense" and "I don't know much about God but I know God won't send that girl to hell"--right on. Jess punching the kid in class? Also right on, and I'm about nonviolence. Just saying.
Okay, I have to go to bed now....

LOTR quotes of the day

after a whole day watching the movies, I have this to say:

"you're late."

"I am no man."

and

"certainty of death? small chance of victory? what are we waiting for?"

That's a little how I feel heading into Sunday this week....

ok, for real

my last LOTR post for the morning....
can I just say, they handle the feeling of grief really well in this movie? They really capture the shock, the despair, the sadness, and the way you have to keep going anyway.

And, I will point out again: I love Orlando Bloom and Viggo Mortensen. I want them to come to my house. Is there a contest I can enter or something?

i'm slow

okay, so I'm sure everyone else has noticed this long before now, but I just noticed this morning that the troll in the Fellowship of the Ring and the troll in Harry Potter are awfully similar looking. Like maybe the same special effects thing/guy or the same model? Pardon me while I go look this up....