Zeus, Eater of Rocks (and fluffy toys that squeek)

Best Movie in Months!

Karisa and I went to see "Gran Torino" on Friday night at the local $3 theater. I don't know where to start except: YOU HAVE TO GO SEE THIS MOVIE! I honestly believe that it was one of the very best movies I have seen in a long time.

The story is about an old Korean war veteran whose wife has just died. His neighborhood has changed to contain a large Hmong population and he's... a bit racist and very bitter. The movie follows his journey as he gets to know the new family that moves in next door, especially the son, Thao. 

Gran Torino is funny. I laughed more than I have in many other movies actually labelled "comedy." The cultural interchanges are hilarious. Karisa and I have experience living overseas but it wasn't just me. The whole theater was laughing.

Gran Torino is poignant. It depicts brokenness, pain, sorrow, and death. It does it all well. Clint Eastwood's character has not been a good father, the dysfunction in his family is clear. The influence of gangs is heartbreaking. Generational gaps are clear.

Gran Torino is hopeful. I can't say too much about this because I don't want to spoil anything for you. But the movie doesn't just take you into a broken place. It gives hope about what can happen in the brokenness. 

Gran Torino is about faith. One of the main themes is the recurring interchanges between Eastwood and the young Catholic priest. Again, the movie does a superb job depicting a priest and wrestling with faith. The priest isn't perfect (he's young and inexperienced) but he's genuine and admirable.

It's a GREAT movie. SEE IT! Then tell me what you think.

Wow, is there anything more embarrassing than having to post after a post about not posting when it's been even longer since that post than since the one before it?! Ah well...

Lately, I've been playing this online game that is basically like Settlers of Catan but has soldier, called Travian. It's kinda fun. I had gotten a little too into it, though, so I recently had to cut back and put it in it's proper place. That said, it's lots of fun so go to www.travian.us and have fun.

The biggest excitement in life right now is that summer softball starts on Monday. I'm pretty stoked as I have been waiting for softball since last season ended. I was known to go up to people at church in January and say things like, "It's 2009! Softball is coming soon!"

Besides that, not much is happening. Karisa got accepted to Wheaton (wasn't much doubt with her amazing skills and experience). My car was totaled (nothing serious don't freak out. Hit a curb that messed up a tire and when they went in to fix it, they found old damage) which means we will learn to survive on 1 car while putting the money the insurance company gives us into savings!

Well, that's it for real. More later.

Time Flies

Wow, I can't believe it's February 19th. First of all because today is my brother's birthday! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSE!

(That's Jesse on the left. The one on the right is my younger  brother, Joel)

I'm also glad that today is February 19th because it is a sign that soon we will have moved on past the month that is February (no offense, bro) towards a month that has the possibility of being spring like. Of course, I know that here in Chicago the whole phenomenon known as "spring" is most an illusion or a cruel trick of Winter to get your hopes up. However, I choose to be an optimist. This year, we're going to get warmth early to make up for how freaking cold it was this winter.

In other news, Karisa and I are on the hunt for a two bedroom apartment. I am in negotiations with our current landlord to try to get a two bedroom apartment. In the past he's been really generous with people. The problem is that I talked to him today and he said he hasn't been having any problem lately keeping the apartments full at full price. So, we'll see if there might be any fruit that comes from our negotiations. He's a softie but since we already have a one bedroom apartment it's not like we can claim no place to live if he says no.

Also, like has been incredibly busy for me at work as we are striving, like every college, to try to anticipate the affects (or is it effects? I don't know how I graduated college or why they let me work here...) of the economic downturn on enrollment. It's an adventure for sure.

Lots is going on at church as well as Karisa and I try to develop the Hospitality Ministries at Resurrection. I really want to work on how to change the ethos. It's one thing to have good systems in place and things running smoothly. (We do need that). But it's another thing to try to make people friendly and willing to talk to strangers. I'm trying to figure out how to tell people, "They're more afraid of you than you are of them." It seems odd, but people are afraid to talk to newcomers, almost as if they are worried about offending them or not being liked. My experience is that when someone is visiting, they love being said hello to. Even if you don't have a great conversation, they really appreciate your effort. 

Well, I'm not sure how many people even read this blog so I won't keep rambling. It would probably be more people if I update more often! :) No one to blame but myself.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone! Karisa and I made it safely to Cleveland TN to relax and enjoy the holidays with Karisa's side of the family. It is especially joyful for a number of reasons. One, Christ is come to earth! Two, Karisa has quit her job and is finally free from the stress and crazy hours of a foster care social worker. And third, Alethea and Justin have provided the cure from having to continue to use the library for videos in the form of a gift certificate to NetFlix. (This was especially timely as the library was already running low on movies that were worth borrowing. See my last post.)

Of course, we also miss my side of the family. Which reminds me of an invention I came up with when I was growing up on the mission field. It's pretty simple machine, really. Basically, what it does is instantaneously transport you from one place to another. The memory that stands out to me as a child was that of grandparents suddenly being able to visit. Admittedly, the invention is still in blueprint stage. I'm having trouble with a few of the parts...

Well, I'm back to family activities (at the moment watching Alethea get a Wii Fitness age of about 200!)

Lost Idealism

My wife and I have gone into a mode called, "saving money." It's a good mode to be in, though it does have its drawbacks (Giordano's pizza is so much better than Little Ceasar, just like it's price is so much higher).

One of the money saving devices we've resorted to is getting movies from our local library instead of the local Blockbuster. So last night Karisa stopped by the library to pick out a movie. Since the selection is smaller, we ended up with the movie "First Knight" starring Sean Connery, Julia Ormand, and Richard Gere. 

There are many things to say about this movie. If you haven't seen it, I do recommend it (especially since the library has it for free). I found myself thinking a lot about idealism, fairy tales, and realism while I watched Richard Gere and Julia Ormand portrayal of the classic forbidden love of Lancelot and Guinevere. 

"First Knight" is the quintessential idealistic movie. The opening scene of a village burning depicts a medieval village going about daily chores. Apparently, this village is also inhabited by fairies who magically keep everything clean. No one's clothes were dirty, the hay was all perfect, and I have feeling that the village smelled of lavender.

This sort of idealism carries throughout the movie. All the good characters wear nice clothes and all of Camelot wears blue. The evil characters all wear black and dark earth tones. Camelot is a white stone city while, of course, the evil Malagant lives in a castle that is really more of a grimy underground cave.

Compare this to the more recent version of the Arthurian legend: "King Arthur" starring Clive Owen in which the movie attempted to recreate the "real" Arthur as a Roman legion and Merlin as a Scottish highlander chief. 

The new Arthur story attempts to rectify my first response to watching "First Knight" which was, "That's so unrealistic," and, "That would NEVER happen!" While "King Arthur" still have plenty of Hollywood fakeness, the overall feel of the movie is, "This is real. It could have happened."

As I thought about it more, though, I realized that it wasn't simply replacing unrealism with realism. It was also a loss of idealism. A whole essay would be necessary to compare Sean Connery's Arthur to that of Clive Owen. Undoubtably they are both men of honor and self sacrifice. However, Sean Connery depicts the man who has created and ideal setting where his values/virtues are embodied. Clive Owen, on the other hand, depicts a man of virtue in the middle of a world where his virtues are considered high ideals but of little value and in which the world's lawlessness and selfishness is overpowering.

It seems that perhaps we as a culture have become more realistic (a good thing) but have lost some of our idealism (a bad thing). We are constantly being more exposed to despair, brokenness, hunger, poverty and a host of other issues in our world today. We are more aware of the world's fallenness than ever before. At the same time, though, we seem to be less capable of dreaming the big dreams. We are more prone to write idealism off as unrealistic naivete. 

We will never build Arthur's Camelot on earth. In fact, Arthur's Camelot is simply an echo of the true goodness of the Kingdom of God to come. At the same time, it was with some sadness that I realized that even in our story telling, we don't have imagination for the ideal, but prefer to live in the gritty realism of the world today. 

This is the challenge of the both/and Kingdom. How can we both acknowledge the deep darkness and the unpleasant realities of life, while still dreaming the dreams of the truly good.

There are, of course, many other levels of critique that could be applied to both these movies. That is not my purpose today. I'm sure that even these ideas could be applied more fully and developed more clearly. These are just my initial thoughts and I'd love to hear yours, so send me your thoughts if you got 'em!

Happy Thanksgiving

Hmm... I'm beginning to see a theme develop in the way that I post: long intervals between posts. On the upside, maybe the long wait builds anticipation for the post to come. That may just be wishful thinking though.

Karisa and I made the long trek out to Perkasie, PA for Thanksgiving. If you don't know where that is, don't feel bad. I spent four days there and still don't know where it is. (North of Philadelphia near Quakertown). My parents have a new home there that is very nice. My whole immediate family was there and my aunt, uncle and cousins joined us for Thanksgiving afternoon/evening.

The only thing more certain than long delays between my posts is Karisa and my ability to forget to take pictures while going anywhere. As a result, I only have two to share with you:

Jesse and Joel, two of my brothers!