Your 25 Favorite Movies

Remember when I had you all scrambling to pick your 25 favorite films and vote for them? I think I just realized that I never actually posted the results. Oops.

But we did tally them, my faithful vote-tallying siblings and I. Back in early Spring. And I'm pleased to announce the results! (I shall come in with comments every now and then. When I feel like it. It was actually my desire to comment on every choice that slowed (read: stopped) me from posting the results. So my comments will be limited.*)

In first place we have:

1. Fellowship of the Ring


What can I say? Lots of people like this movie. I wish I knew how I felt about it, but so many

2. Return of the King


This one too...

3. Serenity


A mere three people voted for this movie. How did Serenity make it on the list? The three just put it very high on their lists. Incidentally, all of three of these voters last names rhyme with "ice". Hmm...

4. Casablanca


I'm glad this movie made it on here. I feel like Casablanca is overlooked by a lot of my friends (though probably also over-esteemed by a lot of other people).

5. Star Wars, A New Hope



6. Pride and Prejudice



7. To Kill a Mockingbird




8. The Incredibles



9. The Truman Show



10. Babette's Feast

A beautiful film about food and art, with an underlying parable of grace. Couldn't be better.

11. The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers



12. Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back



13. (tie) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(tie) Spider-Man





15. Princess Bride



16. Batman Begins



17. Gladiator



18. Fiddler on the Roof


A tie for my favorite musical. I want to gather all my friends and loved ones and make them watch this movie. I love it so.

19. Life is Beautiful



20. (tie) Chariots of Fire
(tie) The Shawshank Redemption
(tie) The Village







23. Finding Neverland

I am conflicted about this movie.

24. The New World


The beauty of this movie has wedged itself deep within my soul! I am enthusiastic about this film! This is not just a pretty film; Tarrence Malick's beauty means something. That people means things by what they say and do is very reassuring to me when I find it. That there's more than just money involved.

25. Not of This World



*Eriol and I actually recorded a podcast to announce the winners, giving much backstory and interesting trivia tidbits about the polls, but I still can't figure out how to upload the thing. I'll post it when I can.

Thanksgiving... (Psalm 149)

Praise the LORD.
Sing to the LORD a new song,
his praise in the assembly of the saints.

Let Israel rejoice in their Maker;
let the people of Zion be glad in their King.

Let them praise his name with dancing
and make music to him with tambourine and harp.

For the LORD takes delight in his people;
he crowns the humble with salvation.

Let the saints rejoice in this honor
and sing for joy on their beds.

May the praise of God be in their mouths
and a double-edged sword in their hands,

to inflict vengeance on the nations
and punishment on the peoples,

to bind their kings with fetters,
their nobles with shackles of iron,

to carry out the sentence written against them.
This is the glory of all his saints.
Praise the LORD.

Facebook Thoughts

I tend to have mixed feelings about Facebook, but here were two solid pluses I found this evening:

I just found out that I have a group on Facebook dedicated to me!

Wow!

Well, it's not dedicated to me really; it's dedicated to how much people enjoy it when I dance to Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up"! Still wow.

39 of my friends have joined! I have the best sister in the world.

More thoughts:

My best friend growing up has a Facebook account! I really enjoyed getting to browse his profile and he how much he's changed (or hasn't changed).

==

Whoo hoo! Happy thanksgiving, everyone!

Ephesians 2:19-22 (just some thoughts)

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

To me this is strangely exciting and encouraging, the idea that God weaving me and my friends together to form some sort of way for Him to reveal Himself. It gives me hope for our little group that meets on Tuesday nights. I don't think necessarily I'm talking about hope from something (I don't think there's anything really wrong with the group [I'm trying to figure out why I used the word "hope"]) but rather hope to something. Something significant and big and... beautiful. Yes, something beautiful.

More thoughts: I know we're talking about buildings here in this passage, but the descriptions also have a strangely organic feel. Which is an exciting picture in my head: organic buildings. Something living coming together to make a shelter. (So much better than concrete, in my mind.)

Episode Seven! The Final Episode!

I may say this too much, but I'm still just amazed these got done. If there's anything good here, it's because God made it happen. Well, and Jeremy Imig. God used Jeremy Imig; how about that?

"It is finished" was my cry too. I wish I could say "It is Finnish" and make some joke about Beowulf being from Sweden, but it doesn't really work.

Oh well, at least I got to have the longest title for my blog post ever.

Thank you, God that this is finished. Thank you for seeing us through!

Here's Episode Six (Pray!)

Hello. Would you pray that everything goes well with filming the last episode (we're supposed to show it on Wednesday)? Thank you!

Okay, here's episode six:

Episode Five...

Tarrence Malick... Sigur Rós... I think he's on to something.

Pico Iyer, on the films of Terrence Malick:

But more than that, they speak a different kind of language. A few weeks after revisiting The New World, I went to see Sigur Rós, the Icelandic post-rock band, play in Osaka. Many of the band’s songs are in a made-up language called Hopelandic, and therefore bypass the realm of words and sense entirely, to speak to something deeper. From the first chords—the band’s four members silhouetted behind a gauzy white curtain, just shadows playing notes—I realized I was in a different, rarely visited part of myself. The mind was stilled and something else was awakened, in heart and even soul. Tears came as when we see a home we never quite knew we had. A lofty claim, perhaps, but one that began to explain to me what Malick is about and how he affects a few of us in ways we can barely articulate. He offers us a way out of the increasingly claustrophobic moment, and into something that feels less passing. Light and words and the natural world all point to a grander silence.

To read all of The Promise of Beauty, click here.