This Morning

I suspect that, when you woke up this morning, you probably thought (or even said) to yourself something to the effect of, Wow, I hope that, at some point today, Foolish Knight will post a link to a list of the 20 greatest movie mustaches of all time.

Wow. I mean wow. Today is your lucky day.

Your daily dose of...

Garfield Minus Garfield:

Oh no!

Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'

That's disappointing... Maybe I won't go see it...

Just want to say, I love the English language.

Short Story

Today, on Twitter (please, stop throwing things), I decided to write a snippet of a story. Not really a short story, just a kind of evocative moment from a story. The challenge being that Twitter only lets you post 140 characters tops.

So I wrote a little bit about Rusty, a farmer, who's surprised to see it rain.

Here's what I (after about a dozen revisions) came up with:

Stepping down, gingerly, his boots send up a cloud of dust to mimic the grey draped on the horizon. He shades his eyes with his hand: "Hm."

You should try it! It's fun. And if you don't have a Twitter (snobs), you can just limit yourself manually. (Leave your story as a comment to this post, or link to it so I can read it.)

Sermon Video (April 26 2009):

The verse for this week's video was very short, thankfully, I got a little help brainstorming some ideas for interpreting the theme from my friend Ryan Hollister.

In talking with him, it came out that I might want to try taking this video into edgier territory. I then thought of the music that my friend Joel Clarkson sent to me that I thought I wouldn't be able to use in a sermon video. However, with this new direction, it fit perfectly.

I'm proud of the result. Thanks to all who helped!



Other notes: I switched fonts for this one. I hope to do that a little more from now on (I also switched from regular 'text' to 'outlined text', which I was too lazy/didn't have enough time to do before. I'm liking the direction things are going here. Now, I just need to keep my friend Joel busy with his music-making, so I continually have new material to draw from!

The song, by the way, is called "Panic", and obviously, it's by Joel Clarkson.

The North Country

Other Songs

To me this is weird...

My school is now following Jeffrey Overstreet on Twitter.

?

The only way they possibly could have found out about him is through my account. It's weird because it's like two of my sort-of friends meet each other through me and then like each other better than me.

Sad face.

I know, of course this isn't the case. But it's still weird to me.

Have you noticed that people are beginning to write the phrase "no one" as one word: "noone?"

Does that look awkward to you? What do you think?

An Answer to My Own Question

Here is a wonderfully hopeful song (from an artist I'm coming to appreciate and be grateful for more and more):



Grab your ticket and your suitcase
Thunder's rolling down the tracks
You don't know where you're goin'
But you know you won't be back
Darlin' if you're weary
Lay your head upon my chest
We'll take what we can carry
And we'll leave the rest

Big Wheels rolling through fields
Where sunlight streams
Meet me in a land of hope and dreams

I will provide for you
And I'll stand by your side
You'll need a good companion for
This part of the ride
Leave behind your sorrows
Let this day be the last
Tomorrow there'll be sunshine
And all this darkness past

Big wheels roll through fields
Where sunlight streams
Meet me in a land of hope and dreams

This train
Carries saints and sinners
This train
Carries losers and winners
This Train
Carries whores and gamblers
This Train
Carries lost souls
This Train
Dreams will not be thwarted
This Train
Faith will be rewarded
This Train
Hear the steel wheels singin'
This Train
Bells of freedom ringin'
This Train
Carries broken-hearted
This Train
Thieves and sweet souls departed
This Train
Carries fools and kings
This Train
All aboard

This Train
Dreams will not be thwarted
This Train
Faith will be rewarded
This Train
Hear the steel wheels singin'
This Train

The strangest thing you've seen in while...

... is the video for Over the Rhine's "Desperate for Love."
Definitely not what I pictured, but a lovely video none-the-less.

What's your favorite Gospel song?

This time of year is a good time to remember the beauty of the Gospel story.

I was recently reminded that Over the Rhine's "Trumpet Child" is a beautiful retelling of the Gospel.

What's your favorite Gospel song? It can be any genre, just let it be a song that communicates the Gospel to your heart.

The lyrics to a few of my favorites are below. I'll post more as I think of them.

The Trumpet Child (Over the Rhine)

The trumpet child will blow his horn
Will blast the sky till it’s reborn
With Gabriel’s power and Satchmo’s grace
He will surprise the human race

The trumpet he will use to blow
Is being fashioned out of fire
The mouthpiece is a glowing coal
The bell a burst of wild desire

The trumpet child will riff on love
Thelonious notes from up above
He’ll improvise a kingdom come
Accompanied by a different drum

The trumpet child will banquet here
Until the lost are truly found
A thousand days, a thousand years
Nobody knows for sure how long

The rich forget about their gold
The meek and mild are strangely bold
A lion lies beside a lamb
And licks a murderer’s outstretched hand

The trumpet child will lift a glass
His bride now leaning in at last
His final aim to fill with joy
The earth that man all but destroyed

All Because Of You (U2)

I was born a child of grace
Nothing else about the place
Everything was ugly but your beautiful face
And it left me no illusion

I saw you in the curve of the moon
In the shadow cast across my room
You heard me in my tune
When I just heard confusion

All because of you
All because of you
All because of you
I am, I am

I like the sound of my own voice
I didn't give anyone else a choice
An intellectual tortoise
Racing with your bullet train

Some people get squashed crossing the tracks
Some people got high rises on their backs
I'm not broke but you can see the cracks
You can make me perfect again

All because of you
All because of you
All because of you
I am, I am

I'm alive
I'm being born
I just arrived, I'm at the door
Of the place I started out from
And I want back inside

All because of you
All because of you
All because of you
I am

Some thoughts for you, from... everyone.

“Well, the stars, they have all gone,
and I’m glad you’ve come along”
—Nick Cave

“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.”
— G. K. Chesterton, “On Chasing After One’s Hat”

“What the biblical revelation tells us, a revelation that is summed up and completed in Jesus, is that we can’t become more like Jesus (more pleasing or acceptable to God) by becoming less human, less physical, less emotional, less involved with our families, less associated with socially or morally undesirable people. We don’t become more spiritual by becoming less human.”
—Eugene H. Peterson, Tell It Slant

“One more day
is another day away
from the girl
from the Red River shore.”
—Bob Dylan

Double Feature

Pull up a chair, pop the popcorn and grab your locator-compass: Here the last two episodes of the second season of Wanted! Thank you, everyone for your support!

Enjoy!

Beautiful

(More images here.)

(Calls this home.)

We're Wrapped!

The final episode of Wanted! Season Two is in the can.

We're done.

It's been a long, crazy, tiring ride, and I can't believe it's over, but it is.

Thank you to everyone who has supported this series! I'm very proud of what we've done.

And now it's time to sleep.

Where They Are

Can I just say I'm so excited by this trailer?

Three things I've heard about this movie give me cause to maybe believe my hopes on this one:

1. Good director. A director who understands filmmaking and who won't just try to bring the book (the contents of the book) to the screen, but who will actually make a film out of it (i.e. what the director of Watchmen didn't do).

2. The studio doesn't like it. It tried to shut it down (after watching the finished product) and bring on a different director (i.e. someone who do the opposite of what I said just above).

3. Maurice Sendak, the author (and kind of a crotchety old man), likes the movie.

That's all I need to hear. I'm in. (It doesn't hurt that the trailer is gorgeous! What a fantastic job of bringing those monster's to life!)

A forth thing would be that, I know that there is more going in to the book than meets the eye. Sendak's traumatic childhood, his life experience of being a part of people-group that is as persecuted as they were/are, etc. go into this book, so that gives me the confidence to think that they're is room for expansion here.

Do you not love the first few moments of the trailer? So enchanting!

Yeah, Coraline was cool.

About this cool:


It was a sweet movie. Please see it in 3D if you can. It was great. (Plus you get to keep the glasses.)

By the way...

... this is exactly what my brother, Christopher looks like in his glasses:

The Fight

So cool to see this...

Stumbled upon something today at the blog of screenwriter Mystery Man.

The original transcript for the 1978 story conference between Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Lawrence Kasdan over the wunderkinds' next movie.

Which movie?

Raiders of the Lost Ark.

You can download it here:

Some fun highlights (cinematic history being made!)

This is awesome!

From College Humor:

Watch Watchmen-E on CollegeHumor

(Got the link from my brother Eriol!)

A Trumpet!

Is Dylan going Sufjan on us?

This from Uncut (on the new Bob Dylan album, Together Through Life):

Together Through Life gets in your face immediately – with the wallop of the cheerfully-titled “Beyond Here Lies Nothin’”, which is driven by spectacular drumming and massed horns, a trumpet prominently featured – and over the course of its 10 tracks doesn’t back off, doesn’t appear to even think about doing so, Dylan’s voice throughout an unfettered roar, a splendid growl.

More here.

Or:

The Prices are famous!

Quick! Follow this link!

Abstract Beauty

I've been thinking a lot recently (well, maybe not that much; I don't think that much about too many things) about abstract beauty and just the concept of abstraction and non-representationalism in general.

I've been thinking about the importance of things we don't understand and of things that speak to us on a sub-conscious level (and, I suppose, things that are also said on a sub-conscious level, where there is not a specific agenda or message being pushed).

I've been making a deliberate effort recently when I draw or engage in other kinds of creating, to deliberately try to create something abstract or something that doesn't particularly stand for anything. Not because I believe in meaninglessness or chaos. But because for many years I have suffocated parts of myself which do not speak verbally, which are hard to understand. "Groans words cannot express."

I believe there is value in me as an artist approaching a page not with an idea of where I am going to take the page or what I am going to say through what is represented on the page. But rather, in a mystical kind of way, listen to the page. Listen to the things involved (and listening to my heart, as that is also something very much involved, a very valid voice at the table).

Thus, when I watch the clip involved, I think about the sheer abstract beauty involved in the tons of water and ash and who-knows-what-else being shot to the sky. I think of the reality of it and the abstraction of it.

“The heavens declare the glory of God;
       the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
 Day after day they pour forth speech;

       night after night they display knowledge.
 There is no speech or language

       where their voice is not heard.”

(Psalm 19)

Interview with the Good Docter.

Read an interview with the director of Pixar's Monster's Inc. and the upcoming 3D feature UP, Pete Docter, here.

Some highlights:

Radix: How would you say that being a Christian affects how you do your work?

Docter: Years ago when I first spoke at church, I was kind of nervous about talking about Christianity and my work. It didn’t really connect. But more and more it seems to be connecting for me. I ask for God’s help, and it’s definitely affected what I’m doing. It’s helped me to calm down and focus. There were times when I got too stressed out with what I was doing, and now I just step back and say, “God, help me through this.” It really helps you keep a perspective on things, not only in work, but in relationships.

At first you hire people based purely on their talent, but what it ends up is that people who really go far are good people. They’re good people to work with, and I think God really helps in those relationships.

Radix: I know you do a lot of praying, and that’s a big part of the artistic part of what you guys do.

Docter: Yes. You could probably work on a live-action movie that takes maybe six months hating everybody else and you’d still have a film. But these animation projects take three or four years, and it’s really difficult to do without having a good relationship with the people you’re working with.

Radix: Do you ever see yourself making a more explicitly Christian movie?

Docter: Not at this point. I don’t know that that’s really me. I don’t feel so comfortable with that. Even if you have a moral to a story, if you actually come out and say it, it loses its power. Not that we’re trying to be sneaky or anything, but you have more ability to affect people if you’re not quite so blatant about it. Does that make sense?

Radix: That seems right in line with what Jesus’ parables were too. He tended not to come right out and explain, “This is what I was trying to say.”

Docter: To me art is about expressing something that can’t be said in literal terms. You can say it in words, but it’s always just beyond the reach of actual words, and you’re doing whatever you can to communicate a sense of something that is beyond you.

Found here.

And, in case you're in the mood, you can still listen to the Terri Gross interview with Andrew Stanton here.

Lines

Good quotes from Rolling Stone's interview with U2 here.

And here to express how we all feel...

... Is Jon:

I Love This Man

Bod Dylan, on his changing audience:

"They feel style and substance in a more visceral way and let it go at that. Images don’t hang anybody up. Like if there’s an astrologer with a criminal record in one of my songs it’s not going to make anybody wonder if the human race is doomed."

As with all his work and words, this makes sense to him, and that's all that matters.

Full interview here.

Which is your favorite?

1
2
3
4
5
6

Okay, this is really funny...

Beautiful

60 most beautiful business card designs.

It's worth a look!

Which are your favorite?

Eating Movies

I believe that it is important to eat movies. This is not unusual. This is in keeping with my general idea that we should eat things in life in general. We should eat the cars we ride in, the music drifting down the hall, the broken dish, our hat, our friend’s hat.

We should eat the Bible and we should eat conversations. We should eat looks and glances. We should eat shoes and trees and houses and pain and loneliness and the laundry piling up in the corner.

We should eat our lunch.

That is to say we should not let these things slip by. We should not swallow them with our nose plugged and a large glass of water. They should not slip through our bodies, our digestive system unawares.

We need these things.

We need and loneliness and emptiness and frustration. We need love and coincidence and time. We need need.

Whatever is around you, you need. Grab it up, like Robinson Crusoe after the wreck.

Because whatever is around you, is telling you something. Something you need to hear, something you need to know, on a gut level.

About the level of your stomach. So please, for God’s sake, eat up.

Eating Movies

I believe that it is important to eat movies. This is not unusual. This is in keeping with my general idea that we should eat things in life in general. We should eat the cars we ride in, the music drifting down the hall, the broken dish, our hat, our friend’s hat.

We should eat the Bible and we should eat conversations. We should eat looks and glances. We should eat shoes and trees and house and pain and loneliness and the laundry piling up in the corner.

We should eat our lunch.

That is to say we should not let these things slip by. We should not swallow them with our nose plugged and a large glass of water. They should not slip through our bodies, our digestive system unawares.

We need these things.

We need and loneliness and emptiness and frustration. We need love and coincidence and time. We need need.

Whatever is around you, you need. Grab it up, like Robinson Crusoe after the wreck.

Because whatever is around you, is telling you something. Something you need to hear, something you need to know, on a gut level.

About the level of your stomach. So please, for God’s sake, eat up.

I should be writing...

... but this was funny.

"Area Dad Botches 'Princess Bride' Quote"

[from the Onion]

Meanwhile...

Garfield MInus Garfield is still awesome.

Wanted! Season 2 Episode 2

What I've Been Up To...

Wanted! Season Two:

Episode One, Part One



Episode One, Part Two

A very happy birthday to Juliette Binoche!

And now I am going to finish up Flight of the Red Balloon.

From the Onion

You'll be glad to know...

Truly, spring daylight-savings time is a monstrosity. It is made bearable only by the promise of "falling back" this autumn.

For my readers who feel likewise, consider these words:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

"Spring is here, but fall's a-comin'!"

Change We Can Believe In

I found this enjoyable. (And I'm not even all that nerdy.)

By the Way...

... an (embarrassed) answer to Ben.

My hands haven't fallen off. I've just discovered Facebook.

Oh my head!

Taking a stab at answering the question —

— What are your ten favorite books?

No Line On The Horizon

You can listen to U2's new album (completely legally and with the band's blessing) here.

So what are you waiting for? Get on your boots!

I Love Film!

My wallpaper right now:
I just got a chance to look at some pictures that my sister, cousin, friend Ben and I took around Christmas break, and I find myself again completely swept away. As I always do when I get to experience film. I mean look how beautiful it is! Even with grain. I'll take film grain over pixilation any day of the week.

Trying to process this...

GREAT design work and fun, re-envisioning of posters for classic movies.

http://ollymoss.com/

How shaky is your house? And other good safety info to keep in mind.

Here.

Obama finds fans in the strangest ways...

Here, screenwriter John August rejoices in a particular aspect (I don't want to give away which aspect) of the punctuation of President Obama's inaugural address.

Long live nerdiness!

I'm Mad at the Academy

The Oscar Nominations are so paint-by-numbers this year. I guess this year the academy decided to forgo actually watching the movies that came out in 2008 and listen instead to the hype that was out before the movies.

I could have predicted six months ago that a paint-by-numbers Oscar year would be giving major nominations to:

Frost/Nixon
Slumdog Millionaire
Doubt
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Ron Howard for Best Director? The guy who thinks the main job of the director is to choose where to point the camera? Were the pickin's really that slim this year? Was there no one with vision?

Oh wait? Didn't visionary Christopher Nolan have a movie out this year?


What about PIXAR's Andrew Stanton? I heard he's had something on the back burner for a while.



I guess I shouldn't be surprised by now. The Academy has a poor track record when it comes to recognizing films of merit and artistry.

===

Things I'm happy about:

Performance by an actor in a leading role:
Frank Langella in "Frost/Nixon" (Universal)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role:
Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)

Achievement in art direction:
"The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)

Achievement in cinematography:
"The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.) [WALL-E should also have received a nod here. The painstaking detail the filmmaker's went to to create bring a "filmic" quality to this animated feature is astounding.]

Achievement in film editing
"The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.) [Think of the briskness of the opening sequence. It would have been very easy to lose us during this or any of the other (numerous) action sequences in this film. Christopher Nolan and his editor Lee Smith don't let that happen. Bravo.]

Achievement in makeup:
"The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.) [Heath Ledger's makeup is almost a main character in this piece.]
"Hellboy II: The Golden Army" (Universal) [Del Toro deserves any recognition he receives in this area. He is visionary.]

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
"WALL-E" (Walt Disney) [A lovely score from Andy Newman! Glad to see it recognized here.]

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
"Down to Earth" from "WALL-E" (Walt Disney)

Best animated short film
"Presto" (Walt Disney)
A Pixar Animation Studios Production [I haven't seen the other shorts from this year, but the storytelling and technical execution on this one were top-notch.]

Achievement in sound editing:
"WALL-E" (Walt Disney) [Ben Burt! The inventor of the light-saber's hum! Of Darth Vadar's breathing! Yes! Yes! Please please give this man an award! (Not to mention that this film's decision to reject dialog as the main form of communication made EXCELLENT sound design a must, and Ben Burt achieves that in spades. WALL-E essentially says one word over and over again [Evvv-a!], and vast the panorama of emotion that is displayed is a tribute to excellent sound design. Well done.).]

Achievement in visual effects
"The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.) [One more push for this film here. Christopher Nolan's decision to take the hard road and go with as little computer-generated special effects as possible is praise-worthy.]

Original screenplay
"WALL-E" (Walt Disney) [Yes! Yes! This would almost make up for your earlier snubbings! Please do honor this bold, non-dialog driven screenplay!]

Women of the future hold the big revelations.

And iTunes has the new U2 single.

So, what are you waiting for? Buy it!

I've decided that I'd like to do a little Christmas report.

Andy Whitman got to blog about Tolstoy and Bullwinkle. I want to share about my Christmas too. (Even though I'm pretty late.)


Okay, first, I'll tell you what I tell everyone when they ask if I had a good Christmas.

We got to see our family. Which, if know anything about the crazy Winter we've been having here in the land of salmon and Trail Blazers.

It was harder to see our cousins/aunt & uncle/grandma on my Dad's side than usual (we had to chain up 100 yards from their driveway; they live on a hill). But we got to see them, and I always like hanging out with them (and my aunt makes a good Christmas dinner).

After opening presents and playing some games, we headed over to do Christmas with my mom's side of the family. And that went great too. We tried a new seating arrangement for dinner (pushing the normally separate tables [i.e. "Kid's Table," "Grown-Up's Table"] together), and it felt more like a great big family dinner which I loved. (In fact, it's surprising that I noticed anything at all, because normally Christmas Dinner is just something to get through so we can start opening presents. This year was not like that. Congratulations, Aunt Lori!)

Okay: Favorite Presents:

My All-Time Favorite Present This Year (and maybe just in general over the past couple of years) was a black, tuxedo vest from my Mom and Dad.

Oooh man. I loved this thing. I cried when I opened it. I'm so glad I have it; I've wanted a vest for a long, long time.

Other great presents:

Don’t Do Anything, Sam Phillips
The Ringing Bell, Derek Webb (via swell gift cards)
There Will Be Blood
The Iron Giant
The Dick Van Dyke Show: Season One!
a pair of nike flip-flops like the old ones I had/have that broke.
my own external hard-drive (for movie editing).
Nice shampoo and conditioner. (For curly hair. )
a new backpack (with working zippers).
a nice-sized sketch pad (the bigger the better; 8 by 10 at the least.)

"Monday" is an adverb.

Put that in your hat and chew on it.

Shading

In writing and drawing, shading is my favorite thing.

Currently I am entrenched in having to make broad, sweeping strokes (outlining a story for a script I'm working on), and I'm having trouble with it.

That's okay, though. Drawings that I don't like at a first pass, normally find their feet while I'm shading. I just have to grit my teeth until then.

All right. I'm going back to it. Just thought I'd share that.

This is what my desktop looks like now...

And I think it's sweet.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

post-Christmas

I am very grateful for my new Sam Phillips album. Thank you, Mama and Papa.

I had a great Christmas.

I cried over one present. It was a vest.

I plan on watching my favorite Christmas/noir movie tonight.

I love my cousins. All of them.

I love Over the Rhine. I'm grateful for Jeffery Overstreet.

I don't know how to spell the name "Jeffery".

I feel the sadness a soul feels when it is flying over a large body of water.

Dear God, I'm so grateful for what you did. More to the point: For what's your doing. It's got to be in the present tense with me, doesn't it?

Emanuel, take me. I need home and your arms.

Advent

I know it's a little late, but, if you're interested, Slacktivist has put up a great Christmas meditation by Anne Lamott.

Enjoy and Merry Christmas. And thank God for Emmanuel.

My Favorite Movies of the Year

I haven't seen that many movies this year, but, well, here it goes:

WALL-E

The Dark Knight

Iron Man

Was Juno released this year? There Will Be Blood? The New World? I like those movies.

I still want to see:

Ballast
Man on Wire
Synecdoche, New York

Does anyone else have any recommendations from this year's movies?

Yay!

Understated, but it'll get you excited.

Q's preview of U2's No Line On The Horizon:

here.

I found this on Jeff Overstreet's blog and thought it was enjoyable.

"Whoever brought me here/ is gonna have to take me home."

Father, Dad, Creator, Guy Who Knows What’s Going On Here,

I give you the messy sea of who I am. I give you my tangled desires, my unwanted wants.

I give you my needs and my neediness. I give you my soul and my spirit. Whatever those are, the essence of me, whatever that might be.

I give you this beating heart. It’s led me wrong before. I give you analytical mind; it’s a crazy loop of best guesses and what-ifs.

Lord, you made me. You know what’s going all here.

Dear Heavenly Father, maker of the stars. I give you my sleepy eyes. My they see you, for they are starved otherwise.

My bare feet feel the fake carpet.

Jesus take my all, take all of who I am. It occurs to me that maybe there are people who ask this from a place of surrender. Of a kind of spiritual, die-to-yourself nirvana. Asking for it because they’re holy and they’ve got it all put together. I ask because I don’t have it all put together, because everything’s falling apart. Not dramatically, but in slow motion, like a house in an Andrei Tarkovsky film.

I ask it for purely selfish reasons. I’ve had this soul long enough and really don’t want it anymore. I trust you. You’re strong. And I thank you for taking me into your hands.

Thank you. And Love,

Grateful Tuesdays # 26

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for the feel of the keys typing underneath my fingers. For the pressure and give and the creating of words.

Thank you for giving us the ability to create. To populate the white page. Thanks for wanting this.

You know, that’s hard for me to believe. It was hard for me to write “wanting” instead of “being okay with.” I wonder why that is?

Creating is your thing, God. You commissioned Adam and Eve to fill the Earth. To populate the white page.

You want us to work with our hands. To express ourselves. This seems selfish to me when I think about it (the idea of me sitting off, in my own little corner, essentially creating self-portrait after self-portrait). But, somehow — and I’m not saying I fully under stand this, this is a part of your plan. Me expressing myself somehow factors into the War of Heaven and Judgment and Hell and Heaven and Earth and everything in between. And even the business of Heaven long before. Which, I suppose that, if I have you in me, me expressing myself works out pretty well for you in the long run. And me.

Thank you for that.

Thank you for the concert last night. The beautiful music and the beauty of music. Thank you for the soaring, crying guitar, the words written in blood, the voice with so much fullness. Thank you for the fun of it all too, God. The interaction between the band members on stage and with the crowd.

Above all these elements of the evening, God, thank you for the people I went with. The joy that each one of them brings into my life. Thank you for the fun of getting dressed up and going to an event. The anticipation.

Thank you for these wood animals on my desk.

Thank you for the film in these canisters.

===

Thank you for this evening. For leading and guiding.

Amen.

I thought this was very creative...

Abram (Faith)

My Favorite Sermon Video Yet...

(Music by, who else? the great Mr. Joel Clarkson.)

Links

Gabe; you should see this:

http://www.theanimationblog.com/2008/11/17/guillermo-del-toro-working-on-stop-motion-pinocchio-movie/

Hension and Del Torro together? With this material? I'm there.

And Alice news. Some people have weird, can't be explained or hard to explain loves (obsessions?). My cousin collects nutcracker dolls. I collect Alice In Wonderland stuff. Well, not really stuff. Just different copies of the book. (The full title, by the way, of Carroll's book [Disney aside] is: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I say this only because I'm embarrassed that I reverted the Disney title first. I want you to at least know there is a difference.)

I also like (though I don't nearly as much about as I'd like to) animation related things. So you can imagine that I was at least intrigued by the description of this book:

http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/archive/2008/09/17/walt-disney-s-alice-in-wonderland-showcases-mary-blair-s-concept-art.aspx

Look who's adapting the book!

Christopher should watch these:

http://www.theanimationblog.com/2008/11/12/a-look-at-coraline-a-new-stop-motion-animated-movie/#more-1387

Misc. Thoughts Late at Night

Friends,

I don't want to make positive messages. I don't want to teach kid's positive messages about interacting with each other and teach people how to be moral.

I want to engage the truth. I want put my hands in the messiness of living and of reality and see what I end up holding.

I am not passing along a message. I do not want to make better citizens of the boys and girls who watch my movies. I want to engage with reality. The messiness of being human. I want to live and, through me, for my films to have life. I want to name. (and be named.) I want to live in the white, harsh light of reality and babble henceforth (as that experience dictates).

I want to live. And to love and to tell the truth. I want to know and allow myself to be know. I want to live.

Eden and Animals and Wallpaper and The Fall of Man

This picture was the background on my computer for a while (tiled). It's not any more (a poster for "Ordet" is serving that post now).

It's a depiction of the animals in the Garden of Eden. It's pretty, isn't it? I love the colors in it. And the shapes are so pleasing.



And sad too. It was a long time before I caught this, but do you see what's going on in the background? This is a good example of what Christian art can do. Create (or point to the already existing) longing for the beauty that was or could be or is supposed to be. This painting encapsulates that well I think.

Monday thoughts from a coffee shop

Yesterday, at about 5:45 pm, we (Jeremy Imig and I [and our little tag-along and helper Lye-Lye]), finished filming for our most recent Kid's Club series Wanted!. Right now I feel so grateful and relieved. I'm so glad to be beyond that monster. I loved writing and directing the series, but it consumed my time and life, especially toward the end of the shoot.

My friend Jeremy is diligently editing right now. God created him as some kind of monster. With the ability work without tiring until the job is done. I asked him (indirectly) if he wanted my help in the editing room and he (more directly) said no. I knew he would. I make things take longer when I get involved.

In my defense, Walt Disney did the same thing. I learned on the commentary track to Dumbo that the film was made in an unusually short amount of time for a Disney film and that many joked that this was because Disney was less involved than normal in the making of the movie. I think this is very funny. And I take comfort in two things here: Knowing that this master slowed things down when he was involved, and also in knowing that in his absence, a good movie, Dumbo, still came out of the process.

Kind of covers me, peace of mind-wise, on both ends of the spectrum I think.

Happy Moon-Day!

Wanted! Episode 4

Wanted! Episode Three...

Thanksgiving 20 OCT 2008

Dear God,

Thanks you so much for my friend Jeremy. Thank you for how much fun it is to ride in the car with him places and for the friendship we share. Thanks for letting me be close friends with someone this long, long enough to work through a lot, to learn a lot about myself.

Oh Jesus, so much about myself. As I think about the things about myself you’ve shown me through this friendship and others, I think about how far you’ve brought me. And, God, I know I have a long way to go, but I thank you so much for your faithfulness. I’ve seen your promises made good in my life.

Thank you for the music of Bob Dylan. He’s so goofy.

Thanks for the game(s) of Hide & Seek I got to play at church today, for the kids I played them with.

I thank you for Jeff and David and Mary and Julie Ann. Thank you for the joy of an evening with friends. Thank you for Jacob Bullock and for my sister. Thanks for getting to meet David’s friend Robert.

Thank you for the hours past midnight, though I should probably be sleeping.

God, you are faithful. This is just who you are; thank you so much.

Love,

Andrew

Dylan

Well, Andy Whitman's just crazy about Tell Tale Signs.

You can listen to it here and decide for yourself.

Personally, I've been grateful for the abstraction of his lyrics recently. Sometimes it is very, very tiring to listen to music that is full of *meaning.* I'm grateful for the abstraction (to me, at least) of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Sigur Rós and Dylan.

What do you think of Bob Dylan? Is he a hack who got lucky? Is he a genius? Somewhere in between? What's your take?

The Chick Flick

A blast from the proverbial past:



Probably the film I have the single most positive associations with overall, whether the process of making it or the reaction or anywhere in between. Of course, if we'd known then what we know now (about the power of good preproduction work [i.e. Screenwriting, etc.]), then, in theory, the movie could have been a lot stronger.

But I think it all comes out pretty strong in the end anyway. And who knows? if we had thought things through ahead of time, we might never have gotten to see Matt Stone in a dress.

Episode Two of Wanted!

Jesse's search for his missing friend leads him into strange company...

For Commenter David:

A movie where I do use some Copland. Also my first collaboration with Jeremy.

Sunlight

It takes eight minutes for sunlight to reach the Earth. Eight wonderful, leisurely, glorious minutes.

Perhaps eight minutes should seem like a short amount of time for sunlight to reach our blue planet, considering the billions (or maybe just millions; I’m really not sure) of miles those luminous, friendly little particles have to travel to get here.

But to me it seems like a saunter.

It seems like sunlight is making a wonderful, sauntering statement about time and space and earth and about getting from here to there. What that statement is, I’m not sure. But this I know: I love to walk outside, tilt my head my up to catch the light and warmth spilling from that neighborly star (with my eyes closed, of course), and whisper, quietly, under my breath: eight minutes.

The turtle dove and the mourning dove are the same bird.

"Joseph", "Pharaoh" and "Horseshoe" are all very difficult words for me to write out, for some reason. No matter how many times I write them.

Latest From The Kid's Club Production Machine...

Introducing the series Wanted! Here is episode one...


Thanks for watching!

Live Music

It would be foolish not to head over to NPR.com and listen to Over the Rhine do a live set from the Trumpet Child:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95364652

Card House

This video has Bradley Pennington in it. And features a GarageBand soundtrack.

High Quality Entertainment

Feel free to hop on over to: http://www.youtube.com/user/foolishknight86 (my You Tube page) anytime you're looking for some good movie viewing. Feel free to, you know, rate the videos and stuff. And comment on them... And watch them.

Thanks!

Good Whale

You will all be glad to know that I have uploaded a decent version of To Chase a Whale to You Tube, without all the snap, crackle and pop of my first effort.

I'd also just like to take a second and thank all of you who have been so supportive of my film career (too young to be called a 'career?') so far. God has blessed me very much through you, and I want you to know that I'm so grateful.

Okay, here's the movie:

You could watch this too, if you wanted to:


(It's my first project from my Art of Film Class [at the awesome NW Film Center!]; just an exercise to us aquatinted with the cameras we were using. I loved it though, so I'm sharing it with you.)

Lucas In Love

This is the best Star Wars parody I've ever seen (and I've seen a few, lemme tell ya).

Ladies and gentlemen, Lucas In Love:

Hard Times With Friends

Today I had a hard time with my friend Jeremy.

Putting the music of Joel Clarkson to work...

This is for a sermon that our Pastor preached recently. The topic was "Submission", and, as you can see, the overall theme that we are going through, is relationships.

The song is "In the Shadow of the Mountain", by my good friend Joel Clarkson. You can hear that song and others, at his website.

Here is one from much earlier. This is one of the first sermon videos I did, and the theme was on the Fatherhood of God. The series was "Treasures of God." Once again, the music is by Joel Clarkson.

UPDATE: Here is a much better version of it then I had previously uploaded. The audio was off on the old one (annoying when timing of music is one of the only things you have going for your project; when the elements of your project are so sparse, that timing with music is one of the few you are relying on.)

Leah means "wild cow."*

I rejoice in this fact. I'm going to name a protagonist of mine Leah as soon as I can.
==
*According to my mom's "Bible Dictionary."

Installment Number Thirty Three...

"Indeed, nothing much else can ever happen if the 'stern' and the 'meek' fall into two mutually exclusive classes. And never forget that this is their natural condition. The man who combines both characters—the knight—is a work not of nature but of art; of that art which has human beings, instead of canvas or marble, for its medium."

—C. S. Lewis, in his essay "The Necessity of Chivalry"

( Living rightly does not come by accident, it must come from your hand. God, may I fully submit myself to be shaped in such a way.)

Installment Number Thirty Two...

"My function is to make whoever sees my films aware of his need to love and to give his love, and aware that beauty is summoning him."
— Andrei Tarkovsky

Today is September 11th

Don LaFontaine

Voiceover legend Don LaFontaine died yesterday afternoon.