Old Friend Back

I'm excited because of this new piece of furniture in my room:


Apperently (I just found out this story today), my grandmother gave this glider to my mom when I was a baby because (and I like this part) I liked to rock.

Anyone reading this who knows me is probably not very surprised. Motion is very important to me and always has been. As I think about this chair, I wonder if this is a part of why the swings are my favorite part of the playground?

Anyway, it's nice to have an old friend back. And to sort of feel a sense of ownership (I didn't know this was actually mine [or, at least, more so than I thought] until today). Now, we'll see if I actually get to keep this in my room. For my room is not very large, and clutters up fast. I will at least enjoy it for today.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an old friend to get reacquainted with.

Faithfulness Continues (Sermon Video, May 31)

For Montavilla Baptist. Music by Joel Clarkson.

Great animation

Newest Sermon Video

Music by Joel Clarkson.

An appropriate news story for today (PIXAR MAINIA!)

Today Disney/Pixar's UP is released. About a year ago their last was released. Here's a story about it:

Hobbyists Rebuild Wall-E, One PVC Pipe at a Time

UPDATE:

Wow, these guys just don't let up; do they? Watch this and just see if it doesn't bring back the warm fuzzies:



PLUS!

Rotten Tomatoes reaches into the archives to put together a list of Pixar's films ranked according to the tomato meter. Amazing to me even how high the least-rated are.

Terminator was better than I thought it was going to be.

But it suffers from something a lot of (especially action) movies I've seen recently, in that it needs much, much more spice, subtext, humor.

Even Star Trek, which had tons more than this movie did, could've used an extra shot of it (the first scene for example and the climax).

If only you could combine the action of Terminator with the great humor of Star Trek, we'd have the perfect summer blockbuster. (Until then, I recommend we all re-watch Iron Man.)

List

I have seen exactly half of these films

How many have you seen? Are any of these on your favorites list?

I know, I know... I'm pathetic.. I just really like these!

Do you have any guesses what this is?

My brother Matthew is in Indonesia. This is footage of a cool jungle animal that was at a village celebration. I think the animal is really cool!

And see if you can stomach this video:


A drive down the street:

Criterion

Gorgeous.

These and other images can be found here. (Fake covers for Criterion or Criterion-quality films. Or films that will never be in the criterion collection.)

Some other interesting interpretations:






This movie deserves a more aesthetically pleasing cover. I like the idea, though.

This Morning

This morning I found out that not only did George Lucas and Steven Spielberg shaft a really, really good script for Indy IV (this I knew already).

But that script, the shafted one, was written by the writer/director behind the Shawshank redemption, Frank Darabont.

Jeeze, people. Really.

This makes me really mad.

==

Oh, I forgot the good news: Apparently, Darabont is signed on to write and direct an adaptation of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451!

The Screenwriter and blogger Mystery Man has already read Darabont's draft and says it's one of the best scripts he's read this year!

So, anyways, there's the good news.

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!