Take a Picture
I was talking to an old friend recently. She was in love with this boy. Hearing her talk about him, he seemed like a cool guy. One of those people you'd like to be friends with. She talked about how he said all these things that at the time she didn't understand and could only appreciate later.
She was outside with him.
The sky was beautiful. It was the type of sky that only comes around every once in a while. When I think of it, I imagine a splash of purples and oranges. The clouds would be illuminated in such a way that the shadows would fully define their fluffy, irregular shape.
She saw that the sky was beautiful and wanted to keep it, put it in her pocket.
She exclaimed, "The Sky is so beautiful! Take a picture of it!"
He looked at her quizzically. "Whatever for?"
"So you can keep it and look at it later."
He shook his head, "No, I'm going to enjoy it right now. Taking a picture would only ruin it. When it's gone, it's gone."
She gave him a weird look, not understanding what he meant. He said a lot of strange things that she didn't understand.
Only later when he'd left, would she understand.
Best Film Ever Made???
Citizen Kane is supposedly the greatest film ever made. More people are probably aware of this fact than have actually sat down to watch it. My dad is one of those people who likes to watch a good movie. Mention No Country for Old Men or The Straight Story and he'll start chatting excitedly about why he loves those films. He decided to sit down and watch Citizen Kane and it didn't really do anything for him. Some might say that my father is too dense and unsophisticated to appreciate Orson Welles' masterpiece. Although there could be some truth to that, since there is a certain scientific approach to cinematography, editing, and acting that tend to make a good film, I don't think that's necessarily the case.
I think that the real reason my father couldn't get into the whole experience has to do with the elusiveness of the things that emotionally move us as individuals. Films tell their stories viscerally. The camera allows us to see and hear what the characters see and hear. Good books can accomplish this as well, but the nature of a movie lends it a greater amount of momentum to the whole experience. You can put a book down, it's harder to stop a movie because you get so caught up in the whole experience.
Interview with Noah in Defense of the Christian Faith
Noah is an electrical engineering at UTD. I met him at a party of a mutual friend and was impressed with his intelligence and strong stance on Christianity. I decided to interview him on his stances and allow him to address some of the issues raised in the previous interview. The result is lengthy but interesting and I believe worth taking the time to read.
Interview with David on Science, Religion, and the Loss of Faith
Original Audio can be found here. I sound pretty bad in this, with lots of stuttering. Wouldn't recommend listening to it, but it's there if you want it.
Landan: Ok, I'm here with my good friend David and I've been doing a series on the relationship between science and religion. David is someone who used to belong to the Christian religion until he moved to atheism. So I think he can bring a unique perspective to this topic. So...David
David: Yes.
Landan: In high school you seemed really devoted to your faith. What prompted you to start down the road of religious skepticism.
David: That's a funny question. It was actually started at Ouachita Baptist. Umm...there was a guy, Bart Ehrman, who wrote "Misquoting Jesus". It was talking about biblical inaccuracies, translation problems, and the different kind of manuscripts that they found. And so I prayed before I started reading the book. I said, 'God I will never deny you as king and I just want to know the truth, so guide me through this process'. And at first it was, ok I'm a Christian Humanist. So I evolved from fundamentalist to Christian humanism, where I derived my morality from reason. And then it eventually devolved into pure humanism, which is purely atheistic in its nature
Film Review: The Hurt Locker
The Hurt Locker is a war movie, but not in the same way that Saving Private Ryan is a war movie. This film has an episodic structure rather than a large overarching plot, which places the emphasis on character. This is a very good thing. This isn't to say that you won't be left gripping your seat, because you will. The moments of heart stopping tension just pass by more quickly and come more frequently than in your typical war thriller drama.
The film follows a squad of soldiers in Iraq who are in charge of eliminating ordinances (explosives) by carefully diffusing them or bluntly blowing them up. The job is dangerous and survival isn't guaranteed. The film isn't afraid to make examples of some of its characters to prove this point.
Staff Seargent Williams (played by Jeremy Renner) is a fearless tech team leader, who's approach to eliminating bombs is unorthodox and reckless to say the least. Although Williams' character comprises the focus of the film, he comes onto the scene later after the viewer has been acquainted with the secondary characters first. This is a smart move on the filmmaker's part because it demonstrates to the audience the senselessness of the man's actions in comparison to those of his predecessor.
Williams could have easily been portrayed as a two dimensional superhero who's courage and skill allow him to do no wrong. Thankfully, both the script and Renner's solid performance prevent this from being the case. The Staff Sergeant makes mistakes, lots of mistakes. Even when he emerges from a situation victorious or alive, you can't help but wonder if his actions were the best way to go about things. At times we get glimpses into a deeply buried emotional core. Behind his cocky exterior is a man who feels fear and uncertainty.
The supporting cast puts in excellent performances as well. There's a good amount of chemistry that establishes a believable love/hate relationship between the team members and Williams. It is through them that the audience is able to relate to the often times alien Staff Sergent.
The cinematography is well done. As this is a war movie, a good portion of it is shot using hand held cameras. Still, there are some beautifully shot gratuitous slow motion explosions peppered throughout the film.
This had a limited release, so it can be hard or near impossible to find showings. Check local art house cinemas or wait for this to show up on DVD. This is an excellent and thought provoking piece that should be seen.
Changes Hopefully Coming Soon
I'm trying to teach myself html, CSS, and PHP to hopefully get a nicer and more professional layout to this blog. Hopefully those changes will be coming soon. Unfortunately that means that my blogging won't be as regular as I'd hoped to have it at this point. I'm going to try and start hammering out a quality post everyday. Feedback from my readers (assuming any of you guys are still around) is much appreciated. Tell me what you like and what you don't like. Are you guys interested in film reviews?
Speaking of film reviews, I'll hopefully have one for the Hurt Locker written up soon, so be on the lookout for that.
Christianity and Evolution Make Strange Bedfellows
Christianity currently finds itself in the midst of an interesting transition. Young people have shown a greater willingness to leave behind their parents' religious traditions than they have in the past. This is due in large part to the growing minority of the non-religious and an increased social acceptance of atheism (source 1, 2 ). Still, the majority of children who grow up in evangelical households will maintain their Christian identity, although often in a form that looks significantly different than that of their parents'.
In order to deal with the conflict between growing social pressures and keeping their faith, many Christians have responded by claiming a belief in both evolutionary theory and Christianity. This approach has been especially popular among Christian intellectuals and scientists such as Kenneth R. Miller and Francis Collins. The Catholic church itself has taken a stance that permits if not welcomes those who are staunch believers of evolutionary theory (source).
Science and Religion: Complementary or Opposites?
I'd like to do a series on religion and it's relation to scientific findings/reasoning. I know that many consider this topic long dead, but I feel that there's some new perspectives and questions I can bring to the discussion.
There's questions that I've wanted to ask for a long time, but have been afraid to ask. I want to explore these questions head on. I have so many great resources available from both sides of the theistic spectrum and I hope to use those to come to a better understanding of this issue.
This is a topic I'm very passionate about. Ever since I first encountered this site (warning: this site may be disturbing to your beliefs) during my junior year of high school, I've come to realize that this issue is not as simple as I was led to believe by Sunday school teachers or my parents.
I have an inclination towards religious belief and that's a good part why I've continue to identify myself as a Christian. However, I've found that my ability to participate in religious activities such as prayer and the reading of scripture has begun to decay over the years. There's been several periods where I've gained some respite and been able to participate in religious disciplines with some amount of fervor (just look at some of my earliest posts on this blog). However, at this point in my life I feel that if I must stop an make a careful examination of my beliefs, the beliefs of the people around me, and ask the questions that have been buried in the back of my mind.
I hope this discussion will be enlightening and constructive for everyone who reads this as well.
Film Review: Rachel Getting Married
In a recent interview concerning his upcoming documentary (Meeting Andrei Tarkovsky), Dmitry Trakovsky (not related) talks about the difference in approaches between contemporary films and the films of Tarkovsky. One of the most defining characteristic of a Tarkovsky film is its use of extended shots, which places an emphasis on the moment. In his interview Dmitry speaks of how he feels that many of today's contemporary films force the viewer to only be concerned with what happens next.
While Rachel Getting Married does not come close to approaching the look and feel of a Tarkovsky film, it does frequently possess a delightful sense of being in the moment. It is within these seemingly organic slivers of time that the wide range of human emotion is portrayed in a disarmingly authentic manner. Grief, anger, jealousy, joy, and love make their presence felt within the context of the celebration of a marriage and all without the taint of manipulation. Several times throughout the film I couldn't help but wince or crack a smile as I recognized parallels between my own loved ones and the characters on the screen.
Movie Review: Patton
I saw this based on the recommendation of my favorite movie critic, James Berardinelli, over at his reelviews site. This is listed as his number one favorite film. Since he and I have similar tastes, I thought I'd give the film a chance. The film was well received when it came out. It won seven Academy Awards in 1970, including best picture.
While I can perhaps understand why the film is so well loved by people like Berardinelli, I feel that the film's flaws ultimately mar the viewing experience from being either entertaining or intellectually stimulating. This film has not aged well.
George C. Scott does a fine job as the general, but his performance is weighed down by self-conscious dialog. Rather than organic, the dialog feels sterile and contrived. Much of the time it was obvious that the purpose of much of the dialog was to put in a humorous quip attributed to the famous general, rather than to reach any sort of understanding of the man's complex character.
Because of this general feeling of separation between the film and its subject matter, very little sympathy is generated for the General and his problems. This shouldn't be the case in a dramatic biopic such as this.
Despite the problems of the film, it does succeed in several instances. The opening sequence, where Patton gives his speech before a giant star spangled banner is perhaps one of the most iconic images in American film (not to mention having been parodied a countless number of times). The scene in the medical tent where Patton slaps a scared soldier senseless was also well done in that it helped to show a perspective of the event not often shared by history books or the public.
Patton isn't a bad movie, it's just not a great one. Certainly if you have an interest in the general then this film may interest you, but I'd be hard pressed to recommend it to anyone else.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L9FMBbFJZY]