Too Much Going On- Plus...

So my blog database (read: Brain) has been overloaded with things to write about to the extent that I just haven't written any of it. But here's a quick one: mystery gift appears in mail. An all-too precious yet bad-ass Johnny Cash pin, (which, if I hadn't lost it some years ago, would look great with my original, vintage Shirley Temple Fan Club pin), showed up in my pile of mail today.

But though it appeared enveloped and stamped- there is no postage meter marking or return address. Was this a drive-by gifting? And if so, was it a late B-day or quite early Christmas present?

Either way, I'm delighted, mildly disturbed and found this occurrence entirely blog-worthy.

I welcome any theories. The handwriting looks familiar, but not sure what to make of the missing postage info. Hmm...

Another School Movie

Blaine Hogan, former classmate, now MHGS alum, has collaborated on and produced another film piece profiling our school, this time with a focus on the faculty. Oh, it makes me happy. And not only do I get to see my beloved Jo-Ann Badley and Dwight Friesen underscored by music, but the music is written and performed by my dear, dear compatriot David Rice.

Enjoy, and please feel free to move to Seattle so you can say significant things in a film of your own one day. I am waiting for you!

mhgs what no. 2 from blaine hogan on Vimeo.

Another Friendly Haiku

The answer to your
question is "Yes, I'm burning
you in effigy."

Cussing After Happy Hour Haiku

You keep proving what
an asshole you are. Makes life
easier for me.

These Beautiful Ladies

Are Moving Into the White House

History

Pride


Joy


Hope

Film Club

The Film Club: A Memoir by David Gilmour

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I may need to apologize to author David Gilmour for approaching this book as a hopeful manual on How To Educate Your Children By Watching Movies. Gilmour's memoir about his three year experiment of letting his son drop out of high school in exchange for watching three assigned films a week, is indeed a memoir, not a manifesto, but boy, I really wanted it to be a manifesto. Then I could hand this book to people and say "See? Watching 50 movies a month IS an education!" Nevertheless, it was interesting to read about other people's film obsessions (everyone's are different) and to read a true story of people taking risks on behalf of one another.

What I liked about Film Club, was both the boldness of a father noticing his son's growing frustration and rebellion at institutional education, and his ability to consider something out of the ordinary in hopes that it might give his son some space to figure things out for himself. Also, that the father provided discipline (3 movies a week, no drug use) but also invited his son, Jesse, into his (Gilmour's) most personal passions- both the actual movies, his own floundering career as a movie critic, and his stories of love and heartache. As dysfunctional as this father/son duo is, the leap off the beaten path opened up whole new vistas of trust, vulnerability and love between them.

What I wasn't as crazy about was simply that these guys are a mess. It's always hard to read memoirs about chaotic times and conflicted people, but at the same time, I have to take my hat off to Gilmour's gutsy move, both in the Film Experiment with Jesse, and in the candid, self-deprecating but also honoring way he wrote about it all.

Film Club may not be the clarion call to life transformation through movie watching I hoped it would be, but there's still a lot of transformation (and movie watching) worth reading about here.

View all my reviews.

New Friends (though some are indeed OLD Friends)

Yay Birthday!

Blogging with The Other Journal

We at Mars Hill Graduate School are fortunate to have in residence, The Other Journal, an an online academic journal about the intersection of theology and culture, often tag-lined as being more enteratinging than most academic journals, and more intellectually rigourous than mainstream magazines. Some fellow MHGS friends are interning there, and as part of that, are curating an "Other Journal" blog to showcase MHGS students' writing.
Shannon Presler was awesome enough to invite me to write about a favorite book- and I ate that assignment up like candy- like a box of Runts. Yum. He also was sweet enough to come up with my post's title and my bio as well (which, if I'd written it myself, would be ickily self-aggrandizing, but from him, makes me smile)

Enjoy!

"Jane Behind Me, Jane Before Me, Jane Beside Me, Jane Within Me" by Kj Swanson

Thanks Shannon, and um, why aren't you blogging, fool?

Hearing Mark's Endings: Listening to Ancient Popular Texts Through Speech Act Theory by Bridget Gilfillan Upton

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars

A good academic treatment comparing/contrasting Mark's gospel with ancient Greek popular literature, focusing on the "aural type setting" of texts from oral/rhetorical culture: how written texts are shaped when they're meant to be heard, rather than read. It's a fine intro to approaching Mark's gospel as ancient popular text, and serves as a good entry place for wondering about how Mark's audience listened to and followed narrative, particularly in regards to the multiple possible endings to Mark's gospel.

View all my reviews.