reviews

Seussical: wow, what an odd feeling... returning to your old high school's theater to watch a musical, 6 years after being there... and seeing a girl who you remember from church as being about 7 years old playing one of the lead parts... really odd. Overall though, it was an excellent musical, very fun and whimsical. Some of those high schoolers had amazing voices too. So not a waste of my $8.00.

End of the Spear: wow. I don't think I have one major complaint about this movie. It wasn't "action-packed" but I don't think the story lent itself to be that kind of movie, and we need to stop being so ADD about things that we can't focus on a steadily moving plot. Acting was great, cinematography was quite good, script was good, message/storyline was thought-provoking. I got a lot more out of the movie then the same story conveyed in the pages of the book Through Gates of Splendor. I think that having the story told from the perspectives of both Indians and a son of a martyred missionary made a HUGE difference... So all in all, I say go see it.

Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper: Just finished this book two nights ago. (Thanks for loaning, Heidi!) Really great read. It might just ruffle some of your feathers. Which I am all about. Heh. Consider that my disclaimer for quoting the following passage, which I agree with 110%:
"Television is one of the greatest life-wasters of the modern age. And, of course, the Internet is running to catch up, and may have caught up... The main problem with TV is not how much smut is available, though that is a problem. Just the ads are enough to sow fertile seeds of greed and lust, no matter what program you're watching. The greater problem is banality. A mind fed daily on TV diminishes. Your mind was made to know and love God. Its facility for this great calling is ruined by excessive TV. The content is so trivial and so shallow that the capacity of the mind to think worthy thoughts withers, and the capacity of the heart to feel deep emotions shrivels. Neil Postman shows why.

What is happening in America is that television is transforming all serious public business into junk... Television disdains exposition, which is serious, sequential, rational, and complex. It offers instead a mode of discourse in which everything is accessible, simplistic, concrete, and above all, entertaining. As a result, America is the world's first culture in jeopardy of amusing itself to death.

Since we all live in a world created by television, it is almost impossible to see what has happened to us... We have become incapable of handling any great truth reverently and deeply. Magnificent things, especially the glory of God, as David Wells says, rest with a kind of "weightlessness" even on the church..."

Has Mr. Piper peaked your interest, or ruffled your feathers? Well, maybe both. :) I am not a fan of TV in the least. I am convinced that the quality of my life has increased greatly since being cut off from TV... I don't think I've watched TV regularly since high school. I also want to draw a distinction between film and TV. There are some movies that are sheer garbage too, and may have you begging for 2 hours of your life back... (yea, I stole that from you Lauren, because you increase my coolness...) But good film, good movies... promote or provoke thought rather than quell and dispel thought. Occasionally, there is something nice about a film that is just fun and nothing more. Going to a playground, for example, may not provoke a lot of thought but can be refreshing and rewarding. Delighting in the world, other people, is fantastic even if it doesn't propel you into an intellectual inner monologue or discourse. All the same, we shouldn't excuse watching TV when it is zapping our energies, our time, and our priorities... And if your priorities involve TV, then maybe I'd like to talk some more about that... I would be curious to know why it is a priority. Really, now, is anyone of us, as Piper argues so well, going to look back on our life and think, "Gee, I wish I had watched more TV!!!" .... doubtful.

And this is why I want to leave Corporate America. Nothing wrong about it, per se, in its quiddity, but... my soul is weighed down considerably by things for which it was not made to excel in and enjoy...