That's the tentative title of my next writing project. I'm halfway through a second draft of Ashram, but I feel the need to write something new. It's kinda like I need a breath of fresh air, to get out of the madness that is editing.
So I'm going to write "300."
It will be a different type of book; more of a journey than a story. Ashram was something that had happened to me, 300 will be a chronicle of what is happening to me.
I don't want to reveal too much about the content. Suffice it to say that it will be very personal, and hopefully there will be a difference at the end of it.
Wish me luck.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Description of Rob Bell's Next Book:
Jesus Wants To Save Christians
by Rob Bell and Don Golden
There is a church not too far from us that recently added a $25 million addition to their building.
Our local newspaper ran a front-page story not too long ago about a study revealing that one in five people in our city lives in poverty.
This is a book about those two numbers.
It's a book about faith and fear,
wealth and war,
poverty, power, safety, terror,
Bibles, bombs, and homeland insecurity,
It's about empty empires and the truth that everybody's a priest, it's about oppression, occupation, and what happens when Christians support, animate and participate in the very things Jesus came to set people free from.
It's about what it means to be a part of the church of Jesus in a world where some people fly planes into buildings while others pick up groceries in Hummers.
October, 2008
by Rob Bell and Don Golden
There is a church not too far from us that recently added a $25 million addition to their building.
Our local newspaper ran a front-page story not too long ago about a study revealing that one in five people in our city lives in poverty.
This is a book about those two numbers.
It's a book about faith and fear,
wealth and war,
poverty, power, safety, terror,
Bibles, bombs, and homeland insecurity,
It's about empty empires and the truth that everybody's a priest, it's about oppression, occupation, and what happens when Christians support, animate and participate in the very things Jesus came to set people free from.
It's about what it means to be a part of the church of Jesus in a world where some people fly planes into buildings while others pick up groceries in Hummers.
October, 2008
I am Legend Review
I never bothered to review I Am Legend when it came out in December. Mostly because I thought it was a 2/3rds great movie, with some flawed sequences. I liked some of the religious connotations in it, and I think its a darn near perfect movie, but it misses on two important sequences. The sequence where Will Smith's character Robert tries to commit suicide is confusingly edited, and not very exciting. There is very little tension to it. And the finale... it's stitched together altogether too fast. Robert dies a hero's death, but he hasn't done anything to make us think he deserves it. He hands the woman a magical bottle of his blood, which it only took him three years to figure out is the antidote. And then blows himself up. The end. Not very good.
Well, yesterday, I watched the alternate cut. And it's different, but I think I like it more. The suicide sequence doesn't change, so I still have that complaint. But the original ending plays - where Robert realizes that the vampire/zombie/things actually are regaining human emotions, making him the monster.
And here's my beef - at the end of this version, Robert lives. Even though he now seems to deserve death. So if you're following, in one version he dies and shouldn't. In another, he doesnt die but should.
I still think I Am Legend is a good film(s). But if they had managed to nail those two sequences, it would have been note perfect.
Well, yesterday, I watched the alternate cut. And it's different, but I think I like it more. The suicide sequence doesn't change, so I still have that complaint. But the original ending plays - where Robert realizes that the vampire/zombie/things actually are regaining human emotions, making him the monster.
And here's my beef - at the end of this version, Robert lives. Even though he now seems to deserve death. So if you're following, in one version he dies and shouldn't. In another, he doesnt die but should.
I still think I Am Legend is a good film(s). But if they had managed to nail those two sequences, it would have been note perfect.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Hey Neat-O - 1
You've probably seen those demotivator posters, right? Maybe even run into a few that people made on their own. Well, now there's a website where you can create your own. You load a digital pic, type in the text, and it creates it for you. I plan to get a lot of use out of this. You can check it out here:
Motivational Posters
Motivational Posters
Random Thoughts - 2
This is one of those great big metathings happening in christianity right now. Who's right? The new Emergent church? The traditional Evangelical church? And let's not even talk about the fundamentalists!
Since everyone is clamoring for my take, here it is. I think that there isn't a right or a wrong. Someday, 20 years from now, we'll have synthesized the good from both into a better christianity. I think the Emergent church has... emerged... to show the Evangelical community what it is lacking. And because it is focused on what the Evangelicals are lacking, it is itself lacking.
Just like Paul and James. You wouldn't have a complete understanding of the relationship of Grace and Works without them. If Paul had never wrote, we would be stuck in a legalistic works driven world. Without James, we'd all be grace nuts and sinning left and right. They exist in tension, to create the room between where we can grow and move on.
Emergent theology has risen to create a tension in Evangelicals, to bring us to a more centered point of view. It's the very definition of synthesis.
So what does this mean for us? We move on to a point where we find the good in Emergent theologies and the good in Evangelical theologies. We don't bow down to theology, to ideas, but we use them to give us a better understanding of God and a better way to be church.
Since everyone is clamoring for my take, here it is. I think that there isn't a right or a wrong. Someday, 20 years from now, we'll have synthesized the good from both into a better christianity. I think the Emergent church has... emerged... to show the Evangelical community what it is lacking. And because it is focused on what the Evangelicals are lacking, it is itself lacking.
Just like Paul and James. You wouldn't have a complete understanding of the relationship of Grace and Works without them. If Paul had never wrote, we would be stuck in a legalistic works driven world. Without James, we'd all be grace nuts and sinning left and right. They exist in tension, to create the room between where we can grow and move on.
Emergent theology has risen to create a tension in Evangelicals, to bring us to a more centered point of view. It's the very definition of synthesis.
So what does this mean for us? We move on to a point where we find the good in Emergent theologies and the good in Evangelical theologies. We don't bow down to theology, to ideas, but we use them to give us a better understanding of God and a better way to be church.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Magnum Opus
It's done.
16 chapters.
111 pages.
1,577 paragraphs.
37,164 words.
It's strangely relieving, and terribly depressing.
I want to cry and shout for joy.
Of course, I can't forget that I'm just getting started. After all, all I have is a first draft. I have to edit edit edit. And try to get it published.
For now though, I'm just going to sit back and relax.
16 chapters.
111 pages.
1,577 paragraphs.
37,164 words.
It's strangely relieving, and terribly depressing.
I want to cry and shout for joy.
Of course, I can't forget that I'm just getting started. After all, all I have is a first draft. I have to edit edit edit. And try to get it published.
For now though, I'm just going to sit back and relax.
U23D Review
3d is no longer a cheap gimmick.
It's pretty sweet.
U23D was one of the coolest experiences I've had in a cinema. It looked like Bono was right there, singing to me. The Edge was being awesome on guitar right in front of me.
If you're not a U2 fan, you might still be able to enjoy the technical aspects of the 3d. I'd probably wait until Journey to the Center of the Earth to really enjoy the 3d, but this was pretty cool.
If you are a U2 fan... then you should definitly see this. They do all the classics. Beautiful Day, Vertigo, Where the Streets have no Name, Sunday Bloody Sunday... All of those plus more. The Fly made an appearance, and the ended with "With or Without You" which has special meaning to me.
I highly recommend it in your local 3d theater.
It's pretty sweet.
U23D was one of the coolest experiences I've had in a cinema. It looked like Bono was right there, singing to me. The Edge was being awesome on guitar right in front of me.
If you're not a U2 fan, you might still be able to enjoy the technical aspects of the 3d. I'd probably wait until Journey to the Center of the Earth to really enjoy the 3d, but this was pretty cool.
If you are a U2 fan... then you should definitly see this. They do all the classics. Beautiful Day, Vertigo, Where the Streets have no Name, Sunday Bloody Sunday... All of those plus more. The Fly made an appearance, and the ended with "With or Without You" which has special meaning to me.
I highly recommend it in your local 3d theater.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)