Snow Falling

I'm sitting on a loveseat in my kitchen, looking out the window at snow softly falling in my backyard. The trees are bare, although some have a few brown leaves refusing to let go. The brown grass is almost completely covered by the white blanket. It doesn't look like a storm, just millions of white specks quickly falling. My guinea pigs are making little rustling and nibbling noises and that is the only sound. I love the way that snow muffles the world.

I guess I'm feeling a quiet today. Not necessarily sad, just quiet. I found out that one of my favorite actors died yesterday, and although I obviously didn't know him, I am going to miss his ability to tell a story. With just a few days to go before Christmas, it just reminded me that there are more important things in life than media. Sometimes I forget that the rest of the world doesn't get caught up in stories the way that I do. Even if they do, there are real people behind the stories. I remember when Stephen King was hit by a van while walking on the side of the road. There were several people who told me that they were worried he wouldn't be able to finish The Dark Tower series. On one hand, I think that's an insensitive statement. How could people be concerned about a book series when a man almost lost his life and is probably going to be in pain for a very long time? Yet, it's a testiment to his storytelling ability that his readers were scared that they wouldn't be able to continue living in the world he created or find out more about the characters they knew. In a similar way, I'm sad that I won't be able to see John Spencer continue to play Leo McGarry on The West Wing.

So, I guess that while the lives of people are much more important than stories -- there is something vital about stories. I was reading in the Gospel of Mark yesterday morning and it just struck me again how much Jesus spoke in stories. There was even a verse that said he spoke in parables to the crowds. Instead of giving them a list of principles, he gave them a story.

As Christmas is coming and we are thinking about the story of Christmas, I hope that you will think about that baby in the stable as much more than a sweet story we sing about. Jesus is part of our world today and he is living and active. I am grateful that the Story continues and he has allowed me to be a part of it. Merry Christmas and may the blessings of our Lord be upon you and yours.

Blockbuster in May

Well - Sony is going to be basically printing money with this one:
The Da Vinci Code - I'm not sure I need to say anything. The book was a bestseller in a way that I don't think we've seen in a long, long time. I'm so sick of seeing in on the New York Times list. Now - that said, I did enjoy it. Of course, the history is complete crap. But, people -- it's a fiction book!! For the life of me, I cannot figure out why anyone ever took this seriously. I have thoughtful, well educated friends who actually asked me if this book effected my faith. It's fiction! That means -- wait for it -- it's completely made up!! Fabricated! Untrue! A load of bologna! (But a fast paced, enjoyable load of bologna...)

I also had several serious conversations on the nature of faith, the Bible, Jesus and history because I read this book. I'm glad I read it...

Poseidon - a remake of The Poseidon Adventure. I'm a sucker for disaster movies, so this should be good.

2 Trailers

Mission: Impossible 3 - Here is the new trailer. Looks fun. I have enjoyed these movies, although I really hated the story in the first one. It's just not really Mission:Impossible. How could they make Jim the villain? It never made any sense to me. If I think of it as a stand alone story with nothing to do with the original...then I like it. The second one was so-so, but Dougray Scott was the villain and I like him. Anyway - this could be good. Phillip Seymore Hoffman looks pretty creepy. And J.J. Abrams is the writer/director. He's the guy behind the first two seasons of Alias. Can you imagine a better person for Mission:Impossible? I thought not. :-)

Miami Vice - Okay, all I got to say is, "huh." I really don't know what to say. I didn't watch the show when it was on TV (too young) so I don't have any nostalgia for it. I like Jamie Fox and Collin Farrell is a hit or miss actor for me. Anyway - this looks like a lot of guns, fast cars/boats, and bikinis. I won't be waiting in line, but I thought I'd put it up on the blog for those of you who might have watched the show.

How did I forget this?????

Here is the trailer for that Clark Kent movie that Bryan Singer is making down under...

Superman Returns

I hate Fullscreen

Okay - maybe hate is too strong. But - boy, do I really dislike Fullscreen (or "pan and scan") movies. Here is a great link that uses The Prisioner of Azkaban to show what happens to a movie when it is turned into a Fullscreen version. Check it out! It's a wonderful example of how much of the story gets chopped off in the pan-and-scan process.

ALWAYS BUY WIDESCREEN!!!!!!! (Yes, that's me screaming from the top of my soapbox.)

Snow, Christmas music and gender roles

I'm sitting here at my desk beside a window, looking out at the snow falling. It's beautiful. I can see the individual clumps of snowflakes falling almost straight down from a white sky. Even though I look out onto a street and a parking lot, it's still beautiful covered in snow. I've got a mix CD of Christmas music playing -- right now it's Burl Ives singing, "Holly Jolly Christmas." It's so happy! I love to listen to Burl Ives. There is something in his voice that just makes me smile.

On a completely different note, I want to write about something I saw on TV last week. I meant to write something days ago and have just been distracted. I was watching an episode of Grey's Anatomy. It's a show about young medical interns in Seattle. It was one of the new shows from last Spring that inspired a lot of buzz. (The others were House and Numb3rs.) Due to my interests, I like to watch the shows that people are talking about. Not because I necessarily want to watch the story, but I want to understand what is catching the attention of the public. Sometimes, it's obvious - for instance, I don't need to tune into the Victoria's Secret runway show to be well aware of what the attraction is. But most of the time, there is something more going on with the show than you see at first glance.

With the case of Grey's Anatomy - it's the story of a young woman named Meredith who is on her own in the professional world. Anyway - this last episode had her attempting to deal with a broken heart by trying to replace the man in her life with a series of one night stands. (These happened before the episode began.) She has a conversation with her friend, Cristina, about their relationships with men. Cristina's boyfriend wants to take their relationship to the next level. The whole point of this is that Meredith and Cristina sit there and have a conversation asking why men are so clingy. They want to know why it isn't okay just to have sex and have no emotional involvement. It was a bizarre conversation to watch, because it seemed that they were spouting every harsh cliche that we usually equate with men.

By the end of the episode, they had both come to the realization that they needed more. But, that isn't the point. The point is that these two young women sat down and complained that men were behaving in a way that most women I know would love to see. A desire for commitment, a desire for emotional connection. Why were these characters rejecting that??

It will be no surprise to those of you who know me that I think the feminist movement has gone awry. There is something seriously wrong when two female characters who are supposed to be sympathetic can complain about the lack of casual sex and how men are too clingy and demanding. What???? What is the message that this show is giving us about single professional women? Should I be out trying to meet my needs with casual and meaningless encounters? What an empty, empty life. Even though Meredith realizes this by the end of the episode, it still bothered me. Primarily because I don't think it bothers many women my age. We have been taught that this is okay. We should go out into the world and seek fulfillment exactly like men. (Don't even get me started on the lies that I believe men have been told!) Not only is there no fulfillment there, but there is a desperate struggle to fill an inner void that just gets bigger and bigger (both the struggle and the void). Just throwing thoughts out into the cosmos....

X3

A first look at some shots from X-Men 3. I'm looking forward to this one.

USA Today

I admit that I am skeptical because Bryan Singer is not on-board. (He's off doing some Clark Kent movie...) But I like the visuals. I think Kelsey Grammer was a great choice for the Beast (although I couldn't see how the character would look) and I'm glad that Archangel is in it. I don't know anything about the actor playing him, so we'll have to wait and see. That trailer is supposed to be up on Apple.com later today, so I'll edit this entry when I find it.

The Announcement Trailer

Trailers

Take the Lead - Okay, this movie I am looking forward to! It has several of my loves, including teaching and dancing. Teaching dancing to tough kids. Wow. Anyway - I'm there; Shelley - you up for it?

Annapolis - At first glance, this is not really my type of movie. But, it might shape up to be something I'd enjoy. Even if it doesn't -- it certainly looks like my dad's type of movie! :-) It seems to be all about leadership, inspiration and not giving up in the face of hardship. We'll see.

Hoodwinked - Normally, I'm not a fan of animation. I don't know why. I tend to like them if I sit down and watch, but I rarely decide to sit down. Anyway, this one seems fun. I like stories that take a weird twist on a well known tale.

The Break-Up - It's a romantic comedy. Usually, I like romantic comedies...even if they're bad. I just like them. But, I'm not really sure I want to watch one about a break up. Even if they get together in the end. The trailer makes the people seem really mean to each other. Since I'm still friends, or at least friendly acquaintances, with most of the people I've dated in the past decade - this just seems sad. Why are people so mean?

TV vs. Movies

I just read a post from Jim Emerson's blog. He's the editor of RogerEbert.com. He asks if movies can live up to TV. I think this is a brilliant question. I have become more and more convinced over the past several years that television is a better medium for storytelling than film. Part of this decision is personal. I enjoy the slow, developed characterization that can happen in the best of TV shows. You just can't get that in a movie, even an excellent movie. There's not enough time. My DVD purchases over the past two years have illustrated this preference in my life quite drastically. I have probably purchased 20 or so movies and approximately 60 seasons of TV. I would much prefer to buy one season of television over three movies. I'm also much more likely to buy a TV show I haven't seen yet than a movie I haven't seen yet.

One interesting development in television is the idea that you could purchase your shows and/or channels a la carte. You would pay for exactly what you want to watch and only that. At first glance, this seems to be a good idea. The only glaring flaw I see right now is that educational programming will suffer. Networks are required by law to have a certain amount of public or educational broadcasting.

Another option that has been floating around is that we could download specific programs to a TiVoesque machine and bypass the network all together. This is VERY appealing to me. If this worked, there would be a direct link between the public and the production company. For example - I could buy Firefly episode by episode and the stupid network-that-will-not be-named (*cough*FOX*cough*) couldn't cancel it! A production company could figure out exactly how many viewers it needed to make a profit and if they were out there - the show succeeds. None of this crazy (and highly inaccurate) Nielsen business. Am I willing to pay $1 per episode of a show? I don't know. That actually ends up to be a little cheaper than my current cable, especially if you take into account that I won't be paying for re-runs. However, I wouldn't have access to shows that I didn't plan ahead for and order. It's an interesting thought worth exploring.