Homesickly

Nursing my feeling of homesick with:
*oodles of tea
*techno music
*parqour on youtube
*Fawlty Towers
*reminders of how much work I have still to do, how little time I have, and the reality that my thesis is coming like a speeding train.

I dislike the unidentified homesick feeling…

Foggy

Its that time in term where everything gets foggy, things slide into each other and bump around because there is no grip to be had.  Its a seasonal thing, and that’s ok.

Agora

What is our responsibility as we look back on history?  Do we have a responsibility?

I love history.  Love it.  Out of sheer interest and joy I have learned a little about people, places, era’s.   In the last half a year or so I have been humbled in looking back, feeling the sensitive caution in how I exercise my judgments on different places and people in history.  There is still a place to say certain actions or responses as wrong, and just plain wrong; however I feel a steadying of the Spirit in my soul telling me to be gentle, to be gracious…even with the past.

It is to common that we look back and push our “ways of viewing” onto people and situations in ages that are far removed from our own.  We view them very anachronistically, imposing our judgments and world views on situations where they don’t belong.

The era (and location and persons) of the movie I referenced in my last post, is an era that I feel I am quite familiar with.  I know the players, the situations, the dynamics and tensions going on in this time and maybe that is why this movie stuck me so profoundly and on so many levels.  I was viewing it as a film (a packaged and unified object with a message) but also through the lens of what I know of that period, that history, those people; not to mention through the lens of Christian thinking.

The film is called Agora (for preview go here) If you’ve seen it, I’d love to know your thoughts.  It isn’t a perfect film by all means but there are many aspects to it that are done very well (in my opinion).

It is predominantly about a woman named Hypatia (say Hy-pay-sha) who was a brilliant mathematician, philosopher, and teacher in Alexandra at the end of the 4th c.   Alexandria was a city that put the pursuit of knowledge above anything else, boasted of a library that desired to contain the knowledge of human kind….all of it.  They would send messengers out scouring the known world to gather documents, write down oral traditions, stories, myths etc… and either made copies or stole the only copies, bringing them back to this one location in Alexandria.

I won’t talk about what this movie covers or the situations it focuses on – I’d recommend you go rent and watch it.  Let me know when you watch it, what you think of it, or if there is other films out there that have had a profound effect on you.

@Ash – “To End All Wars”…what a film, powerful powerful film – I am still speechless over that one.

 

Explosive Film

I rented a particular film this evening because a) I like period dramas and this one was set in one of my most favorite ancient cities b) had one of my favorite actress’ in the lead role c) I needed to fly away to a land long ago for a little fun.

I am always intrigued in what the director intends, what is the message they are trying to communicate? What are they trying to stir in those who watch? There is a reason why they edited this way and not that…and use that shot but not this one… it all contributes to the message being given, subtly or overtly.   The cinematography was so deliberate in this movie (and done very well) and was a major player in the feel as well as the message.  That is one of the reasons I love film, and any story telling medium really, because it can speak many different things to many different people.

Tonight I needed a break from thinking….what I got instead was a film that snuck under my exhausted self, past my defenses and walls, and unleashed a ravenous domino effect of situations, meanings, histories, facts, fictions, questions…. not, is blue better than orange kind of questions…. but the kind of questions that all of life and existence are connected too.  Those grand meta-narrative questions….

I can barely stand up for more than a couple minutes I am so exhausted… and for two plus hours I was trying to turn my brain off, stop the onslaught of falling dominos in my mind and soul.  It was like rolling a handful of marbles down a board that has spokes in it….they roll in every direction, many of them taking off different ways, some hindered by the spokes and rapidly changing course, some moving further before hitting obstacles

There were too many marbles in my soul rolling in different directions, I couldn’t keep my eye on all of them to follow them.  …reactions and causation’s…making sense of history…applications for today…if you hold to “a” then “m” over here has to change which then changes “c”, now apply that cross cultures….generations…..centuries….

This wasn’t a negative experience.  It was just very unexpected…ominously overwhelming.

I’d be curious to know if there’s been a film that has had this effect on you?

I doubt I am done spouting on this topic…I have a feeling this film will arise in another post….

127 hours…. and Counting.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a big fan of film.

Almost two years ago I caught wind (through various film rumour mills) that directory Danny Boyle (some of my favorites of his are Trainspotting, The Beach, 28 Days Later, Slumdog Millionaire) was planning a film project on a remarkable real life story that happened in 2003.  A mountaineer, Arron Ralston, went hiking alone and got pinned in a crevasse by a loose bolder.  He never told anyone where he was hiking that day and knew that no one was searching for him.  He survived 5 days, trying to unwedge himself, confident he was going to die there.  After running out of his supplies he remarkably amputated his own arm to free himself but still had to rappel down a 65 foot sheer wall, hike out of the canyon in midday heat and hike 8 miles in order to reach his truck.  During the hike to his truck he was eventually found my searchers.

I think this story hit everyone when we all heard about it back then.  It really is a remarkable survival story.  So…when I caught wind that Boyle was making this a film (sweet) and that James Franco was to play Ralston (awesomer, one of my very favorite actors) I was anxious and excited for it to come out!

 

What was unexpected, was to have a friend of mine go hiking one day in August and not be seen from again.

 

This movie, 127 Hours, comes out tomorrow; and I am unexpectedly emotional about it.  So strongly do I want to see it and yet i don’t know if I can sit in a theater for a two hour reminder of my missing friend.  There is enough in my day that brings him to mind already.  I don’t know if I can watch (an already Oscar buzzed performance) of my favorite actor dealing with what he thinks are the last days of his life; the pain and struggle, the determination and grief and the will and struggle for survival.

It is yet to be determined if I’ll go see this film that I’ve been waiting to come out, it might end up being something that I have to do….

Still love it

I have posted this little guy before – and I am sorry for the repeat – but seriously, this little guy makes me howl with laughter…..