Tried With Fire

I have an uneasy relationship with movies that are made out of books that I love. Maybe I'm not creative enough to understand a director's art, or I'm just a critical wet blanket. But a book purist I will remain, and my standard will be  - "Is it true to the book?" A few months ago, I watched part of the 3rd Hobbit movie. I was disappointed with some of the adjustments that occurred in the older  Lord of the Rings epics. (Okay, Faramir's character assassination was more than just a tweak.) But regarding the Hobbit , was this even the same book? I probably should have just ignored it and gone back to my knitting, but I continued to watch in grim fascination curious to see how far the film makers would go. There were great special effects and all sorts of angst and violence to satisfy a modern audience, but it was a disservice to Tolkien and his beloved novel in my opinion. But what I find even more interesting are so-called Christian movies and books that...

Copying Corey and Kim . Here are my top 9 movies in no particular order as I am blanking out on a tenth. Star Wars - The original one. Don't even speak to me about Attack of the Clowns. Lord of the Rings Trilogy - I admit to looking away when there was a lot of grunting and sword clashing. To Kill a Mockingbird - Based on one of the best books ever. Inception - I only wish they had explained the science with some good mumbo-jumbo. It Happened One Night - Black and white. Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. Classic. Monty Python's Holy Grail - Hilarious. Minus one scene, however. Singing in the Rain - I miss those old movie musicals. Sense and Sensibility - One of the truest Austen adaptations. Pygmalion - "Remember that you are a human being with a soul and the divine gift of articulate speech: that your native language is the language of Shakespeare and Milton and the Bible; and don't sit there crooning like a bilious pigeon."

At church this morning, we finished packing up boxes of food to give to families in the community. I think there were a total of 47 requests. I'm glad for this opportunity to serve those around us who are in need. It will be interesting to see what doors the Lord may open through this. This afternoon, my daughter and I went to see G-Force , the new Disney guinea pig 3-D action adventure. The premise of highly trained guinea pig FBI agents is over the top, but that was probably the whole point. It was a cute movie. There was no language but some bathroom humor which seems to always be present in kids' movies. The film makers did a good job with the CGI pigs. They looked very realistic right down to their funny walk. By comparison, our piggy Rusty AKA Plumpy looked like a lazy, fat, furry yam. He has made it clear that he is no secret agent. "Could you put me down, please? I'd like to continue with my nap." I'm looking forward to being with the saints tomorrow...

I finally finished The Courage to be Protestant by David Wells. I first heard his talks from the 1998 Desiring God Pastor's Conference before reading any of his books. It may be obvious to you, but I never realized how much culture, philosophy, and history shapes how we think and act. This book was very eye opening. I need to not be intimidated and finish No Place for Truth. Above All Earthly Powers is on the shelf waiting to be read as well. We have finished the school year for the most part. I want my daughter to do some Algebra at least once a week. So many concepts build on one another so I don't want her to forget them. We finished our last dissection today, the fetal pig. It seems like it takes the longest to get inside the specimen. The girls did a great job tackling this lab. They weren't squeamish at all. I did take pictures for our records, but I won't post any detailed ones here for fear of turning any one's stomach. My daughter is also taking a bit...

My daughter and I were discussing Beth Spraul's article, You've Got Lies , over lunch. Given that it's the norm to throw in some sort of romance, she asked me if either of us had seen any movies without some element of romance. We had a hard time coming up with any non-romantic movies. In Milo & Otis , they each find mates and have offspring at the end of the movie. In Chicken Run , there's romance. Even in Curse of the Wer Rabbit , Wallace nearly succumbs to romance. WALL-E is a love story between robots. At first we thought that Babe had no romance, but Ferdinand the duck is sad because his lady duck friend became Christmas dinner. However after much thought, my daughter came up with Bolt and Ice Age 1 . The only movie I could think of with no romance is Expelled . But here is one "movie" that I can guarantee is 100% romance free.

Beth Spraul of Capitol Hill Baptist Church has written this article titled You've Got Lies: Chick Flicks and the World's Approach to Men and Marriage. I recommend this article. I don't think we realize how much we are influenced by the whole notion of romance in our culture, particularly the way it is portrayed in movies and books. I also think, for the majority of women, there is something in us that is drawn to the dream of an ideal romantic relationship. The author draws a possible parallel between pornography for men and romance for women. For men, it is explicit images. For women, it is feeding the thoughts and imaginations of an unreal ideal relationship. She also gives three powerful lies that are propagated by romance that have no Biblical foundation. I actually threw out You've Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle , and some other chick flicks. In Sleepless , the main female character is living with her fiance and going behind his back in search of the one person...