I think this whole thing was a huge mistake. Maybe I shouldn't do it. Why, you ask?
Four reasons.
1) Gone With the Wind. It's got 1 commentary, 4 documentaries and 6 featurettes.
2) The Godfather trilogy. A commentary on all three and 13 featurettes. Plus I'll have to watch the third one again.
3) The Alien movies. Each movie has the theatrical version and a director's cut, with commentary on both. Each one has between 10-20 featurettes and there's a whole other bonus disc with documentaries and such. Also there are trailers and screen tests.
4) The Lord of the Rings movies. I have the extended cuts. Each one is incredibly long and has four commentaries. (Each.) And there are a ton of documentaries and featurettes.
This in itself could take a year, just these 11 movies.
This was a bad idea.
You can get a scoop of ice cream at Baskin Robbins for 31 cents today from 5-10. :)
I am, of course, working that ENTIRE TIME but I hope to escape for a few minutes at 7. (Which will, undoubtedly, turn into two hours; I imagine the line will be crazy.)
Finished Whistling in the Dark by Lesley Kagen.
It took me a while to get into it but I ended up really liking it.
It's about two sisters, Sally and Troo. Their mom is in the hospital and their stepfather and older sister, Nell, aren't doing a great job taking care of them. And there are some murders going on (other little girls) and Sally is convinced she's next, so she's trying to figure out who the killer is.
It was good. :) I think it was her first novel, too.
In my never-ending quest to ensure I cannot spend a single moment without something to do or a task to accomplish, I have begun the DVD project.
I'm going to watch every DVD I own and all their special features. I seriously expect this to take years.
I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 980 DVDs and TV seasons. So far, I have watched 21 movies/seasons. I have a long way to go.
On the plus side, I've watched the special features for something like 120 of them (so far, I've tackled a lot of movies that just have the trailers and yes, I have checked off the ones that don't have any). It's my goal to finish a DVD (either movie or special features) a day and maybe do more on my weekends (or tackle the longer ones then).
I am still doing the book project and expect to finish the book I'm currently reading tomorrow or Wednesday. (Maybe Thursday.)
The super part? I've learned that a few of my movies have rated and unrated versions on there. I think I'll just go with the unrated versions and call it good. Although I think the ones where there are director's cuts (the Alien series and Almost Famous), I'll try and watch both.
And I'm seriously amazed at what movies have extras. For example, My Cousin Vinny has a commentary. The Family Man has THREE commentaries. Is that really necessary?
I'm currently moving my way through the special features on the Office DVDs. And as a by the way, I don't know who told Rainn Wilson it's funny when he pretends to be Jenna Fischer, but that person lied to him.
This seriously may be the dumbest move I have ever made EVER.
So I've known my friend Wes for probably a decade, give or take some months. He was a youth pastor at my mom's church and I met him when he spoke to my college's GLBT support group. He was one of the smartest and most compassionate people I'd ever met, certainly among the religious crowd. (Most of them seemed to be checking me for the horns and 666 birthmark.) He got the fact that Jesus hung out with prostitutes, not pillars of the community and never acted like he was better than anyone else.
He's one of a very few people that I've taken to immediately. :)
Fast forward a few years. He's one of probably three people that I've seriously discussed my lack of faith with, especially as it relates to my dad's death. He never made me feel awful about it and he took me seriously. (You know how hard it can be to find people who will take you seriously?)
And then a year or two ago (time blurs, sorry), he said that he was going to leave the ministry to start focusing on his music full time.
(Picture above is Wes playing at Market Street)
Here's an article he wrote explaining why:
"Pleased to meet you. Hope you guess my name."
As I sang those lyrics to the Rolling Stones classic, "Sympathy for the Devil," I noticed a familiar face at the bar laughing at the irony. I recognized him as someone who years ago knew me in a different role. I had been his pastor.
Just as the Stones' song doesn't really glorify the devil or anything evil, I don't promote anything harmful, though I guess not everyone sees it that way. These days I play rock 'n' roll for a living, mostly in bars, and to many that seems a stretch for a former member of the clergy.
In truth, even during my 13 years of pastoral ministry, the role didn't always seem an easy fit. Although I found it rewarding to be there for people in times of need, there was also much about my work I found problematic, especially as I sought to be true to my deepest values and beliefs. Of course, sometimes our values and beliefs can get buried to the point where we don't know them anymore.
Many of the faithful struggle with the church as an institution and with some of its teaching, but that struggle can be particularly intense for someone who is called upon to represent the church and proclaim its message week in and week out.
Increasingly I realized not only that the church as an institution was too confining for me, but also that in my heart of hearts, many of the basics of Christian theology didn't ring true for me. When people would ask me questions about parts of the Bible they found troubling, I started to face the fact that the answers I was giving were no longer convincing, even to me.
So I started confining my sermons to simple wisdom for daily living. But even then the nature of my work had me presenting those ideas in a theological packaging in which I was quickly losing faith. I knew that in order to be whole and at peace, I needed to live my life with integrity. So I decided to find a new profession.
In my teens, I had started singing and playing piano and guitar, and over the years I did a bit of songwriting. To find a new line of work, I went back and learned to play a lot of the classic rock I grew up with, along with newer material, even as I reignited my passion for writing and recording music.
I guess timing and some networking skills worked to my advantage because I quickly found myself with a full performing schedule, mostly at the beach. And my own songs started getting radio play and good reviews.
I found it freeing and refreshing to be known simply as Wes, rather than The Rev. Davis or Pastor Wes. Yes, I had begun to recover "me." People no longer acted a certain way around me because that's the way you're "supposed" to act around a minister. No longer did I hear "excuse my language," or find that people tried to put on a front to convince me how spiritual they were. And I didn't need to accept people judging me according to a standard I didn't embrace, a standard they probably didn't live up to themselves.
I happily approach life not as someone who has the answers, but as someone who'd rather say "I don't know" than act like any answer is better than admitting ignorance.
It seems a lot of people come to a point in life where they know they are acting in a role that is in conflict with who they really are. The sad thing is that most, whether for reasons of finances or the opinions of others, never break free.
Jazz legend Miles Davis once said "Sometimes you have to play for a long time to be able to play like yourself." To me those words are about a lot more than just music.
And then there are those immortal words from Hamlet, which for me are much more than an empty cliché: "This above all: To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man." They represent a path to a richer and more authentic life.
I would also suggest that any spirituality that tempts you to profess something with false certainty is something that weakens the soul, rather than nourishing it.
It takes real faith to resist that temptation.
I read online that apparently the CW is getting slammed for its new Gossip Girl campaign.
There are two different pictures--one is of two characters (Blair and Chuck) kissing in the backseat of a cab and the other is of two diferent characters (Nate and Serena) making out. Depending on the market, it says "OMG" or "OMFG" at the bottom. And to give you a hint, here in Baltimore, I've just seen "OMG."
Yes, they're pretty racy, but nothing too offensive. It's not like they're naked.
The CW said in a statement, "This sexy, sophisticated campaign speaks directly to our adult 18-34 viewers using expressions that are part of their lexicon."
And even though this is targeted at adult viewers, it hasn't stopped anyone from saying, "Oh, the ad campaign and the show glorify teen sex and underage drinking."
To which I say, "Uh. Have you SEEN the show?"
Yes, some of the teenagers are having sex on the show and some of them drink. But the show also shows consequences, which I haven't heard any complaints mention. (Possibly because they aren't actually watching the show and are just going off what they're reading elsewhere? Hmmm...)
For example, Blair had sex with Chuck after she and Nate broke up. Then, when everyone found out that she had had sex with Chuck (and Nate), she was branded a slut and was shunned by her friends. It was so bad, she almost left town.
Serena actually did leave town after having sex with Nate (who was dating her best friend Blair at the time). They were both totally drunk, and it almost wrecked their friendship. She's back at her old school now and she's had to work really hard to regain trust.
And then there's Jenny, who's usurped Blair as the new bitchiest person on the show. She's the one who revealed that Blair had sex with two guys. At the beginning of the show, she was this cute, sweet, innocent little girl and now she's this really horrible person. It's very Mean Girls, and I'm waiting for her to realize that she's basically sold her soul to be popular.
So yeah, it's not like kids are watching this and thinking, "Wow, I totally want to suck down martinis and sleep around."
I don't think it glamorizes anything. None of the people on the show seem to be having all that much fun, even when they're having sex or drinking or whatever. And I think that if parents would watch this show with their teenage kids, it would be a really good conversational starter. Because on the outside, it looks like their lives are perfect but when you get closer, you see that they're all really screwed up (hence the binge drinking and the sex).
And I hate to burst your bubble, but some teenagers ARE having sex. And some of them are drinking. So it's not like Gossip Girl is making this up; it's just reflecting what's going on.
(Sorry for the rant. I just get really annoyed when I hear complaints that are inaccurate.)
Finished Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen. Really, really good. :)
It's about a girl, Ruby, who moves in with her sister and brother-in-law after her mom abandons her. (Well, more accurately, after Social Services learns she's been living on her own after her mom abandoned her.) And yeah, it's just really good.
I think it's actually my favorite of hers.
Tagged by gunderson bee
The rules:
- Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
- People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.
- At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names.
- Don’t forget to leave them a comment on their blog and tell them they’ve been tagged, and to come back and read your blog for the whole story
So, I'm sure you all know at least one of these facts and probably more. I'm sorry; I'm not so good with the random facts...
1) I am easily annoyed. Ways to annoy me include: Making me state the obvious, making me wait for you, email forwards, text mail forwards (who thought that up? That's insane), acting like you're in high school when you are not and kicking my chair when I'm in the movies. There are more; this is just what comes first to mind.
2) I have never seen an episode of Law & Order (or its spinoffs) or CSI (or its spinoffs).
3) When I was in grades 4-6, I listened to Broadway music almost exclusively.
4) I sang at Carnegie Hall with my high school concert choir. (Yes, it was awesome.) And we got a standing ovation for one of our songs.
5) I started reading when I was three.
6) I had three birthday parties when I turned 25. One of them was at Chuck E. Cheese because I had never had a party there before. The next one was at a martini bar in Ocean City. I drank way too much.
7) I met Jon Stewart. He's really, really nice and funny. :)
8) I read every book Stephen King ever published in one calendar year. At the time, that was Carrie through Lisey's Story.
Tag: Ginger_sister, I-Luv-Eeyore, Katie Dickinson, Nacwolin, Peachy, typinginboldprint, Tracy, AngieK
Finished Escape by Carolyn Jessop. Between this and Inside, I'm in the mood for something light and fluffy next.
It's about Carolyn's attempt to save herself and her eight children from the FLDS (cultish offshoot of Mormonism that still practices polygamy, which real Mormons have condemned since the late 1800s). It seemed appropriate to read it now.
It's definitely a good book and it's interesting (and also scary) to watch the religion go from slightly odd to dangerous and abusive as Warren Jeffs rises to power.
So I just watched Inside on Katie's recommendation. Wow. It's not the grossest movie I've ever seen (that still would be Passion of the Christ) but it's certainly up there.
It's about a pregnant woman and is set the night before she's supposed to give birth. Another woman comes visiting and wants the baby. (And no, the fact that the baby is currently inside another woman is not going to stop her at all.)
I rented it from Blockbuster and apparently they cut seven minutes from the film because it was considered too gross. So God only knows what the unrated version is like. :)
So if you like your horror movies with a ton of blood (and don't mind the fact that it's subtitled), check out Inside. Very good, very creepy, insanely bloody.
