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Anticipation

2008-03-11T18:56:00.000-07:00

I just picked up Anne Rice's Christ the Lord: Road to Cana. Her first book on the life of Christ (Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt) caught me up: the story, set in Jesus' childhood, tells of Jesus' dawning awareness that he is God and that he has a mission. Excellent story, wonderfully told, amazingly, in the first person. This second volume imagines the last year of Jesus' "private" life including his baptism and ending with his miracle at the wedding in Cana. At least that's what the cover says - I'm not able to start into it just yet.

Checking out her website today, she says she is toying with the idea of returning to her vampire character Lestat and writing a story where he finds the savior he's always been looking for. My own sense in reading Interview with the Vampire was that Lestat is plainly looking for Jesus Christ - and that it makes perfect sense for Rice to have ultimately found Christ as the fruit of her search and the promise of all her longing. It's interesting to imagine what it might be like for her vampire "hero" to stumble across the transforming love of Christ as she's done such excellent and influential work in the vampire genre. But for now Rice works on her third volume in the Christ the Lord series, Christ the Lord: The Kingdom of Heaven", the focal point of which is apparently the raising of Lazarus.

All in good time.

Once

2008-02-21T20:38:00.000-08:00

This is the kind of movie you never hear of until a friend comes up and asks if you've seen it. Then you find it, watch it, love it and pass the word yourself.

Once is an unconventional musical that chronicles a transformational week in the life of an angry, Dublin busker (Glenn Hansard of the Irish band Frames). He's a nameless Guy singing the pain of a relationship broken by betrayal and in the off hours fixing vacuums in his father's shop. His life opens up when a recently immigrated nameless Girl (Marketa Iglova) takes an interest in him, his music, and his vacuum fixing skills.

I am not a musician but I have always found musicians, especially singer-songwriters, fascinating. The brilliance of Once is in its understatement. What a treat to watch this story unfold through the intimate portrayal of musicians writing and singing together. The technique enables the characters to express their deepest feelings (as embodied in the sung lyrics and the playing of the music) without emoting or otherwise playing up the feeling of the song. They just play and realise they're a perfect fit for each other. The result is a growing ambiguity - though the songs were written about someone else, are they becoming an expression of their own developing relationship? It would be easy to believe so; the tagline of the film asks, "How often do you meet the right person?" The answer, of course, is the title of the film.

Guy and Girl make a great pair. Not only do they have onscreen chemistry, they recognise one anothers gifts and bring out the best in each other. Knowing their past heartbreak we yearn for their happiness but the film is not about a quick fix of happiness. Writer-director John Carney knows the human heart is not a vacuum cleaner. He wants to acknowledge all the realities of loneliness, hurt, hope and attraction, and privilege the long view to the temptation of the moment. Maybe we do only meet the right person once - but are we able to discern when that is? By what criteria can we? When Guy and Girl play in the closed music store, her on the borrowed piano, he on his guitar, and lift their voices to sing in perfect harmony, "Take this sinking boat and point it home, We've still got time," my spirit soars with theirs and I recognise two things: it'd be easy for them to find new love in the moment with each other and they're singing about something far different. They're singing the prodigal son, rising from his despair and imagining a return to a relationship once broken. That struck me as a wildly unique dramatic situation for a modern romantic musical and the film holds the tension throughout.

We may find great movies more than once each year, but they're rare enough that I'm confident this will stay on my top five films of 2008 list and you can bet I'll serve it up in a L'Abri film night slot. By the way, nameless Guy and Girl swear like Irish buskers (which is two grades below drunken sailor); even so there's so much truth, heart and beauty in this film, that we'd be cool to watch it with our kids. You can find this Irish import on DVD.

Elmore Leonard's Recipe for Royalties

2008-02-18T10:57:00.001-08:00

1 New York Times Article
10 Rules of Writing
add
90 pages cardstock
Season with illustrations
Bind as a 1" thick hardcover
Sell as new

***

While the rules contained in Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing, are helpful they are also concise. They are so concise that at about five minutes in (or as I like to call it - the half way point) the reader must ask oneself, "Why have these few words been published in this massive tome?" The answers are themselves questions: Does someone hate trees? Does someone want to combat the ways of the sedentary writer with an unexpected opportunity to excercise their upper body? Is there some mystical message hidden in the white space of the pages? It is impossible to know precisely why. But I suspect a money grab. Because the book has the substance of a wikipedia article, which can be helpful and concise.

Second reason I think it's a money grab is, you know the blurb of copyright info that is usually right at the beginning of the book that tells you who published it where and when? That's not at the beginning of the book. It's hidden on one of the last pages. It hides the fact that this "book" was originally published as a single newspaper article. The title of the book is different than the title of the article and there's no mention on the covers of the book, or in the front of the book to let you know you might have already read it, or bought it for the price of a paper.

But, you might say, "Even if I already bought and read the newspaper article, that's not equal to buying a nice, hefty book that I can hold in my hands. "In fact, look here," you might say, as you point at the back cover of the book. "This is "THE INDISPENSIBLE GUIDE (AND GIFT) FOR EVERY READER AND WRITER". And who doesn't read and write?" you might conclude as you place the attractive tome where it can catch the eye of house guests.

To each his own, I say. Elmore Leonard writes with snap. His rules themselves are helpful and concise. If you are a reader or writer with an indispensible guide (or gift) shaped hole in your life, you may want to read the July 16, 2001 New York Times article available online here. Or, if you have $20 dollars and half as many minutes, you might want to read the book.

Once Upon a Time in India

2008-02-14T16:08:00.000-08:00

Pop quiz. You have a stomach full of korma, a hankering for film and four hours in your hand. What do you do?

You watch Lagaan; a gem of a Bollywood film nominated for, and subsequently robbed of, the 2001 Oscar for best foreign film. It has won over 40 other international awards.

Imagine: It's 1893 in India. Last year there was no rain and the British ruled Provinces allowed their subjects to pay only half their tax. This year there is no rain yet, and the British demand double tax to make up for last year's shortfall. Doomed by the unpayable tax, the villagers face starvation. When Bhuvan (Amir Khan), our charming young hero leads his village to complain, the power mad British Captain (Paul Blackthrone) offers to forgive the tax on one condition - that Bhuvan field a team and beat the British army in a cricket match. Ignorant of how to play, and with none to play with him, Bhuvan cannot accept the offer - so the Captain sweetens it until it's not just an offer, but an irresistible, life changing dream. The final stakes: If Bhuvan wins, not just his village, but the whole province will be given three years without tax - enough grace to not only survive, but to throw off the yoke and flourish. But if Bhuvan loses, the province will suffer the devastation of triple tax. Reviled by his village and his countrymen, bouyed only by the faith of his mother and the admiration of Gauri (Gracie Singh), Bhuvan begins his three month journey to field and train a cricket team that can shatter the oppressive British rule. Along the way, he discovers that to be free of the British, his people must first be freed from the petty grievances, fears and caste taboos that have separated and marginalized his own people. As Bhuvan's hope, dream and courage spread, people find the conviction to look past their differences and take a stand on their common ground. Adding tension to the whole piece is the love triangle that develops as Bhuvan is drawn to the Englishwoman who has come to teach them the game.

Frankly - this is probably the most enjoyable film I have ever seen. It's an incredible story, with superb music (the lyrics translate into beautiful English poetry), excellent casting, direction, cinematography and with truly enchanting performances from Amir Khan and Gracie Singh as Bhuvan and Gauri; one of the most engaging screen couples I've ever rooted for.

So get thee some some korma (or whatever Indian cuisine you prefer) and four hours of couch time and watch this movie.

Yes, this movie is the better part of four hours long. But it doesn't feel like it.

Persepolis

2008-02-03T15:20:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to reading Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel/coming of age memoir about growing up in Iran, Austria and back in Iran. With the film version coming soon (it took the Jury Prize at Cannes), a new version that collects both parts in one volume has been released. First off I enjoyed the comic, but it certainly didn't enthrall me. The honours given the film make me wonder if the story works better as an animated film than as a comic.

Why didn't I love it? On the large scale I don't think it ever became more than a personal memoir. Marjane recounts her life from age 10 to 14, when her parents, concerned for her safety in Iran, send her to Austria. After about four years in Austria she returns to Iran and the narrative continues for several more years. Obviously one gets an eye-opening look at what it was like to live in Iran in the 1980s and 1990s. It was terrible, both in terms of interior suppression and exterior warfare. It's interesting as far as following her around and hearing about her experiences and environments goes, but a number of her experiences are glossed over very quickly, too quickly for me to feel they'd been treated satisfactorily. Other scenes receive more detail but perhaps don't add enough to the story as a whole. Ultimately the story didn't coalesce into a great revelation, or moral truth beyond the rather lame and overused notion that one can only learn from their own mistakes. This personal lesson comes off rather trite considering the backdrop.

It can be difficult to identify with characters who make decisions we wouldn't. This was occasionally a struggle for me. I felt too much time was spent on the Austrian years; they have their moments, but I thought her experience of alienation could have been done more concisely and powerfully. And perhaps this is why it might work better as a film - there's certainly a good story here, but it's very episodic, unfolding in small bit after small bit. Many of these individual scenes work well but the whole might be better structured.

I like the art, which is simple and bold in black and white. I'm glad to have had some glimpse into a nation that is run by an Islamic regime. And I'm interested to see what they did with the movie.

Angel

2008-01-31T10:26:00.000-08:00

Angel has invaded L'Abri. It began when Mark and Terri brought home copies of Season 1 and 2, found for only $15 at Walmart. We watched a couple episodes with them and it triggered Michelle and I to retrieve our Angel season 1 from storage so we could watch again. By the time we finished season 1 Mark was done with the first disk of season 2, so we began it and passed on our season 1 to Clarke and Julia.

Angel is a great show. Very thoughtful and at the same time very funny. The characters, who range from a vampire cursed with a soul that fills him with remorse for his past evils, to a once shallow rich girl who fled her small town when her parents lost everything, to an accident prone "rogue demon hunter" who failed his father and the council that trained him, and a street fighting vampire hunter whose mistakes led to his sister's death, all struggle to redeem themselves by doing what's right, here defined as "helping the helpless", no matter the personal cost. The conflict between the characters is great, as is the uber-enemy, Wolfram and Hart, a powerful law firm allied with Hell.

Even more drama arises from the fact that our heroes, so obviously flawed, sometimes let their weaknesses get the better of them. And more, the lawyers at the secretive Wolfram and Hart, experience doubt as new revelations of the companied evil become clear to them and they must decide if they want to move up the food chain or try and escape.

Angel is a "grown-up" spin-off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The acting is strong, the scripts are superb and Angel as a character offers much more variety than Buffy. While Buffy is about a normal girl struggling to accept super-responsibility in the present, Angel is about trying to atone for past mistakes. While the Buffy writers make her struggles easy to identify with, I think it is even easier to identity with Angel, because responsibility has not been thrust upon him - he has chosen it in response to his remorse and regret. And since Angel is over two hundred years old we can be taken to story lines anywhere in the world during that time frame, which I kind of like. In both series, I am more interested in the supporting cast, the "normal" people who join the supernatural mission, daily risking their lives to help others come free of the darkness.

Six from the Circus

2008-01-28T09:49:00.000-08:00

Once there was a circus that traveled from town to town putting on shows. They did not put on a show every night. Some nights it got dark while they were traveling and they would have to set up a camp in the middle of the countryside. This was not a problem because they had lots of tents. One night, as they were camped in the middle of a particularly dry and dusty desert, the Ringmaster spoke to them.

“I am going away,” he said, “by a road you cannot follow.”

“But who will tell us where to go?” said the Strongman.

“And lead us there?” said the Juggler.

“Who will take care of us?” said the Horseback Rider.

“And keep us together.” said the Knife Thrower.

The Mime was speechless.

“Who will finish training me?” said the guy who pretended to be a gorilla. He didn’t like pretending to be a gorilla. He wasn’t very good it at either. He was new and he hadn’t learned a real circus job yet so he would dress up in a gorilla suit and jump around while people booed for the next act to come on.

“You have many gifts,” said the Ringmaster. “They are not the same gifts, but they all are from me. After I am gone my Spirit will remain with you and you will learn more than I can teach you were I to stay behind.”

The circus performers were very sad. When they woke up the next morning the Ringmaster was gone. His tent was gone and where it had been was a brown box. Inside the box was a note and a jar.

The Strongman read the note aloud:

“It is a long journey to the next city and you will need to use your special gifts to make it there. Inside the jar are six pieces of paper. The names of your special gifts are written on the papers. Use your gifts wisely and for the good of all and together, you will be well.”

The Strongman reached into the jar and pulled out a piece of paper. He looked at it and it was blank. “Does this mean I have no special gift?” he thought to himself. He laid the paper face down and said, “My special gift is … Strength!” And everyone believed him because he was strong.

The Horseback Rider took a piece of paper. It was blank too. She didn’t want the others to think she had no special gift so she said, “My Special gift is Horseback Riding”.

The Juggler looked at his paper (also blank) and said “My special gift is juggling.” The Knife Thrower said her special gift was Throwing Knives, the Mime said nothing, but everyone knew his gift was Mime. They all set their papers face down. The guy who had to wear a gorilla suit took the last piece of paper from the jar.

“Great,” he said. “My paper’s blank.”

He put his paper down, face up. And everyone saw it was blank. And everyone felt bad.

“Wait,” said the Knife Thrower. “It’s not quite blank. There’s a very faint line.”

And there was. It went right across the piece of paper. She turned her own paper over and said, “Mine’s not quite blank either.” And it wasn’t. She had been too afraid that it was blank to notice the faint lines on her paper. She set it beside the other paper and the lines fit together. Emboldened by the honesty of the Knife Thrower, the other performers turned their papers over and when they fit them together, discovered that the faint lines made a picture.

“What is it?” said the Juggler. The Mime scratched his head.

“It’s a map to the next town,” said the Knife Thrower, for she could recognize the shape of the path they had taken in some of the lines of the picture. She pointed the direction they must go.

The Mime was overjoyed. He smiled and clapped the Knife Thrower on the back and hugged the guy who had to wear the gorilla suit. After the Strongman cooked a big breakfast for them and made sure their shoes were in good repair, they packed up their tents and continued the journey.

They came to a river. It wide and the water was very fast. Half of the group wanted to go upstream and look for a way to cross. Half of them wanted to go downstream and look for a way to cross. “No,” said the guy who had to wear a gorilla suit. “We need to cross here.” The others grumbled, but the Horseback Rider said “If we stay together we can make it across.” They all took hands and made a circle. And together, as they faced the water they watched it grow small and dry up. They walked through the mud to the other side.

The Mime was delighted and clapped everyone on the back. They could see the next town on the horizon, but it was late. They set up their tents to camp, and as they sat around the fire they practiced their acts. But when the guy got out his gorilla suit, the Juggler threw it in the fire. “I need a partner,” said the Juggler. And he began to teach him the way of the trade.

Each of the circus performers kept the piece of paper they had pulled from the jar. The next time they looked at it they were surprised to see that it wasn’t blank at all.

Metropolis (1927)

2008-01-27T13:56:00.000-08:00

In 2002 Kino Video released a new version of Fritz Lang's masterpiece Metropolis. Though rightly hailed as "the crowning achievement of the German silent cinema," the film has not been available in its original form since 1927. Any version prior to the Kino release has been truncated because a significant number of scenes have been irretrievably lost. The Kino version recreates the original story by adhering to the full original score and inserting written descriptions of the plot where the original scenes are missing. While this happens fairly often, it happens quickly and is successful in telling the story. And its a great story and a great film. It's easily one of the best old films I've seen. The ambitious design and scope of the film are shocking and many scenes have an air of familiarity because so many science fiction films have borrowed from Metropolis.

The story is set in 2026 when the intelligentsia lives on the surface of the earth and the workers live below. Freder, the carefree heir to the city, lives in a walled paradise until Maria, a beautiful prophet from the underworld, herds the dirty, deprived children of the workers into the retreat and shouts out for them to be recognized as brothers. Freder's heart goes out to them (and her) and he enters the undercity to better understand his new brothers. He is given a revelation that the machines that run the city are a new manifestation of Moloch - an evil god that demands human sacrifice. The workers are sick of their lot and close to revolt, but Maria encourages them to wait for the mediator - the Heart who will be able to bridge the gap between Head and Hands. Of course, Freder, is the Heart, but his course to reconciliation is set against a dark alliance.

Freder's father, Joh, seeks out Rotwang the Inventor, who has built a Machine Man that can take the shape of any human. Desirous to incite a worker revolt that he can crush with force, Joh convinces Rotwang to kidnap Maria and make the Machine in her likeness. Rotwang agrees but betrays Joh, sending Maria to debauch and undermine the sons of the wealthy as well as to incite the workers to revolt. As the city, above and below, falls apart Freder tries to find and save the real Maria, then untie the city before it is too late.

I'm really glad I saw it. It might not be for everyone - but it's a must for any science fiction fan.

Cowboy Bebop

2008-01-23T12:30:00.001-08:00

The friendly robots at amazon.ca have discerned that since I bought the six Cowboy Bebop dvds last year for an altogether cost of $150 I might also be interested in pick up the soon to be released box set for the startling new price of $39. Thanks coded Amazites, but I'm quite happy with my own set. In fact, considering that two or three years ago Cowboy Bebop was selling for $240 dollars, I was very happy to get it for $150. And I still am. It was worth it.

Forget that it's anime. Cowboy Bebop is one of the best television series I've ever seen - period. The makers set out to create a new genre building each of it's 26 half hour episodes around a spine of music, combining the private eye and space opera genres, homaging an incredible variety of films and film styles, and most significantly, exploring the comedy and tragedy of the human condition at the end of the last century. And the music is extraordinary. There's other great TV and there's other great anime but Cowboy Bebop stands alone as a piece that reached far beyond artistic convention and somehow managed to pull it off.

2008-01-23T12:11:00.001-08:00

The Rhinoceros Who Worked for the Zoo

2008-01-19T23:44:00.001-08:00

The Rhinoceros Who Worked for the Zoo

by Andre Harden

Once there was a rhinoceros who ate long grass and slept in the open air. He was free to do whatever he liked, but he did not like the bland taste of grass, and he did not like the flies that bothered him, and he did not like when the sun got too hot. This is no life for me, thought Rhino. And he went to the city to live like a man.

But no one wanted to rent an apartment to an unemployed rhinoceros. "This roof ain't free," said the landlord. "I'll have a room when you have a job."

Rhino was sitting on the curb, wondering about what sort of job he might get when a group of frightened people ran by. "A lion! A lion is loose in the street!" they shouted. And they were right, a lion had smashed his cage and escaped from the zoo. Rhino smiled. He knew what kind of job was right for him.

On Monday morning Rhino went to the zoo and asked for a job. "We might have an opening for a good Rhino," said the Zoo Keeper. "I'm not here to be your 'pet',” said Rhino. "I want a job smashing bars." "Why would we want you to smash our bars?" asked the Zoo Keeper. "Because your cages are not strong enough,” said Rhino. “If I can smash the bars of your cages, you should rebuild them until they are too strong for me to smash. Then you will have strong cages and no more animals will escape."

The Zoo Keeper told Rhino he was very smart and hired him on the spot. Rhino went and rented his apartment, bought a fridge-full of groceries and a large fan. He even bought a computer and hooked it up to the internet.

The next day he went to the zoo and smashed the bars on the lion cage. "Too weak," he said to the Zoo Keeper. And the Zoo Keeper began to rebuild the cage. Then he smashed the bars on the elephant cage. "Not strong enough," he said to the Zoo Keeper. And the Zoo Keeper began to rebuild the cage. Then he smashed the bars on the monkey cage. "Cake," said Rhino. And the Zoo Keeper began to rebuild the cage.

Rhino went home, paid his rent and ate a delightful meal of cabbage, broccoli and carrots. Then he bought a cool hat and sunglasses online.

The next day he went to the zoo and smashed the new bars on the lion cage. "Still weak," he said to the Zoo Keeper. And the Zoo Keeper began to rebuild the cage. Then he smashed the new bars on the elephant cage. "Not strong yet," he said to the Zoo Keeper. And the Zoo Keeper began to rebuild the cage. Then he smashed the new bars on the monkey cage. "Cheesecake," said Rhino. And the Zoo Keeper began to rebuild the cage.

Rhino went home, paid his rent and ate a wonderful meal of spinach, cauliflower and leeks. Then he bought a cool shirt and a bling online.

The next day he went to the zoo and saw bright new bars on all the cages. Rhino tried to smash the lion cage but could not. "It's not weak anymore," he said to the Zoo Keeper. And the Zoo Keeper rejoiced. Rhino tried to smash the elephant cage but could not. "It's strong now," he said to the Zoo Keeper. And the Zoo Keeper rejoiced. Rhino tried to smash the monkey cage but could not. "Cakewalk's over," he said to the Zoo Keeper. And the Zoo Keeper locked the cage. He took down the old monkey sign and underneath was a new sign that said Rhinoceros.

Rhino was outraged. He tried and tried to smash the bars, but they were too strong for him to smash. After a while Rhino's clothes got old and fell away. People came from all over to see him. His cage was hot in the sun. Flies flew in and bothered him. And the Zoo Keeper fed him bland grass. Rhino longed for his days of freedom with the sun and flies on the plains of Africa.

One day Rhino asked, "Why won't you let me go back?" The Zoo Keeper asked his own question. "Have you never heard it said that he who builds a trap may fall into it?" And the rhinoceros never spoke again.

Stories

2008-01-19T23:30:00.001-08:00

I've decided to post a few short stories that I've written over the last couple years. They are stories that I've written to be read aloud to children. They are meant to be thought provoking fables that could start good discussion. I've been holding off on sharing them widely because I've toyed with the idea of saving up enough to publish as a small collection but, who am I kidding, that could take several more years.

So I will be posting them - not all in a rush, but they will all have a "stories" tag. If you'd like to read them at home enjoy. If you'd like to read them in a larger gathering, please let me know. If you're an illustrator whose imagination is sparked by my writing, I'd be interested in looking at your work as I've been wanting to stumble across the right illustrator for a long time (which is to say I'm increasingly interested in comics and graphic novels as a medium).

Art Within Labs

2008-01-18T15:06:00.000-08:00

I'm a finalist but it will still be a few weeks before I know for sure if I go to Atlanta.

I found the geographical data of the other finalists interesting. This contest was open to entrants from the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Of the 12 finalists, 6 are from the Los Angeles area. 2 are from elsewhere in the U.S. and 4 are from Canada. But the best part is, one of the other Canadian finalists is Titus Heckel, a writer who was in the Piko Fellowship with me back in 2005. Technically he's not a Canadian, but he lives in Vancouver.

Walking on Water

2008-01-18T10:33:00.000-08:00

When I was 9 or 10 years old the Stonewall library was in the old post office, a serious building on the corner of main street and centre avenue. It was built when the town's quarries were still active and the two level building was made of large, rough, limestone blocks. Inside the aroma of dry dusty paper permeated the narrow aisles; you know the smell - at least I hope you do - there's nothing like it. The ceilings were high, the few windows were thickly glazed and the high stacks of books meant that light was indirect.

The young adult section was housed downstairs at the bottom of a wide staircase that turned back on itself and disappeared in shadow. I recall the trepidation I would feel as a I walked down these steps alone, into the shadows, curious why there should be no lighting where the stairs made entry to the basement stacks. A glimmer shone deeper in the room, but those first few steps as one entered were shadowed - a true threshold. At least, that's how I remember it, the day I found A Wrinkle in Time on the shelf.

There are few books from my childhood that I recall reading for the first time. Most simply didn't have a huge impact on me. I remember being in grade seven, staying up all night to finish The Sword of Shannara. Likewise I remember having to find and read every volume of J.J. Fortune's the "race against time" series. Both of those series captured my imagination for very different reasons. Shannara was like a Star Warsy version of The Lord of the Rings loaded with strong characters and high emotions (though I noticed in later reads that scenes of "high emotion" were often prefaced by one character clasping another's shoulder and earnestly sharing their feelings). Race against time followed the hair racing adventures of a modern day archaeologist and his nephew - lots of action, modern but also with a strong connection to the wisdom of antiquity.

But a Wrinkle in Time was truly extraordinary. not derivative of anything else though in that genre of fantasy which overlaps our world with others (ie. Narnia). But Wrinkle seemed less fantasy and more science because it was one of the first books, and for me the first book, that was written with some understanding of quantum physics. It reminded me that our own world is actually fantastic in the fantasy sense - it's a mystery and much of what we know about it continues to be turned over as science discovers more ways of looking at things - and theology discovers more ways of looking at God. In Wrinkle (and its sequels) Madeline L'Engle wove together strong characters, intriguing plot, scientific principles and theological understanding to craft a story that blew me away.

Walking on Water is a collection of L'Engle's reflections on art and Christianity and on that oddity, the Christian artist. I found it interesting and helpful in terms of informing my own journey. One complaint is that it feels very much like a collection of reflections - the tangental explorations of her thoughts and memories are often very short as she shares a moment here, an observation there. Which is good in the bad way of making you wish there was more. But I suppose her point is that I should spend some time reflecting. So I will.

I'll also definitely return to some of her fiction works - I haven't read her in years and years and I want to go back and see how the worlds have changes.

L'Engle on Trust

2008-01-12T12:20:00.000-08:00

I'm currently reading Walking on Water, Madeline L'Engle's reflection on faith and art. It's very good and I want to share this bit with you:

"We trust the one we call Abba as a child does, knowing that what seems unreasonable now will be seen to have reason later. We trust as Lady Julian of Norwich trusted, knowing that despite all the pain and horror of the world, ultimately God's loving purpose will be fulfilled and "all shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well.

"And this all wellness underlies true art (Christian art) in all disciplines, an all wellness that does not come to us because we are clever or virtuous but which is a gift of Grace."

I think this is true. It's certainly a challenge to write truly of the conflict and tragedy that arises from human weakness, and freewill while setting the story in a world that is ultimately governed by Grace. It's easy to think of perils to befall our heroes, snares to trip them, betrayals to crush their hearts - how much harder to think of how they arrive at the conclusion that all shall be well.

Beowulf & Old English Laments

2008-01-12T11:18:00.000-08:00

From the pages of Gareth Hinds' Beowulf graphic novel:

"Hold thou, O earth, since heroes may not, the wealth of kings. Ever from thee brave men bought it! But battle-death seized them, killing my clansmen all, robbing them of life and a liegeman's joys. They are gone, my noble comrades, and only I am left alive. None have I left to lift the sword or to cleanse the carven drinking cup. The helmet hard, all haughty with gold, shall part from its plating; the polishers lie buried who could brighten and burnish the battle-mask. The armor that oft braved the bite of steel over bicker of shields now rusts with its bearer. No good hawk now flies through the hall, no harp plays. Battle and death have born the flower of my race away."

The beauty and power of alliteration so present in this passage reminds me of some of Tolkein's work, which is heavily influenced by Anglo-Saxon poems. The laments of the Rohirrim are an obvious example from the Lord of the Rings, but Tolkien wrote many other poems, including alliterative translations of Gawain and the Green Knight and his own work, The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son. This may be my favorite style of poetry.

As for Hinds' Beowulf graphic novel - it is very good. It's wording is spare but based on the A.J. Church translation published by Seeley and Co. in 1904, which makes it a pleasure to read. The art is bold and bloody, and not afraid to retain monsters as monsters and heroes as heroes - after all the story is a lament of a time past. It's precisely for this reason that I picked the comic up because the more recent film versions of Beowulf have been unable to treat the story honestly, revising the morality of it beyond recognition - or at least this is what seems to be the case from the trailers I've seen, which convinced me to give the films a pass.

Hinds telling is straightforward and pays much honour to the original story, capturing it's essence nicely. The point of bringing the story to the present generation is not that we see ourselves as a type of Beowulf, but that we, with the original audience, weep for days long gone. Hinds Beowulf is an extraordinary warrior, brave and willing to throw his life away for others, "I shall carry neither sword nor shield nor coat of mail. With the grip of my hands only will I confront this enemy; struggling with him, life for life. But who shall live and who shall die, let it be as God shall will." Some may find the words too few and far between to sink into the story the comic tells - there are long spreads of the unfolding battles between Beowulf and Grendel, Grendel's mother and finally the dragon. It's worth taking the time to see the fights unfold detail by detail.

Hinds visual style is easy on the eyes. If we slow down we can see in his panels the shot by shot subtleties that move the simple story forward - a shift of the eyes, a readying of the hand, the dropped weapons of a frightened warrior. It is enough to evoke the emotions of the characters, stark and uncomplicated as they are. More complex are the art techniques employed in the story. Quoting from Hinds' own site: "The three sections of Beowulf are done in different materials. Part 1 is drawn with ink using a dip pen and brush, then colored digitally. Part 2 is drawn and painted on wood panels using technical pen, watercolor, acrylic, and color pencil. Part 3 is drawn like part 1, but colored using Dr. Martin's dye and white charcoal." The result is a very effective muting of the palette as we move toward the passing of Beowulf.

This a great visual telling of the ancient story. I'm adding his King Lear to my reading list.

Art Within Delayed

2008-01-09T17:15:00.000-08:00

I've been waiting to see if I'm shortlisted for an Art Within lab this year. They initially posted Jan. 11 as the date they'd be contacting people, but this has just been pushed back a week. I was offered a lab in November but had to decline due to other commitments. Since then I've become increasingly eager to go and hang out with screenwriters for a couple weeks. It's been a long time since I've sat with a bunch of like minded screenwriters and talked about why we do what we do. Creatively it's been a tiring year. Lots of stress and change that cuts into writing time. No time away to write (I tried take a weekend but was hit with a severe headache that sent me home). Lots of good ideas undeveloped, some even untouched.

Not this year. I must do more. I must be more attentive to what has been given me to say in art - and I must be ruthless in terms of creating the necessary time I need to serve the art. And doing that has nothing to do with whether I get a lab or not - but it would be a nice start.

The End of Suburbia

2008-01-05T17:52:00.000-08:00

My friend Robert Semeniuk told me to watch this film, a documentary that predicts the demise of Suburbia. Around one half of North Americans live in suburbs, a place that simulates the so called country life, usually named after the country life they destroyed in order to build the suburb. The key thing about the suburb is that it removes one from the “city”. I can hear Leonard Nimoy quoting, E.B. White, “Everything in life is somewhere else, and you get there in car." The film argues that if the car dies, suburbia immediately follows.

The documentary is really about oil dependency, specifically dependency on the cheap, easily available oil and natural gas which has allowed our society to flourish (or has it merely bloated?) over the last five decades. The film presents a one sided argument that world oil production has likely peaked or will in the next few years. It discredits recent claims that huge, untapped reserves exist by arguing that “the books have been cooked” to overcome a new regulation limiting productivity to a percentage of declared reserves. Fact is, no one knows how much is left, and surprisingly, it actually doesn’t matter how much is left. It only matters that production has peaked.

Why? Well, oil and petroleum based products will become far too expensive to remain useful long before the reserves actually run out. For example, the energy crisis in the 1970’s happened not because oil ran out, but merely because it peaked. If oil becomes too expensive to process and use then that’s it. Peaking means that there is now less affordable oil available than people want to use, thus it becomes too expensive to be consumed in the manner we’ve become dependent on.

They also discredit alternative energy sources such as hydrogen and bio-fuels, dismissing both as smokescreens which require as much, or almost as much energy to create as they deliver when used. Their bottom line is that there is no replacement that will allow us to continue to live the way we have lived and, since petroleum and/or petroleum products are ubiquitous in almost every aspect of our culture, the crash will be extraordinary. Yes, indeed there's no flying Mary Poppins in this film.

It’s action points: Behaviour must change and become more self-sufficient. Communities must be redesigned so people can access necessities on foot. Plant a garden. Work from home.

The film only presents one perspective but it is both logical and compelling. And considering that their perspective is shared by Matthew Simmons, CEO of Simmons and Co. International, the world’s largest energy investment bank (Haliburton and the World Bank are clients) their claims seem credible.

Irony in Kenya

2008-01-04T09:52:00.001-08:00

What was a relatively stable country a week ago now has 350 dead in riots or gang attacks, 100,000 displaced people and 400,000 more in need of urgent help. Kenyan politics have been deeply tribal since the nation became independent in 1963. I understand anger but I just don't get this dehumanizing behavior - this tribal hatred. It's like being drunk on violence. And for what?

The In-Between World of Vikram Lall unfolds over the backdrop of the independence of Kenya and some of the corruption that attended it. I suppose what's unfolding now is in some ways the fruit of what was planted forty years ago.

The Family That Kicks Together

2008-01-03T21:35:00.000-08:00

Sticks together. So say we all.

Forgive the cliches ... I'm in pain.

I picked up my dobok earlier today. Michelle, the keener, has had hers for over a week already. This evening we went to our first Taekwondo class. It was great to receive the encouragement of so many friends who are also training. We've been wanting to do this for a long time and finally decided no more putting it off. So we're white belts. We ran. We kicked. We punched. We did push ups. Sits ups. We did not vomit. But I was close at the half way point. We learned a basic punch kick combination and the first part of our poomse, which is an I shaped pattern.

Now it's over. We're sore. Very sore. My hips ache. My left arm aches at the shoulder, elbow and along the forearm. Quite a workout for one who sits and types all day. But it sure was fun and it seems very cool to be doing it as a family. Matthias continually repeats the phrase "When you are blue belts I will be a black belt."

All are eager to ttteacch uss... Sssory fer spellg. AAarmm craMPinga fingherz NUM. Seezurre mabee immmanInt andddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd

Living like Polar Bears

2008-01-01T22:12:00.000-08:00

The elevation at our new home is 900 feet. What a difference from our Tunstall home. At a mere 170 feet elevation our former neighbours have had only one day of snow … We’ve had regular snowfalls of 6 inches or more since late November and have kept that much on the ground about half the time. We’ve had nice respite of warm weather but have had a foot of snow on the ground for the last few days. Word is it will go warm and rain later in the week. I’ll be glad of that because at present we can’t drive up our lane and are parked down on the road.

Thayne and Analena went swimming today down at Bowen Bay. It was the New Year’s Polar Bear swim. They were in for less than a minute, most people ran in and turned around as soon as they were covered. A few hardy souls swan out and treaded water for some time. Weird.

Writing as Means

2008-01-01T21:24:00.000-08:00

It’s been said that writing is easy – you just sit at the typewriter and open a vein. I wish. Words don’t equal life in the same way that blood does. Blood is pumped out by the heart. I have the same ideal with writing but rarely do the good words pump from my heart onto the page. More often they’re thick and sludge-like; they stay in my fingers or shift restlessly from one foot to another in my head, like marathon runners with no course marked out.

That’s a similarity with writing and bleeding – or living if your blood remains in your veins. Blood is useless if it’s not in the veins moving to where it needs to go. What use is an excess of words if they’re not moving one toward some good end? Writing is not an end – it is the means to an end. Having the end fixed in one’s mind is integral to writing well. By “the end” I mean the result one expects their writing to evoke, not the literal end of the story. I mean something closer to theme, but in the reader as opposed to the story. I’m talking about desired response. The movement of the reader by nothing more than words well ordered. Movement toward? Me, I suppose, if I’ve managed to write something of myself and where I am. No, not just that. I write some of where I am and some of where I mean to be; where I want to be, where I would be if I lived more heroically. And I try to move people with me as I try to get closer to that place.

Elly asked "What is L'Abri?"

2007-11-14T17:51:00.001-08:00

Good question. It's been difficult to find a short answer, but I think I’ve come up with one. But first, what is it not?

A school. We don’t have a school building and we don’t have classes. We exist as a collection of family homes that invite students (guests) to live with them for a term. So what is it?

L’Abri is who’s here and there are a number of people here.

The staff is here in a large way. They are a key part of defining what the local L’Abri is. Staff prepare rooms and meals and make the students welcome in their homes. They direct the students in work around the property and guide them in their self-directed study. Staff give shape to a L’Abri term by setting a lecture schedule and by setting up other events such as film discussion nights and book studies. They also directly tutor students, helping them ask questions, guiding them toward helpful materials and challenging them to seek hard. An ethos of hospitality, honesty and inquiry proceeds from the Staff and influences everything that happens at L'Abri.

Students are here. They each bring a unique life experience that has given rise to certain questions that they would like to explore during the term. Their search for wholistic answers to their questions shapes the content of any L’Abri term. They interact with staff and each other. L'Abri flexes to accommodate student concerns and interests. While the work is about leading students into wholeness the recognition of the whole self means that we play as well as study and work. Re-creation is good. Life is shared.

God is present. In a huge way. This underpins everything else. We trust that God (as revealed in the person of Jesus) is here and present to help. We pray together and our hope for the ministry is based on our belief that God desires to lead students to revelation and intimacy with Himself. Our Faith that God will do this gives us the confidence to pursue a relatively open style of study.

Our present term is six weeks long, short as far as terms go. Our next term will be 12 weeks long. It's long enough for people to examine their habits and ways of being, to truly push into their deeply held beliefs or to examine a difficult question.

The Longer You Delay ...

2007-11-14T17:27:00.001-08:00

Working at something the harder it is to get back at it. I’ve been putting off blog posts for a while. I wish it was because I’ve been so busy writing a masterpiece – but it is not that. Our schedule has been in upheaval since the move and I’ve had trouble finding decent time to write masterpieces let alone blog posts. Do I mean that blog posts take more time than masterpieces, or in my case a decent story? No. But I find it difficult to give the little time I find to blog posting when I need to get a story moving forward. I’ve been trying to break out the screen story for a drama/thriller and haven’t been able to sit long enough in the story to get it to really come together. It is coming … albeit slowly.
Nonetheless I do want to keep up with the blog and will be endeavoring to be more diligent in doing so.

Settling In

2007-10-18T16:15:00.000-07:00

To quickly get you up to speed:

1. On Sept. 30 we moved from our home near Tunstall Bay to L'Abri. Many friends came to help us move - we emptied the house in about two hours. Other friends provided everybody with a hot lunch. It was fantastic. We spent the next day thoroughly cleaning the old house then that was it - we were relocated.

2. We are temporarily settled in the main house at L'Abri. We have three bedrooms, a large sitting area and a kitchen/informal dining area. The large sitting area and the kitchen/dining area will often be shared with guests.

3. On Thanksgiving we kicked off the "new" L'Abri by inviting the community to join us for a meal. We had over 50 guests! And the power went out! Thankfully friends invited us over to cook the turkey in their gas stove. The power came on in the late afternoon and we and our guests had a great evening.

4. Students arrived to begin a six week term on the 16th. There were some last minute cancellations that have left us with a smaller group than expected, but we have been able to invite others who have expressed an interest to come and we expect to have a number of students join us over the course of the term. Things have become very busy with the arrival of the students, in a good way. It feels like, "Yes, this is why we're here."

5. Thayne took his first Taekwondo sparring class and really enjoyed it. The kids are registered for a tournament October 27. They will all compete in their patterns and Thayne will also compete in sparring.