At the dinner table the kid was talking about how he doesn't really like long car rides anymore. It's a shame, I said, because he used to be our road warrior, always up for a drive, no matter how long the route.
Thinking about the amount of time we'll be spending in the car this summer, I began to troubleshoot. I started to pitch the idea to him,
Me: "You know, you're probably old enough now that we could get you a...."
Him, cutting me off excitedly: "A MOTORCYCLE?!?"
At that point I busted up laughing, knowing that nothing could be further from the idea I was about to pitch. Like the lame, out-of-touch dad that I already am, I continued,
Me: "Well, no, sorry to disappoint you, but I was thinking we could get you an activity book to keep in the car that you could work on each time we go for a drive."
He swallowed his smirk, rolled his eyes slightly, looked at his mother, and the two of them burst out laughing at me in ridicule.
Mom: "WHAT?!? An ACTIVITY BOOK?!? Are you kidding me?! You can keep your activity book, I'm going with the kid on the motorcycle!"
Kid: "Yeah, and we're gonna fly past you so fast, papa! VROOOOOOM!!!!!!"
Mom: "You and your activity book, we're gonna leave you in the dust!"
Kid: "YEAH! VVRROOOOOOOOOM!!!!!"
Sadly, I'm starting to remind myself of this guy more all the time.
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Friday, April 11, 2014
Her
Maybe that would have filled this tiny little black hole in my heart, but probably not.
Despite its weird premise, I expected to love this movie. To be honest, I didn't.
It probably had something to do with being just too downright tired to watch. But besides that, it made me uncomfortable. It felt just as narcissistic as the generation that could make the premise plausible. It felt overly condoning, as if it weren't showing the reality, as if it went too far, hook, line, sinker. A shift came, but for me it came too late. I was already weirded out and turned off.
With further reflection, like any good, demanding, challenging film, I've come to see that that might have been exactly the point. That despite all the pathetic and disgusting substitutes our world comes up with to put a band-aid on our isolation, even the ones that end up being really alluring, we're made for flesh and blood connection. It might even be pointing to the one who did indeed come as flesh and blood.
I'm gonna have to watch it again.
Despite its weird premise, I expected to love this movie. To be honest, I didn't.
It probably had something to do with being just too downright tired to watch. But besides that, it made me uncomfortable. It felt just as narcissistic as the generation that could make the premise plausible. It felt overly condoning, as if it weren't showing the reality, as if it went too far, hook, line, sinker. A shift came, but for me it came too late. I was already weirded out and turned off.
With further reflection, like any good, demanding, challenging film, I've come to see that that might have been exactly the point. That despite all the pathetic and disgusting substitutes our world comes up with to put a band-aid on our isolation, even the ones that end up being really alluring, we're made for flesh and blood connection. It might even be pointing to the one who did indeed come as flesh and blood.
I'm gonna have to watch it again.
Thursday, April 10, 2014
(The Extravagant Voyage of) The Young and Prodigious TS Spivet
How could humans create so many right angles when their behavior is so convoluted and illogical ?
Due to limited brain space, my movie reviews are being reduced to the one quote I retain from the movie. I'm just glad I have the brain space to watch the movies, because I had been going through quite the dry spell there.
I will add a few sentences on this one. It's a half-decent film with a mostly interesting heart-tugging look at the way grief affects families. But what's ashame is that it was lacking Jeunetness, the bursting-with-life absurdity and love for the little things that we see elsewhere from this director. Sure, there was some absurdity, but it was all muted and sleepy. I blame about 80% of it on the hokey back porch of the ranch soundtrack, 10% on entrusting all the film's narration to a child, and the remaining percentage to other factors. In the end, we're left feeling just about as numb as the characters in the film, but I doubt that was the intent. They have a much more legitimate reason to feel that way than we do. And it's too bad.
Due to limited brain space, my movie reviews are being reduced to the one quote I retain from the movie. I'm just glad I have the brain space to watch the movies, because I had been going through quite the dry spell there.
I will add a few sentences on this one. It's a half-decent film with a mostly interesting heart-tugging look at the way grief affects families. But what's ashame is that it was lacking Jeunetness, the bursting-with-life absurdity and love for the little things that we see elsewhere from this director. Sure, there was some absurdity, but it was all muted and sleepy. I blame about 80% of it on the hokey back porch of the ranch soundtrack, 10% on entrusting all the film's narration to a child, and the remaining percentage to other factors. In the end, we're left feeling just about as numb as the characters in the film, but I doubt that was the intent. They have a much more legitimate reason to feel that way than we do. And it's too bad.
Friday, April 04, 2014
Why pray?
I read Calvin in French for the first time this week. Here's what he says in English:
But if God knows what things we have need of, before we ask him, where lies the advantage of prayer? If he is ready, of his own free will, to assist us, what purpose does it serve to employ our prayers, which interrupt the spontaneous course of his providence? The very design of prayer furnishes an easy answer. Believers do not pray, with the view of information God about things unknown to him, or of exciting him to do his duty, or of urging him as though he were reluctant. On the contrary, they pray, in order that they may arouse themselves to seek him, that they may exercise their faith in meditation on his promises, that they may relieve themselves from their anxieties by pouring them into his bosom; in a word, that they may declare that from Him alone they hope and expect, both for themselves and for others, all good things. God himself, on the other hand, has purposed freely, and without being asked, to bestow blessings upon us; but he promises that he will grant them to our prayers. We must, therefore, maintain both of these truths, that He freely anticipates our wishes, and yet that we obtain by prayer what we ask.
Jean Calvin, commentary on Matthew 6:8
But if God knows what things we have need of, before we ask him, where lies the advantage of prayer? If he is ready, of his own free will, to assist us, what purpose does it serve to employ our prayers, which interrupt the spontaneous course of his providence? The very design of prayer furnishes an easy answer. Believers do not pray, with the view of information God about things unknown to him, or of exciting him to do his duty, or of urging him as though he were reluctant. On the contrary, they pray, in order that they may arouse themselves to seek him, that they may exercise their faith in meditation on his promises, that they may relieve themselves from their anxieties by pouring them into his bosom; in a word, that they may declare that from Him alone they hope and expect, both for themselves and for others, all good things. God himself, on the other hand, has purposed freely, and without being asked, to bestow blessings upon us; but he promises that he will grant them to our prayers. We must, therefore, maintain both of these truths, that He freely anticipates our wishes, and yet that we obtain by prayer what we ask.
Jean Calvin, commentary on Matthew 6:8
Tuesday, April 01, 2014
This is what I'm listening to today.
I'm not really a free-jazz enthusiast, but somewhere along the way I got introduced to Joshua Stamper's work and I'm always interested in what he's doing. This was released today.
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