I've decided that if I make enough promises on this blog, someone will hold me to them, and I'll finally get some more content up on this blog. With that said, here's the list:
1. I promise to write a great deal more faithfully on this blog over the course of the summer, at least up until the point where I leave for Romania
2. I promise that I will faithfully review From Justin to Kelly, Kingdom of Heaven, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Aviator, and so on. I said I would do more reviews and I mean it.
3. I promise to do a really complete piece on the Asbury Film Festival, including my thoughts on winning, whether or not I really deserved it, and a review of every piece in the festival, and an update on the soon-to-be-rescored Leaves.
4. I promise to correspond more with other blogs, especially the exceptional Random Neural Firings. I haven't been there in a coon's age.
5. I promise to actually finish lists when I start them.
Friends and Fun
I have a number of new links in the sidebar, mostly to various friends who also have their own e-worlds. You're more than welcome to check out all of the sites, but a couple of them haven't posted in a while and so their sites are a little dated. I'm adding them onto the site to encourage them to get their e-lives back on track. You can give their sites some traffic and maybe encourage them to keep their sites up-to-date. Otherwise, I'm kicking them off the sidebar. Which is about as bad a threat as I can muster.
By the way, one of the links is my brother's site, Wyman Family History, which is going to be stories about our family. He hasn't actually made any stories yet, so I'd advise you to pay him a visit and maybe get him to start posting, or maybe post a story of your own. The site has zilch content so far, so anything you can do would be an improvement.
Romaniafest
We had a crew of Romanians over here a few nights ago to complement the set that we already have, and it further convinced me that I am going to be a complete wreck when I get over to Romania. I cannot speak Romanian whatsoever, and what's more, show no natural ability to learn the language. I mean, six years of Spanish already taught me that my natural linguistic talents are... well... lacking - oh, why bother to be polite about it! I can't speak Spanish! I never could! And I'm even worse now, and I'm trying to pick up some rudiments of Romanian based off of my understanding of the Spanish language. So you see what kind of downfall I'm looking at here. I'm destined to be that hapless traveller who spends three hours at each border, attempting to communicate through a lot through arm-waving and shouting very slowly in English. And I'm already that effortless linguist who finds what he wants to say in the phrase book, is incapable of understandably pronouncing the Romanian, even though it is written phonetically in the phrase book, and must resort to pointing to the entry in the phrase book so they can read it themselves. The world is my oyster.
While we're on the subject, I've also decided that my spare time in Romania will, to a large extent, be spent writing several short screenplays. That way, I'm able to spend a good deal of time working on each script, so that I can strengthen each one, spend some time away from them, and then come back and edit them with fresh eyes later. That's a luxury I've never had when shooting during the school year, and I think that the effort should do me some good. Even if I only get one finished - that's a huge head start once I get to Los Angeles.
By the way, I got a job - I'll be working for a banqueting company. More details as time goes by.
Heathens and Heretics
A few of you noticed the ad in my last post, which is nothing if not heretical, but rather funny, proving the point that: If you're gonna piss the church off, at least have a good laugh doing it. It's part of larger website who's chief purpose seems to be to offend every Christian ever, which I wouldn't applaud if they weren't so good at it.
One of my professors continually rails against the "trinketizing" of the Gospel, putting God into little packages that can be sold for profit. I'm not opposed to Christian T-Shirts or bumper stickers, in general - after all, if your life isn't going to reflect Christ, at least your car will (I know, you're offended already. Stick with me). It's reached a point in Christian circles in which people simply don't have contact with the outside world, and everyone has their sanctified version of society: you can listen to your Christian music, hang out with your youth group, and never really leave your Christian box. And here's the thing: everyone knows someone like that, but nobody is like that. Nobody wants to be part of the problem.
Well, I'm part of the problem. I go to a Christian school, in which virtually everyone I have contact with is a Christian. I work for the campus Christian radio station. I don't spend a lot of time off campus doing mission work, instead I spend my time on campus, spending time with other Christians. It's almost like a monastery, except there's girls.
I'm not saying there's not justification for the time I spend here: I'm here for a reason, I'm learning how to do the work I want to do, and I believe that God can do amazing things through the media, and I'm excited to be a part of that. But I'm not there yet. I'm still here, and while I'm here, I'm part of the problem - A Christian absorbed in his Christian world, completely separate from that "secular" world that's out there. Somewhere.
I don't have the time, energy, experience, or wisdom to follow this argument to its logical conclusion about faith, works, the need for Christians to live their faith in the "real world," Christianity's lack of relevance in our current culture, and the way the Church has watered down its message in order to try to be relevant in our current culture. I don't want to come across as being too cynical: I truly believe that a generation of world-changers is flooding the job market, and revival is coming. So, instead, I'll leave you to visit the site, learn why Jesus cut his hair so he wouldn't look like a homo, and maybe buy yourself a "What Would Jesus Do?" thong. You've earned it.
Pentecostal Fireworks
This post is left over from Memorial Day. I thought you might still like to read it.
"Last night, I watched the Memorial Day fireworks from right under the bridge they were launched from. The rockets would climb into the night sky and explode straight above us, so that you’d get a crick in your neck from staring straight up. Then the flaming trails would drift down to the pavement, and sometimes the crowd would shuffle out of the way to dodge them as they landed in our midst. The ashes would float down, stinging our eyes and powdering our faces. Sometimes a larger piece would float down, and a dozen hands would rise into the air to receive it. It would drift around wildly in the night air before finally nestling in someone’s hands, a charred present from heaven. Sometimes the smoke would be so thick we couldn’t see the fireworks beyond, just the flashes of light through the cloud - like an old Charleton Heston movie, where God is veiled, with only flashes of lightning to hint at His power.
My older brother, who apparently has no soul, complained that it was dangerous. I thought it magnificent.
And so - and I know this is ridiculous, but - I’ve decided that fireworks are the only generally accepted religious event in America. People gather together and gaze at the sky, waiting for a display of power, and when it finishes, they all forget about it and go on with their lives. In Sunday School, we always ridiculed the Israelites for lacking faith while struggling through in the wilderness, even though God appeared and demonstrated his power time and again. But you can't keep faith in God just because miraculous events keep happening. When you're still stuck eating bugs in the desert, it seems a million years ago that God blew from Heaven and divided the waters. Expecting them to keep faith for it is like expecting my life in December to be still be impacted by July 4th. No matter how breathtaking the display, it seems you still always go home the same that night."