Movie #1: Saved

Even though finals aren't yet over for me, I'm pretty much getting in the summer mode. As such, I am counting the film I watched tonight as my first movie viewing of Summer 2009. And I have to say, I enjoyed it.
Let me start out by saying this: the evangelical Christians I have met are among the most wonderful people I've ever known. That said, Saved basically parodies every stereotype about Christians and Christian schools ever created or observed. As someone who attended a Christian school, I can vouch for the fact that mine at least was not anywhere near as...well, hateful or over-the-top as the one in the movie, but neither could I say, honestly, that I couldn't see some parallels. As such, it added an extra level of humor to the hilarity and an extra level of serious to the intense. What makes the movie so genuinely over-the-top is the dialogue, especially that of Mandy Moore's character, Hilary Faye. For example, when one character, Mary, is looking at a cute guy, Hilary Faye tells her, "I know what you're looking at, Mary...and Jesus does too."
I will say this-- I appreciated the message that this movie was trying to convey, which became especially apparent. This I took to be, among other things, God is love, and trying to ostracize or demonize people who aren't perfect is wrong. Christians should be embracing them and trying to help them in concrete ways, helping to meet their needs (see James 2: 14-18), not casting them away or trying to exorcise them (as in the movie). I guess I'm not a very good evangelical Christian (especially not one in the mold of those in the movie!), but I don't think that it makes me any less of a believer in Jesus Christ. Please see John 13:34-35 and Romans 13:8.

My Favorite Time-Waster

I blame my ex-boyfriend. He's the one who introduced me to this guy, back a few months ago when I was having a very bad day and needed a laugh.
Well, I got a laugh, all right. In fact, I got a lot of laughs. Too many, considering how much work I have had to do and exactly HOW EASY THIS SITE MAKES IT TO WASTE A LOT OF TIME.
They're a bunch of videos made by a guy who calls himself The Nostalgia Critic. Essentially what he does is take a bunch of movies and TV shows made in the 1980s and 1990s, and he rips them to shreds. Most of them make it all too easy-- there were a lot of really bad movies made in the 1980s and 1990s. But the Nostalgia Critic does it in such a way that you are laughing hysterically at what he says, then at how the movie proves him right, then more at what he's saying about it. He just rants and rants...and it's one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life.
Oh, and then, if that's not bad enough, there's also The Nostalgia Chick, who rips on movies that were predominantly marketed to girls. She's not quite as good as him, but she's still insanely funny. However, in my opinion one of the funniest nostalgic rants on the site is the Critic's and the Chick's joint review of a movie I have actually seen, called Ferngully.
Between the rants and the top 11 lists, the videos on ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com are the perfect way to enjoy a belly-aching laugh and kill a lot of time.

Katii's Award

My little sister, Katii, phoned me this afternoon to let me know that she had won an essay contest that her current (and my former) history teacher had persuaded her to participate in. She will be receiving a rather generous prize at a luncheon next Wednesday, hosted by the people who sponsored the essay contest.
And who are these sponsors? None other than the Seacoast Republican Women.
Naturally I'm thrilled for my sister. She's a superb writer and this is a notable nod to her abilities. However...I have to admit I am rather amused by the fact that this award is coming from the SRW. My family is a fairly moderate bunch, but we don't typically affiliate with the Republican party.
Katii honored me by asking me to join her at the award luncheon. I think I'm going to have to be careful to keep my mouth shut most of the time!

I Heart Huckabee...

...Well, not really. I do find him an interesting man, and he strikes me as very well-meaning, sincere, and able to easily connect with people through honesty and humor. I respect his career as a Baptist pastor, and the fact that his faith defines his actions. I think it's awesome that he's a musician, and that he has worked so hard for good health. I even think he was a decent governor of Arkansas, all things told.
However, good though all these things are, I have trouble supporting a politician who tries to connect swine flu and abortion policy. I mean, okay, I get that he has a problem with abortion. Totally understandable. However, when you post an article on FOXNews.com entitled "Why I'm Not Afraid of the Swine Flu" and then imply that the Obama administration is inconsistent in whether it wants to protect kids, I'm going to have to call it a bit of a stretch.

Tuesday's reading list

On the reading list today (aside from my Canadian Politics notes-- last final exam tomorrow!):

• The New York Times has an interesting profile of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the Cabinet's Republican mainstay (and apparently close friend of Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel).
• Chris Cillizza of The Washington Post has a great piece on Supreme Court Justice Confirmation Politics 101.
• Another case for good preventative health care and working to eliminate poverty: WaPo also has an article on how "Poverty, Tendency to Self-Medicate Help Drive Up Flu Deaths in Mexico." Bottom line lesson for all of us: If you're starting to get sick, go to the doctor, people!
• BREAKING: The City Council of the District of Columbia has voted, 13-0, to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states!
• On a similar line, The Politico reports that gay rights groups are pushing for Obama to appoint the first openly gay Supreme Court justice.
• Britain's The Guardian has a video on the emerald industry in Afghanistan. Some men, desperate to earn money to feed their families, are going into old emerald mines and, despite their lack of training, searching for even fragments of the precious gems to sell.
• Former Canadian Deputy PM John Manley and former US ambassador to Canada Gordon Giffin published a very interesting commentary in the Toronto Globe & Mail today defending Canada's relationship with the US as deeper, stronger, and more longstanding than the US's or Canada's relationship with Mexico.
  
• The above commentary was a response to an article on May 1 by American University Professor Robert Pastor and former Mexican Deputy Foreign Minister Andres Rozental, advocating for a stronger tri-country partnership between Canada, the US, and Mexico.
• Jim Wallis has written a tribute to the late Jack Kemp, the "Bleeding-Heart Conservative," on the God's Politics blog.
• Finally, a summary from The New York Times on the annual AIPAC conference-- the most powerful interest group in the United States...and I daresay they know it.
  

Highlights from my "bucket list"

Last week, my little sister posted her complete, 240-item "bucket list" on her blog (and if you don't know what a bucket list is, please see the explanation and ideas at this link). Somewhat intimidated by this, I contemplated copying her and posting my own on here. For you see, I have had a list of 100 things to do before I die since BEFORE I saw the fantastic Rob Reiner film "The Bucket List," with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, which I urge everyone to see at some point. However, further contemplation and an unwillingness to expend that much space has prompted me to narrow down my 100-item list to no more than 20 highlights-- 10 somewhat out there, 10 achieveable. So, without further ado, the short version of my bucket list.

Carolyn's "Bucket List" (abbrev. version):

• Learn to ballroom dance.
• Spend a month on a ranch in Montana.
• Be a "fiddler on the roof."
• Watch a lightning show over a lake or ocean.
• Own a first edition of an old book.
• Enjoy my career.
• Get married.
• Send a message in a bottle.
• Learn to play guitar and mandolin.
• See all the movies on my list.
  
• Visit the United Kingdom.
• Attend a World Series baseball game.
• Scuba dive in Australia.
• Ride in a hot air balloon at sunrise.
• Go on an archaeological dig.
• Visit all 50 US states and all 13 Canadian provinces.
• Ride a camel.
• Defy gravity.
• Spend time north of the Arctic circle.
• See the Northern Lights.
  

Incidentally, there are a few items that I have managed to cross off the full version of my list. My favorite on the list of the ones I've done is "catch a firefly." This I managed to do during my last year as a camper at Wanakee when I was hanging out on the farmhouse porch and one flew behind my glasses. It was unintentional, but it was very fun and convenient...and holding that little sucker in my hands, peeking in, and seeing the light was a very cool experience. Just goes to show you that some of the best items on the bucket list don't have to be complicated or grandiose. "It's the little things in life that make me happy." (Thank you to Robert De Niro's character in Stardust).

Everything You Need to Know

On this, the evening of my last United Methodist/Protestant service of this academic year at AU, I find myself going back to the first sermon I ever heard here. It was a wonderful message from campus UM chaplain Rev. Mark Schaefer entitled "Everything You Need to Know," and it cemented me automatically as a committed community member here. If you click on the sermon title, you can read it; and now, two years into college, I can say that I haven't found anything on there to be untrue.

Here's a passage that really spoke to me:

"This is the most important thing you should know: God loves you and nothing can separate you from that Love. God loves you as you are for who you are. It doesn't matter how you feel about yourself --God loves you. It doesn't matter whether your'e accepted by others --God loves you. It doesn't matter whether you conform to anyone else's idea of what language you should speak, or what color skin you should have, or what sexual orientation you should be, or what political ideology you should espouse, or what your belief should be on the single- or double-procession of the Holy Spirit within the Trinity. (That's a really big issue on this campus). None of that matters. God loves you.

That is the most important thing you need to know. On that fact hangs everything else. Our entire lives as a community of faith are lived as the response to the unmerited grace and love of God."

Summer 2009 Movie Shortlist

As anybody who follows or has even scanned through my blog knows, I am a major reader. In fact, I prefer to spend most of my vacations reading whenever I'm not working. However, I also love movies, and I have been consciously trying to improve my cultural literacy by watching some of the greatest movies ever made (as well as some bad but generally entertaining stuff). So, after conversations with two of my friends who are serious movie buffs (Chris and Bryan), I have come up with the following list of movies that I am going to try to get through this summer.

Carolyn's Summer 2009 Movie Shortlist

1. The Godfather
2. V for Vendetta
3. Schindler's List
4. The Untouchables
5. Air Force One
6. Citizen Kane
7. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
8. Ocean's Twelve
9. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
10. Good Morning Vietnam
11. The Mission
12. Good Night, and Good Luck
13. Dr. Strangelove
14. Gone With the Wind
15. Superman (1978)
16. Batman (1989)
17. Goodfellas
18. The Candidate
19. Big Fish
20. Across the Universe
21. Analyze This
22. Terminator
23. 300
24. Bridget Jones- The Edge of Reason
25. Watchmen [pending release on DVD]

Let me reassure all the Watchmen fans (ahem, Bryan) who may well jump down my back for the fact that that movie is last on the list. The only reason it is not higher is that it is not yet out on DVD, and I don't know when it's going to be. If it comes out this summer, it will move up to a higher place of honor, I promise. Meantime, I will be putting the graphic novel on my reading list in preparation for seeing the movie.

Swine Flu.

OK, so the swine flu is not a joke, obviously. People are dying, and the WHO is about one step away from calling it a pandemic (i.e. AIDS).
However, since you've got to find the humor in any situation, I recommend checking out either of these websites:
Do I Have Swine Flu.org
OR
Do I Have Pig Flu.com

GWB: Where is he now?

In case anybody was as curious as I was about what Bush is going to be doing as an ex-president, we can now confirm that W. is disregarding Robin Williams' advice and going on a speaking tour. First stop: Calgary, Alberta, Canada, to speak to a group of businessmen (probably partially oilmen).