Fantasy Films
I need to read The Dark Is Rising sometime soon...it's apparently one of the few books prominent in evangelical subculture that I haven't read, and now they're making a movie of it.
New Line (wow!) is doing The Golden Compass. Here's a wikipedia link about the books, the official site, and me mentioning the books two years ago. The girl they've got for Lyra feels spot-on...the site says they said looked at 10,000 girls, and I believe it. The rest of the characters I'm not as sure about.
Interesting thing -- the cinematography doesn't feel right. Too clean? Bright? Cartoony? Lyra's world has a bit more soot and grime and grittiness to it. And gobblers and soul-eating spectres lurk in unlit alleyways, preying upon the unwary. It's a bit of a grown-up place, and would be better off losing the antiseptic computer-animated feel.
I only notice this, because, recently, a lot of movies seem to have done a good (or good enough) job capturing the tone of their source books. This is the first one that's struck me as very wrong. One of the first things I noticed about the books was their "tone" -- hard to define and describe, but just as the diction of Lewis's Narnia laces the books with a sunlight and childlike joy, and Harry Potter keeps a tongue-in-cheek absurdity even as the books grow darker -- Pullman's style is a sober and achingly beautiful. I don't know if this selection illustrates it well, but it might.
I also think it's strange how many big-budget epic fantasy films have been made recently. And how many series are being tackled. Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Narnia, Eragon, Golden Compass, The Dark is Rising...and just the other day I ran into Stardust, and have no idea how many other films are in the works out there. I know studios produced fantasy films made before, but they seem to have been few and far between, largely forgettable, and hardly ever given a blockbuster level budget. Big-budget (and/or memorable) sci-fi films have been going on for a long time; this seems like the first real corresponding wave of fantasy films.
YouTube
And now for two shorter clips...these guys are hilarious. Check out Rules of Sidewalk Etiquette and How to Give a Great Man to Man Hug.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Turkey and Twain
It started raining today, right after I finished watering our neighbor's flowers. :P
After my gushing about Turkey, Alisa Harris gives a more balanced picture. She's a much better writer than I; she's quoting Mark Twain half the time; it's well worth reading.
After my gushing about Turkey, Alisa Harris gives a more balanced picture. She's a much better writer than I; she's quoting Mark Twain half the time; it's well worth reading.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
A Link and Some Initial Thoughts
This is a good post, concerning worldviews, intellect, imagination, and liturgy. One point of the article: logic and the intellect work within and "fine tune" the larger imaginative picture we already have of the world. Thus logic will not tend to get one out of a wrong view of the world, only an exercised imagination. Another key point: we're incarnate beings, not body-shells where the truly important thing is the mind.
I liked his thoughts on anemic "worldviews":
Oh, dear. I don't hate Reformed/Calvinist theology. Really. I've grown up in it; I've gotten rather beat up by it; I don't think it's the ultimate final answer to everything; I think it gets a HECK of a lot righter than a lot of other traditions. I'm grappling my way through its systemic strengths and systemic weaknesses, and trying to figure out what it is about parts of Reformed thought that make me react so strongly against it at times. I have not tended to be entirely fair and balanced in the process. Harriet Beecher Stowe -- of whom I will post later -- humbles me by her ability to walk the same path with deep compassion and understanding, and I can only hope to someday come close to her insight and humility.
In either case, this section here doesn't mention anything about Reformed theology, and I think it's the best part:
Some running thoughts on the matter...Logical consistency of ideas is important for something to be convincingly true...yet I'm guessing that for most people (and I know for myself), mere logical consistency not what convinces, or what makes the true thing hit us deep, and "ring true."
Though I can't defend it at the moment, I'm going to step out on a limb and say that un-beautiful logic does not "ring true" to us at a deep level...and rightfully so. One can present a logically coherent system to a person, but if they feel that the system is all that there is -- that it's failed to catch up into itself the depth and messiness of reality and human experience -- it will not "ring true" to them. (And rightfully so.)
I should have the "rightfully so" part a bit better worked out eventually. It'll probably have something to do with George MacDonald and presuppositional apologetics and Job.
I liked his thoughts on anemic "worldviews":
By working in terms of an anthropology that presumes the primacy of the intellect, Reformed Christians have often failed to develop and harness the power of the imagination. We talk a lot about ‘worldviews’, but worldviews are generally understood in very ideological terms. A ‘worldview’ is seen as a set of propositions or a conceptual construct that shapes the way that we view reality. However, such ideological grids do not play anywhere near as much of a role in our vision of reality as Reformed people generally presume. Mere reflection on our day to day lives should expose the weakness of the notion that our engagement with reality is primarily mediated by ideological systems...
If I am right in my claim that a true ‘worldview’ is practically identical to ‘culture’, it is worth questioning to what extent we can speak of a Reformed worldview at all. Reformed Christians have an ideological system, but an ideological system is not sufficient to constitute a worldview. If we do have a worldview, it gives us a narrowly intellectual and insubstantial vision of reality....
Oh, dear. I don't hate Reformed/Calvinist theology. Really. I've grown up in it; I've gotten rather beat up by it; I don't think it's the ultimate final answer to everything; I think it gets a HECK of a lot righter than a lot of other traditions. I'm grappling my way through its systemic strengths and systemic weaknesses, and trying to figure out what it is about parts of Reformed thought that make me react so strongly against it at times. I have not tended to be entirely fair and balanced in the process. Harriet Beecher Stowe -- of whom I will post later -- humbles me by her ability to walk the same path with deep compassion and understanding, and I can only hope to someday come close to her insight and humility.
In either case, this section here doesn't mention anything about Reformed theology, and I think it's the best part:
The Christian faith presents us with a beautiful story and a compelling vision of the world. Christianity’s hold on the Western imagination is great, even among those who try to reject the faith. The Christian message appeals to our imagination before it addresses our logic and reason. Unfortunately, the vision of the world that most Christians operate in terms of today is quite anaemic and lacks the fullness of classic Christian thought. This, I suspect, is one of the reasons why Christianity is becoming less and less of a force within our society. People regard Christians as ideologues rather than as people with a rich cultural vision and grasp of the ‘good life’. Christianity is seen as a set of disincarnate ideas, rather than as a world-encompassing story that we can truly be at home within, a form of renewed life and a fertile vision for culture and society.
Some running thoughts on the matter...Logical consistency of ideas is important for something to be convincingly true...yet I'm guessing that for most people (and I know for myself), mere logical consistency not what convinces, or what makes the true thing hit us deep, and "ring true."
Though I can't defend it at the moment, I'm going to step out on a limb and say that un-beautiful logic does not "ring true" to us at a deep level...and rightfully so. One can present a logically coherent system to a person, but if they feel that the system is all that there is -- that it's failed to catch up into itself the depth and messiness of reality and human experience -- it will not "ring true" to them. (And rightfully so.)
I should have the "rightfully so" part a bit better worked out eventually. It'll probably have something to do with George MacDonald and presuppositional apologetics and Job.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Hair, Reprise
For the record, I am now happily reconciled to my longer hair, now that it's stopped looking like a mullet.
Also a potential reason for the reconciliation: (female?) music majors can get away with long hair. In fact, they can do far better than "get away" with it: long hair is fitting for them, in a way it just really isn't for other majors and professions who are trying to look professional.
A final jumble of reasons: Erm...some marginal additional advantage in the mating game might not be so bad? (Why NOT maximize available external assets?)
Also a potential reason for the reconciliation: (female?) music majors can get away with long hair. In fact, they can do far better than "get away" with it: long hair is fitting for them, in a way it just really isn't for other majors and professions who are trying to look professional.
A final jumble of reasons: Erm...some marginal additional advantage in the mating game might not be so bad? (Why NOT maximize available external assets?)
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Why TURKEY? Oh, boy...
The Danish Customs Official
On the way back from Turkey, our groggy and exhausted group passed through Danish customs as we switched planes in Amsterdam.
The inspectors questioned us most thoroughly: "where exactly did you stay?" "did you pack your own luggage?" "so your roommate had access to your luggage -- do you trust her?" "do you trust all the people you're traveling with?" -- etc.
The most amusing and revealing question, however, was my inspector's response to the answer, "We were on a senior trip with Hillsdale College Honors program."
"Ah," he said, "so why go to TURKEY?"
I mumbled through some kind of an answer. Something about a religion professor heading the trip, and early church sites. Which was indeed why our group headed out to Turkey instead of some other country.
But the question, "why Turkey, of all places?" was admittedly on my mind sometime before the trip as well.
Because...well...where do senior trips usually go? France! Germany! Italy! Greece! Plus this is Hillsdale, where we prize the Grand Old Western Heritage and Tradition. You'd think we'd end up at least in Europe. But, no -- we strike out for the Middle-Eastern just-pulled-itself-out-of-the-third-world Islamic country of Turkey.
It's a good question, "why Turkey?"
After two days in Turkey I had half an answer. After four weeks I have a fuller one, which I shall attempt to mangle my way through. Because, right now, I can't think of a better country to have visited.
Geography and Ancient-Modern History
Turkey is a difficult country to process, at first. For one thing, it possess vast geographical variety -- plus it's a got complex and layered interweaving of thousands of years of immensely varied history.
The geographical variety was one of the first elements that struck me. There are deserts, and fertile croplands, and hills covered with flocks of sheep. There are rocky coastlines, and mountains that continue row upon row...not just a chain, but a whole square region. There are regions with European architecture and red-tiled roofs, and regions with flat-top roofs where you swear you are in the middle-east.
Then you have layers of history: the ancient Hittite mountaintop capitol of Hattusa, stone-age settlements. The Greeks Hellenized large portions of Turkey, and the Roman empire layered itself on top of that. Combined with these, you have innumerable varieties of traditional Turkish cultures and customs; our tour guide, Arzu, listed at least five distinct regions, from the supremely hospitable eastern sheep-herders, to the blue-eyed fishermen of the Black Sea coast.
Then you had early Christianity flooding Turkey...it's full of hidden cave-churches, and monasteries, and the Hagia Sophia...the center of Eastern Christendom.
Then...WHAM! On top of all this came the Ottoman Empire! And with it Islam. Ottoman imperial castles (and Arabian architecture), every church turned into a mosque, stricter gender roles, the whole shebang.
Westernization
And then, in 1920, there was Ataturk. General, war hero, revolutionary, statesman...He united Turkey into an independent nation-state. He secularized the country. He made Ottoman-empire Turkey into a constitutional democracy. He changed the alphabet from Arabic script to western letters. He changed their numbers to western numerals. He made everyone wear western clothes. He transformed the economy. He instituted an education system, from elementary schools to universities. He established gender equality; women were elected to the senate a few years later.
So throw Ataturk into the mix that is Turkey as well. And with him throw in the eighty recent years of super-intensified industrialization and westernization. Turkey's done a heck of a lot in that time, turning itself inside out, and catching up to the rest of the world. It's pulled itself out of the third world into the first, and it hasn't yet completed the process. Walking through Turkey, one sees a constant juxtaposition of the old and the new. Rundown mud-brick houses, with laundry hanging in the wind...and a satellite dish on the roof. Snazzy commercial-district streets (you would swear you're in Europe) -- but go back a block or two and you're in third-world-ville. On a larger scale, there's the highly industrialized and westernized west...and the impoverished, ill-educated, underdeveloped east, into which the government is now crazily pouring money and college graduates.
Ye Olde Conclusion
I can't think of another country where such variety exists -- geographical, cultural, western/non-western, 1st world/3rd world, secular/Islamic -- in such a convoluted and complex and contented tangle. Turkey has weathered culture after empire after culture, and engrafted large portions of all of them into its rhythms of life. And, unlike many other third-world countries, it hasn't destroyed itself in the upheaval entering entering the 21st century.
For these reasons, among others, I've come to greatly respect the country and its people. GO visit it, if you have the chance. I shouldn't judge European countries, as I haven't visited any since I was five...but right now I personally think Turkey pretty much pwns them.
And, if nothing else, Turkish food is amazing. ;)
On the way back from Turkey, our groggy and exhausted group passed through Danish customs as we switched planes in Amsterdam.
The inspectors questioned us most thoroughly: "where exactly did you stay?" "did you pack your own luggage?" "so your roommate had access to your luggage -- do you trust her?" "do you trust all the people you're traveling with?" -- etc.
The most amusing and revealing question, however, was my inspector's response to the answer, "We were on a senior trip with Hillsdale College Honors program."
"Ah," he said, "so why go to TURKEY?"
I mumbled through some kind of an answer. Something about a religion professor heading the trip, and early church sites. Which was indeed why our group headed out to Turkey instead of some other country.
But the question, "why Turkey, of all places?" was admittedly on my mind sometime before the trip as well.
Because...well...where do senior trips usually go? France! Germany! Italy! Greece! Plus this is Hillsdale, where we prize the Grand Old Western Heritage and Tradition. You'd think we'd end up at least in Europe. But, no -- we strike out for the Middle-Eastern just-pulled-itself-out-of-the-third-world Islamic country of Turkey.
It's a good question, "why Turkey?"
After two days in Turkey I had half an answer. After four weeks I have a fuller one, which I shall attempt to mangle my way through. Because, right now, I can't think of a better country to have visited.
Geography and Ancient-Modern History
Turkey is a difficult country to process, at first. For one thing, it possess vast geographical variety -- plus it's a got complex and layered interweaving of thousands of years of immensely varied history.
The geographical variety was one of the first elements that struck me. There are deserts, and fertile croplands, and hills covered with flocks of sheep. There are rocky coastlines, and mountains that continue row upon row...not just a chain, but a whole square region. There are regions with European architecture and red-tiled roofs, and regions with flat-top roofs where you swear you are in the middle-east.
Then you have layers of history: the ancient Hittite mountaintop capitol of Hattusa, stone-age settlements. The Greeks Hellenized large portions of Turkey, and the Roman empire layered itself on top of that. Combined with these, you have innumerable varieties of traditional Turkish cultures and customs; our tour guide, Arzu, listed at least five distinct regions, from the supremely hospitable eastern sheep-herders, to the blue-eyed fishermen of the Black Sea coast.
Then you had early Christianity flooding Turkey...it's full of hidden cave-churches, and monasteries, and the Hagia Sophia...the center of Eastern Christendom.
Then...WHAM! On top of all this came the Ottoman Empire! And with it Islam. Ottoman imperial castles (and Arabian architecture), every church turned into a mosque, stricter gender roles, the whole shebang.
Westernization
And then, in 1920, there was Ataturk. General, war hero, revolutionary, statesman...He united Turkey into an independent nation-state. He secularized the country. He made Ottoman-empire Turkey into a constitutional democracy. He changed the alphabet from Arabic script to western letters. He changed their numbers to western numerals. He made everyone wear western clothes. He transformed the economy. He instituted an education system, from elementary schools to universities. He established gender equality; women were elected to the senate a few years later.
So throw Ataturk into the mix that is Turkey as well. And with him throw in the eighty recent years of super-intensified industrialization and westernization. Turkey's done a heck of a lot in that time, turning itself inside out, and catching up to the rest of the world. It's pulled itself out of the third world into the first, and it hasn't yet completed the process. Walking through Turkey, one sees a constant juxtaposition of the old and the new. Rundown mud-brick houses, with laundry hanging in the wind...and a satellite dish on the roof. Snazzy commercial-district streets (you would swear you're in Europe) -- but go back a block or two and you're in third-world-ville. On a larger scale, there's the highly industrialized and westernized west...and the impoverished, ill-educated, underdeveloped east, into which the government is now crazily pouring money and college graduates.
Ye Olde Conclusion
I can't think of another country where such variety exists -- geographical, cultural, western/non-western, 1st world/3rd world, secular/Islamic -- in such a convoluted and complex and contented tangle. Turkey has weathered culture after empire after culture, and engrafted large portions of all of them into its rhythms of life. And, unlike many other third-world countries, it hasn't destroyed itself in the upheaval entering entering the 21st century.
For these reasons, among others, I've come to greatly respect the country and its people. GO visit it, if you have the chance. I shouldn't judge European countries, as I haven't visited any since I was five...but right now I personally think Turkey pretty much pwns them.
And, if nothing else, Turkish food is amazing. ;)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)