In case you missed last night’s Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, here’s thirteen minutes of U2 goodness. “Invisible” is great, but it’s the acoustic rendering of “Ordinary Love” that brings it home.
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Being Mosby: Ted Meets His Gollum
We’ve got a week until things pick back up with the final season of How I Met Your Mother, so it’s a good time to revisit the only moment necessary to the series besides Ted meeting the Mother: Ted letting Robin go.
Season eight ended (magnificently) with Ted’s knowledge of the whereabouts of a locket of great significance to Robin. That left him with a two-fold decision: could he get to it in time for the wedding and would he actually give it to her. In the most recent episode, “Sunrise,” we learn that the locket has gone from person to person until it ended up in the possession of Jeanette, Ted’s final (and crazy) girlfriend.
Their confrontation on the bridge was a moment straight out of The Return of the King.
You know the moment: Frodo and Gollum in the heart of Mount Doom. Frodo’s journey is over- the ring is finally at the one place it can be destroyed. And just as he has his chance, Frodo can’t do it. It’s the crazy desperation of Gollum that finally does the deed: ring and finger and a whole body thrown down into the lava. And just like that, the Ring is gone and Frodo is as free as possible. And it’s the same with Ted and Robin thanks to Jeanette. Granted, the visual of Robin floating free was a bit weird, but it got the point across. Ted’s finally free for the better thing. He could’t do it himself, but that’s no surprise, really.
There has been a good amount of grumbling about the final season of HIMYM. It was risky, using the wedding of Barney and Robin as the thread for two dozen episodes. I think it was a good move, though. It’s both a sustained note and a whole movement for the show, for the characters that many of us have grown to love, which makes it a lot like life, I suppose.
Love is Different
An oldie but a goodie. And a great reminder.
LEGO Movie Bloopers . . . Really
Is the “official blooper real” of the LEGO movie as good as the movie itself? Not necessarily. But it’s nice to revisit the world.
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Careful What You Wish For
Derek Webb is probably my favorite lyricist, and the song below is one of my favorites. So many great images in juxtaposition. It’s a quality video (especially a few moments in, when the shaking stops). And the original source of the video has a lot of concert clips on line. A quality way to spend four minutes of your day.
The Art of Living
Last week a life-long friend of mine posted her thoughts on how all of our lives are art, that “if we are made in God’s image, and if He is in the business of creating (and He is – just look out the window), then we are all creative in some way.” It’s a great post that you can read here.
My friend’s thoughts have been reiterated for me through my current and third attempt at reading the long-form non-fiction of N. D. Wilson.¹ From Death by Living:
Understand this: we are both tiny and massive. We are nothing more than molded clay given breath, but we are nothing less than divine self-portraits, huffing and puffing along mountain ranges of epic narrative arcs prepared for us by the Infinite Word Himself. Swell with pride and gratitude, for you are tiny and given much. You are as spoken by God as the stars . . .
You are spoken. You are seen. It is your turn to participate in creation. Like a kindergartener shoved out from behind the curtain during his first play, you might not know which scene you are in or what comes next, but God is far less patronizing than we are. You are His art, and He has no trouble stooping.
You can even ask Him for your lines.
I’m just over halfway through the book now. It’s got a number of good moments in it, but what you see above is my favorite so far.
You can get a copy of Death by Living online or wherever good new books are sold.
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¹ Which I mentioned last week in connection with Wilson’s “children’s” books as well as his essay writing for Christianity Today.
The Lego Movie Really Is That Good
The Lego Movie tries to have its cake and eat it, too: and it succeeds magnificently.
It plays off our need to fit in even as it exploits our need to feel special. It’s action movie, romance, and “coming of age” story all rolled into one. I have heard the movie called the first “remix movie” of our “remix culture,” which it totally is. It’s nostalgic and iconoclastic. It’s subversive and obvious.
And it’s a whole lot of fun.
In fact, it might be the best Justice League movie we’ll ever get (even the Flash makes a cameo).
I’m not sure what else there is to say except go see it. It’s the most I’ve enjoyed a movie since The World’s End. In fact, it has some interesting thematic connections with that movie. And don’t let the “theme song” fool you. “Everything is Awesome” may be the first hint that something is wrong just beneath the surface of things.
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Don’t Tell Him How to Get to Sesame Street
There’s a good chance you’ve already seen this: it’s racked up almost 4 million views on YouTube in the last four days. Even so, it’s what I’ve got to serve as a place-holder until I get my thoughts for Sherlock series three down. It’s a preview of Benedict Cumberbatch visiting Sesame Street. Two . . . count them, two . . . minutes of worlds colliding.
Miller and Church, More and Less
Bearing witness to the direction of Donald Miller’s work has been interesting. He’s written some of my favorite books over the last ten years, and his blog has been a relatively constant encouragement to think about my faith.
This week Miller posted his current perspective on church. “I Don’t Worship God by Singing. I Connect with Him Elsewhere” pretty much says it all, but you can read it here. It’s well-said and to the point. It also caused quite the backlash, inspiring a firestorm of 415 comment responses.¹
The response was so strong that Miller put together a second, longer post to explain some things. He took what he calls a “camera angle approach,” which I can appreciate. It’s casting a net more than sinking a line. That post, “Why I Don’t Go to Church Very Often, a Follow Up Blog,” garnered over 450 comments.² Lots of comments came through Twitter and other sources, including an interesting “Dear Donald Miller” posted to the Gospel Coalition and available here.
It’s all well-written, and it’s all insightful, comments included. And it’s something churches would be wise to talk through. Definitely worth thinking through in tandem with the Gushee article from earlier in the week. People see things from different sides of the fence. These posts are a good reminder of both how far we have to go AND how far we can go together. I’m still trying to articulate my own recent journey with the local church. Maybe someday soon I’ll get those thoughts down.
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¹ Which is like 400% more than I usually get.
² But I’m not bitter.
The Making of Something Visible
I suppose it’s bad blog form to post similar entries back-to-back. Ah well. Just came across a short “making of” video for the U2’s new song, “Invisible.” It’s always nice to look behind the curtain of the creative process. So here we go. . .
Space Enough, and Time 