The Doctor’s Greatest Danger

Posted on November 21, 2012 by awtraughber

WATCHING DOCTOR WHO AS A SINGLE GUY is always a bit unsettling.  Ever since the show returned a few years ago, there’s been an emotional edge to the character rooted in his relational deficit, which becomes obvious whenever he loses a “companion.”

What’s the deficit?  It’s most plain in some of the last things that Amy Pond communicated to him before she and Rory left the show: don’t be alone.  Turns out that the first thing the biblical story calls “not good” is the true real danger in the Doctor’s life, not Daleks or the Master.  His greatest threat is loneliness.  It does things to him.  How sad that a man who travels triumphant through all of time and space can be brought low by something so “simple.”

The recent “Children in Need” special (an annual thing in Britain) hints at the Doctor’s “dangerous place” as this year’s Christmas special looms.  Check it out here.  And be kind to those of us who all too often travel alone.

Posted in Internet, Television | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Doctor Versus Calvin’s Snowmen?

Posted on November 20, 2012 by awtraughber

ONE OF THE NICE ADDITIONS to my Christmas traditions has been the annual Doctor Who Christmas Special.  These “one-off” episodes are something of a long-standing thing in Britain (a few series over there get them), and the folks at BBC America have been kind to oblige the Doctor’s American fans the same treat.

BBC America recently released the trailer for this season’s special: The Snowmen.  And yes, it has been pointed out before that the Doctor’s new adversaries look an awful lot like those found in Calvin and Hobbes.  Regardless, I’m glad it’s not Daleks or Cybermen this time around.

So grab a mug of cocoa and don your favorite fez.  Here’s the trailer with a quick intro by Matt Smith (the eleventh Doctor) and his new companion.

More on “The Great Detective” clip tomorrow.

Posted in Internet, Television | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Star Wars and Story

Posted on November 10, 2012 by awtraughber

IT WAS SOME TIME before I realized the cultural significance of Star Wars.  The cultural phenomena of Star Wars I knew quite well: childhood’s evidence of speeder bikes and life-size lightsabers give me away on that account.  But it wasn’t until the hubbub of Episode One that I started to hear talk of Star Wars in relation to its time period, it’s picture of good-versus-evil after years of 1970s cultural and political grey.  Whatever my thoughts of Episode One ended up being, I tried to look at it through that same lens: how this movie might tell the story needed for our time.  To me it was clear: evil wasn’t as obvious as it used to be.  Evil had become, as it were, a phantom menace, the underhanded use of power and bureaucracy to achieve a bad end. That message, I fear, got swallowed up in a bad movie.  That’s unfortunate.

So I really liked Sunjeev Bery’s recent Huffington Post article, “Saving Star Wars.”  The article is, of course, in response to last week’s news of a Star Wars continuation.  It’s a nice reminder as to why Star Wars was so successful in the first place (and part of why so many fans were so turned off in the second place).  And he gets something about Star Wars and story very right, especially in what he hopes comes next.  In thinking about writing the Star Wars mythology for today he asserts:

Multiple human societies are now in the midst of dramatic and diverse kinds of turmoil. At the risk of being grandiose, we need signs and stories to help us navigate the days ahead. We don’t all necessarily think we do, but we do.

Someone will soon make the movies that help us understand this global moment. As laughable as it now sounds, if those movies have the words “Star Wars” in the title, if they can credibly embed these issues in the Star Wars universe, they will achieve a status that rivals the original franchise.

Bery understands the potential of both story and Star Wars.  And while neither has to preach and beat us over the head, they can nudge us into a better understanding of the world around us.  Maybe that’s what made Lucas’s prequels so bad: maybe they do reflect the worst parts of our cultural story at that period of time.  And while I’m sure I’m not the first fan to say this in the last week, maybe these new movies can give us at least a semblance of a refreshed and new sense of storytelling hope.

You can read the rest of the article here.

Posted in Internet, Movies | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Five Minutes of New Hobbit Music

Posted on November 7, 2012 by awtraughber

THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY hits theaters next month!  And even though theaters seem stuck with playing that very first trailer for the movie, other new bits are leaking out here and there.  On Monday, Ain’t It Cool News posted a track from the movie’s Howard Shore-penned soundtrack.  The track, “Radagast the Brown,” is a nice hint at some great music to come.  Plus it’s a minor character I’m glad will get a good amount of screen-time.

Posted in Books, Internet, Movies, Music | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Airplane Safety Should Be Hobbit-Forming

Posted on November 1, 2012 by awtraughber

UNTIL THE HOBBIT PREMIERES NEXT MONTH, here’s a nice little video from Air New Zealand.  They seem to have a lock on Middle Earth travel and have made a surprisingly good airplane safety video.  Even has a couple of nice cameos.

Thanks to Grantland.com, who posted this yesterday.

Posted in Books, Internet, Movies, Travel | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Choose-Your-Own Adventure Community Halloween Style

Posted on October 25, 2012 by awtraughber

THE PEOPLE AT THE A.V. CLUB ARE RIGHT: it just isn’t Halloween without a new episode of Community.  So it’s nice that the folks at NBC have put together a choose-your-own adventure style video connecting sections from all of the previous Community Halloween episodes.  Smart idea that reflects a genius show with overly-committed fans (some would say).  Check it out here, but be warned: Community can get more than a little weird.

Thanks to Relevant Magazine for the heads-up.

Posted in Internet, Television | Tagged , | Leave a comment

TV Spot for The Hobbit Airs

Posted on October 24, 2012 by awtraughber

WHO CARES about the trailer for Iron Man 3 when there’s a new TV spot for The Hobbit?

Spin-Off Online and Empire are reporting that the first of three new films from Peter Jackson is clocking in at 2 hours and 40 minutes.

Here’s 30 seconds of that to help your day along!

Posted in Books, Internet, Movies | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

New Music Wednesday: Rend Collective Experiment

Posted on October 24, 2012 by awtraughber

CONFESSION: I really don’t care for contemporary worship music.  Part of it is a matter of content and style.  Another part of it is that I blame worship music for doing away with other kinds of Christian radio that I quite liked, thank you very much.  But I’m always open to maybe giving fresh music a try.

I’m also always leery of the music that Relevant Magazine posts on its website.  As much as I love the site, its veneer of cool can by off-putting.  They recently posted a song by the Rend Collective Experiment, a worship band from Ireland.  Yes, they sound a lot like Mumford & Sons.  And yes, there lyrics are quite obvious. . . and yet they are obvious in a way that I wish more musicians could articulate. Even still, give it a listen (and a look- the video has good production values) to “Build Your Kingdom Here,” and see what you think.

Posted in Faith, Internet, Music | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Being Mosby: Friends and Married (With Children)

Posted on October 23, 2012 by awtraughber

third in an unfortunately erratic series

STRANGE AS IT MAY SEEM, How I Met Your Mother has an interesting tendency to bring up often-important issues in a timely manner.  The show, seen mostly through the eyes of hopelessly romantic Ted Mosby, has always worked the relationship angle.  Now that Marshall and Lily are parents, things are even more complicated.

In this past week’s episode, Lily and Marshall leave the cocoon of the home in order to find who would be Marvin’s best god-parent.  Marshall then uses his knack for game shows to bring the friends into a round of “Who Wants to Be a Godparent?”  The game goes well until the Ted, Robin, and Barney leave in a huff for feeling unimportant to two of their best friends.  And while the difficult issue is resolved by the end of the episode, it’s something that doesn’t get talked about often.

How do you balance friendships when things like marriage and children enter the picture?  It’s obvious that some kind of guilt can be felt on both sides (“I don’t have the time” and “I don’t want to be an imposition”).  So how do you make it work?  What are important things for those in this situation to think about?

You can check out the whole episode of How I Met Your Mother here.

(P.S.  While in Denver, I stayed with dear friends who are parents of a toddler, and they were great hosts.  I’m blessed to have them in my life.  So this isn’t directed at the Amazing Duncans.  It’s an interesting situation, though, that has me curious as to how this can play out.)

Posted in Television, The Importance of Being Mosby | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Does Godin Get Education Reform Right?

Posted on October 22, 2012 by awtraughber

I’VE BEEN A FAN of marketing guru Seth Godin for a while now.  His daily thoughts often transcend marketing and find their way into my thoughts about life and teaching and church.  So I was excited to hear that Godin had put together his thoughts on education reform in a free e-book titled Stop Stealing Dreams.  Last week he posted a TED talk presentation of those thoughts.  I’m glad that he’s “asking the question” about education reform.  I’m not sure I agree with his solutions, though.

I really like his opening points on the historic evolution of change.  His solutions, though?  Not so sold on them.  I appreciate his thoughts and even acknowledge that some things (like the “flipped classroom” of online learning) have potential.  I just think that education is about more than transferring knowledge.  A lot more.  Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

You can check out Godin’s e-book and other information about Stop Stealing Dreams here.

Posted in Internet, Teaching | Tagged , | Leave a comment