And the recreations of Netflix’s Stranger Things keep coming. This time, it’s a LEGO version of the show’s first season (using dialogue from the show). Quality work, for sure. And a nice reminder of the possibilities of a story well-told.
(tip of the hat to the folks at Relevant Magazine)
It’s been a dry year for fans of the BBC’s Doctor Who. We haven’t had much more than a peep since the 2015 Christmas special (with its amazing send-off to River Song). The team behind the 2016 Christmas special have released a sneak peek clip for fans. In it, the Doctor tackles a genre that I don’t remember him tackling on TV before: the super-hero.
I must admit having no idea what to expect from the episode. I’m guessing that they aren’t going for poignant (particularly after last year’s entry). It’ll just be nice to see the Doctor back on the small screen again, really.
This last weekend saw the release of the first series in a Harry Potter prequel run. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is the first of five (five!) movies that will bridge the timeline between the World Wars 1 and 2, a chunk of time that parallels the rise of the darkest wizard of all in Potterlore, Gellert Grendelwald. This, of course, basically makes this series the Potter version of the cinematic Hobbit movies and Star Wars prequels. The question is, whether or not this series meet the same critical reaction.
I went into the movie rather hopeful. Review had been pretty good. And because the Potter movies were well done, I wasn’t particularly concerned with the overall story. And while I enjoyed the movie, it didn’t quite reach levels of “fantastic” for me. The lead female character was a bit too stand-offish for me. Eddie Redmayne’s Newt Scamander was a bit too quirky (all while being a bit too bland). The dark tone of much of the movie was also a little off-putting for me. Harry Potter was plenty dark, but there were some fun relational dynamics (and a sense of hope) that kept things floating along.
Having said that, I do find myself interested in seeing where the story goes next. I can’t imagine five (five!) entries to the series. That seems a bit much, really. And I’m curious to see how the titles and main characters and casting evolve over time.
On-the-side reading is often fun when it comes to Harry Potter. Here’s an article intending to point out the (potentially) growing divisions between Potter fan factions. It could be a perfect example of some millennial mindsets. And here’s a quick “review” of the movie from Alan Jacobs, whose reflections on the Potter books were almost as intriguing as the books themselves.
(image from ew.com)
Yesterday I posted a scene of significance from Steve Carrell’s final episode of The Office. Beyond Dwight, Jim and Pam are the characters that Michael connected with most over the course of his awkward time as manager. And it is high farewell conversation with Jim that really sums up how well strange beginnings can turn out.
This weekend our seniors are going to their last high school camp. We often talk to our students about the transition from high school to college as a way of helping them see much of life as a series of transitions.
One thing we talk about it making sure that they have made peace with those who have been a part of their lives. As I was thinking about it, this scene from Steve Carrell’s final episode of The Office came to mind.
At the beginning of the episode, Michael and Dwight are at odds because Dwight was looked over as Michael’s replacement. How good to know that even something like a piece of paper full of well-rendered words can make all of the difference.
The folks over at Eerdman’s just posted a nice interview with Ephraim Radner, whose latest book drops this week. Radner has been interesting to me over these last few months, both in his posts over at First Things and in A Time to Keep. He seems to have a good grasp on some of the vital parts of “being human” that many of us don’t articulate well when talking about faith over time.
His new book, Time and the Word, takes on the concept of the figural reading of Scripture. When asked about why he researched and wrote such a book:
Contemporary Christians are forgetting how to read the Bible. The main question driving everything else remains the modern one, “did it happen?” Obsessively answering that has taken us out of the Bible, not into it. It’s misguided: past, present, and future—our era’s critical categories—are simply insufficient to engage the realities of creaturely existence that derives from God, who creates and recreates. Why would God’s Word be captive to time? I have been prodded to rethink all this in part by my work within non-Western churches and societies—filled with people who are educated, read newspapers or watch TV, and are hardly historically naïve (as some Westerners like to think). But they have grasped how their lives are “given” by God to such a radical extent that their conformance to the details of Scripture is an obvious promise, not a problem to be argued for. Most Christians, over the centuries have intuited this: Scripture, as God’s Word, is what structures the world, not the other way around. Things happen because Scripture, the Word of the Creator, speaks them; Scripture doesn’t speak them because they happen. This is the fundamental presupposition of figural exegesis, which my own book explores: it is a discipline whereby we read the text in order to see how divine words structure events, and how experienced time reveals the experiences of every Scriptural moment. Just to think about this is liberating.
I feel the tension of Radner’s observations almost every day in my classroom, with students on all ends of the belief spectrum. I’m curious, then, to see where his explorations have led him.
It’s a fun little interview really, moving from his writings to what kind of books he prefers reading at 2 in the morning. I particularly liked his closing comments about advice to those striving to think along biblical lines.
You can read the whole interview here.
(image from eerdword.com; hat tip to my Twitter feed)
This week I’m posting performances from the 25th anniversary writers-in-the-round event at the Community Coffeeshouse in Danbury, CT. Today’s clip is of Jill Phillips singing “It Will Pass” from her Mortar & Stone album.
Like so many of her musical peers, Jill Phillips takes time to craft songs about the ups and downs of daily life. This song is more about pressing on when the downs of daily life just won’t seem to let go, like a storm that settles right above your house. How good it is to be reminded that even those storms will eventually pass.
One of Andrew Osenga’s contributions to the 25th anniversary show at the Community Coffeehouse was “I’m on Your Side,” a song I more than likely have shared here before. I like how Osenga introduces the song, particularly in its performance context. “An evening about community,” he said. Once again, a beautiful thing to see so many great musicians playing and singing along.
I think a lot about community, particularly the Christian kind. I’m at odd places these days concerning work and church, often feeling unsure about how to relate, to contribute, without playing some game. “Are there words I could say that would let your heart believe me?” That’s the question a true friend would ask.
One thing you hear a lot growing up is the idea that “relationship is the most important thing,” that it matters how you treat others and how others treat you. You hear it a lot, I suppose, because relationships are so difficult to nurture and grow. Rarely is the space enough (and time) to be as present as many people need.
At the recent 25th anniversary of the Community Coffeehouse in Connecticut, Andy Gullahorn performed “I Will,” a solid song about the wide range of situations in life that require a faithfully human response.
I’ve been wondering for a while if the folks over at Creator Arts would post any clips from the 25th anniversary concert of the Community Coffeehouse in Danbury, Connecticut. I wondered because four of my favorite musicians all played for the event. A few songs were posted a few days ago, so I thought I’d pass them along, starting with this performance of “Many Roads” by Andrew Peterson.
How great it is to see an introduction by Andy Gullahorn and hear harmonies from Jill Philips with some extra guitar by Andy Osenga!
As with so much of his music, this song by Peterson blends sentiment and hope and the rigamarole of the day-to-day into a nice, ad-libbed musical moment.
Space Enough, and Time 