Three New Additions To My Desk

-
Image
Actually, it’s an ad-duck-tion. I missed the perfect opportunity to say, “and they’re in a row, too!” Silly goose. 

Cinemapunk

-
We used to make the joke, “I’ll wait for the movie.” Now it seems that’s all that remains, the movie. Hard to imagine what life would be like without the movie. Steampunk imagines a fantastic world where technology never progresses beyond the steam age. What would we call the film-less world? Are we able to imagine such a world at all? Hard to believe there are some places in the world that remain cinemapunk (for lack of a better name).

Some say that Fritz Lang’s 1927 film “Metropolis” set the stage for steampunk. Yes, a film started the sub-genre, but this may have been inspired by the controversial 1917 movie, “Birth of a Nation” which was set in the Civil War.

What would our days and nights be without movies? I remember when going to the movies was a big thing. I stood in line that wrapped around the block in 1977 to see Star Wars. I returned to the theatre five more times to see it. I went to movies nearly three times a week (at least once on Wednesdays) for years. Now, I can’t seem to manage my Netflix Instant View account and am totally burned out on “24.”

Somehow we think we can’t live without film media. It’s everywhere. Thousands of blog posts daily illustrate their content with YouTube or Vimeo--there is some very creative stuff out there. News media can’t seem to thrive without film. Television shows are now taking on a new format, breaking away from the 25 or 45 minutes for 15 weeks seasons to delivering 1-1 ½ or 2 hour “episodes” over a three or four week “season.”

I think part of the reason we moths are attracted to the flickering light on the screen is because we enjoy being entertained. Our culture now thrives on entertainment. We like “checking out” of reality and going to another place and time. Sadly, we pay good money to have someone imagine for us. Left to ourselves, we are boring because we are forgetting how to think.
A world without film is the world outside, where the birds sing and the sun shines; where the moon dances in the clouds and the smell of flowers fill the air. A world without film is a world where people talk to one another beyond, “what size popcorn should we get?” A world without film moves, in real pictures.

I enjoy a good film, but in it’s place; in it’s time. A GOOD film.

Popular posts from this blog

“Men and women who saw God in the Bible: Why did they not all die?”

-
July 2004 I went to Kenya, Africa to speak in two Pastor’s Conferences on the subject of Man, Sin and Salvation. At the end of each day I left just over an hour for questions (half the time were questions touching the subject of my lectures, and the other half for “open questions”; that is, people could ask anything). For the next few weeks, I will be sharing the questions that were asked of me, and my answers—and believe me when I say these people really know how to think! Question from Kenya #1: “Men and women who saw God in the Bible: Why did they not all die?” [“ But He said, ‘You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live! ’” (Exodus 33:20) was the basis of the student’s question]. Answer: First, consider those who did see God—how did they respond when they saw Him? They were instantly aware of their sinfulness, and God’s holiness and righteousness (to name a few. And notice also that each responded in an attitude of worship, bowing down): Abraham built altars, wors
Read more

A Sonnet

-
“My God, where is that ancient heat towards thee, Wherewith whole shoals of martyrs once did burn, Besides their other flames? Doth poetry Wear Venus' livery? only serve her turn? Why are not sonnets made of thee? and lays Upon thine altar burnt? Cannot thy love Heighten a spirit to sound out thy praise As well as any she? Cannot thy Dove Outstrip their Cupid easily in flight? Or, since thy ways are deep, and still the fame, Will not a verse run smooth that bears thy name! Why doth that fire, which by thy power and might Each breast does feel, no braver fuel choose Than that, which one day, worms may chance refuse. Sure Lord, there is enough in thee to dry Oceans of ink; for, as the Deluge did Cover the earth, so doth thy Majesty: Each cloud distills thy praise, and doth forbid Poets to turn it to another use. Roses and lilies speak thee; and to make A pair of cheeks of them, is thy abuse Why should I women's eyes for crystal take? Such poor invention burns in their low mind Wh
Read more

A Fresh Perception

-
Image
  “In primitive times, when man awakes in a world that is newly created, poetry awakes with him. In the face of the marvellous things that dazzle and intoxicate him, his first speech is a hymn simply. He is still so close to God that all his meditations are ecstatic, all his dreams are visions. His bosom swells, he sings as he breathes. His lyre has but three strings—God, the soul, creation; but this threefold mystery envelopes everything, this threefold idea embraces everything. The earth is still almost deserted. . . . He leads that nomadic pastoral life with which all civilizations begin, and which is so well adapted to solitary contemplation, to fanciful reverie. He follows every suggestion, he goes hither and thither, at random. His thought, like his life, resembles a cloud that changes its shape and its direction according to the wind that drives it. Such is the first man, such is the first poet. He is young, he is cynical. Prayer is his sole religion, the ode is his only form of
Read more