I did the unthinkable last night and took Carie to see “New Moon” for date night.

As you may or may not know, date night is a non-negotiable time set aside with my wife Carie that is anchored into our week so that, no matter how busy we get, nothing may remove date night out of the way without the express written consent of both of us and another date night scheduled to replace the first one.

As the evening was planned, I assumed based on something Carie had mentioned to me that she had bought the tickets for a theater about a half hour away.  Because of this, I plotted out too much time before the movie since we only live about 5 minutes from the theater to which we were actually driving.  After a bit of a debate on who was right and who was wrong, we decided to show up early for the movie and wait around the lobby area if we couldn’t get in the door.  But we found out there was no need to wait, for the place was in pandemonium when we arrived.

I took the above picture about 50 minutes before the movie started, and as you can see, the line already spread the full length of one of the theater’s long hallways twice over.  Which led me to process the enormous popularity of the Twilight series.  Jeff had some really interesting things to say on the topic, and while I don’t share his enthusiasm against America’s current most popular book/movie series, I certainly see some of the faulty philosophies within the group of novels/movies.

And I wonder how a group of books about vampires and werewolves and the girl who is torn between the two can captivate the hearts of a monstrous demographic.  Is it the idea of unconditional romantic love that is exhibited by Bella and Edward as they clearly have some sort of strong love bond between them?  Both the writing and the filming do a fine job of showing their respective audiences this.  As you might have guessed, about 85% of the audience that night were female, which leads me to believe that this kind of unconditionality is something sought after by a generation of females who have been mislead, manipulated, and manhandled by a generation of males who have neglected their responsibility to protect and care for the women in their life.

Or maybe it’s the intense “I’ll be there for you no matter what” attitude displayed by both main characters.  Typically women get the “I’ll be there for you, until something better comes along” attitude from their men, which because of the way the earth is created and evolving at the same time, means they will stop looking for protection and care from real guys.  Then they will seek after the same type of relationships from a) books and entertainment where they can dream about that real guy or b) a human being who is not male, yet can give them that dependability that all humans desire from their love relationships.

The deeper problem of course, lies in our understanding that no matter who we place our trust in, they will fail us.  But this is no excuse for men and women of all ages and generations to not be people of character as they move into relationships that literally must include two people of character to succeed.  In short, don’t get into a romantic relationship until you are ready, or as a wise man once said in Scripture…

“Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.”

How does a phenomena that reaches the many reach one heart?

A song that becomes popular resonates with me so strongly that I can feel the pain or joy of that song?

A movie that thousands, hundreds of thousands and in some cases, millions of people will see brings me to tears and laughter like it was about me?

A book or series of books that hang onto the bestsellers lists makes me want an 7th sequel when it stops at the 7th book.

It’s simple really.  The reason a phenomena reaches out and affected me after it’s touched the many is because it has affected  me.  And I am more alike with someone who lives in Orange County, or the boroughs of Louisiana, or downtown Tokyo than sometimes we’d care to admit.  There’s not a lot, but there are some things that speak to us universally.  Why?

Because that’s how God made us.

I’ve known Shari for about 1o years now, since she was in college and I was a bit out.  Shari and her husband and kids live in the Springfield area.  So my point:  a few weeks back Shari came out and snapped some photos for Fellowship Church, our services and our team for the website.  She is a pro, and I would encourage you to check out her work on her website and use her if you can.   Here is the video of some of those pics.

Holden Fellowship Church from Shari Schoener

Your welcome.

I’m a huge fan of Monopoly and have played many a game of this wonderful and long game with friends like Mike, Joel, Darren, Brandon, Jon, and others who have decided to take me on in this amazing game of “crush the competition.”  I even have a Monopoly T-shirt given to me by some friends in my church.  It would be safe to say I have spent over a hundred hours playing Monopoly.

And now they are coming out with a Monopoly Movie, led by the Gladiator director, Ridley Scott.
I’m trying to think if this would be a good idea or not.  Like the writer for Collide Magazine says, “Our guess is that the movie will be extremely long and will end with all the characters giving up all their money and real estate because they’re sick of playing.”

Will “Monopoly” be a Box office hit?

Another day.  Another hollywood trailer.

I have to say that every once in a while they get it right.  Movies like Crash, Goodwill Hunting, and Blood Diamond really make a point of sharing with the viewer a story of what is, and countering what is by painting a picture of what should be, all the while staying away from shoving their one sided ideology down one’s throat.

But while watching a college football game last Saturday, I was introduced to the latest in end of the world propoganda crud by Tinseltown. (Believe me, I was just as hard on Left Behind)  Humans using great amounts of the earth’s resources, Aliens coming to earth, and of course, Keanu Reeves pronouncing that “If the Earth dies, you die. If you die, the Earth survives.”

Great!  Thanks for the heads up Keanu.

It’s not that I don’t think this is an important enough message (though the whole end of the world stuff has got to stop, and maybe it will… someday…), but personally, the movies are a part of the problem.  Please consider this:

I decide I want to go to a movie on Friday night with my wife.   First of all we go to dinner.  Let’s say…Moe’s. We have food and drink there in the form of burritos and cokes.  Then we drive to the theater across town in Millbury.  It’s a huge complex complete with restaurants, shops, and a Yankee Candle Store.  Before we go to the movies, Carie wants to stop by and smell the candles, ultimately buying my new favorite scent, “Harvest”.  Then since she bought something, I decide I want to go to Barnes and Nobles and buy a book.  So I do.

Afterward we walk to the theater and purchase tickets to see “The day the earth stood still” a remake of a 1951 movie of the same name.  Of course, I have to get a coke and a snack in order to watch the film.  We are awed by the special effects, and Keanu’s amazing acting ability (just so you know this is a fictitious story).  Then what?  Are we going to be inspired to not spend money casually, Waste money on gas, and make wise decisions in our spending because of a film that costs millions and millions of dollars to make?  And that’s after Keanu’s already been paid for his Oscar winning performance.

In the meantime, we can buy a couple dozen magazines with the picture of Keanu on the cover and watch Keanu and his date for the evening easily spend thousands of dollars on their wardrobe at some award ceremony where all the friendly folks of Hollywood will lash out at our current president for being rich.

As Americans, I hope that we’ve learned a lesson in the last several months that will speak louder than hollywood movies.  You can see this lesson in the current gas prices.  Riches and material possessions don’t produce goodwill, but a giving, loving heart whose “back is against the wall” does,

And that’s something money can’t buy.

2 things:
I like Keanu’s movies, I just don’t think he’s a great actor.
Tomorrow I’ll hit up on the “back against the wall” concept, and why that’s so important.

You can’t handle the truth!

p.s.  a bit of swearing in this scene.

The Trailer

I have a love for the art of story.  I love the eloquence of a finely told life experience, especially if it is accomplished across the bridge of two movies or two books.

It probably started when my dad and I sat down to watch “The Magnificent Seven” and “The Return of the Seven” one night.  I loved that a team of experts would come together, then accomplish their task, and then I loved the fact that I got to see it done all over again.  I mean, some of these series of movies and books have been life-changing for me.

Occasionally a book gets a solid first run, and they make a sequel not worthy of the original content.  In fact, many times the only reason it’s done is marketing.  Unfortunately this happens a lot in the Christian sub-cultures of our world.  Are you serious?  Give me a break, “The Power of a praying pet turtle?“  Or the Oh so popular “Chicken Soup for the One eyed radio DJ’s soul.”  So I thought I’d share with you my favorite series of film, literature, sports, or television:  (and no, American Pie is not on the list)

10.  Boston/LA 2008 – That sure was a long 21 year wait.

9.  Left Behind. It did become something of a marketing ploy, but I enjoyed the story nonetheless – inaccuracies and all.

8.  Young Guns. I love these movies, and Jack Bauer’s in them, so they can’t go wrong.

7.  Star Wars. Many would suggest this would be number 1.  I would not.

6.  The A-Team.  “I pity the fool…”

5.  Rocky. Nuff said.

4.  John Lescroart’s Dismas Hardy series.  A collection of detective/legal thrillers set in San Fran.  Good stuff!

3.  Lord of the Rings books and movies – These last two were difficult, but an amazing story to walk through.

2.  Letters to the Next president by Andy Stanley – seriously, you have to hear or watch these.

1.  Harry Potter – I have no words to say how I felt after I finished those books in November of 2007.  And this was after I made fun of others who read the stinking things.  Whether its the movies or the books, these things are absolutely brilliant.  And of course I was drawn into witchcraft immediately after reading them.  (this is sarcasm)

Okay, your turn. What did I miss?

Yesterday I went with a group of guys to what one might call a “guy comedy” type movie.  Please forgive me for stereotyping this way, but really it was the exact opposite of a “chick flick” so this is the best way to express what I was seeing.  I barrelled over in laughter more than a few times during the film, and though I would not recommend it (not because it wasn’t funny), I must say it did stimulate  “an audible expression or appearance of merriment” within me.

MY FAVE LINE IN THE MOVIE:  One of the characters was singing (not very good) to the other character, and afterwards, the one who was listening says with tears in his eyes,”Your voice is the combination of Fergie and Jesus.”  The way he said it made me laugh so hard I thought something was going to pop inside of me.  I now have this as a flair on my facebook account.  Thanks Neil.

So the whole point of this post is this:  Afterwards the four guys (including me) who saw the film stepped out of the theater laughing mildly and kind of calm.  Then one of us reminds us of one of the parts of the movie, then another of us, makes a quote from the movie, and we were off!  On our way back to the car, we started laughing.  I mean rolling.  Uncontrollable laughter.  We all jumped in the car, and there was more laughter.  I couldn’t even move the car because I was afraid of getting in an accident due to the tears rolling down my face.  And when we were about to stop, we would start laughing again. 

For five full minutes, four adult men in a car parked at the local movie theater laughed loud without being able to stop. It was one of the most hilarious things that have happened to me in a long time, and I’d like to thank Brandon, Brandon, and Neil for making it all possible.

I’ve never laughed so hard in all of my life.

I don’t even want to waste words writing a review on “The Happening“, the worst movie I’ve ever seen in a theater, so I’ll let you read this extremely accurate synopsis of the movie.  I loved the first four M. Night Shamalayan films (Sixth sense, Unbreakable, etc…), but this latest movie actually will put a stop to my movie going for the rest of the year.  It was that bad!  If you’re going to be a self-promotor, (written, produced, and directed by ME!!!) you might as well give yourself a good name, because that is rather to be chosen than great riches.

Goodbye and Good M. Night!

Also last weekend I watched a movie with the same crew that brought you this post, and the movie was “Lars and the Real Girl,” starring Ryan Gosling (the Notebook) and a few other people I don’t know very much about. 

***spoiler***

Gosling portrays a hyper-introvert small town single guy who lives in a garage apartment of the house he grew up in, while his older bother and sister-in-law live in the actual house.  ”Lars” (Gosling) rejects all attempts by his worried sister-in-law to invite him into their life.  IN fact, he rejects everyones attempts.  There’s this particularly hilarious scene where Lars is at church, and he heps this older lady carry a bouquet of flowers to her car.  During their conversation, the lady insinuates that Lars needs to find himself a girlfriend, then she gives him a flower, and tells him to give the flower to someone pretty.
Immediately as she goes to her car, this nice girl, who obviously has her eye on Lars, walks to him and says “hello Lars”.  It made me laugh when Lars throws the flower as far as he can nervously (as if the girl can’t see him), and says “Hello” back, only to turn around and run away.

This does not compare to the scene a few minutes later though when Lars receives a “visitor” as he announces to his brother and sister-in-law that he met on the internet.  Keep in mind this is not a comedy, but I laughed pretty hard during these two scenes.  The next shot shows Lars on the couch sitting next to a Manican, explaining to his family that she’s a missionary, who’s taking a break for a while.  They are particularly freaked out when he starts talking to her too, and apparently getting responses.

Soon they find themselves at the doctors office ( a setup by the family) after Lars tells them that his friend claims to be a bit ill.  The doctor, who’s actually a licensed counselor, tells his family that they have to “go with it” or else it will damage him more.

One of the amazing things about this movie (that 2 of us liked and 2 of us didn’t) was that eventually the whole small town “went with it”, and as a result, it helped Lars break away from the real problem – the lack of any intimacy he was shown as a child after his mom left him as a baby made him feel like he was “burning” anytime someone touched him as an adult.

Unless you enjoy a good thought provoking pysochological drama (not thriller), I wouldn’t recommend seeing the movie, but…

I would recommend hugging someone today.

This post was written for Randy Elrod’s Watercooler Wednesday.