like the New Kids on the Block's "Funky, Funky Xmas" blasting on the stereo. Can you believe iTunes doesn't carry the album?
Merry Christmas!
Apparently, being a boss means you get lots of wine for the holidays. I can dig it.
My mom turned me onto lark.com. It's like the Onion only about Christians. While I am loathe to admit to liking anything that can be described as "like _____, only Christian," it's pretty funny. The article about new methods of raising money for missions is particularly good.
I don't really cry during movies. Okay, so I shed a tear at the end of Terminator 2, and I may have sniffled during Bleu, but I am not usually a person who has to carry a hanky to the theatre. The one big exception is Anne of Green Gables. I have seen that movie at least six times, and I cry at least once every time I watch it, usually when Matthew dies. My parents bought me the DVDs as an early Christmas gift (thanks Mom and Dad!), and we finished watching them last night. I cried a record three times. What is it about that movie? I mean, it's really good, but come on. There has to be some kind of irresistable subliminal message hidden in it or something. Maybe the spots on the cows in the Cuthbert's pasture spell out, "Weep! Weep pitiably!"
Josh and I tried out a new sushi place down the street last night. It had great ambiance and tasty food, and it was relatively cheap (always a plus). I noticed something strange that seems to be the case at all of the Inland Empire sushi joints we've been to. (Not that we go out for sushi near where we live all that often.) There were a couple of men parked at the bar in jeans, flannels, and ball caps, drinkin' beer, talkin' loudly about one guy's new F-150, and... eating lots of sushi. It was like being at a truck stop, only with chopsticks. Now, I suppose if you just think about the food itself, raw fish would have some appeal to beer-swillin' manly men. Kind of like raw beef. But I sincerely doubt that any of the truckers I knew from work when I lived in the Midwest would touch the stuff. But, this is California, after all. I wonder if these types of guys eat sushi in Japan, if there even is such a thing as a bearded, beer-bellied, huntin' and truck-drivin' kind of guy in Japan. Will?
I have finished Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. I will say that the ending was a bit anticlimactic. It was still well worth the 32 hours it took to listen to it. I will also say that, strangely enough, it has a lot more in common with War and Peace than its length. They also both involve long descriptions of battles with Napoleon, have very similar female characters, and convey similar senses of humor. As a character in JSMN would say, "How very odd!" I am afraid it will take me weeks to start speaking English like a good American again. Next up, The Chronicles of Narnia! (Actually, I started it last night. The series is a much quicker read than I remember it being. Of course, I'm pretty sure I was in elementary school the last time I read it.)
My internet friend, Sarah, is becoming disenchanted with capitalism because it leads to tacky malls, sprawling suburbs, and a seeming lack of taste and sense. I agree, but I am not surprised by it. I responded to her most recent post on the subject and I am going to re-post my response here because I think it does a better job of explaining some things I've been trying to hash out on this blog for awhile now without much success. Please read Sarah's post before you read mine. Perhaps I won't be any more successful this time, but it is worth a try:
I ask the same question I ask of all of my political junky Christian friends who are angered and surprised when teachers can't teach creationism in schools, or when people want to pass laws making gay marriage legal: what do you expect when you give freedom to people who are inherently sinful? Democracy, capitalism, anything based on personal liberty may be superior to a single ruling tyrant, or to communism, especially when it allows Christians the free exercise of religion. But no amount of political or financial freedom will liberate non-Christians from their sinful selves. Christ offers the only true way to liberty; every other route leads to a solipsistic cycle of selfish desire, indulgence, and bitter disappointment.
You expected or hoped the ultimate fruits of capitalism would be beauty and community? Capitalism is popular because it works. It works because it is based on reality, and the reality it is based on is that people do everything out of their own perceived self-interest. It acknowledges the Christian truth of the in-born selfishness of all mankind. If the results are starting to seem ugly, it is because the real end of human desires is showing. Capitalism may propel the economy, and certainly some good comes out of it (reducing poverty, improving health) but we should not expect the ultimate results of anything that thrives on the selfishness of entire countries to be fulfilling and good. Capitalism (and democracy), in my mind, is superior to other systems only because it feeds (and feeds on) the self-interest of many people rather than few. It is less susceptible to the uncontrollable whims of single individuals or small groups.
Churchill said, “Many forms of government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried from time to time.” The same could probably be said of capitalism. Don’t expect it to redeem anything. Nothing that depends on human will and desire can do that.
If you expect people to desire what is right and good, don’t just show them beauty and assume they will recognize that it is Good, and want it, and know how to pursue it. We are cursed to grasp for what is good with filthy hands, dirtying it in the process, or to chase after the shadowy reflection of what is good and beautiful, all the while running in the opposite direction of where we need to go. Keep showing them the Creator of true beauty through your art, and in knowing Him, their eyes will be opened to the true way to what is Good.