Creating, collecting, and sharing thoughts and ideas. And learning along the way.
Plays, concerts, shows, and other events that I’ve been to in the flesh. Or have had an out-of-body experience about. Also, other items and events that inspire me, and are no less than a “show,” be it in my mind’s eye or in my backyard.
The marriage of utility and art produces what? An eating utensil. Such as a fork and spoon and knife. Also known as silverware.
And so keeping true to my cultural tradition of buying something new for the house in the new year, I decided to freshen up my daily set of silverware (which is actually stainless steel).
Thanks to IKEA, it is easy on the eye and the pocketbook! And this is a show that must go on!
Thanks to the lovely Voice Memo app on my new iPhone, I have become inspired to use it for a number of things: from recording a note to myself for later reference, to drawing up a shopping list, to singing a few bars of a song to share with a friend– this feature on the phone is a lovely way to capture a voice in time for a purpose.
So today, I wish to use it to offer an audio recording of a movie review that I wrote-up yesterday. As you might know, this blog was created to be a dedicated repository of all shows, concerts and other live-events that I have the pleasure and privilege of attending and thereafter reflecting upon. I understand a motion-picture is not exactly a live event, and yet, I think this is a most appropriate place to house this because the audio clip lends an element of a “live” show to it; plus, a movie is a show anyway!
The other inspiration to this venture is my recent interest in listening to Books-on-CD. There is something very captivating and even addictive to listening to a story– it is almost twice the pleasure of reading it, and especially, if you know that it has been narrated by the author herself! And so, in the spirit of old-world storytelling, here’s my reading of my review (a story about a story, if you will!).
The movie is True Grit. Directed by Ethan and Joel Coen. 2010. The official website for the movie is here. That Johnny Cash song is nowhere to be found in the movie, btw!
The transcript of this audio is below, for your ready reference:
“Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord”. Mattie Ross knows this truth, but that doesn’t prevent her from pursuing the wicked. Because she also knows that unpursued, they will flee. But beyond that, she knows also that the righteous are like a bold lion– which is the latter part of the verse in Proverbs 28:1 that opens up the story of this young woman who is truly possessed with true grit.
The Coen brothers have done it again– given us a story that is, dare I say it, made better the second time around. In the original movie, the part of Rooster Cogburn may have been made for John Wayne, the consummate and eternal cowboy, but in this new one Jeff Bridges was *made* for this role of U.S. Marshal. Mattie hires him because she is told that he has true grit– the one quality she is seeking in any man she hires to hunt down her father’s killer. But it is really Mattie who has true grit to initiate and execute her mission. She can roll up a cigarette with as much skill and finesse as she can quote scripture or negotiate business matters; and she can tell a Texas Ranger just what she thinks as much as she can tell the outlaw, Tom Cheney, that she has come to take him back to be hanged in the state of Arkansas. And succeed she does. But there is a price to pay for it. This, she acknowledges much later as a grown woman. The opening lines of the movie bear the voice-over of Mattie observing this truth: “You must pay for everything in this world one way and another. There is nothing free with the exception of God’s grace.”
She is right. And this is the beauty and mystery of the grace of God. It is free to one and all: to the repentant evil-doer as well as the thief on the cross. It is not for us to question the reasoning of the divine instrument that allows the rain to fall on both the just and the unjust. For such are the mercies of the Almighty. All our righteous indignation at the injustice of the world may come to naught if it is not the will of God. Call that unfair, but if we were to receive what is truly due to us, in the words of the Bard: who should ‘scape whipping? And that, my friend, is where grace comes in. Grace is unfair, but it is always in our favor. We get what we do not deserve!
On a side note, Matt Damon is brilliant as Mr. LeBeouf. And two things about Mattie that I can’t help but notice as a comparison on a personal note: her severely braided hair is identical to the plaits that I wore when I was fourteen years of age! And an even more minor side note: I have had the pleasure of visiting Petit Jean Mountain in Arkansas– that is the place that Mattie says she has been to in support of her plea to Rooster to allow her to accompany him on the outlaw-hunting expedition.
Cocked and loaded from the opening frame, True Grit does come truly close to offering a spiritual experience, further bolstered by the haunting melody of the old Christian hymn, “Leaning On The Everlasting Arms” throughout the entire movie. My own grandmother, by the way, born in 1903 used to sing that very hymn just as soulfully: “Oh how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way / Leaning on the everlasting arms / Oh how bright the path goes from day to day / Leaning on the everlasting arms / What have I to dread what have I to fear / Leaning on the everlasting arms.”
A big thank-you to my buddy, Melanie Ryan who sent me a full recording of this concert that she attended in NYC’s Madison Square Garden of Roger Waters’ Another Brick In The Wall concert on 10/5/2010.
How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat your meat?!
Well, it goes on a tree for starters. Like a Christmas tree. But beyond brightening it up, an ornament can be quite a special object if it has some meaning attached to it. Like the ones above. These belong to my two daughters presented to them this Christmas. An annual event in our house where the both of them get one ornament each from their father and myself, this little tradition is so simple and yet so sweet!
The selection of the ornament of the year is typically one that represents to some degree something about that year. And this year, I thought these cookie trays with goodies on them truly captured the very frequent activity of baking that the both of them engaged in. They made every type of cookie, lots of different kind of brownies, and even the occasional cake! And it wasn’t just on weekends that they baked– they’d bake after-school on weekdays, and sometimes at midnight on the weekends!
So, here’s to the small and simple things like Christmas-tree ornaments that make up the years of our life. They’re small and inconsequential, but I daresay they hold the power to build memories, and to evoke them in each of us year after year when we take them out and put them up to adorn a tree in the dead of winter.
Merry Christmas, Everyone, and a Happy New Year! The show must go on!
If I haven’t told you this little lovely fact, may i do so now… I love James Taylor and had the pleasure of seeing him at a bookstore concert and CD signing here in town a couple years ago.
And this is one of his very famous songs, of course. And a lovely little video someone has put to it, don’t you think?
Shower the people, indeed!
Emmanuel: that word in Hebrew means “God with us”. Which is what Christmas is all about.
This is my nativity scene that comes out each Christmas season to remind us that the birth of Jesus Christ is the reason for the season. This is a lovely set that I found some ten years ago– it was a collector’s edition it said on the box, and each porcelain figurine is crafted with the finest detail.
For the rest of the album, click right here.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.– Isaiah 9:6
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.— Matthew 1:23
That’s what its called: when you do it three times in a row, that is! That’s what a hat-trick means in the game of cricket. As also in the game of life, if you will. 🙂
And that’s what I’m celebrating today. This one particular staff-writer at The Emery, Huron High School’s newspaper, who happens to share a last name with me, had her story featured on the cover of the paper– three times in a row.
For a look at the album, click right here!
Well, it could be anything… anything at all from a birds-nest, to a proper tree-house, to an ornament. Or many such ornaments. 🙂
Yes, I’m fully aware of the origins of the Christmas tree to be a symbol of a pagan winter festival and all, and yet I choose to associate it with the tradition of the season. And although I might be labeled as just another victim of the rampant commercialism that this holiday reeks of, I still choose to make of my tree what I will… which is that it represents family and tradition in my house.
Each ornament on my tree has a story– of when it was bought, for whom, by whom, and from where. That’s a lot of stories on that tree.
So, it’s ten days to Christmas from today– here’s wishing you a very merry one, and best wishes in the new year!
(And in case you’re wondering why this post has been housed here, this isn’t just a conglomeration of pictures of a christmas tree; it is the embodiment of a lifetime of christmases spent here in these great United States. It is a show. And it must go on.)
