Sunday, September 27, 2015

New Perspectives

You know, I really do love my majors. I love talking about history, as evidenced by my travel blog, and I love talking about literature.

About a week ago, I got to combine both of my majors and my Europe experience in a class discussion. We were talking about my new second-favorite poem called Dream of the Rood - the Rood being the cross Christ was crucified on. The poem tells the story of Christ's crucifixion from the point of view of the cross, making parallels between the cross and the believer, and the poem is tear-inducing both for its theology and its literary beauty.

Anyway, as part of understanding the poem, we also read the legend of the cross, from its growing from a seed from the Tree of Knowledge to Helena finding it in Jerusalem. This legend shows up in the frescoes in the Cathedral of St. Francis in Arezzo. When I posted about that, I got an email from a friend (sent by that little Talk To Me box at the bottom) talking about that legend. In her email, she used a phrase I had never heard of, but when I heard it, it gave me a completely new perspective. Seriously, I felt enlightened after seeing it in her email.

Ready for it?

Here it is:

"Biblical fanfiction."

I cracked up the first time I saw it, not because it's funny, per se, but because such a funny phrase fits the story so very perfectly. When we were talking about Dream of the Rood and the Legend of the Cross in class, I mentioned that phrase, and the response was a combination of laughter and comments that sounded like, "Yeah, that's pretty much right!"

I'm so glad my friend decided to share that insight with me, because it gave me a whole new way to look at some long-standing literature. So if you, dear reader, have an insight about something you're reading, be sure to share it with people around you. You never know who might benefit from it! I was hyperbolizing a little bit about feeling "enlightened," but I am not kidding at all when I say that hearing it gave me new perspectives, and I am very grateful for it.

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Kaitie Wade - Tail Lights

You all know how much I enjoy sharing stories about teenagers who take early steps in pursuing their dreams. Well, Kaitie Wade isn't a teenager anymore. She is my age. How do I know this? Well, because we sat next to each other in grade school. As of last February, she is a recording sound artist with one single released, called "Tail Lights." I know nothing about music, so I can't really say any more about Kaitie's song, so I suggest you check out her Bandcamp page. I think you can listen to her song with the right app, and I'm pretty sure it's on iTunes also.

Now I'm wondering if I should find an old picture we're both in and post it here just to embarrass her... (Just kidding. I wouldn't even know where to begin looking.)

Sunday, September 6, 2015

Jurassic World

I'm told those are the only decent movies to come out of that franchise. I haven't seen Lost World or Jurassic Park III.

Anyway... I saw Jurassic World (several times) before seeing Jurassic Park. I'm not going to comment on which one was better, per se. I'm just going to say this: Jurassic Park had surprisingly few dinosaurs.

That was my takeaway - really. I think we waited half an hour for the first dinosaurs to show up, and then... well, there weren't many dinosaurs. Even with the scenes with dinosaurs in them, you can't see the dinosaurs! Mostly you can just hear them.

I know for it's time (22 years ago) it was incredible and unprecedented, and the effects on the brontosaurus (bracchiosaurus? The ones with long necks that ate leaves) were fantastic. They were, by far, my favorites.

Okay, one more thing. Having seen JW's velociraptors first, and having freaking fallen in love with them, I was waiting on the edge of my seat for the velociraptors to do velociraptor things. This really got under my skin, because the main scientist guy has this little monologue in the opening about the significance of the -raptor part of their name. Unfortunately, they completely forgot about the veloci- part of the name. Velocity is speed. Being fast. Running like the wind! In JP, they remind me of the beavers in the first Chronicles of Narnia movie. Awkward, slow, and kinda making things drag a little bit. Except for the scene where they jump out and surprise the lady doctor - that was freaking awesome!

Anyway, that was what I liked best about Jurassic World. Once they put the dinosaurs in there, they stay. I think it's safe to say there is a dinosaur in over half the scenes, maybe even two-thirds. The other thing was that the velociraptors were just so freaking incredible! You can feel their power and their hunger in everything they do - they are scary, but in an awe-inspiring way. I mean, wow.

So, if you haven't seen Jurassic World yet, I recommend you do. If you're too young to drive a car, then you should get your parents' permission to see the movie, because there is some language in it and general other things that parents get the say on, But otherwise, it's a good movie, and the dinosaurs do some fantastic things! Needless to say, I really enjoyed it.

To be honest, the first time I went, I went because of Chris Pratt. He's a fun actor and is an outspoken Christian, so it struck me as a completely justifiable splurge, even though I had zero interest in the dinosaurs. The last six times I went, I went for the velociraptors.

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

School ~ Senior Year

Well, I'm settled (sort of) back into school for my senior year. I totally lucked out with some of my classes - so far, I think I'll have a TOTAL of fifteen-ish pages to write, not counting my English thesis. I really hope it stays that way, so I can dedicate more time to my thesis.

I haven't been at WLC since last December... this is a really strange feeling!