What a weekend!
If I must say so myself, we had a great time at our concert on Friday night. It was so wonderful to see so many people from so many of our "walks of life" and so many "eras" all gathered together in one place. And I think everyone had a good time from what we could tell. One good friend said yesterday, "You know me, Mike: I don't enjoy anything that's longer than an hour, but I really enjoyed your show!" It ended up going almost two hours, about a half an hour longer than we'd planned and hoped, but I think everyone had a good time anyway. We sold about 3/4 of our CDs, and I'm sure we'll end up doing another printing soon.
One of my best friends who now lives in Manito, IL, surprised me by showing up for the concert. It was a special blessing to have Tom there: like a brother, he just kept asking what he could do to help, and he had a word of prayer with us before we went on, which was especially helpful since the Kiddo called us in tears ten minutes before we were supposed to start. "*copious tears* Daddy...*sniff, sob*... I think I broke my hand, and I don't know how to go to the emergency room!" Seems she was out running and, when she got back, fell up the stairs in her dorm. We told her to take her insurance card with her and have a friend drive her and call us when she gets back. Seems it's not broken but badly sprained; she's on ice, elevation, wrapping it, pain killers, etc... Should be fine in time for her dress rehearsal week of Into the Woods.
When we finally got home from the concert, of course, we had to stay up talking for awhile even though I had to be up at 5:00 AM Saturday to go to a speech tournament in Toledo. We had a great day at the tournament, with several of our kids placing. Sandy and I went out to dinner Saturday night, but then it was back home for a video (I LOVE My Big Fat Greek Wedding!) and bed.
Sunday morning was church and Faith Family, with more CD sales (yes, I was money-changing in the temple, but no animals were involved!) and well-wishing. There were two "Christian" films opening in theatres this weekend, so Sandy and I wanted to "cast our vote" by supporting their opening. The first was Frank Peretti's The Visitation, and it was very true to the novel. It wasn't poorly done and I don't know how it would compare to its genre since I'm not a big fan of supernatural flicks, but it wasn't particularly stellar in its depth. Randy Travis (country singer) was the only recognizable name I saw, and he did well; the rest of the performances were solid enough if not remarkable. From a Christian perspective, the story does more to point out what's wrong with Christianity than it does to show what's right about a relationship with Jesus, but good does triumph over evil. It was a good thriller. Pity it didn't have very good PR.
The same could not be said for the next film we saw: it has been shouted and touted in the Christian market for the past three weeks at least, and you would have thought the house would be full (sometimes, my fellow believers can be so thick headed!) After sharing some ice cream together, we saw End of the Spear based on the story of the Waudoni tribe of Ecuador after they martyred five missionaries in the 1950's. It really was a well-done movie, I thought, and did a good job of telling the story from the indigenous experience rather than the "white man's" perspective. All of the research is evident -- probably one of the truest "based on a true story" films I've ever seen. Definitely not your usual "missionary documentary" in any way! It was a good film, if not necessarily Oscar worthy.
We then had time to take in a viewing of Brokeback Mountain. ( I don't know how to put a cut here so that those of you who would rather not hear my opinions on this film can avoid them. Stop reading now if you're not sure you want to hear this for whatever reason...) Sandy and I had promised to see this one together before I go to PA, and with so many people talking about it (last week's OhNos, a couple of online groups I'm part of, church people, etc...), we decided to work in one more movie. We "thought" we were going to the "dollar" cinema to see it but didn't know that Super Cinemas now only has half of its films at discount prices (If you haven't been there for awhile, be forewarned.); but having seen it, I don't regret spending the money. (Now I'm stuck because I don't know how to do one of those "spoiler" cut things so I don't ruin any of it for any one so don't read ahead if you haven't seen it although I'll try not to spoil anything too badly.) Anyway, I thought it was a good movie. Heath Ledger's performance as an actor was amazing! Some of the makeup bothered me (bad hair pieces, poor aging), but the story is definitely the focus here. As far as the sexuality, I found it interesting what they did and did not show -- much more explicit with the heterosexual love scenes than with the "gay" love scenes. I think the film did a really good job showing the sorts of family situations and father wounds that predispose young men to the pursuit of homosexual relationship, and it did a good job of portraying the vapid emptiness of not just homosexual relationships but ANY sexual relationship not based on love as described by God. It portrays the whole sad picture very well, including society's grave misunderstanding of the trap in which homosexual men find themselves. I'm not sure I agree with all the Oscar-hype, but it is indeed "groundbreaking," albeit sad to me that this ground must be broken. If the film will open up society to the homosexual's dilemma concerning the choicesthey do have, it will have served an honorable purpose. If it merely serves to open up society further to homosexuality in general and paint its acting out as inevitable, it will have done a disservice, IMHO.
One of my best friends who now lives in Manito, IL, surprised me by showing up for the concert. It was a special blessing to have Tom there: like a brother, he just kept asking what he could do to help, and he had a word of prayer with us before we went on, which was especially helpful since the Kiddo called us in tears ten minutes before we were supposed to start. "*copious tears* Daddy...*sniff, sob*... I think I broke my hand, and I don't know how to go to the emergency room!" Seems she was out running and, when she got back, fell up the stairs in her dorm. We told her to take her insurance card with her and have a friend drive her and call us when she gets back. Seems it's not broken but badly sprained; she's on ice, elevation, wrapping it, pain killers, etc... Should be fine in time for her dress rehearsal week of Into the Woods.
When we finally got home from the concert, of course, we had to stay up talking for awhile even though I had to be up at 5:00 AM Saturday to go to a speech tournament in Toledo. We had a great day at the tournament, with several of our kids placing. Sandy and I went out to dinner Saturday night, but then it was back home for a video (I LOVE My Big Fat Greek Wedding!) and bed.
Sunday morning was church and Faith Family, with more CD sales (yes, I was money-changing in the temple, but no animals were involved!) and well-wishing. There were two "Christian" films opening in theatres this weekend, so Sandy and I wanted to "cast our vote" by supporting their opening. The first was Frank Peretti's The Visitation, and it was very true to the novel. It wasn't poorly done and I don't know how it would compare to its genre since I'm not a big fan of supernatural flicks, but it wasn't particularly stellar in its depth. Randy Travis (country singer) was the only recognizable name I saw, and he did well; the rest of the performances were solid enough if not remarkable. From a Christian perspective, the story does more to point out what's wrong with Christianity than it does to show what's right about a relationship with Jesus, but good does triumph over evil. It was a good thriller. Pity it didn't have very good PR.
The same could not be said for the next film we saw: it has been shouted and touted in the Christian market for the past three weeks at least, and you would have thought the house would be full (sometimes, my fellow believers can be so thick headed!) After sharing some ice cream together, we saw End of the Spear based on the story of the Waudoni tribe of Ecuador after they martyred five missionaries in the 1950's. It really was a well-done movie, I thought, and did a good job of telling the story from the indigenous experience rather than the "white man's" perspective. All of the research is evident -- probably one of the truest "based on a true story" films I've ever seen. Definitely not your usual "missionary documentary" in any way! It was a good film, if not necessarily Oscar worthy.
We then had time to take in a viewing of Brokeback Mountain. ( I don't know how to put a cut here so that those of you who would rather not hear my opinions on this film can avoid them. Stop reading now if you're not sure you want to hear this for whatever reason...) Sandy and I had promised to see this one together before I go to PA, and with so many people talking about it (last week's OhNos, a couple of online groups I'm part of, church people, etc...), we decided to work in one more movie. We "thought" we were going to the "dollar" cinema to see it but didn't know that Super Cinemas now only has half of its films at discount prices (If you haven't been there for awhile, be forewarned.); but having seen it, I don't regret spending the money. (Now I'm stuck because I don't know how to do one of those "spoiler" cut things so I don't ruin any of it for any one so don't read ahead if you haven't seen it although I'll try not to spoil anything too badly.) Anyway, I thought it was a good movie. Heath Ledger's performance as an actor was amazing! Some of the makeup bothered me (bad hair pieces, poor aging), but the story is definitely the focus here. As far as the sexuality, I found it interesting what they did and did not show -- much more explicit with the heterosexual love scenes than with the "gay" love scenes. I think the film did a really good job showing the sorts of family situations and father wounds that predispose young men to the pursuit of homosexual relationship, and it did a good job of portraying the vapid emptiness of not just homosexual relationships but ANY sexual relationship not based on love as described by God. It portrays the whole sad picture very well, including society's grave misunderstanding of the trap in which homosexual men find themselves. I'm not sure I agree with all the Oscar-hype, but it is indeed "groundbreaking," albeit sad to me that this ground must be broken. If the film will open up society to the homosexual's dilemma concerning the choicesthey do have, it will have served an honorable purpose. If it merely serves to open up society further to homosexuality in general and paint its acting out as inevitable, it will have done a disservice, IMHO.