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| athlete: so what are you doing after work?
me: i lead a Bible study on Tuesday nights :):):)
I lead a small group on Tuesday nights. They are all freshmen, and I call them my groupies. I'm not unaware of the urbandictionary definition of a groupie, and yes I've seen Almost Famous. But the terminology, groupie is too choice a word to pass up, so i continue calling them that. it's not like I call them my cult following or the kids, as I was so easily termed my freshman year. My groupies mean the world to me, if it weren't for them, I would have no hope for the Church. They make me believe that anything can happen with Jesus. There is a future for the body, and I am convinced that revival is happening within those twelve-or-so groupies, who each wear hope on their curious faces everytime they enter the Goleta Valley Room.
My groupies have brought more blessings to me than I ever had being a Christian. I used to think that all these blessings meant that I must have been doing something right. Now I realize that I'm getting all these blessings, because I'm doing something wrong. I love that idea of imperfect people leading imperfect people. I never claimed to be better than them, and I stress the fact that I do mess up, and I'm not a choice person to follow after. I just happen to be an imperfection holding on to the promises of Jesus Christ, and that's something that has always gotten me through this life.
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| this summer, I'm going to be interning for PricewaterhouseCoopers! | | |
| i know who i'm voting for on Tuesday. But i won't tell you her name. | | |
| Wow, 2007 has been an exceptional year for film. A year like this has not happened since 2002. For the past year, I've screened about forty to fifty 2007 releases (mostly in theaters, some on DVD, NONE downloaded), and I've come up mostly impressed, awe-inspired, and captivated by all the performances. 2007 was a unique year because it gave birth to two films which I believe will immediately become classics. No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood are two films that deserve to join the AFI top 100 already. The last time something like this happened was in 1994, when there were three instant-classics (Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump, the Shawshank Redemption), although I feel that 2007's are better. Common themes this year were literary adaptations, unexpected pregnancy and abortion, dementia and alzheimers, Iraq, and the revival of the western. 2007 has also brought two of the best animated films of the decade. Here is my top ten for the year. Please try to see as many as you can. and if this hasn't bored you, check out what i have to say about the actors.
Top Ten
1. No Country For Old Men
2. There Will Be Blood
3. Atonement
4. I'm Not There
5. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
6. Juno
7. 3:10 to Yuma
8. Once
9. The Savages
10. Ratatouille & Persepolis (tie)
The Actors
The two most notable performances of the year (and of all time) in my opinion, came from Daniel Day-Lewis and Marion Cotillard. There's nothing Day-Lewis can't do, as he has had a long career of playing anything and everything. In There Will Be Blood, he literally becomes his character, and you can literally feel his insanity pulsating on the screen, it leaves you terrified because there is nothing fake about this character. Marion Cotillard became Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose, and I didn't realize how great she was until I watched interviews of her and couldn't even make the connection between the gentle beautiful French girl I was watching on youtube, and the complete opposite thing I witnessed when I saw La Vie en Rose. I couldn't believe it was the same person. This is true dedication to her craft. Javier Bardem has been one of my favorite Spanish actors for some time, and he couldn't have had a better transition into American film. He's just so creepy in No Country For Old Men, he's a villain with a sense of humor, but he's just downright evil. His foil comes from Tommy Lee Jones, who is everything opposite, and really brings the book's themes out, distinguishing the film from a suspense thriller to an intellectual experience. Speaking of villains, Amy Ryan played a villain-like role in Gone Baby Gone, but she never passed judgment on her character, and never tried to make her anything more than a pathetic mother. This is what made the character so real. Cate Blanchett was phenomenal as Bob Dylan in I'm Not There. It seemed to me like she was coming straight out of a Fellini film, Bob Dylan style. Is there anything she can't do? Speaking of the common themes I mentioned earlier, dementia/alzheimers
was done best by Julie Christie in Away From Her, and abortion/pregnancy was
done best by Ellen Page (Juno).
All of the above actors will get their due during this awards season, but now I must plea for the underrated and overlooked. Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises), Laura Linney (the Savages), Kelly McDonald (No Country For Old Men), Christian Bale (Rescue Dawn), James McAvoy (Atonement), Saoirse Ronan (Atonement), Vanessa Redgrave (Atonement), Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood), and Ben Foster (3:10 to Yuma) were among the rest of the best performances of the year, and it's a shame that they aren't getting more recognition.
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I’m Not There
November 23, 2007
In the spirit of the film, I could just not say anything,
since I'm still speechless. But I think I can find something to say. Everything
about Todd Haynes' masterpiece was amazing. In the spirit of Bob Dylan's
multiple "identities," this film is incredibly out of the ordinary.
It is a biopic, a documentary, an art film, avant garde, and even takes a
familiar page from Fellini's "8 1/2" in Cate Blanchett's segment
(more on her later). Everything is nontraditional, nonlinear and experimental,
from Cate Blanchett playing Dylan, to a giraffe that lingers in the background
of a scene. And how about the stars of the film! Each actor plays Dylan in a
different phase of his life, and it's amazing how they nail his voice and
mannerisms with such accuracy. Christian Bale, Marcus Carl Franklin, and Charlotte
Gainsbourg all give amazing performances, but the film belongs to the
phenomenal Ms. Blanchett. I know I say this every time she's in a new film, but
I'll say it again: Cate Blanchett is the single best actress of our generation.
Her take on Dylan is so in line with Haynes' vision, and she really brings Bob
Dylan to life more than any of the other actors do. This is a role of a
lifetime, and I don't know how she's going to top this, but somehow I'm sure
she will. Blanchett IS Bob Dylan. I don't know what's hotter than that.
Not many American films still exist like this. My generation didn't get to see
many films like "8 1/2" on the big screen, but Todd Haynes makes a
modern classic that's accessible to us. Perfect in every way possible, rush to
see "I'm Not There." Not only is it the best film of the year, but
people will be talking about it for decades. Don't miss out.
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