Summer Reading 2009

Now that summer is here, what are you planning on doing with your time? Is there a book that's been sitting on your shelf that needs the dust blown off? I certainly have more than a few books that I'd like to get through while enjoying a glass of sweet tea on the back patio.

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Theology: Truly the Community - Marva Dawn
Dawn has written many scholarly yet accessible works on the church as a worshiping community. This volume tackles Romans 12, systematically applying its principles to modern communities. I have already read the first few chapters and have found her insights to be both challenging and creative.

Non-Fiction (Science): Musicophilia - Don Sacks
Okay, so I'm already about 200 pages into this one, but I'll be finishing it in summer, so it counts, right? Sacks is the neurologist/psychologist who wrote the book Awakenings, which had a film based upon it. This time he writes about his studies of the brain and music. A fascinating read so far, his work is full of compassionate case studies into the lives of people who suffer from maladies that effect their ability to process sounds, specifically music.

Non-Fiction (Cultural): The Great-Good Place - Ray Oldenburg
I bought this in hopes of it being my summer 2008 reading, but I ended up doing other things. I figure that if I put it on this list for all to see, I'll have to read it. Oldenburg presents the case for Third Places, those places in a culture that are outside of the home and workplace where people go to find a sense of place and community. In Europe, it's street cafés and public houses. In America, we've separated ourselves so much from the world outside that we've lost our sense of third place, and Oldenburg argues for a reclamation of this important type of institution. A highly influential book, it has already inspired the establishment of coffee shops and book stores around the country (one of which is in Seattle, called Third Place Books).

Fiction: ??
I have a long list of books that I've been collecting on my shelf to read. I'm sure I'll get around to finishing a Dashiell Hammett mystery or two (The Thin Man, Red Harvest), some Cormac McCarthy (Sunset Limited, No Country For Old Men), and hopefully a classic (Brothers Karamazov has been staring at me for a while).

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So now it's your turn to join the conversation. What books are you planning on reading? Please post at least one book in the comment section below, and maybe even include a short description.

Happy Reading!!!

photo courtesy bookmonger on Flickr.

Give To The Winds

Download Chart

Download Live Recording

I recently wrote a new melody for the Paul Gerhardt hymn, "Give To The Winds", which was originally written in German and later translated into English by John Wesley nearly a century later. JS Bach has set the German text. For my setting, I had to modify a few of the lines to help the melodic phrasing. Brian Wren in "Praying Twice" says that this is a no-no as it ruins the author's original voice to change that much (more than just the archaic language or other more subtle modifications). Oh well, can't please everyone!

The recording is from May 31, 2009 at Grace Presbyterian of Silicon Valley. I wrote the melody with The Weepies in mind, so I was pleased to have a fellow Weepies fan, Anne-Marie Strohman, taking the lead vocal. Hopefully the arrangement will expand a little bit when I get a chance to do a fuller demo.

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Give To The Winds

Give to the winds your fears,
Hope and be not dismayed;
God hears your sighs and counts your tears;
God will lift up,
God will lift up,
God will lift up your head.

Leave to God’s sovereign guide
To choose and to command,
Wand'ring, as you own His way,
How wise, how strong,
How wise, how strong,
How wise, how strong His hand.

Through waves and clouds and storms,
He gently clears your way;
Wait now, since in His time, this night will
Soon end in joy,
Soon end in joy,
Soon end in joyous day.

Words: Paul Gerhardt, 1653; tr. John Wesley, 1739; alt. Music: Luke W. Brodine, 2009. © 2009 Rare Sunshine Music. UBP. ARR

twittering

I am now on twitter.

http://twitter.com/raresunshine

a case of the Mondays, DST style

so who out there is having the worst case of the Mondays that they've ever had? if so, here's a little video to remind you of how bad a day you could be having.



and no, this isn't going to last forever...

online movie discussion - Lars and the Real Girl

Last week's film discussion was an awesome experience! We had a group of almost 30 people who discussed Lars and the Real Girl and enjoyed each other's fellowship. I realized afterward that there was far more to be discussed than we could have covered in an evening, so I decided to open up the discussion here. What's even better is that now others can join in the discussion who were unable to attend!

Below I've posted some of the questions that we discussed, along with a few that we somehow passed over. Enjoy!

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1. What is your first reaction to the film?
   
   
2. What tone is the film attempting to set? What cues helped set this tone? In what ways do you think that the filmmakers achieved the tone well? Poorly?
   
   
3. What effect does the type of doll that Bianca is have upon the film? Could she have been a mannequin? A crash-test dummy?
   
   
4. What role does the setting play in the film? Would it have been a different movie it had been set in another part of the US or during a different time of year?
   
   
5. What was your initial reaction to Bianca? Discuss the reactions of others in the film. (Which character are you most like in regards to his/her reaction? Why?)
   
   
6. What purpose does Bianca serve in Lars’ life? What sort of things do you use to replace real things?
   
   
7. What is Lars attempting to cope for with Bianca? What are your coping mechanisms? How do you deal with change?
   
   
8. Describe the role of Dagmar, both in Lars' life and in the town.
   
   
9. Did you catch what passage from the Bible was read later in the film? Is Lars the only one in the film that needs to hear this message? What “childish things” do you still cling to? How have you been able to put them away? How have others helped you do this?
   
   
10. Do you think that this is a realistic film? Is the film trying to be realistic? (parable) One review derisively calls it “silly and whimsical.” Do you agree with the sentiment, if not the tone, of this remark? Do you think the filmmakers intended this sort of reaction? What about the characterization of the small town and the members of the church? When is the unbelievable more true than the believable?
    
    
11. Why does the town react the way that it does? What does the movie have to say about community? Is this real community in your opinion? What do you think is done well? What could be done better?
    
    
12. I’m reminded of a refrain from Sir Paul McCartney: “All the lonely people, where do they all come from?” How does the film attempt to answer this question?

Also, here are a few helpful reviews that are available online:

• Roger Ebert
• Stephen Greydanus

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So have at it! Post your thoughts in the comments section for this post. Please include your name with your posts. I don't expect things to get out of hand, but please treat this discussion as if you were in the same room with the others who are joining in. I will moderate the discussion as needed.