An artistic post (for a change?...)

Okay, after the uber-athleticism of the last two posts, I thought I would balance it out by posting two unrelated artistic items in addition.

Last night I watched Crash with my dear friend Liza. I had seen it years ago, but I told her I would only loan Love Actually to her if she watched Crash too, so I decided to join her to make sure she did. In some ways I think Crash is like an equally beautiful, complete opposite to Love Actually, hardly about the different types of love. In fact, I like to call it Hate Actually. But I had forgotten what a powerful, affecting movie it is. I hate when movies with a message are heavy-handed and obvious, so Crash is a refreshing moral movie. For those who are unfamiliar with it, it's a 2004 film (that won the Best Picture Oscar, thankfully beating out Brokeback Mountain) with an ensemble cast that features several characters with interweaving storylines. Set in L.A. in December, it's sort of a series of events that teach about hate and racial prejudice, etc., which, like I said, could be really contrived if not handled carefully, but Crash is so poignant and moving, about humanity and trying to eventually do the right thing. If you haven't seen it, do. Quite good, quite good (though, if you're like me, you might want to find an edited copy... I have it, you can borrow mine). I know movies are primarily to entertain, but the ones that really stay with you, the ones that really mean a lot are the ones that make you feel something, the ones that teach you something about yourself or your faith or the world. Personally, I feel it's a totally wasted opportunity to just sit in front of the screen and learn nothing (even a seemingly mindless comedy can still teach you something). "It's the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something."

Secondly, I've been meaning to post this for a while, though I'm not sure why. Just because I think it's cool that I'm totally on youtube now. This was an experiment, trying to upload material from DVD onto youtube. Apparently it worked, and the subject of said experiment is me on vocals, Jared Johns on violin and Andrew Wilson on piano at the Missionary Training Center, May 2006.



My, don't I feel well-rounded now!