Benny's List

To begin, I must refer back to my January 13, 2011 post (#4, I believe), in which I mentioned in passing that I intend to catch up on at least a little bit of popular culture that I feel I have missed.  I decided that one ought to have New Years resolutions that one enjoys keeping.  In all actuality, I made no new resolutions, unless you count my vision board (January 5, 2011), which represents hopes instead of resolutions.  All semantics aside, for some unexplained reason, I am embarking on a mission to watch some good movies from the last 20 or 30 years.

To this end, I solicited the feedback of various individuals (aka Mike, Freda, and Amy, over a cup of coffee/yoghurt and berries for Freda on a Friday evening) who have compiled a list of movies, including cult classics, epics, action films, dramas, romantic comedies, and must-see's, along with a token Bollywood (courtesy of Freda) and anime (courtesy of Amy and Mike).  Some are - arguably - terrible movies (ie: the Titanic) but have earned the distinction of being labelled cult classics through exemplary box office ratings.  Others may be unheard of, but come highly recommended.

So... the Question: Which titles should be vetoed?  Which titles should be added?  Comments?

Benny's Movie List (I have chosen to accept Benny as a term of endearment) contains sixty or so titles, a few of which I have seen, most of which I have not.  In no particular order (excepting the first, which is almost always the first named by every person who has ever heard of my new leisurely mission):

Shawshank Redemption

Braveheart

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

The Holiday

Anchorman

Hot Rod

Austin Powers

Inception

Devdas (Bollywood)

The Usual Suspects

Fightclub

The Godfather

O Brother, Where Art Thou

Snatch

The Titanic

Tristan and Isolde

Nausicaa of the Wind Valley (anime)

Last of the Mohicans

Indiana Jones (first 3)

James Bond: Recent Two + GoldenEye

Eagle Eye

E.T.

Schindler's List

War of the Worlds

American Beauty

The Departed

Departures (Japanese)

Anna and the King

The Dark Knight

Toy Story 3 (CG movie)

How to Train Your Dragon (CG movie)

The Professional (a.k.a. Leon)

The Pianist

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

The Prestige

V for Vendetta

Slumdog Millionaire

Water

Heat

Donnie Darko

Platoon

Babel

Terminator 2

Trainspotting

There will be blood

Children of Men

Kill Bill

Resident Evil (1st one only)

Star Trek

Get Smart

The Nightmare Before Christmas (claymation)

The Neverending Story

Robin Hood (starring Kevin Costner)

Interview with the Vampire

The Green Mile

Legends of the Fall

The Game (Michael Douglas)

The Fifth Element

Total Recall

Iron Man

Chronicles of Riddick

Taken

The Hunt for Red October

Independence Day

Cloverfield

American History X

City of God

Next week... we're moving on to musicians.

i am grateful

for the coincidences that, when combined, paint a picture of a miracle
for friends and their laughter
for a hand on the shoulder that says 'you are not alone'
for the courage that God gives his children at opportune moments
for a God who is unafraid of our doubts, fears and insecurities
for the road-trip journal (and all the memories it represents) that contains this quote:

'when fear creeps in,
i will turn to you
and someday there will only be courage.'
-author unknown

for a day full of opportunities to learn...
...opportunities to embrace community
...opportunities to care
...opportunities to give and receive forgiveness
...opportunities to rest and play and pray and smile and think and work
for a life marked by mind-boggling and heart-capturing mercy

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we could ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be the glory...
...forever and ever.  Amen.

i am grateful

Well, it's official.  A new semester has started, and students everywhere are experiencing cases of syllabi stress syndrome in varying levels of severity.  My case is pretty normal, I think.  I'm coping through day-planner avoidance... for another five minutes.  Then I need to move past the denial stage and deal with the reality that's facing me.  And here it is... my reality:

1 - I'm going to LEARN something this semester!  I know this isn't an entirely new idea, but there is actually material in my courses that I haven't really thought about before.  This is an exciting concept for me.  I can see this being a very personally formative semester as well, which is simultaneously daunting and motivating.

2 - I'm going to write more than I have ever written before.  Having already submitted close to 30 pages of writing, I'm off to a roaring start.  One of the things I'm going to write is a speech for Jane and Eric's wedding, which is infinitely more interesting than my philosophy of integration paper for Social Science and Christianity, and infinitely less depressing than the paper I'm going to write about adolescents with multiple treatment issues.
Paper count: 51 written assignments due before April 17th.  For the sake of comparison: winter 2010 = 17; fall 2010 = 22.  In the interest of salvaging my sanity, I am breaking down this semester's assignments into major papers/projects (23) and smaller assignments (28).  Not counted: speech for Jane's wedding.
As partial compensation, I am also going to write less exams (2 or 3 versus 5 or 6... very partial compensation).  Have I mentioned that Christian institutions tend to suffer from an inferiority complex that causes them to assign inordinate amounts of work in the interest of trying to stay on par with secular institutions?  It is justifiable only because I feel that the quality of education is enhanced by (most of) the assignments.

3 - I'm going to read more than I've ever read before.  To the tune of 300 pages a week.  See previous question, as the same explanation for the excess applies.  For these reasons, I'm not going to have a part-time job, unless something drastic changes.

4 - I am going to have an inordinate amount of fun!  This includes a trip to a pottery shop in Winnipeg to play with clay, skating and sledding, training for a 1/2 marathon that I'll run in the summer with a few friends, catching up on popular movie/music culture from the last 20 years (more on this later), etc.  I've already spent an afternoon (attempting to) cross-country ski.  The plan is to take weekends off, though I may have to start by just taking Saturday evenings and all day Sunday off.

5 - I am going to graduate.  Imagine that...!  Unless I decide to turf the idea of a Masters degree and instead pursue an honours thesis and/or a second major for my BA.  Hmmm... long shot, but it's on the table as one of a few options.

An exciting reality to be faced with, n'es pas?

Twenty-Eleven

[Vision board: a board which visually captures the things that you hope for yourself for the year to come.]  Thanks to Karen from chookooloonks for the idea, a stack of magazines for image-fodder, and a strong 16 year-old with an honest and open heart for sharing in this creative evening.

Having decided that this is something I wanted to try during the Christmas chain-link between December and January, fall and winter, 2010 and 2011, I decided to share the joy of magazine-flipping, cutting, pasting and painting with one of the youth at the shelter.  I was deeply impacted by her insight and resilience.

 May I learn to see the wholeness in the people around me in spite of their brokenness.  May I begin to see the wholeness in myself in spite of my own brokenness. Imperfect and whole.  If you want to be humbled and inspired, complete this exercise with a child or a teenager.

Three words sum up the images and words that popped out at me as I sifted through our stack of magazines:

Roots.  Deeply rooted.  A sense of security and home; physical, metaphorical, and spiritual.  Can one sink roots into two places at once?  My compadre had the same concept on her board - she called it "dropping anchor."

Wings.  Free to fly.  A fresh sense of vision and purpose, equipped with the tools to pursue it well.  Emotionally, intellectually... in every sense of the word.

Fruit.  Crop happens.  Every year, apples sprout from apple trees!  The overflow of our lives if we have our roots in the ground and our leaves in the sky manifests itself in the growth of our character, and in deep investments in the lives of the people around us.  And yes, crap happens too... our investments don't always end up the way we want them to.  Crap happens; life has no guarantees.  Except one.  Guarantee: if I don't plant, I won't reap.  Risk nothing, and nothing will come out.  

May you be richly blessed this year!

May light leak through the cracks in our souls, and hope spill over the top of our fragile clay pots when we are overwhelmed by life's downpours.  May we be content in both giving and receiving.

Rent-A-Dog

After reading C-Bear's offer to share Koda with me, it occurred to me that rent-a-pet services may actually be available.  And this is what I found: http://www.flexpetz.com/


"FLEXPETZ is a shared dog ownership concept that provides our members with access to a variety of FLEXPETZ dogs. All FLEXPETZdogs complete obedience training and some FLEXPETZ dogs are also certified as therapy dogs. 

Through the FLEXPETZ shared dog ownership concept, members can spend from just a few hours to a number of days with each of our dogs. FLEXPETZ dogs are available in varied breed sizes to ensure compatibility with our member's individual lifestyles and unique circumstances."


Who knew?
Ridiculous.  Laughable.  Very Indicative of our harried, time-starved culture.  Don't you get a dog (or a chameleon) for companionship?  Man's best friend?  Imagine a service called Rent-A-Friend...