Gravity

I saw a trailer for Gravity a few months back. I couldn't believe it. Someone actually made a film about two people trapped floating through space?!?! That's going to either be awesome or dreadful.

It's in space... that should help make it awesome. Still, an hour and a half of floating...

I saw it over the weekend. 

I couldn't believe it.

To quote a friend - "That was the fastest slow movie I've ever seen"

It doesn't stop. From 5 minutes in to the time the credits roll you're on a rollercoaster ride.

I saw it in AVX which was a first for me. Glad I went with it this time! There were parts I was shifting in my seat to avoid debris. I never do that!

There was another part were one of the characters is exposed to space. There was no sound from the movie during that scene... or from the theatre. I just sat there holding my breath.

Plus the first 14 minutes is one shot. As in, no cuts in the film. I know that's my film nerd geeking out, but is it ever awesome!

I don't think I'd see the film again. It one of those things you experience and then remember fondly. Maybe once I forget a lot of the key plot points in 5 years I'll try again.. Still, was more than worth the 10 bucks to get in!

There was a bit of language at the start. Something to be mindful of.  For the content advisory, Plugged In has you covered- http://www.pluggedin.ca/movies/intheaters/gravity.aspx

Nashville

I grew up listening to LIFE. Every year I would hear about the Dove Awards and how big they were. And how cool things are in Nashville. When you've heard about something for that long you tend to romanticize it. I'm the first to admit, I romanticized both!

I recently had the chance to go to Nashville for the Dove Awards.

I was ecstatic.

It was awesome!

Scott Jackson has already done a great job recapping the Doves, so I won't get into that.

I'm going to talk about Nashville.

It's a really crazy place. Music is everywhere! It's in the airport, in the ads on the side of the road, playing on the main street.
Speaking of the main drag - Just taking a stroll down the main drag all you can hear are the live country bands playing in the restaurants and bars. It's crazy!

Another crazy part of Nashville is the Bi-Centennial Mall. No, you can't get cloths there. It's a monument to 200 years of Tennessee.

To sum it up in one picture is impossible.
I tried, it failed. There's not only the entire history of Tennessee, but the names of some of the most famous people Tennessee has produced. There's also a mammoth map of the State with cities and rivers marked on it. The whole thing is worth the trip to Nashville.

Another highlight was Rocketown. It's a outreach/venue type thing started by Michael W. Smith. Not only is there a concert theater and cafe, but a recording booth and skate park!

Plus really big beach chairs.

All in all, Nashville was everything I had hoped.
The Doves were awesome too. Lots of bright lights and Christian Celebs.
It was nice to watch an award show and know who 95% of the musicians were!

Smartphone

I really didn't want to get one. Yes, I'm a geek. Yes, I love shiny new stuff. Yes, I have a million and one things I could do with one.
Even with all that, I was still apprehensive.

Touch screen texting? Eww. Being able to access the internet everywhere? Great.... Facebook in my pocket? No thanks!

Then, I realized I have self control.

So I got the phone.

I love it.

If you've been holding off on a smartphone due to the whole "touch screen texting" thing, it's not actually that bad.

At least on an android. Google's keyboard is really something else. Even if I miss a key, it usually guesses what I wanted. Sometimes it guesses wrong, but never with really awkward results... well... except that one time...

Also, the great thing was, it didn't come with Facebook! So I had to consciously add it, and have to consciously open it too!

I never thought I'd say it - Lovin' the smartphone!

Smell The Roses

I've probably read the Bible 3(ish) times in my life. It may be 4, but I don't want to overestimate.
In that time I've gotten a pretty good idea of what all the books are about (except the minor prophets...) and where each story is going.

Recently I've found myself getting bored in devotions. I still think the content is great, don't get me wrong, but nothing was popping out. No attention grabbing verses. Nothing. Just "oh ya, this story" or "I like this part" or "oh no... this part is really hard to get through (*cough*Songs of Solomon*cough*).

So what do you do? Stop reading? I did for a day, that was enough for me! Missed it too much and realized it was only going to cause problems in the long run, not improvements.
Change translations? Maybe. The words are different, but the content will be the same.

So what do I do? I stop to smell the roses.

Part of my problem was putting so much emphasis on how much I was reading. I tend to power read to begin with, doing that with the same book over and over and over is a recipe for boredom.

Now, I'm taking my time. Sure devotions are taking longer. Sure I'm reading less in that time. But whole books that I thought I knew backwards and forwards are different! I'm seeing stuff I've never saw, understanding things that have puzzled me and even getting confused on things I thought I had figured out.

It's awesome!

tl;dr - If your devotions are getting stale, try taking your time to smell the roses. It worked for me!

Anthem For Today - Walk Away

You may remember a post I made a few months back about Anthem For Today. It was awesome being able to shoot a music video.

You know what's more awesome?

Doing it again!

I have wanted to do a camp fire video for a while, but there are problems with shooting one of those.
Mostly the music. You'd have to record an acoustic version of the song you are filming and then film it, then mix both. It would be a great challenge, just not something I figured I could talk anyone into.

Then I found out Anthem is releasing their song "Walk Away." It's acoustic. Bingo!

The day of the shoot was miserable. Rain, rain... rain... more rain... Then it stopped (thank God). Then it started again! After almost cancelling the shoot, the rain stopped again (after loads of prayer!).
This time it stopped for good.

The shoot only lasted around an hour and a half, maybe 2 hours. It was a blast! After going through an entire bag of marshmallows, firewood and kindling - we were done!

Two weeks later, I'm pleased to present the finished product!



All in all it was a great night! Now, let's shoot another!

Christian Movies

Christian Movies have gotten a really bad reputation over the years. Sometimes deserved, sometimes not so much. And while I tend to not like cheesy stuff, even the cheesy ones can strike a cord with me. Though I'd rather they not be cheesy.... really.

With this in mind, my list of most anticipated Christian films of the next... 8-20 months? Basically -- here's a list!

I'm In Love With A Church Girl
I've always wanted to make a movie where
a. Someone is faking Christianity to get a girl and in the end relizations how messed up they are
or
b. tobyMac is a burnt out breakdancer that needs redemption.
This movie has both... sorta... (If Toby breakdances at any point I'm calling foul!)
Either way... TOBY MAC



God's Not Dead
The story of a philosophy class student challenging his professor's opinion of God? Sounds good. And did I mention Newsboys are in it? NEWSBOYS!!!! The acting doesn't look like it's going to be Oscar worthy, but the premise is something I can get behind. And David White is in it, which makes things even better.



Grace Unplugged
The story of a girl trying to make it big in music... against her parent's wishes and the compromise it brings.
This sounds really promising. The messages that a plot like that can convey are a plenty. Looking forward to it! Ooooooohhhhhh and by the way, Jamie Grace is in it.



And that's what I'm looking forward to this... ah... yearish?
Oh, and Noah, but that doesn't have a trailer yet... yet.

Miley Cyrus

I can't seem to avoid that name. She's all over the web, my FaceBook news feed, the news feed that's always on in the LIFE studio and she's even breached casual conversations. All from a very inappropriate performance on the VMA's (which I didn't even know happened until this whole ordeal).

I tried watching the video. I lasted about 5-6 seconds. I don't recommend you try to best me.

What I do want to recommend - we pray.

Whenever celebrities derail, it's so easy to point fingers! We call them names and even accuse society for causing them to go like this, but that doesn't really help All it does is makes us look/feel better. 

I've done that. A lot. Even with Miley. However, this time, I really want things to be different. 

Instead of coming up with cleaver ways to run her down, let's pray.

Pray that she would be able to see the impact stuff like this has, pray that she gets some solid role models/mentors in her life and pray she remembers her roots. I mean the Christian ones, not the Hanna Montana ones. She is (or was... not sure where she is now...) a confessing Christian. 

I don't want to sound preachy, or "holier than though". Mostly cause, I'm not. But I do want the church to try to be a light in this instead of a lynch mob.

O.K. That's my serious post for the year. Back to Batman, drooling over music and flying cats next week.