Further Up & Further In…

As many of you know, I work for a small non-profit organization called the CiRCE Institute. Simply put, our focus is to provide vision, tools, and encouragement to Christian and classical educators worldwide. We work closely with heads-of-schools and principals, with teachers and curriculum developers, with home-schoolers and parents, with authors and journalists, with professors and artists. We help educators, in the home setting or otherwise, develop their curricula, train their teachers, develop and fulfill their own goals and visions. We provide books, curricula, and other resources. We believe that education is the cultivation of wisdom and virtue by nourishing the soul on truth, goodness, and beauty. We exist to help teachers and schools instill in their children that wisdom and virtue.

If you want more information on CiRCE or on classical Christian education head over to our website.

But as is true of many non-profit organizations in this current economic climate, 2009 has been a rough financial year. Private schools, especially the smaller Christian schools with which we are so intimately linked, lack the funds to invest in teacher training or in new resources and, therefore, many of our most popular and helpful endeavors are suffering. For example, each year we host a conference on a theme in education. In 2009 the theme was Nature, as in the nature of things (i.e., human nature, etc.). It was our most successful, best reviewed conference to date. But we lost money on it and we aren’t sure whether or not we will be able to put on a conference next year.

Recently, CiRCE released this notice on their website:

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Like many not-for-profit organizations, the CiRCE Institute depends upon the generosity and kindness of individuals who believe, as we do, in the mission and vision of Classical Christian education.

Today, we are launching our 2009 fundraising campaign:

FURTHER UP & FURTHER IN.
If you are in a position to donate even a little, please consider doing so. Your generosity will go a long way towards enabling us to fulfill our mission and accomplish our goals.

In return, we promise to continue teaching, training, and researching. We promise to keep on spreading the word. We promise to continue providing inspiration. We promise that, if you will stand by our side, we will continue to stand by yours. Together we’ll take this mission, this vision, this calling further up and further in!

As thanks for your generosity, we are offering downloadable materials for anyone who makes even the smallest donation. No gift is too small. No gift is too large. Whether you donate $1 or $100 or $1000 there is a gift waiting for you.

In return for your help, you will be able to download talks like Debbie Harris’s popular talk Understanding and Instilling a Love of Beauty, and Andrew Pudewa’s useful and inspiring, Teaching Boys and Other Kids Who Would Rather Be Playing In Forts. You can also download Ken Myers’ talk on how to Re-educate Oneself As An Adult, or Laura Berquist’s insightful talk about Assessing Student Performance.

To get these talks, and others like them, just go here and make a donation of whatever amount you feel comfortable giving. For even $1 these talks are yours.

We appreciate all of your support so far—everyone who’s come to a workshop or the conference, given a gift a gift in the past, or ever read an article or blog online. Your partnership has enabled us to succeed thus far. Now, we humbly ask you to consider helping out a little more.

While you’re at it, please let us know how we can improve. What should we do (or do better) to help you fulfill your goals as educators? In what ways can we help you cultivate wisdom and virtue in your students?

We look forward to working alongside you in the coming years as, together, we go further up & further in. Sometimes the journey is long and the climb is steep, but with every step we’re closer to fulfilling our goals.

With our sincerest thanks,

The CiRCE Institute

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I highly recommend each of these talks, and now also available is a book excerpt from Dr. Vigen Guroian’s wonderful and challenging book, Rallying the Really Human Things. The specific excerpt examines the the work of Chesteron, O’Connor, and Russell Kirk and the role they played in the Christian humanist tradition. You can read more about the book at the CiRCE blog, Quiddity.

I hope you’ll consider making a small donation to CiRCE. As the copy above notes, for just $1.00 these talks and the excerpt can be yours and each of them are full to the brim with inspiration and wisdom.

If you want to donate, simply click here.

Feel free to email me any time for more information: david@intothehill.com or david@circeinstitute.org

Songs for Fall

Last week I posted a list of my five favorite albums for autumn. But since everybody loves a good mix-tape (mix-playlist, I suppose, would be more appropriate) I have also compiled my 15 favorite songs for the fall 09 season, listed in no particular order. Once you’ve hit up itunes or emusic and purchased these songs, be sure to head over to my friend Brett McCracken’s blog and wade your way through his fantastic list too.

15 songs for fall 2009:

“Post War” by M. Ward: Soft and sweet and tender, like leaves falling in an autumnal breeze. The voice most evocative of fall, in my opinion.

“In the Devil’s Territory” by Sufjan Stevens: At first glance it’s softness seems delicate, but Stevens work on Seven Swans packs a meaningful punch. The work of the Holy Spirit can be a real pain sometimes, just as the changing seasons often are. But ultimately, the result of that work is beautiful. Here he sings “I saw the dragons drying, I saw the witches whine, we stayed a long, long time, but I’m not afraid to die. To see you, to meet you, to see you at last.”

“I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine” by Bob Dylan: One of Dylan’s underrated gems and a great example of how to use the harmonica well. Rich with imagery and motion and thus perfect for fall.

“Firefly” by Over the Rhine: Dramatic, poignant, beautiful, and hopeful song about memory, perfect for the season’s end when the frosts start moving in.

“The Only Moment We Were Alone” by Explosions in the Sky: Like Brett, I associate Explosions in the Sky with Friday Night Lights (my favorite TV show). This lengthy instrumental is wonderfully evocative of the ever-changing beauties – and inherent melancholies – of autumn.

“Death of a Maiden by Joe Purdy: A historically set ballad about a civil war solider who leaves the girl he leaves so his brothers and friends won’t have to fight alone. Deeply rooted in place and time and relationships, just as autumn often reminds each of us that we are inextricably linked to the time and place in which we have been set.

“The Ballad of the Broken Bones” by The Low Anthem: The lead-off track on this great band’s fantastic first album, What the Crow Brings, is folksy and bluesy and minimalist and absolutely gorgeous.

“In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” by Neutral Milk Hotel: The song that birthed a movement. Maybe. Either way it’s a great song for driving in the country as the leaves dance across the pavement and in the fields and as orange skies and brown grass whisper softly to one another by way of the breeze.

“Where the Wild Things Are” by Patrick Watson: Adventurous, creative track from Watson’s haunting new album, Wooden Arms, is appropriately named.

“Long Way Home” by Tom Waits: A favorite song by a favorite artist, “Long Way Home” is beautiful poetry, beautiful imagery, and beautifully performed.

“Curse Your Branches” by David Bazan: A song all about falling leaves probably demands to make a list such as this. Ever wondered if maybe a leaf or two would prefer not to hit the ground? Well, Bazan does here. One of the year’s best, most thought-provoking albums.

“Comets” by Fanfarlo: Maybe the year’s most underrated band and best unheralded album. “Comets”, off Reservoir, is a wonderfully conceived, wonderfully structured indie pop song, much like the next song…

“Wake Up” by The Arcade Fire: The song featured on the trailer for the new Where the Wild Things Are film, is one of the best songs of the decade and is potentially perfect in any season.

“Glory” by Radical Face: A new discovery for me, Radical Face’s (mainly fronted by Ben Cooper) Ghost is an album worth scooping up now. It’ll be on repeat all season.

“Monster Ballads” by Josh Ritter: Few artists do beautiful melancholy like Josh Ritter. From his best album, The Animal Years, “Monster Ballads” is a gorgeous road themed song and one of his lovely songs to date.

Happy Leaf-raking everyone!

Viewing Journal: Sugar

As part of a new feature, I plan to begin posting a series of journal-like blogs based on my experiences with each of the three major art forms: film, music, literature. So you’ll see Viewing Journals, Reading Journals, and Listening Journals. They will be less review than thoughts and impressions. Sometimes they will be written immediately after the experience has taken place (as in, just after I’ve closed the back cover or finished a film) and other times they will be written after a bit more thought and consideration. My goal with these journal posts is twofold: to continue exploring how art acts as icon in our lives and to bring to light worthwhile, meaningful art.

Check back soon – many more of these will be showing up. For now, I begin my first Viewing Journal with some thoughts on the film Sugar.
*****
Like many great filmmakers, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck seem interested in telling stories about outsiders. In 2006, they brought us the wonderful Half Nelson, about a white, inner city teacher who finds himself enveloped in a complicated and desperate world in which he is not at home, despite his many efforts to become a part of it, to help improve it. He’s deeply troubled but also interested in making a meaningful difference in the lives of his students. Ultimately, he is able to make a difference when he is able to accept the dialectical (a key them in the film) differences between the culture in which he grew up and the one in which he lives and works. It’s a bit of cliche’, but what works in the ‘burbs ain’t always working in the inner city. He discovers that what unites people is a common understanding of the difficulties of the human condition.

Now, this is might sound like a simple story. And it is. But in the hands of Fleck and Boden Half Nelson also turns into a masterful film filled with lovely, fully developed characters, sharp dialogue, and a rugged, realist visual style.

The same can be said for Sugar.

Starring superb newcomer Algenis Perez Soto, Sugar is a gem of a film about a 19 year old Dominican baseball prodigy named Miguel “Sugar” Santos whose dreams of playing professionally in America are on the verge of coming true. A few years prior to the film’s opening Miguel signed with the Kansas City Royals for about $15,000, a relatively small sum compared to many of the other prospects. Since then he has developed a wicked curve ball and has become one of the top prospects in the organization.

But he dreams of more than baseball. He dreams of bringing his mother to America, of building her a house and providing her with all kinds of nice things. He dreams of living the American dream, of making it from the bottom to the top. We meet him in the ball fields of the Dominican and root for him as he attempts to one day play in Yankee Stadium.

Soon Miguel is in the U.S., in Iowa, wowing scouts and teammates alike. He’s well on his way. But he’s also in a strange land with a different way of speaking and new food. And he’s alone in a land of vast cornfields and farms, in a place where he’s stock, trade-able and sell-able just like any old cow or pig or goat. He’s got a magic arm, and people love him for it, but he’s acutely aware of the possibility that it could all crumble to the ground with one bad step from the mound or pop in his elbow. A bad slump and he could be gone just as quickly as he’d arrived. And virtually no one would know the difference.

As the film progresses, the pressures mount and Miguel begins to question whether he will ever make it to the big leagues. During one particularly moving moment, Miguel rides past Yankee stadium on a train and catches a glimpse through the famous center field wall. He sees the blue bleachers and the green grass, and the dirt. But it’s just a simple, fleeting glimpse, gone in seconds. We can’t help but wonder if that’s all he’ll ever see, just a glimpse of the success and fame and security of which he dreams.

Of course, this is not a new story. Every year hundreds of young men are brought to the United States to give baseball a shot. And for every miraculous success story – for every Albert Pujols or Manny Ramirez – there is the kid whose career takes a turn for the worse and who never makes it. For every big-league home run champion there are hundreds of South American kids who blow out their knees; for every Cy Young winner there are hundred of kids whose elbows pop. For every multi-millionaire there are hundreds of kids who return home to slums and poverty, their glimpse at the fulfillment of their dreams sweet like sugar at first, but ultimately fleeting – and now gone. Too often things fail to go according to plan.

Fleck and Boden do their version of this tale remarkable justice. The film boasts remarkable, vibrant performances from the entire cast, and a vivid, realistic tone reminiscent of other recent sports productions, such as Friday Night Lights. But, like Friday Night Lights, Sugar is a story in which the sport is simply context. This film is not primarily about baseball (although the baseball scenes are remarkably true to life). It’s about people and places and dreams, it’s about Miguel and his teammates and the people who support him.

In fact, Sugar is a an immigration story more than a baseball story and as such is about the challenges inherent to living in an unfamiliar place: language barrier, new food, new life styles, new religious practices, etc. But this is not a political film. It doesn’t make any broad sweeping claims or statements. It simply focuses on a life that fails to go according to plan; it tells the story of a young man who is forced to decide how far he’s willing to let this dream take him, how much he wants it and how much he needs it.

As I watched, I couldn’t help but think of Jim Jarmusch’s amazing Stranger Than Paradise, a film similarly interested in the plight of the lonely outsider and about the possibility that the so-called “American Dream” is simply a lie, make-believe perhaps. Fleck and Boden are probably less cynical about it than Jarmusch is, but there is no doubt that they question the validity of the idea. Like Stranger Than Paradise, Sugar ends in a wonderfully bittersweet fashion, albeit properly and appropriately. There is no grad slam, no no-hitter, no miraculous heroics. Just a life lived, with hope and as well as possible.

Sometimes that’s all you can ask for. After all, hope is what enabled thousands – even millions – of immigrants to make new lives in America. Hope isn’t all you need, but it sure can get you started, sure can plant a seed, sure can build a foundation.

Sugar is a film about foundations, about getting started.

A few things:

- Loved the work by cinematographer Andrij Parekh, who also shot Half Nelson. Equally adept at shooting closed in or crowded locations as the open expanses of Iowa fields. Does some nice things with deep focus.

- Soto is remarkable in the film. Fantastic job by this complete newcomer. You’ll see him around again soon.

- One of the better in-action depictions of any sport I have ever seen. Yes, better than Rudy (*tongue planted firmly in cheek*).

- Speaking of which, no, this is not a Rudy story. This isn’t an inspirational, Lifetime Channel flick. This film is much more gritty than that, much more based in reality, much more…. gut-wrenching.

Five Albums For Autumn

October is my favorite month, I think. Around here, the summer lingers, sweaty and desperate and long, like winters in the upper midwest. First there are the mosquitoes which invade on the heels of the blossoms, then the days of drought roll in like relatives who visit once a year with too much stuff for too little space. Hurricane season follows fast, of course, and now and then the beach bums and rich folks scamper back mid-state, away from the oncoming rush of late summer’s humid fury, for a long weekend or two.

But then comes autumn, slowly and gracefully, with purpose. And we pull out our sweaters and put the summer clothes in a closet or box until, say, March when the cycle starts over. Winter doesn’t stick around all that long here, not compared to other places I’ve lived anyway, but it’s certainly gray and dreary, more rainy than snowy and therefore usually lacking the charm of a good old fashioned freezing winter. The fall though in North Carolina – well it’s majestic. The colors are rich and various, from early October until just after Thanksgiving, and the air is crisp and clear, often sunny and blue. There is no more beautiful place to take a drive than on I-40, through the Smoky Mountains and up over into Tennessee. The fog hangs low all day in some places, casting a bluish tint over the fantastic colors of the foliage. The orchards are in season for weeks and Smoky Mountain apples are downright heavenly.

Of course, the weather demands good art and no doubt inspires a great deal of it. Autumn drives, and apple picking, and evenings with the windows open, and long walks, all demand good music, good accompaniment. Over the last few years I’ve found that I tend to return to some of the same albums each season. These are five albums, in no particular order, I think are perfect for the autumnal season (plus one new one I’m loving this season).

1. Explosions In the Sky – The Earth Is Not a Cold Dark Place
Truly, this is an album perfect for any season, especially the delicate, icy winter days when the sun is shining brightly off the snow, and the lush, happy days of spring’s first blooming. That said, to me it most characterizes autumn, the rising and falling action of the season, the current beauties as well as the anticipated bleakness of winter. What a paradox autumn is: everything is dying, but all is beautiful and rich and inspiring. This wordless album captures that sensation in a subtle, original, meaningful way. It is a valuable objective correlative to this season’s meaning, if you will.

2. M Ward – Post-War
I hesitate to put it quite so strongly, but this album very well might be one of my favorite albums. Ever. Ward’s genius combination of early pop sounds with folk sensibilities both rollicks and coos, and is an inspiring synthesis of personal – albeit seemingly mythical – tales, with lovely, earnest arrangements. Like autumn, it is simultaneously elegiac and prophetic. Few artists reach so deeply into their bag of musical tricks, draw out so many tools, and still maintain a unity and order to their work like M Ward.

3. Bob Dylan – John Wesley Harding
Few instruments represent autumn as well as the harmonica, and John Wesley Harding uses it as well as any album ever as, in my opinion. This 1967 release is haunting (some would say dark) and ripe with imagery fitted for the season. With songs like “As I Went Out One Morning,” “Drifter’s Escape,” “I Am A Lonesome Hobo,” and “All Along the Watchtower,” it’s an album in constant motion, and about motion, just as the season is in constant change: no two days are the same, on no two days do the trees look, or smell, the same. Although not Dylan’s masterpiece, John Wesley Harding is the perfect album for a fall drive or a breezy evening with a book – windows open, of course.

4. Over the Rhine – Drunkard’s Prayer
A fairly recent release (2005) by this Ohio bred husband and wife duo, Prayer is deeply personal, gorgeous, and lush from beginning to end. “I Want You To Be My Love” reminds of a walk through woods with a beloved, stepping, hand-in-hand, over fallen leaves exhausted from the fall, dry and crunchy beneath the feet. “Born,” one of the best songs Over The Rhine has ever done, is hopeful and tired all at once, both a promise and a sigh for the future. Meanwhile, the title track sounds like the end of autumn, when Thanksgiving draws near and the wind begins to come harder from the North as the leaves fall more steadily and gather in piles, and “Little Did I Know” is a jazzy, hazy number, perfect for swaying on the porch, your arms around your beloved, a glass of wine in one hand. Fittingly, “Firefly” is a moving, hopeful track that ends with these words, words that seem to usher in the start of winter: “my memory will not fail me now//and the rest is history…”

5. Sufjan Stevens – Seven Swans
Change is sometimes good and right and necessary, a truth that Seven Swans, an album seemingly about the Holy Spirit, explores deeply. It’s not a boisterous album, but it is finely and precisely wrought. At first glance it’s softness seems delicate, but Stevens work packs a meaningful punch. The work of the Holy Spirit can be a real pain sometimes, just as the changing seasons often are. But ultimately, the result of that work is beautiful. In “In the Devil’s Territory” Stevens sings “I saw the dragons drying, I saw the witches whine, we stayed a long, long time, but I’m not afraid to die. To see you, to meet you, to see you at last.” Autumn is ironic and tragic in it’s beauty, it is the moment before death, but it also holds the promise of future transfiguration: “Lost in the cloud, a sign: Lamb of God! We Draw Near! Lost in the cloud, a sign: Son of Man! Son of God!”

New Album For the Season:

Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
I’ve found this much lauded new album to be a fine compliment to the mood and tone of the season’s early days. The airy harmonies, impressionistic, orchestral arrangements, and rustic, folksy heartbeat are the perfect side dish to the visual feast that is autumn. Romantic and cryptic at once, Veckatimest makes for a lovely, creative transition between seasons, like a great mug of hot cider and rum. Or your beverage of choice.

Fall is here, drink up!

Best Music of 09’s First Half (ish)

Clearly the first half of 2009 has long since passed. However, good music is good music and ought to be declared loudly as such.

So here are my choices for the ten best albums of the First Half of 2009. I reserve the right to let an album climb this list by the time my year end lists are completed.

10. Bob Dylan – Together Through Life.

I am shocked at the slight reception that this album has received. Granted, it’s not Dylan at his best, but it’s still a remarkable, creative, deep collection of personal, poetic songs. A slightly less amazing Bob Dylan album is still better than 99% of the music out there.

09. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca.

This is one of the albums I expect to grow on me even more. It’s fanciful, moody tones are great fun and it’s weirdness is just enough of a challenge for the listener interested in listening closely. Seems to be a good example of aesthetic eclecticism responsibly approached.

08. Devon Sproule - Don’t Hurry For Heaven.

Like her ‘07 debut, a lot of fun. However, this time around Virginia’s own Appalachian jazzist is more grown up, more impressed by what she sees around her and more nuanced in her approach. Title track is an old timey joy.

07. Fanfarlo – Reservoir.

Slick, subtle and full of energy, this little known pop gem is a brilliant example of the kind of rock eclecticism that has become so popular – without allowing the galling, pretentious romanticism of many such albums to seep in too deeply.

On Aesthetic Eclecticism, Art As Icon, and the Responsibility of the Artist.

In a spring blog post at The Hurst Review, music critic Josh Hurst compared the famously well received new Animal Collective album, Merriweather Post Pavilian, to “a compilation of tracks from pioneering hip-hop rabble-rouser Steinski,” called What Does It All Mean?: 1983-2006. In his review, Hurst discusses the way Steinski has, over the years, been so interested in exploring the relationships between genres, eras, and instruments. He says that, in Steinski’s music, these ideas and sounds are not just “disparate” and individual, but rather that they are constructed to interact and shine light upon one another. For example, he writes that:

“the song called “Jazz” isn’t just a random assortment of jazz, funk, and hip-hop sounds, but an exploration of how the three genres are related, how their historical evolution has been played out and continues to develop. Thus, though his idiom may be collage, it is not pastiche; though his sources may be far-reaching and at times confusing, they are meant to evoke meaning, not shun it.”

In other words, Steinski is focused on tradition, on the past, and on the intricate ways that influence and interpretation are related.

I have, of late, been engaged in an off-and-on, friendly – but spirited – argument about U2’s role in the evolution of modern music. My friend, who is a marine and thus capable of beating me down rather profoundly (and easily) insists that U2 is just an over-rated British band who only play three chords and whose lead singer gyrates about on stage in an unbecoming fashion (and who meddles unnecessarily in international affairs for a bit of free pub). Well, that’s my summation of his comments anyway. My friend is rather forceful in the delivery of his opinions and they usually conclude with him scoring some sort of basket on me in our pick-up basketball games.

Now, I am of the opinion that, whatever your opinions may be about Bono and whatever your qualms about his band’s sound, U2’s universal influence is undeniable and, as lovers of music or creators of music – whether pop, folk, hip-hop or blues – we would all be remiss to ignore the way that they have helped shape the world of 21st century music. From Coldplay to Kanye, from guitar riffs to live performance, from War to Zooropa to How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, the evolution of U2 has at least mirrored the evolution of modern music. Indeed, their influence may be more profound than that of any other artist still popular today.

It is important therefore, even essential, that we be willing to recognize and explore this truth, and others like it, if we desire to fully understand and appreciate the zeitgeist of modern music. We must not let our personal preferences or tastes inhibit our ability to think clearly and explore closely. To suggest that a band or artist is unworthy of my attention simply because I wouldn’t choose to pop it in the CD player on the way home from my nine-to-five or while I’m doing some laundry is to function in a fundamentally egocentric fashion that could ultimately damage our ability to further expand the horizons of musical exploration.

Just as you and I do not exist in static vacuums of individual and disparate tastes, beliefs and experiences, so too the art world neither exists nor functions in a static environment; it couldn’t possibly. Actually, it’s almost absurd to even consider the possibility. The arts evolve, as any part of any civilization does, upon a natural trial and error process founded and built upon change, influence and relationships.

Finally an update: Wedding Weekend, Honeymooning and more!

Hello again friends from my side of the world wide web. It’s been some time since my last post. But I assure you, for very good reasons. First, on the 13th of June I got married, thereby necessitating that the next few weeks of my life be invested fully in another person – perhaps for the first time ever. Sad, now that I think about it, and very probably true. Since then I have been honeymooning, moving, and family reunion-ing.

Of course, the wedding weekend was in and of itself very nearly a tall tale. We were, and are, beyond grateful that much of our family and many of our closest friends were there to celebrate with us. As is rightly said, it wouldn’t have been the same had you not been there.

Joyous as it all was, Friday night and the rehearsal dinner made for quite the experience. First, a boisterous storm and accompanying tornado came rip-roaring through humid Memphis, TN at about 5:30 pm, just as we were all freshly cleaned, ironed and prepping to head out the door for practice and bar-b-que, Memphis style. And an angry, creative storm it was, tearing apart trees and showing off some muscle for a solid thirty minutes. Naturally we delayed the proceedings and instead gathered in the stairwells and hallways of our Comfort Suites (which, by the way, I recommend heartily), laptops and blackberries firmly in hand, online dopplers on refresh repeat. There we sat, laughing it off with a less than creative joke or two and the more or less encouraging thought that one day we’ll have a whale of a tale for the future Kern generations. Eventually, the rains ceased, the surprisingly loud tornado alarms were silenced and off we paraded to the church for what promised to be an evening of practically minded excitement. Right…

Then we arrived.

[Although I forgot to mention the rather embarrassing tid-bit wherein I called my friend Aaron, thinking he was in another car, when actually he was perched comfortably behind me, snickering his way through AN ENTIRE CONVERSATION. As I closed my cellphone a hairy arm, unmistakably belonging to a sniggering Aaron, reached around my headrest and passed forward the iPOD about which I was calling. Must have been nervous.]

Unfortunately, two of the bridesmaids, who were still on the road were delayed by the tornado and we were forced to start a bit late. Thankfully they arrived safely, albeit clearly and rightly rattled. They were very gracious to stick with us though and were very supportive throughout the weekend. Thanks!

But sooner or later we got to practicin’ – the anticipation of the soon-to-arrive food growing stronger bit by bit, minute by minute, practice vow by practice vow, until we were done and we realized the food had not yet arrived – 45 minutes after it was supposed to have been delivered. Soon it was an hour. My mother, bless her, spent an irritating half hour on the phone, efforting some sort of seemingly impossible knowledge as to the whereabouts of the mysterious bar-b-que. The restaurant had no idea. He should have been by an hour earlier. Yes, we knew that, thankyouverymuch. Another quarter of an hour passed. The another. And then we found out that the delivery guy had gotten lost, delivered the food (for 50 people) to another event (of 500 people), and now there were two groups of hungry citizens feeling gipped and trying to think of new less than creative jokes to help laugh it off. I can’t speak to the creativity of the 450 hungry people at the other event, but on our end we spent an eventful and grace-filled hour eating ice cream first, with a side of corn-on-the-cob and a healthy helping of watermelon to boot as we gathered around my musically talented friend Tyler (not my only musically talented friend, mind you, just the one who we asked to play) and, in the dim light of the setting sun, sang hymns and other uplifting songs like “Ring of Fire” and the like. Meanwhile, my strapping, motorcycle ridin’ uncle Nate graciously drove the thirty minutes cross town and thirty back to ensure that we had a tasty (and now free) bar-b-que dinner.

All in all we left the church that Friday night a bit frazzled and slightly stressed but thankful for the friendships and grace that were on display that night. And eventually the power came back on at Bethany’s folks’ house.

Here and there: Toy Story 3, On “UP”, Grizzly Bear, Joe Henry and more…

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The. Wait. Is. Over:

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Thanks to Jeffrey Overstreet for directing, via Facebook, to Steven Greydanus’s fantastic review of the new Pixar film “UP.” An excerpt:

As wonky as the proceedings get, director Pete Docter (Monsters, Inc.) and screenwriter and co-director Bob Peterson (Finding Nemo) never entirely lose touch with the ragged human emotions underlying the story. There’s an obvious metaphor in the film itself for the strange blend of realism and zaniness, partly tethered to solid ground, partly twisting in the capricious winds of whimsy.

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My review of Grizzly Bear’s new album, Veckamist, is now live at Into the Hill.

A sampling:

Almost as hyped as Animal Collective’ suddenly beloved Merriweather Post Pavilion, the Brooklyn quartet’s third effort, Veckatimest, was hailed by Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold as one of the great albums of the decade. And, not surprisingly, the similarities between Grizzly Bear and Fleet Foxes are striking: the gorgeous harmonies; the impressionistic, orchestral arrangements; the album’s rustic tone and folksy heartbeat. Sonically, Veckatimest has more in common with the Fleet Foxes ‘08 debut LP than the stratospheric ambiances of Animal Collective or even the epic rock sounds of The Arcade Fire. However, Grizzly Bear’s wandering, twisting, dreamy form is certainly more reminiscent of the experimental ethos of aesthetic eclecticism in which Animal Collective indulges.

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Over at his blog, Roger Ebert has recorded a run-down on the ‘09 Cannes Film Festival. He gets into which films won which awards, why it made sense for the festival to open with “Up” and a why the judges made the decisions they made. Interesting read.

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One of my favorite bloggers and critics, my friend Brett McCracken is currently enjoying an extended tour of Europe as he researches the global phenomenon of the hipster. These days he’s in Englans, in Oxford actually. In C.S. Lewis home. Yes, in the Kilns, where he is resting, writing and surely savoring of the sweet, ancient aroma of Ol’ Jack’s days gone by. Congratulations to him on this awesome opportunity.

You can follow his adventure and the thoughts it elicits over at his blog, Still Searching.

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Now available at The Hurst Review are Mr. Josh Hurst’s thoughts on UP and on Joe Henry’s forthcoming album Blood From Stars.

About Up he writes:

And yet, the Pixar movie it most reminds me of, I think, is Brad Bird’s beautiful, unforgettable Ratatouille. Like that movie, Up is a small and wondrous story, a miracle of a movie that is destined to be not simply liked, but cherished and treasured by many. Personally: It damn near brought me to tears on a couple of instances, with its depictions of lifelong, marital love that are as pure and as sweet and as real as in any film that I’ve seen. You’ll notice that I’ve barely mentioned the balloons. That’s because it’s as much about balloons as Ratatouille is food. It’s a story that goes deeper down than most live-action filmmakers dare to dig, ad as such, it soars higher than most filmmakers could even imagine.

About Henry he concludes:

In short, it’s an album I expect I’ll be living with– gratefully, if not always comfortably– for the forseeable future.

Pixar’s “Up” reviews, Part II

Rotten Tomatoes has begun posting reviews to the forthcoming Pixar flick, Up. And thus far, it has received 100% favorable reviews.

Included among are the following excerpts:

::: From Variety’s Todd McCarthy:

[Up] could easily have been cloying, but instead proves disarming in its deep reserves of narrative imagination and surprise, as well as its poignant thematic balance of dreams deferred and dreams fulfilled.

::: From the Arizona Daily Star:

A Pixar pinnacle. That may seem like outlandish praise, given the animation studio’s sterling tax record. But when was the last time you walked out of a Pixar movie simply giddy, as if you were high on computer-animated pixels?

::: From Empire Magazine:

Up is a more more classic piece of entertainment, which cleaves to the Pixar template of being beautifully rendered, emotional and laugh-out-loud adult funny, all the while capturing the naïve charm of old-school Disney.

There are many more insightful reviews available, so head over and see for yourself!

The Road trailer and early reviews of Pixar’s “Up”

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The long awaited trailer for the Viggo Mortenson starred The Road, based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Cormac McCarthy (he who also penned No Country For Old Men), has finally been released:

It certainly looks apocalyptic – and strikingly like the grim Children of Men from a few years ago . The visuals are stunning, as one should expect from the man who made The Proposition. Director John Hillcoat has proven he’s a master at creating substance out of style in broken down, dark worlds. In The Road he tackles a potential end to the world, a time and place seemingly devoid of beauty, something that was not true of the paradoxically beautiful landscapes in The Proposition. The Road is going to be a grim, harrowing, difficult film to watch, perhaps even more so than Children of Men.

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The reviews for Pixar’s forthcoming film Up are starting to roll in and, as has become the norm with Pixar’s films, they’re the laying the praise on pretty heavily. Up, directed and created by Pete Doctor, was selected as the opening film for the prestigious Cannes Film Festival and, if I’m not mistaken, that’s a first in the history of the festival. Never before has an animated film been selected for such a honored spot at Cannes. And it seems that those who saw it there are delighted. But that’s not surprising considering the way Pixar has been producing quality films for viewers of all ages – nuanced, subtle, emotionally powerful films that are challenging and entertaining at the same time. Arguably, Pixar’s nince films have taken them on the best run of any studio in recent memory. Nine films, all quality, all resoundingly successful, both critically and at the box offices. But, hey, that’s a discussion for another day. Here are the reviews:

**From Roger Ebert:

My official review is scheduled to run when the movie opens in late May, but there will be hundreds online and in print from Cannes, so I see no harm in making some unofficial observations. Such as, this is a wonderful film. It tells a story.The characters are as believable as any characters can be who spend much of their time floating above the rain forests of Venezuela. They have tempers, problems, and obsessions. They are cute and goofy, but they aren’t cute in the treacly way of little cartoon animals. They’re cute in the human way of the animation master Hayao Miyazaki.

** From Variety’s Todd McCarthy:

Depending on what you think of “Cars,” Pixar makes it either 9½ out of 10 or 10 for 10 with “Up,” a captivating odd-couple adventure that becomes funnier and more exciting as it flies along. Tale of an unlikely journey to uncharted geographic and emotional territory by an old codger and a young explorer could easily have been cloying, but instead proves disarming in its deep reserves of narrative imagination and surprise, as well as its poignant thematic balance of dreams deferred and dreams fulfilled. Lack of overtly fantastical elements might endow “Up” with a somewhat lower initial must-see factor than some summer releases. But like all of Pixar’s features, this one will enjoy a rewardingly long ride in all venues and formats.

** From Emmanuel Levy (thanks to Slash Film):

“As of May, Best Picture of the Year” … “visually inventive, emotionally compelling comedy-adventure” … “Amazingly, “Up” is by turns serious and funny, poignant and frivolous (when it needs to be), but also highly and unexpectedly romantic.”

** From Time critic Richard Corliss:

And though it’s not yet summer, we can declare that Up, like WALL-E, will prove to be one of the most satisfying movie experiences of its year.