war of the worlds

*note: if you haven't seen the movie yet and don't want to know how it ends or anything about it, stop reading now. don't say i didn't warn you.

i've been looking forward to seeing this movie since i saw the first teaser-trailer for it months ago. i'm a sucker for summer blockbusters, especially if they involve humans trying to prevent the end of the world. i have to admit, i've never read h. g. wells's novel or listened to the subsequent radio programs he made about it. so i have no idea if the movie holds true to the original story. but i don't really care. i can give you my diatribe on the futility of comparing films to the books they were based on at a later time. though i doubt you're interested.

the trailers and various other promotional materials make war of the worlds look like any other apocalypse-themed picture show. but, actually, the movie is not about aliens at all. yes, there are aliens in it and they were as impressively terrifying as only spielberg can create them. but the movie is about a family. more specifically, it's about a father. and what you are left with when the end credits start to roll is not a typical hollywood story about americans destroying the bad guys with their superior intelligence and bigass guns. what you are left with is a world where all that really matters are the people you love.

now is the part where i filter the movie through my trusty creation-fall-redemption screen. (calvin: you go girl!) i found the central theme of this movie to be distinctly Christian, though i would be surprised if that was its intention. and isn't that just the beauty of discernment. (calvin: yes! and yay!) the movie asserts that the aliens were doomed from the moment they set foot...er, creepy tentacle... on this planet. this planet wasn't made for them. it was made for us. and so, in the end, the aliens just... die. no one kills them. there's no world-wide airstrike. there isn't even really a war. they die because no one in the universe has the power to make life on this planet obsolete except the God who created it. and so we don't have to live in fear of alien invasion or asteroid collision or some other extra-worldy event destroying us. what we need to worry about is what kind of people we are and how we choose to treat the people around us.

it was a great movie.

are you kidding me?

some 19-year-old kid in the UK has recently plead guilty to killing his parents before stealing their credit cards and going on a $30,000 shopping spree. he may receive a reduced sentence because psychiatrists are testifying that he has a condition called "narcissistic personality disorder." here are the symptoms of NPD.

- grandiose sense of self-importance
- preoccupied with fantasies
- believes self to be "special"
- requires excessive admiration
- has a sense of entitlement
- is interpersonally exploitative
- lacks empathy
- is often envious
- displays arrogant, haughty behavior

tom cruise recently ruffled some feathers on a televised interview with matt lauer in which he aggressively campaigned against psychiatry claiming it was nothing more than "pseudo-science." i can't say that i have a very passionate stance on this one way or another. i do think that our society is over-medicated and that mind-altering drugs probably ought to be used as a last resort in most cases. but i also believe that mental illness is a legitimate problem and that many people's lives are made better by medicines and psychiatric treatment. however, reading a story about some kid who might receive a lenient sentence on a murder charge because he has been given the official diagnosis of "a*#hole" by the mental health foundation makes me want to give tom cruise's opinions more than just a second thought.

the sky

nothing.

some questions i have:

- what is the strange brown liquid dripping from the walls of my apartment and where did it come from?
- is there some way i can get my teaching degree over the internet?
- why did i ever cut my hair short?
- are the white stripes really talented rock musicians or are do they just have everyone fooled by how enigmatically cool they are?
- wouldn't it be nice to have a husband who would take care of the aforementioned brown liquid for me so i don't have to deal with it because isn't that what husbands do?
- why did i start this blog in the first place?
- would it be possible to find someone who will pay me just to just exist thereby allowing me to do whatever i want with my time?
- what will the michael jackson verdict be?
- is it 5:00 yet?

kingdom come

still my heart
and hold my tongue
i feel my time
my time is come
let me in
unlock the door
i never felt this way before
and the wheels just keep on turning
the drummer begins to drum
i don't know which way i'm goin'
i don't know which way i've come
hold my hand
inside your hands
i need someone
who understands
i need someone
someone who hears
for you i've waited all these years
for you i'd wait
'til kingdom come
until my day
my day is done
and say you'll come
and set me free
just say you'll wait
you'll wait for me
in your tears
and in your blood
in your fire
and in your flood
i hear you laugh
i heard you sing
i wouldn't change a single thing
and the wheels just keep on turnin'
the drummers begin to drum
i don't know which way i'm goin'
i don't know what i'll become
for you i'd wait
'til kingdom come
until my days
my days are done
say you'll come
and set me free
just say you'll wait
you'll wait for me

- coldplay. X&Y

love, baby

last week thursday i attended my 30th dave matthews band concert. being a fan of any band is kind of like being in a marriage. i, sara, take you, the dave matthews band...

for better:
before these crowded streets

for worse:
everyday

for richer:
not long ago, sarah and i took the opportunity to give away, rather than sell, an extra pair of tickets to someone within our close circle of friends. in order to be fair, we held a contest. it lasted 3 weeks and included one week of sucking up, another week of daily dmb trivia, and a final persuasive speech/presentation. even though the tickets cost us about $60 each, i think we still came out ahead in the end. it's all about sharing the love...

for poorer:
10 years: 30 concert tickets averaged at $50 a piece, $30 a year fan club membership, 5 t-shirts, 4 dvds, 20+ albums, gas money, hotel rooms, posters and other paraphanalia... you can do the math. i've stopped counting.

in sickness:
back in the day before you could purchase them on the internet, there would be a delay from when tickets would go on sale for a show in chicago and when they would release them at a ticket outlet in grand rapids. well, since dave shows are known to sell out in mere minutes, we knew that if we wanted tickets, we had to go to chicago to get them. it was my freshmen year of college. i went with my friend jessica. we left at midnight. we had no idea where we were going. we just drove into the city and stopped at the first exit with any signs of life. i remember taking a caffeine pill and washing it down with a mountain dew to stay awake. everything after that is something of a blur. at one point i remember having some kind of nervous breakdown in the car while jessica stopped in a white hen pantry for directions. i think we tried to sleep in the parking lot of a dominicks grocery store. and somehow ended up in line to buy the tickets the next morning at a marshall fields. after all that, we still got seats in the lawn. d*&# lottery.

in health:
i have so many good memories surrounding this band that i could probably start a blog dedicated to only them. there was the time sarah and i went to the band's hometown of charlottesville, va to pay homage and ended up meeting boyd the violinist on the street. there was our first two shows at alpine valley, an amphitheatre at an old ski resort in themiddleofnowhere, wisconson, which the band calls "their favorite place to play." there was the time when we were so excited to be let in to the parking lot at a show in indiana and be first in line at the gates that sarah managed to exit the car, push the lock, and close the door without realizing that she had left the keys in the ignition... with the engine running! there was the first time we took our dads to a show and taught them how to spread their wings during don't drink the water and what to chant when the band played granny. there was the time when we had a birthday party for dave in the BHT dorm lobby complete with a cake and a singalong. and there was the time we finally made the requisite pilgrimage to the most beautiful venue in which a concert could ever be played, the gorge. next year will mark our ten year anniversary. "... and i'm looking forward to much more."

'til death do us part.