film

/fılm/ n. a. a film strip containing an ordered set of pictures or photographs of objects in motion projected onto a screen so rapidly as to give the appearance that the objects or actors are moving. b. a story, event, etc., recorded in such a way and shown in a cinema, on television or video, etc. c. films in general. d. the creative art of film-making.

The other day, I watched a DVD at my sister’s house. It was a French film called Mon Oncle (“My Uncle”). This was the latest in a series of movies we’ve seen over recent months, and, to his credit, my brother-in-law Doug has done a pretty good job of recommending films which have been right up my alley.

(Ironically,) Mon Oncle was recommended by Doug’s uncle, and so what I’m about to say shouldn’t really count against Doug’s excellent record: We didn’t enjoy it. In fact, we didn’t even finish watching it — after sitting through the first hour and realising there was another hour to go, we decided to switch it off.

This incident in itself wasn’t enough to prompt me to revive my dusty, cobwebbed blog. Today, however, I did read the Wikipedia article on Mon Oncle, and I’ve pasted the link here, in case you want to read it yourself. If you’re not so keen on navigating between pages, let me summarise by saying this film has received praise for its criticism of clean, modernist (but inconvenient) 1950s French living, and the sacrifice of family and relationships for the sake of “keeping up appearances”. I guess I can see the elements of that in the part of the film we saw … but it was so buried in drawn-out pantomime and inane activity that the impact was lost on me (Not to mention the annoying “buzz” of every mechanised appliance in the house from the oven timer to the phone to the automatic gate opener … and that damn fish fountain!). Since I figured my frustrated ravings probably wouldn’t last long on a “respectable” site like Wikipedia, I decided I’d become my own movie critic. I like to think I know a little about what makes a good or a bad movie, and with my eclectic tastes I thought it’d be nice to share a little about why I like what I like.

So, over the next few weeks (and in completely random order; I shuffled the movie titles around in a bag and pulled them out one by one!) I’ll try and promote some of my favourite movies, explaining why I like them. Perhaps you’ll disagree with me completely on any number of these. If that’s the case, add a comment and let me know what you think, or send me an e-mail — I’m always keen to hear others’ opinions. On the other hand, maybe you’ll watch one or two of these gems, and perhaps add them to your own “favourites” list.

Cheers,
Andy

katoomba christian convention

I arrived back from “Engage 08” this arvo. It is a weekend put on by Katoomba Christian Convention, and I was invited to go with some friends of mine at the Eastwood Uniting Church Musical Society (EUCMS). The website for “Engage 09” is here.

In general, the weekend was awesome. I have come away with a fresh sense of God’s love for me, and the grace and forgiveness he gives me.

We heard from two speakers, Mark Driscoll and Don Carson.

As I look him up on Wikipedia (that source of all knowledge!), I can see Driscoll has caused some controversy in the past. He certainly has some interesting ideas, and I thought some things he said were great ... other things he said didn’t gel with me at all. Over the weekend he put particular emphasis on God’s regenerating work in us, through Jesus’ death and the Holy Spirit. Really, it was a fantastic reminder of some fundamental theology I really cling to. I have been tapped on the shoulder and led to recall that “[God’s] grace is sufficient for [me]”.

Driscoll has been holidaying in Australia for the past month. He has obviously been doing his research, and talked about aspects of Australian society and culture such as abortion rates, birth rates, divorce rates, and so on. He is opposed to homosexuality, and spoke very strongly against churches preaching “prosperity doctrine”. He did make some other interesting remarks though. He made reference to the number of men in their mid- to late-20s still staying at home, and exhorted all single men to move out and live independently for some time before they marry. “A girl doesn’t want to marry a guy whose mum has a nice house,” he said. Unfortunately, I think this shows a lack of understanding about the current cost-of-living, the housing market, and so on — at least in Sydney, if not the whole country. A (female) friend of mine commented, “It’s nice to see that a guy can actually get on well enough with his parents to want to stay at home.” When somebody asked him to tell us a Bible verse to back up his idea, he quoted this verse:

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

— Genesis 2:24

This certainly relates to moving out of home to get married, but I believe his encouragement for young men to move out of home years before that is a distortion or misunderstanding of that verse.

He also told us that the average Australian woman only has 1·7 children, but to keep the country going, she needs to be having two-point-something babies (on average). Someone asked him about a married couple who chooses not to have children. My understanding of his response was that such a couple is selfish. “Be fruitful and increase in number,” he said, quoting from Genesis 9:7. He told us we’ve got enough land for it: there’s a big patch in the middle of the Australia we’re just not using.

In response to that, I would say we’re not using it, because it’s desert, and you can’t live there.

While I think he was very insightful, his fundamental theology is fantastic, and I took away a lot from his speaking, I don’t think a month in the country gives him enough understanding of our society or culture to make judgements or generalisations such as those.

Anyway. I thank God that He sent Mark Driscoll to challenge me, make me think, and encourage me to renew my relationship with Christ.

Don Carson was fantastic. An older man, he was slightly more academic, but just as engaging, and with sermons which were just as stimulating, and I would happily listen to him preach any time. Again, I was challenged and encouraged. Again, I turn to God and thank Him for the work he has done for me and in me through Jesus Christ.

I really enjoyed the music and worship, too ... A nice mix of older hymns and new choruses just suited to a musicphile with eclectic tastes like me.

Andy

baulkham hills baptist church iii

I had an e-mail from Heather and Gary the other day, asking whether I’d been to Church at all in the last three months. There I was, thinking that no one was even bothering to read my blog ... Oops! Sorry guys. I’ll try to keep you up-to-date more regularly in the future.

Since my last entry, I’ve been going to Baulkham Hills Baptist (BHBC) morning services just about every Sunday. I like the music; a good mix of favourite choruses and traditional hymns ... and mostly songs I know well. They’re a really friendly bunch of people, and have been keen to make sure they always introduce themselves to me, and try to make sure I feel comfortable and welcome. I’m slowly getting to know more people by name.

I’ve been interpreting the songs into Auslan most a.m. services. This has been a good opportunity for me, and I hope my skills will improve with time and practice in this area.

Twice now I’ve been able to go to an evening service. The vibe is definitely different ... but still good. The people have so far been very keen to chat to me and make me feel at home. The evening services are much more “youth” oriented, and I don’t know as many of the songs (last night, for example, I didn’t recognise a single one!). Still, as one woman said to me, “That just means you need to come to the evening services more often!” I can’t go to an evening service every week, because I’m now playing piano at Wesley Mission on a fortnightly basis (more about that next time...).

I am keen to find out more about their community activities ... they seem to be very into community work and social justice stuff. I just need to find out what their programmes are and slot myself in wherever I best fit.

This is a very short entry ... I hope it sates your appetites for the time being. I’ll make sure I fill you in with more detail next time.

Cheers,
Andy