It's great to be back at work again after this past extra-long weekend. I would say that if I started my sentences with "It" on a regular basis and were a huge liar.
Welcome to Men's Health Awareness Week.
Friday and Saturday I ended up doing some volunteering at the church rummage sale and taking care of some wedding-related errands. We've had a sort of debacle over the rehearsal dinner. I love my parents but nothing connected with any sort of special day in my life is ever going to happen at an Old Country Buffet. I didn't want to be mean about it but since several of us (the bride and groom especially) will be eating vegetarian and OCB is about as Vegetarian-Friendly as McDonald's, the option just isn't a viable one for me. Sure, fake mashed potatoes and rubbery green beans ARE technically vegetarian. I just don't dig Old Country Buffet in the first place. I realize it's the equivalent of Chuck E. Cheese for the 50+ set so I've been fairly gentle in diverting that idea. I remember many happy times of going to the Mishawaka, Indiana OCB with my grandparents but that was also when I rarely got the chance to go anywhere and any fried chicken, no matter how greasy or undercooked, was my idea of bliss.
I'll add you to the (far too short) mix disc list, Kate. Just so you all know, I'm still working on the second disc. The only day I really spent much time at home, the internet was down 99% of the time so I just wasn't on the computer much.
I did get quite a bit of reading done (and watched the Cubs a decent amount) and even started getting back into the writing zone. Unfortunately my current living situation is such that every time I start getting back into writing, a roommate sits down just a few feet away or something else like that starts happening. Frustration almost overcame me. Stacey and I took a long walk so I could get some exercise and work out those demons and more importantly pick up some dish soap. We found some watery stuff for a buck at the Wholesale Food Outlet but the lines were too long.
We and Walker also went to go see Saved on Saturday afternoon. Normally I'd cover something like this in the blog next to this but I've got a couple other things to discuss over there.
Anyway, Stacey and I have been excited about this film since we heard about it months ago. Walker, on the other hand, was pretty suspicious about the film (this from someone who went and saw Chronicles of Riddick the night before) but came along anyway.
We all came up in fundamentalist and evangelical "Christian" subcultures and found the satire fairly dead-on and funny. Having worked in the "Christian Bookstore" for three years, I can honestly say that as absurd as some of the characters and phrases and events were in the film, during the first 75-80% none of it was so overblown that it didn't depict at least a small part of reality, and for the most part, quite a bit more than that.
Toward the end, however, (no spoilers here) the film got absurd in its attempt to be dramatic before turning preachy. I don't think that preachy is necessarily always bad. However, when the first 3/4 of the film focuses itself on lampooning and resisting generalistic preachiness, it shouldn't devote the last part to hopping behind the pulpit itself. In addition to that, Hilary Faye quickly (and with no explanation) undergoes a sudden transformation. She exemplifies the self-righteous, giddishly juvenile attempts to "worship" and "be holy" to a disgusting tee early on, yet remains sincere, giving the impression that she wants to do the right thing but is just misled and overzealous. By the end, however, she slips from being a sort of SuperChristian Molly Ringwald type to, well, the stereotypical overplayed high school principal (see any 80s Brat Pack movie, Ferris Bueller, etc.). Another character begins the film seeming extreme -- it's no surprise when the Hooker With A Heart Of Gold card gets played (though she's not really a hooker, just a smoking Jewess rumored to be a stripper) yet Cassandra plays a deeper role in the film than one would think at the beginning. In fact, she's played by Susan Sarandon's daughter...I look forward to seeing her in more films after this.
Saved! does a really great job at exfoliating the complexities and true humanity that are ignored and overtrodden within the general evangelical (this group certainly isn't fundamentalist!) Christian subculture. It does an even better job at offering a light-hearted yet not hateful spoof of quite a few elements. When it tries to turn serious, however, it becomes as awkward and forceful as everything it seems to be against.
Overall, I do recommend it, especially to anyone who's grown up in that context. Just be aware that the ending is a letdown.
Welcome to Men's Health Awareness Week.
Friday and Saturday I ended up doing some volunteering at the church rummage sale and taking care of some wedding-related errands. We've had a sort of debacle over the rehearsal dinner. I love my parents but nothing connected with any sort of special day in my life is ever going to happen at an Old Country Buffet. I didn't want to be mean about it but since several of us (the bride and groom especially) will be eating vegetarian and OCB is about as Vegetarian-Friendly as McDonald's, the option just isn't a viable one for me. Sure, fake mashed potatoes and rubbery green beans ARE technically vegetarian. I just don't dig Old Country Buffet in the first place. I realize it's the equivalent of Chuck E. Cheese for the 50+ set so I've been fairly gentle in diverting that idea. I remember many happy times of going to the Mishawaka, Indiana OCB with my grandparents but that was also when I rarely got the chance to go anywhere and any fried chicken, no matter how greasy or undercooked, was my idea of bliss.
I'll add you to the (far too short) mix disc list, Kate. Just so you all know, I'm still working on the second disc. The only day I really spent much time at home, the internet was down 99% of the time so I just wasn't on the computer much.
I did get quite a bit of reading done (and watched the Cubs a decent amount) and even started getting back into the writing zone. Unfortunately my current living situation is such that every time I start getting back into writing, a roommate sits down just a few feet away or something else like that starts happening. Frustration almost overcame me. Stacey and I took a long walk so I could get some exercise and work out those demons and more importantly pick up some dish soap. We found some watery stuff for a buck at the Wholesale Food Outlet but the lines were too long.
We and Walker also went to go see Saved on Saturday afternoon. Normally I'd cover something like this in the blog next to this but I've got a couple other things to discuss over there.
Anyway, Stacey and I have been excited about this film since we heard about it months ago. Walker, on the other hand, was pretty suspicious about the film (this from someone who went and saw Chronicles of Riddick the night before) but came along anyway.
We all came up in fundamentalist and evangelical "Christian" subcultures and found the satire fairly dead-on and funny. Having worked in the "Christian Bookstore" for three years, I can honestly say that as absurd as some of the characters and phrases and events were in the film, during the first 75-80% none of it was so overblown that it didn't depict at least a small part of reality, and for the most part, quite a bit more than that.
Toward the end, however, (no spoilers here) the film got absurd in its attempt to be dramatic before turning preachy. I don't think that preachy is necessarily always bad. However, when the first 3/4 of the film focuses itself on lampooning and resisting generalistic preachiness, it shouldn't devote the last part to hopping behind the pulpit itself. In addition to that, Hilary Faye quickly (and with no explanation) undergoes a sudden transformation. She exemplifies the self-righteous, giddishly juvenile attempts to "worship" and "be holy" to a disgusting tee early on, yet remains sincere, giving the impression that she wants to do the right thing but is just misled and overzealous. By the end, however, she slips from being a sort of SuperChristian Molly Ringwald type to, well, the stereotypical overplayed high school principal (see any 80s Brat Pack movie, Ferris Bueller, etc.). Another character begins the film seeming extreme -- it's no surprise when the Hooker With A Heart Of Gold card gets played (though she's not really a hooker, just a smoking Jewess rumored to be a stripper) yet Cassandra plays a deeper role in the film than one would think at the beginning. In fact, she's played by Susan Sarandon's daughter...I look forward to seeing her in more films after this.
Saved! does a really great job at exfoliating the complexities and true humanity that are ignored and overtrodden within the general evangelical (this group certainly isn't fundamentalist!) Christian subculture. It does an even better job at offering a light-hearted yet not hateful spoof of quite a few elements. When it tries to turn serious, however, it becomes as awkward and forceful as everything it seems to be against.
Overall, I do recommend it, especially to anyone who's grown up in that context. Just be aware that the ending is a letdown.
posted by Joel @ 6/14/2004 06:55:00 AM
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