Brock Hughes-Zardoz

The movie Zardoz, to be honest, might be the worst movie I have ever seen. Honestly, how would someone like Sean Connery sign on to do that movie. I think that it must have been because of the Bond stage he was in and in Zardoz there was also a lot of women around him all the time. ONLY EXPLANATION.

However, the movie does show the idea of following an idea of something more than one’s self no matter how silly it is. The people of the Outlands follow Zardoz simply because he has told them that they are called or special people. This shows that people want to feel important to a being that is higher than themselves and fell that they are special. I think this really boils down to one’s insecurities that all humans possess. These insecurities lead to many different things but I think that this movie is a prime example of insecurities forcing one to a certain religion.

Brock Hughes-21

The movie 21 was an awesome movie. I really enjoyed the whole thing and I am really glad that we went to see the movie. I honestly still cannot really relate it to religion but I thought it was a sweet movie. The movie was about six MIT students that are brilliant minds, how I figure all the students at the school are. The main character needed to be able to pay for his school tuition so joins a group of students who are busy beating the casinos every weekend in Vegas to strike it rich. The only real parallel I saw with religion is the warning of letting earthly things become what motivates one into doing something. This group of students is seduced by the big money they can win and they allow it to become their master, which ultimately puts their lives in danger.

The Bible says that material possessions should not control our actions or thoughts; which I think is a great idea and something that should be followed because if that is your only pursuit in life you are going to get in a lot of trouble with other people that you step on to get to the top!

Karen Schomaker- Motorcycle Culture

A few of my friends are bikers, and they love it like nothing else. I recently got the opportunity to ride on my first bike with my friend Butler. I couldn't tell you any details about the bike, but I can tell you it was red. I can also tell you that it took him a year to finally convince me that I wasn't going to die. After one particularly stressful week on a Friday night I finally gave in to Butler's pleas and got on the bike.

After the initial freak out of "oh holy heck this bike is going to fall, I'm going to end up in the hospital, and how the hell am i going to finish up my senior seminar's from bed with a thousand broken bones?" it was amazing. We hoped on the I-64 and rode down to VA Beach. The physical experience is one thing- feeling the full force of the wind on your body, seeing the ground below your feet, and knowing that one wrong move could lead to disaster- but the mental aspect was mind-blowing in its own right. I noticed things I had never noticed, and I have driven along this road numerous times. I noticed the stars in the sky, I paid attention to the trees, and as we grew closer to the water I could smell the salt in the air.

Slowly the worries I felt earlier that night regarding all the work I had been trudging through this semester melted away and I could just think about the present. I thought about the future, I thought about the past. I realized that I like where I am in my life, and while there are things I wish I could change, there are other things that I will never be able to forget. I realized how lucky I am to have my friends and my family, and that with their support I can get through anything that comes my way.

There was something about being on the back of that bike that enabled me to let go of worries, and embrace the present. My mind cleared out and I was able to just have on of those experiences where I was fully in the present- the here and now. Once my mind was clear I was able to give way to the random simple thought slowly sift in. It was an amazing experience in that it was a feeling I had never before experienced, and I gained greater understanding for those who are a part of this biker culture.

Karen Schomaker- Film 1

I titled this "film 1" in case I blog again about film, but who knows if I will. I'm kind of enjoying sharing a few thoughts randomly right now, even though I'm not sure if it is what we are supposed to do here. But, seeing as how this is a film class, I probably ought to talk about film in at least one blog.


One thing that I have noticed is that we have watched a whole heck of a lot of war films. Okay, maybe only 2 in class, but I feel like it has been more- especially with my friends this semester. And the more war films I watch, the more I feel they are all the same. America is entrenched in deep horrific warfare against some faceless evil. We are the good, they are the bad, and we must fight to win- we must fight for glory. Blood, guts, sweat, and tears pour forward until I'm not sure I can take the cinematic jumble anymore. But with this comes the underlying internal struggle within the few main characters who question the point of the war, and how their involvement adds to or takes away from the meaning of their life.

I get it- battle is crazy, intense, gory, and emotions are wild and high- but how many movies do we need to watch before we understand this? How much money does Hollywood need to pour into the industry so that we as viewers can get the same message in a different way. Call me a cynic, or overly critical, but I think all these films are the same after a while. Yes, they are done differently, some present the message more artistically than others, but when I walk out of the theater with the same "war is horror, men struggle to find meaning, but in the end the learn more about themselves and become stronger because of it.... unless they die, but they died in peace" message I just stop caring. What I want to see is something different- something spectacular- or perhaps something that shows war as boring, where soldiers sit around a lot, and some never see a battle. I realize this doesn't make for award-winning drama, and wouldn't pull in numbers to the box office, but those messages are just as important aren't they?

Karen Schomaker- Reflection on Existentialism

When I was writing my paper for this class on Easy Rider and existentialism, I kept coming across new definitions and explanations for existentialism. This made it difficult for me to come up with a solid idea on what it means to be an existentialist and what it entails. Eventually I settled on exploring two philosophers- Soren Kierkegaard and Jean-Paul Sartre, both of whom are well-versed in this ideal, making it easy to find information.

However, what I found interesting about these two was that despite the fact that they were talking essentially about the same thing, there were large differences. Kierkegaard looks at existentialism in the ideas of the "leap of faith" and individual subjectivity, specifically looking at how this ties in with religion, God, and true faith. Sartre is an atheist who disagrees with Kierkegaard's philosophy regarding it's religious contexts, but takes the philosophy to a more social and political level- looking specifically at the individual and the idea that man is free to create his own essence. As a scene in Easy Rider highlights briefly with a sign in the brothel, "Death only closes a mans reputation and determines it good or bad" which is a reflection on Sartre's argument that it is impossible to define a man until he no longer exists because man is always changing with the context in which he leaves, and arguably the subjectivity he has within his life.

Karen Schomaker- Personal Reflection

Have you ever stopped to think about yourself? Who are you? How have you grown and developed over a certain period of time?

I think most of us do this at multiple points in our lives- I know that I do, especially when I hit "turning points" in my life- such as graduation, or the beginning or end to a relationship. A few years ago, when I was just a freshman in college, I was easily influenced by other people's opinions and views- especially my new friends because I desperately wanted to fit in and be thought of as normal. When my roommate talked about how she was an atheist and thought religion was false it made me stop and contemplate about my own views. Although I did not agree with her (there were a lot of things we failed to agree on...) I did start to wonder about why I felt a strong attachment to my Catholic faith.

I am a born and raised Catholic- and growing up I barely questioned it. I went to church with my parents, I went to Sunday school, I learned my prayers and could recite the creed by heart. In middle school, after hitting a rough patch with my family at home, I started questioning religion and God's existence. After some exploration I decided that even if I was wrong, I was better off continuing my faith because of the comfort it provided and the community I was a part of. In high school this commitment continued and I took an active role in my church- specifically by joining a Diocesan Youth Council that met monthly to develop an annual youth convention for the Richmond Diocese. Through this I became part of a unique community, and my peers who were also a part of this council became a strong support in my life.

So why is it when I got to college I was so willing to drop these affiliations? Why did my need for affiliation with my roommate and other friends become a larger priority than the community that I had felt so close to before college? I have no idea, but I do know that I have spent the past four years struggling to recreate a definition for myself and my beliefs. I know what I believe, and I know it's a constant struggle of doubt, but how is this defined? When I get older and am trying to raise kids, what will I tell them? Will they be just as confused as me? Will I return to the Catholic Church for guidance?

Karen Schomaker- The Pope Goes Digital

The other day, while on facebook, I was caught a discussion in one of my groups. Someone had posted a news link (provided below) about how the Pope has decided to go digital in order to "better connect with youth". Apparently, for World Youth Day in July the Pope plans to send out text messages to thousands of young catholics in Australia.

While this is amusing, I'm also confused. First- how is the Pope supposed to get all these mobile numbers so that he can send them? How is he going to find a phone that will store all of the numbers (I think my phone will only hold a couple hundred, which is way more than I need)? When is he going to find the time to sit down and send these texts? Are they going to be personalized- or a random mass message? Is it really going to be from the Pope? Who is going to show the man how to use the phone? Can those getting the text then save the Pope's number and call him back later for a personal chat? And finally- How the heck can I get on that list? I want a text from the Pope!

This also raises the question of how is it that youth have allowed themselves to become so disconnected with the non-technological world that the Pope has to resort to text messaging in order to reach them? This bothers me on multiple levels, but mainly on the idea that today's youth- myself included- have become to heavily dependent on our technology that we fail to be able to see what is important beyond what we can find on our computers, ipods, and cell phones. Even more so- we try to enforce this idea and dependence onto our elders. When our parents struggle to learn how to use the cell phones beyond the basics of making a phone call, or do not understand how to do more with a computer than turn it on and check email, we laugh at their incapabilities. But what does this say about us? Have we become so disenfranchised with the real world and the ideals we were raised on that we have forced ourselves to turn to technology to be our guide, as opposed to God? What does our example, as the generation between those who do not depend on technology and those who have not known a world without it, say to today's young generation- those who look up to us as an example of what to expect, and what is appropriate?

Should the Pope really have to resort to mass text messaging in order to reach today's youth, or should the youth realize that there is more to life than the machine in their pocket, and turn to our elders to seek information?



http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSSYD19071020080507?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews

Karen Schomaker- Random Musings in the Library

As I sit here in the library, on the last day of exams, realizing how far I let myself get behind in the class I cannot help but ask why. I can off excuses, "I'm taking two senior seminars right now- they took up so much more time than I expected" or "I know that if I take the time and work really hard at the end it will be okay" or "I don't really need the class to graduate- I just wanted to be able to take a class with Dr. Redick before I left CNU."

But these are excuses, they aren't reasons. How hard is it to sit down and type up a few lines about religion in a film we watched, or an observation I made one day on the road. Apparently, really hard. Maybe it is that I do not like to think about religion too much. As the father in the film Big Fish said, "It's rude to talk about religion, you never know who you are going to offend. Which I find to be very true. To me, talking about religion becomes a struggle because unless you know the thoughts of your audience, or their basic beliefs, it is very likely that you will offend at least one person. Sometimes even the choice of words used to describe your own views will offend someone.

That bothers me- I think we should have the freedom to express our beliefs in engaged discourse with others without fearing that someone will be offended- and without taking offense to something someone says that we disagree with. While I feel that this class has been a great outlet for discussion in regards to our views in the context of the films we watch, I often fear that what I say in class or in an essay will offend someone. When we watched The Seventh Seal I saw a statement against organized religion, and to an extent those who prescribe to this method of practicing religion. I largely agreed with this because over time I have grown increasingly frustrated with organized religion, but did not want to bring this up in class for fear that someone would be personally offended, or would fail to see what I meant by this.

Perhaps this is why I put off writing these blogs- fear that classmates would read this and fail to understand. But at the same time I limited my expression and ability to see if perchance this was someone in the class who might have agreed with me, and we could have had the opportunity to share our ideology and grow from the shared discourse.

Brock Hughes-21

Matthew Evans - What makes a country Religious?

I've spent some time in a lot of different places and I wonder what makes people in different parts of the world religious and not so much in others? A lot of sociologist have said that people in primitive cultures tend to be more religious. While this assertion can work as a general rule, it has quite a few exceptions and holes in it. America is a civilized society, yet it is deeply religious. India is a moderately developed and educated culture and is extremely religious. People are so religious that cows walk through traffic unimpeded. Europe has generally been regarded as having a common thread of history and general ideologies. Yet religiosity varies greatly within Europe between heavily Catholic Spain and Italy with the very secular France. There theres the anomaly of deeply religious Poland which borders the Czech Republic, one of the most Atheistic and Agnostic countries in the entire world. In Poland people used the church as an escape from Soviet dominated Communism. Their Czech neighbors turned Atheist instead. How can this be explained other than by whim group think? How do groups of people come to such consensuses as a group?

Matthew Evans- Is there a non-religious American Religion ?

There something interesting about America, how religious it is even among the nonreligious. With the diversity of religion in America we seem to have a strong sense of monotheistic morals embedded into our culture and government. This is evident everywhere, In God We Trust on our money, the Pledge of Allegiance (One Nation Under God). I believe there is an unidentified underlying American Religion of morality despite secularization. In some ways the unitary state has replaced God as ifalable. This becomes evident in our view of superiority to all other countries. While many countries are patriotic we go the extra step to identify ourselves as being "better" than everyone else. This is rare in the modern world, especially in the Western tradition given what happened during World War II due to nationalism. Also, if you look at other western secular democracies we are the most conservative on most issues. There’s got to be a reason for that. I believe there is an underlying American religiously based identity that comes out in our thought process even if its labeled as religious.

Who's Our new Pope?

When Pope John Paul the II died in April of 2008 it was the end of the era. The man had truly served as the ambassador to the Catholic Church as the most widely traveled pope in history. He’d also single handedly saved the Church from its own conservative ways within the passage of Vatican II. The man was adored around the world and was never out of the news. My question is why after such a string of Pontiff popularity can most non-Catholics not recall the current Pope Benedict the XVI’s name?, despite him being even more modern than his predecessor, the man carries an I pod for heaven’s sake. What does our new pope need to become a great PR person? I don’t know what he needs to do , but his predecessor had it.

Matthew Evans- Has the Cross Become a Fashion Icon?

Is the Cross a sacred symbol anymore or has it become secular. I noticed something the other day, I see the cross a religious symbol in several places where it does not have religious meaning. I thought about it gangster rap music videos with big glittering diamond crosses, German iron-cross belt buckles worn by self proclaimed atheists. I think to myself, how do people not notice t he symbolism and bash the idea of religion while wearing such as symbol. I remember a few female friends who wear crosses around their neck despite being nonreligious to which they simply respond “ I Just like it” or my family gave it to me. It’s even on the flags of several countries. Has the cross leant honor and pride to entirely secular ideas and endeavors? I believe it has. In many situations it is purely religious, aka in front of a church. However, I feel many people overlook items in every day society that are in actuality crucifixes or based upon them at the least.

Matthew Evans - The Bible, A form of Media?

I noticed something at my house one day, we had several different bibles on one shelf in the den along with several other pieces of religious literature. I wondered why we had so many bibles, so I took them down and started to thumb through them The Roman Catholic Bible, The American Revised Standard, and the King James Bible. It suddenly dawned on me, is the Bible a form of media unto itself? I started to read the language, and although it was all written in English, it conveyed very different feelings from the same chapters. The basic Catholic rhetoric meant to be minimalist but with a sense of mystery. Than there’s the modern American translation that breaks things down into plain and understandable terms and sets things in a typical “American” mindset. Then there’s the poetic and flowery King James version which is so beautifully written but riddled with political agendas of the monarchy. I began to realize that a sacred text had been altered, and changed to convey the message of various individuals throughout history. It kind of makes me wonder what it would be like to read it in its original language.

Matthew Evans- Zardoz!!!!!!

The first thing that strikes one about the movie Zardos is how corny it is. One spends most of the movie laughing at the cheesy plot lines, ill made sets, and funny dialogue. Its easy to write this off as just being a bad movie, but might hide something deeper that would be more difficult to handle if brought about in a more serious way. In a humorous way this movie reminds me of the of the book Brave New World, where people are engineered and recreated. Technology replaces God and people become hollow inside due to the lack of a true faith or God. There is something wrong with a society where people can commit suicide and come back grown as a fetus in some chemical bath and have lasting memories. It is disturbing that people have had to put a hold on creation (birth) due to longevity. This is also reflected in the eternally senile, the apathetic who are eternal alive bed mentally dead. Humans have stopped reproducing. The only true humanity is represented by the Renegades who dress gender specifically and act rebelliously and the character of Zed who represents base human instincts. As someone of British decent Zed’s name gave me a chuckle because it literally means the end or Z.

Matthew Evans - The Jacket

Life can be both giving and cruel, sometimes in perverse order. In the opening scene of the jacket we see a snow covered cemetery with a tombstone marked with a death date of Christmas day in a field somewhere. The narrator starts off by saying …..the first time I died……… which confuses the viewer immensely, after all how can someone die twice. We begin to understand this concept as the movie progresses. We discover that the main character is a survivor of Operation Desert Storm, where he receives a head wound. The Army thought he was dead until he blinked his eyes. The movie picks up again several months later in the US where he meats a woman and her child whose life he would forever change. However no good deed goes unpunished, he’s falsely accused of murdering a police officer and it’s placed in an insane asylum where he is tortured by unconventional methods such as placement in a refrigerated morgue container while still alive. However, he discovers an axis mundi in this place and finds a way to traverse two worlds. At the end of the movie it becomes apparent that the main character has been dead the entire time, communicating to us from the other side through this portal. I’m struck by this concept of the dead interacting with the living, especially in a western tradition that discourages such approaches. This movie makes you think.

Matthew Evans - The Wall

I found the Wall to be extremely eye opening and disturbing at the same time. It truly opened up the possible horrors lurking in the back of the human psyche and the self destructive tendencies associated with it. I was mystified by the abstract structures and what they could be, some of them resonated very clearly with me and I felt as if I was inside the mind of the creator running in a maze away from a night mare. This movie seemed to be an escape from the world and an exercise in torture all rolled into one. In many ways I thought it showed the fear and desire to escape for a generation scared by what happened to their parents (The World War II generation) and of the dangers of their impending future ( a possible Nuclear War). Given this utter terror and struggle for identity in a recently socially liberated world, this movie makes sense in a disturbing way. This movie simply blew my mind, enough said.

Matthew Evans- The Dark Side of OZ

Once I went with a friend to see the Dark Side of Oz at an old 1920’s movie house in Richmond. First of all I absolutely HATE the wizard of Oz, always have ever since a little kid , but my friend really wanted to go so I decided to go with her. The premise to the movie is that they play the Dark side of the Moon by Pink Floyd instead of the traditional soundtrack to wizard of OZ, and its supposed to match brilliantly. It does in fact match quite well, at first I was skeptical but as the movie proceeded, it got eerily spot on. However the movie has this very gloomy undertone, which I guess makes sense given the historical context of the cold war from which it comes. However, as I looked around I realized it’d become an almost religious experience for the new age hippies present. Most people were around my age give or take 5 years and most fit the same stereotype, wearing tie dye, smelling of various activities, and slowly moving lighters backwards and forward in the darkened theatre. It was a surreal and unexpected experience.

Matthew Evans- Movie 21

The movie 21 was much deeper and better organized than I originally thought. In discussion the idea of the 7 deadly sins was brought up which was very intriguing. However, I was more struck by the idea of Karma. In a movie where money became a God, a way of life, where everyone stole, how you treated people became very important to the outcome of your life. The main character starts out as this kid who’s a qualified, honest, and brilliant student, but doesn’t do anything to take control of his life, doesn’t stray from the rules at all. He’s given a way out of this when his teacher invites him to participate in a rigged black jack game as a member of a team. When he starts he’s very modest and does very well, but as he becomes cocky and greedy he loses, and loses biG and is consequentially beaten by a security guard. He also turns on his friends and looses much of the respect in his academic community. At this point the teacher turns on him and takes him for everything that he’s worth and sets out to ruin his life. Well, the kid manages to get back into his teacher’s good graces, and decides to go to Vegas. He and the teacher run the tables along with the girl, and all seems good till security “catches on” and there’s a chase seen, which turns into a setup where the teacher ends up getting beaten up (we’re not sure what happens to him in the end) by the security guard he caused to loose his job years ago. The security guard takes the money and retires (injustice in the world?), we’re not sure what happens . After all this the kid ends up getting into his graduate program based upon his story. I liked how it all worked out on the basis of karma, but in moderation. The perfect don’t have a good life it seems, but the life lived in moderation seemed to do well.

Matthew Evans - Where are you Axis Mundi?

In many tribal there exists this idea of Axis Mundi, or sacred places where one can gain a higher place. It could be a specific place, a mountain top, a tree, or a sacred place, but its usually tied to nature. There is a strong communal attachment and there are usually intense rituals associated with and a sense of enlightenment. My question, is where is Axis Mundi in American (or anywhere for that matter) Christianity? Sure we have our churches, but where do we have sacred outdoor spaces? I don’t think we have them; but think it would be an interesting questions for someone to research on.

Matthew Evans- Religion and the Media

As I was flipping through BBC I noticed something, religion plays a big role in the news media today, what is supposed to be a secular realm. Examples of this include Islamic extremists throughout the world, such as in the Philippines and the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka. We don’t often here the other side of their story, yes they’re terrorists but what’s their view. While they’re wrong, there must be a reason for their actions, which they claim are based in religion. We never here that the Tamils used to have a large amount of infuence in the government and were suddenly cut off. They are sequestered to the harsh jungle, with little benefits provided to them by their "government". While this does not justify their behavior it can certainly help to explain it. On the flip side, “freedom fighters” under the Free Tibet movement are seen in a more positive light by the international community, even though they face many similar social conditions as those labeled terrorists. What is the reason for this? In my opinion religious bias is the reason.

Matthew Evans - Wings of Desire/ City of Angels and Culture

In terms of religion in the movies it’s hard to get more blatant than this. Wings of Desire was the German original, while City of Angels was the American counterpart. What I found to be most interesting was not the story line but the culture behind the movies. Both movies involved angels falling in love with a mortal and thus becoming mortal in order to be with the women they loved. However, the German movie was deep and dark in mood and caused one to think about the meaning of life and experiencing it. On the other hand, the American movie was more upbeat in nature concentrating on the ideals of love and that is involved with it. Although it ends poorly in the American version it’s still more hopeful than its German counterpart.

Matthew Evans - Nazi Propaganda and Media

The other day I was flipping through youtube and came across some old Nazi propaganda films, some of them involved Hitler yelling a furious message while others had rallies and book burnings. The entire time these movies preached an Atheist pro state message. I found this to be extremely interesting could this be a secular state religion? I started thinking about it, and what is nationalism, but a state sponsored religion. Great examples of this include endeavors such as Imperialism. Imperialism had a cause, betterment of the mother country and native peoples. Furthermore, it had sacred symbols, government houses, flags, traditions, ways of life, language, literature. Really any emotionally driven secular institution could be labeled as a religion. This got me to thinking, what about the Samurai’s? Sure they were Daoist in most cases but they believed their tyranny had a purpose and needed to be preserved. This can be seen well in the movie the Last Samurai staring Tom Cruise . As he became imbedded in Samurai culture Tom Cruise’s character flourished. This idea has helped me to redefine my personal views on “what religion is”.

Matthew Evans - India

I had a unique opportunity to go to India this past January with my University. I knew India would be different but my eyes were truly opened in terms of religion and culture. No more so than on the day I decided to go “Temple Hopping” with a few of my good friends. We first went to a very important Mosque. It was truly a magical experience, the washing of the hands in the water praying on the carpets, admiring the building. From here, we disappeared into the maze of Old Delhi. First we visited a Hindu Temple, where we paid our respects. From here we went to a Jane temple where I had one of the most spiritual experiences of my entire life. We also went into a few Christian Churches. From here, we managed to get lost and walked in on some religious ritual going on in a strange dwelling. All of these existing side by side in one place! I couldn’t believe how diverse everything was in India. I also couldn’t believe the blatant discrimination justified by religion and culture, aka the caste system. This experience has truly changed me.

India

I had a unique opportunity to go to India this past January with my University. I knew India would be different but my eyes were truly opened in terms of religion and culture. No more so than on the day I decided to go “Temple Hopping” with a few of my good friends. We first went to a very important Mosque. It was truly a magical experience, the washing of the hands in the water praying on the carpets, admiring the building. From here, we disappeared into the maze of Old Delhi. First we visited a Hindu Temple, where we paid our respects. From here we went to a Jane temple where I had one of the most spiritual experiences of my entire life. We also went into a few Christian Churches. From here, we managed to get lost and walked in on some religious ritual going on in a strange dwelling. All of these existing side by side in one place! I couldn’t believe how diverse everything was in India. I also couldn’t believe the blatant discrimination justified by religion and culture, aka the caste system. This experience has truly changed me.

Brock Hughes- Nashville

I was in Nashville this past weekend because two of my good friends were getting engaged. They both have very strong faith in Jesus Christ and it was just really cool. They shared such a cool love for each other and for God that it was pretty amazing to see even just how they looked at each other. The joy that they shared with each other was really awesome and it felt like the whole weekend could not have gone any smoother. There was a total of 30 people there from out of town including family and about 8 other friends from college and from growing up and it was just an awesome time.

One thing I took out of the weekend was the idea of relating things in the present to those of the past. I have had some awesome times studying the Bible with a lot of the people that were there; that fact I think encouraged the idea that the whole time I could just feel God’s presence. Even at a bar I felt like God was there, my friend is a country singer and he was singing at a bar on Saturday night, so we all went to the bar and just shared in an awesome time of hanging out and singing songs that were about shared times that we had together. A couple summers ago we would always go down to a river and he would sing the same songs; I immediately, every time I hear the songs go back to those times that we shared and I just feel so blessed by God. Is it weird that sometimes there are just those people that you can see Christ in so clearly? And that they seem to bring out Christ in you at the same time?

Brock Hughes- Reading

I was reading the Bible yesterday and I came across a verse that was really interesting to me. Luke 11:9-10 says, “Keep asking and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking and you will find. Keep knocking and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks finds. And the door is open to everyone who knocks.” This was really crazy to me because sometimes I have a lot of trouble asking for something because I think I can do it on my own. It is really cool the fact that God loves us enough that He will give us what we ask for.

My only problem with that verse is that I feel like a lot of times people take it completely out of context. I have had friends that have complained about praying for a new car for a long time and never getting one. I feel like a lot of times people are only Christians because they think they can get whatever they want by being one. This verse to me does not mean that at all, I feel like it is important to ask for things important to you in the world, but I also feel like this verse is more about asking for God’s presence and other virtues that one would want to have. Obviously, God is considered our Father, therefore, He wants to give us everything; however, sometimes the things we want are not the things that would be best for our souls. Many times that new car that we want isn’t in God’s plan because it would cause us to covet and become prideful over the car and treasure that more than relationships and God. Therefore, I think that asking for God’s will is the best thing one can do; however, I still make sure that God knows what I would love to have happen just in case it is His will.

Brock Hughes- Reading

I am reading this book, named Called to be God’s Leader. In this book it talks about Joshua and how he came from slavery to being one of God’s greatest leaders of all time. This was really cool to see because many times I feel as though because of my past I cannot do things in God. The problem is, I often want situations to happen right away instead of letting it just come together. It is important to never limit future possibilities by impatience; God always comes to people based on His own time. I just got back from Nashville and I really love the city, it is definitely a place that I would love to live when I graduate college. That being said, as I think about it I grow more and more impatient with the idea that I have to wait before I can leave here.

I have found more and more than I need to focus on being a student and playing soccer. Next fall I am only taking one class and I am playing soccer. I will have a job that I go to every morning but it is important that I focus on this part of my life instead of jumping ahead to when I could possibly be in Nashville. I need to continue to build a relationship with God and respond to the duties He gives me and then through my obedience and dedication to the tasks He has given me, He will reward me! Life sometimes is way too much for me to handle even though I believe in God and have faith in Him.

Brock Hughes-The Bible

The other day I was reading the Bible. While doing this I came over the verse in the Bible that was really cool. In Philippians 4:6 the topic of prayer is brought up. “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.” Throughout my life I have gone through a lot of situations that haven’t always been awesome. I never really think about praying as my first option, I always try to do it by myself and on my own. Sometimes I just get really overwhelmed in trying to do things by myself and not allowing God to take hold of my life.

I really realized that in the times where I do pray, I get much better results than I do when I just try to take things in my own hands. Whenever I take things on my own, I normally just end up worrying about it more. For instance, I had a job interview and was crazy worried about it, for a while I just simply sat there and worried about what I was going to say and everything like that. I couldn’t think of a single thing to say, instead I just grew more nervous about that situation. However, I decided a day later that I would just pray about it and let it be. I did that, and the interview went great, I really didn’t have anything prepared but everything worked out perfectly! It was such a good interview that God had to have had a hand in it and been with me to calm me and keep me steady.

Brock Hughes-Nicaragua

When I was in Nicaragua it was really interesting. We went to a church on Sunday morning in the middle of the city in Nicaragua. I had no idea what to expect and boy was I surprised. We walked in while the church was worshiping in Spanish and I didn’t know what was going on, but I sang along to the projectors and it was really cool. After the worship was over we sat down to hear the word and they had an English translator just for us so that we could understand what was going on. It was a really cool message and it was all about the process! The most important thing he said was the fact that the process isn’t easy, we will fall but must get up! Move forward! It wasn’t that important whether or not we are perfect but just that we kept pushing through and never stop.

The process basically is how God cleans us and get us ready for his work. There was a parallel drawn to gold. Gold is thrown through the fire to purify it before it becomes so valuable. By taking me through a process God is working out my impurities and shaping me into what He wants me to be. The fact that God is with me through the whole process is pretty crazy to me. Sometimes I feel as though I am all by myself and that God is not near me, but throughout everything He is beside me and I need to remember that fact.

Aaron McLellan--The Beach

In the movie “The Beach”, Leonardo DiCaprio is brought to a secluded island in Thailand.  There he begins to live with several others who are mostly tourists who found out about the island.  The island is sacred to them as it is their way to get away from the world and finding what they think is perfection.  They think because they are away from the corruption of the world, that they will live a better life.  But it seems that each person is corrupt in his or her own way.  Throughout the film you can see greed, selfishness, envy, jealousy and betrayal.  They tried to make a perfect world for them to live in but they did not realize that this would be impossible because they were also imperfect.  The Bible states that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  Paul writes that sin is a law.  He said that he does the things he does not want to do.  He said that when he sins it is no longer him but the sin living inside him.  It seems that we all carry around our earthly, fleshly bodies that are sinful.  We cannot attain perfection on our own.  We can strive for it, but we will not attain it until we lose our earthly bodies when we die.  

Aaron McLellan--Unleashed

The movie “Unleashed” with Jet Li is about a man named Danny (Li) who was trained from a boy by a mob boss to be a hit man.  But he is no ordinary hit man.  He has been trained to be like a dog and he is treated like one.  He wears a collar that when is taken off, he becomes lethal and beats anyone his master tells him to beat.  But Danny has been beaten and abused by his master just as bad as he has beaten his adversaries.  One day Danny meets a man named Sam.  Sam tells Danny “People are like pianos.  Sometimes they beaten down to hard and need to be retuned.”  Sam is a piano player and tuner who takes Danny in when Danny later gets hurt in a car accident.  Sam represents the transcendence that helps retune Danny’s life.  Danny turns from his old life and takes on a new life free from the collar and abuse of his old master.  Romans 6:16 says “Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey–whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?”  Danny was a slave to the one he obeyed.  When he obeyed his “Uncle Bart”, he lived a life of suffering and pain.  When he offered himself to goodness and righteousness, he lived a life of happiness and fulfillment.  In the end, Danny chose to live a life of righteousness with his new family.

Aaron McLellan--Sea Biscuit

In the movie “Sea Biscuit” there is a racing horse named Sea Biscuit and a jockey with a bad temper.  Both have been written off and no one thinks they could ever win a race.  Both are too wild and firey.  But when they cross each other’s path, the owners of the horse want the jockey to work with him.  It is interesting that the horse is considered too small to race and the jockey was considered too big to race.  But they do race and they rise to the top and become the best in America during the Depression.  It made me think of the scripture in Romans of the Bible where Paul writes that “the God, who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.”  Applying this verse to this movie reminds me of how powerful God is.  To everyone else, it seemed that these two should not be racing but they did and they won.  It seemed that only an act of God could resurrect these to characters’ careers.  God is not limited by our boundaries and capabilities.  I think everyone has stories where God has called things that are not as though they were.

Aaron McLellan--Boondock Saints

In the movie “Boondock Saints” there are two Irish brothers from South Boston who very religious, performing Catholic rituals and going to church.  After a terrible and violent experience with some Russian mobsters the two brothers have somewhat of an experience or union with the transcendent.  They are sleeping next to each other in separate beds when they both awake at the same time.  They seem to be partially pulled out of there beds and are helpless to the being (which cannot be seen) pulling them upward.  It is almost like God is calling them out as he pulls them toward him.  Water from the old cement ceiling is dripping down on them as if God is anointing them with oil, which was done in the Old Testament by a prophet to show who God had anointed and called to be the next king of Israel.  A voice that they both seem to be able to hear tells them that they must shed the blood of the evil men who shed innocent blood.  The mysterium tremendum is evident.  When it is over they said to each other “Destroy all that is evil, so that which is good may flourish.”  When the moment is over they look at each other and seem to except that God has called them to rid evil from the streets of Boston.  Although I don’t agree with this strategy for ridding evil, they had a good idea.  If I could slightly change their calling it would be to rid evil through love and not with more evil.  This would be a good Old Testament way of solving the problem but Paul writes in Ephesians, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”  It seems that we should be ridding the evil from the people and not the people from the world.

Rob Dufour - The Idea of the Holy 3

In the chapter titled “Analogies and Associated Feelings,” Otto begins to explain the concept of the sublime. He states that the analogies between the sublime and the numinous can be easily grasped because they both can be viewed as the idea or concept “that cannot be unfolded.” We are told that something does not become sublime merely by being great and that the concept itself remains inherently mysterious as it is daunting while impressing upon the mind. This feeling evoked by the sublime humbles while at the same time exalting us, but on the other hand it releases us in a feeling analogous to fear. Otto wraps up this idea of the sublime by stating that the sublime is closely similar to numinous, which represents something that is unable to be strictly defined. When I think of the sublime I think of something that evokes the most acute degree of emotion that we are capable of experiencing. I think that this has strong ties to the idea that God is a representation of the highest degree of our understanding regarding our world. We, as humans, are not capable of experiencing any emotion greater than that of the sublime, and we cannot begin to comprehend any concept higher than that of God. In that sense, the sublime and God are invariably connected through the limits of our humanly experiences and perceptions.

Rob Dufour - The Idea of the Holy 2

Otto describes the element of the awefulness through analyzing mysterium tremendum. He says that we must understand the concept of fear that is invoked upon through specific encounters with God. “Religious dread” is a term that he uses to describe the feelings that humans may experience. It first begins to stir in the feelings of something weird or eerie. Then, through this feeling, the thought emerges in our minds that we form a starting-point for the entire religious development in history. Otto goes on to describe “shuddering” and how the natural man is quite unable to shudder or feel horror in the real sense of the word, because shuddering is something more than natural or ordinary fear. Otto says that shuddering “implies that the mysterious is already beginning to loom before the mind, to touch the feelings.” It has become a mystical awe and sets free that creature feeling that has already been described as a feeling of personal nothingness before an awe-inspiring object that can be directly experienced. After reading this section, I may think twice before referring to something such as a Hot Pocket as awesome.

Rob Dufour - The Idea of the Holy

In the very beginning of Rudolph Otto’s book, The Idea of the Holy, he starts off by discussing that it is essential to the theistic conception of God, and most of all to Christians, that it precisely characterizes deity by certain attributes. We think of God through analogies throughout our own human world by our idea of reason. Otto goes on to explain how the attributes that we use to help us understand God constitute clear and definite concepts that can be grasped by our intellect and lead to a definition through analysis. So Otto claims that an object that can be thought of conceptually may be termed as rational. Therefore the nature of deity described with the attributes can be seen to have a rational nature, and a religion that recognizes a view of God is in so far a rational religion. While I was reading this I thought about a quote of Leo Tolstoy when he says that “if we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, the possibility of life is destroyed." To me, this goes against what Otto is saying because both are arguing that we as humans can successfully rationalize and reason about God’s purpose and our existence. I believe that utilizing things such as analogies and understanding certain divine attributes, we as humans are able to grasp a concept of God, but just because we can conceptualize God doesn’t mean it is correct. Also I think that attempting to reason about human life is much different than claiming human life can be ruled by reason. I think that while on this world we will always have to conceptualize God, and attempt to reason about why we are here, which is why we will never be able to believe that we as humans can be ruled through a human concept.

Rob Dufour - Transcendental Style in Film

In our text book, Transcendental Style in Film, I began reading the section that discussed a working towards the definition of transcendental film. The author tells us that many have attempted to employ the transcendental style but only few have the devotion and the fanaticism to truly capture the style exclusively. We start to see a definition arise when it is said that the transcendental style seeks to maximize the mystery of existence; it avoids all conventional interpretations of reality, which are said to be seen through aspects of realism, naturalism, romanticism, expressionism, impressionism, and rationalism. The text brings up a statement by Amedee Ayfre who said that “If everything is explained by understandable causal necessities, or by objective determinism, even if their precise nature remains unknown, then nothing is sacred.” So to these transcendental artists, these conventional interpretations of reality are emotional and rational constructs to dilute the transcendental. These constructs are easily seen by thinking about how many films give clues which help the viewer “understand” the event and the plot. However, in the transcendental style, these elements are “nonexpressive” as they are being reduced. We then see that the transcendental style stylizes this reality through eliminating these elements that are primarily expressive of our experiences, which end up robbing us of the interpretations of reality of their power.

Elizabeth Rhein-Religion and Doubt-Student's Choosing

Throughout my lifetime I’ve gone to a few Catholic church services, been a Protestant and then Lutheran, never exactly knowing why I chose to be so. The only thing I knew was that it was the church my parents went to. My Junior year in high school, I became extremely religious and went to every church and youth group function that I could go to, hoping to find the answer as to why I believed in God. I presented a sermon at our youth group service in hopes that it may help me understand God. I even took part in an interpretive dance about the seven deadly sins to the song “total eclipse of the heart.” I don’t think I’m ever going to do that again. Sadly enough, I never really found the answer. When I came to CNU, I hoped that after taking a class on the New Testament would change things around and strengthen my beliefs, but in fact, they worsened and I ended up writing a paper about how Jesus might have not actually been our savior instead of insisting that he was. After that class, I chose to become an agnostic rather than Lutheran. I’m still searching for the answer and I don’t think I’m ever going to find it. When we watched “The Seventh Seal” in class, the knight reminded me a lot about myself. I was looking for proof when there wasn’t any to find. I guess I’m just the type of person who can’t just believe without knowing the facts. I lack faith which is sad but it’s just the way I am. Interestingly enough, one of the students in my senior seminar class wrote his paper on doubt. I really liked his paper because I think that the reason why I can’t just put faith in God is because I doubt it too much and even though you can doubt everything, you can turn around and decide that you’re going to believe in that thing or not. I guess I just haven’t doubted it enough to come to a conclusion or maybe I will never even come to a conclusion. Even so, I feel that after having taken up my philosophy major I am more able to understand my feelings better than I was before coming here. I am very grateful for all of my experiences with religion and I love how there is so much more to uncover. I don’t think I’m a cynic and disbeliever, I just don’t know what I want to believe yet.

Elizabeth Rhein-Thoughts about Religion and Film-Student's Choosing

One of my favorite things about movies is the fact that the majority of them teaches morals. There’s always the good guy who gets themselves trapped in a conflicting decision of right and wrong and they typically have to learn that doing the right thing will always be better than the bad. This is the same for television shows. One of my favorite morals that films try to teach are when the main character learns that being themselves is the best thing to do. Recently I watched a movie called “Penelope.” The movie is about a young girl who was born with the curse of having a pig nose and ears. Her whole life has been spent living locked away in a house with her loving protective mother and father. Everything revolves around her finding a proper suitor who will marry her and break the curse because her mother believes that if she found someone who would marry her, then the curse would be broken. Penelope had to be “loved by her own kind.” At one point, Penelope runs away and explores the city she had never been allowed to visit before. She meets friends and soon enough, learns that she can enjoy life without worrying about what people think of her. At the end of the film she finally learns to love herself just as she is, which breaks the curse. The moral of the film is that you need to like yourself and it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. I thought it was a really cute movie with a good moral lesson. I like how movies try to teach people to like themselves and not care about what other people think because it’s a good thing to think and many people don’t quite understand that simple concept.

Elizabeth Rhein-Sacrifice and Time-Space-Reading

Since I had written about Aztecs and sacrifice as an example in my senior seminar paper, I thought that maybe it would be good to read more about it. I found a book on sacrifice written by Kay Reed. In one section, she discusses the process of a fire sacrifice. Apparently the Aztecs sacrificed people in order to keep everything in order. Their goal was to keep everything in order and continue on with time-space. At the ceremony, everyone doused their fires, wore masks, and sat on top of their homes. Pregnant women were hidden away because it was thought that if they viewed any of the ceremony, they would turn into man-eating beasts. The ceremony consisted of the removal of one man’s heart with a special knife used by the priests. After his heart was consumed by the fire at the alter, the rest of his body was burned. This fire would then be used to light the rest of the city. I thought this was really interesting because I never really knew what certain things people like the Aztecs would sacrifice a human for. In this case it was fire. I don’t think I read it here, but I wonder what the human going to be sacrificed would think. Maybe he would have agreed to do such a thing and consider it as an honor or maybe he would have been chosen by his people and therefore be completely against having his heart cut out. The book said that four priests held the person down but I would think that this would happen under both mindsets. Anyway, I feel that now I know a little more about human sacrifice after reading this book which is that they use it to keep time-space continuing on.

Elizabeth Rhein- Eliade and the Sacred-Reading

For the paper I needed to write for this class, I got a book written by Mircea Eliade which discusses the profane and sacred in great detail. At the beginning of his description of the sacred, he starts off by saying it is obviously the opposite of the profane. The sacred can be found in all sorts of things such as a rock or tree to something much more religious. It really depends on the person. These earthly items become something more out of this world when considered sacred. These items are called hierophanies, or an object that symbolizes something much more than its face value. As Eliade says, the item stays itself, but is also something else. I really like the sentence that “the sacred is saturated with being” (Eliade 12). From these writings, it seems that the sacred is what people aim for while profane is what they want to experience less of. If everything was profane then there would be no connection to out of this world objects. Obviously thinking about differences between the sacred and profane have become a great interest to me through out the semester and I continue to try and learn more about it. I guess a possible example of sacred time can be how people have turned two simple pieces of wood into a world renowned Christian symbol known as the cross. The cross represents two things at once, something earthy and something sacred.

Rob Dufour - Aesthetics of Film

While I was looking throughout one of our texts, Aesthetics of Film, I found a section that looked particularly interesting which was titled “Every Film is a Fiction Film.” The section starts out by saying that the main characteristic of a fiction film is that it represents something imaginary through a story. We are told that the fiction film consists of a double representation through it representing a fictional situation, but also through the film itself being images of a representation of the intended story. So it is fiction due to the nature of the story and through the way in which it represents the story. So this tells us that a film is seen as fiction despite if the story is fiction or non-fiction, because naturally the visual representation of a movie is inherently fictional. Our text tells us that that which represents or signifies is indeed real and exists even though what it represents is fictional. In the cinema, both the representer and the represented are fictional. So, in this sense, every film is a fiction a film.

Elizabeth Rhein- Religion and Star Trek-Reading

I read a book about Star Trek by Jennifer Porter and how it incorporated religion into the show. The section I want to focus on is when the author discusses Roddenberry’s religious views. Apparently because he was primarily agnostic after having been a Baptist for the earlier part of his life, Roddenberry did not want religion in Star Trek. I thought his outlook on religion was interesting in that he viewed religion as hindering human development rather than helping it move forward. He also believed that people have god-like qualities and because of this, god equals consciousness. Apparently the show drew upon a humanistic point of view because of Roddenberry’s beliefs. None of the characters really had any religious opinions themselves or if they did, those opinions were kept private. Personally, I had never really watched any of the Star Trek episodes except for when my brother had asked me to watch them with him. The first thing that pops into my head when I think about the show is that the guy from Reading Rainbow was in it. Even so, I think that after reading this part of the book, it is nice to know that such a popular show was not trying to press any sort of obvious religious aspects onto viewers.

Elizabeth Rhein- Narnia- Reading

Another book I read this semester were the Narnia chronicles. Out of those, the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was chosen to be a movie last year. After having read the book and watched the movie, I can see how they relate to religion or Christianity. The main part that stood out to me was when Aslan was taken by the white witch and shaved. Obviously, this section seemed to relate most to when Jesus was crucified on the cross. Just as Jesus had risen after his crucifixion, Aslan risen after his encounter with the witch. As for other relations between this book and Christianity, Aslan symbolizes God and this is shown through his sacrifice for the children as well as his ability to forgive everyone for anything they had done wrong in the past. He also helped guide the children in making mature and powerful decisions that ended up helping everyone in the end. I really enjoyed reading this book. Out of the books in the chronicles, I really enjoyed reading The Horse and His Boy. I also thought Aslan symbolized God in this book because he did help guide Shasta to where he is supposed to be. From these books, it seems that God will always be there in times of hardship as well as he will always know what’s best for you.

Elizabeth Rhein-Destiny and Relationships-Reading

One of the books that I read this semester was called the Four Loves written by C. S. Lewis. I thought that a lot of what Lewis had written about related a lot to religion as well as films. One such thing he discusses is how people are chosen to be with each other by God. For example, friends do not just become friends through chance but rather through God’s will. This statement reminded me of the film Serendipity. In the film, two people meet by “chance” and because the girl wants to know if it’s meant to be, she writes her phone number on the back of a dollar bill and he writes his in a book. Through out the rest of the film, the two keep missing possible chances of seeing each other but in the end, he finds the book and she finds the dollar bill. The film illustrates how if it’s meant to be then it will happen. I thought the film was really cute and it just made me realize that maybe God does have control over who is in our life. I thought it was interesting how Lewis put the idea forward that we don’t just meet people by chance. I never even really considered that maybe I was destined to meet my friends before reading his book. It really makes you have a different viewpoint on life when God is considered.

Elizabeth Rhein-Sliding Doors- Student's Choosing

I watched the movie Sliding Doors tonight and it just reminded me a lot about my previous blogs pertaining to how God will always be the ultimate decider in our futures. I guess it seems like I have a sort of predestination theme maybe. Anyway, the film is kind of about the butterfly effect where one tiny occurrence can change a person’s life completely. In the film, one woman’s life branches when she either makes or misses the subway. In one life, she caught her boyfriend of two and a half years cheating on her and in the other, she misses it. In both lives, she experiences similarities. For example, she finds out that her boyfriend has cheated on her, that she becomes pregnant and due to a misfortunate event, loses the baby. Even though she dies in one, the other ends up taking on aspects of the life she finished living.

I really enjoyed the movie and it just seemed to go on with the theme that God knows what’s already in store for us because he is omnipotent. I think it’s interesting how I have seemed to pick on this theme for a few of my blogs even though I am not very Christian oriented, but rather agnostic. Even so, I really liked the concept and so thought that because it was present in a few films that I should touch on it.

Elizabeth Rhein-The Golden Compass- Student's Choosing

I’m actually very disappointed that this film never made its way to DVD before this week because I really wanted to write my paper on it for this class. Even so, I thought the film was very interesting and I love polar bears. I saw the movie in December so I’m a little fuzzy on the exact things that happened, but even so, I think the purpose of it was to rival the Narnia books. The film caused problems because people argued that it portrayed atheism. From when I saw the film, I could see hints of it. For example, the woman Nicole Kidman played was trying to remove free will from children. In the building where they tried to do so, the children were broken apart from their familiars as well as being taught how to not think for themselves. I can see how these people represented Christians because some people may view them as trying to make people not think for themselves, but rather act a certain way and think a certain way. I actually really liked the girl in the film because she was very clever and stood up for herself. One of my favorite parts of the film was when she outsmarted the kind of the polar bears because he desperately wanted his own familiar. She used her past experiences in order to figure out a way to trick him which soon led to his demise. Overall, I enjoyed the film and I don’t think people should really get offended by it just because it opposes the Narnia

Elizabeth Rhein-Cat Soup-Student's Choosing

I thought that since I did not write my paper on this film, I should at least write a blog about it. Cat Soup is an anime film about two cats, Nyaako and Nyatta, who venture into a bizarre world where basically nothing makes sense. When a critic has described the film as “hello kitty on acid,” he was not far from the truth. Even so, there still seems to be some interesting symbols and themes used through out the film. It begins with Nyaako, the younger of the two cats, playing with a toy boat in a small pool until he clumsily falls too far forward headfirst into the pool. It is unknown here whether Nyaako is saved from death or whether he drowns. Even so, Nyaako is later seen with a very sick Nyatta who witnesses her soul leaving her body. Nyaako follows Nyatta’s soul and discovers that it has come to the god of death in the form of an elephant. Nyaako refuses to let his sister go so easily and fights with the god, ripping Nyatta’s soul in half. Just from describing the first five minutes of the film, it is obvious that no one should view it critically, but rather just sit back and let things happen. The rest of the film is Nyaako searching for a certain flower that will bring back Nyatta from the dead. Even though I was not really sure how most of the scenes fit together, I noticed that a recurring theme was death. At one point there’s a fish who has been sliced up by samurai and in his last minutes of life, it shows him at an in between stage where everything is calm and he is swimming happily. It seems that maybe both Nyatta and Nyaako are in an in between state of life and death, making it possible for such crazy and unusual scenes to mesh with each other. There’s also another scene where a man who supposedly represents God is eating a planet but drops it into these massive gears of time. To retrieve it, he has to make time go forward as well as backwards, and the images that come with his actions are very powerful. He shows images of people right before and after their deaths. Cat Soup is a very interesting film where it seems that someone can probably form a different opinion and interpretation of it than everyone else.

Elizabeth Rhein-Zardoz and Similarity to Blade Runner- Films

I have decided to do a second blog on Zardoz because I really do not have much to say about the film “The Wall” other than it threw me off even more so than “Zardoz” did. It seems like the core message of “Zardoz” was that the more we separate ourselves from nature, the worse we get. Because of this, the film has similar ideas that “Blade Runner” addresses. For example, both offer the genesis story where the two people left are those broken away from society. Zed and Consuella hid away in a cave and had a child together. Neither died but rather started their own little society. As for the other film, the two replicants or possible replicant and human ran away from their society. Both of these societies that had been run away from were tainted by humans and no longer were enriched by nature. The people in “Zardoz” had a crystal that they had created as their god. The people in “Blade Runner” were looking at Tyrell as their man made god. The problem with humans acting as gods is that they soon get bored with repetition and eventually, their creations crumble. These two films helped demonstrate how a man made future is not exactly the brightest one.

Elizabeth Rhein-Zardoz Quote-Films

It was the year 2293 and Zardoz had led his people to destroy those not worthy with guns. Zed, a once uninformed citizen under Zardoz’s rule, had now discovered the secret behind his “God.” This discovery soon brought Zed into an unknown world where people lived forever and longed to die. As for my opinion of the film, I was pretty much confused for about 2/3rds of it, but as for the parts I figured out, it was interesting to say the least. One of the lines I noted while watching the film was, “in hunting you, I have become you.” I thought this was important because when Consuella said it to Zed, she was admitting that she was no better than him and therefore had no more of a right to judge him than he did of her. This quote was also said when everything those people had known was being destroyed and there was complete and utter chaos. It was also at this part where Zed tells Consuella that they will be together. I was also confused at this part because I know he kissed her after confessing that he had killed his maker and she blinded him. I was not exactly sure how they had gone from Consuella blinding him to being his beloved. I guess it seems that Zed was going through a transformation of himself at the time because he was sitting and researching while Consuella was chasing him. It looks as though the two had switched roles. Consuella was now the savage and Zed was the intellect.

Elizabeth Rhein- 21- Films

One of the films the class watched during the semester was 21. Even though I was unable to make it to class the night the film was watched, I had already watched it a week earlier. Even though I really was not sure of how to relate the film back to religion, I had heard that someone compared it to the seven deadly sins. I thought that that comparison was really interesting and fit well with the class. As for the sins and the film themselves, obviously a group of extremely intelligent college students looking for a way to use their mathematical talents and finding “counting” in blackjack as a fitting hobby goes well with the deadly sins. As the infamous phrase states, “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” As for examples of the sins being shown within the film, I thought greed played a prominent role. The teacher used the students to get wealthy. The main character himself did not stop playing even after getting the necessary amount he needed. At the end, the security guard himself greedily took the money the students won and kept it for himself. Three other sins, wrath, envy, and pride were also seen throughout the film as well as a little bit of lust. One of the boys, the past leader of the group, grew envious of the main character and at one point, sneered at him and called him names. His envy that the main character was better than him finally had gotten the best of him and as that envy grew into wrath, the teacher instantly removed the boy from the group. As for pride, the teacher became a victim of it when the main character rallied up against him and tried to break away and create his own group. The teacher refused for such a thing to happen and so basically destroyed the main character until the main character found a way to use the teacher’s pride against him. Because the teacher thought he was one of the best at blackjack, the offer of playing one last time was too good to pass up. His pride had led to his ultimate downfall. Overall, I really enjoyed watching this film. I had actually watched a film that had almost the exact same plot as this one before 21 had even came out. It was not as good, but there was a teacher and three students who played blackjack and in the end, the teacher had turned against the students, which led to his demise.

Rob Dufour - Northfork

Northfork was a pretty slow movie that wasn’t that entertaining but it was at times captivating. The slow pace of the film I think worked well for the overall tone of the film which evoked the feelings of despair as the town was seen to be experiencing it’s slow death and it’s eventually burring. The part of the movie that I really liked was through Irwin, the orphan boy who has been turned back by his adoptive parents because they believe he is defective and sick. A priest ends up taking care of the boy, although the boy is seen to conjure up images of four angels that stand beside him and give him company that he desires. Throughout the movie we do not know if these angels are from Irwin’s imagination or if they are truly angels that were sent to be with him. I don’t think that this matters too much, because if they are real to Irwin then they might as well be real. This makes me think that if someone is sent an angel or a sign that is real to that person but is really not there, does it really make a difference? A very good family friend of ours took care of her bed-ridden husband for over 8 years, and one of her husband’s favorite things to do was watch the birds at the birdfeeder outside his window. The day that her husband died, she was terribly hurt – but as she went into his room she looked out the window and saw an eagle perched on the birdfeeder that was looking straight at her and then soon flew away. I remember her telling me the story and how she knew that was God telling her that everything was going to be alright – and how I was thinking that even if an eagle wasn’t really there that day, it was really there for what she perceived as real that day. And honestly, that’s all that matters.

Rob Dufour - Zardoz

At first I raised my hand to vote against Zardoz. I would have been fine with Minority Report or even K-Pax, and Zardoz seemed like a movie I wouldn’t enjoy. Although, while the class was further deliberating I began to think about how many times I had seen Minority Report and how I already knew the outcome of K-Pax, so I decided to take a chance with Zardoz. I wasn’t expecting anything great out of it, but I was expecting a new experience through a film I know that I would normally never watch. As Zardoz came on, I was watching the floating head guy and thinking that I could either watch this movie with the mentality that this is going to be the lamest movie I have ever seen, or that I was going to enjoy the movie for what it was. I decided to give the movie a chance and allowed myself to laugh at the ridiculousness of the movie. I thought that movie had a really cool concept with the idea of the Immortals, who never die, but often try to. And when they do attempt to kill their selves, their bodies are restored by the all-knowing computer mind that runs the Vortex. The additional idea of the Immortals continuing to age is a novel idea as well, especially with the twist that they are punished through aging if they break the rules. This is really interesting because I feel that many people yearn to live longer in their lives, yet fear getting older. We would assume that we fear aging because it seemingly brings us closer to death, but these Immortals will not die yet they fear aging still. Also, the idea of Immortals wishing for death is very interesting. It lets us mortals knows that we should be thankful for a looming sense of death, because without knowing that death could happen at anytime we would never cherish the gift of life as we would take it for granted.

Rob Dufour - 21

As I hoped into my car with one my buddies and pulled out of my parking space, I realized that I had no idea where this theatre was that the class was watching the movie. Every time I have seen a movie while at school it has been at the AMC, so for a while I just assumed that’s where it was. I remember Dr.Redick telling us that it was somewhere off of Jefferson, so we drove over there and looked around for a bit without any luck. I ended up calling my roommate to ask if he could look up the location for us on google map or something, and he told the area which it was located. Well it didn’t help out too much because after we had driven into Poquoson and back, and were finally thinking we knew the general area, I looked at my watch and realized the movie had already begun. So my buddy and I counted our losses, and decided we would see the movie later.
Honestly, after watching the terribly predictable movie, I wish we had voted for Vantage Point or really anything else. I think that Kevin Spacey is a terrific actor and did a good job in the film, but I felt I could have written the script to this film. I by no means claim to be some movie expert or even someone who knows much at all about cinema, but I do know that when I spend $8 on a movie I hope to see something new or wowing, or at best I hope that I can take something away from the movie such as an enlightening theme or moral. I guess something I saw within the movie is that often times our odds in life to succeed or win are heavily stacked against us. So in order for us to win, we must overcome the system through our own ingenuity; even if it sometimes means we must bend the imposed rules that are set to keep us from excelling.

Rob Dufour - The Mission

The Mission is a movie I watched recently that depicts the cultural diffusion that occurred when western European monarchies sent representatives and colonists to the South Americas, Jesuits sent missionaries as well. Culturally there was a clash between the aristocratic and bureaucratic European representatives and the Guarani Indians who inhabited the land before the colonial presence. A dispute occurs between the monarchies of Spain and Portugal that puts many of the Missions, including the one that Father Gabriel helped to create, at risk of being shut down and converted into a source of slave labor. The Spanish crown wished to sell the Brazilian colony to the Portuguese; this development affected the Missions in that the Portuguese laws allowed the trading of slaves, whereas the Spanish laws did not. The Jesuit missionaries ventured up into the mountains and created a relationship between themselves and the Guarani Indians. The chasm between the Indian oral culture and the European literate culture was crossed by the use of Father Gabriel’s flute. Father Gabriel first identified himself as non-hostile by presenting himself out in the open and playing soft, calm music to the Guarani. Then from there he was accepted and brought into the Guarani community. He began to preach to the Indians while helping them build up a new Mission called San Miguel. However the relations between the Jesuits and the Guarani were not accepted by the Monarchs of Europe or by the Pope in Rome; and therefore the Indians were attacked and moved from the Missions all throughout the newly Portuguese territory. This was known as the Guarani War and also as the War of Seven Reductions; because it was between the Guarani of seven Jesuit reductions and joint Spanish-Portuguese forces. In the end Father Gabriel risked and lost his own life while attempting to protect the Guarani from the oncoming attack, although he did this peacefully in a procession of prayer. The movie portrays the sharp contrast of ways that each side felt about the Indians; the Jesuits were civil and attempted to convert them to Christianity, while the state-representatives treated the Indians as though they were naturally slaves. The director leaves us to decide how we feel about the decision that he made and what occurred because of it; I feel as though he made a decision that was politically correct for the time, but also one that will be morally wrong forever.

Rob Dufour - A River Runs Throught It

There are certain things in movies that either provoke to like them or dislike them. One of the main things I look for in a movie is if there are any stories of self-actualization and growth. I also look for relationships between characters in the movies and see how they pertain to me. In the movie A River Runs Through It I feel most closely associated with Norman, the older brother. Norman and his younger brother Paul are both raised in a house by their mother who lives at home and takes care of it and their father who is a pastor for a Methodist church. The movies shows Norman at various stages in his life: when he is young and developing into an adolescent and is somewhat wild, when he is a teenager and some of the mischief he gets into with Paul, when he is finished with schooling and preparing for college and meets a girl, when he’s at college, when he gets back and becomes a professor and when he is an old man. Through this storyline we can see the development of Norman from a child who is ignorant of the ways of the world into a man who inspires those around him to better their own world. He is a man of deep religious feeling and strongly agrees with his father in their views of Christianity. My favorite part of the movie is when Norman gets back from college and hears his father in the study reciting his favorite passage from the bible; Norman finishes his father’s sentence and then together they recite the rest of the passage. The two come together and rejoice in happiness to see each other after such a long time. Another main aspect of the movie is the relationship between Norman and Paul. One can see that as Norman was progressing through his life with successes, Paul was having some success, but failing to fix his gambling problem. We then get to see how Paul’s gambling problem ultimately and fatally affects his life. This movie instills some feeling that I can’t really describe; happiness for Norman and his life of religion and good deeds while at the same time a sadness for the problems that Paul faced, which ultimately affected not only himself, but his family too.

Rob Dufour - The Count of Monte Cristo

I personally love this movie; it is one of my all-time favorites. I feel that the acting, the plot, and the message behind the film to be to be simply amazing. This movie puts one of the most pertinent situations concerning religion front and center. Much like Job in the bible, Edmond Dantes, is confronted by awful scenarios in which all that is dear to him is taken away. However, unlike Job, Dantes renounces God after spending long years in the Chateau D’If, an off-shore prison meant for only the most hated criminals. After his escape Dantes begins to construct a plan for revenge. This too is a pertinent and important issue; revenge versus grace. Throughout the entire movie Dantes plans his revenge to perfection and does it in style. I like all of the scenes and the scenery in which his vengeful plot takes place. However, at the end of the movie Dantes gets the girl, has a son who he is very proud of, and Mondego (his former best friend and now enemy) was without money and woman. As Mondego and Dantes are about to fight, Mercedes (now Dantes’ woman and wife to be) pleads for Dantes to find grace and not fight Mondege. He follows suit, but is then provoked to fight and eventually has to kill Mondego. I feel that this movie perfectly depicts the stresses that God places upon us to remain good and righteous individuals even through times that test us. In all of our life we face temptation and the possibility for evil, but it is our good morals and character that keep us from doing bad. This movie shows the entire spectrum and can easily be applied to our own lives; which is also something I look for in movies.

Rob Dufour - Pan's Labyrinth

I decided to head over to campus one night to check out the movie, Pan’s Labyrinth, which the Spanish Club was putting on. I heard that the movie was a must see, so I was very anxious to get to watching. As the movie started and the Spanish started coming out of the speakers, I realized why it was being played by the Spanish Club. Luckily, they conveniently put the English translation at the bottom. I always feel a little ambivalent about subtitles, because they certainly add to the mystery as well as the authenticity of the film; however, I felt like I was missing key shots in the film as I was reading as quickly as I could. Not to mention that the film was a visually beautiful work of art, and the times that I could watch the scenes intently, I noticed how much they added to the emotion evoked throughout the film.
One of the unique aspects of the film is how the director allows the viewer to experience the same feelings that the protagonist is experiencing throughout the film. The plot is essentially a little girl trying to decipher between right and wrong, and what is real and what is fake, while living in a confusing and corrupt world. The culmination of these feelings take place through a labyrinth she that she finds, which will eventually test her true self through the twist and turns along her path of realization. The movie allows the viewer to experience the same, as the movie provides multiples stories that branch out and eventually flow back together. All the while, we are shown the juxtaposition of good and evil, reality and fabrication, throughout the film, which often times can make us second guess ourselves and send us in the wrong direction.
In the end, the girl learns not only to follow instructions, and that there are prices to pay for failing to abide by them, but also to trust her own instincts about right and wrong. In order to find her true self, she found the strength to break the rules imposed by authority and stand up for what is ultimately right. After the film, I was thinking about the terribly original idea of someone developing their own consciousness of right and wrong, and how important it is establish a moral code of your own while living in such a tainted and constructed world.

Rob Dufour Into Thin Air

Into Thin Air is a movie about a group mixed with experienced and inexperienced climbers attempting to climb the highest and most dangerous mountain in the world; Everest. This movie is a film adaptation of the book written by renowned author Jon Krakauer and there are many other stories about the same incident which is referred to as the Everest disaster in 1996. This movie interested me before I even watched it because of interest in hiking and simply enjoying the outdoors. It is one of my goals to eventually climb Mount Rainier and possibly even Mount McKinley, so I watched this movie with a lot of interest and expectation. It's hard to believe that people can and do lose their lives while attempting something like Everest, yet people still climb. I guess some people welcome the risk of death, because through such a dangerous climb I would think one would feel almost more alive than ever by seeing death right in front of them. People seem to climb mountains for tons of reasons, but for me there are two main reasons for why I hike: religious and because it is aesthetically pleasing. When I climb or hike I often find myself lost in thought about the beauty of our world and often give thanks to the Lord for blessing me with the opportunity to see it and live in it. Many times throughout the movie the climbers are seen to be in a state of awe. At the beginning of the movie they are entranced by the beauty surrounding them, but as disaster strikes they can be seen to be in awe of nature’s wrath. Nature and the wilderness can at times be unforgiving, but I feel that is part of it’s draw on people. When someone goes to climb Everest, Rainier, or even just to go camp in the woods, there is that looming danger throughout the wilderness that reminds one that they are alive.

Richard Maurer - Random Blog 5: Virgin Mary Toast

So a piece of bread with Virgin Mary image went for about twenty-eight grand. Impressive… although personally I would never get into any such hype around a pseudo-religious object, it goes to show just how powerful religion is. A simple object that barely resembles a religious figure was not only bought with a fortune but has the hopes of somehow bringing further happiness to the buyer, as well as bringing them closer to the enlightenment they desire. The item also reveals the commercialism of religion as numerous spin offs (t-shirts, plates, etc) seem to have sprouted from this initial encounter with holy bread.

Richard Maurer - Random Blog 4: Alcohol

Yes, it has it negatives but what other substance has brought so many young people together? I believe in the past two years I have met a good deal of my friends over wonderful inebriants. Inhibitions are lost and most people (after consuming reasonable amounts) feel comfortable and secure. The true self is revealed and generally easily accepted. It advances one’s ability to not only be more of their self (in a slightly exaggerated fashion) but to enjoy others at their worst … and yet their best! Truly, this is a substance that when in reasonable and controlled environments should be praised! In fact as I write this now, twenty people are expressing their love to one another over a big margarita.

Richard Maurer - Random Blog 3: Adopted Sister

How can someone, who is not an infant, from the other side of the planet, from a completely different and unknown gene pool, integrate into a family as if she has always been a part of it? The key is what it means to be a part of that particular family.

In my case, my Vietnamese sister arrived from an orphanage with my mother at 3 and a half having spent her childhood up to that point in a primitive communal orphanage setting in the bowels of a third world country. Being one of us and holding a family position was something she could not possibly have learned or had any insight into - yet she became one of us, a part of our family and it happened almost immediately. Being a part of us means that she found her place alongside all of us and feeling that each of us was hers and knowing she was ours. It wasn't our house that did it, although the TV and SpongeBob helped a lot! It was something else. Something that transcends the physical and that was her knowing or sensing that we wanted her, to love her and to have her - and for the first time in her life, she was special and not just one of a crowded group of screaming small children who played with the dirt and used a bucket instead of a toilet. She immediately sensed that being a part of this new group meant she was strongly attached to each one and each one of us had a special job: one was being a brother, a sister, a mom and a dad. Most importantly, for the first time, she also had a special job: being a loved child who was little sister and part of a unit. All of this transpired with a language barrier and therefore proving that what it takes to become family is beyond physical, linguistic, racial, cultural or genetic barriers. Family - is man's transcendent experiment.

Richard Maurer - Random Blog 2: SpongeBob Squarepants

SpongeBob has become a global phenomenon exciting and entertaining many children and even many adults. SpongeBob with its simplistic humor masking rather intelligent innuendos allows for many people to transcend their mundane lives after school or after work (because let me tell you, it is on nearly twenty four hours a day), and enter into what could be construed as being almost a religion of laughter. People are able to rise above their daily difficulties and just enjoy the antics of an innocent happy-go-lucky yellow sponge. Having to baby sit the adopted sister every so often, I have come to enjoy this program, as not only a way to keep her settled but also so that I won’t be forced to watch anything similar to Barney. I am also able to better relate with her… or at least I am sure I could if she spoke English.

Richard Maurer Random Blog 1: Disney World

This past Winter break I was dragged by a couple of friends on a road trip to Disney World. I have never been a big fan of theme parks… two hour lines for a two minute ride, overpriced food, and rude foreigners never quite came off as a fun experience. After arriving there, my expectations were more than confirmed! The lines were not as bad as this was the off season, but half the rides were down for maintenance. The food was just as expensive as ever, and the foreigners (mainly Brazilians) seemed quite eager to run over this gringo’s feet with their strollers (of course if you try to confront them they all of sudden forget how to speak English). Nevertheless, while I was suffering my friends enjoyed every minute reliving their childhood. To have not known better and experienced such a place as a child seems to be the only way one can truly “appreciate” theme parks. After that adventure, I now know how my parents must have felt when I dragged them through Busch Gardens as a child. Still, I did get a big hug from Princess Jasmine, so I guess it wasn’t all bad.

Richard Maurer - Reading Blog 5: Martin the Warrior

I read this book when I was much younger. It deals with a stubborn mouse that is captured and enslaved by a stoat tyrant and his legion of sea rats. Most of the book I recall deals more with the various bands of characters coming across many adventures and eating… lots and lots of eating. However, Martin breaks free from the tyrant and eventually gains his revenge over his forced servitude and breaking the nearby land of the despot’s grasp. However, in the final battle his love is slain by the tyrant … the land, although free and now in harmony is tainted by the memories of his lost love. He can never know peace and must seek out new adventures in order not only help others who are “lost” or in peril but to re-find himself.