Truly remarkable literature tells a story. But not just any story. A powerful story. A wonderful story. An enchanting story. A story that makes you sit back and think and wonder and dream. Tonight I watched the movie version of Les Miserables (1998, the movie, NOT the musical). It’s been a while since I’ve seen such an amazing story. If you don’t know the story, I’m not going to explain it. It’s not exactly that easy (which is what makes it such a great story). Basically what I find amazing is the measure of grace Jean Valjean receives. After being released from 19 years of prison working hard labor, Valjean is angry, bitter and resentful. An old priest gives him a place to stay, and Valjean attempts to steal his silver. When the police return the crook in the morning, the priest ransoms his soul, giving him the silver as well as the silver candlesticks, telling the police he gave the silver to Valjean. The priest’s act of grace astounds Valjean, and he goes on his way a changed man. He begins a new life and lends grace to others as it has been given to him. A near perfect picture of Christ and his love. When we were far from deserving, Christ pardoned our debt and sent us out on a new life. Our mission is to do unto others as Christ has done unto us. That is only the beginning of the story, and it unfolds wonderfully from there. But I found myself captivated and drawn to Valjean. His actions were odd. They called him a hermit. But he was living a life of grace. A life of love. Unbelievable. I could ramble for hours about this. I’m tempted to read the book now (with all my free time, ha!). Such a powerful story is the basis for any good movie, musical, play, or novel. It is a tale of this type that I desire to weave.
Category Archives: Movies
Visiting the Girlfriend for the Weekend
Wow. What a weekend. Did you miss me? For those of you who don’t know, I drove six hours this weekend to meet up with my girlfriend in the middle of Wisconsin. Not exactly the ideal meeting place, but it gets the job done. When you’re 700 miles from your girlfriend, you’ll take whatever you can get–even if it is a weekend in Cheese Country. For those who were wondering, it was a great weekend. Of course when you’re seeing your girlfriend, it doesn’t take much. We could have spent the whole weekend sitting on the floor starring at each other and it would have been a great weekend.
Here’s a few comments for your intellectual stimulation, seeing as you’ve been deprived for a few days:
Snow, Canceled Church & Bill Murray
Snow. Ah the beautiful white fluff that covers everything and turns driving into the hobby for the desperate. We got the first big snow of the year today. Well, it’s probably the biggest snow storm we’ve had in a while. I love snow. Yeah, it’s cold. Yeah, it’s wet. Yeah, it makes the roads really slick so I can’t go see my girlfriend–but I still love it. I think tomorrow I’m gonna build me a snowman.
The only thing I don’t understand about the snow, is people’s panic. My church canceled all services tomorrow because of the weather. Who cancels church? You don’t cancel church. You can’t cancel church. You know people are going to show up at 10:30 tomorrow morning, wanting to worship God. But the doors will be locked, and we’ll all be snug in our nice warm homes. Cancel church? I thought church was like Meijer’s and 711–they never close.
Oh well. Just for kicks, I have to mention this: Tonight I watched one of the coolest movies ever. It hasn’t received much acclaim, and I think it probably got slammed at the Oscars. But that’s okay, all the good movies do. The Man Who Knew Too Little with Bill Murray. It has to be one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen. If you haven’t seen it, go rent it now. You can’t write a better comic premise. Adam Sandler and the late Chris Farley can have their misplaced anger, profanity, and sex jokes–but they’ll never have anything as funny as the comic possibilities presented in “The Man Who Knew Too Little.” It’s even too cool to try and explain. Go watch it.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a snowman to build.
Jesus and Event Horizon
I have just witnessed one of the most frightening things in my life. My heart is racing, my skin is clammy, my muscles are tense with fear.
Jesus.
So there I was, enjoying my Christmas vacation. It was just another Sunday, nothing special. I spent the evening relaxing with my girlfriend. I got home ready to drift off to a nice quiet sleep. As usual, I had a snack, and flipped through some channels on the TV before going to bed. I suppose that was mistake number one.
Jesus.