Cinematic Reflections

   Several things combined this morning to get me to thinking about movies. One of the articles in the morning paper was plugging a series of classic movies to be shown at the Ritz theater on Thursday nights for a few weeks this summer. In an email yesterday, my daughter over in Arkansas was telling me about a new job that her husband had signed on to that dealt with movies, but more in the current realm.

   My mind went back to some of my earlier experiences in the theater. On Saturday afternoons, when I was growing up, the big thing to do was to walk a few blocks to the neighborhood theater to sit and watch a newsreel, a cartoon, a serial, and a full movie, all for 9 cents, and those cliff-hanging endings to each edition of that serial would bring you back again next week to see what would happen, how the hero would escape from his predicament, and the bad guy be foiled again, and again, and again.

   Then there were the double features downtown, the "big" movies at the Tivoli, and, of course, the drive-in. A lot of memories are packed into those venues of my growing up years.

   When I was in college, the second time around in the 80s, I needed some easy credit hours one summer, so I took a course called "Understanding Movies". I sounded like a crip course, was in an air conditioned theater, and was not a difficult grade. The instructor led us through the ways movie directors gave meaning to their films, and it was an interesting course. Looking back on it, the only movie I remember from that course was "Easy Rider" which may mean something, but I don't know what.

   I confess that, for the most part, I am not a fan of current day movies. The indiscriminate use of what I would call "bad language" turns me off, and the violence and sexual themes are not very uplifting. There may be some good acting and good direction, but I can't seem to get past those negatives. I guess I could not prove a correlation between the trend in violence, sexual promiscuity and bad language resulting from the movies, but I think there is one somewhere. 

   Besides, they have raised the price of admission, and I still remember the 9 cents.

   My son in law has turned a love of this cinematic art form into a career. Over the years he has written reviews for various publications around the country and has developed quite a following. I confess that most of the films he reviews, I have not heard of, much less seen, but there are a lot of people out there that must read him faithfully. One time he mentioned a blog post I had written, and my readership blasted to 7 times the normal for that day.

   His new venture in this area seems like a good fit for those who like movies, The Dissolve, check it out if you fit this category.

   As for me, I guess I will have to stick with the classics, although I still don't know if "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" is a classic. It is in color.

   Black and white, in an old theater, maybe that is me after all.

   Not the Ritz in Brunswick, but the Ritz just the same.

   

   

Wouldn't It Be Nice?

   I have been playing around with a technique that a friend showed me the other day. This brings an object out of a photograph and highlights it so that it becomes the main focus of an image. It involves taking a color shot, reducing the colors to a grey, or black and white print, and then letting some of the color back into the picture. It might sound complicated, but is not, and does place the emphasis on one part of a shot. As an illustration:

   This seems to ask a question, like "where would you rather relax?"

   Or this one, "don't live a drab life".

   Sometimes I want to have a picture that is very explicit as to what my life resembles. When I am confused, or seem not to have a purpose in life, it would be nice to have it brought into focus with a dramatic change of color.

   It might be like this one, one I might use as a metaphor right now this morning:

   This seems to say: "Look at me, I may be old, but I am sitting here ready to be used."

   It is easy to see where the emphasis lies in each of the manipulated pictures, now I just need to see where it needs to be in my life.

   And my prayer "God, hit me with some color".

The Unpredictability of Routine

   Even though we had a good week away last week, it is good to get back to some sort of routine. There is safety in routine and comfort in the doing of the same things at the same time and in the same way as I would consider "normal".

   To be sure I do like this normal that I have gotten into over these past few years. The early morning quiet, the stroll about the golf course, even before the guys come to cut the greens, the music of the birds, the sun's rays hitting the tops of the clouds before breaking over the horizon, the time to read, pray and think. These tend to start my day off right.

   Then, as I go about this early morning routine, I think of that Erma Bombeck quote, "Normal is just a setting on your dryer". Then when I write this and think to look up how to spell her name, and read some of her quotes, and laugh, and don't find the quote, and look up the quote on Google and then find out it is a book by Patsy Clairmont, I realize this is what happens to my life most days. What I think I know, I don't, and then as I look for the answer, rabbit trails lead me away from my intended topic, sometimes to an unsuspected destination.

   Even if the things that are on my agenda for the day get done, as I look back on them, I find out that many small parts of this activity or plan have been altered, even as I do them. Just the knowledge that I did some fact checking this morning, and ended up laughing out loud at some sayings, shows me the unpredictability of any routine, however good.

   So, what do I take away from all this?

   Perhaps it is just that I should open my mind and my eyes to things that come into my life, even in the midst of routine. God may want to remind me that every day is a new one, like He did this morning, that every so-called routine is anything but, if I really look.

   And that laughter is a good thing.

   And that routine does not have to be a rut.

   There can be joy in unpredictability, if I stay open to it.

A Week Away, and Good

   This has been a different week. Living in a strange place, keeping a teenage grand daughter, supervising a dog, and having no schedule but theirs, has made these days like living "one day at a time". Flexibility has been the name of the game.

   I have read a lot of books, played some with my photography, walked the dog several times a day, rode the bike, played card games here at the house, walked the beach early and late and in between, along with various chores that had to be done.

   It has been good to have time with Sydney. Since her family lives 6 hours north of us, we don't get to see her too often. She will be in her senior year of high school this coming September, and making those college choices will consume her thoughts for some months. Her parents will live through the "empty nest" period, and she will begin making her way in the world outside. A lot of changes for all concerned in these next few months.

   And then there is the canine part of the family, Kasper.

   Here is a guy that has got it made. Food, water, walking and resting are the main parts of his day, plus making friends with all those other four-legged people that walk where we do.

   I can't forget the weather. Rain has been abundant, some days a lot, some a little, but always some. As we prepare to leave, it is sunny, but it was yesterday also, before the moisture fell. But that did not mess up our plans. How can it when you don't have any? Just take life as it comes and do the best with the hand you are dealt. We lived this week in that way, and it was good.

   It was a good week. We enjoyed our grand daughter, we even enjoyed Kasper. We liked the rest and the lack of schedule. We would do it again in a heartbeat.

   Thanks Dwayne and Karen for asking us.

   P.S. The sunrises were exquisite.

Looking Closely

   One thing that this camera thing has taught me, or is trying to teach me, is to look closely at what is around me. An example in point happened yesterday as I took me camera out to explore.

   As I walked down the sidewalk, I brushed into a spider web that had been spun about head height right off to the left side. Although my first thought was one of annoyance at the placement of the web, on closer inspection I saw the spider sitting in the middle, I guess waiting for dinner, and he, or she, was like none that I had seen before.

   This unusual looking critter really caught my eye as I enlarged his image on the computer. I knew he was strange, but how strange he really was.

   I thought about him this morning. I was not happy with the placement of the web, right on my path, but just perhaps there was a reason. Because he had spun his web right there, I was forced to stop, look and think. I was reminded to take a closer look at what was around me all the time.

   There may be more spiders on my path this day, or there may be people that I do not need to just brush on past on the routes that I take. There may be situations, like spider webs, that I should treat with more respect than annoyance.

   Maybe that web was in the right place. After all, it was still there this morning, and the spider looked healthy and well fed. He even brought along a friend, who had spun another one right beside it. As I duck to stay out of the way, I'll try to remember the lesson and look more closely as I travel.

   I'll never know unless I stop to look.

A Grand Daughter on the Brink

   We get the privilege this week, of spending time with our oldest grand daughter. This busy young woman lives pretty far away from us, and so our times together are limited.

                    (Sydney, on the left, with Cady Gray)

   This is an exciting time in her life, but I'm sure, a time of wondering about the future, her future, as she gets ready to begin her senior year in high school, looking forward to college and what it will bring.

   Sydney is a multitalented young lady, smart, pretty, athletic, with a lot going for her. She is personable with a great attitude. I'm sure she has "her days", but she has been raised well and shows it. Her parents have done a great job getting her to this point in her life.

   Her future stretches out before her. There is the final year in high school, the new life in college, and then her life outside of the academic environment. There is, to be sure, a lot of question marks out there for her at this time as to what it will all look like. The decisions that she makes in these days, will shape what she is to become.

   So, as she questions, and as she makes those hard decisions, I just pray that God will keep His hand on her life, that He will keep her safe in her new worlds, that she will find His purpose, and that He will bring people into her life that will help her along that path.

   As our oldest grand daughter gets ready to follow her brother off to college and out into the world may she know the peace and love of her Heavenly Father, who stands ready to help and guide her in all the times of her life.

   And may her grand parents be there to support and love her, too, however we can.

   I can't wait to see how it all works out.

Music and a Can, Too

   I come to this post in an unusual way. I write in the late afternoon instead of the morning. The morning just did not work out as I planned, and I moved through the day without a blog thought in mind. After lunch, we watched the Sunday service from our church since we had missed it the day before.

   Our pastor is preaching a 6 week series with a them of Summer movies, in which he takes a thought from 6 movies and gives a message from the Bible. Yesterday was Les Miserables and the opening clip was his beginning. I love the song from that, I Dreamed A Dream, but could not remember where I had heard it. Then it hit me, it was the song that Susan Boyle sang on the British talent show a few years back.

   It is a powerful song, both the lyrics and the music, and I am moved by each rendition, probably as much by the emotion of the situation as the song itself, but it is good

   As I listened to Susan sing it again, I could not help but wonder of the affect that music has on my feeling. There are certain songs that bless me each time I hear them, and, I'll confess, often bring a tear or two to my eyes. I'm sure that I will miss some good ones, but I compiled a short list in my head and here it is.

   The aforementioned I Dreamed a Dream, and here is a YouTube version:

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSrAJsWvEIc

   Ode to Joy from Beethoven's 9th Symphony:

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wod-MudLNPA

   Amazing Grace with bagpipes:

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FKoX7u_Jo8

   Stuart Townend's hymn How Deep the Father's Love:

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYV7hpD9JTI

   Almost anything by my favorite singer, Sissel, like this:

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSy1Do0wwEA&list=TLVgByKunB3xw

   I'm sure, when I finish writing this, I will think of others that deserve to be on my own personal list, but I did think of a photograph that seems to symbolize what this music means to me. Music is like that can, it makes the picture.

 

   OK, I know if you listen to all of this and meditate on the picture, too, you will have killed your day, but it has made mine, because I have gotten to listen to these again, and it has been good.

   Thank You, God for music