religiosity in depeche mode

depeche mode’s (“fashion update”) ‘best of’ has been in my cd player for a while.  the brit band helped launch a new romantic era.  the more i listened, the more i realized religious connotations were in the lyrics of a majority of the tracks.  below are parts from songs on the album that confirm my hunch (the first one, of course, being the most famous):

your own personal jesus
i will deliver
you know i’m a forgiver
reach out and touch faith
___

just like a rainbow
you know you set me free
___

i give in to sin
because you have to make this life liveable
___

i give in to sin
because i like to practice what i preach
___

where were you
when i fell from grace
___

it sucked you in
it dragged you down
where holiness is never found
___

i’ve been a martyr for love
nailed up on the cross
as the damage is done
i’m assessing the cost
___

i would tell you abouth the things
they put me through
but the lord himself would blush
forbidden fruits for me to eat
___

now i’m not looking for absolution
forgiveness for the things i do
i’m not looking for a clearer conscience
and before we talk of repentance
try walking in my shoes
___

you take me where
the kingdom comes
and lead me through
babylon
___

it’s the dark night of my soul
and temptation’s taking hold
___

where angels sing
my love’s on high
you take me home
to glory’s throne
___

belief is the way
the way of the innocent
and when i say innocent
i should say naive
___

everybody’s looking for a new sensation
everybody’s looking for a promised land
___

if god has a master plan
that only he understands
i hope it’s your eyes he’s seeing through
___

the narrowest path
is always the holiest
cheating judases
doubting thomases
lose your inhibitions

some of these lyrics made me wonder if martin gore, the main songwriter, had some sort of fundamentalist-gone-wrong background.  all i found was his short time enrollment in a catholic type private school; the lyrics just seem to stem from a somewhat “knowing” vantage point.

coffee

in my quest to try the best coffee on the planet, i asked lynne what coffee she thinks takes the cake.  she replied, “the kind with liquor.  a stimulant and a depressant in one – what’s not to like about that?”  <walks off.>

the fiction

top 10 in alphabetical order according to author:
1.   wuthering heights
2.   a clockwork orange
3.   the great gatsby
4.   1984
5.   fight club
6.   harry potter and the order of the phoenix
7.   frankenstein
8.   dracula
9.   the fellowship of the ring
10. mrs. dalloway

road to the oscars

i am excited.  this slideshow features 2007 nominees and has excellent stills of some faves:
(noticed some particular goodies – leonardo dicapprio, maggie cheung, helen mirren, abbie cornish, brad pitt, judi dench)
some of the older female actors are really setting up shop in my heart!

again, one of the best things about film is that it combines many pieces of art – stills, music, wardrobe, make-up, performance, landscape, light, scripts, marketing, design, etc.

UPDATE: last night lynne went to see the queen, tara and i talked about donnie darko, i watched the trailer for the tudors, caryn emailed me about the departed and marcella and i have been going through the godfather again, so movies were on the brain.  i dreamt that forest whitaker sat behind me everyday in counseling class and i couldn’t wait to tell sarah.  one time i turned around to ask him how he mentally prepared to play idi amin, but donald trump interrupted, because i was his personal assistant and he needed me to take my girls (i was the head soccer coach of our school) to their championship game, so i was bummed forest and i never had a chance to talk.  bring on the oscars!

perspective on faith and modernity

kg sent me an article from “Christianity today” on how to view art, specifically film, in this case, through Christian eyes.  overstreet, a prof at geneva college, was the focus of this comment:

[overstreet] urges readers [of his film critiques] instead [of abandoning film altogether] to more daringly embrace good art, whether Christian or not, as a means of expanding vision and enlarging wisdom, accepting “the sensual pleasure of God’s gifts” even as they take care to avoid the kind of exposure that may actually diminish their ability to taste goodness.

that thought has been wavering back and forth in my mind since i read the article.  i feel what the article said when i watch incredible films that have an absolute godless taste about them (thinking of the sea inside right now), but that are brilliant pieces.  the sea inside made me long for heaven, where faith and pain are no longer struggles!  but i am trying to apply the statement to other aspects of art right now.  i think this thought has the potential to go a long way.

the joy of babysitting

in the late winter/early spring at a house where young girls live:

i get to land me some of these.

ch-ch-ch-changes

not to quote a lame-o 90s song, or anything.

kristen and i were out the other day, talking about how we have changed/not changed.  this time last year she was in a major crisis situation and shared some of her plight with an old friend.  he offered words of comfort and kristen was grateful.

the two caught up a few months later and kristen expressed to the old friend how amazed she was at the way God moved in and through the situation, despite of how devastating it was.  he commented back, “i believe God can raise the dead, but i doubt whether or not he can change the living.”  i love when a person can take a million of my separate thoughts, and put them into one comprehensive sentence.  why can my doubt be so overwhelmingly crippling?  chew on his thought with me and see where it applies to your own life.  let me know if anything comes to mind.

concerned, yet busy

in a meeting last week the person next to me prayed, “remind us, Lord, that in your grace and mercy, you have pursued and redeemed us.”  it was helpful to be reminded of this truth when i am concerned, yet busy.  there are areas where i feel my attention is needed, but i have no attention to give.

the Lord is faithful.  i can admit to him that i am concerned, yet busy.  He works despite my weaknesses, but also calls me to faithfuless; thankfully He modeled it first.

work shall set you free

that caption was supposedly written on the entrance gate to auschwitz.  a song by the same title was featured last night in children of men.  though thought-provoking concepts were lined up at the beginning of the film, they failed to deliver in the end.  cuaron’s directing impressed me in this film, as in some of his other films, but the story!  the story was lost!

there was a poor attempt at edgy contemporary political satire that lacked edge.  and satire.  clive’s “world-wary” performance kept the film going, along with the group of underground activists who were identifiable due to their nose rings and dread locks.  is this to what societal uprisers have been reduced?  the last fertile woman on earth happened to be single, with no lack of references to her identity as the virgin mary of the future.  been there, done that.

dystopian stories are usually my thing – this film had a thing at the beginning and lost it when car chases and city bombings took over.  cuaron’s filming was innovative, especially during some of his long shots, but it failed to plug up the holes that resulted in sinking his story boat named “tomorrow”.

come back, oh thinkers in huxley/atwood/orwell/burgess/lowry/wells/bradburian vein; come back.