From my dear friends at the Burnside Writer’s Blog:
One book that changed my life: Finding Faith by Brian McLaren
One book that I’ve read more than once: Franny & Zooey by J. D. Salinger
One book that I’d want on a desert island: High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
One book that made me laugh: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
One book that made me cry: Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
One book that scared the hell out of me: This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti
One book I wish had been written: Oops, I Did It Again: How I Helped America and the Bush Family Screw Up In Iraq Twice by Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Colin Powell
One book I wish had never been written: Wild At Heart by John Eldredge
Two books I’m currently reading: Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison by Michel Foucault & Saturday by Ian McEwan
One book you’ve been meaning to read: Introducing Radical Orthodoxy: Mapping a Post-Secular Theology by James K. A. Smith
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Hawk Nelson
Hawk Nelson Is My Friend
Tooth & Nail Records; 2008
Update! This review can be found at Burnside Writers Collective!
I’ll be honest here – it’s a bit too easy to make fun of Tooth & Nail Records these days. They’ve spent most of the ‘00s relentlessly straddling the line between being accepted by both the Warped Tour and youth pastors. And while that’s a noted accomplishment to be sure, they have settled upon a rather comfortable formula for how they attract and market the bands on their roster. I’m going to play the old guy card here – the “I remember when back in the old days…†card – and talk to you about the Tooth & Nail that I grew up with. This was a label that contained all manner of styles and sounds, refused to pander to Christian radio stations and magazines, and distributed to stores via small shipping companies (as opposed to their current EMI deal).
Bands like Frodus, Havalina, Blenderhead, Roadside Monument, Puller, and Living Sacrifice released albums to adoring, albeit small, fanbases. This was the label that launched the careers of national touring acts like MxPx, Zao, Mae, The Juliana Theory, and Underoath, while diligently cultivating the music of Starflyer 59 and Joy Electric. But it seems that all of that has changed within the past 5 or so years, in that, T&N is content to be a version of Vagrant Records or Drive Thru Records that kids don’t have to hide from Mom and Dad. “But these guys are Christians!†kids can proclaim, and then display album lyrics to said parents in order to gain approval for their music. All this from the label that originally never really worried about whether or not their music satisfied the “Jesus-Per-Minute Quotient.†The edge is gone, or it’s a bit manufactured to appear like edge. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not necessarily bemoaning the loss of innocence or anything like that, but I am sad that what once was will never be again.
So, when I hear the music of Hawk Nelson on their new album Hawk Nelson Is My Friend, I get a little bit misty-eyed with lament, mostly because nothing really sticks in my musical craw. Read the rest of this entry »
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Well, since I posted my prognostications on the potential winners earlier this week, I felt that including the actual winners might be a decent gesture on my part, especially since I was incorrect with a few of my guesses. The winner will be underlined and I will denote my incorrect predictions.
The Complete List of Major Award Winners
Best Picture:
Atonement (My Guess)
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country For Old Men (Actual Winner) To be honest, I am glad this film won, as it was beautifully stark and imaginative, keeping the audience engaged and on the edge of their seats. I would have been happy with almost any of these films winning, with the exception of the snarky, witty, brilliant film Juno (whose writer, ex-stripper Diablo Cody, won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay), not because I didn’t enjoy it, but because it simply wasn’t nearly as powerful or masterful a film as the other selections.
There Will Be Blood
Best Actor:
George Clooney - Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood (I was right!)
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Tommy Lee Jones - In The Valley Of Elah
Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises
Best Actress:
Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie - Away From Her (My Guess)
Marion Cotillard - La Vie En Rose (Actual Winner)
Laura Linney - The Savages
Ellen Page - Juno
Best Supporting Actor:
Casey Affleck - The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem - No Country For Old Men (I was right!)
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Charlie Wilson’s War
Hal Holbrook - Into The Wild
Tom Wilkinson - Michael Clayton
Best Supporting Actress:
Cate Blanchett - I’m Not There
Ruby Dee - American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan - Atonement (My Guess)
Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton (Actual Winner) For some reason, this was the strangest selection from the major awards and one that I quibble with the most. Did Tilda do a great job? Yes she did. This was a compelling movie that forced you to pay attention at all times. But did she really have enough screen time to warrant her winning such an award? I personally didn’t think so, much like I didn’t feel that Ruby Dee was on screen enough to earn a nomination for her (excellent) work in American Gangster. Yes, I understand that this is for Best Supporting Actress, the award for the woman who played an integral role in the movie, but wasn’t the main female focus of the film; however, one still needs to have ample face time to deserve the nomination. THAT is why Saoirse Ronan should have won, but child actors & actresses rarely win.
Best Director/Directing:
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country For Old Men (I was right!)
There Will Be Blood
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