by popular demand...

wow. comments. i love it--after a rather long work week, it was cheer-i-fying to hear from so many of you. love ya...

for Michelle, and all those who wondered, Plough Publishing's (a now extinct entity) Advent (Watch for the Light) and Lenten (Bread and Wine) devotionals are worth whatever you have to pay to get your hands on them. They are, apparently, out of print. and, for the record, Mr. Ben Howard first introduced me to the fine devotionals, for which i am eternally greatful--in a very serious use of both words.

and now
for something Completely
. Different

a few aspirations to liven the mundane workdays of the holidays and the mundane nonholiday holidays of January:

one.
rescue time from the hecticity to put some time and thought into seriously thoughtful and not merely consumerist gifts for my family. because i don't get christmas vacation anymore--i get four days off, and i'm lucky for it.

two.
engage in a literary/visual tour-de-force by watching three exciting movies and reading three literary inspirations. i'm definitely watching The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, to which I'm excited to add Geisha and a little trepidatiously, Pride and Predjudice,. Then, I'll read Pride and Predjudice, Memoirs of a Geisha, and the novella that inspired my all time favorite movie, Legends of the Fall. I've already watched Legends, in fact re-watched it today, and of course from time immemorial read the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. in point of fact, my father read it to me as a child, and I have been thinking of late how greatful I am to him for that. and the (seriously) hundreds of books, biographies, and theological treatises that he read to us, faithfully, night after night throughout my childhood. I owe most of my literary knowledge and vocabulary to those books.

hitch. and shameless begging.
does anyone have/want to loan me Geisha? i think Eileen's going to loan me Pride...right Eileen? right?

three.
somehwere in there find time to watch Peter Jackson's King Kong, for which I am rather excited, Aeon Flux (Matrix with a girl? hmmmm), and The Family Stone (can you say Rachel MacAdams...?), Walk the Line (what can I say? I love Johnny Cash...). and, of course, Mike F and Becca B, you must join me because I have to see Rent and it wouldn't be the same without you...

four.
that's just for fun. for serious, Capote and Good Night and Good Luck demand attention, though they may wait for DVD release. Syriana is billed not just as a excellent movie, but a window into oil politics--and i'm greatly intrigued. let's not even mention the well-reviewed Squid and the Whale and Ushpizin.

five.
and finally. here's the challenge. Brokeback Mountain stars Heath Ledger, who has been billed on various lists as the sexiest man in America, and Jake Gyllenhaal, an up-and-coming actor who is often touted as the otherwise-good-point in recent not-so-amazing movies. Ledger has been playing heartthrob successfully for years (cute Aussie exchange student, witty New Yawk ad executive, and grinning Southern warrior-archeologist) and Jake the man's man and stoic warrior. the twist is, Brokeback Mountain is the somewhat painful love story of these two sheep ranch hands and their homosexual relationship, based on Anne Proulx's novella of the same name. it's been getting tremendous reviews, including an excellent Rolling Stone article that occumpanied my breakfast. why is a chick-flick-for-gay-guys on my must-see list this season?

this is important. a few of my friends, both old and new, are homosexuals. others have dabbled in or struggled with the label and stereotype of "he-who-sleeps-with-guys". in many circles, it's pretty much anathema--entire lives and stories, situations and individuals are redwashed by one category of their lives, one aspect of their human experience and expression. many communities calling themselves Christian live in a kind of terrified ignorance of the increasingly expanding and diversifying cultural phenomena. there's a terrified, eyes-squeezed-shut, someone-please-explain-this-to-me-so-I-don't-have-to-wrestle-with-it-myself mentality effectively isolating entire communities (such as the one from which I just graduated) from a large number of people who, in the eyes of God, cannot be simply thought of as write-offs or deeply flawed individuals.

so. do yourself a favor and do something risky. go watch Brokeback Mountain (or, if you're daring, Transamerica) this holiday. then find a gay friend and strike up a conversation and see what they think. maybe it'll end up being a bomb of a movie, or maybe it will mean to them what Legends of the Fall means to me. if you feel bold, check college campuses and hip coffeehouses for pamphlets advertising films that have sprung up from the gay community. now, i'm not advocating everyone going out and buying a gay porn tape. far from it. don't be silly. you're wasting your time. but: there's been quite a bit of pain involved in being gay all over the world, and the stories and voices from that movement have often made themselves heard through cinema. maybe it's time to start listening to those voices and hearing what they have to say, and how they have become the stories of gay men and women (or is it gay men and lesbian women? my vocabulary is inadequate...) all over the world.

because the most difficult thing in the world, generally, is really stopping and listening to your neighbor before you try to love him.