Jenna and I went to see No Country for Old Men tonight, because we had heard it was playing, and that it was good. I haven't decided yet if it's going to grow on me or not. Maybe I'll know in a few weeks.
The one thing that will stand out to me over the next few days is that Javier Bardem's character (Anton Chugrin) is creepy. He is a psychopath who kills even if he doesn't have a logical reason (though the reason is logical enough to him). The hairstyle he sports doesn't help. A mustache would have put him over the top.
The Coen brothers certainly managed to keep their humor in what is a dark story. I found myself laughing at much of the dialogue. Not necessarily because it was comedic in itself, but because some of the conversations had a strange comedic value when held up alongside the violence.
Worth seeing? If you haven't, the DVD is coming out in a couple of weeks. If you don't like graphic violence, don't see it. My recommendation? I'll abstain from one either way; I'm still not sure.
26 February 2008
25 February 2008
Lazy days
I have had the song "Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer" in my head for quite a few weeks now, so I decided to post. Maybe that will help.
Things around here have been quite slow, and I haven't been doing much. I have managed to find things to blog about, but most of my days are spent reading. One of my current books is Ensaio Sobre a Cegueira (Blindness) by José Saramago. I'm reading it in Portuguese and it's been extremely interesting; it's unlike anything I've ever read before. The progression of events and the way that he writes them leave a lot to the imagination; not in the events themselves, but in the details surrounding them. He leaves the reader to explore the emotions and gut reactions of the characters, from the doctor and his wife (he doesn't use proper nouns) to the soldiers to the boy with the squint who doesn't know where his mother is. The primary question I continue to ask is "What would I do if I were there? How would I handle it? Would I be able to handle it?"
Saramago doesn't use quotation marks (which is common in Portuguese, but he also doesn't start a new paragraph when someone new is talking -- he only uses a capital letter to begin the next "sentence"), so the book reads a lot more like stream of consciousness than an orderly set of thoughts or an orderly conversation. It requires that one pay attention. When I finish it, I plan on reviewing it over on a blog I have been invited to co-author, Worm's Book Report.
Maybe after this I'll be able to tackle (and get through) Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Here's to hoping.
Things around here have been quite slow, and I haven't been doing much. I have managed to find things to blog about, but most of my days are spent reading. One of my current books is Ensaio Sobre a Cegueira (Blindness) by José Saramago. I'm reading it in Portuguese and it's been extremely interesting; it's unlike anything I've ever read before. The progression of events and the way that he writes them leave a lot to the imagination; not in the events themselves, but in the details surrounding them. He leaves the reader to explore the emotions and gut reactions of the characters, from the doctor and his wife (he doesn't use proper nouns) to the soldiers to the boy with the squint who doesn't know where his mother is. The primary question I continue to ask is "What would I do if I were there? How would I handle it? Would I be able to handle it?"
Saramago doesn't use quotation marks (which is common in Portuguese, but he also doesn't start a new paragraph when someone new is talking -- he only uses a capital letter to begin the next "sentence"), so the book reads a lot more like stream of consciousness than an orderly set of thoughts or an orderly conversation. It requires that one pay attention. When I finish it, I plan on reviewing it over on a blog I have been invited to co-author, Worm's Book Report.
Maybe after this I'll be able to tackle (and get through) Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Here's to hoping.
20 February 2008
Matters of the heart
One of our churches downtown has a free medical clinic on Tuesday mornings, and I have been blessed to be able to go and help out. I don't always feel like I'm of much help, but it's fun to be there. Most of the people we treat are homeless, though some of them are better-kept than others. Some are alcoholics and still haven't hit bottom; others are truly trying to establish themselves but can't find steady work; others are lazy and want to live off the work of others.
I usually don't leave the clnic broken hearted; my ministry here in Rio was solidified inside that church, ministering to "favelados" and homeless people. To be able to do what I do, whether it be in the favelas or downtown, I have to step back from the situation and look at it objectively. My emotions rarely get involved, because I would be a wreck if I allowed them to control every response I had to these people. Yesterday was a little different. God has been opening up my emotions lately to hurt for others. In saying that, I don't mean having pity on people or feeling sorry for them. I mean hurting in the depths of my heart. We saw a patient yesterday who has been in several rehab centers (including the one that the church has). He arrived at the church drunk. Again. He went to one treatment center where the patients couldn't even leave the facility to buy bread (though it was provided), simply to avoid putting the temptation of drink in front of them. He is addicted to cachaça (a Brazilian liquor made from sugarcane -- it's very available and very cheap) and doesn't eat much. He is the son of a pastor, yet his father's relationship with Jesus can do nothing to change this man's life. His family (12 of them, immediate and extended, as far as I could tell) has been praying for him for years. He is still alive. Still drinking, but alive. I can't help but wonder what God intends to do with him.
Another man came to us needing a bandage done. He was quite pleasant to talk to, but was in severe pain. He was wearing one shoe and one flip-flop. He had a wound on his leg that was severely infected. At some point in the past (Brazilians, and more specifically homeless people, have a sense of time and the passage of events that is hard for my North American mind to grasp), he was wounded with metal on his shin. I don't know if it was a factory accident, or shrapnel, or just a crazy one in a million thing. He was trying as hard as he could to take decent care of the wound, wrapping it with clean (?) bandages when he had them, leaves when he didn't. As the doctor and nurse opened the bandages, I had to leave the room. The infection was severe, his leg was swollen, and the open wound was putrid. As the doctor and nurse cleaned his wound, the smell dissipated. As hard as this man was trying to take good care of his leg, he didn't have the capacity or the resources to do so, and my heart went out to him. I wonder how many hospitals he had been turned away from before he saw us yesterday.
Something that Pastor Mark Driscoll (Mars Hill Church in Seattle -- check out the podcasts) said in one of his recent sermons was that God doesn't go to the nice houses and find the good kids to adopt them. He goes to the orphanages and picks out the worst ones. In other words, He doesn't pick us because we have been good, or because we will be an easy child to raise. In fact, we all at some point in time are the horrible kid in the orphanage who has no hope for becoming a contributing member of God's Kingdom. But God picks the hopeless cases. We try so hard to take care of ourselves, to fix our problems, to heal our diseases, but we can't. Sin is a disease that we have no remedy for but perfection. For us, that is impossible, but through Jesus, it is already done. God has given us the remedy for all our evils and ills. Why? First, because He loves us. Second, because we are cases that no one but God can do anything with. Sin's only remedy is Jesus. He alone can change us. He alone can turn us into a contributing member of His Kingdom. God is good, and He is powerful.
I usually don't leave the clnic broken hearted; my ministry here in Rio was solidified inside that church, ministering to "favelados" and homeless people. To be able to do what I do, whether it be in the favelas or downtown, I have to step back from the situation and look at it objectively. My emotions rarely get involved, because I would be a wreck if I allowed them to control every response I had to these people. Yesterday was a little different. God has been opening up my emotions lately to hurt for others. In saying that, I don't mean having pity on people or feeling sorry for them. I mean hurting in the depths of my heart. We saw a patient yesterday who has been in several rehab centers (including the one that the church has). He arrived at the church drunk. Again. He went to one treatment center where the patients couldn't even leave the facility to buy bread (though it was provided), simply to avoid putting the temptation of drink in front of them. He is addicted to cachaça (a Brazilian liquor made from sugarcane -- it's very available and very cheap) and doesn't eat much. He is the son of a pastor, yet his father's relationship with Jesus can do nothing to change this man's life. His family (12 of them, immediate and extended, as far as I could tell) has been praying for him for years. He is still alive. Still drinking, but alive. I can't help but wonder what God intends to do with him.
Another man came to us needing a bandage done. He was quite pleasant to talk to, but was in severe pain. He was wearing one shoe and one flip-flop. He had a wound on his leg that was severely infected. At some point in the past (Brazilians, and more specifically homeless people, have a sense of time and the passage of events that is hard for my North American mind to grasp), he was wounded with metal on his shin. I don't know if it was a factory accident, or shrapnel, or just a crazy one in a million thing. He was trying as hard as he could to take decent care of the wound, wrapping it with clean (?) bandages when he had them, leaves when he didn't. As the doctor and nurse opened the bandages, I had to leave the room. The infection was severe, his leg was swollen, and the open wound was putrid. As the doctor and nurse cleaned his wound, the smell dissipated. As hard as this man was trying to take good care of his leg, he didn't have the capacity or the resources to do so, and my heart went out to him. I wonder how many hospitals he had been turned away from before he saw us yesterday.
Something that Pastor Mark Driscoll (Mars Hill Church in Seattle -- check out the podcasts) said in one of his recent sermons was that God doesn't go to the nice houses and find the good kids to adopt them. He goes to the orphanages and picks out the worst ones. In other words, He doesn't pick us because we have been good, or because we will be an easy child to raise. In fact, we all at some point in time are the horrible kid in the orphanage who has no hope for becoming a contributing member of God's Kingdom. But God picks the hopeless cases. We try so hard to take care of ourselves, to fix our problems, to heal our diseases, but we can't. Sin is a disease that we have no remedy for but perfection. For us, that is impossible, but through Jesus, it is already done. God has given us the remedy for all our evils and ills. Why? First, because He loves us. Second, because we are cases that no one but God can do anything with. Sin's only remedy is Jesus. He alone can change us. He alone can turn us into a contributing member of His Kingdom. God is good, and He is powerful.
17 February 2008
Exhaustion Redux
Last night was the worst I've had in awhile by far. 4 hours of fitful sleep were granted to me between the hours of 1 and 2 am, and 6 and 9 am. And we fell back an hour last night, so my body recognized those hours as 2-3 and 7-10. Needless to say, today I am ready to sleep early and much. Here's to hoping I will get some good sleep. I don't want to go the route of taking meds to sleep (except maybe the occasional Benadryl), so tonight (thanks to Al's and David's suggestions) I will be having turkey and carbs, and I will also be taking some chamomile tea. And I might hide ALL my clocks and go to bed when I'm tired. Which is now....
14 February 2008
Step 1
Admit you have a problem. Well, I have a problem. I love books. I love buying them, opening a new one, finishing an old one, and reading them.
Things around here have been slow as of late, since our teams don't start up until May. I'm not complaining; it's giving me time to do a lot of stuff I want to do, like read all the Pulitzer Prize-winning novels. I've come upon a new list, and I am attempting to read everything off Peter Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. A complete list of the books can be found here. About 20% of them are available to me from Project Gutenberg, and the rest will just have to wait until I go back to the US. Or will they? I went to the bookstore and bought 2 new books today, one by a Portuguese author, José Saramago (a Nobel laureate) and Atonement (in Portuguese; they didn't have it in English) by Ian McEwan. The problem is this: I already have over 40 books on my to-read list, most of which are saved on my computer (I heart Project Gutenberg!). Two more? What does that make me? Besides seriously addicted....
Things around here have been slow as of late, since our teams don't start up until May. I'm not complaining; it's giving me time to do a lot of stuff I want to do, like read all the Pulitzer Prize-winning novels. I've come upon a new list, and I am attempting to read everything off Peter Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. A complete list of the books can be found here. About 20% of them are available to me from Project Gutenberg, and the rest will just have to wait until I go back to the US. Or will they? I went to the bookstore and bought 2 new books today, one by a Portuguese author, José Saramago (a Nobel laureate) and Atonement (in Portuguese; they didn't have it in English) by Ian McEwan. The problem is this: I already have over 40 books on my to-read list, most of which are saved on my computer (I heart Project Gutenberg!). Two more? What does that make me? Besides seriously addicted....
My lucky day (I hope!)
As most everyone who knows me well knows, I don't have the greatest luck with Valentine's Day. This year (so far) has been drama-free, except for the robberies that happened in my neighborhood, 3 blocks from home this morning. Thankfully, I was still in bed when those were going on.
I got an e-mail from David this morning, and all it said was "Good luck". You have to laugh at that.
I got an e-mail from David this morning, and all it said was "Good luck". You have to laugh at that.
05 February 2008
Blog Tag
Allison tagged me to play!
I am scraping the bottom of the barrel for things to post about (it's Carnaval, and as I am not there, it's pretty quiet), so thanks to Al for giving me something to post!
7 Random Facts About Me:
1. I currently live in Rio de Janeiro.
2. I had 4 roommates my first 4 semesters in college. Trust me, I was the problem.
3. I regularly eat popcorn for dinner. I mean, what's the point in cooking for just me?
4. I love to cook. The more people I'm cooking for, the merrier!
5. I love to read and am constantly reading more than 1 book at a time. My mom has never been able to understand why or how I do that.
6. I am slowly going through the list of Pulitzer Prize-winning novels. I have read 18 out of 80 so far.
7. My favorite job ever is what I am doing right now (managing and running a pharmacy for volunteer medical missionaries), but my summers as a camp counselor run a really close second.
Game of Blog Tag Rules:
*Link to the person that tagged you.
*Post the rules on your blog.
*Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog.
*Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
*Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs.
I'm tagging:
Susanna Julie Soj Jenna
I am scraping the bottom of the barrel for things to post about (it's Carnaval, and as I am not there, it's pretty quiet), so thanks to Al for giving me something to post!
7 Random Facts About Me:
1. I currently live in Rio de Janeiro.
2. I had 4 roommates my first 4 semesters in college. Trust me, I was the problem.
3. I regularly eat popcorn for dinner. I mean, what's the point in cooking for just me?
4. I love to cook. The more people I'm cooking for, the merrier!
5. I love to read and am constantly reading more than 1 book at a time. My mom has never been able to understand why or how I do that.
6. I am slowly going through the list of Pulitzer Prize-winning novels. I have read 18 out of 80 so far.
7. My favorite job ever is what I am doing right now (managing and running a pharmacy for volunteer medical missionaries), but my summers as a camp counselor run a really close second.
Game of Blog Tag Rules:
*Link to the person that tagged you.
*Post the rules on your blog.
*Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog.
*Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
*Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs.
I'm tagging:
Susanna Julie Soj Jenna
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