like all the others, the newest pixar short is brilliant. i've loved all the pixar movies so far, but have stalled on going to see Wall-E as i figure we'll buy it on dvd once it's out - but it's hard to resist. if you've seen it, would you say it's worth catching now on the big screen even though we tend to buy all the pixar films?
[ht to ysmarko]
i'm not sure when this blog switched from mostly book reviews to mostly posting videos, but that seems to have become the case in the last few months.
i know a lot of you don't bother clicking through to links, but this one is definitely worth it. revveduptv has a series of videos that are freaking hysterical. my favorite's are eternal darnation and lyrical punishment, but so far, all of them are funny.
[ht to Michael Spencer at the Boar's Head Tavern]
since i've posted a few videos - more than i ever intended - i thought i'd throw this one in. it's 500 years of women as portrayed in art.
[ht to Richard of the Boar's Head Tavern]
okay, i know i've posted a lot of videos lately, and i promised to post other stuff, but i've got one more first:
[ht to ysmarko]
sorry to be posting another video so soon after the others, but i like this one.
i don't remember where i first saw this, but i've now seen it on a bunch of blogs. the church that produced it has a series of something like six of these now, though this first one is my favorite so far.
anyway, just a fun look at american christianity.
67,871 people showed up to displace me in 15 cities throughout the u.s.
if you didn't read my previous posts (here and here) about the event, or click on the links, i'll fill you in briefly.
invisible children is an organization that was started by three guys who went to africa with some video cameras after college. they ended up in northern uganda, and learned about a war, that has now raged on for 21 years, in which children were being kidnapped and used as child soldiers and killed if they refused. these guys made a video about these child soldiers, and what kids were having to do to avoid being kidnapped, and from there arose their organization which works to help these kids.
the war still rages on, though some of the circumstances have changed since the first video. for the last decade or so, people have been forcibly moved from their villages into involuntary displacement camps, where they have no work, no schools, and little food and water.
the goal of displace me was to draw awareness to this situation. a situation where an entire generation has no education. a situation where poverty, aids, and violence kill constantly.
you can learn more about invisible children and find out how to help on their website, and watch videos about the current situation on the displace me website.
or you can watch this brief video of theirs:
if you haven't already come across this, it's worth watching.
the washington post's article about it is long, but interesting.
** edited to add **
one of my favorite parts of the article was the following (i just love that the kid gets it):
"I had a time crunch," recalls Sheron Parker, an IT director for a federal agency. "I had an 8:30 training class, and first I had to rush Evvie off to his teacher, then rush back to work, then to the training facility in the basement."
Evvie is her son, Evan. Evan is 3.
You can see Evan clearly on the video. He's the cute black kid in the parka who keeps twisting around to look at Joshua Bell, as he is being propelled toward the door.
"There was a musician," Parker says, "and my son was intrigued. He wanted to pull over and listen, but I was rushed for time."
So Parker does what she has to do. She deftly moves her body between Evan's and Bell's, cutting off her son's line of sight. As they exit the arcade, Evan can still be seen craning to look. When Parker is told what she walked out on, she laughs.
"Evan is very smart!"
in class (impact of abuse) on friday night, we watched the film Romero (1989). i'd seen the film about a decade ago, and have studied enough about liberation theology and nonviolent action to remain familiar with the story line long after having forgotten the details of the film itself. it's based on the true story of archbishop Oscar Romero, who was assassinated/martyred in El Salvador on march 24th, 1980.
according to the film's portrayal, Oscar Romero was an introverted, academic, catholic priest who - when promoted from bishop to archbishop - would have prefered to remain in a study with his books than dealing with the political, economic, and humanitarian crises occurring in El Salvador at the time. the upper class Salvadorans urge him to remain theirs, as the reigning political parties have tended to have the church's support (at least outwardly via those in leadership), yet he is drawn further and further into the plight of the poor as he encounters the violence and injustice they face each day.
in the midst of a movie filled with injustice, abject poverty, violence, greed, and oppression, one scene in particular has stuck with me over the past week or so:
the Salvadoran government has occupied a town and turned the church into a barracks for the soldiers who are now in charge of the town. as the soldiers have overtaken the church and are not permitting Mass, Romero goes to pick up the consecrated (blessed) hosts (communion bread) of the Eucharist, because they cannot be left in this place that is no longer a church. as he enters, an officer confronts him and does not let him pass towards the altar. when Romero makes to step past him, the officer fires his automatic weapon at the tabernacle (where the hosts are stored) and the crucifix. Romero, frightened by this encounter, leaves the building. as he's about to enter the car, he realizes that he cannot just leave. in Catholic theology, once the host has been consecrated, it is believed to become the body of Christ, and is treated with the utmost reverence and respect. therefore, this archbishop proves to those around him that he is a man of God because he cannot allow the body of Christ to lay on the floor, but instead risks his life to pick up the pieces of the hosts - the body of Christ - that have been shot and now lay on the floor. he enters the church, walks past the officer, and on his hands and knees, begins to pick up the pieces of the fallen hosts. the officer, to instill fear and prove that he is the one in control, begins firing just over Romero's head, filling the wall behind the altar with bullet holes. Romero flinches, but continues to gather the pieces from the ground. eventually, the soldier pushes him over, and walks him out of the church at gunpoint. Romero gets in his car and leaves the village. but, just as he has passed the town limits, he returns to the town, to the people, to the church once again. as he exits the car, he begins to put on his vestments. all the townspeople have watched this encounter transpire, and their eyes are transfixed as he dons his robe and alb. once again, he walks towards the church, this time though, all the townspeople and the local priests join him as he enters the church. faced with so many civilians and religious, the soldiers step aside, as Romero stakes a claim for the church as God's house, not a barracks.
what struck me so deeply about this scene, was watching Romero handle the Eucharist - believed to be the very body of Christ - with such reverence, care, and adoration, with bullets flying over his head. it was beautiful to see him care for Jesus's body in such a way. but greater still, was his return to the town. in that, it showed Romero realizing that more sacred than the bread - the hosts - as the body of Christ, was the fact that the very people themselves -the church - were the body of Christ. well, maybe he didn't see it as more sacred, but it took until that moment for him to don his vestments, so maybe he did. but it was a visible reminder of the biblical passages regarding the church as the body of Christ, as well as Jesus's words that "whatever you do unto the least of these, that you do unto me." each person who entered the church with Romero upon his final entrance, each represented Jesus, in the flesh - and all of them together, as the church, were the very body of Christ. so Romero went to the town to retrieve - save - the body of Christ in the Eucharist, but found that the body of Christ was greater than the consecrated hosts because it was the living, breathing, community of believers that surrounded him.
it was a truly beautiful scene. and, if seen with an awareness of Catholic theology, and thus what Romero would have been thinking upon seeing the Eucharistic hosts shot at and laying on the floor, it adds an entire other dimension to watch his conversion from seeing only the bread, to the people as well, and to move to a place of understanding that he could not abandon the living, breathing, communal body of Christ that lived in that town just as he had not been able to leave the Eucharistic hosts laying on the ground exposed.
thanks danteknave for passing this along.
this video is good for laughs - especially between writing papers. sorry if you find the language at the end offensive, but i thought that the video overall was well-done and funny enough to post it anyway.
at church last week we watched a film called Invisible Children. it's a heartbreaking tale of the situation in Uganda. knowing that i knew nothing about this before, i'll assume you don't either (whoever you are that's reading this).
there's a rebel resistance group there called the lord's resistance army (lra) that has been fighting for years. the thing about the lra is that their recruits are forced into service. they do this by invading villages at night, and kidnapping children between the ages of five and twelve - old enough to carry things, yet young enough to be forced into service and brainwashed easily. they immediately subject these children to violence, to scare them into obedience. if a kid resists, they are killed. if they cry, showing fear or homesickness, they are killed. they are beaten, threatened, and the girls are raped and forced to marry older men.
to avoid these kidnappings, children from the villages commute into the larger towns on their own each night. they sleep in overcrowded verandas or hospitals with little to no adult supervision. traveling on their own, and facing such violence, they are forced into early adulthood. the older children experiment sexually, using things like used plastic bags as makeshift condoms. those who are lucky enough to go to school, have to study on their own at night by candlelight.
these kids have seen atrocities we can only imagine. they face risks each day just to survive and experience some sort of freedom.
the film was made by three college grads who just wanted to go out and experience something different, so they went to africa to film a documentary. this turned out to be a life changing experience for them. after seeing these kids and interviewing them, they haven't been able to leave them. they have formed an organization to help these kids. they offer counseling to those who've been forced to fight, education, and other resources. this is their mission statement:
Invisible Children, Inc. changes culture, policy, and lives through collisions of poverty and power.
The Mission is the ultimate goal of Invisible Children—the resources, skills, and funds that hit the ground in Uganda, providing healthcare, safety, employment, and education.
Invisible Children, Inc. believes that changing the lives of people in underprivileged areas is just as important as changing lives in the western world. The only way change can come in Uganda, and other places in need, is to educate and empower the rest of the world to do something. One of the darkest things about Africa is the rest of the world’s ignorance towards it. If you believe in what we’re doing, join us. We are unlike many other nonprofits: We take your donation, make it larger by plugging it into our programs in the United States, and send the greater amount to Uganda. Please visit the “Programs” page of our website for more information on the Invisible Children Bracelet Campaign and the Education Program.
. i don't know, maybe you'll want to buy the dvd and watch it (and after seeing it, show it to others to expose them to what's going on as well). maybe you can't do that, but can give a donation, or buy a bracelet or find some other way to help these invisible children.
