those of you who know me might not know of a dirty little secret that i've kept well hidden for a while. i really enjoy watching the scripps national spelling bee. i don't know why. i'm an awful speller. i r
ely on firefox's auto-spell checker to keep me from looking like a complete idiot. and you never really need to know any of the words they spell in the bee anyway. i mean, why would you need to know that aptyalism is "an absence or deficiency of saliva" or that kulturkampf is german for "conflict between civil government and religious authorities". but these kids know how to spell those words. i think the reason i like to watch the spelling bee is that these kids are doing something that a majority of the population would consider geeky or nerdy or wierd, but these kids enjoy spelling. sure, they stress out about the definition or the part of speech or the etymology of the word, but when they get through a round or past a word, there is a certain look of jubilation on their faces. maybe it's because i know i could do that so i'm more appreciative of what they put into this competition. or maybe it's because i'm a dork. anyway, i've been watching the spelling bee, which concluded last night in primetime on abc with sameer mishra winning it all by spelling guerdon which means, ironically, "a reward, recompense".
after that, i finally sat down and watched there will be blood, the ocsar-nominated film for best picture and oscar-winning film for best actor daniel day lewis. it's an interesting movie. it's not an action movie, as some people might get from the title. it's a movie about the slow decent of a silver miner turned oil tycoon into greed and hatred of human kind. great casting and acting, especially by daniel day lewis, for his portrayal of daniel plainview, and paul dano, who plays eli sunday, the local pastor of the church of the 3rd revelation. the movie's presentation of dano's character is one that has some very interesting parallels to today's brand of financial prosperity gospel and just the general quickness of many of us to sell out the most important things for a quick buck or the promise of financial security. sunday is quick to talk his father into selling their oil-rich land for a sizable donation to his church. sunday is seen a faker, someone who is putting on "one hell of a show" as plainview remarks, but who is ultimately a phony. even when sunday gets the money to build his super-church, he wants more. the second to last time we see sunday, he is boarding a church so that he can "go on mission", but the audience knows that he's take most of the money that he's gotten from plainview and he's off to make a name for himself and to make himself rich. the last scene of the movie shows a desperate eli begging plainview for money because he's starting to loose all of his investments in the great depression. plainview agrees to give eli money, if he first announces to plainview and to god that he is "a false prophet" and that "god is a supersistion." eli gives the idea only a little thought before renouncing god and turning his back on religion for the money. at first, i was a little condemning of sunday's actions, and quick to liken him to today's modern right-wing "wackos" like joel osteen and benny hinn. it's easy to make those parallels to the people who promise riches or that they will heal you and then ask for money. but when i thought about it more, how would i deal with things? i'm a poor college student who hopes to get married inside of two years. what would i do for money? it's definitely worth a thought. and i like movies that make you think about things. the movie isn't even about sunday, but the story is the same for plainview, as you watch his decent into greed and hatred for money and comfort. it's just interesting to take the story from sunday's perspective. anyway, i recommend this movie. don't expect action or buckets of blood, but watch the movie as an introspective story. it will challenge you to think about things.
well, only 5 more days of work here in starkville and then i get to go back home. i'm gonna miss hanging out with my roommates and the friends that i've made at work, but i really miss my girlfriend (who i found out actually reads this, at least she saw it once. that make one...) and my family and friends back home. also, i'm excited because when i get back home, me and my girlfriend get to start recording some songs. we bought a recording system a few weeks back and we only really got to play with it once before i had to leave for starkville again. so, i'll be back home on thursday, and then friday and saturday will be spent celebrating my girlfriend's sister's wedding (for which i was trusted enough to pick out the music for). so, there might be one more entry from starkville and then i'll be bringing you the blog from the dirty dell.
more to come...
ely on firefox's auto-spell checker to keep me from looking like a complete idiot. and you never really need to know any of the words they spell in the bee anyway. i mean, why would you need to know that aptyalism is "an absence or deficiency of saliva" or that kulturkampf is german for "conflict between civil government and religious authorities". but these kids know how to spell those words. i think the reason i like to watch the spelling bee is that these kids are doing something that a majority of the population would consider geeky or nerdy or wierd, but these kids enjoy spelling. sure, they stress out about the definition or the part of speech or the etymology of the word, but when they get through a round or past a word, there is a certain look of jubilation on their faces. maybe it's because i know i could do that so i'm more appreciative of what they put into this competition. or maybe it's because i'm a dork. anyway, i've been watching the spelling bee, which concluded last night in primetime on abc with sameer mishra winning it all by spelling guerdon which means, ironically, "a reward, recompense".after that, i finally sat down and watched there will be blood, the ocsar-nominated film for best picture and oscar-winning film for best actor daniel day lewis. it's an interesting movie. it's not an action movie, as some people might get from the title. it's a movie about the slow decent of a silver miner turned oil tycoon into greed and hatred of human kind. great casting and acting, especially by daniel day lewis, for his portrayal of daniel plainview, and paul dano, who plays eli sunday, the local pastor of the church of the 3rd revelation. the movie's presentation of dano's character is one that has some very interesting parallels to today's brand of financial prosperity gospel and just the general quickness of many of us to sell out the most important things for a quick buck or the promise of financial security. sunday is quick to talk his father into selling their oil-rich land for a sizable donation to his church. sunday is seen a faker, someone who is putting on "one hell of a show" as plainview remarks, but who is ultimately a phony. even when sunday gets the money to build his super-church, he wants more. the second to last time we see sunday, he is boarding a church so that he can "go on mission", but the audience knows that he's take most of the money that he's gotten from plainview and he's off to make a name for himself and to make himself rich. the last scene of the movie shows a desperate eli begging plainview for money because he's starting to loose all of his investments in the great depression. plainview agrees to give eli money, if he first announces to plainview and to god that he is "a false prophet" and that "god is a supersistion." eli gives the idea only a little thought before renouncing god and turning his back on religion for the money. at first, i was a little condemning of sunday's actions, and quick to liken him to today's modern right-wing "wackos" like joel osteen and benny hinn. it's easy to make those parallels to the people who promise riches or that they will heal you and then ask for money. but when i thought about it more, how would i deal with things? i'm a poor college student who hopes to get married inside of two years. what would i do for money? it's definitely worth a thought. and i like movies that make you think about things. the movie isn't even about sunday, but the story is the same for plainview, as you watch his decent into greed and hatred for money and comfort. it's just interesting to take the story from sunday's perspective. anyway, i recommend this movie. don't expect action or buckets of blood, but watch the movie as an introspective story. it will challenge you to think about things.well, only 5 more days of work here in starkville and then i get to go back home. i'm gonna miss hanging out with my roommates and the friends that i've made at work, but i really miss my girlfriend (who i found out actually reads this, at least she saw it once. that make one...) and my family and friends back home. also, i'm excited because when i get back home, me and my girlfriend get to start recording some songs. we bought a recording system a few weeks back and we only really got to play with it once before i had to leave for starkville again. so, i'll be back home on thursday, and then friday and saturday will be spent celebrating my girlfriend's sister's wedding (for which i was trusted enough to pick out the music for). so, there might be one more entry from starkville and then i'll be bringing you the blog from the dirty dell.
more to come...
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