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The Rules Of Imagination: Where The Wild Things Are

eric@rednow.com (Eric Kuiper) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:26:02 +0000

When my son loaded up in his cousin’s little powered Jeep and started driving around their lawn he declared to all listening, “We're cruising the dunes to Tiki Beach!”

No one knew what he was talking about. They just laughed and said something to the effect of “Where do kids come up with this stuff?”

I know where he got it. He got it from TV.

My son has a small obsession with a particular kids show. When he plays—when he turns on his imagination—it is often what comes pouring back out. His experiences are the fuel his imagination burns on.

Spike Jonze had a daunting task when he took on Where The Wild Things Are. He was making a film about one of America’s favorite children’s books, which happens to have a minimalist story line. How do you do not lose the simplicity of this story while stretching it to fit the screen of a feature length film?

David Bazan's When We Fell (Song)

matt@rednow.com (Matt Browning) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:58:49 +0000

If one is going to stand up to a God he has professed for most of his life, he better have a little swagger... and maybe even a little arrogance. David Bazan's "When We Fell" carries just that, not only in its lyrical content but also in the blues-rock riff that makes this tune so damned catchy (pun intended?). "With the threat of hell hanging over my head like a halo I was made to believe in a couple of beautiful truths, that eventually had the effect of completely unraveling the powerful curse put on me by you." But after years of being told humanity's sinful nature is responsible for the damnation of the world, Bazan has seemingly tried to piece together a narrative that he feels doesn't add up. Bazan says he still believes in God, or a high power, but is uncertain of how the story of this high power matches up with all the brokenness in the world.

Because of this, there are those who have describe Curse Your Branches as Bazan's "break-up album with God." But Bazan refutes that to some degree. Bazan instead refers to his latest release as a "break-up album with a certain narrative of God." "When We Fell" seems to back up Bazan's comment. The bouncy blues-rock riff of this song echoes the old bitter break-up songs of the blues. But there's no "baby please come home" in this song. Bazan question's God's role in "the fall." If God is as powerful as we have been told over and over how is it that the world is in such shambles? And if it's not God's fault then it must be our fault? But if God made this all then what responsibility falls on God? Hmmm... good question David.

Michael Moore: The Mennonite

eric@rednow.com (Eric Kuiper) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:37:10 +0000

I heard about Capitalism: A Love Story by watching Jay Leno’s new show on NBC. Leno interviewed Moore for about 8 minutes. It looked like this: two really rich guys, talking about how much capitalism is sucking for some other group of people. It is amazing because Moore actually calls capitalism “evil“ in his film. Of course it is an evil that he is trying to gain from by promoting his film on a program hosted by a guy who owns over 80 cars. (Now that is must see comedy. Way to go NBC.)

You now have two options. If you do not want to learn from Michael Moore’s latest film, then take the previous paragraph as your basis for writing it off. You also have the choice to learn from a hypocrite. This is the same choice you have every time you learn anything from anyone. It’s just that it is more obvious with Moore on this topic. So, if you are willing to learn from an unlikely teacher, here is your other (better) option:

David Bazan's Curse Your Branches

bob@rednow.com (Bob Davidson) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:03:39 +0000

Well... he did it. For all of you Pedro-Christians out there, if you were confused where David Bazan stood midst the Evangelical realm - it's official. It's "outside". Bazan's latest solo release Curse Your Branches proves to be his most autobiographical (and theological) album to date. Though committed to shed the Pedro moniker, Bazan's captivating sound remains. Hypnotic vocals. Patient melodies. Narrative irony. And theological undertones.

But don't let the familiarity fool you. This is a different album. A notion we explored at a recent house show we (rednoW) hosted this past April. When asked whether there was a difference between his familiar "poking at the Christian community" and this album, Bazan asserted that Curse Your Branches is more "Here I am, take it or leave it" - referencing his departure from the "fold of Evangelical Christianity".

Numbed by Numbers: Reporter

bob@rednow.com (Bob Davidson) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:43:53 +0000

According to recent statistics, approximately 5.4 million people have died over the last decade as a result of the ongoing warfare in the Congo. 2.2 million people die every year as a result of the global aids pandemic. 16,000 children die every day due to hunger related causes. And there are an estimated 45 million displaced refugees around the world today - only 2.5 million of which are cared for by the United Nations.

The question remains: Who cares?

According to recent thought, you don't. And here's why. When was the last time you actually did anything to benefit a particular crisis as a result of numbers?

Sure, there is some faction of tenderness in each of us. But every time a society gets inundated with harsh statistics, complacency sets in. Experts refer to this phenomenon as psychic numbing - the "deprivation of compassion and deadening of feelings when one is confronted by appalling images, facts, or statistics." Is the West on the verge of a colossal compassion collapse? Are we numbed by the numbers?

When Necessary Use Words: Explosions in the Sky

Bdorn@iwu.edu (Brandon Dorn) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 06:00:00 +0000

The difficult part of writing on, or discussing, a meaningful experience is that we run the risk of diminishing what was more amazing for us than we can attempt to match with the words at our disposal. "Awesome" is overused. "Crazy" sounds too frantic. "Righteous" rings a bit too much of the eighties. Though I don't doubt your lexicon reaches beyond these clichés, a movie, a book, a poem, a concert that moves us (higher) incites some innate, beneficent desire to share, to want others to know the tingle, the warmth, the "a ha!", the inside joke, the connection, the lift. This business of communication is an important one, indeed, and we constantly, consciously or otherwise, probe the limits of language when sharing what happens in our lives with others.

Seeing Explosions in the Sky is an experience beyond words, causing one to wish that there were some beauty-language (i.e. Sigur Ros' Hopelandic) that would successfully express to another a taste of what this band is about, what they create onstage, weaving wonders of aural alchemy that turn to some kind of gold when spread about enraptured audiences. The Texas-based instrumental band visited Congress Theater in Chicago on July 2^nd. The day marked their ten year anniversary as a band which, with the difficulties that artists working together often face, quietly impresses. Standing at the lone vocal-microphone at stage right, Munaf Rayani, one of the three guitarists (there isn't any obvious spotlighting of a frontman) softly spoke his traditional and ever-perfect introduction for the band: "My name is Munaf, and we're Explosions in the Sky from Texas, USA," walking toward the band to the rumble of an audience already roaring with anticipation.

Julie & Julia: Can Butter And Blogs Save?

eric@rednow.com (Eric Kuiper) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 01:54:42 +0000

I walked into the theater to see Julie & Julia knowing I was in for a good evening. I was alone with my wife, going to see a movie about cooking. For me, that is a trifecta that cannot be beat—and for those reasons I loved this movie.

Julie & Julia is the weaving together of two stories: Julie Powell’s and Julia Child’s.

Amy Adams plays Julie Powell, a young married woman in New York who takes on the task of cooking her way through Julia Child’s massive cookbook, “Mastering The Art Of French Cooking,” in one year, blogging her journey as she goes.

The other half of the film is the story of Julia Child (Meryl Streep) going from American housewife to cooking legend. Ping-ponging back and forth between the two women’s stories, the film shows the similar paths their lives took as well as exposing the differences.

Meryl Streep spent the 123 minutes of film showing the world why she is the most nominated woman in Hollywood history, while Amy Adams continued to prove that she may be the most likeable actress in Tinseltown.

A Film About Love: Paper Heart

bob@rednow.com (Bob Davidson) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 16:35:30 +0000

Really... What is love? Some mysterious "thing" that we spend our lives avoiding and/or seeking? How does one fall "in" love? Standup comic Charlyne Yi sets out across the country to explore such questions in Paper Heart. This quest quickly turns from philosophical intrigue to a documentary about whether or not she (Charlyne) has and/or will ever encounter true love. The potential lover? None other than lil' George Michael... er, Michael Cera. As Yi and Cera cross paths midst the (Judd) Apatow circle of friends, Yi's quandaries come front and center.

Helvetica: Is there meaning in the typeface?

david.w.swanson@gmail.com (David Swanson) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:32:59 +0000

Helvetica surprised me. That is, the 2007 documentary about the ubiquitous typeface surprised me. Gary Hustwit released his film on the 50th anniversary of the typeface's introduction, an anniversary most of us probably missed. Entry into the world of those who didn't miss this anniversary is one of the surprises of Helvetica. This is a world of designers and typesetters, of art and advertising. These are men and women for whom the shapes and sizes of type reflect a much larger conversation about the place and purpose of design. Are words on a page a means to communicate or are they the communication? Should a typeface's meaning come from its design or from the words its letters form? In Helvetica this debate between modernists and postmodernists takes place in public view in the form of corporate logos, advertisement, and your computer's library of fonts.

Gregory Alan Isakov's Hemisphere

eric@rednow.com (Eric Kuiper) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 06:00:00 +0000

I have this small, black, fits-in-your-pocket, piece of technology that I currently refer to as my Gregory Alan Isakov Player. You probably have one to—you call it an iPod—that is only because you have yet to upload Gregory into your iTunes libaray.

Every summer deserves a soundtrack and This Empty Northern Hemisphere is likely my choice for ‘09. Hemisphere has a sound that demands a warm evening, a laid back gathering of friends and a few good drinks.