We came back from a walk. Gwyn was being silly and running through the sprinklers.  I started filming it with my wife’s little Sony Point and Shoot camera.  Gwyn is just the cutest kid.  Cuter than yours, I dare say.

Pi on the raft and the Tiger in the Lifeboat

So, this book came out a few years ago.  I had heard about it and have had it on my bookshelf for four or five years now.  Recently, I picked it up, and subsequently devoured it.  I loved every page.  The slow, thoughtful Part One that meanders through Pi’s childhood, his search for God, and his experiences growing up in an Indian zoo.

This is not a review…this is me processing my hate for the last 8 pages of the book.  If you have not read it and would like to, stop reading this post.

For those that want to continue, let me sum up the story.

Pi Patel, an Indian boy in Pondicherry is son of a zookeeper. He is Hindu. He finds Jesus, becomes a Christian…then finds Allah and also becomes Muslim. He practices all three, much to the chagrin of the dudes who run the three institutions that he attends. It’s my favorite scene in the book. Favorite quote…(when seeking out the Christian Church) “Christianity’s reputation was strange: very few Gods, terrible violence, but good schools.” haha…anyway. First part of the book is him growing up. Second part of the book is what happens after his family tries to move to Canada by taking a cargo ship across the Pacific. The ship has a menagerie onboard because they are selling some animals to American zoos. Shipwreck leaves him a lone human survivor on board a lifeboat with an orangutan, a hyena, a zebra, and a Bengal tiger. The book is about his survival…scratch that. The book is actually one big sham to get you to see how everyone believes in something. Why believe in “dry yeastless factuality” when this is the “better story.” If you want it to be true…it indeed becomes true to you. Postmodern spirituality at it’s most nausea inducing. Ack…can you tell I’m still hot about this? haha. Curse you Pi!

So…my main beef with the book. My problem is that the end negates the entire book. Some may say that this is the beauty of the book. Some may say that it is the very thing that points us toward God. The fact that Pi changed the horrific story and truth of what happens to him out at sea to an amazing story of courage, survival and a tiger makes me ticked for taking the time to read Martel’s story. For 130 pages, the book became an amazing and pain-stakingly detailed, page-turning story that I fully became engrossed in. As the story became increasingly wondrous…especially the beautifully horrific island of algae I fully bought it all, because a) Martel is a brilliant writer and shapes his world around you and b) I had no reason not to. Pi was an honest, highly religious boy who loved God…I had no idea that the story I was reading was going to end up simply being coping mechanism for the horror and dehumanization he suffered at the hands of the human survivors.

I wish I could go back to yesterday at sunset. I had just taken a break from reading it…just as I learned the truth (ha-truth) about the algae island and went to dinner with my family. We left the restaurant.

The sky was lit up with amazing orange colors. I thought of Pi and the skys he was seeing. The various hues, the symphony of color that moved from yellow to orange to magenta and finally a dull blue. I pictured the world from his perspective. I wondered how he would be rescued and whether he and the tiger would remain together.

I couldn’t wait to get home and finish the book.

I wish I had never picked it up again.

YouTube – ABC “V” TV SERIES PILOT PROMO TRAILER.

Ahh…the 80’s.  Loved this series the first time.  Hope this one is good too.

YouTube – The Onion Reports – Star Trek fans bash new film as “Too good & too much fun”.

After four airings, NBC has decided no one really cares about “Kings.”  Trouble is, it was/is a terribly interesting show and Ian McShane as King Silas was/is the baddest, scariest, smoothest and most “hate ‘em and root for ‘em at the same time” character on television since Benjamin Linus first weaseled his way into our hearts on “Lost.”  He plays the King on a show that was most likely going to show in a contemporary setting, the story behind the transfer of power from King Saul to King David in the Old Testament.  It was an intriguing idea. In fact, a buddy of mine and I have been prepping a western about this very story.  It’s a gripping story about loyalty to God, to country, about peace and the purpose of war.  It’s about power and how the people who most desire it are the ones who should not have it. It’s about God…and it wears it right on it’s sleeve.

So I got to thinking the other day, when I heard that “Kings” was moving to the graveyard of Saturday night television, that Christians love to say things on their facebook status like, “Hollywood, we want more movies like ‘Fireproof’” or “If Hollywood would just tell some decent stories about things that matter, we would watch it.”  Well…only 3,999,998 of you watched this along with my wife and I.  Apparently, not enough for NBC to continue this risky venture.  It’s not cancelled yet, but most likely it will be.

I read the following article about this very quandry by John Ridley on NPR:

The thing about working in Hollywood is that at some point you really get tired of hearing how godless you are, and how if you and the rest of the heathens in Tinseltown would put more God-centric shows on TV, people wouldn’t be abandoning prime time in favor of their Bible study classes.

If that’s true, then why isn’t NBC’s Kings the biggest show in the history of humanity?

If you haven’t been watching Kings — and you haven’t ’cause it’s been averaging less than 4 million viewers a week — it’s this alt-world royalty/palace intrigue allegory set in the mythical near-future Kingdom of Gilboa. Kings stars the great Ian McShane who would be worth the price of admission even if you actually had to pay to see him.

But forget for a sec the great acting, the wonderfully rendered CGIed New York capital of Shiloh, the intrigue… Here’s the disconnect I can’t connect with: Kings is “a contemporary re-telling of the timeless tale of David and Goliath,” according to the official NBC press release and the $10 million pilot episode that revolves around a character named David who single-handedly takes out an enemy tank called a Goliath. Yes, a Goliath.

(read more)

I suggest you give it a chance…catch up on hulu or NBC.com and if nothing else, witness the miraculous work of Ian McShane. The dude’s amazing. Then start watching the remainder of the season.  It’s one way to vote that at least a few folks in Hollywood will take risks on stories like these.

In glorious black & white.  Thanks Ian.

Technorati Tags: life behind the lens, texture, disneyland, kids

What? You can’t do it.

Jess and I got out of town this weekend.  Rodrigo was a great guy for stepping up to lead the services for me on Valentine’s Day and his wife was even greater. 

For Christmas, Jess got me a membership to the Huntington Library and Gardens in Pasadena, CA.  The place is beautiful and it was a perfect day for getting away just the two of us.  It’s amazing how much you appreciate a few stolen moments with your girlfriend after a few years of parenthood.  I won’t get all mushy, but it was grand…

You can see all of the Huntington Pics here.

That evening, we journeyed down to Santa Monica to spend the night in the most affordable motel on Ocean Avenue…Needless to say…you get what you pay for.  No chocolate on the pillow if you know what I mean.

But alas, it was still wonderful.  Spent the evening strolling down Third Street Promenade and scored points buying Jess a red velvet cupcake from a store that makes nothing but cupcakes.  We then made our way down the pier and back to the hotel motel.

We laughed alot, we talked alot.

We walked silently sometimes…just holding hands. 

It was one of the most relaxing and rejuvenating moments of our marriage.

I’m glad we did it.

The next day we awoke and I got owned by a three mile run through Palisade Park, the streetside park along Ocean where all the beautiful LA people go to run. (Jess’ actual words to me at one point, “You’re not going to have a heart attack are you?”  Why is treadmill running so much different than street running?

After the run, we spent the day on the pier and at the great little aquarium beneath it.  If you’re ever down in Santa Monica with your fam, you need to check this place out.  It’s cheap and it’s not huge.  If you are on a date, then it’ll only cost you 4 bucks for the pair of you.

We ran around on the beach taking pics of each other.

We also came across an amazing memorial to those who have died in the Iraq War.  Apparently they set this up every weekend.

If you want to see all the Pics from Santa Monica that day, see the set here.

It was just one night…as Jess put it, we only had 32 hours together.  It was nice to know that above kids, homeschooling, jobs, ministry, bills, stress, and twitter, that we were still connected and hopelessly in love with each other.