Easter weekend I figured it was as good a time as any to watch Mel Gibson’s Passion. I think I must have been one of the few not to have seen it by now considering the passion for it in churches and curiosity over the fervor it caused when it was released everywhere else.

I didn’t like it. I though the emphasis was in entirely the wrong place showing purely the human suffering of Jesus. Jesus Christ was a man and his pain was real enough,-what he suffered atrocious and brutal enough, but if the pain he suffered was more than any other person has ever endured was it because the physical human torture was more than had ever been seen before in history? I don’t think so. The flashy, exaggerated Hollywood style (You can’t tell me slow-mo sequences and ‘fright-shots’ of demon faces isn’t exaggerated) of the movie is a cultural stamp, and our enjoyment of producing and watching glorified brutality is thought provoking and as disturbing as earlier cultures apparent enjoyment of the actual thing. I probably wouldn’t have had so much issue with technique if the focus was right I guess.

The last minute should have been the focus of the movie. To me the point, who Jesus was, what He did and why, (what little was in the movie) was so overshadowed by a depiction of human suffering, as to not even need to be there. As it was I came away from the movie feeling like I’d been mugged. Enduring something but coming away with nothing.

If I’m going to watch a gritty period piece with brutality and slow-mo, I’d rather watch Gladiator.

I love this stuff. On a hot summers day after some physical labour it’s great. I won’t pretend that it’s as satisfying as a cold beer but it’s a suitable substitute. I also shouldn’t pretend that I’ve had a hot summers day or done any physical labour lately either…but it’s good stuff.

A couple of weeks ago I tried to draw a car after watching ‘Overhaulin’. Watching Chip Foose draw on that show is inspiring and I wish I could draft like that. When I was a kid I used to love to draw cars and got pretty good at drawing a standard cartoony hot-rod. But it had been so long since I had drawn any cars and this most recent attempt was pretty pathetic. I think I can touch it up and make it look like something when I have some time. Hopefully I can update with the funny process I went about trying to draw it.

I’ve worked from home for some time now but never had this happen to me before. I’m sure it must be a common experience for those who commute down the hall.
I got up this morning, made coffee and sat down at the computer…read email and started to work.

Some time around 2:00 I make a bathroom run and to my shock my reflexion is unshorn with hair protruding in all directions and not in that funky way that funky people are wont to style hair these days.
How could I go all day without combed hair and a shave?! Tsk and for shame!

I was very excited to find screens for sifting soil at Lee Valley so I can mix my own bonsai soil. You can get them from a bonsai nursery, but it’s more expensive. It’s a circular frame with three interchangable screens of different mesh sizes for seperating the fines out of soil providing better draining soil. (Exciting stuff eh? Gets the blood pumping! Who needs a plasma screen when you can have 3/32″, 3/16″ and 1/4″ ones?!)This should solve my soggy pot problem and prevent root rot with excessive moisture, but would also mean that I’d have to take greater care to make sure my trees don’t dry out. Lee Valley bonsai riddle

We’re really happy we’ve found a church where proper emphesis seems to be placed in the proper areas. I’m so happy that the limbo we’ve been in between churches may be over.

I’m also encouraged, funny enough, by the fact that some of the things I was looking for in a church are not there. It means I’m not head over heels excited that I’ve found the perfect church because if I was I would have to suspect that I was delusional or at least unrealistic, perhaps using critical examination as an excuse to never settle down. It also may mean that I’ve grown-up some.

In looking for a new church home as well as the more important aspects I was concerned with regarding worship and the Gospel, it’s a nice ‘bonus’ that this community of believers is also conveniently close, and has a large number of young families. I’m hopeful and pray that we are able to identify ourselves with this particular church and contribute to this community.