To make a gross understatement, this hasn't been my biggest year for movie-going. Last month's viewing of Luther was my first time in a movie theater since Lord of the Rings last December. I certainly don't have anything against movies, in fact I generally like them, but I just haven't had the time and motivation recently. In fact, I still do enjoy reading about movies, and otherwise keeping up with popular culture. With Thanksgiving weekend coming up, I thought I'd share a new site for movie commentary, which I am really starting to enjoy.

When I was much younger, the only source for movie analysis that I really knew about was Ted Baehr's Movieguide. This is a deeply conservative Christian publication, which is known for rating movies on both artistic quality and moral quality. I do still appreciate Movieguide's exhaustive itemization of everything conceivably objectionable in a movie, which is very useful information for anyone considering whether a movie is appropriate for kids. On the other hand, though I appreciate their intentions, I find that Movieguide is often overzealous and misguided in doling out unfavorable moral ratings. Since I myself am not taking young kids to movies, I don't really read Movieguide anymore, and I would not recommend relying upon it.

At the other end of the spectrum is Hollywood Jesus. This site contains provacative viewpoints on how movies and popular culture illustrate spiritual themes. Although I personally have found it to stimulate some seriously worthwhile thoughts, I must also note that HJ can find spiritual meaning in practically anything, and sometimes they go a bit far even for me. Yet another good source for culture commentary is the Summary Judgment column on Slate (it doesn't seem to be possible to link directly to an SJ menu, but here is the latest installment). SJ is a digest of what commentators are saying in national publications about all manner of cultural events and releases -- not just movies but books, music, and other stuff as well.

Getting to the new and enjoyable source I mentioned earlier (finally, you say!), it is the Christianity Today Film Forum, part of the website of CT magazine. Like SJ, the Film Forum is a digest of what commentators around the country are saying, though it also contains some commentary that comes straight from the author and ties the other sources together. It focuses mostly on Christian commentators, though mainstream voices are noted as well. The few times I've read it so far, I have found the discussion to be balanced and uplifting, with a refreshingly moderate perspective. Next time I am considering a trip to the movie theater, I will definitely consult it.

Samuel Picture Alert: Click here for the latest pictures, including meeting Grandpa and taking a bath. The older pictures are also there. This will be the permanent address for Samuel pictures, and I'll mention here when I upload new ones.  

Posted by Matt on 11/27/2003 01:14:00 AM -- Permalink --  0 comments

We found out in church this morning that Cam Quarterone, a member of our congregation, passed away on Friday. Cam was quite elderly and had been in failing health for quite a while, so the event really was neither unexpected nor tragic. But Laura and I both sat crying softly as we listened to his wife Jean tell of what had happened. We had talked to Cam in church several times and knew him a little bit, but it really is Jean who has a place in our hearts. She was the first person we ever met at Northside, long before we decided to attend there regularly as our home church. She never fails to give us a warm hug, and often calls us her "kids". Jean and Cam had only been married for about three years (they had both previously been widowed), but had given each other love and support during that time. The church service was a bit emotional at times today, but in a joyful way. Jean testified that God had brought spiritual healing to Cam in the past few years, and though his illness had been very hard, she rejoiced that God had been with them through it, and that Cam is now home.

It's been so nice to have family here recently. Laura's mom came out here two days after Samuel was born, and stayed for a week. She helped us get through the hospital experience, and then to settle into a new life at home with a baby. The day she left, my mom came out and stayed for a week as well. By the time she left we had been thoroughly spoiled! But Laura had recovered enough from her C-section that she could manage on her own at that point. We joked as we drove away from the airport that now we were really parents, with no one there to help us. Well, we seem to have gotten through the first week successfully, and then this Friday we picked up my dad at the airport. He had managed to get a two-day layover in Tucson on his way back from a business trip in Texas. We had a good time yesterday. Among other things, we watched USC cream UCLA and hopefully pave the way to play for their first college football championship in 25 years. Dad proudly wore his "USC Alumni" shirt all day, somewhat dangerous around here given that last week USC beat the Wildcats here in Tucson, by a score of 45-0! Then tonight we had to take him back to the airport as well.

And just like that, Thanksgiving is this week. November 2003 has got to hold the record for the fastest month in history. 

Posted by Matt on 11/24/2003 01:29:00 AM -- Permalink --  2 comments

I did actually see the Luther movie last month, not long after I wrote about my interest in it, and I really enjoyed it. I've been meaning to write about it ever since, but things have been so crazy that I didn't have time.

It turns out that I wasn't quite accurate before when I called Luther a "big budget production." In fact, it was never released in most theaters (in Tucson, it's playing only in a single "art house" theater), and it seems to me that the sets and the supporting acting betrayed the modest resources that were available to director Eric Till. Still, I will take first-rate lead actors over a lavish production any day; and Luther certainly delivers the goods with Joseph Fiennes (of Shakespeare in Love) as the reformer, the great Sir Peter Ustinov as his political patron Frederick the Wise, Bruno Ganz as his spiritual mentor Father Johann von Staupitz, and Alfred Molina as the dastardly indulgence-seller John Tetzel.

Although their reviews are generally positive, several Christian movie critics raised legitimate concerns about the movie's historical accuracy, particularly regarding those aspects of Luther's life that the movie leaves out. Luther was a man whose flaws were obvious to all, particularly in his coarse language and the overheated killer instinct of his rhetoric. This is actually something that I (somewhat perversely) have always appreciated about Luther, because he is an illustration that great men of God are not dewy-eyed saints but "men of like passions" as the rest of us. Although the movie did briefly acknowledge some of these character flaws, I have to admit that I found Fiennes' portrayal to be a bit dewy-eyed at times. But to be fair, no movie can fully render the complexities of a human life, and I do not fault Fiennes for emphasizing Luther's idealism, his compassion, and his driving desire to understand and communicate God's truth.

In any movie based on fact, there is a fine line between being overly simplistic, and being sufficiently nuanced but confusing the audience. Within the limitations of the medium, the movie does a pretty decent job of portraying the complexity of Luther's times. In particular, the movie successfully resists the temptation of becoming an anti-Catholic rant. Although there was one troubling scene where Luther plays an audience for laughs while denouncing certain Catholic doctrines (although I disagree with those same doctrines, I personally have developed a severe reaction to the use of ridicule as a debating trick, thanks to the antics of certain people), the overall sense of the movie is that the abuses against which Luther was primarily reacting were caused by greedy men who ran the Catholic church, and were not intrinsic to the Church itself (precisely the correct view, in my opinion). There are several sympathetic Catholic characters, including a cardinal who laments that a more spiritually-minded Pope would have embraced the best of Luther's reforms and avoided schism. I particularly enjoyed Ganz's Father Johann, who teaches Luther early on the importance of personally relying upon Christ (I was very moved by the scenes of Luther responding to his spiritual torments with the prayer, "I am Yours, save me!"), and who sends him off to a university with the expectation that he will "change the world." Later on, Father Johann confronts Luther with the chaos that his preaching has caused, and accuses him of tearing the Church apart. Luther responds dramatically, "Did you think that changing the world would come without a cost?", and the audience is obviously meant to agree with him. Yet I found myself sympathizing with Father Johann's pain.

It's funny that I should say that, of course, because I am in fact a Protestant (which is to say that I do not accept all of the teachings of the Catholic Church), and it is thanks to Martin Luther that I have the right to believe the way I do. Of course, Luther's tremendous historical significance does not come from his crusade against greed and corruption in church leadership, but because of his theological ideas, and particularly because he fought for the right to believe differently from what is taught by authority figures. Although Luther's own attitudes on the subject were surely far from modern (just as Thomas Jefferson owned slaves as he wrote the Declaration of Independence, so Luther and other Reformers persecuted dissenters in their midst, even as they fought for their own freedom of conscience), Luther deserves much credit for bringing about our modern value of "Religious Liberty," and this is what makes his story something that everyone (not just Lutherans or other Christians) ought to know about.

How then should we look at the tearing apart of Christian unity that Luther brought, or the 150 years of horrific warfare that resulted? Could unity have been preserved if Luther had been a more diplomatic man, or if Pope Leo X had been a more able and conscientious leader? Of course, we will never know, and it is a tantalizing possibility to think about, but I highly suspect that the answer is "no." Men before Luther (who lived from 1483-1546) had tried to bring needed theological diversity to the Church, especially John Wyclif (1328-1384) in England and Jan Hus (1369-1415) in Bohemia, but they were thwarted by violent persecution from the Catholic leadership. Apparently, the world (or at least the spiritual leadership) was not yet ready for Religious Liberty, and probably nothing but force would have ever been sufficient to drive that needed reform. Luther's theological reforms were very similar to these predecessors, but he succeeded where they failed because he was able to tap into massive popular discontent over completely different issues (primarily the greed and general misconduct of the Catholic leadership). This is a great irony, as Religious Liberty is Luther's most important legacy to the modern world, yet it was not foremost in the minds of those who made his success possible. This brings up one of the great themes I got out of the movie: Revolutions may begin with idealism, but they soon become all about politics, and before long they become very very messy.

A depressing thought, but part of the world we live in. Luther does an excellent job of showing both the idealism that drove Luther to his actions, and the terrible mayhem and suffering that were the consequence. Yet, despite my sympathy for Father Johann, Luther did strike an important blow for the fundamental human right of believing according to one's own conscience, even in opposition to temporal or spiritual authorities. Of course, this is a right that is routinely denied to billions of people, even today, in many parts of the world. Those of us who live in free countries must do everything we can to continue to further this cause. 

Posted by Matt on 11/17/2003 02:48:00 PM -- Permalink --  2 comments

"If you change this baby's diaper, he will poop again..." (apologies to Jesus)

P.S.: Non-baby blog item coming this weekend! I promise! 

Posted by Matt on 11/14/2003 01:54:00 PM -- Permalink --  0 comments

"I've had one breakfast, yes. But what about second breakfast? ... And what about elevenses, and luncheon, and afternoon tea, and dinner, and supper?" -- Samuel 

Posted by Matt on 11/12/2003 12:45:00 PM -- Permalink --  0 comments

What's In a Name? Choosing a name for our son was not an easy job. I suppose in one way it seems like a trivial task, just pick something and be done with it. But I was getting kind of hung up on the idea choosing a word that will form people's conception of our boy, maybe before they've even met him. If you're not careful, you can go crazy with that kind of thought, so I did try to stay focused. I liked the idea of being named after an admirable figure, someone that you could be proud to be named after and perhaps even draw inspiration from. For myself, I have thought from time to time about Matthew the Apostle, and what it means to be named after such a person. Most of the names we considered were people from the Bible, plus a few others. But this was not the only factor that we considered, and the names we did choose were not necessarily more admirable people than the ones we didn't choose. We also wanted a name that was not too common (we're not into being trendy) but not too uncommon either (we don't need to be different just for its own sake). The Social Security baby names page was a big help to us in figuring this out. We also paid attention to the sound of the name, and what sounded good to us. I was not going to name him Amos or Ezekiel under any circumstances, regardless of how much I appreciate those particular prophets. After a good deal of time going around and around with these considerations, we finally felt a bit of inspiration in the combination of Samuel and Patrick.

Samuel was the first prophet of the nation of Israel, someone who brought the word of God to a people that had not heard it for a long time. His story is found in the first 8 chapters of the book of First Samuel (the rest of First Samuel, and all of Second Samuel, go on to tell the stories of Samuel's proteges, Saul and David). Samuel probably lived about 1,000 years before Christ. In Hebrew, the name Samuel means "God has heard me," and it is part of the beautiful response of Samuel's mother Hannah to receiving the blessing of a son. You can read Hannah's story in First Samuel 1:1-2:11. In short, she was granted a son after many years of infertility, and in response she "lent him to the Lord," in the hope that God would use him to be a blessing to others. In some ways, Laura and I feel an affinity for Hannah, having the same desire that our little Samuel would belong to God.

Patrick is one of the few names that I considered that is not actually found in the Bible. Saint Patrick lived around A.D. 400, and was a dynamic pioneer of the faith in many different ways. While the First Century apostles had courageously spread the Christian faith throughout the Roman Empire, the situation had become much more static and complacent by the year 400. The Empire had been thoroughly evangelized, and Christianity had become the "religion of civilization," but it did not seem to have occurred to many people that tribes beyond the "civilized empire" also needed to hear the good news of the Gospel. It was in this atmosphere that Patrick became the first foreign missionary in several hundred years, leaving his native Britain to live among the (then) barbaric tribes of Ireland. This was not Patrick's first visit to Ireland; as a teenager, he had been kidnapped by Irish pirates and lived in Ireland as a slave for several years until he escaped back to Britain. It was an act of enormous courage and forgiveness for him to return to his captors with a message of spiritual freedom. Patrick's mission was wildly successful, not because of any dazzling intellect or use of force, but because he showed himself to the Irish as a genuine man of flesh and blood, toughness and emotion, courage and love. For centuries afterward, the stories of his Irish disciples are stories of the most genuinely Christian men and women of the Middle Ages. The prayer known as Saint Patrick's Breastplate, though it may have been written after his death, surely captures the essence of Patrick's spirit. The name Patrick, by the way, comes from the Latin for "noble or royal." Laura mentions the idea that, while the name Samuel reflects our desire that we as parents would have a godly attitude towards our son's life (as Hannah did), so the name Patrick reflects our hope that he also will eventually choose that path for himself.

When you think about it, Samuel Patrick Tiscareno is a rather "ethnically confused" name. But it actually does represent much of his ancestry, product of the good ol' American melting pot. Samuel, of course, is a Hebrew name, but also one that has long been popular in the English tradition. Both Laura and I have plenty of Anglo ancestry, and Laura's dad in fact is Jewish. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland, and Laura and I both have Irish ancestry as well. And Tiscareno is a Mexican/Spanish/Basque name, handed down from my great-grandparents who fled to the U.S. from revolutionary Mexico in the 1910's. Little Samuel also has significant German and Norwegian ancestry, but you can't fit everything into one person's name!

I'm sorry that this has been turning into the "baby blog." To be honest, it is what I have mostly been thinking about for the past few weeks. I will try to write about something else soon. :) 

Posted by Matt on 11/10/2003 02:09:00 PM -- Permalink --  1 comments

After 5 days and 4 nights in the hospital, it is so wonderful to finally be at home with little Samuel. Up until late yesterday, we had only known Samuel in this alternate universe called "Hospital." And as we were getting into the car last night, it felt for the first time like he was joining us in the "real world" that we actually live in. Laura has recovered extremely well from her C-section. In fact, if her health had been the only issue, we would have been home Sunday afternoon. But Samuel needed to have a minor surgical procedure, to correct a malformation in his urethra which was forming a partial blockage and putting stress on his bladder. Due to scheduling, this could not be done until yesterday at noon (four days after his birth), so the nurses arranged for Laura to not be discharged, and we were able to stay together. The procedure was a success, and the surgeon is very hopeful about his prognosis. All afternoon yesterday, we were waiting for the hospital to be satisfied that he was once again eating and peeing satisfactorily, and then we were home at long last.

Yesterday was difficult in many ways, but we really felt that God was with us and helping us to get through it. We had known for some time that Samuel was likely to need a procedure like this, but thinking about it in the abstract is much different from dealing with it when it was actually time. I had brought all kinds of reading material to the hospital, even planning to get some work done or something, but I ended up reading very little over the whole five days. And in the surgery waiting room I was unable to settle my mind to anything except a Bible I had brought. Among other things (mostly chosen at random), I read these words of Jesus: "If you love Me, keep My commandments; and I will ask the Father, and He will send another to be your Comforter, who will be with you forever -- the Spirit of truth. The world neither sees nor knows Him; but you know Him, because He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you alone, I will come to you. ... Peace is My parting gift to you, My own peace, such as the world cannot give. Set your troubled hearts at rest, and banish your fears. ... I have told you these things so that in Me you may find peace. In the world you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart! I have conquered the world." (John 14:15-18, 14:27, 16:33)

To be honest, I am getting a bit emotional all over again, just as I write this. I want to express my heartfelt thanks to all of you who were praying for us and thinking of us. As I said, God was with us in tangible ways. Several hours before the scheduled time, one of our big worries was that we had been told we were not allowed to feed Samuel at all, since he would be undergoing general anesthesia. At four days old, he had already displayed a considerable temper when he was hungry, and we were dreading the screaming that would surely result from his deprivation of food. But God answered our prayers far more than we ever expected, and Samuel slept all the way up to the time that the nurse came to take him for a pre-op test! Around the same time, we discovered another blessing that we had completely been taking for granted. This was the wooden rocking chair in our hospital room, which I had found to be an absolutely essential item for calming our little guy (something that, even judging from the nurses' reactions, seems to have been more than the usual amount of trouble for us). I had assumed that these rocking chairs were standard equipment in these rooms, but when I brought it up in passing, the nurse replied that very few of the rooms actually have them. Only by God's provision did we receive the use of this item that I had found so essential. We are also thankful for Tucson Medical Center itself, which really is a stellar hospital, and for the many nurses assigned to us who were just the nicest and most capable that anyone could hope for.

I have finally gotten around to putting up more of the pictures that we took at the hospital, and a couple that we have taken today at home. If you click on the picture above, or click here, you can take a look at them.

Update 11/8: Sorry the pictures were not viewable for most of today. That was my fault. They should be back up now, and I have added some more pictures from the past week of having Samuel at home. :) :) :) :) 

Posted by Matt on 11/04/2003 02:35:00 PM -- Permalink --  0 comments