Some Highlights

---On Mother's Day, Christine, the regular leader for children's church, was away, so I was left in charge. We had no major mishaps and we didn't lose any of the kids, so I was quite pleased.

---My adviser asked me to come and talk to one of his classes. I spoke briefly about choosing a topic for my thesis, researching, and writing. I think I was a bit rambly, which shouldn't be too hard to imagine....

---A few weeks ago, I got together with some girlfriends to watch the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice, which is fantastic, and also about five and a half hours long. I really didn't expect us to watch in all in one go, but after the first disc ended--right after Mr. Darcy proposes---we could NOT turn it off. And we had a ton of cookies, and tea, and Thai food making it the perfect girls' night.




---A friend of mind threw a murder mystery dinner and the theme happened to be set in Chicago in the 1920s. I ended being the resident historian and got to explain to the Kiwis about things like the Black Sox scandal, Al Capone, and Prohibition. It was a great night, except I was wrong in guessing whodunit.

---I recently finished reading Children of Men by P.D. James. It's a British novel that became the inspiration for a fantastic movie from a couple of years ago. Then, a couple of days later, I found that Children of Men would be showing on tv! So I told all my friends on my floor that we needed to watch. However, after about ten minutes I realized that probably it might not appeal to everyone, and when it ended, only one guy seemed to liked it. Everyone else seemed slightly confused. I always forget my love of bleak, dystopian futures is not necessarily the norm....

Musicals!

People keep asking me what exactly am I studying, and what classes am I taking, and what am I writing my thesis about. So here is the answer, in bulletpoints:

• I am studying Film, TV, and Media. Basically, I watch, study and analyze movies. I do NOT make movies. What I do is WAY easier than making movies...


• I don't have any classes this year! My sole existence as a student revolves around writing my thesis.


• Speaking of my thesis, my topic is about musicals. Specifically, I am writing about new musicals that take a genre characterized by fantasy and try a realistic approach. Um, yeah...

So, here are my two main examples so far:

Once: a charming little Irish movie with really great music.

Dancer in the Dark: a grueling melodrama from director Lars von Trier.

Besides my schoolwork, I am again involved at my church here. I have started helping out again with children's church, and I am going to start getting trained on AV and sound. Also, I will probably start helping out with editing the church magazine, which I am really excited about. I get a strange little high off of proofreading.

I think that's all for now. I'll leave you with ten songs I have in high rotation right now:

"The General Specific" by Band of Horses

"Click Click Click Click" by Bishop Allen

"Suspcious Character" by The Blood Arm

"The Crane Wife 3" by The Decemberists

"Les Champs-Elysees" by Joe Dassin

"Strangers" by The Kinks

"Second Chance" by Liam Finn

"Sorry Signs on Cash Machines" by Mason Jennings

"Mr. Pitiful" by Matt Costa

"Every Line of A Long Moment" by Roddy Woomble

Surviving Life in a Movie

Just in case you wake up one morning to the discovery that you are living in a movie, here are some tips to surviving:

--When traveling through time, DO NOT touch anything or talk to anyone, especially your future or past self. Doing so will destroy life as we know it and you will spend the two hours fixing it.

---Don't worry about bombs. Any bomb can be diffused by cutting the correctly colored wire, and you will always be able to guess which one.

---Don't pay a cab driver, unless you fling the cash at him without counting it beforehand--you always have just the right amount.

---If you are driving, don't pay attention to the road. Just concentrate the conversation you are having with the other passengers.

---Remember to save your best secrets for your dying words.

---Never trust anyone who has a big scar on their face.

---Don't worry about children--they never die. But they may be much smarter than you or evil.

---Don't tell anyone if you are dying from an incurable disease. Let them find out after you have already been admitted to the hospital. They will have no clue you were even sick because your disease will not have any symptoms, except maybe extreme paleness.

---Don't try to retire from your life of fighting crime. Something will happen on your last day (probably during your goodbye party) to prevent it.

Good luck! And remember, sequels are nice, but trilogies are best.

http://www.moviecliches.com/index.html

Creatures, Caves, and Hobbit Holes

I thought it was about time I showed some pictures from my trip to Hobbiton a few weeks ago... I was a proud geek and took a lot of pictures, but I won't bore you with all of them here. Just sticking to the highlights:

The Hobbiton set was built on a farm in Matamata, near Hamilton. It is still an active sheep farm today, but the owners kindly let the city host tours to the remaining sets.


Much of the set has been removed but the actual hobbit holes still exist.


This is me in front of Bilbo's house.


Bilbo's house (aka Bag End) was the only one big enough to go inside. They needed it to be large enough to get a camera in to shoot Gandalf coming to visit.


Much of the sets are gone due to 1) the filmmakers were required to return all the landscapes back to their original state; 2) copyright issues; 3) they were only made to last for a short time; 4) sheep are stupid, and would kill themselves by eating any bit of set design left over.


The large tree and lake behind me are both featured at the beginning of the first movie during Bilbo's birthday party. I think the Party Tree was my favorite part of Hobbiton...


See how dorky I can be?

Now go watch Lord of the Rings.

This trip to Hobbiton was the same weekend as a few other adventures with my Biola friend Rebekah. We stayed with her relatives, so it was great to be in an actual Kiwi home.

Besides Hobbiton, we also went to the Waitomo Caves. You put on wetsuits and golashes (!) and they lead you underground to crawl, walk, swim, and tube in a whole network of caves. The ceilings are covered with real glowworms! And I saw an eel and a weta, which is a hideous and large NZ bug that gives Weta Workshop--Peter Jackson's special effects company--its name.

This is me just after caving. Hidden underneath the hills behind me are miles of caves and tunnels--you would never guess it just by looking at the surface!


Rebekah and I also saw an ostrich while driving. We stopped to take a few pictures and I snapped this just at the same moment the bird decided to...well, just take a look...


We also went to the Otorohanga Kiwi House which is a habitat for Kiwi birds and other local plants and animals. By the way, a kiwi is 1) a flightless bird that is a national symbol of NZ; 2) a fruit; 3) a New Zealander.


The Kiwi House also had tuataras, a lizard native to NZ. I was told it is related to the dinosaurs!



In other news:
My Easter turned out be pretty nice. I went to church and then I came home and made dinner for four friends. I told them I would be cooking to celebrate Easter and they could eat even if they don't celebrate Easter. The food turned out pretty well, although I had a very close call with the garlic at one point. Do not, my friends, mistake a "clove" for an entire head of garlic.

Right now, I am enjoying the last days of my Easter break. I've just been relaxing, working on homework, playing guitar, watching movies and YouTube, sleeping, and reading. Yesterday I went to the Auckland Museum with some friends from church which was quite fun...

God continues to teach me a lot--I'll fill you in another time--but I really feel like I am being transformed and prepared for whatever is next. I'll let you know what that is as soon as I know it myself...