February 05, 2005
Catacombs Folk Festival 2005
Last night was the annual 'Combs Folk Festival down in Covenant's Art Barn. I've been to three of these in my time at Covenant and every time I am amazed at the amount of people we manage to pack into that room. Part of me thinks it would be even better if we moved locations, but there is something very nostalgic about the Barn that I wouldn't want to lose.
Anyways, I have to say that this was by far the best festival I've ever attended. I left after about two hours and they were only 1/3 or so into the lineup. Kyle MacKillop (sp?), Tim Fridsma, and Seth Park played a set together and that was excellent. Tom Okie was also very good with a spectacular rendition of "La Bamba." However, the highlights of the evening for me were the reading of Fernando Windemuller's letters to Shauna DeBoer asking her to bear his children; and Tom leading the entire Catacombs representation in a rousing bout of "We Are the Amish." It was glorious.
Oh yeah, Seth Park is engaged to Rachel Weldon. Congratulations guys.
February 02, 2005
Mo Guishle...its beautiful
Its weird, Lord of the Rings was around for so long that I forgot what the Oscar season is like without a clear favorite. About a month ago I would have been ready to put money down on Ray and perhaps Eternal Sunshine as the best movies of the year (I even put Eternal Sunshine as my favorite of 2004). Then I saw The Aviator and was pretty blown away. I mean, its a spectacular piece of film and LD really impressed me for once.
Then this happened:
There's alot of things I could say about Million Dollar Baby. For example, its probably one of the greatest movies I've ever seen. Its inspiring, infuriating, humorous, and heartbreaking, all at once. Its simple, yet beautiful.
Eastwood's trademark use of shadow gives this movie an incredibly dark feel. I love it. Its very similar to Mystic River in that respect. So much is about what we can't see. Eastwood's face takes on an almost sinister aspect at times, while Freeman is nearly transformed into nothingness.
This film is incredibly moving. Katie's roommate spent the last 40 minutes weeping (I don't mean the occasional sniff here, she was flat out bawling), and to be honest, I came close a couple times myself. The characters are so earnest, so believable. The ending has caused a great deal of controversy in Christian circles of late (and rightly so), but I can't help but wonder whether I would have had the strength to act differently.
With this, Eastwood has vaulted to the top of my list of favorite directors. Three of his films are on my all-time list (Unforgiven, Mystic River, and now MDB) and he just seems to be getting better with age. He doesn't go in for the technical wizardry seen so much in movies these days and that is so refreshing to me. His power lies in the story and the acting, I am continually astounded by what he manages to do with those two things.
I quote someone who said it better than I can:
What else it is, all it is, how deep it goes, what emotional power it contains, I cannot suggest in this review, because I will not spoil the experience of following this story into the deepest secrets of life and death. This is the best film of the year.
-Roger Ebert
People...go see this movie.