Saturday 14 July 2012

Switchfoot

Looking at the (sometimes skewed) morality of Woody Allen’s best films.

Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)

Allen continues the art-as-salvation theme in Hannah and Her Sisters, an ensemble drama about family and infidelity. The film tells three stories, one of which stars Allen as a hypochondriac named Mickey. Terrified of death, Mickey begins a search for meaning that takes him first to Catholicism and then the Hare Krishna movement. But it’s in a darkened movie theater playing the Marx Brothers’ Duck Soup that he finds all the meaning he needs to face life. From a Christian perspective, this is a far from ideal conclusion—and yet, it’s not without an element of truth. The bulk of the Bible is historical narrative, not a list of rules, and Christ often used stories to communicate His message. In this, and every other movie where Allen finds life’s ultimate answers in art, we can disagree—but only partly.

Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) and Match Point (2005)

The sanctity of art plays a role in Crimes and Misdemeanors, but it’s a minor one compared to Allen’s interest in the human conscience. Does God exist, his characters wonder, and if He doesn’t, can there still be objective morality? His characters have asked these questions before, but never have the stakes been so high as when Judah Rosenthal (Martin Landau), a prominent New York ophthalmologist, finds his life turned upside by an act of violence he’s responsible for. In the aftermath, he’s plagued by guilt but still wonders if a guilty conscience is such a high price to pay for keeping his good name. His transformation as he struggles with this question is chilling to watch.

The same issue is at the heart of Match Point, Allen’s first movie set outside America. The particulars are different, but its trajectory is the same. When Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) commits murder to preserve his status and good reputation, we wait for him to be caught. But Allen subverts our expectations again, as in Crimes and Misdemeanors—not because he condones murder, but to illustrate his belief that, if there’s no God, life is a crap shoot. Maybe you’ll get caught, maybe you won’t, but either way you’ll have to live with what you’ve done. In both films, he shows more pointedly than most other American filmmakers what hell on earth must look like.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

The human conscience is also the focus of Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona, though in a relatively smaller way. He’s also less concerned with the existence of God, but objective morality is still a question lingering in the back of his mind. As the two friends, Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) consider their entanglement with the bohemian Spanish artist, Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), they’re forced to re-examine the rules they each live by. Even though the movie unquestionably favors moral relativism, the character of Cristina, who was once so proud of her “liberated” spirit, comes away from her search for meaning with a more moral perspective. No longer content to live according to Juan Antonio’s eat-drink-and-be-merry philosophy, she ends her time in Spain determined to find “something else.” That something else isn’t likely to be conventional morality, but neither is it unrestrained passion. While still denying that life has any inherent meaning, Allen forces us to consider whether conventional morality is really so stifling after all.

Overall, Woody Allen can’t be called anything close to a Christian (or even a moral) filmmaker—his films often drip with pessimism (some would say nihilism). But most of his films also give viewers something to chew on, something all too rare at the movies.

Do you have a favorite Woody Allen movie?

Andrew Welch lives in Texas and has written for RELEVANT and Books & Culture.

Coldplay Live in Dallas – Lover’s in Japan Ball Drop

Published on Jun 23, 2012 by TheRyanj64

Live From the American Airlines Center in Dallas Texas June 22, 2012
Coldplay – Lover’s in Japan
Ball Drop

Coldplay brought confetti, lights and thousands of fans to the American Airlines Center; see photos from their colorful show

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6/11

Chris Martin was brought up as an evangelical Christian but he left the faith once he left his childhood home. However, there are been some actions in his life in the last few years that demonstrate that he still is grappling with his childhood Chistian beliefs. This is the seventh part of a series I am starting on this subject and today I want to talk about the word “heaven” which is mentioned in some Coldplay songs. Chris Martin grew up with the biblical view that heaven exists and he has left his biblical views behind now but he just can’t shake this view that heaven exists and he wants to go there someday.

On June 23, 2012 my son Wilson and I got to attend a Coldplay Concert in Dallas. It was great. We drove down earlier in the day from our home in Little Rock, Arkansas. One of my favorite songs is “Glass of Water” from 2008 but they didn’t play it. Here is a clip of it off youtube:

The song “Glass of Water” sheds some more light on where we could possibly go after we die: “Oh he said you could see a future inside a glass of water, with riddles and the rhymes, He asked ‘Will I see heaven in mine?’ ”

Coldplay is clearly searching for spiritual answers but it seems they have not found them quite yet. The song “42“: “Time is so short and I’m sure, There must be something more.” Then in the song “Lost” Martin sings these words: “Every river that I tried to cross, Every door I ever tried was locked..”

Christian Today reported in 2008:

Coldplay’s encounter with God in Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends

by George Critchley, Damaris TrustPosted: Wednesday, July 9, 2008, 11:13 (BST)

Ana Ivanovic vs Ksenia Pervak US Open 2011 First Set Arthur Ashe Stadium HD 720p

From Wikipedia:

Ksenia Pervak
Ксения Первак

Ksenia Pervak in action during the 2009 Banka Koper Slovenia Open held in Portorož
Country	Russia(2005-2011) Kazakhstan (2011–present)
Residence	Moscow, Russia
Born	27 May 1991 (1991-05-27) (age 20) Chelyabinsk, Russian SFSR, USSR
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Turned pro	2005
Plays	Left-handed
Career prize money	$576,258
Singles
Career record	195–100
Career titles	1 WTA, 7 ITF
Highest ranking	37 (19 September 2011)
Current ranking	41 (20 February 2012)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	1R (2011, 2012)
French Open	1R (2010, 2011)
Wimbledon	4R (2011)
US Open	1R (2010, 2011)
Doubles
Career record	38–32
Career titles	3 ITF
Highest ranking	123 (23 January 2012)
Current ranking	160 (20 February 2012)
Last updated on: 20 February 2012.

Here is story that uses Tom Landry as an example of meekness:

Because he regularly attended a church, Tom Landry thought he was a Christian. In his own words: “I had been in and about church my whole life. But really, it was only half-heartedly…I thought of myself as a Christian but I really wasn’t. I was just a church-goer, which is a lot different. If you just go to church, it’s a lot like going to the Lion’s Club or something like that. Oh, man, there’s no comparison.”^[2] Then one day in 1959, Landry accepted an invitation to a men’s Bible study because, he says, he couldn’t think of a graceful way to get out of it!^[3] It’s a good thing, too, since in that meeting Tom came to realize how many passages from the Sermon on the Mount spoke directly to the personal struggles in his life. So he returned the next week. And the next. Later that year, says Tom, “I finally reached a point where faith outweighed the doubts, and I was willing to commit my entire life to God.”^[4]

In 1959, Tom was a 33-year-old assistant coach for the New York Giants and an off-season insurance salesman. Eventually, he would coach a team of his own – the Dallas Cowboys – and he would lead them to an unprecedented 20 consecutive winning seasons, five Super Bowl appearances and two championships. An impressive record, to say the least. Even more impressive to many of us who watched him, though, was that he did it without raising his voice.

Tom was meek in the best sense of the word. He was a reserved man, a soft-spoken man, a man who walked with God as he walked the sidelines. That was evident by his game-time mannerism. Were the Cowboys up by 14 or down by 14? Tom’s demeanor provided no clue. Was it fourth and goal on the opponent’s one yard line or first and ten on their own twenty? Did the Cowboys just fumble away the game? Did the refs just blow a call? Don’t look to Tom’s expression for answers. This now-devout Christian personified gentleness and self-control.

Not exactly the norm in the workplace of NFL coaching. More typical were people like legendary Vince Lombardi, infamous for being unapproachable for days after his offense had a bad game.^[5] Similarly, Raider coach John Madden got so worked up in his job that he had to retire from coaching because of ulcers.^[6] Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka also fit that mold. Not only was he notorious for his sideline tantrums, Ditka was apparently a bear off the field as well. When he played tennis with Landry, for example, he would smash his racket on the ground so many times it began to resemble, in Tom’s words, an “aluminum pretzel.”^[7]

But Tom was different. According to sportswriter Bob St. John: “The pressures of coaching in the NFL has had adverse mental and physical effects on the majority of coaches in the profession. But Landry does not … have ulcers or trouble sleeping.”^[8] Tom attributes that to his faith, asserting that “My relationship with Christ gives me a source of power I would not have otherwise. What eats you up inside is fear and anxiety. God does not give us fear, but power and love and self-control.”^[9]

That’s meekness.

Tom Landry managed to remain meek in a world of macho football players, thunderous peers, and a hyper-critical football town. The culture of his workplace put no edge on the man. Tom did not allow it to shape him adversely. Rather, he was shaped daily by his faith. As a result, today Tom Landry is renowned not only for his win-loss record, but for being a contemporary role model for workplace Christians everywhere. His legacy is one of both character and success.

Ours can be too if we reject the notion that meekness is weakness. Don’t buy into the workplace myth. In gentleness, you can both survive and thrive in a job environment that continually encourages you to act otherwise. As discussed in chapter 1, this begins by acknowledging God as your ultimate CEO. It continues by taking a page from Coach Landry’s playbook: Never lose sight of Jesus’ disposition. Regardless of what others are doing on the job, don’t let harshness, quick-temperedness, and aggressiveness undermine your witness and your legacy. Instead, live by God’s standard: “I am gentle and humble in heart.”

No, meekness is not weakness. It’s Christlikeness.

Wikipedia noted:

Landry’s success during nearly three decades of coaching was the impetus for his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1990, less than two years after his last game. Landry was inducted into the “Ring of Honor” at Texas Stadium in 1993. Landry had declined several earlier offers by Jones to enter the Ring of Honor before accepting in 1993.

Landry died on February 12, 2000, after battling leukemia. Landry’s funeral service was held at Highland Park United Methodist Church, where he was an active and committed member for forty-three years. He was interred in the Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery in Dallas. A cenotaph dedicated to Landry, complete with a depiction of his fedora, was placed in the official Texas State Cemetery in Austin at the family’s request.^[14]

The Cowboys wore a patch on their uniforms during the 2000 season depicting Landry’s trademark fedora. A bronze statue of Landry stood outside of Texas Stadium, and now stands in front of Cowboys Stadium since the Cowboys relocated in 2009. The section of Interstate 30 between Dallas and Fort Worth was named the Tom Landry Highway by the Texas Legislature in 2001. The football stadium in Landry’s hometown of Mission, Texas was named Tom Landry Stadium to honor one of the city’s most famous former residents.^[15] Similarly, Trinity Christian Academy’s stadium in Addison, Texas is named Tom Landry Stadium in honor of Landry’s extensive involvement and support of the school.^[16][17]

Head coaching record

In popular culture

• In 1959, while defensive coach of the Giants, Landry pretended to be a Catholic missionary priest on the TV panel game To Tell The Truth (on an episode that included balloonist Commander Malcolm Roth).

• The coach in Peter Gent‘s novel North Dallas Forty is based on Tom Landry. G.D. Spradlin played the role in the film of the same name.

• In Fox‘s animated sitcom King of the Hill, the local middle school is named after Tom Landry, and Landry is a personal hero of the show’s main character Hank Hill. He mentions being “mortified” because he went to work on the date of Landry’s death after his cousin Dusty (guest star Dusty Hill of ZZ Top) had previously tricked him into thinking Tom Landry had died, and he thought it was a repeat of that prank. Hank also has a Tom Landry Ceramic plate that he sometimes consults in times of need, on one occasion saying “Where did I go wrong, Tom?” Landry also occasionally appears to Hank in dream sequences to counsel him in times of need, like during Hank’s varnish induced hallucination on the episode “Hillennium“.

• In an episode of The Simpsons (“You Only Move Twice“), Homer Simpson buys Tom Landry’s trademark fedora in an effort to improve his leadership qualities, and is shown in several later episodes wearing the hat. Landry was also featured in Season 7 episode (“Marge Be Not Proud“) as one of the Christmas carolers introduced by Krusty the Clown early in the episode.

• The series Friday Night Lights features a character named Landry hinted to be named after Tom Landry, given the town’s obsession with football.

• In a Campbell’s Chunky Soup commercial, the game takes place in mythical Reginald H. White Memorial Park, on the corner of Landry Road and Halas Drive.^[18]

• The fantasy football board game Blood Bowl features a necromantic team coach called Tomolandry the Undying.

• University of Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones is named in honor of Coach Landry.