A really late "Happy Chuseok"

So not this past weekend, but the weekend before that, so like 9 days ago, it was Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving). We got Monday off and it was a really cool break. I got to see my friend Ivan from New Zealand (I used to work with him). He's teaching now at a High School outside of Seoul in a town called Ansan. It was really cool being in a more relaxed environment out of Seoul, but still relatively close to it. We went to his high school and looked around, and we got to talk to a lot of the local people around the area. Between my and my friend, we could carry on a fairly good conversation in "Korean!!"

I also got to play badminton on Sunday with Angela and her brother. It was so much fun. We played for so long, and it was at night on lighted courts at a park. It was awesome.

Then on Monday, I was invited to this guys apartment for lunch. To make a long story short, he's the CEO of Northwest Airlines in Korea. His apartment had an amazing view of the Han River, and he ordered a traditional American style Thanksgiving meal. We had Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, and...kimchi ^_^ I figured I'd only have one chance in my life to eat Kimchi at Thanksgiving, so I should do it. It was very good!

Another piece of news, is that I got involved in this ministry to college students. Basically what I do, is I teach a media course every Saturday now at a University called Soongsil University. And the whole point of it is to share the gospel with the students. I've met some cool people there, and I taught my first class this past Saturday. It went pretty well. Over twenty students showed up, and I think they had a...fairly enjoyable time. We'll see how that progresses. Most of them are pretty shy about speaking English.

So yeah, overall, things are going well. I constantly thank God for the amazing people he has brought into my life here in Korea, and I am trusting Him to guide me wherever he wants me to be.

Also, I've been watching some kind of independent short films on youtube recently, and it's getting me itching to film something again. I might ask my boss to borrow his digital camera so I can just make...something.

We'll see how that goes.

My thoughts recently have been on Hebrews 11 a lot. I'm not sure how to explain it, but I think this is what I want my life to be. Living for a hope that I might not see come true in this lifetime. For some reason, that concept is so intriguing to me. I first encountered it last year in a Christian philosophy course I took, and it keeps coming back to me. I think it's one of the boldest statements in the whole Bible. That all these men "didn't recieve the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance." I'm captivated by the statement. I need to make a movie based on that concept.

Anyways, here's a random link to one of the films that really got me wanting to film something again. These guys' lighting and color is exactly the kind of lighting I LOVE!!!! This is just the trailer. You can watch the whole thing here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgx8wpr6-eY&feature=user

Trying to get my mind off the world

I've been really struggling recently to know exactly how to view the world I thought I understood. I used to be someone who tried my best to defend the culture against all of the negative criticisms that conservatives threw it's way. Listening to radio hosts like Michael Medved only discuss a movie's morality used to stick a knife in my side. I used to think, "poor culture." Nobody sees your "good qualities." People are only pointing out your "bad qualities." So I used to be a defender of culture, particularly when it came to movies.

Now I won't say that I've necessarily changed my positions on the arguments that I've made in the past, but I realize that I've been arguing with the wrong people. Because recently it's been made known to me that culture doesn't need defended. It doesn't need help. It's doing fine on it's own. It's spitting out a lot of junk, and people are eating it up. It's feeding us the nastiest stuff ever, and we keep coming back for more. We are truly a McDonalds nation, and it's permieted every area of society.

Greed fuels pop-culture, not art. Sex,money, and self-worth are the loudest voices in the media, and they've been screaming so loudly, for so long now, that we don't even hear them anymore. It's expected. And not only that, it's gotten to a point, where it could even be classified as "cute." One preacher, named E. Dewey Smith Jr., that Anthony Bradley linked to on his blog has a lot of great stuff to say about pop-culture. Here's a link to a sermon that Anthony brought attention to, and I think is really powerful as well. Beware, the sermon does discuss explicit lyrics of a song, so please take caution with that, that it is not nice to listen to, but it's the truth that I think more pastors need to courage to engage in. He tells it like it is, when everyone else is either deaf to disgusting nature of pop-culture these days, or merely wants to shy away from it.

So I take this time now to apologize the all the people who I have burdened over the years to just accept things. Because I'm not going to accept things anymore. I don't need to settle for what some executives tell me I should fill my time with. And maybe this is even sparking a new fire in my heart to get more engaged with culture again, so that I can hopefully be some agent of change. Recently, I've had this great desire to make a movie on the book of Ruth. That might sound weird, but I think it's one of the best stories I've ever heard, period. I'm actually quite surprised there hasn't been a movie on it already. It's so classic.

But yeah, I heard a great quote from Ebert I think where he said I'm not so much moved in movies where the characters are very bad, but what brings me to tears is when the main character is overwhelmingly good. And I think that's what's so attractive about the story of Ruth. Boaz and Ruth exemplify such great witnesses of what Godly men and women should be like, that it brings me to tears. And I really have a desire to tell this story now.

Usain Bolt...soooooo fast

I know it's a little bit of old news, but I'm sure most of you heard something about Usain Bolt from the Olympics, the Jamaican runner who broke the world record for the 100 meter dash. And you might also probably know that he tends to be quite open about his celebrations and abilities.

I just found this video on youtube. A little parody of this record breaking moment. Hilarious!!!