We've Moved

www.maggerymile.blogspot.com

Yeah, it's a lame name.  I'm taking suggestions for changing it

Farewell, Xanga.  You've been an almost-nice, oddly-colored and awkwardly-laid-out blogging companion

A funny thing happened on the way to adulthood . . .

So, there I was, swinging my feet idly in the pond of joblessness, wondering what the next few weeks would hold as I scrabbled to find work before my bank-account went absolutely dry.

Health insurance wasn't exactly on my mind.  Being, of course, diabetic, money to pay for expensive things like insulin are a little, well, important, but my father had told me that he thought I could continue on his (very posh corporate-)health plan until January.  Surely, I thought, I would have a job with benefits by then, right?  RIGHT??!!

Alas, 'twas not to be.  For the mighty machinations of health coverage bereaucracy were rallying against my poor, defenseless, jobless self.  Suffice to say, my dad's plan is refusing to cover me any longer . . .

UNLESS:

a.) I get a job with good benefits right the heck now.

b.) I enroll as a full time student at good ole' Long Beach City College.

Guess which one I was rather forced to pick (enrollment ends today).

Yep.  I'm a student again.  Maybe a student who's going to withdraw as soon as she gets a better offer (i.e. a good job), but a student nonetheless.  *knows not what to do with self*

So, yeah, I'm taking theater classes, a screenwriting class, and voice . . . fun   No, actually, it probably will be fun.  I just feel like I all of the sudden erased my priviledge of saying I'm a full-fledged, graduated adult. *laughs, then cries*

Either I'm making a huge mistake, am being punished for making some (unknown) huge mistake, or God has a really, really wry sense of humor and He loves laughing at me.

Why I Love the First Chapter of St. John's Gospel

Or, What I Thought About the New Batman Movie.

(warning, spoilers may inadvertently slip out in the following paragraphs)

This is a technically & aesthetically GREAT movie.  The script was tight, witty, and at times, profound.  The characters were excellently developed and (especially on Heath Ledger's part) astoundingly acted.  Aside from the franchise's signature choppy editing, the cinematography was pretty awesome too   But all that aside.

The move grapples with philosophical questions of justice, virtue, fate, and (of course) good-and-evil.  Mr. Schellhase has already commented on the film's political-theory, so I don't really want to repeat him here.  What jumped out to me about this film was its utterly un-flinching look at evil, as portrayed by the absolutely chilling Joker.  There were points when I found myself wondering, "who the heck let Satan write himself a part in this film?"  The movie is almost less about Batman, and more about what good men are faced with when total, chaotic, "just wanna watch the world burn" wickedness is unleashed. 

The Joker is Nietzsche, Hitler, & Charles Manson all rolled into one and given a shot of PCP (+ lots and lots of gunpowder...).  In other words, a pretty good portrayal of what the Devil's "dream child" might look like.

So, yes, this naturally makes the movie pretty disturbing, especially when we realize just how powerless the lawful likes of Bruce Wayne, Alfred, & virtuous DA Harvey Dent seem against the Joker's embrace of the powers of chaos.  Most of the movie's good-guys do well in deciding not to give an inch to the Joker's philosophy, but, sadly, you get the feeling that their faith in the Good has been deeply shaken by movie's end.  The movie, ultimately, gives us no answers to the Joker's brand of Bad except for an optimistic faith in the goodness of humanity in general, and a hope for an isolated, philosopher-king/scapegoat "dark knight" (aka Batman) to take the bullet for us, so to speak.  As a Christian, this left me feeling just a little hollow.

Of course, the echoes of the Gospel in Batman's sacrificial choice in the end were clear to me, but could anyone else catch them?  And, at the end of the day (or, in the movie's case, a really looong night), Batman is just a man, just as likely to fail as to succeed against the world's horrors.  We have a near-perfect portrayal of evil in the Joker.  Where is the answer to this found?

The Gospel, of course, is the only answer, and I am unsure how anyone with a knowledge of the Gospel could walk out of this movie and not be desperate for Jesus Christ and his absolute defeat of evil on the Cross.  My sister and I left the movie theater and drove to a church, where we spent an hour praying, reading scripture, singing, and gently reminding our wrung-out souls Who was Really In Charge.  But the question in my mind remains: how can I, as a self-described Christian artist, even begin to portray Good as convincingly as Evil was portrayed in this movie?  It's an age-old problem, I guess, one which I am unlikely to solve on my own.  But it's one worth pondering, I suppose.  The Light must shine in the Darkness, no matter what, and the Light must always overcome.  It might be worth it to pray for Christopher Nolan as he writes the script for the assumed third movie.  He's proved by his last few efforts (including Prestige) that he has a deft grasp of human nature.  Now all he needs is a revelation of the Nature of God.  What would it look like for the Light of Christ to be present, somehow, in the next Batman movie?  Is it possible?  Would it detract for the film?  How could it be handled?  I'm interested in knowing what ya'll think.

Arizona in Summer

by Yours Truly

Their red earth-sheets tucked neat into the sky,

The clouds refuse to lay them down to sleep,

And pelt the slumbering rocks with rain.

While we bus-wrapped watchers, condemned to die

In slowly-gossiped graves we dug too deep,

Forget to wave in hope to a passing train.

Currently Listening None of Us Are Free By Solomon Burke see related

Hello, Again.

Hey peoples

Sorry my communication has been sparse lately.  My mum has forbidden the internet at our house, so we're all forced to pay 3.50 per mocha at the local coffee shop in order to use their wireless   Sorry, but this means that my web-presence will be considerably less (which is probably good for other points in my life such as sleep, writing, socializing, etc., so, yeah, shouldn't complain)

Just got back from a SPLENDIFEROUS wedding in NM.  Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan and Carolyn Bales!  Thanks to them, I got to yet again experience the old Eden Troupe thrill of 100 things to do in 24 hours.  Kelly-Christelle and I got to calling the Bridal Party prep-room the Green Room out of habit.  The rest of the weekend involved climbing around ancient Indian cliff-caves, watching that recent addition to Pixar's brilliance, Wall-E, wrestling with lights, tulle, string, beads, and rebellious thumbtacks prior to The Ceremony, watching the Boys play with (what else?) dry-ice, and being introduced to the EXTREMLY HOT native New Mexican cuisine (my taste-buds survived, but just barely, and had to hospitalized for smoke-inhalation). 

A few quotes I rounded up from the "Green Room":

"I'm ready to take on the angst of the universe.  I take it on everyday.  I'll hit it with my curling iron." - Emily Thomson

"Milk makes me want to party . . ." - Yours Truly

"This is sounding more and more like Eden Troupe . . ." - KC

The 20 hour bus trip there and back was quite an adventure in and of itself, and included such interesting characters as The Southern Gentleman Who Kept Away the Wierd Flirtatious Druggie, The Hippy Mountain Climber Who Really Needed a Shower But Who Was Still Really Awesome, The Lady who Was Rather Heavily Built But Who Said She Had Her Own Local TV Show on Which She 'Danced', and The Black Guy Who Slept.  They will all, eventually, hopefully, end up in a book or two before the end of my lifetime

And, last, but not least, you should all go read my first published online essay for something other than a blog .  Hopefully, it will bring a knowing smile to your faces, at the least. 

Under the Mercy,

Maggie