something in the air

not long after school ended, i received two emails almost simultaneously. one was from the falcon theatre to the wesseling list, saying they were looking for an actor to play puck in their upcoming production of midsummer. the other was from rhonda, suggesting i contact the person. so i did. and i'll do a reading tomorrow night at 6:30. we'll see how it goes. so far it looks like it will work - rehearsals are on monday, wednesday and thursday nights at NKU, about a 20 minute drive from norwood. show goes up may 4-19. not much different than the show dates for chess last year, so it should work with my school schedule. be fun to do a different character, especially one as entertaining as puck. hopefully i'll get an idea of the production before i read so i can play what they're (hopefully) looking for. here's to shattering a fibula.

time to break my fast - will finish later (though you won't really notice because it will all be one post....).
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ah, God and His sense of humor...my pocket has developed a hole, which now is large enough for my keys to slip through. so i'd foolishly been carrying them around in my hand most of the evening. as i stood up to leave, i discovered they were not in the office. or steve's office. or judy's office. or any of the places i had been tonight. on the verge of panic, i decided to go back and check places i'd been before. and there they were, in the green room, lying on a chair. whew. anxious to get to the eating, i quickly dashed out to goldstar, mostly because i had a coupon for a free coney. so i get there, discover there's a discount for mason teachers (is this not something they should tell us?), order my food and head back to the theater. and of course, the door i intend to use, the one i checked to make sure was open, no longer is. so i have to walk halfway around the building to find a door to let me in. abso-frakin'-hilarious God. but now i've eaten and feel content and can focus my attentions here.

i sent rory away to sarah so they could test her at the reception hall, so i'm without music tonight. the children's version of beauty and the beast is going on behind me - better than some productions i've seen, but still distracting at times. maybe i should turn on the tv to drown out the sounds.

excellent night at house church last night. we had two bible studies last night - one impromptu, which was fun, and one planned, which was also enlightening. the first stemmed from a question about what the bible says about sex and whether or not it actually states that sex before marriage is a sin. in the interest of full disclosure, it doesn't actually state that - at least not that i could remember. yes, adultery is condemned, but the argument came up that adultery is specific to marriage, and if you're not married, then it can't rightfully be called adultery. i argued that adultery is sex with anyone not your spouse, even if you have yet to meet that spouse. we looked at i corinthians 6, the passage about one flesh and not uniting yourself with prostitutes - the theology of one flesh is there but again, no specific forbidding of premarital sex, especially in the context of a committed relationship. i think it's easy to look backwards at a relationship, especially after you're married and see you were committed then, so it would be ok. the tricky thing is, we're too easily convinced we're in a "committed" relationship without the benefit of hindsight and it's a simple step to say, "we're committed, so God will bless our union." it's dangerous and better to do as paul admonishes: "flee from immorality."

wow, i must seem like the biggest prude ever.

the other study was less controversial. we started reading through the sacred way and got off to a good start. we looked at the idea that we don't participate in spiritual disciplines to get God's attention - ie, look at how good we're being fasting/praying/reading etc. - but to attune ourselves to God's presence that is already there. He's not far away waiting for us to call to Him, He's right next to us. we only need to be still and listen for Him. looking forward to where this study takes us.

saw two movies this week - 300 on monday night and zodiac last night. got in an interesting discussion with brent about 300 - he claimed "this movie is NOT for anyone who considers themselves, "slightly to the left of Karl Marx or Berchtold Brecht". The only thing that surpasses the violence is how the movie extols the virtues dying in battle for one's country. Not a popular opinion during the current state of Iraq." so i answered:

i completely disagree with your red state/blue state distinction. as an independent with blue state leanings, i felt the theme of sacrifice for one's country, of honor above all, played out well. but there's little actual parallel between this story and the war in iraq, as much as some people (both on the left and on the right) would like. in fact, the argument could be made that the US is persia in this film and the 300 are the insurgents, fighting against the world's greatest military force. i mean, if you're going to watch it politically, there are plenty of left-leaning ideas, such as the empowerment of women, to appeal to both sides.

in the end, i enjoyed the movie for its visuals and the cartharsis of the violence, not for any message, intended or unintended, mostly because the characters felt too flat and undeveloped for any connection. i haven't read miller's 300, but i'd like to see how close the film stayed to the book (from reviews it seems they added some parts) and see if that's a flaw in both mediums. i definitely thought Sin City was the better film, but i enjoyed both. and i would recommend the film anyone that likes epic films like this, not just those who lean so far right they can't see straight (but then that's probably just my liberal inclusiveness kicking in).

you can see his reply (and some additional comments i made) at his blog.

i liked zodiac, though at 2:38, it was a bit overlong. good performances by all and well directed by fincher. didn't have the emotional impact of fight club or seven, but still a good movie. probably could have done with some trimming, but an excellent look at human obsession and it's effect on our lives. steve and i saw it at KI for only $5 (tuesday night special). and we were the only ones in the theater, which was great. and i earned another free popcorn (too bad i don't eat it). didn't get home until 1:00am, but knew i just had to proctor the test, so we're fine.

i'd talk about the OGT, but it was made very clear to us that we'd lose our jobs if we did it. seriously.

enough for now. may post a bit of OTR history i dug up again today. was thinking about the statement of faith linford did for a festival they did back in the day. great stuff. we'll see. off to scrounge something sweet from judy's office. only an hour to go (i hope).
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Tunes: beauty and the beast sung by some pre-pubescent....