the countdown is on...

In less than 12 hours, Rob and I (along with about 18 other Dordt people) will leave Sioux Center for the much warmer and more beautiful south. We have been looking forward for this trip for a long time, and had a lot of preperation to do, but finally it is complete and we can relax and think about the trip.

Earlier this week, I didn't think that I was going to be able to go because I hadn't gotten my passport yet. We sent in our applications a while ago, and Rob got his, but because we got married, they needed our marriage certificate. There were a couple more problems with that, and when we called the passport information center, they said that it was sent priority mail on the 26th, not overnight, like we had paid for. But it came, and we can go.

We are really looking forward to spending time in a new country. Neither of us have been out of the country, besides Canada, before. Hopefully, we don't look or act too weird. We will take a lot of pictures and will post some when we get back.

Please pray for us and our team as we work and learn more about a different culture.
We will be back on Jan13, and will probably have a lot of stories to tell.
Adios for now.
(we should practice our Spanish a little)

Gingerbread CRC

Our gingerbread house...er... church is done. It is almost entirely edible (there are wood blocks under the cobblestone (necco wafer) steps. The chocolate Meg is pouring in the one photo is for handmade shingles. I realized after uploding these photos that one of the bird's (stick of gum) beaks (chunk of necco wafer) had fallen off... oh well. Anyhow...we had a lot of problems getting this one up, but we got it done... the pillars out front were a disaster... they're still crooked. The stained glass windows (melted lifesavers) are the coolest part... but there are no holes large enough to get a candle in the thing to light them up.

The Nativity Story

So we watched the movie "The Nativity Story".

Good:
• the costumes
• the animals
• the sets
• some of the music with hints of well known hymns and Christmas songs
• the pace
• the overall story

Bad:
• some of the acting
• no strong consistant theme in the score... sorta all over

Ugly:
• Carol of the Bells playing when they arrive at Bethlehem (I think they wanted somewhat of a frantic piece, but it stuck out a bit much)
• they tried to use the wise men as comic relief at parts... some of the wisemens' dialogue was really bad

Overall verdict:
Especially toward the beginning there is a lot of weak acting. Most of the characters show too much emotion or none at all. I felt like a lot of the music was only there to help with the setting... it was just all over with no mood... also got better toward the end. Even though the movie has a lot of shortcomings overall I highly recommend seeing it. It's much better than One Night with the King was. I also feel like the makers want to give one message and do it strongly... in particular the idea that Christ's humble beginning was not only ironic, but necessary to keep Herod from noticing his arrival and putting an end to him immediately. I didn't know how they were going to pull this all together to make a worthwhile film but I think they did at least a decent job. Go watch it for yourself.

*****

We watched the movie Thumbsucker last night. It is probably one of my favorite movies of all time. It's definitely not one that everyone can/will appreciate, but I really enjoyed it. Vincent D'Oreo or whatever his name is (From Law & Order:CI) fits his role in this movie so much better than his role on TV. Vince Vaughan and Keaunu Reeves also make appearances. One movie review is enough for one post though so I won't go off about this movie.

After reading E&L's post I thought Sufjan Stevens' Christmas album would be a good one to have to play during the holidays to fill our apartment with Christmas cheer. Unfortunately there was not one copy of the CD availible in the entire city of Sioux Falls. I couldn't believe it. It must be pretty good. I ordered it online instead... hopefully it gets here before Christmas is over. If not the Vince Guaraldi Trio will have to suffice.

Thanks for checking in on us! Stay warm! Stay safe to those who are traveling.

The Decemberists & the West

Hi. I have been listening to The Crane Wife by the Decemberists nonstop lately. It is sooo good. I've heard the band a number of times on Radio Paradise, in the Humble Bean and maybe other places that play good music... but never really given them a chance. After hearing the song "The Island" on Threadless I decided to get the CD with some early Christmas money from Target (Thanks, Josh & Kris). What really got me interested is that "The Island" has a part that sounds so much like it could be Pink Floyd that it's almost creepy... almost. The rest of the CD doesn't have as much resemblance to Pink Floyd, but the whole album is really good. Check this one out for sure (most people probably have months ago... what can I say... I'm a little out of the loop).

By the way, Threadless is having a $10 sale. Good stuff. Use the link on this page to get there.

For Broadcast Production class we have what the instructor calls "Favorite Film Fridays" every other week. Instead of covering regular classroom material we present our favorite movie. That is, we give a brief PowerPoint about the cast/crew/production/whatever... show 5-10 minutes of the movie... and then talk about it. It is my turn this week. I am going to show the first scene from "Once Upon a Time in the West" directed by Sergio Leone. I think it is probably my alltime favorite movie. Nobody in the class has ever heard of it, let alone seen it. What a pity!