Fight Club

I finally saw Fight Club a week or so ago. As often is the case, Fight Club isn't only about "fighting". I really appreciate so much about this film. While avoiding spoilers for those who haven't seen it, I see this film as a worthy member of the following list:

Memento
Pulp Fiction
The Usual Suspects
The Sixth Sense
Mulholland Drive
Being John Malkovich

Movies in this category (1) require a second viewing, and (2) are almost as much fun to read ABOUT on the internet as they are to watch.

Roger Ebert is quoted as saying, "Movies aren't about what they're about, they're about how they're about it." This movie definitely proves the point.

my current reads...

Here are the books I am either (1) reading, (2) just finishing, or (3) going back through and making notes...

The Millenium Matrix by Rex Miller
Holy Transformation by Chip Ingram
Colossians Remixed by Walsh & Keesmaat
The Coffeehouse Gospel by Paul Matthew Turner
Buck Naked Faith by Eric Sandras
A Primer on Postmodernism by Stanley Grenz

The Matrix Revisited again..

I received The Matrix 10-DVD Ultimate Collection last November. Needless to say it has been a wild ride. I had previously watched all 3 of the films several times, but this experience of going through each "making of" DVD and then watching the movie all the way through was invigorating! The other DVDs in the set are incredible. I am on my last disc, The Roots of the Matrix, which discusses the philosophical basis for the movies.

I am taking the Wachowski Brothers' suggestion to all the lead actors by beginning to read:

Simulation and Simulacra by Jean Baudrilliard
Out of Control by Kevin Kelly
Introducing Evolutionary Psychology by Dylan Evans and Oscar Zarate

I'll let you know how they are when I come up for air...

resonate

Today I have been thinking about the word "resonate." As a musician, it is rich with meanings for me. As I think about navigating in today's world, resonate takes on an interesting connotation.

In my life over the past two or three years, I have read certain books, blogs, and sites which cause something in me to resonate with what they are saying.

To resonate is to assume that there is something "out there" beyond one's self. It is the opposite of a common philosophy of "I've got to do this all myself," or "my way or the highway." In fact, to resonate does, in one sense, connote abandonment of one's self and selfish orientation. It implies that there is something outside of me that has value and that I can grow and widen my world by seeking it and resonating with it.

Incidentally, a trip to http://www.resonate.ca/ put this word in my mind this morning, and I can't get it out.

welcome to my new blog

Welcome to my new blog. I have wanted to do this for a while, and the time seems right.

A little about myself...

I am a composer, producer and performer (mostly brass instruments). After attending the University of North Texas I've had various opportunities in music including playing on the road, working at a recording studio, being a staff composer for a major publisher, and teaching music courses at college. I married my lovely wife Gail in 87, and we have three kids. She is also a composer as well as a pianist and we have worked on music projects together.

I have had two worship pastor positions in ministry, one at a large church and the other at a smaller one. Between those two positions I was out of ministry for a period of ten months where I continued to write and perform music, but also rested, relaxed, read a ton of books, traveled, and drew nearer to God than ever before.

While not currently working on a church staff, I am doing a lot of thinking about what the call of the 21c church is. (Many are trying to figure that out right now.) I know for a fact that just as the world has changed drastically in the last 50 years, so must the church. While currently writing music (both for others and for ensembles in which I am involved), I continue to listen, learn, and grow, seeking to know God, myself, and the path ahead.