neville's random recommendations (beginning & ending, of course, with movies)

MOVIE OF THE LAST MONTH TO SEE= "The Motorcyle Diaries"

BOOK OF THE LAST MONTH YOU SHOULD READ (TIE)= >"On Beauty and Being Just" and "For the Beauty of the Earth"

SONG OF THIS MONTH YOU NEED TO HEAR= Explosions in the Sky's "First Breath After Coma" (downloadable from iTunes if you wish)from their album Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place

THEOLOGIAN WHO MIGHT BE MY NEW BEST FRIEND= Hans Kung

WHAT I'M CURRENTLY THINKING A LOT ABOUT= As you might guess from above, how beauty has been left out of most Protestant churches over the past few hundred years and how this has affected many Christians' thinking / perspectives / beliefs / theories on art. We need more of a balance when it comes to beauty in our American churches today. Sadly, most of the Protestant / Evangelical churches look like gigantic C.E.O. offices and business organizations, rather than a place of worship. Whatever happened to sacred icons IN our churches?

MOVIE OF THIS MONTH TO SEE= "The Incredibles" ...because it's Hollywood ironically doing what it does best: criticizing a culture it so often helps to negatively influence by telling America that being great and doing great things is not something to be ashamed of (i.e., see recent news stories on validictorians at high school graduations...it's just really getting ridiculous). So, it couldn't be more pertitent for a film as beautiful and as timely as "The Incredibles" to hit theaters. Thank God for movies. Good night.