Potpourri: Art, Movies, Blogs

Every now and again I like to surf the Web and see how my old friends are doing. Artist Jim Janknegt, whom I went to college with (University of Texas) is doing pretty well. You can read an interview with him here and look at (and buy) his art here. Here is his Adoration of the Kings:

Yesterday turned out to be movie day, although it was not planned to be. I went with Amy and Lizzy to see Finding Neverland and later watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind with The Lad on DVD. Both were pretty good; in the latter Jim Carrey was able to make it through the entire movie without hamming it up at all. The movies had something in common (besides Kate Winslet): they both proposed, in their own ways, the power of the human mind as the source of human comfort and salvation (in a secular sense). Since this is not an authentic possibility, both movies had a profoundly pessimistic subtext (each of them fully aware of it) that worked against their surface optimism. Thoughtful holiday viewing.

A blog that readers of this blog might enjoy is Old Testament for the Church. The blogger is yet another old friend, this time from Fuller Seminary days. Also I'm checking out Richard Cohen's blog (gimme that old-time Eastern religion) and The Buck Stops Here.