Paris Je T'aime

well i have to thank my sister for giving me a gift subscription to Netflix for christmas. our third Netflix film (after Away From Her * and Somersault **) arrived yesterday and we watched it last night.

Paris Je T'Aime is a creative idea for a movie in and of itself. it features 18 5 minutes vignettes directed by 18 acclaimed directors and featuring an ensemble cast of well known domestic and foreign actors. Each vignette takes place in a different part of Paris and in small ways, each short is connected to the others.

Paris Je T'Aime (Paris, I Love You) is basically a movie about love... our longing for love, the chasing after, childhood innocence, passion for deep connections with others, dealing with love and loss, circumstantial love, the love of pain (and vice versa), love through sacrifice, and just plain joy brought about by a genuine love of love. This movie is resonating with me so much. I think in the end I realized how connected everything is. After all it's the hope of love that is ingrained in our very being (a gift from God, accepted and rejected) and that hope connects us all. We all want it, search for it endlessly and always mange to muff it up in the process - but it is that pursuit that keeps us alive. when we lose that desire to pursue love - life, i believe, is lost.

Patis Je T'Aime (website, trailer) is a wonderfly beautiful film... pleasing to the eyes, ears, heart and mind. It also features a nice soundtrack and a wonderful closing song by Feist (in which i found an mp3 download here). As the trailer says, fall in love again 18 times...

There was truly only one of the 18 that i didn't really like (Porte de Choisy: about a hair product sailsman trying to sell to a beauty salon in Chinatown)- and even that one was visually stimulating, i just didn't get it. It's hard for me to pick a favorite segment... but Tuileries directed by the Coen brothers and starring Steve Buscemi was a highlight... as was Bastille and Parc Monceau filmed entirely in one continuous shot.

See this movie. See the different faces of love. let your heart be filled with joy... again and again.



(further reading: review... wiki... but honestly - just see it first - then read more about it.)

*Away from Her (3 out of 5 stars... great beginning... then... meh)
** Somersault (4.5 out of 5 stars... this Aussie film has gotten better in my mind as i've thought more about it and discovered truths found within)

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Now playing: Feist - La même histoire
via FoxyTunes

Secrets of the Divine Imagination (or to well up with passionate resonation of sound and soul)

below is the song order of the new playlist i created this weekend... inspired after taking a moment... the title of the playlist is the title of this post.
it's mostly instrumental music... very passionate & emotional songs... i am finding it to be a nice addition to much needed meditation...

if you would like more info on where some of these songs are from - drop me a comment.

Creek Lullaby … Margaret
Everything About You Is New … Massive Attack
The Tracker … Peter Gabriel
Genea … Elliott
Refur … Sigur Ros
Naked Snow … Decoder Ring
Please, Let's Try Again … Linford Detweiler
Failing Eyes … Jeff Johnson
Opus 36 … Dustin O'Halloran
Tuolumne … Eddie Vedder
Iguazu … Gustavo Santaolalla
Rough Sex … Decoder Ring
Coloring Shoes … Explosions In The Sky
Residential Love Song … K.C. Accidental
Bleed In Breathe Out … Elliott
Mark Jamming … Explosions In The Sky
Treefingers … Radiohead
Matador … Daniel Lanois
Scattered Black and Whites … Elbow
I Am So Much More Me That You Are Perfectly You … Eluvium
Glacial … Hammock
Garrison … Film School
Loosing Games … Explosions In The Sky
Half Time … Mogwai
You May Emerge From This More Dead Than Alive … Hammock
Gong … Sigur Rós
Closing Titles from Jewboy … Decoder Ring
Goodbye … Kevin Shields
I Should Have Kept Going … Linford Detweiler
Polybackwards … Gus Gus

Please, Let' Try Again

Lou Gehrig, Al Simmons & Babe Ruth...
Johnny Cash in concert at the Minneapolis Auditorium...
John, Paul, Ringo & George
The Shawshank Redemption: Fear Can Hold You Prisoner, Hope Can Set You Free
The Creation of Adam & the Big Picture
The Joshua Tree
Never, Never, Never Give Up - Winston Churchill
Pictures of my wife and kids
a quote by Rich Mullins
In Bloom
Notes and cards and letters

the view from my office chair.
music plays.
iPod on shuffle.
Please Let's Try Again by Linford Detweiler (of Over the Rhine).


i take a moment... sitting... pondering... reflecting... meditating...



sometimes we need to take moments...

Remixed Rainbows

amplive rainydayz remixes of radiohead: in rainbows - free!

an 8-track collection featuring remixes of Radiohead's historic seventh album, In Rainbows. The songs are available in a zip file



steve... troy... you might be interested in this...

current obsessions

on the way to Revolution

4 degrees. that's what the digital thermometer read in the car this morning.
the grass was crisp. the sun, peering through the chilled, barren trees shone beams of cold across the land.
the frozen moon was in its last fading moments before disappearance.
hats and mittens and moisture emitted from the mouths of youth mixes with the cold forming temporary clouds of white, frost-like vapor.
minds racing with ideas and desires. conversations about this and that and all that comes in-between.
running inside, out of the chill and into the florescent warmth.
the cold is forgotten - at least for the moment. but there is still a cold inside. and so many have gotten used to covering themselves. they are young - but not too young to want the warmth of the sun... even if they don't realize that they truly need the warmth of the Son.

On the way to Revolution*. a gathering for those who desire God's warmth... or at least a desire for something more.





*thoughts collected while attending the weekly Bible study that meets Thursday mornings at in the middle school gym...



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Now playing: The Afters - Summer Again
via FoxyTunes

You Can't Fake It...

either you are or you aren't...