Top 10 Favorite Film Scores

Inception – Hans Zimmer
Hans Zimmer has written many outstanding film scores in his career, but in my opinion, Inception is his finest: a vivid, imaginative, and throughly entrancing musical soundscape that is every bit as brilliant as the movie it accompanies. Even more amazing is the fact that Zimmer crafted the entire thing without seeing one single frame of the film. He just read the script.
- Dream Is Collapsing
- Mombasa

The Bourne Supremacy – John Powell
One of the best soundtracks the espionage genre has ever produced. Marked by Powell’s signature fusion of electronics and traditional orchestra, this one has it all: intelligence, emotion, creativity, and adrenaline-soaked action. It’s awesomeness in MP3 format.
- Goa
- Bim Bam Smash

Gladiator – Hans Zimmer
“My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius…” *cough* Sorry, couldn’t resist. It’s only one of the greatest movie lines ever – but I digress. Not only does this score create an enduring backdrop for director Ridley Scott’s Roman epic, it also lends itself extremely well to independent listening. From its glorious battle music to its more poignant moments, this one is a winner all the way.
- The Battle
- Honor Him

A Whole Lot Bigger of a Problem

“I read in the papers here a while back some teachers come across a survey that was sent out back in the thirties to a number of schools around the country. Had this questionnaire about what was the problems with teachin in the schools. And they come across these forms, they’d been filled out and sent in from around the country answerin these questions. And the biggest problems they could name was things like talkin in class and runnin in the hallways. Chewin gum. Copyin homework. Things of that nature. So they got out one of them forms that was blank and printed up a bunch of em and sent em back out to the same schools. Forty years later. Well, here come the answers back. Rape, arson, murder. Drugs. Suicide. So I think about that. Because a lot of the time ever when I say anything about how the world is goin to hell in a handbasket people will just sort of smile and tell me I’m getting old. That it’s one of the symptoms. But my feelin about that is that anybody that cant tell the difference between rapin and murderin people and chewin gum has got a whole lot bigger of a problem than what I’ve got.”

~ Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men (p. 195-196)

Book Review: Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl

I’m going to start my review with a simple injunction: read this book. Comprende? Good.  Let’s move on.

I first become aware of Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl a couple years ago, but I never gave it more than a passing glance. In hindsight, I must say that’s really too bad – this is a book I wish I had read much sooner than I did.

Wilson’s premise is that the world – this moist, round, inhabited, spinning ball, filled with flamingos (real and artificial), snowflakes, and human beings – is a work of art crafted by the ultimate Artist. He’s the Someone behind it all, for “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. Through Him all things were made…”

Welcome to His poem. His play. His novel. Skip the bowls of fruit and statues. Let the pages flick your thumbs. This is His spoken world. (p. 8)

Wilson explores this idea with wide-eyed, slack-jawed wonder: unapologetic and as contagious as the measles (only a whole lot better for you). He has Chesterton’s knack for showing us how extraordinary the ordinary really is. Look at the world around you. Be amazed. Be thankful you’re a part of it. Be oh so thankful…

But lest you think this is some sort of fuzzy-brained sentimentalist cakewalk, rest assured  - it’s nothing of the sort. Childlike? Yes. Childish? Not on your life. Wilson may write with the whimsy of A.A. Milne, but he has the sharp-edged theological insight of a surgeon’s scalpel. He’ll nick you; more likely than not, he’ll slice you right open. But like every good surgeon, he won’t leave you that way; and when all is said and done, you’ll be glad you went under his knife.

The quality of writing throughout is top-notch. Actually, it’s several notches above top-notch. High praise, I know, but well deserved. It’s engaging, poignant, funny, and profound. You’ll laugh, you’ll pump your fist, and you’ll probably tear up (I did). You’ll find wordcraft in this book as enjoyable as anything found in a novel.

You’ll also find a veritable treasure trove of imaginative metaphors. As Tony Reinke observed, “Readers who seek a literary buzz of metaphorical intoxication will find it hard to put this book down, and once they do, may find it impossible to touch their nose with their fingertips.”

Be warned: Notes is also highly quotable. You’ll have to pick and choose, though, because you can’t bloody well highlight the whole book. Here’s one of my favorite passages:

The world is rated R, and no one is checking IDs. Do not try to make it G by imagining the shadows away. Do not try to hide your children from the world forever, but do not try to pretend there is no danger. Train them. Give them sharp eyes and bellies full of laughter. Make them dangerous. Make them yeast, and when they’ve grown, they will pollute the shadows. (p. 157)

If, by some chance, you are still unconvinced that this is a must-read, then I fear there is little hope for you.

I was asked to give this book a star rating. Five stars is generally the highest, but I’m going to break the rules and give this one six. Anything less just wouldn’t do it justice.

Finally, be sure to enter Josh’s giveaway if you’re interested in winning a copy of Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl for your own bookshelf!

5 Things I Love About My Mother

Yesterday was my Mom’s birthday. Unfortunately, the inspiration for this post came after the party was over, so I’m obliged to say what I have to say later than I’d like to have said it… if you know what I mean. So without further adieu, I give you five things I love about my Mother.

• I. Far Above Rubies – Giant question mark on your forehead? Check out Proverbs 31:10-31. You just read the most succinct, accurate, and elegantly worded description of my Mom available on this planet (or any other, for that matter). I’m certain I can’t top it, so I won’t even waste my breath. Or my ink.

• II. Books, Books, and More Books – You may know that I’m a tried and convicted bibliophile; what you may not know is that I have my Mom to blame for that. Reverence for (and delight in) the printed word is so pervasive in our house that even my two-year-old brother is guilty of devouring books – in some cases, literally. What can I say? We’re messed up. In an awesome sort of way. Here’s lookin’ at you, Mom.

• III. “The Name’s Bond. James Bond.” – Yes, my Mom watches movies with us. That, in and of itself, is pretty cool. Even cooler is the fact that her tastes are varied. I mean, Wives and Daughters is great, but what can you say about a Mom who’s willing to watch Gladiator and Saving Private Ryan, too? She may not even care for a this or that genre, but she’ll still give it a shot if you ask her to – ’cause she’s that kind of person.

• IV. What’s Cookin’? – I know everybody under the sun says their Mom is the best cook in the world, but frankly, they’re all liars. I ought to know. I’ve eaten my Mom’s cooking for the entire duration of my existence on this cosmic dust speck, and nobody (and I mean nobody) has matched her yet. I dare you to try. Feelin’ lucky, punk?

• V. Smiles All ‘Round – I think it’s safe to say that without my Mom, there would be a lot less laughter in our house. So if mirth is God’s medicine, as Beecher once said, then my Mom is the most liberal dispenser of it I have ever met. She’s just a fun person to be around. And we love her for it.

Five things. Just five things. Because in all honesty, there’s not enough room here to scribble down the rest.

The Wit and Wisdom of Jerome K. Jerome

“A baby is an alimentary canal with a loud voice at one end and no responsibility at the other.”

“I can’t sit still and see another man slaving and working. I want to get up and superintend, and walk round with my hands in my pockets, and tell him what to do. It is my energetic nature. I can’t help it.”

“What I am looking for is a blessing not in disguise.”

“Everything has its drawbacks, as the man said when his mother-in-law died, and they came down upon him for the funeral expenses.”

“It would not be a good place for the heroine of a modern novel to stay at. The heroine of a modern novel is always ‘divinely tall,’ and she is ever ‘drawing herself up to her full height.’ At the Barley Mow she would bump her head against the ceiling each time she did this.”

“I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.”

“It is so pleasant to come across people more stupid than ourselves. We love them at once for being so.”

“It is a most extraordinary thing, but I never read a patent medicine advertisement without being impelled to the conclusion that I am suffering from the particular disease therein dealt with in its most virulent form.”

“‘Cultivate,’ I said, ‘a sense of humor. From a humorous point of view this lunch is rather good.’”

“And I am careful of my work, too. Why, some of the work that I have by me now has been in my possession for years and years, and there isn’t a finger-mark on it. I take a great pride in my work; I take it down now and then and dust it. No man keeps his work in a better state of preservation than I do.”

“That’s Harris all over – so ready to take the burden of everything himself, and put it on the backs of other people.”

Have your own favorite Jerome quote? Be sure to share it down in the comments section! I’d love to hear it!