Ever wanted to tie yourself to a bunch of balloons and fly away? Carl Fredricksen does just that this summer in Pixar’s newest animated blockbuster, Up (directed by Pete Docter). Seventy-eight-year-old widower Carl (voiced by Ed Asner), grieving his recently deceased wife, decides to fulfill a childhood dream to go to the fabled Paradise Falls by mooring thousands of balloons to his house and flying it to South America. In the process, cantankerous Carl collects a giant bird, a talking dog, and 8-year-old stowaway Russell (Jordan Nagai), all of whom demand more love, loyalty, and leadership than Carl’s tired heart can supply. Climb aboard as Carl Fredricksen finally finds his adventure — which may be a little … wilder … than either he or Russell anticipated.

The film opens with a look back into Carl’s childhood, as he watches newsreels of his hero, intrepid explorer Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer) set off in his airship, the Spirit of Adventure, seeking the legendary giant bird of South America’s Paradise Falls. The youthful Carl soon meets Ellie, a girl even more obsessed with Muntz than himself, if possible, and their shared dream
makes them fast friends. In the course of time, they grow up, fall in love, marry, and grow old together, always promising each
other they would someday make it to Paradise Falls like their hero.

We return to the present to find a fiercely independent Carl, widowed and alone for the first time in 50 years. With his cottage  threatened by urban development, the retired balloon salesman devises a plan to tie thousands of balloons to his house and sail it to South America, inadvertently taking along Russell, a Wilderness Explorer. Carl and Russell face far more than the simple difficulty
of getting to the falls, however. Charles Muntz is still searching for his giant bird, and he has become rather territorial about the falls and the birds that live there, complicating matters when one of the rare birds attaches itself to their convoy. The explorer is convinced the man and boy are out to get him, and sends his trained dog packs out to find and stop them. Russell must learn courage and Carl patience if they are to survive this blue-yonder adventure in one piece.

Up continues Pixar’s long tradition of breathtakingly beautiful cinematic panoramas of computer-generated imagery. The setting of the main part of the movie — the ground and skies of Paradise Falls — is richly, wonderfully detailed. With Up, however, for the first time Pixar experimented with wide-release 3D in its films. While I did not see it in 3D (3D showings are dependent on the theater
and are typically $3 to $5 more expensive), I have heard that, as usual, Pixar hit the 3D version out of the ballpark. In my own experience, though, the 3D version of a film may be distracting or confusing and can even cause some people headaches; your mileage may vary.

The true theme of the movie isn’t about helping the elderly, or never forgetting your dreams, or anything else. Russell needs leadership, needs to learn how to be a man. Carl needs to remember who he is. You can’t forget a dream, yet dreams are not enough — sometimes you have to leave them behind. In short, it’s “If” in cinematic form — Rudyard Kipling’s challenge to courageous manhood:
“If you can dream — and not make dreams your master,
If you can think — and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same.”
Be advised: the emotional intensity of Up may be a little too much for some kids. The family in front of me in the theater had to take their little girls out three times, as the suspense got to be too much for them. Unlike some of Pixar’s previous films, this time the heroes in danger are near and dear to us — a vulnerable old man and a little boy rather than a talking car, a clownfish, or a teenage chef. The film is hardly all seriousness, though. The explorer’s trained dog pack is fitted with collars that allow them to talk … until their attention is interrupted by a passing squirrel. Ever wondered how a dog thinks? Pixar’s nailed it — “Sir, I have just met you but I LOVE you. … ” Talking dogs, a giant bird that loves chocolate, and the escapades of an irrepressible 8-year-old Wilderness Explorer do a lot to relieve the tension of the film.

Carl regains the sense of adventure, of youthfulness, he lost when Ellie died. And Russell learns how to be a man at last. Carl’s childhood hero failed the test, but Carl and Russell have come a long way together, and it shows. Pixar has done it again and created a beautiful, wonderful, heroic tearjerker of a movie. In today’s culture, we can do far worse for our kids and for ourselves.

At least this is the story as we have been able to figure it out.

Today in Iran Twitter is proving its value as an instant communication and broadcast medium for dissidents in Tehran. Mainstream media sources have nearly ignored recent significant events in Iran, (CNN, BBC Persia, and the NY Times have reportedly covered it to some degree but MSN, Fox, the Washington Post and others are said to have had only perfunctory coverage). A handful of dissidents and students in Tehran are managing fill the gap, however, posting information to Twitter from the ground as events unfold. Some are keeping up 20-30 tweets/hour or better, and their posts are being re-tweeted around the world in realtime. A live search of the #IranElections hashtag on Twitter returns 30 to 80 posts a minute from people on the ground in Iran and discussing the events around the world.

Photos and video are coming from the ground as well. BBC Persia has some live footage of the march, going on its fifth hour in Tehran. One user has been posting links to most of the TwitPic photos going up from the march itself, while ________ (a dissident on the ground) and _________ (a student at Tehran University) posted links earlier to two Farsi-language blogs with photos of the results of the university siege at http://25khordad.wordpress.com/ and http://entesabat88.persianblog.ir/. A video walk-through of a wrecked dorm at Tehran University can be found on Youtube here. Photos of police chasing people and a protester protecting a fallen riot cop are surfacing, as well as a photo showing that Mousavi is indeed in the crowd today, contrary to some reports. A video of a chanting crowd streaming down a major avenue in Tehran will give you goosebumps. Twitpipe and Twitcaps give you live streams of  twitter posts and images, respectively, relating to the Iranian Elections. Twitter and the Internet are changing the way the world works.

Some in the blogosphere stateside are doing a good job translating and syndicating the stream coming out of Iran. Andrew Sullivan of the Daily Dish is live-blogging the Iranian events. He has an excellent rundown of the weekend’s news here, and a particularly haunting post of photos and tweets from the inside here. FiveThirtyEight has an interesting discussion of why exactly the reported election results are statistically hard to believe. And I and thousands of other Twitter users are retweeting and distributing the highlights of the information stream to our followers.

Please pray for Christians and dissidents in Iran–this is a very dangerous situation. Some have already died, and this could turn into a massacre at a moment’s notice. It is a great opportunity though, as well, for a critical change in government to occur in Iran, one of the most closed countries on earth to democracy and the gospel. The newest reports on Twitter are saying that violence is ramping back up after twilight, and the streets are no longer safe. The internet and mobile networks are a tenuous link in a closed country, and we know that the government is actively trying to shut down these information leaks. Pray for freedom for this country, and for the continued health of those trying to let the world know what is happening!

John Calvin Young

Late breaking: Youtube channel of videos from Tehran today at http://www.youtube.com/user/iran09twitter

UPDATE: I can no longer distribute usernames of trusted sources on Twitter, as the government is using cyberwarfare tactics to track down and threaten, arrest, or do worse to those trying to get information out of the country. Don’t retweet raw information from the hashtag stream–there are known fake users posting disinformation for publicity or to muddy the waters. Stay with trusted sources–watch mine and other twitter streams known to use trusted sources, and read any IR twitterers carefully, checking back over their update history for consistency and opposition to the government. The most polemic are not necessarily the most accurate. I regret that the situation has reached that point, but security now demands a different level of behavior. Some things you can do: IR twitterers are asking that users outside the country switch their location and time zone to Tehran (+3:30 GMT) to swell the numbers of “Tehran” twitterers and make the government’s search harder. Also, if you do find a trustworthy source, don’t RT indiscriminately with the username–use “RT from Iran”. These users are more concerned about their lives than about proper credit. An excellent article on the cyberwarfare going on and what you can do is posted at http://www.boingboing.net/2009/06/16/cyberwar-guide-for-i.html.  To paraphrase another user discussing security, remember it’s not a game or an internet meme to Iranian twitterers…it doesn’t close when they shut down TweetDeck or sign out of their browser. Many are hunkered down in safe houses or ruined buildings around Tehran, hoping to live out the night. Read, RT, reply, discuss to your heart’s content, but don’t be the one that exposes these brave members of the opposition to the government!

A long-awaited new series of photos of Katie for all y’all. Thanks so much for praying for her!

IHS,
John Calvin Young

Last week one of my classmates introduced us to a most interesting song by Irish band Guggenheim Grotto, Philosophia.

When we’re young we set our hearts upon some beautiful idea
Maybe something from a holy book or French philosophia
Upon the thoughts of better men than us we swear by and decree a
Perfect way to end the war of ways the only way to be a…

Work of art, oh to be a work of art

But in time a thought comes tugging on the sleeve edge of our minds
Perhaps no perfect way exists at all, just many different kinds
Oh but if it’s just a thing of taste then everything unwinds
For without an absolute how can the absolute define…

A work of art, oh to be a work of art

The end of the second verse is excellent…it refutes the central tenet of post-modern relativism in only two rhyming lines! If you deny absolutism (the existence of an absolute truth, virtue, or moral standard) than you self-refute your assertion–how can a statement (the absence of universal truth) then be universal? The video is also quite significant–it’s not just random images or eye candy–the director and DP were very aware of the meaning of the song.

You can find Philosophia on iTunes or on Amazon MP3 here.

…without the absolute how can the absolute define…
John Calvin Young

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea:
A great High Priest, whose name is Love,
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart;
I know that while in heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair,
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look, and see him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free;
For God, the Just, is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me
To look on Him and pardon me

Behold him there, the risen Lamb
My perfect, spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I Am,
The King of Glory and of Grace!
One with Himself, I cannot die
My soul is purchased by His blood
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ, my Savior and my God
With Christ, my Savior and my God

–Charitie L. Bancroft

When we are tempted to doubt our salvation or to despair because of the sin remaining in our lives, we need only to look to Jesus, to remember what he has done. We should no longer let Satan tell us that we still owe him service. The price has been paid and we are free. “Upward I look and see Him there, who made an end to all my sin. Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free… It was a joyous thought on this Sunday morning, to remember that we are no longer slaves but free, because God is willing and satisfied to look on his sinless Son and pardon us! Let us never lose sight of that incredible, overwhelming truth.

Last night I drove to Roanoke to see the new movie Watchmen, based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. I expected the film to be violent, considering the tone set by the graphic novel, but the finished work was far more violent than I had foreseen. Each of the scenes I mentioned above was in the movie, and many worse. At my count, there were at least 4 sex scenes, 4-8 extraordinarily violent murders, and a near-innumerable count of other gory and horrifying deaths, including dozens vaporized, obliterated, or simply exploded by Dr. Manhattan.

Now don’t get me wrong–not all violence is wrong, and often times it is necessary, even in a fictional story. I had no problem with Night Owl and Miss Jupiter’s fight scene in the prison riot–it was superbly choreographed and not unduly violent. I’ve watched a number of films with very violent wartime scenes, such as Gods and Generals, The Last Samurai, and the Lord of the Rings. These films largely did not bother me. What offends me though is the macabre fascination with death that would have us watch as a character takes a cleaver to another man’s head or a paralyzed man is made to fall on a sword, as in Serenity.

Sometimes violence is simply necessary for the plot, as in Ben Hur or Passion of the Christ. But in many cases understated or suggested action can be even more powerful that directly showing it. In Watchmen, three organized-crime types try to break into Rorschach’s prison cell to extract retribution for his vigilante work. The first two are gruesomely killed–the first dismembered with a circular saw and the second electrocuted, all in the midst of a prison riot–but the third’s death is not shown. Rorschach chases him into a bathroom, from which we only hear a flushing sound after a long moment. All the teens in the theater looked at each in horrified fascination–”WHAT did he DO to him?” This scene was far more powerful than the bloody deaths gruesomely depicted all around the characters, we recoil in disgust even though the only visual image we are left with is blood-tinged water flowing underneath the door. We were simply left in shock from the previous killings, but this one was left to our imagination, and it was far more effective than the others.

While I was thinking over this topic this morning, the thought-provoking song “Junkyard” by Celtic Christian band Ceili Rain came on the radio.

Saw a movie where a guy
Kills another guy, twice
Don’t know if I can forget about it

Saw a guy finish a fight
With a butcher knife, slice
Pretty sure I won’t forget about it

Is it OK If I say?:

My heart is not a junkyard
My mind is not a dump for all the gunk around
My spirit’s not a junkyard
No, it’s Holy Ground

Saw a photo on the net
Can’t believe that I’ve seen
Don’t know if I can forget about it

Two kids were playing in some dirt
That will never come clean
Wish to God I could forget about it

No one’s safe till we all say:

Wanna keep, keep the temple clean
Gotta keep, keep the temple clean
Tryin’ to keep, keep the temple clean
How do I keep the temple clean?

Vicious rumor went around
Wrecked my Uncle John’s life
Guess he never could forget about it

The song is right–our hearts and minds are not places to fill with this kind of gratuitous filth. Some violence is necessary to a plot or unavoidable–crime is evil, war is violent, it would be pointless to try to deny it–but to voyeuristically dwell on these sorts of elements is not healthy or desirable. The Apostle Paul states in Philippians 4:8,

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” (NKJV)

Gruesome death, rape, fornication, and murder are not true, noble, just, pure, lovely, or of good report. Let us not meditate on these things.

In His Service,
John Calvin Young

A beautiful Celtic Christian song I heard recently on the excellent Celtic Christian Tunes web radio station: Andrew Lobb’s “Weep For Winter” from his Pools of Light CD.

Weep for winter when spring comes down
Along the banks and rivers of desire
Sun warmed earth, the snow drops melt
Yellow flamed primroses of the fire

Weep for winter when frosts are no more
On white laced hills across the land
As dew drops form on spiders web
No robins song, nor crows lonely stand

Weep for winter as the cuckoo calls
Across forest sun lights fall
Breathe new life among trees of green
Cold hard hands release us all

CH-Time to grow and leave behind
All our thoughts of years gone by
Say goodbye to winters tears, roll on down, Yes roll on down
On rivers banks they leave a sigh
On rivers banks they leave a sigh

You can listen to a short sample here, or to a Youtube video of the complete song performed live at the Alnwick International Music Festival and posted by the artist here.

http://dbmedia.crossrhythms.co.uk/audio/mp3/12684-12.mp3

And no, iTunes doesn’t have it–I checked… You can purchase the CD direct from him or from the Crossrhythms.co.uk site.

My review was published in Carolina Journal’s February issue. As always, CJ makes a good read, but I’ve included my review below.

War films, conspiracy thrillers, and action blockbusters are not rare, but one that fulfills all of the categories like “Valkyrie” is a treat. Director Bryan Singer brings us the powerful story of the July 20 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944 — an action that, if successful, could have ended Germany’s part in the war nine months early and saved thousands of lives. Tom Cruise stars in this unusual epic, showcasing the real, not fictional, bravery of a small group of men who tried to bring down one of the worst dictators that ever lived and redeem their nation’s reputation.

The film opens with a young German Army Col. Claus von Stauffenberg (Cruise), recently invalided home from North Africa, coming to a realization that he could no longer in good conscience support the Fuehrer — Hitler had become “not only the archenemy of the world, but the archenemy of Germany.” Other officers, such as General Tresckow (Kenneth Branagh), had reached the same conclusion and determined to act on it — a recent attempt to plant a bomb on Hitler’s transport plane had failed. The brilliant young von Stauffenberg, transferred to the German High Command (OKW), was quickly recruited for the plan to stop Hitler.

The conspirators were torn between their oaths of loyalty to the Fuehrer as officers and the conviction that he had to be stopped. In his position in OKW, von Stauffenberg stumbled across an existing plan named “Operation Valkyrie” designed to secure the government in case of a coup. As a trusted officer who briefed Hitler frequently, von Stauffenberg was the perfect courier to deliver a bomb to kill the dictator. With Hitler’s own plan for securing the government, he could manipulate the expected response in their favor.

On July 20, at a routine briefing at the Fuehrer’s Eastern Front headquarters, von Stauffenberg armed the bomb while a confederate cut off communications with Berlin to gain time to implement their plan. Von Stauffenberg waited until he witnessed the blast, then bluffed his way out of the compound in the ensuing confusion. Unknown to him, the bomb had been moved aside by another officer who was not in on the secret, and Hitler was shielded from the full force of the blast when it went off.

Returning to Berlin, von Stauffenberg found the other conspirators had not taken advantage of the three-hour communication blackout to start Operation Valkyrie, as the dictator’s death had not yet been confirmed. Word began leaking out that the Fuehrer was not dead, and when von Stauffenberg’s communications were cut off by Hitler’s order, the plot, and the lives of the conspirators, were doomed.

“Valkyrie” remains largely faithful to the historical account, deviating in a few places but carefully following the main narrative. Many small details are faithfully included, such as an unsuspecting officer’s careless handling of one of the early bombs that scared one of the conspirators. The initial announcement of the production met with mixed reactions in Germany. Concerns were raised over the casting of megastar Tom Cruise as von Stauffenberg, both as a highly public Scientology adherent (the religious group is considered a cult in Germany and the government has considered a ban) and as the star of “Top Gun,” likely resulting in a watered-down story to emphasize the action. Not least, they needed permission to shoot at historic locations and display the Nazi flag and symbols — strictly verboten in Germany.

These well-considered reservations were resolved, however. The German government granted permission to film and backdate to Nazi times a variety of historic sites, including the Benderblock in Berlin where the chief conspirators were shot. The filmmakers may have dramatized a few scenes, but the project as a whole upholds the factual account. Valkyrie keeps up the tension through the final minutes, even with the ending never in doubt. The result is a very straightforward, clean, historically accurate depiction of the heroism of a small circle of men willing to risk and give their all.

I was extraordinarily impressed by the historical accuracy of the film and their treatment of a spy/war plot with little-to-no language, little gore, and no nudity or other inappropriate behavior. I felt the film would not have been out of place showing at the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival–despite its Big Hollywood origins, the film gave a accurate, sympathetic portrayal of real heroism in the character of Colonel Von Stauffenberg, and they didn’t ruin it with gratuitous content errors.

The writing was also superb. Even where the lines are most likely entirely fictional, the writing is quite memorable–at one point Treskow, leaving the plot in Stauffenberg’s hands when he is transferred to the front, turns to von Stauffenberg and says, “You know, God promised Abraham that he would not destroy Sodom if there were ten righteous men. I feel for Germany it may come down to one.” When the conspirators are facing the firing squad at the end, Colonel Von Stauffenberg says to one of the others, “Look them in the eye; they’ll remember you.” This film powerfully tells their story for a new generation.