READING: C.S. LEWIS
I recently finished reading C.S. Lewis’ Surprised By Joy – an autobiography of his early years while eventually addressing his conversion from atheism to theism and from theism to Christianity. From cover to cover is the backdrop of schooling and academia… and I must say, smart people are fascinating. He’s clearly so well read and versed… if anyone could fit into my ultimate British professor stereotype, it’s definitely him. Personally speaking, besides the first few chapters and the last few chapters i found his writing quite dry for my liking even though it reads so naturally. And i think he recognizes this too… right off the bat he concedes that his account is “suffocatingly subjective.” But writing that, amongst some other great parenthetical thoughts and one-liners makes him a funny man, too. The ultimate British professor, plus funny.
If you’re not up for the whole book, I strongly suggest at least reading the last two chapters where he finally talks about his conversion in more detail. I found it so interesting how he intensely wrestled with the concept of God… and yet, how the whole God thing kept encroaching on his life academically and intellectually, circumstantially and socially.
There are quite a few parts i’d love to quote but i’ll just finish off with two (both from the second to last chapter).
“For the first time I examined myself with a seriously practical purpose. And there I found what appalled me; a zoo of lusts, a bedlam of ambitions, a nursery of fears, a harem of fondled hatreds. My name was legion.”
“Whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all of England.”
WATCHING: DEDICATION
If you want to watch how Dysfunction falls in love, then this movie is for you. It takes some extreme and overt characters of dysfunction and somehow draws out from their case universal themes that we can identify with. There’s subtle (or, not so subtle) hilarity at times but it can move bit slow – kind of Garden State-esque. It’s not your typical romantic movie plot but still takes a stab at it from a bit of a different angle. Minus the annoying opening scene and the already-done method of wooing Mandy with a telescope (a la A Walk to Remember), I liked it and will probably watch it again at some point.
Confession: I like Mandy Moore. I just do. Not that I think she’s an incredible actress or anything but i always find myself rooting for her character. Well then.
LISTENING: GREG LASWELL
From the first bar of Greg Laswell’s song, “How the Day Sounds” I was already hooked. Such a sucker for piano-driven melodies. And then a few seconds later, enter Greg’s voice.. so soothing. Low but not too low. And he does a great sultry cover of Cindy Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” Not your typical cover song but it’s won me over. After the first listen-through of his MySpace, i bought two of his albums.
Free download of one of the songs off his new album, it’s a good one.
And how did i hear about Greg Laswell you ask? Well duh, through a Google search of Mandy Moore and the subsequent landing onto her Wiki page noting that Mandy and Greg had previously dated. And also, a pleasant surprise to find Greg Laswell has been part of The Hotel Cafe tour before.
