A place that makes sense

I wanted to pass along this great article by Bill McKibben I found in the Christian Century.  It's about a community close to Stockholm that is virtually waste free.  I like the idea of putting my bananna peels in a pneumatic tube that whooshes them away into some community compost pile.  That sounds like a lot of fun.  It reminds me of the laundry shoot that my friend Brandon and I used to send our He-men down at his house.   That's why I wanted to live in a two story house--so I could have a luandry shoot.  So far, the dream remains a dream.  

My new name

According to the "Sarah Palin baby name generator," I'd be Chalk Revelations Palin.  Hahaha.  I love that it's "Revelations" instead of "Revelation."  That's funny.  Wesley Garrett would be Wesson Scalper.  Yikes.  I'm leaving it to Lara to have fun with her name and Julianna Lee (who's on the way in Nov.)  Not too late to change her's to a Palinesqe Jinx Lounger or something like that.  

Missing Los Angeles theaters

When the weather is a perfect 70 degrees, I miss Los Angeles, where the weather is like that most of the time.   One thing I loved about living in Los Angeles was going to the movies in theaters that had real character and history and lore and beauty.   One of my favorites was the Majestic, just south of Wilshire on Westwood Blvd.  There's a beautiful backlit mural of the Hollywood Hills and Westwood that glows during the showing of the movie.  I think I saw Finding Nemo and the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind there.  I tried and tried to find a photo of that for you, but as far as I can tell, they are just "coming soon."  

Another great theater is the Fox Westwood Village. 

This is where most of the premiers are when you see Hollywood stars walking in on the red carpet.  It is beautiful inside and out (as evidenced by the photos.)  Mission revival architecture, and a big star of david on the ceiling in the theater. 

 I think we saw the Lord of t

he Rings movies there, waiting in line with fans dressed like all the characters.  

This one was

 convenient too, cause it was a block away from the UCLA medical center (where Lara worked).   

The El Capitan theater, on Hollywood Blvd, just opposite the famous Chinese Theater, isn't spectacular from the outside, but inside is something else.  

Disney owns this theater and they use it to premier all their features.  It's weird to see Sleeping Beauty 

and Cars right next to 

the 

scuzzy Hollywood shops hawking sex toys.  We saw the premier of Pirates of the Caribbean here.   Oh, they also have a house organist who plays before the film rolls.    

Oh, and if this is your kind of thing, there's a website called "Cinema Treasures" that I've enjoyed visiting.  They have the story of historic theaters, with photos, for theaters around the country.  They even have a profile on our local "Orpheum" in Okmulgee, OK!

It's just a motto

One of Andrew Thompson's articles about the UMC slogan "Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors," has always stuck with me. I understand where Andrew is coming from, but his perspective is a little more rigid than mine (an influence of the cantankerously brilliant Hauerwas on Andrew, I would guess) Not that you can't have your own opinion, Andrew--just making a connection, that's all.
Well, I ran across an article today in the Oklahoma Contact that gave me the confidence that appealing to our motto in matters of debate and doctrinal discussion is not ill founded. Whether it came from an Ad-agency or the Holy Spirit--others think of our church in this way, obviously. The article tells of a fatality accident on I40 involving a young Jewish girl on her way home from college in California. When her distrought father searched for help--he googled the local Methodist church nearest his daughter's accident because

"Aren't you the open doors and open hearts church? You people do things like this to help others, don’t you?’"

Brack assured Neuman the church members would do whatever they could.

It may not be hard-boiled dead german white guy theology, it may come off as mamsy-pamsy anything goes religion to critics--but it worked in conveying the heart of the church to this man. That's the power of the Gospel.

Near Death Experiences

I'm listening to a pretty good interview on Studio Tulsa with Sam Barnia, a guy who is a contributor to National Geographic program on the subject airing soon. He's a director of the "mind/body" symposium of researchers, doctors, etc. I suppose anyone who'd living is somewhat interested in what it is like to die--since it's a ride we're all in line for. The descriptions of out of body experiences and traveling toward a light or through a tunnel are intriguing. I read a book called "The Brief History of the Dead," that had a lot of great imagry about the body transforming into the spirit body. I'm also looking forward to reading Spook I really enjoyed her earlier book, Stiff: The Curious lives of human cadavers. Interested in a quircky, good read--well there you go.