Wisdom and Folly

It’s been another exciting year, and we want to thank you all for reading and, if applicable, posting comments on our blog.  Once again, we would like to close out the year with summary remarks about good and bad stuff related to film, music, books, politics, and family. 

Best Film Experiences:

• Jim:  Slumdog Millionaire, Inglourious Basterds, and The Blind Side. Three very different films with one thing in common: a compelling story.  See my March 2 post for extended comments on Slumdog, and our joint review of Inglourious Basterds in our October 29 post.  As for The Blind Side, I confess that I went to see it begrudgingly, figuring it would subject me to two hours of eye-rolling melodrama.  On the contrary, this simple but powerful film had me in tears the entire evening.  And I’m no sentimentalist…
• Amy:  Jim chose the ones you’ve heard of, so here are a few older ones you might not have seen: 1927 Academy Award winning Sunrise.  I am not a big fan of silent films but this one is amazing, a perfect movie. Another oldie but goodie is The Red Shoes.  Finally, Murder!  I am slowly working my way through all the works of Hitchcock and this was one I marked off the list this year.  It’s classic Hitchcock, which is to say, suspense with heart and soul.  Finally, this one isn’t an oldie, but since I spend a great deal of time watching children’s films I will give a shout out to my friends Charlie and Lola.

Worst Film Experiences: 

• Jim:  Little Children—Three of my pet peeves in contemporary Hollywood films are:  1) stilted dialogue, 2) gratuitous sex scenes, and 3) plotlines that encourage viewers to root for a character to commit adultery.  Well, this movie features all three of these vices.  Some thematic originality or insight into truth might have helped to redeem the film despite these flaws.  But, alas, this one was disappointing down to the last, contrived and implausible, scene.
• Amy:  The Reader, Japanese Story, and Summertime are three that standout in their badness.  There are bad movies which are flawed in one way or another (poor writing, bad acting, etc.) and then there are movies that are faulty on a deeper level; like people who are really smart that you enjoy being with as long as you don’t think about what they are actually saying.  These films would fall into the latter category.

Best Musical Experiences of the Year: 

• Jim:  Wilco (The Album).  Jeff Tweedy & Co. have been making great music since the mid-90s, and their latest effort is more of the same.  2009 is also the year that I discovered the Kings of Leon.  Thanks to Jason Fortner for his insistent introduction to the beauty of the Followill brothers’ musical world.
• Amy:  It isn’t a specific album but I loved my Christmas music this year. One of my faves included Sufjan Stevens Songs for Christmas, “What Child is This” by Andrea Bocelli, and Mary J. Blige and Emmylou Harris’ Light of the Stable.  They all strike the chords of awe, sadness, and rejoicing that I love about the season.

Favorite Songs of the Year:

• Jim:  “Breathe” by U2.  This song slaps you in the face, spins you in circles, then sits you down and caresses you into ecstasy.  What begins as an almost tuneless rapid-fire narrative resolves into one of the most melodically satisfying songs in the U2 repertoire.  Check out that entrancing combo of cello and guitar as well as the memorable lyrical images—e.g., “people born of sound” wearing songs “like a crown” and “the roar that lies on the other side of silence.”  Oh yeah.
• Amy:  See my comments above about Christmas songs.

Jim’s Favorite Sports Moment of the Year:  The season-long dominance of the Saints and Colts (two of my favorite teams), both of whom earned home field advantage throughout the NFL playoffs.  I’m not naïve enough to think both will make it to the Super Bowl (#1 seeds almost never meet in the championship).  But I’m hopeful that one of them will play on Super Sunday.

Jim’s Most Disappointing Sports Moment of the Year:  The Detroit Tigers’ squandering their division lead on the last day of regular season.  It wasn’t so much a moment as a week-long, fated collapse.  Ugh.

Amy’s Best Eating Experience of the Year:  New Orleans’ restaurant Mona Lisa’s eggplant parmesan.  Spicy marinara sauce, crispy eggplant in a creative setting with friendly folks.  And the service is great—at the Mona Lisa everyone is treated like a regular.

Amy’s Worst Eating Experience of the Year:  “Zucchini and Basil Soup.”  In an attempt to cleanse our bodies of toxins, Jim and I did a cleanse diet which excluded all cheese, eggs, wheat, soda, and basically anything you might enjoy eating.  The diet was actually not that bad, but this cold “soup” was definitely the low point.

Most and Least Satisfying Reads of the Year:

• Jim:  Antony Flew’s There is a God, in which the former atheist chronicles his journey to belief in God and masterfully summarizes the three main considerations which prompted him to embrace theism.  I’ve also greatly enjoyed the Arts and Letters Daily blog.  My least satisfying read was Kwame Appiah’s Cosmopolitanism—an attempt to salvage shared moral values while affirming cultural relativism.  I kept waiting for an argument, but it never came.  And until the very end I hoped Appiah would rescue his project from incoherence.  My hopes were never realized.
• Amy:  Elizabeth Gaskell’s Ruth, Charles Dickens’ Little Dorrit and Same Kind of Different as Me were all inspiring.  They just don’t write them like that anymore.  I didn’t like The Girls from Ames.  Also, on three separate occasions, I began reading The Shack, but I couldn’t complete it.  Bad theology and even worse writing.

Political High Point of the Year:  Our hopeful sides want to celebrate the seemingly grass roots movement afoot in our country against government expansion and irresponsibility.  But our cynical sides tell us that it’s all just more talk that will, in the end, be undermined by profiteering.

Political Low Point of the Year:  The revelation that (now former) Green Czar Van Jones was a Marxist…or perhaps the revelation that (now former) White House communications director Anita Dunn was a Marxist sympathizer.  Or (speaking of Marxism?) perhaps the real low point was the health care bill.

Most Outrageous News Events of the Year:  The balloon boy hoax (what can you expect from a couple who would name their kid “Falcon”?) and Bernie Madoff (an appropriate surname, until the Ponzi schemer artist got busted) and climategate (when scientists feel they have to fudge numbers, this should give pause to even the most dogmatic believers in their theory).  Ah, the hits just keep on coming, don’t they?

Our Kids’ Most Memorable Statements of the Year:

Bailey:  “I think cussing is just adults’ way of whining.” 

Sam:  “Dad, just try to name a breakfast cereal I don’t like.”

Maggie:  “I think the wind is God whispering ‘I love you.’”

Andrew:  “I never want to get married, ‘cuz you have to kiss someone every day.”

Most Satisfying Shared Experiences of the Year: 

• Jim:  Walking around the French Quarter together at the ETS conference in November.  Also, our August vacation in Houston with the incomparable Newcomb family. 
• Amy:  Our various bike rides together as a family; also, seeing two of our kids become communicant members of our church and sharing the communion experience with them.

New Year’s Resolutions:

• Jim:  To get to bed before midnight more than half of the time
• Amy: To put Ranch Pringles behind me once and for all

Happy 2010 everyone!  And happy new decade as well!!

It’s the end of the ‘00s, which means it’s time for top ten lists.  Below are my picks for the best albums of the last ten years.  Honorable mentions: Bob Dylan’s Modern Times, The Killers’ Day and Age, Neko Case’s Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, The Strokes, Is This It?, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ By the Way, The Shins’ Chutes Too Narrow, Arcade Fire, Funeral, and Modest Mouse’s Good News for People Who Love Bad News.

10. Aha Shake Heartbreak (2004) – The Kings of Leon Just when it appeared that no one would make a great rootsy, blues-based rock again, the Followill boys arrived on the scene to prove it can still be done…and how.  Aha Shake Heartbreak was the sophomore effort from the Kings of Leon, a marked improvement on their debut which earned critical acclaim in its own right.  These guys are the full package, soulful at every instrument with the chemistry of kin to boot.  This album soars from the start and never lets up.  Highlights:  “King of the Rodeo” and “The Bucket”

9. Ringleader of the Tormentors (2006) – Morrissey For his second album since his return from a seven-year hiatus, the Moz put legendary ‘70s producer Tony Visconti at the helm.  The results lived up to the hype, as Visconti built innovative orchestral elements into most of the song arrangements.  Combined with the fact that the songs were among Morrissey’s strongest compositions ever—both technically and emotionally—it’s no surprise that some critics hailed it as the best ever from the Pope of Mope.  Highlights:  “The Youngest Was the Most Loved” and “In the Future When All’s Well”

8. No Line on the Horizon (2009) – U2 Following two strong but less than groundbreaking efforts, the legends from Dublin looked to find some fresh musical inspiration in the unlikely country of Morocco.  Setting up camp in a studio in Fez, some of the songs on the album bear the marks of Arabic musical influence.  During the long recording process the band invited producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois to make songwriting changes as well in hopes to make the material still stronger.  The results on No Line speak for themselves, as it is the most fresh and inspired U2 album since Achtung Baby.  It is also less commercial than anything they’ve done since Zooropa, which explains the cool reception of the album in some quarters.  But let’s hope this doesn’t discourage the band from further musical exploration.

7. Hail to the Thief (2003) – Radiohead On the heels of their landmark Kid A and Amnesiac albums, what could the Oxford quintet do next?  How about create another masterful album which is even more unified than its predecessors, if only because it’s creative explorations are not as multifarious.  The album also has a discernible theme, which is evident in its title.  And the interpretive Rosetta Stone for the 16-song cycle is “A  Punchup at a Wedding,” where the most sacred of events is marred by a drunken brawl.  For Radiohead the wedding is nature, and human beings are the intoxicated fighters.  A powerful image, even if it does seal Yorke & Co. as misanthropes.  Such a dark theme, however, does not diminish the sheer beauty of this album.  Highlights:  “Go to Sleep” and “Scatterbrain”

6. Retriever (2004) – Ron Sexsmith This unsung Canadian songwriter’s songwriter has yet to make an album that isn’t at least very good.  Retriever features a dozen artful tunes which demonstrate why everyone from Elvis Costello to Paul McCartney count themselves among Sexsmith’s biggest fans.  Producer Martin Terefe effectively created an organic warmth which perfectly reinforces the wistful melancholy of most of the tracks.  Several songs are achingly beautiful.  Some still move me to tears.  Highlights:  “Imaginary Friends,” “For the Driver,” and “Wishing Wells”

5. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002) – Wilco Recorded in 2001, Wilco’s record company, Reprise Records, refused to release the album because of its perceived lack of commercial viability.  Eventually the band was released from their Reprise contract and signed with Nonesuch Records, who released the album the next year.  Naturally, the album sold like hotcakes.  It’s a brooding, sometimes dark record with plenty of atmospherics and interesting turnarounds.  Probably the very things that turned off the Reprise execs are what turned on listeners.  So much for the convergence of market sense and aesthetic sensibility.  If you haven’t discovered the raw rock paradise of Jeff Tweedy and friends, this album is a good place to start.  Highlights:  “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” and “Pot Kettle Black”

4. Neon Bible (2007) – Arcade Fire After the critical exultation over their first album, Funeral, most fans of the indie band Arcade Fire braced themselves for a let down with their follow-up.  But Neon Bible proved to be even stronger than their debut.  Both albums are melodically and emotionally rich, but Neon Bible is more mature in terms of lyrical vision.  The album’s abiding theme of spiritual angst is especially compelling, with several songs wrestling with the realities of sin, death, and redemption.  Highlights: “Intervention” and “The Well and the Lighthouse”

3. Return to Cookie Mountain (2006) – TV on the Radio This unique outfit from Brooklyn, New York blends progressive rock, jazz, hip-hop, and electronica.  The song’s lush textures, thanks to the production wizardry of band guitarist Dave Sitek, reward repeated listening.  Layers of melodies, rhythms, and vocalisms create a unique and hypnotizing soundscape for stream of consciousness lyrical explorations.  One of the album’s standouts, “Wolf Like Me,” is quite possibly the song of the decade.  Other highlights: “Hours,” “A Method,” and “Dirthywhirl”

2. Love and Theft (2001) – Bob Dylan Just prior to the album’s release, the Bobster was quoted as saying Love and Theft felt like a greatest hits album.  This seemed like pre-release hype at the time, but he turned out to be correct.  Each song feels like a classic, whether the style is rockabilly, swing, bluegrass, parlor jazz, or blues.  Dylan and his band—featuring the incomparable tandem of Charlie Sexton and Larry Campbell—move effortlessly from genre to genre, humbly serving each tune.  Lyrically, Dylan is at the top of his game—which is no small boast—spinning captivating yarns, tossing off wise proverbs, telling jokes, and creating an abiding feeling of riverboat adventure and Old South nostalgia.  All in all, a flawless album.  And to think he did it as a man in his sixties.

1. Kid A / Amnesiac (2000-01) – Radiohead Okay, so these are two albums rather than one, but I’m combining them because all of the music was recorded during the same sessions.  The band didn’t want to release it all on one double-length CD, so they divided the songs into two separate albums.  In actuality, it’s more like a time-released double album, with half of the songs appearing about six months after the others.  The novelty of the release format only hints at the originality of the music itself, which felt at the time—and in many ways still does feel—as if it had been recorded in the year 2050 and sent back to our time to blow our minds.  Amazingly, the albums have “aged” well.  The truth is, as with all great music, it doesn’t seem to age at all.  Kid A highlights:  “Optimistic” and “Idioteque”; Amnesiac highlights:  “I Might Be Wrong” and “Knives Out”

Reflections by Jim of different sorts—on music, nature, books, and sports

In the last few weeks I have attended two excellent concerts.  On September 12 I saw U2 in Chicago, as they commenced their 360° tour—a predictably fine show by the beloved Irish foursome. This was my fifth time to see them live, and while falling short of the magic of the Joshua Tree tour (what could live up to that?), they remain the greatest live band on the planet.  Also, last week I attended my first Kings of Leon show—at the Verizon Center in Noblesville, Indiana.  Lead singer Caleb Followill said it was the biggest crowd they’d ever played for.  Indeed, it was a sprawling sea of humanity, half of us slip-sliding in the muddy lawn area.  K.O.L. played a strong 20-song set, living up to their reputation as the heir-apparent to U2’s throne.  We’ll see about that.

Last week Amy and I were back in Chicago, this time for her best friend’s wedding.  We stayed high atop the downtown Holiday Inn overlooking the Chicago River.  Just outside our 17^th story window an Orb Weaver spider (Araneidae family) was perched in the middle of a giant web, which we measured at 3 x 2.5 feet.  Judging by the spider’s bulky appearance, s/he had managed to catch plenty of bugs way up there.  Early the next morning I marveled at the massive buildings in downtown Chicago.  In doing so, I looked through that Orb Weaver’s giant web, and then it struck me.  Both were magnificent feats of engineering, and they shared some of the same structural features: footings, girders, and symmetrical design.  And both ultimately testify to the genius of our common Creator.

I recently posted a review on David Kinnaman’s book unChristian, which has generated a lot of conversation in the last year or so.  Among the authors responding to this book is Russell Rathbun, who has recently authored unChristian: Finding Faith in a New Generation.  (Judson Press).  I have been invited to participate in Rathbun’s blog tour, so I will comment on the book and interact with him the week of October 12.  Rathbun is an emergent church pastor and author, so I’m very curious to see his response to unChristian.  Stay tuned.

Finally, the major league baseball season is drawing to a close, and as I write this my Detroit Tigers’ lead in the American League central division has dwindled to one game, with two games left in the season for both the Tigers and the Minnesota Twins, who have been hotly pursuing them the last three weeks.  Having had my baseball heart twice broken by the Twins—in ’87 when they drubbed Detroit in the ALCS and in ’91 when they squeaked by the Braves (also a rooting interest of mine)—I am quite keen on seeing the Tigers return the favor, if just for this season.  Will they do it?  Time, as they say, will tell.

When I heard last Fall that new albums were forthcoming from both Morrissey and U2, I was thrilled.  Not only are they two of my favorite musical artists of the last 20+ years, but they have established themselves as among the most important of their time.  Naturally, I was hopeful that their new records would be good, but being a realist about the fact that the quality of a band’s or songwriter’s work tends to wane over the years, I braced myself for disappointment.  If just one of these albums was strong, I’d be satisfied. 

Well, my most optimistic hopes were realized.  Both Morrissey’s Years of Refusal and U2’s No Line on the Horizon are excellent, once again proving the staying power of these artists.  In the latter case, however, it’s a more significant achievement.  I have noticed that most bands have approximately a ten year period of inspired creativity, after which the quality of their music begins to diminish.  This seems true of all the great bands which remained together for more than a decade, e.g. The Rolling Stones, The Who, Queen, Pink Floyd, REM, etc.  It also seemed true of U2, since after their 1991 classic Achtung Baby their work has been good but not great.  However, No Line on the Horizon breaks this trend, and the ten year hex just noted, in dramatic fashion.  From the mesmerizing and addictive opening title track to the eerie closer, “Cedars of Lebanon,” Bono and his mates seem inspired.  Lyrically, Bono has yet more to say and has found new ways to say the things he’s already said.  Musically, the Irish lads have managed—even in their 30^th year as a band—to explore new territory, both in terms of chord structures and production approaches.

Meanwhile, the Moz has made his own strides on Years of Refusal, which is one of the strongest of his solo career now spanning more than two decades.  It is also one of his most energetic, as many of the songs were tracked live, and Jerry Finn’s deft production preserves an immediacy of feeling on the other tracks as well.  Morrissey’s voice is as strong and rich as ever, and his slowly revolving cast of supporting musicians serves the songs well, filling the album with memorable hooks and phrases.

So I’ve been enjoying both of these albums immensely.  But as I’ve listened, I’ve been struck by the stark contrast in worldviews.  Interestingly, both Years of Refusal and No Line on the Horizontypify the personalities and values of Morrissey and U2, respectively.  In fact, one might say that each album is a definitive statement of sorts for each artist, at least relative to their output thus far.  And I would sum up the prevailing themes as follows.  For Morrissey, it boils down to temporality, resentment, and despair, while for U2, the thematic core is eternity, grace, and hope.

Temporality vs. Eternity

Morrissey’s preoccupation with his mortality was especially keen on his previous album, Ringleader of the Tormentors, but the theme shows up on Years as well, with such lines as these: “time grips you slyly in its spell and before you know, goodbye will be farewell, and you will never see the one you love again” (“One Day Goodbye Will be Farewell”).  For the Pope of Mope, life is a bitter struggle where “Only stone and steel accept my love” (I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris”) and “To the rescue nobody ever comes” (“When Last I Spoke to Carol”).  And the best he can do in the way of final comfort is to consider how death might end it all, and “we will be safe and sheltered in our graves” (“Momma Lay Softly on the Riverbed”).  But for U2, the expectation of afterlife is an abiding source of comfort.  In “Get On Your Boots” Bono assures us, “laughter is eternity, if joy is real.”  His joy is to “magnify” his Maker, as he sings, “I was born to be with you…  I was born to sing for you.  I give you back my voice.  From the womb, my first cry was a joyful noise” (“Magnificent”).  But perhaps nowhere is the theme of eternity more clear than in the title of the album and title track:  “No line on the horizon.”  For those who have eternal life, as is the hope of every Christian such as Bono, there is no such line because there is no end to what lies ahead for us.

Resentment vs. Grace

The Christian hope of eternal life is, of course, the result of divine grace and forgiveness, which comes to us through Christ.  Bono sings passionately about this grace, especially in “White as Snow,” the potency of which is underscored by the fact that the melody is a variation of that from the classic hymn “O Sacred Head Now Wounded”):  “Once I knew there was a love divine.  Then there came a time I thought it knew me not.  Who can forgive forgiveness where forgiveness is not?  Only the lamb as white as snow” (“White as Snow”).  In contrast to this, sadly, Morrissey’s world is one of self-loathing and resentment.  In one of his more sardonic songs on Years of Refusal, he sings, “It’s not your birthday anymore.  There’s no need to be kind to you.  And the will to see you smile and belong has now gone” (“Its Not Your Birthday Anymore”).  And his own refusal to forgive—perhaps offering the key to interpreting the album title—is plain in “Sorry Doesn’t Help”:  “Sorries pour out of you…like a QC full of fake humility. But sorry doesn’t help us, and sorry will not save us.  And sorry will not bring my teen years back to me….  Sorry won’t undo all the good gone wrong.”

Despair vs. Hope

So for the Moz, in the end there is only despair.  “There is no hope in modern life,” he tells us in “Something is Squeezing My Skull.”  And elsewhere he stoically declares “Disappointment came to me and booted me and bruised and hurt me but that’s how people grow up” (“That’s How People Grow Up”).  And in the closing track he sums up his own experience accordingly: “Could this be an arm around my waist?  Well, surely the hand contains a knife.  It’s been so all of my life.  Why change now?  It hasn’t!  Now this might surprise you, but I find I’m okay by myself” (“I’m OK By Myself”)  Or so Morrissey tries to convince us (and himself?).  These are the album’s lyrical book ends:  “I’m doing very well” and “I’m okay by myself.”  But in between its all angry despair.  Indeed, Morrissey’s world is a lonely one.  Things couldn’t be more different in U2’s world, where Bono proclaims, “I know I’m not alone” (“I’ll Go Crazy if I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight”).  There is plenty of pain and sorrow, but it is redeemed:  “This foolishness can leave a heart black and blue.  Only love can leave such a mark.  But only love can heal such a scar.  Only love unites our hearts” (“Magnificent”).  There is a profound and exhilarating sense of purpose:  “Every day I die again, and again I’m reborn.  Every day I have to find the courage to walk out into the street with arms out.  Got a love you can’t defeat, neither down nor out.  There’s nothing you have that I need.  I can breathe” (“Breathe”).  And there is that final hope:  “We’re gonna make it all the way to the light” (“I’ll go Crazy”).