Jon Foreman and Greg Graffin

Jon Foreman is a member of the band Switchfoot, Jon Foreman is a huge role model in my life because he make a difference in everyones life not just Christians and he is willing to go where no Christians want to go. He has so many connections to people who are very different then him and he is actually open with fact he is human and doesn't  try to hide it like other Christian artists. He also reach's out to people who are complete opposites of him. Which leads me to Bad Religion, Jon Forman actually sat down and had a conversation with there lead singer in Switchfoot's movie Fading West which only should a small segment of the conversation. He also covered one of there songs, but before I talk on that lets look at this band more specifically their lead singer and songwriter Greg Graffin. Greg Graffin is a Naturalist who started a punk band to get his naturalist message out, he also his very educated he double majored in Anthropology and Genealogy at UCLA, then got his masters in Genealogy from UCLA and then his PhD in Zoology from Cornell. He also has taught a few classes at many different universities,where as Jon Foreman is a college drop out. Which put his talk into perspective, like I said it doesn't show much but just the fact that he talked to him is a light being shown. Now about this song, Bad Religion came out a song on their album Process of Belief called Sorrow which has Christian themes which took courage to write and Jon Foreman covered it which may not sound bad because of the fact it has Christian themes, but the fact is Jon Foreman covered a song by a band who is against God and has a lot of atheistic followers and I don't believe any other artists who are Christian would do that.

Bad Religion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tLb4eiU61Y
Jon Foreman(cover): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TIZqiHORF0

Fading West

This movie is about Switchfoot's tour across the world while they write songs and surf. They went to Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, and South Africa. They start in San Diego(hometown) and talk about how it has had in impact on them mentally and musically. They say it’s an open minded surf community that they feel they grew in as people. So they talk about saying goodbye to their families and then they head out to Australia. Which they loved because there are choice waves and cool people. They were also in a metal and rock festival with people like Marilyn Manson, Slipknot and Bad Religion. They said "Bands have played shows where they are a little uncomfortable but no one does it intentionally, but we did". They also interviewed Gregg Griffin from Bad Religion, who is a naturalist and is against theology. Also along those line they interviewed people like Tom Delonge from Blink 182 who is a Free Masson, and John Rzeznik from the Goo Goo Dolls whose beliefs are unknown but he was raised Catholic.  They surfed with Rob Machado in New Zealand and played shows, Thailand they just played small venues and had to play without Jon Foreman who was away at the time. Then they played music for kids in poverty in South Africa whom they played for ten years earlier. Then they ended it by going back to San Diego and played their annual concert on the beach and one of the guitarists from the Foo Fighters showed up which was cool, he didn't play he just came. I think Switchfoot is doing so much to be a light in a dark world and the reason they're making a difference is because they just let their light shine they don't force religion, also their lyrics don't just have one meaning and they go to places "Christians don't belong".

The Shallows

I recently watched the film, The Shallows, which came out just this summer.  At first, I pictured this film as being just another cheesy film about a shark attack trying to compare to the great Jaws movie.  Instead it was something completely different than all of the other shark movies that I have watched throughout my life.  It depicted a medical student, Nancy Adams (Blake Lively), as a young woman trying to escape the grief of the loss of her mother by going to a secluded island to surf.  This depiction of paradise for Nancy takes a turn for the worst and ends up being a horror of a place for her.  This all occurs when she decides to take one last surf by herself and ends up getting bitten by a great white shark.  She escapes the shark and proceeds to swim to the nearest rock, which is 200 yards offshore.  After using whatever she had on her, which ended up being her jewelry and shirt, to heal her injury, she attempted to find a way to escape the shark.  The interesting part to me in the film that caught my attention was a bird with a broken wing that stood beside her throughout the whole time that she was being hunted by the shark.  This to me signified a greater meaning in the movie as I saw the bird as symbol of hope for Nancy to fight for her life and get off the rock so that she could reunite with her family back home.  After all of the struggle, Nancy escapes the shark and ends up being able to safely get back home to see her family.  The amazing part of the film was when at the end you see her and her family going back to that same beach to surf again without fear of any kind.  Overall, the movie was a well-thought out movie with a deeper meaning that is brought to the surface.




 

R-Ratings: Part Three

Well here we are, the end of the line. Hopefully everything up to this point hasn’t been just ramblings. Now then, anyone who is at this point has likely read parts one and two and were interested because I have a point or I don’t and look like a jackass. Maybe both.

Possible picture of me.

Anyway, as stated in part one the handbook never says R-rated movies can’t be owned and viewed on campus, just to be sensitive to those around you. In fact, combing through the movies in Becker Hall will lead to identification of several R-rated movies like Akira or Argo. Part two of these blogs talked about the movie Kingpin and provided an example of what’s wrong with the rating system.

What do the two things have to do with each other? Did you know you can watch any movie if you’re seventeen and over according to the rating system website? Why? Because you can make your own decisions about what you watch at that point. The entertainment you take in, you take in. That’s why there’s no actual rule against having R-rated movies on campus or watching them, because most of us are seventeen or over and by the rating system’s own guidelines, able to watch the movies we want to watch. 

Now then, these posts have obviously been my opinion on the subject with supporting evidence I’ve found. Does that mean I’m right? Of course not. Does it mean I’m wrong? Again, of course not. I’m just one side to this who didn’t give out very much evidence. To really understand this sort of stuff further research would help advance the topic. In the end, the decision is up to you to find out what you believe is right because you believe it’s right, not because I or the university say its right.

R-Ratings: Part Two

Woody Harrelson is one of my favorite actors. Bowling has always been something I like to do for fun when given the chance. So, once I found out about the movie Kingpin, I had to watch it. To those just hearing about the movie, and honestly I wouldn’t have known about it if my older brother wasn’t almost a teen in the nineties, it stars Woody Harrelson as an ex-professional bowler who helps a bowling Amish prodigy (Randy Quaid) attempt to win a million dollars in a bowling tournament.  

You can't make this kind of stuff up.

The thing is though, I can and can’t watch the movie on campus. It’s like Schrödinger’s DVD up in here. This is because the movie is both R-rated and PG-13. Why you may ask? Because four minutes of extra footage was added to the extended cut. FOUR MINUTES. Some might say that it’s because of the two implied sex jokes. Oh, well of course my bad, I’ll pack up and just head out now.

Oh look, the back of the Blu-ray case.

Hey, wait a second.

That’s right, the R-rating is because the movie has crude sexual humor, just like PG-13 version! I’m a little passionate about this subject, because the rating system is flawed, just like the idea that there's a rule about no R-rated movies on campus.

R-Ratings: Part One

The rules are weird. Well to be more specific, one rule is very strange. Page seven of 2016-2017 Student Handbook, under Entertainment, states, “R-rated movies have been a concern because the content of many of those movies is not compatible with the Christian standards…” and, “students may benefit from some guidance in making mature decisions about entertainment.” It doesn’t actually say R-rated movies aren’t allowed on campus. Now one might say, “Hey, that’s not even from the section about Movies!” Chances are since I’m continuing to write, the movie section in the handbook also doesn’t ban R-rated movies…Wait, what?

Yep, that’s right. The student handbook doesn’t even say R-rated movies aren’t allowed on campus. They literally just restated the quote I pulled out about it being a concern. See, look!

Now I am not saying all R-rated movies are all right, or that everyone can stomach the more gory or violent ones. I understand some people are sensitive to that kind of stuff. I also understand I’m nineteen years old and can make mature decisions not based on the actions I witness in a movie.

Not me this Halloween.

Definitely me this Halloween.

"Memories" Reviewish

 

When the last donut's about to be taken.

This week at Signs and Wonders, I watched the movie Memories, or rather a collection of episodes in the Memories trilogy. When I’d saw the Facebook post describing the movie it made think of other items I’ve watched made up of different parts to fit a theme and made me excited to see this animated movie.

I’ll try my best not to spoil too much of the movie and would recommend watching it. Memories was made of three separate episodes. The first one, Magnetic Rose, was a sci-fi ghost story that was very enjoyable. Its theme felt obvious, but not in a bad way. There’s many surprises in this first episode.

The second episode in the trilogy was titled Stink Bomb. It was a very funny story even with its dark prospect. I’ll be honest though, I didn’t understand its connection to the theme of memories. I enjoyed it, but I didn’t see the connection.

Finally, we reach Cannon Fodder. This episode’s scenes are typically very long tracking shots. It was so weird at to see this that I was nauseous at first. Where Magnetic Rose’s  connection to memories is stated, Cannon Fodder’s is more left to you to realize.