Into the Wild

Around three months ago, I read ‘Into the Wild’ by Jon Krakauer. I finally got around to watching the film version tonight. Both are equally good. Despite a few relatively minor differences, they are pretty much of the same quality. The book, of course, provides more in-depth information, but the movie provides some truly stunning visuals that you simply can’t get from the book.

This story is tragic and moving. If you don’t enjoy nature, or deeper thoughts concerning the human condition, then perhaps this story isn’t for you. ‘Into the Wild’ is the story of the life and death of Christopher McCandless. And no, that wasn’t a spoiler. Both the book and the film make it immediately apparent that the main character dies at the end. Perhaps character isn’t the right word for it, as this is a true story. The lead role?

After graduating from college, McCandless gives all of his savings away to a charity and hits the road, hitching rides from strangers, sneaking aboard moving trains, or simply walking alongside the road. He goes west in search of something that cannot be found easily in the business of daily life. He is in search of things that are often found in the solitude of nature. He is in search of himself.

McCandless goes through some truly amazing adventures, experiencing fantastic locations that many people never see. And despite his relative solitude throughout his trek about America as ‘Alexander Supertramp’, McCandless makes some extraordinary friendships and truly has a strong effect on the people he interacted with.

This book made me yearn for the adventure found in travel, but it also made me appreciate the friends and family that I have. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

Matt’s Rating:

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Save Blue Like Jazz

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you probably know I really liked the book “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years” by Donald Miller. I said so in this blog post right here. That book was all about the process of turning his previous book, Blue Like Jazz, into a screenplay. One would assume that the screenplay would then be made into a movie.

Unfortunately, due to funding issues, that might not happen. I, and several hundred (thousand?) other fans of the books don’t think that’s a good idea. We’d all really like to see this movie made. And right now it’s looking like the only way that will happen is if we break out our wallets and help to fund the movie ourselves.

Some enterprising fans created the webpage SaveBlueLikeJazz.com, and are working with Director Steve Taylor and Don Miller to try to secure the funding through the fans before the deadline of October 25th. So, if you enjoyed the books and want to see the movie as much as I do, head on over and donate! Oh. And if you donate at certain levels you will be given incentives. So, it isn’t entirely like donating. For $50, you get a t-shirt, a signed movie poster, a digital download package (I’m honestly not sure what this digital download is… but does it matter? I’m sure it’ll be cool), as well as a personal thank you phone call from the director, Steve Taylor. There are all sorts of other incentive levels as well.

If you’re interested in more information, go to SaveBlueLikeJazz.com, or their donation page on Kickstarter.com. If there isn’t enough money raised to fund the film, you will not be charged, so there’s no risk involved. Check it out, and donate. I want to see this movie.

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Saint Patrick's Day

Today, March 17th, is Saint Patrick’s Day. But what is Saint Patrick’s Day really about? Who was this Saint Patrick fellow any way?

In the United States, Saint Patrick’s Day is generally looked at as a day when people wear the color green and drink green beer. It is a celebration of all things green, a color long associated with Ireland. So, Saint Patrick must have been Irish, right?

Most would find that a safe assumption to make, but they would be wrong. Saint Patrick was British. Or, more accurately, Patrick was a Romano-Briton. As we’re speaking of dates long in the past, there are many things about his life that are uncertain. I will try to avoid specifics, as scholars have devoted many long hours to the subject and cannot give precise dates.

Born in the later portions of the 4th century in Roman Britain, Patrick lived at a time of drastic changes in the world. Patrick states in his Confession that he was born at Bannavem Taburniae, an otherwise unknown settlement, likely located in western Britain. His father, Calpurnius, was a Roman patrician of some standing, he was a deacon and a decurion. You might think that life would be grand for a young Roman nobleman. Unfortunately for Patrick, during his youth the Roman Empire was well on it’s way to collapse. While there is no exact defined date for the fall of the Roman Empire, it occurred at some point during the 5th Century and the problems the empire faced as a whole caused them to simply abandon Britain, with all Roman soldiers being completely withdrawn from the territory by 410.

With the soldiers gone, the small Roman settlements, such as Bannavem Taburniae made a rather inviting target to raiders. When Patrick was 16 years old, his home was attacked, and he was carried off to slavery in Ireland.

Some time later, Patrick escaped from his slavery. He returned to Britain and trained to be a priest. We do not know for certain at what point Patrick returned to Ireland, but eventually Patrick was appointed Bishop of Ireland. Rather than simply presiding over the existing Christians in Ireland, Patrick made it his life’s work to spread the Gospel among the Irish, converting many to Christianity. He reportedly used the three-leafed clover as an example to explain the doctrine of the trinity to the Irish.

While there are few firm details about Saint Patrick’s life, there are numerous legends. One such example is that Patrick drove all snakes from the island. Most of these are assuredly false, but there may be some basis to some of them. Two examples of Patrick’s writings contain basically all of the factually information we can glean about the real Saint Patrick: his Confession and his Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus.

This Saint Patrick’s Day, I fully intend to think more about the man for whom the holiday is named than about the green beer (although I might partake of some of that too). If you’re interested in learning more, I recommend you check out Saint Patrick by Jonathan Rogers. It is an insightful little book that provides as much fact about Saint Patrick as can be found without stuffing it up with absurd legends. It also contains the text of both of Patrick’s existing writings. If you’re looking to learn more about the real Saint Patrick, I heartily recommend you check it out.

Read more about the book at The Rabbit Room – Book Release: Saint Patrick by Jonathan Rogers. You can also purchase a signed copy of the book there.

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Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, so I thought I would mention my thoughts on the new movie Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. This movie is very difficult for me to rate, as I really enjoyed the novel. Unfortunately, it seems that someone along the way decided that the novel wasn’t good enough to make a great movie, and decided to do some major tweaking in the screenplay adaptation.

I find this very unfortunate. The novel was great, I give it 4 out of 5 stars. While I realize that it isn’t easy to translate the written word to the big screen, I feel they cut out some very important parts of the novel, and changed the basic premise. With the premise of the novel being changed, I don’t see how they can continue to make the rest of the series into movies without straying farther and farther from the author’s original intent.

My final rating comes in at about 2 out of 5 stars. The movie was at least enjoyable, but it should have been so much more. If you haven’t read The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, I highly recommend you check it out.

Matt’s Rating: (the movie)

Matt’s Rating: (the book)

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A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

I have a tendency to read quite a few books. About two years ago, I read Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. Well, he’s recently released another book, entitled A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. The book is subtitled, quite accurately, as “What I learned while editing my life”. This story is simply that. It is about the life lessons that Donald Miller picked up through the process of editing Blue Like Jazz into a screenplay.

As you can imagine, it might be somewhat awkward to edit a non-fiction book you wrote about your life experiences into a fictional movie. When confronted with the fact that, despite how good of a book Blue Like Jazz is, it simply cannot be directly converted into a movie without some major changes, the author is confronted with the fact that his life was boring. He was living a boring story. Through the experience of editing his life as shown in Blue Like Jazz into a better story, he learns that he needs to live a better story in his real life.

I cannot say how fantastic I think this book was. I really enjoyed Blue Like Jazz but I love A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. I give it a perfect 5 out of 5 stars.

Matt’s Rating:

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