IVP - Strangely Dim - June 2005 Archives

Confessions of an Annoying Theater Goer

It's now been thirteen hours since I started watching Batman Begins last night. I know because I forgot to turn my timer off. I turned my PDA's timer on during the movie so I could reference scenes in a project I'm working on, with the added benefit that the glow from my PDA illuminated the page of notes I was taking.

So there I sat, in the center of the theater, munching on the ice from my Pibb X-tra, glowing, scribbling, crossing and uncrossing my legs. My friend leaned over and said, "Any way you could reduce the backlight on your PDA?" "Oops," I said.

My friend gave voice to what I'm now certain the people around me and perhaps throughout the theater were thinking: That guy sure is bright. Or more likely, come to think of it: That guy sure is annoying.

Technically, I had not violated any commonly held theater etiquette: My cell phone wasn't on, I wasn't kicking the seat of the person in front of me, I wasn't yelling at Bruce Wayne to watch out for that ninja! But I was annoying nonetheless. And for that I apologize to my friend and all his fellow theatergoers.

Happy Birthday, Mr. President

Now that I'm thirty-five, I'd like to officially announce my candidacy for the U.S. presidency in 2008. I want to be really careful not to violate any campaign finance laws, however, so whatever you do, don't send money. Instead, buy yourself something nice, then put it where you'll see it come election day three-and-a-half years from now, and then vote your conscience. Till then I'll be busy picking out presidential china patterns.

If you'd like to apply for a cabinet position, feel free to post a comment. I'm open to creating new cabinet positions once I'm the leader of the free world, so use your imagination.

Cedar Journals

by David A. Zimmerman

I spent a week recently at Cedar Campus, a camping facility associated with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. I was serving as staff for "Encountering God," a study track for college students. I drove there alone, and I drove home alone, but in between I ate, played and bunked with a bunch of people I'd never met. Being a neurotically social person, I found my transition into camp life difficult, and I caught myself doing the type of writing that I rarely do--journaling, for example, or in the case of today's post, poetry. I feel like such a hippy.

I present these poems for your amusement, but keep in mind a couple of warnings:

1. These poems don't rhyme, so don't lose sleep trying to make songs out of them.
2. I'm no John Donne, so don't hold me to a poet's standard. I couldn't bear the scrutiny. To quote another would-be-poet, folk singer Jewel, "Please be careful with me; I'm sensitive, and I'd like to stay that way."

***
Tuesday, May 16, 2005
The Chaos of Water
I am an island surrounded by water.
Water frustrates my efforts to extend beyond myself.
Water erodes my landscape
threatens to whittle me down to nothing.
I am reined in
and rained on
by water of my own mind
chaos of my own creation.
And I sink.
And I dissipate.
And I am carried away.

But God's Spirit hovers over the waters.
And God speaks
"Peace, be still"
And the waters recede.

God separates the ground from the water.
God puts the water in its place.
God puts me in my place
And calls it good.

Wednesday, May 18
If Adam Fell, Why Do I Hurt?
It hardly seems fair.
I didn't do anything to him,
And now I'm

dispossesseddislocateddisheveleddisrespecteddiscombobulated dishonoreddisgusteddisguiseddischordantdisreputablediseased disengageddisturbeddisinteresteddistantdisillusioneddisappointed

Let's face it: I'm distraught.

I could blame those who hurt me.
I could blame those who betrayed me.
I could blame those who corrupted me.
I could blame this world that forsakes me.
But it hardly seems fair.
They may have hurt me,
But they didn't hurt Adam.
And we can all trace it all back to Adam.

Still . . .

They did hurt me.
And I suppose I have hurt them.
And Adam is nowhere to be seen.

So . . .

Is Adam our greatest enemy,
or our greatest excuse?

***

My exploitation of superhero movies continues; I'm working on a discussion guide for Batman Begins that I hope to post at an online magazine in July; in the meantime, the same magazine is considering whether to post the discussion guide I wrote as a companion to my book. Trust me--you'll hear all about it when something happens.

I'm biting my fingernails in anticipation of the Fantastic Four movie--here's hoping it doesn't stink.

By the way, my thanks to Rick Stilwell for linking his blog to my Pop Matters article "Cape Fear." Rick has renamed and reconceived his blog, now known as "Caffeinated Adventures." Always worth reading.

The Cedar Journals

by David A. Zimmerman

I spent a week recently at Cedar Campus, a camping facility associated with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. I was serving as staff for "Encountering God," a study track for college students. I drove there alone, and I drove home alone, but in between I ate, played and bunked with a bunch of people I'd never met. Being a neurotically social person, I found my transition into camp life difficult, and I caught myself journaling quite a lot. The journal is presented here, in chronological installments, for your own amusement.

Monday, May 16, 2005
I had a front row seat to an interpretive dance today. I was so close to her that I could see her muscles twitch as she moved, so close that I feared she might fall into me. And as close as I was to her makeshift stage, she brought her dance even closer, using every inch of space available to her. With burning candles on one side and dumbstruck people on all other sides, she danced back and forth, exploiting every part of her stage for her creative act.

I was not the audience, despite all evidence to the contrary. God was her audience; I was merely her witness. We didn't clap as she finished--quite frankly we didn't know what to do when she finished. This was her private moment with God, on full display to the rest of us.

How ought I respond? King Herod watched his daughter dance and was moved to offer her whatever she wanted; some speculate that her dance was erotic and his gift motivated by lust. But this dance was not that dance, and whereas Herod was undoubtedly his daughter's audience, for this dance I was merely a witness.

I'd imagine that Jesus' disciples found themselves in my uncomfortable position on many occasions. I think particularly of a time when a woman interrupted their dinner to wash Jesus' feet with her hair and her costly perfume. They couldn't not witness it; all eyes were on Jesus, and the smell of the nard filled the room. I played the part of one such disciple once, in an Easter remembrance at my church, and I suppose I played that part again today.

We're tempted to play the audience--to critique the dance, to question the motives, to challenge the propriety of the gift. In that moment, however, I elevate myself over my brother or sister in Christ not only by judging but by claiming the right to judge. Jesus will have nothing to do with such nonsense. To the disciples who complain about the money wasted on such demonstrative extravagance, Jesus counters that she shall be remembered forever for it. To the sister who complains that there's more important work to be done, Jesus says to settle down and join in. To the Pharisee who calls her a sinner, Jesus declares her a saint.

***

As I've previously reported, Batman Begins is wicked cool, and has given me the added pleasure of writing more broadly on superheroes than my book. PopMatters is currently running my article "Cape Fear" about the role of fear in the Batman mythology. I've been interviewed twice about the film (both times before I even saw it!), and I have one more article related to the film to be posted online in July. I've said it before, I'll say it again: God bless Batman.

In other news, my favorite feature of my favorite radio station, "Lin's Bin" on WXRT-Chicago, ran an audio essay on the use of the definite article in naming rock bands; it's now required listening for my interns at InterVarsity Press, and recommended listening for everyone else I know. It'll be posted soon for download as the 06/17/05 entry at XRT's website.

Batman Began

Batman Begins launches today, and a particularly geeky theater near me opened at midnight last night to let their particularly geeky constituency have first crack at the film. I did a book signing in the lobby and had a great time.

The movie is delicious. I'm so pleased that the Batman filmography has been restored to fighting shape. My first Internet posting ever was to a chat room soon after 1997's Batman & Robin debacle, directed by Joel Schumacher. I've since read Batman Unmasked by Will Brooker, and I'm willing to concede that there's a parallel history of silliness in Batman that provides balance to the hyperseriousness present in the current film.

My preference, however, tilts toward the hyperserious, so I was particularly gratified by this very grim portrait of a city on the eve of judgment day, and the ethical dilemma of how people committed to justice should relate to such a city. I'm reminded of Abraham's negotiation with God over the fate of Sodom, in which justice and mercy are reconciled. The city is a main character in Batman Begins, just as the city has played a significant part in other recent films such as Sin City. I take some heart that filmmakers and moviegoers are willing to show concern not just for individuals but for the fate of whole communities.

I was also gratified by the exploration of how fear interacts with the pursuit of justice. This is the subject of an article I wrote that I hope to see posted soon on Pop Matters. Fear is a running concern in our own culture, so to see it given proper treatment in such a super-cool movie is reason enough to go see it.

I did find some of the action sequences hard to follow, but my biggest complaint is what passes for wisdom teaching in the film. There are moments of profundity, but there are a lot more moments of people thinking they're being profound. Those people may be characters or they may be writers, but the net effect is that the moral lesson being communicated through this film is confused and confusing. There are reasons rooted in the story that we should not trust anything supposedly wise uttered by anyone in this movie. But maybe the point of such moral ambiguity is that Batman himself is an unsettled question: can a city whose moral compass is guarded by a masked vigilante ever truly find redemption?

Thumbs up. Four stars. Whatever.

As a follow-up to my friendship-straining debate with my longtime friend Steve regarding whether Batman Begins can be accurately described as a prequel, I admit defeat. Steve's the movie expert, and though I don't think continuity is too disrupted between this movie and the 1989 Tim Burton release, they don't completely harmonize and thus this movie is far less a prequel than Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith. Steve, please forgive me!

Chicago Book Geeks

Just in case you're interested, this weekend in Chicago is the annual Printer's Row Book Fair. A bunch of publishers, authors, booksellers and book geeks come together and get copies of new books of various stripes. It's free to the public, which is always a nice touch.

This year I'm signing copies of my book at the Borders booth Sunday at 3:00pm. Swing by and get a book--actually you'll probably get a lot of books. Can't beat that with a stick.

If I don't see you, have a great weekend. Maybe I'll see you at the midnight showing of Batman Begins Tuesday night instead . . . [see previous post]

Dave

The Cedar Journals

I spent a week recently at Cedar Campus, a camping facility associated with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. I was serving as staff for “Encountering God,” a study track for college students. I drove there alone, and I drove home alone, but in between I ate, played and bunked with a bunch of people I’d never met. Being a neurotically social person, I found my transition into camp life difficult, and I caught myself journaling quite a lot. The journal is presented here, in chronological installments, for your own amusement.

Monday, May 16, 2005
It’s quiet this morning, which is nice. I’m finding it hard to know how to talk to people here. It’s not so much that people are unwilling to share themselves with one another. It’s more a dilemma of the blank slate.

When you’re unknown, everything you do or say figures into the image of you these new friends are forming in their minds. I know because I do it: I see a woman who wants to be a grownup but still likes to play dress-up. I see a man dominate all his conversations while painting a picture of himself as marginalized. I see a man who would rather be with his wife and kids at any given moment but knows he can’t and feels he shouldn’t be sad about it. I see a man who manages expectations of himself by self-deprecation while simultaneously presuming his superiority over everyone else.

Oh wait, that’s me.

***

Coming up Wednesday is the release of Batman Begins, the best film of summer 2005. I'm doing a signing at midnight at a local theater, which should be a wild adventure. My guess is I'll be dressed more normally than anyone else in attendance.

Come join me if you'd like.

Revenge of the Sith

I finally saw Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith, and though I enjoyed it, I experienced it more as a homework assignment that I turned in about thirty years late than as the blockbuster hit of the summer. Besides, everybody knows that Batman Begins is the the best prequel and true blockbuster hit of the summer.

Come on, you know it's true.

The Cedar Journals

by David A. Zimmerman

I spent a week recently at Cedar Campus, a camping facility associated with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. I was serving as staff for “Encountering God,” a study track for college students. I drove there alone, and I drove home alone, but in between I ate, played and bunked with a bunch of people I’d never met. Being a neurotically social person, I found my transition into camp life difficult, and I caught myself journaling quite a lot. The journal is presented here, in chronological installments, for your own amusement.

Sunday, May 15, 2005
I’m here alone, surrounded by four hundred students and staff from InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. I am an outsider—neither staff nor student—and though several staff and even a few students have made welcoming gestures toward me, I am feeling alone.

When I’m alone by myself, I do pretty well. But when I’m alone in a crowd I regress. I’m childishly protective of my space and my stuff; I’m desperately clingy to people who have left me an opening. I eat too much; I don’t think straight. Even my jokes suffer—they’re too forced, too contrived, too desperate.

My cell phone doesn’t work here. I don’t have access to the Internet. There’s no town within range for me to console myself with the trappings of suburbia—no movie theater, no shopping mall, no Starbucks. There’s no TV to watch, and I just read the last page of the book I brought to read.

My only hope against this encroaching sense of isolation is God and the four hundred staff and students he has surrounded me with. My hope—and my fear—is that I will go to him, and he will send me to them.

***

In other news . . .

This summer's theme for youth services in Illinois public libraries is "Superheroes--powered by books!" As a result, I'm getting invited to speak to a number of library groups. It's a book geek's dream, but I suspect I'm going to get shushed by many a librarian before it's over.

If you're bored in the next several weeks, it's not for lack of sweet action movies. Three (count-em) superhero-themed films are coming out between now and the end of July: Batman Begins, Fantastic Four, and Sky High. I'll have articles online related to these films: two on Batman (at Pop Matters in June and In the Fray in July) and one on the Fantastic Four (at Christianity Today Online in July). What can I say? I babble about superheroes.