Snapshots from El, Inc.

a burning in my heart

PHWOAH. madness!!! the very moment i was typing the title, starfield sung out from my speakers, "in my heart, in my heart, there's a fire burning..."
random cool bulu-roma-naik, shivers-up-my-spine moment.. heh. it's moments like this that make it easier to believe in a god that orchestrates the seemingly random movements of the cosmos in a master plan that includes our ultimate good and his ultimate glory.

anyway. that was certainly NOT what i intended to blog about. i sat down at this keyboard intending to say two things:
1) i'm sorry about the seemingly haphazard posting of photos. i don't like it either, but there's just so many good photos i want to share, and i am unfortunately not disciplined enough yet to sit down and sort it all out in one go. i'm working on it, tho. my next task is to add captions to the photos so you actually know what you're looking at. =p be patient with me, ya?
2) "blood diamond" is an AWESOME movie!!!! i just got back from huy's place. he, patrick, and i watched "blood diamond". it's difficult to sum up a movie like that in a few sentences, but i might as well try, in hopes that some of you will actually go and watch it. the basic thrust of the movie is aimed against "conflict diamonds", i.e., diamonds obtained from conflict-ridden countries who use the revenue from exporting diamonds to fund their internal wars. the plot is a rich tapestry tho: leonardo dicaprio's devil-may-care smuggler finds his heart instead of the diamond he practically gives his life for; djimon hounsou's (you probably know him as the african gladiator in "gladiator") fisherman fights tooth-and-nail to get his family back after it is torn apart by civil war, and his son is plucked by his father from a horrible fate as a child soldier; jennifer connelly's hard-nosed, idealistic journalist takes steps toward actually making a difference in africa.. those are the main sub-plots that i can think of, all spinning off the sparkly bling-bling stones that first-world people like on their fingers. we never learn, do we? makes me think of the sugar that some westerners in colonial days of yore enjoyed, oblivious or apathetic to the fact that families are torn apart and lives destroyed to produce the pleasure they enjoy in their fancy homes. noble message aside, i love the gritty realism of this movie. parents, be warned: there is much violence and profanity here. it does warrant an "R" rating. but there's no sex - not even a kiss!! (i love that!!). but the movie needs that, i think. the violence hits the message home, and the profanity reminds you that it's not make-believe. i also love the camera work, and the dialogue, and the way the plot moves and the characters develop (especially dicaprio's). i wholeheartedly recommend this movie to anyone who falls within the "R" rating sphere of allowability. let it stir a burning in your heart. let it remind you, as it did me, that there is MUCH suffering in a world that desperately heaves and groans for jesus to come and heal it. and most of all, let it move you off your seat to live beyond bills and ipods and cars and girlfriends/boyfriends, to live for something, nay, someONE, bigger than yourself.

there. those were the "two things" that i wanted to say. i now need to hit the sack, for tomorrow, at 7am, i work hard under the hot summer sun.

god bless you, all.

Labels: For the spirit, Musings, Random

posted by Joel Chan @ 9:06 PM