We enjoyed a touching and enjoyable piano dedicatory recital Monday evening at the beautiful Butler University Chapel on Campbell University.  Randall Atcheson was the pianist.  He performed on a new Steinway nine-foot concert grand model “D.”  Great performer and wonderful instrument.  Mr. Atcheson, a member of the international roster of Steinway Artists, professed a strong faith in Christ and gave a wonderful performance.  After playing a set from Chopin, he performed a Gospel, popular, and patriotic selection, each of which he arranged.  Mr. Atcheson is a passionate and fun performer who loves God and is excited about everything, particularly music and God and other people.  And he wasn’t afraid to express it. His stories about his southern preacher father were touching and humorous. We also share the same favorite song: Amazing Grace.  Great performer if Monday night was in any way typical for him.

The litany of dedication was also touching:

Creator God, You have given us minds to know You, hearts to love You, voices to sing Your praise and instruments to resound the majesty of Your name. We are grateful You have gifted Your people with music.

When words fail, music can express our deepest yearnings. In those seasons of our lives, we can find You in the notes of the familiar hymns whose melodies bring soothing calm and sweet serenity.

When we are still in Your presence, we can seek You and find You in the songs of quiet contemplation.

When we gather to worship, music can voice our highest and most exalted praise through the sounds of strength and majesty.

How to Train Your Dragon is released, and it looks like another creative, entertaining work from the movie geniuses at Dreamworks.  I haven’t watched it yet, however, I’m already enjoying the commentary on the movie.  I’m increasingly finding that the commentary and controversy surrounding new movies is quite often much more interesting and entertaining than the movies themselves.  The commentary thus far on How to Train Your Dragon is enjoyable and provoking, for example, see here and related article here.  The criticism being raised is that the work reflects the increasingly popular worldview that good and evil is a myth, or at least evil is; there are only misunderstandings and unfortunate circumstances.  Some new age systems of thought posit that evil is a fiction.  Moral (and existential) nihilism is also a natural fruit of scientific materialism, the worldview that has held our cultural and moral elite for the better part of a century now.  Regardless, How to Train Your Dragon looks like clean, fun entertainment and I look forward to seeing it with the family.

I refused, however, to see Avatar.  I became of bit of a pariah when I let it be known to co-workers and extended family that I was boycotting Avatar, or at least boycotting paying theatre rates.  One person even commented that I must be hateful if I refused to watch it.  The most common comment was that I needed to stop thinking about what the movie might mean and “just enjoy it.”  Everyone said it takes cinema to an entirely higher level of performance.  Problem is, I don’t think I could enjoy it.  Avatar plays a special effect symphony with my list of peeves: corporations are evil; military veterans as psychopaths; European descendants as psychopaths but indigenous and primitive people as enlightened; new age/Gaia as prevailing religion, and finally, non-humans “winning” by killing lots of humans.  Aside from the last element of aliens prevailing over humans (a new yuck), each of the rest are worn, left-wing prejudices and standard fare to some degree in most movies, but it’s not typical for them all to show up at once in the same non-satire flick.  Two thumbs down says the critic who hasn’t seen it.

UPDATE:  We’ve now seen HtTYD … Make sure to see it in 3D.  We didn’t.  Cute.  Criticism is valid.  Cute and fun story (except the vikings sounded too much like Shrek), however the moral was the story is that if we take the time to get to know and understand our enemies, we can probably be friends.  Sometimes that’s true.  In the case of real life dragons, however, it’s dangerous.

Pornography exploits and cheapens the most intimate of human relations and one of God’s greatest blessings for marriage.  It perverts and obfuscates the purpose of sex — the creation of new life.  It also damages relationships – see here, here and  here.  Oh yeah, the girls performing in porn are most often repeating in front of the cameras the abuse they suffered as children and later as prostitutes.  See here.  Finally, children know and pick up quite a bit about what their parents are really about.  It’s my belief that children are prone to follow in the path of a parent’s “secret” sin because it really was not that secret.  No doubt, porn harms.

Breakpoint has an interesting article about a recent study showing the incredible amount of time kids today spend on electronic “stimulation” — TV, computers, PDAs.  The New York Times titles the results: If your kids are awake, they’re probably online.  Addiction to continual stimulation prevents contemplation and is counterproductive to the development of creative minds.  We need to unplug more and, as Breakpoint observes, dare to be bored.