15 Movie Quotes

Emily did this meme, and someone else too, I think. Nobody tagged me, but I'm doing this anyway. I tried not to repeat movies.

1. "You changed my life. You changed my life, and I've known you four days. This is the start of something really big."

2. "I am no good at goodbyes."

3. "You and I are substitute people."

4. "Look at those bodacious ta-tas!"

5. "I love that you get cold when it's 71 degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle above your nose when you're looking at me like I'm nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it's not because I'm lonely, and it's not because it's New Year's Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible. " (You need the whole thing. It's just too good.)

6. "This is true love - you think this happens every day?"

7. "Oh, boo-hoo. Now I feel really bad. Bad llama."

8. "My problem is that it's 2 A.M. My problem is I'm asleep. I'm on a tour bus with eight stinkin' men. Rule number one: Don't propose to a girl on a bus, you got that? Rule number two: Don't tell her it's because you had a bad dream."

9. "Before you came into my life I could make all kinds of decisions now I'm addicted I have to know what you think... What do you think?"
"I think your the most selfish human being on the planet."
"Well that's just silly. Have you met everybody on the planet?"

10. "You just had a near-life experience!"

11. "There he goes off to his room to write that hit song 'Alone in my principles.'"

12. "I don't like sand. It's rough and course... Not like you." (Ok, ok, that one's a joke! For real now)

12.5 "Oh, she ain't my wife, warden. I keep asking her, and she keeps saying no."

13. "There'll be no living with her after this."

14. "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."

15. "Because it's a book about a man who doesn't know he's about to die. And then dies. But if a man does know he's about to die and dies anyway. Dies- dies willingly, knowing that he could stop it, then- I mean, isn't that the type of man who you want to keep alive?"

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
To blow up King and Parliament.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

From "The History of Love" by Nicole Krauss

"A hundred things can change your life; a letter is one."

Esther

"And who knows but that you have come to (royal) position for such a time as this?"

Matthew 5:43-48

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

Blast the radio, roll down the windows, scream at the top of your lungs

I love life. Sure, that's lacking my usual subtlety, but that's just the way I feel right now. Content, and excited, and happy. I think those moments when you fall in love with life are all the more precious when it hasn't always been that way and that it won't always be that way, either. Part of loving life is loving the mess that comes with it. I feel a little bit sad for those people who take the problems of their lives and become bitter and angry over them. And it's not like I'm looking for more ways to mess up my life or that I'm reveling in those things that present concerns to me, but really. My problems are there, but so are my answers. I wish people understood how to make the most out of their lives. I'm trying to learn. Ever felt like life was humming? This beautiful peace and joy. My future husband, Mat Kearney, said it best, "Father's got the best plan." : P


"I can tap dance. You want to see me tap dance?"
"I would love to see you tap dance."
- Garden State

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it."
-- W.C. Fields

"The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love."

Galatians 5:6

985 area code? Who's that?

I didn't hit 5,000 words yesterday like I said I would. You know why? Because I'm lazy. Because writing is work, and last night I didn't feel like doing anymore. But I just hit 5,008 this morning, and I'll probably plug a couple more hundred away before the end of the day.

I saw Catch and Release the other day with my best friends. As a flick, it's decent. My friends would disagree because they found the romantic plot underdeveloped and, well, sorta wrong. And really, I would have to agree with them. Susannah Grant also wrote Erin Brockovich, which is a far superior movie, but I think her writing skills were once again validated by Catch and Release. Because when I thought about the romantic plot I had to agree with my two friends about its shortcomings, but that only happened when I seriously turned my attention to it. Maybe there was just enough going on in the movie (or too much, if there wasn't enough time to develop the romance), but I was engaged enough to not notice the fact that Jennifer Garner and "Fritz" (okay, better name than that please? What is this, the Von Trapp family?) rarely talked or had any reason for any romantic interest. Suspension of disbelief. I'm still not quite sure how Susannah Grant did it, but she got me to enjoy the story enough to let it slide that the romance was a little contrived, unrealistic, and pretty much superficial. Which is funny, because I'm not sure if my two non-film student friends would agree.

I'm in the semi-middle of watching Sideways, as I had to put it on hold about 2/3 of the way through yesterday. At least I hope I'm at least 2/3 of the way through. Optimistically I only have 10-15 minutes left. The thing is, I'm all for stories about men in mid-life crisi and conflicts with present and past marriages and yes, especially about writers, but I am so bored. I think what they did with the wine motif is amazing and intelligent. I really like that part. There just seems to be very little movement in the story, and honestly, one of the main characters is a real jerk. I know we're not supposed to like him, there's no way he could have been written like that and we're supposed to like him, but he's one of the main characters, come on. The two main guys get in the same argument over and over and over again, the one guy that we like is slowly descending into an awful pit of depression, and the other one's a complete jerk. Maybe the ending will redeem the movie, but right now I just feel disappointed. The wine motif was so great. Couldn't they have come up with an equally great movie?

"I think the first duty of all art, including fiction of any kind, is to entertain. That is to say, to hold interest. No matter how worthy the message of something, if it's dull, you're just not communicating." - Poul Anderson

On the to do list today? Fill out all my paperwork for my camp job - which I'm super excited about!

Floods, Pirates, and Screenplays

I didn't start Script Frenzy on June 1st. I'm a big procrastinator like that. I'll blame it on my hectic schedule yesterday. I had an eye doctor appointment for my contacts (which, PS, are the most frustrating things in the world when they won't stick in your bloody eye. I'm quite used to being able to do the things I want, and when something like a little piece of flexible plastic defies me, I am not a happy person. Yes, that is strange.), took my brothers see Pirates 3 for their birthdays (it was better than the second but not as good as the first. Still very enjoyable, and I almost cried like three times. I don't even know why), went out to eat with the family and did a little shopping before going over to one of my friends' houses for the night.

We were sitting in the movie theatre watching the previews when the trailer for Evan Almighty, a modern recontextualization of Noah, came on. My older younger brother and I were finding some of the references and jokes pretty funny, but when the trailer ended with clips of the flood and the credits, my younger younger brother said loudly, "That is so unrealistic." I tried to shush him, because, I don't know, he's not used to movie theatres and is purposely talking loudly to be heard. He goes on to say, ignoring me, "God said He would never again destroy the earth by a flood." At which point I think I forgot that I was in a movie theatre and died laughing. Isn't there some quote about comedy just being the truth said at the right moment?

I haven't finished the divorce party short yet, but today I *did* start Whatever You Ask, my Current Draft for Script Frenzy. Right now I'm at 1905 words, and I'm sure I'll get to 2000 by the end of the day because I'm a little OCD like that. If I keep that up, I can totally finish before the middle of the month. Which is the goal. The opening went a little better than I had hoped. I was afraid I was going to resort to using a cliche to set up the relationship between my main guy and his girlfriend, but I managed to twist the cliche I consciously used. So it's a compromise. I have to be careful to make sure I don't start adding purple prose to my stage directions and descriptions. I know quality is of secondary importance in these NaNo style events, but I want this Current Draft to be better than Making It. Though I doubt that will be hard. So progress is good. I really need to discipline myself to shut off the internet when I'm working though. Huge distraction, and I'm a professional procrastinator.

Thanks for everyone who gave me a boost of encouragement over the past couple of days. I really needed it. : )

"I think I did pretty well, considering I started out with nothing but a bunch of blank paper."
-- Steve Martin

You know where I want to go? I want to go to that ice hotel in like Greenland or Norway or where ever. That would be pretty much awesome.

the Frenzy

Ever November for the past four years I've participated in National Novel Writing Month. It's just sort of a given now. I'm already entertaining ideas for this year's, whether I'll have fun with a ridiculous concept or try to write a serious novel this year. In June, the same people are sponsoring Script Frenzy, the same concept in script format. I already have an idea, some notes, and even a title (though I had to go with my second choice because my first one's already been used several times) - Whatever You Ask. I'm excited because my three main characters are all guys, and we all know the challenges in point of view and characterization that's going to present.

Someone posted a thread on the Script Frenzy forums called "Writers for Real." Now, that already is a ridiculously pretentious title because it's belittling to the rest of the community, I feel, but I went ahead and posted about my writerly plans. It's a little amusing because of the handful of people who've posted, most of us are just still *training* to be writers for real. But one person posted about how if you Google search Script Frenzy you'll find a lot of people knocking and degrading it. We have to deal with that in NaNo, too, but I went ahead and Googled Script Frenzy to see for myself what people were saying.

I only found one really negative collection of comments, but even then I was surprised by the vindictiveness with which these people attacked SF and the writers participating in it. All these accusations that it's a bad environment, that you'll turn out crap just to meet the deadline, that it's too chaotic and unplanned. One person even said that it harms the creative process. You know what the creative process is? It's sticking your butt in a chair and writing.

I would say that what these people don't realize is that the one month restraint is for your first draft only, not your prewriting or rewriting, so you have plenty of time to craft characters and structure and rewrite all your mistakes later. I would say that plenty of the participants in Script Frenzy already know script format or use the resources offered to learn it before it starts. I would say that plenty of successful movies had a first draft written in one month or less. I would say that some people don't need a lot of prewriting time. I would say that writing is a craft you learn by doing, so let people practice they way they want. I would say that for as many different writers there are, there are different ways of approaching "the creative process."

But I think that by the fact that people would attack the plot generator on the home page of Script Frenzy just shows that they have no sense of humor. They're taking themselves way too seriously. These are the kinds of pretentious writers that I complained about before - they drive me crazy! Writing is writing is writing. So leave others in peace when they do it.

"Quantity produces quality. If you only write a few things, you're doomed." - Ray Bradbury

I was Engaged to be Married Last Night

To some real Prince Charming too. There was some upset at the end though. I can't remember if we broke off the engagement because I was in love with someone else or I proved how much I was into him to his queen mum. Either way, I think the dream ended up happy. Wish I could remember it.

I didn't write yesterday, but that's ok because I was working on things from my 101 list. Making It is almost done, too, which is a little strange. I'm at 88 pages on a script I'm not even passionate about. Can I talk anymore about the importance of discipline?

When I was at Old School Land, I went to visit my old theatre professor. It's an amazing feeling to be able to sit on the most comfortable couch in the world and hold your own in a conversation with a very intelligent man that you used to ask advice from all the time, sitting on that very same couch. He's teaching a class on playwriting right now, so we discussed the industry and the writing process and ragged on prewriting a little.

Granted, I know prewriting actually works for some people. Maybe if I had done some prewriting for Making It it would be a salvageable story - or at least I would have recognized that I wouldn't like it before I started writing it. I've done some prewriting for my Script Frenzy screenplay, some notes on Acts I and II, but in general, I'm not a big prewriter. There are a couple of reasons why.

"Planning to write is not writing. Outlining...researching ...talking to people about what you're doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing." - E.L. Doctorow

Prewrite all you want, baby. Nothing's actually getting written until you're putting down the real stuff. We have an old joke in the writer's community about people, when they hear that we're writers, say "Oh, I have a fantastic novel idea." Prewriting is a form of not writing.

A lot of times it comes out contrived and irrelevant . When I sit down and try to write a backstory for Eileen Charles of Banesberry, Virginia, usually what I come up with is a lot of irrelevant history. At this point, I'm not really sure what my character needs, or if I do, it's stuff that's inherent in her character to move the plot along. For Grace in The 4:05, I just needed to know that she had been let down and disappointed by people her entire life. As I wrote the story, examples came out. I didn't have to write down the whole saga about how her ex boyfriend had run off with her best friend because I didn't need to make her untrusting and disillusioned. She already was that way when I thought up the story. Maybe I think backstory is a little irrelevant too because what you're writing is a story about now. If you're backstory is too interesting, maybe you're writing the wrong story. But for me, writing backstory just feels like throwing a bunch of random character traits and boring bits of history. Some backstory is good, for character motivations and such, but I think inherently the writer already knows that backstory. I just don't see the point of writing out your character's favourite color and how she gets to work.

Reason number three: it's boooo-ring. For us short attention span writers, the best way to kill a story is to obsess over it before the actual work or writing begins. It kills some of the joy in writing, at least for me, because of the next reason, I think.

"For me, writing is exploration; and most of the time, I'm surprised where the journey takes me." - Jack Dann

"I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear." - Joan Didion

I mean that's it for me, really. When I write I'm hoping to learn something, to discover a story, to reach an emotional level that prewriting, I find, constrains. I usually don't write around a plot. I write around an idea or a question. The 4:05 was about unconditional love and forgiveness. In Making It I tried to explore the coming of age of five teenagers and how they struggle with immaturity and maturity. In my Script Frenzy screenplay, I'm going to try to answer the question of what happens when people really love unselfishly. When I discover the answers to these questions, I get more invested in the story. And to be honest, I think that's why Making It hasn't worked. Not because I didn't do any prewriting on it, but because the themes were not ones that I could really get emotionally invested in.

Besides, when you write without a set plot/outline, you leave more room for the characters to take over. When I wrote The 4:05, I didn't have the ending nailed yet. Together or not together? And when I got to the last scene, I had a struggle because I didn't want them together but the story did. I tried to balk and say I was going to write two endings to see which I liked best, but when I started writing it, it just came out right. I didn't have to worry about an alternative ending because the journey in the story had been completed, the question had been answered, and the plot had been resolved.

Prewriting really works for some people. If there's one thing I've learned throughout my discussions with other writers, the books I've read, the blogs I've stalked, it's that there are as many different ways of writer as there are writers. And I realize that my lack of prewriting usually means more rewriting. I'd rather have it that way. And I'm not going to feel guilty if the whole of my prewriting notes is just a couple of sheets of paper.

Now, I have to go watch Lost. I came home in the middle of the season finale, and once I watch the tape I can release the whole family to finally discuss their theories. We always have great Lost theories.

Tonight I'm taking drugs to make sure I sleep through the night.

I went to the eye doctor today because I'm finally getting contacts, yay! I go to a lot of doctors when I come home. Like a health pit stop. And I was sitting in the chair, waiting for my eye doctor to come check my eyes, and I was looking at the walls for good reading material and low and behold, there's a whole poster of eye disorders. This is not just an eye doctor trend. Why is it that doctors like to freak their patients out by plastering all the things that can go wrong all over the walls? Scare tactics, I think.

My 11-year-old brother read The 4:05. I had to explain to him what "o-d-e-d" meant, but he said he liked it, even though they ended up "like in love and stuff." I ate lunch while he sat at the table and read the last twenty pages. Usually I don't like watching people read my stuff but seeing him so focused on it made me sorta proud.

Artists are generally very proud people. We're enlightened, you know? We have truth and wisdom and revelations on life to pass out, and boy are we misunderstood. Tortured artists, starving artists, underpaid, living in cardboard boxes artists. Suffering so that truth can reach the masses. Yes, we are pretty pompous sometimes. Usually, though, it's a subliminal thing. And if it manifests itself, it usually is an us-them complex of artist-normal people who have real jobs and friends and families that we're jealous of. I mean...

I don't have a lot of established pet peeves in life. One of them is when cars pull into the crosswalks at stop signs even if they can't go yet just so that you won't bother them by walking in front of them. Laaaa-ame. But even more than that, I hate writers who get pompous with other writers. Ok, there's obviously a hierarchy when it comes to writing. There are those who have been writing longer than you have and those who have been writing less. There are those who are better than you and those who are worse. And secretly, it's true, I think I'm better than most of my peers and I pander to those who I know are better than me. But at the same time, there's this sense of we're all in it together. Except for those people who like to step on the little new guy.

I was checking out the Wordplay forums the other day, and a very basic question was asked. So basic, even I sniggered at it a little. But some of the responses surprised me. Recently too, I've been looking for good resources on querying (if I'm ever going to cross off "pitch The 4:05 to Adam Brody" off my 101 list, I'd better do it right), and some of the attitude in posts and comments surprises me. There is a strata of elitists in the writer's community, and they just add bad blood all around. I think my main problem with elitists is not the derisive tone, they way they sniff at new writers who haven't mastered the craft yet, their cynicism and aloofness. I think it's the way that the make writing out to be more than just hard work. Because truly, there are two types of elitists. There are those who are elitists because they think they've put in the work and the younger generation thinks it won't need to, and there are the elitists who think they're better because they're "compelled" to write, their lives are over if they don't write, and if you don't feel that way then who are you to dare dream of yourself as a writer.

Relax, guys.

Writing is hard work. That's all. The more you work at it, the better you are. You'd *better* like it because you're going to be spending a lot of time doing it. And I hope you feel like either you or other people are becoming better people because of your writing (nobody gets into writing for the money). But all this stuff about being "thrown into the darkest depression if I don't write"? Get off your high horse. Don't make the poor excite new kids feel bad because they don't have a disciplined writing habit yet. These people try to make writing something more magical and mystical than it really is. And the really bad thing? They use their *emotions* about writing to turn people away. They say that if you *don't* feel overjoyed whenever you sit down to write or if you don't feel like writing is as important as breathing, then you aren't meant to be a writer.

Some of the best quotes about writing by some of the most talented authors is about how hard they find it to write - sometimes down right unenjoyable.

Writing is a craft. It takes time and it takes work, and in that aspect, I can almost respect the people who are experience elitists. Sometimes I think they disregard people too quickly just because they're new to the game, but I can agree with them that I will get better the more I write, the more work I put into it, the more I practice. But these people who make writing an obsession? They just need to get a life. These people take it to seriously. Hitchcock was famous for reminding his cast and crew, when things go a little tense, "it's only a movie."

One of my favourite quotes about writing is from Zach Helm, who wrote Stranger than Fiction, basically slamming "pompous artists" because they will sacrifice life too much for art. If you really feel that way, fine. But don't go around telling other writers that they aren't really artists because they aren't obsessed like you. All writing is is sitting down and working. Anyone can do it. I don't know why you would if you didn't love it, but anyone can.

My allergies are causing me much pain. Please pass the Bendryl. I want to pass out.

"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." - Jack London

"People on the outside think there's something magical about writing, that you go up in the attic at midnight and cast the bones and come down in the morning with a story, but it isn't like that. You sit in back of the typewriter and you work, and that's all there is to it." - Harlan Ellison

I can hear every plane that flies over my room.

Sometimes this is fun. I was sitting in Dunkin Donuts the other day, and it was cloudless, and all of a sudden this huge shadow quickly swept over us. It was a plane, and it was pretty cool. I forgot about the air traffic over Jersey.

I also forgot that I have trouble sleeping in my own room. I think it's because I get too much sleep at home.

My 101 Things to do in 1001 Days list is almost done. It's hard coming up with that many things.

I was looking for a quote on painting by Renoir, the artist not the filmmaker, the other day - well, that was really just a cover for me looking for quotes on writing - and I came across some really good quotes. I will sprinkle my posts with them to make myself look learned and witty.

"Writing is a fairly lonely business unless you invite people in to watch you do it, which is often distracting and then [you] have to ask them to leave." - Marc Lawrence

"There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein." - Red Smith

I've been living at home for the past couple of weeks. This has been a great experience for me creatively. Not only have I had the opportunity to sit around and do nothing all day except take long walks and write (note to self: it's 11:15 and you still have not written 5 pages for Current Draft. Darn.), but I have come to acknowledge something. Every writer should take advantage of the inspiration around them to write a family drama.

I most of my ideas are dramatic. I'm not really good at comedy, and though I'd like to take a couple of stabs at action, I'm not as interested because I don't think it has the potential for revelation and exploration that drama has. In drama, you *expect* people to have life-revealing monologues dripping from their lips. Yeah, so, anyway, I had this idea for a family drama. I was thinking of writing it after I finished The 4:05, so I did a little prewriting on it (which for me is saying something) and promptly moved on to something else and forgot about it. Now it's in my notebook with a whole bunch of other ideas that are in no hurry to be written but are waiting for a time when I'm just looking for something to play around with. Should have picked that story instead of Current Draft.

The point is, I was hanging out the other day with my Aunt. We had gone out to lunch, just the two of us, because we have nothing to do. It's fabulous, we're living this life of ridiculous luxury (until I go to work next week), and her new favourite line at restaurants is to tell the waiter, "Don't worry. We're not in a hurry." Because we're not. She's living us (and other various relatives) while her house is being built, and I'm just doing... nothing. My aunt is a great talker. I have a problem coming up with interesting things to talk about with people I see on a regular basis, but not this woman. One thing we talk about, because she has spent so much time travelling around different family members, is our family, especially the stories that my grandparents tell her. In fact, we've decided that our family history, as colorful as it is, would make an interesting book.

So I already have it in the back of my head the vague idea for this novel, when I really start to pay attention to how my family relationships are *right now.* I mean, sure, the fact that my great-grandfather rode off with my great grandmother when she was 15 and they got married at a crossroads before her father could find her is definitely interesting. But at the same time I have all these ideas in my head spinning. About how siblings interact. The ways that you can learn new things all the time about people you've known you're entire life. How to so many people who've lived independent lives can come back to one place and coexist together. How just taking the time to go to lunch with someone two times a week and listening to them can strengthen your relationship with them. And all this time, I realize that the time I should be writing my family drama script is right now. Because you never understand family dynamics so much as when you are actually in the midst of them.

And besides. If you're looking for inspiration, well, your family will give you an infinite amount of drama.

"I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear." - Joan Didion

"There are but two boons in life: The love of art, and the art of love."

- Michael Whelan

"Listen to this song - it will change your life, I swear."

I was talking to a friend a couple weeks ago, about my major and what I'm going to do after college, and I said something to the effect that I wanted to make movies that changed people's lives. And his reaction, well, it was almost like disbelief. I know that not everyone holds the view that film can be art. Lots of people think that it's just entertainment (the most powerful entertainment industry right now, but...). But I felt a little shocked, not only that my friend had never been moved by a film to the point where it helped shape his life, but that he seemed to think I was naive for believing so.

I have my doubts about this career. It seems pretty selfish sometimes. I have friends who are going to be doctors and nurses and missionaries, and I'm going to go play around in pretend worlds. But then I remember reading something in Surprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis, which is basically his spiritual autobiography. I don't remember what the exact passage is (even after trying to go back and find it several times), but he talks about how he was prepared for his conversion to Christian through all the books he had read, the ancient pagan myths and fairy tales alike, how his "imagination was, in a certain sense, baptized; the rest of me, not unnaturally, took longer." One of the greatest Christian thinkers of all times was prepared for his faith through the stories he heard.

I'm in love with the movie Stranger than Fiction. I've seen it three times already and I'm planning on buying it once I have a chance to get a cheap copy. I was watching it last night with about ten other people, and I realized that a writer and a filmmaker, the movie resonates differently with me. Kay Eiffel is a writer, and she wants to write the most amazing masterpiece of a book ever. Every writer wants to write a masterpiece. But there comes a time when she has to choose between her finishing masterpiece and therefore killing someone or changing the end of her book to save a life. And in the end she has a beautiful quote when replying to a professor about her book:

"[I]t's a book about a man who doesn't know he's about to die. And then dies. But if a man does know he's about to die and dies anyway. Dies- dies willingly, knowing that he could stop it, then- I mean, isn't that the type of man who you want to keep alive? "

If every movie I ever wrote was based on this core idea, I would be happy. If every movie I ever wrote was about love and sacrifice, the beauty in life inspite of the pain, the hope, friendship, family that redeems our lives, I would never regret picking this selfish career. If a movie can open a person's eyes up to the love in life and inspire them to actually live, isn't it worth three years of my life and eight of their dollars? Film has so much potential to show life as it is and as it should be. Imagine if the film industry became an industry that produced movies that had a real purpose. What if the industry could spread hope?

I know my life has been shaped by movies. Art restores my faith in people. When you get a chance to see truth, in no matter what form, you can't just ignore it. It would just be nice to know if other people felt the same way too.

Has anyone had a movie change their life?

"I brought you flours."

Harold Crick: Dave, can I pose a somewhat abstract, purely hypothetical question?
Dave: Sure.
Harold Crick: If you knew you were gonna die, possibly soon, what would you do?
Dave: Wow, I don't know. Am I the richest man in the world?
Harold Crick: No, you're you.
Dave: Do I have a superpower?
Harold Crick: No, you're *you*.
Dave: I know I'm me, but do I have a superpower?
Harold Crick: No, why would you have a superpower?
Dave: I don't know, you said it was hypothetical.
Harold Crick: Fine, yes, you're really good at math.
Dave: That's not a power, that's a skill.
Harold Crick: Okay, you're good at math and you're invisible. And you know you're gonna die.
Dave: Okay, okay. That's easy, I'd go to space camp.
Harold Crick: Space camp?
Dave: Yeah, it's in Alabama. It's where kids go to learn how to become astronauts. I've always wanted to go since I was nine.
Harold Crick: You're invisible and you'd go to space camp?
Dave: I didn't pick invisible, you picked invisible.
Harold Crick: Aren't you too old to go to space camp?
Dave: You're *never* too old to go to space camp, dude.

- Stranger than Fiction

Welcome to the 300th Episode of Amy's Life...

"Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship..."
- Casablanca

As per my sister's suggestion...

The best of evangelicalism didn't prepare me for this struggle.
By Charles Colson with Anne Morse

Faith isn't really faith if we can always rely on the still, small voice of God cheering us on. A prominent pastor once told me he experienced the Holy Spirit's presence every moment. Contemporary evangelicals regard this as maturity. Perhaps it is—or maybe it is a form of presumption. True faith trusts even when every outward reality tells us there is no reason to.

Romans 8:18
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

2 Corinthians 5:7
We live by faith, not by sight.

Stolen from Emily Blake's blog

"If I show up at your door, chances are you did something to bring me there."