As you probably know, this year’s Academy Award nominations were announced this past Tuesday down in Beverly Hills. The list of nominated films and actors and directors and animators has been everywhere. On the newscasts, in the newspapers, and across the internet there has been response and reaction. Which film was overrated, which actor got snubbed, which Canadians are in the mix etc., etc.
One of the interesting things about this year’s nominations is the film that has received the second-greatest number of nominations. Coming in with 10 nominations, just behind Martin Scorsese’s film Hugo with 11, was a film that some of you have probably seen – it’s a film called ‘The Artist’. And of course what is interesting about ‘The Artist’ is the fact that it is a silent film.
Talk about a blast from the past. The very first films ever produced, back in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century – they were all silent films. As you may know, in these films there were sometimes written lines of dialogue projected on the scene, to help explain what was happening – and sometimes there was a live music performance while the silent film was screened. But the story was told without the benefit of an audio track of voices and daily sounds. The glory days of silent film were the 1920’s – most of the top-grossing silent films were produced in that decade. But it was in the early 30’s that it all came to an end – when ‘the talkies’ as they were called, started taking over. It was in the late 20’s and early 30’s that the technology was invented that allowed for the projection of images and sound at the same time. With the advent of the talkies, silent film’s days were over. Continue Reading »
Last week as we began this short sermon series entitled Vintage Jesus, we spent a bit of time describing this whole fascination with the sensibilities and aesthetics of past decades. There is fairly wide interest in the clothes and jewelry and furniture, and other things from the 1930’s and 40’s up through the 70’s. There are shops and websites dedicated to selling vintage things – blogs dedicated to the discussion of all things vintage.
This week we’re going a slightly different way to introduce the vintage theme – in a moment we’ll do so by listening to some Johnny Cash. Most of us know how much dramatically the music industry has changed over the past number of years. It used to be the case that you bought your music in a very concrete form – you bought a record or a cassette-tape or a compact disc – and you would play that very concrete thing in a stereo of some kind. But today music is purchased and listened to in such a different way. You never “see” the music. You download it to your computer or directly to your phone – often wirelessly. For the vast majority of people in North America today, to listen to music you simply pull out your phone or your Ipod, put in your earplugs, and listen. We could easily play some Johnny Cash this way.
Given these technological advances, it may be surprising to us that the interest in vintage things includes an interest in the vinyl records. Over the past 20 years most people threw out their old vinyl records, or tried to get rid of them at garage sales. But there is an increasing number of people who collect old vinyl records – people out there looking for records, and buying up old record players like this Eaton’s model – it actually belongs to Iain MacLeod. Continue Reading »
This past week I visited a little shop over in the Plateau – a shop that has been at the corner of St. Laurent and Duluth for more than 15 years. It’s called Friperie St. Laurent and it’s actually well known in Montreal as a place where you can buy vintage clothing. They have ties and dresses and shoes and coats, and so much more – all from the 1940’s or 50’s or 60’s or 70’s. Actually, over there at the corner of St. Laurent and Duluth there are three vintage shops in a row.
While I was there I looked at their collection of vintage ties – in fact I picked up the tie I’m wearing today. It is, if I may say, a lovely 1950’s silk tie. Here’s a closer-up picture… It certainly has the feel of the 1950’s. Alongside it here are two 1960’s era ties that I picked up for 2 bucks apiece at the Renaissance store just down on St. Jacques.
Most of us have crossed a number of borders in our lifetime. Like many of you, I’ve crossed the border between Canada and the U.S. quite a few times – I’ve crossed that border by land, over bridges, and in the air. In the past I’ve driven with my parents across the border between Holland and Germany. Of course in our time of frequent air travel you’re often crossing borders without even realizing it, especially if you fly in or out of Europe.
But when it comes to crossing a border, I think we’d have to say that there is something unique about crossing by land. There’s something unique about it because when you cross by land there is always a kind of in-between space. No-man’s land, as it is called. You have passed the border station of one country, and you are approaching the border station of another country, but for just a few meters or minutes you are nowhere exactly. Not in one country. Not in the other. You are in an undefined middle. Continue Reading »
On a cold Friday morning in January 2007, a man walked into the entrance area of a metro station in Washington D.C. This man was wearing jeans, a long-sleeved t-shirt, and a baseball cap – average kind of guy. He positioned himself against a wall near a garbage can. The man had a case with him and after he had looked around, he opened the case and pulled out a violin. He then reached into his pocked, he pulled out a few coins, and he threw them into the now-empty violin case.
It’s a scene that plays itself out around the world, day after day, week after week. Buskers on street corners or bus stations or subway stops pull out their violins, their guitars, their accordions, or their saxophones – they throw a few coins into a hat or into their instrument case. And they play. For half an hour, for an hour, for a couple of ours – they will play. The instrument or the case with a few coins in it is an invitation to passersby to give something for the pleasure of being serenaded on their way to work or shopping or on their way home. Continue Reading »
Since his death just over a month ago, the name of Steve Jobs has been much in the news – over the past weeks we have heard a good deal about his life. Of course Jobs was the founder, and until fairly recently, also the CEO of the very successful computer firm Apple. This morning, as we begin, I’d actually like to rehearse just a part of his story. Steve Jobs was born in 1955, and when he was still a young child, moved with his adoptive parents Paul and Clara Jobs to the community of Los Altos, California. In terms of the life story of Steve Jobs, that move to Los Altos was a significant one because the community of Los Altos is located in Silicon Valley – a region of California that for decades has been home to a significant number of very successful electronics companies.
Indeed, on account of that concentration of electronics companies and employees in the area, it’s probably not surprising that Jobs took a very early interest in electronics – and it’s not surprising that as a boy in fact he found himself hanging out with a neighbour who was an electronics hobbyist. That early interest in electronics continued into his teen years when Steve Jobs took an introductory High School class in electronics by day and sat in on after-school lectures at the Hewlett Packard Company by night.
His first job as a young adult was, not surprisingly, also in the area of electronics – he began as a technician with the video game manufacturer, Atari. At the same time Steve Jobs also joined a computer club for hobbyists who would take apart and build computers. This was just the time when personal computing was starting to spread – and much of that early work on personal computers was being done in Silicon Valley. Continue Reading »
We begin this morning with something a little bit different. We’re actually going to begin this morning with a short video. That’s unusual in itself. But it’s going to be particularly unusual, because the short video clip I want to show is actually from a workout video, a kind of exercise video, produced by the New York City Ballet. The clip I’ll show is one selection from a series of short videos intended for dancers or non-dancers who want to use the techniques and movements of ballet for exercise and muscle strengthening. What’s interesting about this video, for our purposes, is the insight the video gives into the discipline, the training and the preparations of professional dancers.
Now I should say this morning that I’ve only been to the ballet a few times in my life. I have some vague childhood memory of seeing the nutcracker. And then in our twelve years here in Montreal, Becky and I have been to see a couple of performances of Les Grand Ballet Canadiens. I should also say that this somewhat limited experience with ballet, isn’t because I’m not interested in ballet, or because I find it boring. I guess you have to chalk it up to a lack of time to do all the things I might enjoy. In any case, this morning we are all going to have something of an encounter with ballet, perhaps a peculiar encounter, as we begin with this short video.
Final sermon in the Gospel and the Gazette series…
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This morning we are thinking about the act of remembrance – about an intentional looking back into the past. More specifically this morning, we are thinking about an intentional looking into the past by which we are shaped as the children of God here and now. This morning we are reminded that while the past is over and done with, the past is not done with us. The past is and can become a source of renewal and transformation by which we are shaped as the children of God here and now.
So we begin this morning by looking at words that we read together in our responsive Psalm – Psalm 105. Psalm 105 is a Psalm of praise and thankfulness to God. It begins with these words: “O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name, make known his deeds among the peoples…” And then it continues in verse 5 with these important words: “…remember the wonderful works he has done, his miracles and the judgments he uttered.”
Psalm 105 is a Psalm in which the people of God remember, in which they bring to mind, in which they rehearse, what God has done for them in the past. Psalm 105 is rather a long Psalm – we only read a small part of it. It speaks of God’s history with his people. Continue Reading »
I suspect that many or most of us here this morning have never heard of PostSecret.
PostSecret had its beginning in 2005 and was created by a man by the name of Frank Warren. Back in January of 2005, Frank Warren created this project by sending 3,000 self-addressed stamped postcards to people – and he asked those people to write a secret on the postcard, anonymously, and mail it back to him. Also, the idea was that the person would decorate the blank postcard in a self-expressive way or in a way that related to the theme of their secret. So Frank Warren sent out these hundreds of postcards, and then he starts getting them back – hundreds of anonymous secrets shared on personally crafted postcards.
Not too long after he started receiving the postcards from people, Warren also established a website on which he would put up the postcard images and their secrets. From there the whole thing snowballed. Every Sunday, for almost 6 years now, Frank Warren has put up 10 or 20 new postcards with their secrets. The rules he lays out are simple: You can share any secret as long as it is true, and as long as you have never shared it with anyone before. You’re supposed to keep it simple – only one confession per postcard. Continue Reading »
Have you ever built yourself a house out of cardboard boxes? I’m sure that many of us have – even if it was some years ago, now. If you have never built yourself a cardboard house, perhaps you have memories of your children or nieces or nephews doing it. In many ways this seems like such a fundamental part of childhood is North America – cutting out windows, colouring the walls, hanging out and maybe eating your snack in the little cardboard house.
I suspect that it was probably somewhere around the 1950’s that the cardboard playhouse became a staple of childhood. It was around the 40’s and 50’s that large home appliances became commonplace in North America. And by that time, cardboard boxes were also widely in use. What better than a great big fridge box or a stove box to build a play fort with. Those boxes can be a source of hours and days worth of fun.
Now, it’s fair to say that cardboard has come a long way. Cardboard was first used in Great Britain back in the 1870’s – it was used in tall hats for Victorian gentlemen. Today, cardboard is everywhere –especially in cardboard boxes. The advantage of cardboard is that it is at the same time light and strong. And of course it is recyclable, which is also a huge plus. Continue Reading »
Given these technological advances, it may be surprising to us that the interest in vintage things includes an interest in the vinyl records. Over the past 20 years most people threw out their old vinyl records, or tried to get rid of them at garage sales. But there is an increasing number of people who collect old vinyl records – people out there looking for records, and buying up old record players like this Eaton’s model – it actually belongs to Iain MacLeod. 
