Friday, January 22, 2010

Mountain

His eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun; and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters
-Doctrine & Covenants 110:3

In Joseph Smith's vision of God, God is depicted like a snow-capped mountain in spring. His head, His mind, contains stored energy, snow, frozen thought, heated by the fires of the sun and melted, transformed into the mighty rushing of great waters that is His voice. He is the God of nature. The God of eternal stasis (immovability of the mountain) and eternal mutability (ever-changing seasons, water cycles, etc.), the interplay of which creates Eternal Life. The Fountain of Living Waters. Stillness, frigidity, and warmth, combine to create energy, eternal delight. The voice of the Lord is action and a source of eternal satisfaction for our thirst, for our longing.
The Lord contains opposites, and created a world of opposition. It's the tension between opposites that produces the energy of creation, the movement of Life.The Lord is still at His center, moving and spinning quickly in His actions and exterior.

Moses sees the Lord as a mountain shrouded in clouds, when he appears on Sinai. The certainty of the mountain and the nebulous unknown of the clouds.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Top 30 Movies of the Decade!

In no particular order, my 30 favorite films of the decade.

Subject to change without notice.





Spirited Away/Ponyo




Let the Right One In




No Country For Old Men




Where the Wild Things Are





Pan’s Labyrinth







Bee Season







Synecdoche, New York







Little Otik







Grizzly Man







Saraband







Sita Sings the Blues







The Fountain







Big Fish







My Winnipeg







Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind







The Fall







The Hurt Locker

 


The Departed







Up








Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story




 Hot Fuzz







Gran Torino







Happiness of the Katakuris/Gozu







Once







The Proposition







Assassination of Jesse James







Happy-Go-Lucky







There Will Be Blood







Blood Tea and Red String


Fantastic Mr. Fox