Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

I went into the theatre with doubts honestly. Johnny Depp? Singing? But he did not leave me disappointed. Sure he was no Ben Tissell, but his voice was adequate enough to keep you interested. I felt that he put enough character and life into his words that it didn't really matter all that much how his voice sounded. But overall Depp's performance was captivating and kept me well intrigued throughout the whole movie. He brought the character of Sweeney Todd to life for me.

As far as Helena Bonham Carter goes, well lets just say that her Golden Globe nomination is well-deserved. Her character of Mrs. Lovett was so lovable yet so grotesque at the same time. To generate both of those emotions in one character is brilliant. She had perfect comedic timing, when necessary and at the same time had such a genuine motherly love for little Toby.

Alan Rickman brought his exceptional antagonist character that we have seen in a number of his other movies (Harry Potter, Die Hard, Robin Hood:Prince of Thieves, Perfume). The character of Judge Thurpin was a cold-blooded pig who was only interested in one thing, women. And Rickman portrayed this creep of a character flawlessly.

And the other characters: Sacha Baron Cohen played pretty much the same character in Talledaga Nights (horrible movie by the way, dont see it), only he was Italian instead of French. I was looking forward to a little bit of variety from him. The character of Anthony kind of bothered me. The actor who played him (Jamie Campbell Bower) had a terrific sining voice but he was too feminine and I could only think of a girl every time he was on the screen. I wanted more of a heroic, yet sensitive character for the role. The beggar woman was brilliant and perfectly cast. And Timothy Spall played Beadle Bamford, the typical slimy side-kick to the enemy that Spall has been known to play.

Overall, I thought Tim Burton did an excellent job of casting the movie. It was captivating and awe-inspiring. And though there was a lot of blood, it wasn't your typical blood. It didn't look realistic but more, dare I say, artistic.

Two Thumbs Up!

Mighty to Save By: Hillsong

Everyone needs compassion
A love that's never failing
Let mercy fall on me
Everyone needs forgiveness
A kindness of a Savior
The hope of nations

My Savior
He can move the mountains
My God is Mighty to save
He is Mighty to save
Forever
Author of salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave

So take me as You find me
All my fears and failures
Fill my life again
I give my life to follow
Everything I believe in
Now I surrender

Shine your light and let the whole world see
We're singing for the glory of the risen King...Jesus


Today a friend of mine told me how much they respect me for faith. At first I was flattered but then I started thinking about it. There is really nothing right now that anyone should respect about my faith. That sounds harsh and scary but seriously. Today I came to the sickening realization that I have not been living for God the past few months. But WHY?! I tear apart my mind to think of an excuse and the best I could come up with is that, "I just haven't been in the 'the mood' to be all spiritual and I have been so busy" How selfish is that?! God should not be a mood, He should be my lifestyle. I want to read the Bible! But every time I do, I don't know what to read and I feel like I am reading it just to feel good about myself.

Then I started thinking about what Joe would always remind us at CIT Bible studies. "In 10 years, a good fraction of the staff right now probably won't be following Christ." That could be ME! It kills me to think that but with the direction I've been headed, it wouldn't surprise me.

"Oh but G-mo," You may say, "When we've seen you, you seem like you are doing great!" That is exactly it! I am two-faced. I put on 1 face in front of camp friends and church friends and then another when i'm with my school friends or even by myself.

Answer me this: Why am I so brutally killing myself and how can I be rescued?

Why! That's a novel idea!

So I decided that I want to write a novel.
But there is only one problem: I have writer's block and I haven't even started yet.

I don't know what to write about! That is also part of the lack of blogging lately! My life right now is in a constant coma for words! Any ideas for my novel?

OH! And Germo as decided that if he needs to start reading, because he sometimes feels inferior in some folk's company because of his lack of literature. Any suggestions? Preferably something fairly easy to understand to start off, because his biggest reading disability is comprehension. Thanks!

OH OH! And Me and Erik's NEW BLOG
is still in desperate need of some feedback.
Want to be a doll and let us know what you think?
Your opinion is GREATLY crucial to the
development of our project.

I need your words...

I am doing a project at my Graphic Design school. I am creating a website that explains the lives of the TCBC staff. So could you answer a few things for me?

1) Describe the relationships of the staff at TCBC.

2) What is the best thing about TCBC?

3) Why do you devote your whole summer there?

5) Describe the essentials you need to have to be a part of the staff (Physical, emotional, and spiritual)

Dear God,
First of all, I just want to thank you SO much for everything you have provided for me. My friends, family, food, shelter, a good life, salvation, I could go on forever! Thank you for being such a loving God!

God, I pray that you would give me courage. I love you so much and I want to tell the world about Your love, but I always chicken out. I hate it. Please Lord just give me the courage to talk about You and provide me with the words to say.

Lord, I pray that you would be with the Donohue Family. They are going through so much right now and it kills me to see one of my best friends' to go through so much pain. I pray that you bring healing to Pat. Physical, emotional, and spiritual healing, Lord. God I pray that the whole family would just keep their focus on You and not turn they eyes away from You. I pray that if You do decide to take him home early, that the family and everyone else would understand that You are in control.

God I pray for my parents. Sometimes I wonder if my prayers are heard, because I have been praying for this for years, but I know You have a plan. But I pray that you would provide spiritual and emotional healing to both of them, Lord. I pray that they would just seek after You everyday and strive to know you more, Lord. I pray that You provide them with joy. I am tired watching them be sad and listening to them complain about stuff instead of bringing their problems to You, God. God, I pray that if You have a woman for my dad that You bring about the best, most Godly, uplifting, beautiful woman for him, Lord. He deserves someone amazing, God.

Lord I pray for all of those less fortunate. That You be their only Provider. That they will see that they are in Your arms. I pray that whatever they are going through that they will find You.

God, I pray for all of my friends. From church, school, theatre, choir, camp that you would just encourage them daily. That their eyes would be focused on You and You alone God. That each day would be a new spiritual adventure for them. Lord I want to see them fully immersed in Your love, God.

And finally Lord I pray for me. That I would be seeking You daily. I am so terrible with consistently being in Your Word. Not only that but when I do read it, that I would be able to grow from it and not just read because I feel like I have to. God I pray that Your plan for my life would be revealed to me a little more each and everyday. I pray that You would use me to reach hundreds and thousands of people. I pray that my life would reflect You and that people's lives would be greatly changed for the better because of they see You in me. God, without You there is no me. I want that to show. Give me courage, strength, wisdom, understanding, discernment, patience, compassion and a love for people that is so incredibly overwhelming. I love you, Lord!

Amen.

NEW BLOGGER

Erik and I have decided to combine our talents and create a blog. SO www.aarik.blogspot.com is our new project. It combines his beautiful poetic words with my photography. We only have one blog as of now but you can be sure there will be LOTS more! It is called the Sound of Photography. ENJOY and please let us know what you think....

Overwhelmed by Meaningless Vanities...

Ecclesiastes explains it perfectly. Without God, everything is meaningless. The thing I love about this book is that King Solomon wrote it. King Solomon was the wisest king in history. He had so much wisdom and yet it all comes down to this simple conclusion. Without God, everything is meaningless.

I don't understand how my faith can be such a roller-coaster ride. One day I'll be rockin' it for Jesus and then the next I won't be feeling very "spiritual". Why is this, God? We both know that I love you so much. And that my most joyous moments are when I am praising you. So why is it so hard for my to completely drown myself in You? Why does my stupid self always get in the way of giving you my full attention? Don't blame the apple, blame the hand.

There are so many things that we are constantly wondering about God. We have so many questions. But you know, we don't need to know such insignificant answers. We tend to try and find all the "logistics" of God. Well I hate to burst your bubble, but God has no logistics. We can't confine Him into science. We need to spend less time thinking about the logistics of God, and more time just simply praising Him.

If there was a way to just simply think about God 24/7, I could change history. I would give anything for that. There would never be a dull moment.

I went to the David Crowder concert tonight and he wrote it so beautifully in this song:

And He set me on fire, and I am burning alive.
With His breath in my lungs I am coming undone.
And he set me on fire and I am burning alive.
With his breath in my lungs I am coming undone.
And I cannot hold it in
Remain composed.
Love's taken over me
So I propose the letting myself go.
I am letting myself go.

You are my joy.
You are my joy.
You are my joy.
You are my joy.

And He set me on fire, and I am burning alive.
With His breath in my lungs I am coming undone.
And He set me on fire, and I am burning alive.
With His breath in my lungs I am coming undone.
And I cannot hold it in and remain composed.
Love's taken over me and so I propose the letting myself go.
I am letting myself go.

You are my joy.
You are my joy.
You are my joy.
You are my joy.

I need to catch my breath, I need to.
I need to catch my breath, give me a moment now.

You are my joy.
You are my joy.
You are my joy.
You are my joy.

I'm laughing so hard
And I'm laughing so hard
And I'm laughing so hard