Escape to Web-Print

The Escapist is an online magazine, which according to their visitor’s page

“is dedicated to providing readers with the highest quality journalism covering interactive media, games, and the culture behind them.”

            Five days a week it froths, covering internet-related news with opinion columns, video editorials, and irreverent reviews & humor.

            Examining their layout, their offerings to the ten-second-website-viewer are: news in their industry (at the time of writing, condemnation for the SOPA act, with some coverage of the major developments in Video games), columns and videos from their employees, and advertisements for their sponsors. With bonus content available for personal information or credit card subscriptions, the joy of commercialism is in the layout, indeed!

            Their perspective is Empiric while also subversive. A sum of parts, individual authors present conformative pieces with others present in apocalyptic style. The editorials tend to take a taciturn tone, such as The Tao of Leveling, a pseudodeep attempt to tie spiritual principles to life pursuits (don’t forget how faithfully reading the Escapist can only help you level up!) The language-tied-to-gaming in the article is vague-as-theology, with no prescribed objective. However, an understanding of the medium presented (specific: the Role-Playing-Game) must be acquired to understand it in full.

            Contrasting, anything Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw does. His take on Role-Playing-Games is more a flaying of them. Someone who sits in the video-game corner of the site and dissects anything served to him, his appeal for content in the face of postmodern game design is phrased

“Surely every game is a "simulation" of something, whether it be flying a World War 2 fighter plane or finely slicing the buttocks of minotaurs.”

            Take that, Nihilism!

            With regards to the Kingdom, The Escapist is a magazine. It exists to create and distribute content with a profit motive. As a community, it may attract individuals beyond the pale of the consumerist fold. It can serve as a sanctuary or an effigy-burning ground. It’s not the best example. I find satire in the system a sign of the roots of Apocalypse. Something could grow.

   

1: Churches often demonize publications for not fostering “the Kingdom”. What role can the media-distribution system play in the Christian narrative? What roles does it play already?

2: What is the Apocalyptic aspect to Escapism? Where can we find, ironically, a non-escapist aspect to it?

Dancing With Dinner

       I recently attended one of the lectures of the January Series entitled Dancing With Dinner. The speaker was Joel Salatin, an alternative farmer who was in the film Food Inc.  In his lecture Salatin talked about how we as Americans have lost our love and respect that we once had with food and the way that we grow food.  He told us about the earth friendly and natural ways that he grows food on his farm, how he still had that intimate relationship with the stuff that he puts on his table every meal.

       Since we watched Food Inc. just yesterday, it is easy to see how this topic ties into our class.  In God's kingdom, humans are stewards of the earth, meaning that they take care, provide, and sustain the resources that are entrusted to them.  In the kingdom of the Empire, anything goes along as you can make a quick buck off of it.  This means that cows are grown faster, pumped with antibiotics, and crammed together in a tight space just so we can get cheaper more convenient beef.  The same can be said for chickens, pigs, and any other animal that can be turned into a product. This heinous food cycle has become the dominate way of life in our society today, those who try to oppose it are quickly dealt with by the Empire or deemed to insignificant to be a threat.  However, recently there has been increasing movement against this status quo.  We need to focus on alternative ways to feed ourselves, shop at our local farmer's market, avoid mega-stores, and be more conscious about what we put into our body.  

What are you doing in your life to combat our corrupt food system?

Do you still have respect for what’s on your dinner table?

Paper Heart

    




      I have chosen Paper Heart for my second cultural artifact blog post. Although the quirky 2009 film has the look and many intentional implications for being a documentary (visible cameras, etc.), the film is actually a fictional story about the making of a documentary. This film was directed by Nicholas Jasenovec and stars Charlene Yi and Micheal Cera.
     The premise of this film is that Charlene Yi is traveling around the country to either prove or disprove the existence of romantic love, as she does not believe in it. In so doing, she meets Micheal Cera and the two begin to develop a relationship. The film is lighthearted and fun the whole way through.
      This artifact comments on everyday occurrences within the context of relationships--from the first meeting, to the development of friendship. In this case, the relationship is presented in a realistic, down to earth way. This film emphasizes the importance of community and friendship, as well as imagination. When taking a further look into this film, I am left wondering why the word 'love' is only used (with one exception) in the generic and romantic sense. The fact that believing in love, or not, depended on researching and interviews the romantic love shared between two people, and not another ultimate example of love did not leave much room for faith. The one time a different 'type' of love is explored is in one scene that takes place in a biker bar, where the bikers discuss the role of love in friendship. Overall, it was a look at the developing romantic relationship between (as fictional versions of themselves) Micheal and Charlene as well as young and old couples 'interviewed' throughout.
     One way that this romantic comedy broke the cookie-cutter mold of the genre is that there is no personal catastrophe. No one is a damsel in need of being 'saved' by love, and no one had to give up something for the sake of monogamy. Rather, it is a story of two equals spending time together and (slowly) learning to love each other. While I do believe that expressing love without an example of ultimate love through Christ is, ultimately, missing the point, this is a more honest look at human interaction than has been presented in past films of its type.


 1. Why does our society idolize dysfunctional relationships in films?
 2. Why do people treat each other differently when they know they are being watched? Is this a positive thing?

Paper Heart directed by Nicholas Jasenovec (Lakeshore, 2009), DVD

Teen Vogue/Artifact 2

The second artifact I chose was a teen vogue magazine. It is similar to a Vogue magazine, but specifically made for teenagers(the name of the magazine is pretty self explanatory). The magazine focuses on fashion and celebrities and offers information about the latest entertainment and feature stories on current issues and events. Usually the cover has a photo of a recent celebrity along with make up tips and things about the celebrity.

The stories that Teen Vogue tells about human purpose is that even though we are made in God's image, there are products that make you look more beautiful. In the magazine, there are millions of ads that catch our eye, including name brands and beautiful models. It's hard to go through a magazine like this and not get caught up in the fashion or make up that's in it. Even though this magazine may seem like another way to sell advertisements, they do include serious issues as well, in the issue I read it had an article on smoking and what it can do to your body. However, it was only a couple pages long, while the rest of the magazine still covered make up and fashion.

Teen Vogue reveals about life in the empire is that there are things in the world that we tend to get pulled into and believe that we must have a certain product to make us feel good about ourselves. The magazine shows pictures of different models, and then has several pages with similar clothes that they are wearing, and how much it would cost to buy them. It seems that every day there is some new trend going on, or a new line of clothing or make up has just come out, and we have that urge to immediately go out and buy it because we know everyone else will already have it. It's difficult to fit into society, or the empire, without having the latest thing that's out there because then you feel left out and not on the same page as everyone else.

I personally don't wear make up at all, and the most I'll wear is just a touch of mascara. For me, make up just isn't a big deal. I don't see why I need to change myself when I'm perfectly happy with the way I look.

Discussion Questions:
1. Why do we feel the need to fit in with the rest of the world?
2. Do we ever ask ourselves "Do I really and truly need that?" before we buy something? Or do we automatically buy it because it's what everyone else has?

Joel Salatin- Dancing with Dinner

This past week, I went to Joel Salatin's January Series with a few friends. Joel Salatin is an American farmer who has raised his voice to the changes in farming today. He has been in several documentaries including Food, Inc. and Fresh. Also, Salatin has written a couple books stating his opinions on the farming industry today. He described himself as a "Christian-libertarian-environmentalist-capitalist-lunatic-Farmer" in The New York Times article "High Priest of the Pasture" in 2005.

I had heard good things about Salatin from a friend who had seen him in the film Food, Inc. And after hearing that we were going to watch it in class, I figured it would be cool to go see what he was all about. After a few minutes of Salatin's speech, I was totally engaged. Not only was he incredibly intelligent, Salatin was absolutely hilarious. He talked about how meals these days have become a grazing action, not sitting down together as a family for a home cooked meal. Also, he brought up how we are not aware of where our food is coming from, we do not ask questions, we just eat. One part of his speech I found very interesting was an experiment done by young elementary school students. The students rolled up white Wonder bread into a ball and placed it into a worm compost along with other candy and snack food. In another worm compost, they put hearty wheat bread, fruits and vegetables. After a couple weeks, the kids pulled out the composts again and looked. The food in the second compost were gone and only a few pieces remained but in the first compost all the food still remained. Salatin then said, "Now why would you eat something the worms won't even it." This was a funny story but it also held so much truth. Our culture today has become less and less focused on the food we consumer and more focused on every other aspect of our lives. He said the kitchen use to be the center of the home but now the bathrooms are bigger than the kitchens. Salatin raised so many excellent points; it really caused me to think more about the food I consume.

The culture we live in today has little focus on the food we consume. Someone once told me that when we look at the ingredients in food, we are not supposed to eat anything we cannot pronounce. And looking at the ingredients, there are many ingredients that I could not come close to saying. Why do we do this to ourselves? Salatin's message and his ministry in farming can be seen as an apocalyptic. He is holding up a mirror toward our eating habits and is showing us how disconnected we have become. The food empire has been manipulated to mass produce no matter the consequences, and we are just following those standards. But, there are ways we can break away from the food empire that has been created. We can buy locally, eat locally, and become aware and active.

1. What factors make the fight against the food empire so difficult?

2. How would you address those who say organic food is too expensive?

3. How does faith effect our choices in food?

The Royal Tenenbaums

Last night, I watched The Royal Tenenbaums with some friends. The Royal Tenenbaums is a 2001 absurdest comedy directed by Wes Anderson. The film depicts the lives of three siblings who were once child prodigies and their battle with disappointment in their adult lives. All three of their failures stems from their relationships with their father, Royal Tenenbaum, who abandoned them when he and their mother divorced. After he is kicked out of his hotel, Royal fakes cancer so he can bring his family together and set things right.

The film deals with the redemption of the Tenenbaum family, most notably Royal and his three children, Chas, Margot, and Richie. Chas has been a genius financier since birth, and expropriates Royal's house after Royal steals some of Chas's money out of his safety deposit box. After the death his wife, Chas becomes fearful and distrusting towards the whole world, until Royal saves his sons from near death. Margot, the adopted daughter of the Tenenbaums, was a very skilled playwright, but Royal's lack of support discourages her and leads her down a path of broken relationships with men. Richie was considered by the rest of the children to be Royal's favorite, which causes them to show disdain for Richie. Richie was a tennis prodigy and won the American Nationals 3 times. He has a longstanding love for Margot, which ends up costing him his career when has a meltdown in his match after he sees Margot with her new husband, Raleigh St. Claire. He eventually tries to kill himself because of this. He reveals his love for Margot, and she has always felt the same way about him. At the end of the movie, the family is reunited and all of them are redeemed through love. This movie is one of my favorites, as it depicts some of the most broken people you could imagine, and yet all of them are able to be redeemed.

1. Is the Tenenbaum family as strange and dysfunctional as the film leads on, or are they more of a parody of all families?

2. How do our relationships with our friends and family affect our ability to find redemption through Christ?

cultural artifact 2

While watching TV for this artifact, I realized that society is focused around TV shows and advertisement. I caught myself eating a lot while I was watching TV, popcorn and Reese’s Peanut Butter cups are a favorite. Then I started to realize how so many of the commercials are about food, and generally it is about fast food and other “junk” food. These commercials state their opinion on how this food is the next best thing, even if it isn’t. They want to trap you in the business of junk food because once you are hooked, it is hard to break a habit. It seems that everywhere you go, the movie theater, driving down the road, malls, sporting events, all advertise some kind of food. Take the Super bowl for example. Companies spend millions of dollars on the commercial space of this most watched game. Many commercials portray the happiness and fun by the consumption of these unhealthy foods with friends, most advertisements are about beer. Well, beer is made up of carbohydrates. So what do you think will happen to your body by consuming many beers? What we don’t realize is that they have the “attractive” person doing the advertising, who is skinny and toned, when in reality, if you eat what they advertise, you won’t be like that. You will probably become unhealthy and obese. Many show the positive side of food verses the negative, not only consequences, but also the origins. If people were to even watch a half hour of Food Inc. their stomachs would turn and they would probably get sick from knowing what actually goes into their food. Most of the fast food restaurants would probably go out of business with the consumer knowledge of the quality of the food. Big companies disregard this fact because the advertisements sell. If people appear to be having fun, and the food looks good, people are willing to follow the commercials lead.

1. With the knowledge of Food Inc., are you more worried about the origin of your food?

2. How often do you watch TV? How many of those commercials that you see do you disregard?

Do It Alone

A rather popular artist Kid Cudi has had influence on modern day teens from every type of house in America and around the globe. He is popular because he is talented and is different from the usual hip hop artist. He thrives off of being different and having different views from other rappers. He seems to think he is some rap god lately, even though his music has gone downhill since his first album in my opinion. One of his older mixtapes is called Kid Cudi: Demo Tape and contains some old music that didn't quite make it to his albums. Cudi quit smoking marijuana in the past year, but most of his music prior to him quitting was revolved around smoking dope and not caring what others think - songs like "Marijuana", "I Do My Thing", "Rollin'", "Call Me Moon Man", and "Maui Wowie" all express his love for weed. But one song off of Kid Cudi: Demo Tape called "Do It Alone" really embraces how different he views himself from the world.

If you know Kid Cudi, he calls himself things like "Moon Man" or "Man on the Moon", which has a double meaning. It refers to him being high most of the time (high as the sky, or in his case up to the moon), and how he views himself as an alien. No one understands him. The song "Do It Alone" really embraces this. It starts out with some high pitched outer space-like sounds. Then the music comes in slowly and you can tell pretty quickly that it is a sad song. His lyrics tell the story of him being afraid to go into the real world because he fears he won't be accepted - that no one will understand. He says "Man, I'm so comfortable here. Why should I head to a place where people live in fear?" and "But see, I'll never get why the earth is a puzzle that I'll never fit. I'm not of their world. So why should I leave my sanctuary? The whole thought of that is scary. How do I know that their kind will truly hear me out? Will they understand I'm flying from a different route?"

Although Kid Cudi does not affiliate himself with any religion, we can see by these lyrics that he is scared of being different from the real world, much like many of us are afraid of being different from the Empire. I think many of us, especially those of us that grew up in a very Christian town or went to a private Christian school, are scared to go outside of our bubble and take on the Empire. Kid Cudi describes his frustration by saying the earth is a puzzle and he'll never fit because he's not of their world. He doesn't want to leave his sanctuary - where he is comfortable. But I think to find a real glimpse of the Kingdom, we need to fight against the Empire. I have wanted to run away from these problems that cause so much anxiety in me, but I know to become stronger in my faith, I need to fight. And I believe God will give me glimpses of the Kingdom when I do this. Luckily, unlike Cudi, I don't feel like I have to do this alone. We have brothers and sisters in Christ to walk with.

Questions:

When have you felt that you are alone in this world and no one understands? Was it faith related?

Have you ever tried to run away when you feel like you're alone in this world? What has the outcome been of running?

Supernatural

The second cultural artifact I have decided to choose is the show Supernatural. Supernatural first aired september 13, 2005. The Story is about two brothers named Sam and Dean Winchester. The episodes are about these two brothers as they hunt demons and other monsters that are of the supernatural, hence the title. This show portrays evil in hell is not locked by heaven anymore. Demons and monsters are on our world. The human purpose as we know is to live in Christ’s image, but on this show the human purpose is to be destroyed by the demons. Evil is always around the Winchester boys. I think that they are not being influenced by the empire, because the empire wants the perfect American life. You go to school, get a job, get married, have kids. But This life can never be for the Winchester boys. They know what is actually out there. and their destiny is to fight of the evil. Dean has always struggled with religion he does not believe in god, and if he did he calls him a “big kid with a magnifying glass, and i’m the ant.” But in the later seasons dean is a mess he keeps reliving all of his horror that he has done in his past, what he has seen, he prays to God for redemption to cleanse him, to ask for help. In the later of the episodes they interact with angels and these angels are angry with the Winchester boys, because they stopped the apocalypse from happening when it was supposed to. The angels also say that God has gone away. they do not see him anymore, almost as if he had given up. But i believe something extraordinary is going to happen. I sometimes feel that a lot of us feel that way. When we are in need and something that we ask for does not happen, or when we are in despair, we feel like god has gone away and doesn't care about us. but we know as Christ followers that is simply not true. God is always with us. This show does a good jib of showing the evil the good and the redeemed in our world today.

1.Do we sometimes feel that God has left.

2. How can we fight the evil in our own life's.

Dinner Dance Partner

For my second cultural artifact I attended the January Series lecture on Tuesday, where I was enlightened and humored by owner of Polyface Farms, Joel Salatin. After hearing this lecture, watching Food Inc. in class yesterday, and now reading more about this alternative farmer, I have thought a lot about food and where it comes from. In his lecture Tuesday, Joel addressed the issues of food and how it is viewed in society today. He claims that we have "pulled away from the dinner dance partner" and that it has been replaced with McDonalds, Tyson, Kraft, Taco Bell... and so on. We now view food as mechanical versus biological. We see soil as inert, something that holds up the plants, but really soil is full of a living community of microorganisms that support life. The disrespect of the soil has also turned to the disrespect of animals- we want them bigger, fatter, faster, and cheaper. These distorted views of God's creation goes even further, where our view of humans becomes the same as that of the animals and creation.
Joel Salatin has committed his life to a "land healing ministry." He claims, "I am a caretaker of creation; I don't own it." He believes it is his responsibility to step into creation as land stewards and redemptive embassadors and embrace it as a dance partner. We need to appreciate our invisible dependent creation. This statement is so applicable to many aspects our lives. This includes the invisible microorganisms in soil, the invisible trillions of cells in our bodies, to the invisible God that created the universe. We don't realize the tremendous power and creativity of our Maker until we study what he has created. We are called to take care of this earth and enjoy it in its natural original beauty. This is what God called us to do, he cares about His creation. In the words of Joel Salatin, "God is interested in the pigness of the pig."
Studying this cultural artifact has sparked an interest in this topic of caring for creation. There are many practical ways, that we as Christians, can participate in a system that does good and allows us to participate in the Kingdom.

Discussion Questions:

• In what ways does the distorted view of creation and animals extend to our view of other humans?
• Where else in creation do we witness the amazing design of our Creator?
• What are ways we can be stewards for God's Kingdom?