You may or may not have heard about Jeffrey Overstreet. If you have, you’ll be familiar with his numerous injections into modern Christian and secular culture. If you haven’t, then this is the perfect moment to begin. For I think anyone needing inspiration, especially when dialogging about the day in which we live, and the arts and theology (or lack thereof) that move us, would be greatly encouraged to make this connection.
As you know from the title prefix of this post, it’s time for three days of blogging on this month’s Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy Blog Tour. Fun times! But what’s new is that I’ve decided to run a little contest to help promote Jeffrey and his work, for whatever it’s worth.
Bookmarking his blog is certainly something I’d recommend (as would be reading his books, which we’ll talk about later). The way he manages his site is right up my alley personally, not to mention his love and views on the arts (go u2!). But anyone can ask you to do that in order to create a buzz. I’d like to try something a little more involved. So, here’s the game…
Starting today, and ending Wednesday at midnight, I’m going to be asking you, my faithful readers, to start digging. Each morning I’ll post rules for “The Day’s Hunt,” and you must respond in kind by midnight that night. Some of the challenges will be simple, others will be more complex and time consuming, all requiring a little ingenuity (all you at CFS have an intuitive “search engine mentality” head-start). But to the winners go the spoils.
To the First, Second and Third Place winners I’ll award a free autographed CD of either my or my wife’s collections (pending what we have in stock), as well as an autographed poster that I’ll be making personally for this contest (truly wacky, one-of-a-kind). (I’m not assuming anyone actually wants a poster of me hanging in their cubicle, but the incentive here is that it won’t be a “normal” author/musician poster; I promise your friends will be laughing and won’t believe it’s who you say it is).
<…making himself nervous as he writes…>
If I have enough feedback from this contest, I may throw in some others stuff, and even include those who don’t place in the top three.
So, here’s The Day’s Hunt for Monday, January 21st 2008:
Jeff Likes Movies
Jeffrey Overstreet loves to review movies. I want you to find an online review that he’s written and:
1.) If you are able, leave a comment on the review itself.
2.) Write a comment on my post right here on my site, agreeing or disagreeing with his analysis (and why).
3.) Paste a link to his movie review at the end of your comment.
I’ll award 40 points to the first contestant to complete these steps, 30 points to the second, 20 points to the third and 10 points to anyone else that competes at all.
***I’ll also give the first person who can tell me Jeffrey’s favorite movie 50 bonus points.*** (posted in a comment on my site)
Happy hunting!
CH
PS – Make sure to check out all these other blogs to see what people are writing!:
Brandon Barr Jim Black Justin Boyer Grace Bridges Jackie Castle Carol Bruce Collett Valerie Comer CSFF Blog Tour D. G. D. Davidson Chris Deanne Jeff Draper April Erwin Marcus Goodyear Andrea Graham Jill Hart Katie Hart Timothy Hicks Heather R. Hunt Becca Johnson Jason Joyner Kait Karen Carol Keen Mike Lynch Margaret Rachel Marks Shannon McNear Melissa Meeks Rebecca LuElla Miller Mirtika or Mir’s Here Pamela Morrisson Eve Nielsen John W. Otte John Ottinger Deena Peterson Rachelle Steve Rice Cheryl Russel Ashley Rutherford Hanna Sandvig Chawna Schroeder James Somers Rachelle Sperling Donna Swanson Steve Trower Speculative Faith Jason Waguespac Laura Williams Timothy Wise
I wasn’t able to comment on the page (that I see anyway…)
Let me just say, it was hard to find a review I didn’t agree with. I finally gave up looking for something to argue about and found his review of one of the few movies I could watch over and over and over again, (besides Pixar flicks and Star Wars of course). “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”. Jeffery gave this a “B+”, but I would’ve opted for at least an “A”, but as I read his review, I had to agree with most everything he said. The music and the “Looney Tunes” feel made this a perfect movie for me, loads of non-stop fun and chock full of unforgettable lines.
“Mrs. Hogwallop up and R-U-N-N-O-F-T.”
“Can’t you see it, Everett? Them Sirens did this to Pete. They loved him up and turned him into a… horny toad.”
Delmar: “Care for some gopher?”
Everett: “No thank you, Delmar. A third of a gopher would only arouse my appetite without beddin’ her back down.”
I could go on and on…
This is definitely one of my favorite films. Jeffery hits the nail on the head when he says “the irrepressible joy of the music that bursts from O Brother’s most ridiculous souls is a testament that God can shame the proud with the efforts of the humble. It echoes the theme that ran through Amadeus… that God gives grace the humble, and blesses even the simple and the crass with gifts that make the world a better place.”
Amen.
http://lookingcloser.org/movie%20reviews/H-P/obrotherwhereartthou.htm
Thanks for the write-up, Jason! I love O Brother, too; using true performances of renowned blue grass artists combined with beautiful cinematography makes for a classic. Thanks for looking into Jeff’s work.
40 points!
CH
I couldn’t find a place to post a reply on the site, but that might just be me. I’m known to miss things in excitement.
But, I found an older review, of the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
I really have to agree. It was a powerful movie. But the way that some of the characters were portrayed was drastically changed from the book. While that didn’t affect the movie if you’ve never read it… I went with friends who hadn’t read it and they loved the movie, it brought a different message to the film.
And I can’t say I didn’t like it… ’cause I did. I LOVED LWW.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/movies/reviews/lionwitchwardrobe.html
Roh: Thanks for the post and the effort. The CON are classics no matter how you look at it, and any film is not going to do Jack Lewis’ genius justice. But it was certainly an brilliant film and made it’s way to my collector’ shelf.
30 points!
CH
I’m not entering the contest, but I was fairly disappointed that I couldn’t find a review on “Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail” by him. I did a bit of research on him beforehand for my blog and liked his take on several of the reviews I read.
Incidently, do you know the airspeed of a coconut laden swallow?
Also, thanks!
Here’s a link to Jeffrey’s review of Golden Compass:
http://lookingcloser.wordpress.com/2007/12/06/my-review-and-christianity-todays-review-of-the-golden-compass/#more-2918
and my response which I also posted to the comments of that post:
My favorite character was Lyra although she did as you say butt heads with just about all authority figures. Of course she did have the example of her Uncle to follow.
As a role model for children not a good idea to be presenting I agree.
My problem with this movie and reasoning for not reading the books – there was absolutely ZERO plot to the movie. Now as an avid reader its not much fun to read or in this case watch something where there is no story and not much going on or any connection between the vignettes. Really with no plot the story goes nowhere. I saw no overarching goal of the characters or “end†they were trying to get to even with having read warnings about the books and movies that stated Lyra’s goal was to kill God.
Anyway I didn’t care for the movie and have no desire to read the books it was based on.
As for Jeffrey’s favorite movie. I have yet to find one single all time favorite mentioned. However he does have lists of his favorite films 25 each year through 2007. His favorite of 2007 at the time the list was made is Into Great Silence. He does say his thoughts and sometimes his lists change with time and rewatching the movies. Not sure if this is what you were looking for or if theres something else out there that I haven’t yet managed to unearth.
Melissa
Gene: African or European? (Thanks for stopping by!)
Melissa: Thanks for the link (and your successful comment on his post), the comment here, and the exemplary note about his favorite movieS, which change from time to time and year to year–well done! (I suppose a bit of a trick question).
That’s 20 points for third place, and 50 extra bonus points, putting you in first place at the close of Day One with 70 points!
Everyone stay tuned for Day Two, posting just after midnight tomorrow morning.
CH
Color me flattered!
That’s quite a contest you’ve cooked up, Christopher. You’ve almost convinced me to participate. But I might have an unfair advantage.
Thanks so much for your enthusiasm and creativity.
And now, I gotta get back to editing the sequel, “Cyndere’s Midnight.”
Jeffrey
Thanks for stopping by, Jeffrey! You’re the man of the hour around here! Glad you did. And thanks for the encouragement.
If you want to throw anything into the prize pot, please let me know!
CH
It’s really fun you are doing a contest. I won’t have time to participate, but I’ll be following who wins. That’s funny what Jeffrey said about having an unfair advantage! LOL!
Christopher!! Auralia’s Colors!! I haven’t actually finished the book myself, but this is the book I was reading at Borders that one day when I met you and Jenny to talk. I remember you asked me what I was reading. I only got through the first chapter or so that day, but it seemed like a great book.
I just thought that was a cool coincidence.