There’s a new form of visual art called HDR time-lapse that I recently discovered and I think it’s one of the most incredibly beautiful expressions of creativity that I’ve seen in a long time. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range, and although it appears to be just really stinkin’ clear video footage (as in High Definition), look a bit closer and you’ll realize it’s even more brilliant than HD (I bet you didn’t think that was possible, I know I didn’t). Here’s an example: (For the best experience, I suggest watching in full-screen and make sure your sound is on).
Believe it or not, HDR time-lapse is a type of photography, with some editing of course, and pieces like the one above are actually chronological collections of individual photographs. This video of the sunrise in San Francisco was created by a man named Chad Richard, and although his video is only 41 seconds long, it is the result of photos he took over the course of 2.5 hours at a rate of about 7 pictures per second…each at slightly different light levels/settings, and then rendered to produce a composite of all 7, which means there is one super clear image from approximately each second. When put together, the result is an amazingly clear video that looks almost as beautiful as if you had woke up early in the morning to watch the sunrise from the top of the hill with Chad and his dog.
Although it’s not exactly an HDR time-lapse (the pictures were not taken as rapidly, nor were they rendered together), here’s another really creative example of individual photographs edited together to create something that looks as if it’s a video. This one is described as the “collision of three convergent paths through a city.”
I really like how the three paths become two and eventually join to become one. There are a lot of methaphors to be drawn out from this and connections to be made with life, faith, relationships and community, but I’ll leave those interpretations for others to make. Feel free to share if you’d like…
The following videos were part of a message I shared at Journey tonight. If you’d like to listen to the message, go to the Journey media player and look for the message titled “Witness” from August 3, 2008.
I had the chance to see Brooke Fraser in concert a few nights ago. Brooke is a kiwi (a New Zealander) who I just started listening to about a year ago. She doesn’t tour a whole lot in the US, so I have been excited ever since I saw that she was coming to Minneapolis to play at one of my favorite venues, the Varsity Theater in Dinkytown. It was a great night of music, including a short set by my friend Elizabeth Hunnicutt followed by an incredible new and still unsigned artist named William Fitzsimmons, who nearly stole the show. I just couldn’t get enough of his music, and in the days since the show I have bought both of his albums on iTunes and he has quickly become one of my most listened to artists. If you like really chill/acoustic music you should definitely check out his myspace to give him a listen (his style is similar to, but not exactly like, Joshua Radin and Iron & Wine).
When Brooke first came on stage I was a bit surprised by her quirky personality - her NZ accent kept reminding me of Flight of the Conchords, a comedy/music duo also from New Zealand - but she also showed a very kind and serious side (which is what I expected, given that she is closely connected with Hillsong Church in Australia, where she has written and recorded some of today’s most well-known modern worship songs, like “Hosanna” and “Lead Me to the Cross”).
Before closing the night by playing her “favorite song,” Brooke told the incredible story of an experience she had a few years ago in Rwanda that inspired the title track of her new album, “Albertine” (the song she was about to play), which is named after a young woman she met there. I had seen the video for this song on youtube and thought I understood a bit of the story behind it, but hearing the story from Brooke took it to a completely new level. Later that night, after getting home from the show, I was reading through the liner notes of Brooke’s CD (I bought it at the show) while listening to the album on my headphones and I ran across the story of Albertine again, this time as it had been written by Brooke. Albertine’s story is one that Brooke felt needed to be shared through her music, and I feel it needs to be shared here as well.
Here is the video for the song (much of which appears to have been filmed in Rwanda) and below that is Albertine’s story (in Brooke’s word, as found inside her album).
Albertine by Brooke Fraser
In 1994, the tiny Central-East African nation of Rwanda was devastated by genocide. Almost one million Rwandans were killed at the hands of their neighbors, friends and community leaders within the short space of 100 days…the catastrophic outcome of decades of tension and fighting between two ethnic groups - the Hutus and the Tutsis - a conflict that did not exist before Belgian colonists moved in during the first part of the 20th century and introduced an alien politician divide.
My first visit to Rwanda occurred in June 2005, eleven years on from the atrocities. I visited local authorities, churches, schools, official memorials and living ones: child-headed households and communities living with AIDS, facing life without adequate medical care or basics like clean water. I met a people who are humble, joyous, diligent and in deep pain.
One day before I was to fly out and onto Tanzania, my friend and guide Joel Nsengiyumva took me to a village school in a district called Kabuga. He wanted me to see that Rwanda had hope - and no better way to see it than in the next generation. The kids and I exchanged songs and dances, and as things wrapped up and we were about to leave, Joel asked if we could take a few minutes and meet with an orphan whose personal history he was familiar with.
Throughout the trip Joel had introduced me to people as a musician from the other side of the world who was going to go back to my people, tell them about the people of Rwanda and help. No pressure. That afternoon we walked across the schoolyard into an empty classroom, joined by a tall, beautiful girl wearing the school’s cobalt and navy garb, where Joel’s introduction was about to become a kind of commission.
Just before he shared her story with me, that of one person laying down their life for another, he uttered these words:
“You must go back to your people and you must write a song,
and I will tell you what the name of the song is going to be.”
He motioned toward the girl.
“This is Albertine.”
Albertine is alive today because of the selfless, sacrificial love of another. Funny thing is, so am I. And now I want to know what it’s like to love other people like that, so have decided to spend my whole life on the experiment.
Feel free to join me. We might just change the world.
This is a bit different than what I usually post, but I got an email from a woman at my church last night about a program her daughter has been involved with and it’s something I think you should all know about, and consider responding to, because taking just a few minutes out of your day could save someone’s life. Read on for more info…
Thanks Mom 2008
The National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) helps patients in need of marrow transplants find a matched donor. May 5th marked the start of “Thanks Mom,” a national effort by NMDP to bring people to the national marrow Registry during the two weeks surrounding Mother’s Day (May 5-19). They need 46,000 people to join the Registry in the next two weeks.
How to join the Registry
Joining the Registry is incredibly easy - you can register online at www.marrow.org (click on the “Grow the Donor Garden” link near the top) and provide some basic health information, or there is a list of locations in your area if you’d rather register in person. (I just registered online and it only took me 6 minutes.) After registering, NMDP will send you a kit with directions explaining how to swab the inside of your cheek a couple times, and then you just send it back to them in the provided, postage-paid envelope.
Seriously, who doesn’t have time to do that? And during the next two weeks, the cost has been covered by generous sponsors, so now is the time to join the Registry!
What happens after I join?
If you are ever identified as a potential donor, NMDP will call you. Donating marrow can be as simple as donating blood or plasma. In case you’ve never done either, that’s okay. Here’s a video that shows just how easy it is.
“Thanks Mom” will help patients across the country who need a marrow transplant to live. Many don’t yet have a possible donor on the Registry, and many will die while waiting. Every day, 6,000 patients across America - that’s 6 THOUSAND people EVERY DAY - are searching the Registry for a match. Imagine if one of these people was your mom, dad, brother, sister, husband, wife, child, friend….or you.
Visit www.marrow.org to register today…or, if you really don’t have six minutes to do it right now, please make sure you register before May 19th.
Pass this on to friends, relatives, neighbors, coworkers, or anyone else you can think might register. Every bit of awareness about how easy it is to help save lives will make a difference. You can even become a fan of NMDP’s “Donor Garden” on Facebook.
Still not sure?
Watch this video to meet Matt & Alexandra, a brother and sister who are alive today because someone like you took the time to register with NMDP and donate when they were called.
If you know me you are most likely aware of my involvement in Haiti through a non-profit organization some friends and I started a few years ago called the Haiti Mission Project. The HMP represents a huge piece of my heart, and the opportunities I’ve had to work alongside my friends in Haiti — both my American friends and my Haitian friends — is probably the closest experience I’ve had to the mission and kingdom of God here on earth.
It’s because of my personal involvement with HMP that I want to request your prayers for the current situation in Haiti, where people have been rioting the past few days in the capital city of Port-au-Prince in response to rising food costs. Violence of many forms is not a new thing in Haiti (it is the only nation with UN peacekeepers permanently in place although they are not at war), but the current situation is of particular interest and concern to me and my friends because we are planning to go to Haiti this Saturday to spend a week in Port-au-Prince visiting and working in orphanages, hospitals and churches as well as hanging out with our Haitian friends who we’ve gotten to know over the years.
Among our good friends in Haiti is a young boy named Jean who I have sponsored through Compassion International for the past four years, and who I will (hopefully) get to see again next week. It’s been an incredible experience to meet and spend time with the child who I have been exchanging letters with, sending money to and praying for since we were randomly paired together four years ago. In the beginning he was just a kid from a country I didn’t know anything about who was in a picture on my fridge, but now I have pictures and memories with him and the country he lives in is in my daily thoughts and prayers.
Here’s a powerful video from our trip to Haiti in 2006 that was made by a talented guy in our group; it includes images of Haiti (the country and its people), a glimpse of some of the typical work we’ve done there (building an orphanage in this case) and footage of the first time I met Jean (you may recognize him from a few of the pictures in the “Witness” video).
Many people don’t know much about Haiti except that it’s often listed as the “poorest country in the Western hemisphere” (which is true), but it’s actually an island nation with a long history of slavery, corruption, violence and injustice. Yet, through our partnership with several individuals and organizations (including a Lutheran church) in Port-au-Prince, we have been able to help fuel the hope that many Haitians have for their nation and its people, a hope they have found through their faith in Jesus. It’s a hope that is often hard to understand and is rarely seen in visible/physical ways, but it’s a future (”eschatological”) hope that is wrapped up in the message of Easter; the death and resurrection of Jesus that gives freedom, life and hope to all people at all times in all places, even especially Haiti.
To be honest, looking at Haiti in the big picture often makes hope seem hopeless, freedom look like oppression and life doesn’t appear like its worth living if it’s filled with so much hunger, suffering and violence. I realize I wrote earlier that my experiences in Haiti have provided me with the closest glimpse of God’s mission and kingdom that I have ever seen, but my time in Haiti has also led to some of the most difficult questions and doubts (of faith) that I have ever faced. It just does not make sense that a world created by a loving God would include the blatant poverty, suffering and injustices that I have seen in Haiti; it’s not fair. Yet I believe that God not only created the world but God loves the world (John 3:16), all of it, and through that love, God is continually active inthe world — working in and through people, powers and movements of other forms — but unfortunately this world is contaminated by sin (not just blaming sinful people), and so this means that God is doing as good as God can given the current situation. Just because things aren’t changing for the better doesn’t mean God has abandoned the situation, in fact, I believe that God can be found even in the suffering, since the understanding of God that I have is of a Father who watched his only Son die a painful and innocent death (God knows suffering and God suffers with us).
The discussion we’ve been having about missions in my systematic theology class lately has helped me realize that the group I’m involved with does not bring Christ to Haiti, in fact, we have actually discovered that He is already there in the efforts of others to help the poor and oppressed, to look after the sick and to comfort the forgotten and vulnerable. When we go to Haiti we are meeting God where God is already at work.
We are planning to wait until Friday to make a decision about whether or not it is smart for us to go ahead with our trip. We have already sent several emails and made phone calls to our friends in Haiti asking them if it’s safe for us to come (trust me, we aren’t going to put ourselves in a bad situation intentionally, and our friends there would tell us not to come if it wasn’t safe). Please pray for our team as we face the next couple of days uncertain of where we’ll be and what we’ll be doing next week, and definitely pray for Haiti as they deal with these difficult times.
In a culture where lots of bands are looking for new ways to make it big, this is one of the more creative music videos I’ve seen in a while. I’m assuming these guys aren’t already big because a) I’ve never heard of them, b) the video doesn’t look like it cost much and c) the band’s email address listed on their myspace is @hotmail.com. Anyway, here’s “Everything” by A Cursive Memory.
Here is the latest video I’ve been working on (the one I mentioned a few days ago). I was asked by one of my seminary professors to create something that she could use when she preaches in chapel next week and the only real guidelines she gave me were that she was using Luke 24:36-48 and the word that popped out at her in that passage was “witness.” So the video is basically a response to the question “what does it mean to be a witness?” (from a Christian perspective). It’s probably worth noting that the intended audience of this video is an academic/theological community (seminary professors and students) in a chapel service. I’ll write more of my thoughts on the video below, just watch it for now and then read the rest.
Witnessis really two separate videos; together they speak on behalf of a community that has witnessed a changing world filled with problems and pain, but still holds on to the hope that comes from knowing the Jesus story. I consider myself a participant in this ongoing story, and given the original audience/setting of the video, I tried to use images and thoughts that would resonate with others (many who are older than me) so that the video told “our” story.
It has come a long way since I started working on it a few days ago (the first and second versions are still on youtube), but I’m still not completely happy with it. I think it has too much text, the transitions aren’t smooth enough, it’s a bit too long and it lacks focus (plus it’s still a bit too “Christian” or “churchy” in my opinion). What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts about “Witness.” Please leave a comment.
If you haven’t seen the Irish indie film Once yet, it’s definitely worth renting this weekend (or whenever). I saw it a few weeks ago and found it to be one of those movies where you’re not ready to talk much right afterward…so you just sit in the silence of your thoughts while the credits roll and the closing music plays quietly. I don’t want to ruin the movie because I think it’s probably better if you go into it without knowing much, but in case you need a small preview to help convince you to go rent it, here’s the video for the song “Falling Slowly” by the film’s co-stars Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová (the song that just won an Oscar for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture).
What struck me most about Once is how simple it is — I heard it only cost around $150,000 to make and they filmed it in 17 days using Handycams — yet, after the first few minutes you hardly notice that the production quality is comparable to a lot of videos on youtube because the characters and their stories (especially their music) are so intensely real. Shortly after watching the filmI went on iTunes to download “Falling Slowly” and read a few comments people left about the soundtrack, including one by a user who goes by the name “nycsuarez” that I think speaks to the heart of why the film and it’s music have been resonating with so many people. It said:
There’s something that millions of dollars, the finest - most beautiful actors, the fanciest camera work and the experienced aural work of a top Hollywood composer/soundtrack supervisor can’t buy - and that’s emotion. And authenticity. And beauty. Virtually everything contained with the film “Once” and it’s accompanying soundtrack speak to all that filmmakers and Hollywood should aspire…every song both contributes to the plot of the film, to the structure of the story and the emotions felt by both characters and individuals lucky enough to experience this great cinematic achievement.
Comments like this address not only what worked well in the film – emotion, authenticity, beauty — but they also make a fairly harsh criticism of most other Hollywood films. While thinking about nycsuarez’s comment, I realized they could have just as easily come from a person who has been going to churches for years and just finally found a specific church that approaches faith, life and worship with a realness that most other churches seem to be lacking (honesty, authenticity, they don’t take themselves too seriously, but they take God and faith very seriously). Perhaps it’s a stretch to say that Once gives a new perspective for us to see the church with, but the film definitely offers a new outlook on what is “needed” to make something meaningful, significant and/or real. It didn’t take millions of dollars and Hollywood’s best actors, producers and studios to make a film that has gained a lot of recognition and acclaim. Similarly, churches don’t need expensive sound systems, the best media tools, cool lighting effects or hip worship bands in order to usher people into the presence of God in meaningful ways. Sure, I think those things are cool and sometimes they can help enhance the worship experience, but all that is really needed are people who are open to God’s call and willing to serve the world and invite others to come together to experience the transforming hope, love and forgiveness that is found in Jesus Christ. What do you say Church? Let’s stop making it more difficult than it needs to be. Let’s allow films like Once to remind us how to be the people of God, gathered together as broken pieces and bound together by love. It’s time to become the Church, Christ’s beautiful bride. And as Stevie Wonder would sing, “Isn’t she lovely?”
While wasting some time this morning watching TV (VH1 Top 20 Countdown) instead of studying (Systematic Theology), I didn’t expect to see this guy (Kid Rock) singing this song (”Amen”) — but there he was right in front of me on the screen, the former husband of Pamela Anderson singing about having “faith in human nature, our creator and our savior; I’m no saint, but I believe in what is right…c’mon now, amen.”
Click on “Read the rest of this entry” for the full lyrics to Kid Rock’s song “Amen.”
I’ve been to a lot of incredible concerts in my lifetime so far, some that I’m still proud to tell people about (like Garth Brooks, Chicago, Jay-Z, Ben Harper and Jack Johnson, just to name a few), and others that I’m now a little bit embarrassed to admit that I attended (so I won’t list any of them here). Concerts can get pretty expensive, but rarely have I let the high cost of a ticket keep me from seeing one of my favorite bands or artists put on a great show. Yet one of my biggest regrets in life so far was not going to a Coldplay concert with one of my roommates during our senior year of college (the video above for “Clocks” is from that tour). In my defense, I wasn’t a huge Coldplay fan back then (I am now), but that shouldn’t have mattered. Sure, I was a college student at the time, so driving to Minneapolis from Iowa on a weeknight (a “school night”) and paying $50 for a concert probably wouldn’t have been a great financial or academic decision, but I should have realized that a band like Coldplay was guaranteed to put on a “that was the best concert I’ve ever been to in my life” type of show. In fact, that’s exactly what my roommate said about the show when he got back from that concert, and five years later, he still says the same thing about that show. I suppose it’s possible that his memory of the show has improved with time, but during that same time period, my regrets about not going have only increased. I wish I had gone to the Coldplay concert at the Target Center in 2003…
I’m not someone who likes to live in regret, I suppose no one does; I just don’t see the point of it — especially as a person of faith who believes in the forgiving power of God’s grace — but if there’s anything we can take from our past mistakes it is wisdom that will help us not repeat them. So today I have a short list of bands and artists who I will do whatever I can to see in concert if I get the chance, regardless of ticket cost or other factors; the list includes Coldplay, U2, Michael Jackson and possibly John Mayer and Kanye West (I would definitely love to see those last two in concert, but I’m just not sure if they’ve achieved “short list” status yet).
Coldplay’s new studio album is rumored to be set for a May ‘08 release and according to a post on the band’s website earlier this fall, it’s going to be “the album people will remember them by.” Hopefully the tour for this album will include a stop in Minneapolis/St. Paul.
Who is on your short list that you wouldn’t miss seeing in concert for any reason???
