¿Perdida? Evangeline Lilly, acerca de su timidez, su fe, y "esa sucia sucia boca".

Como fan de la serie Lost, quiero compartir con ustedes este artìculo acerca de Evangeline Lilly, quien interpreta a la heroìna principal, Kate Austen en la serie Lost.

Evangeline Lilly se hizo famosa pràcticamente de la noche a la mañana cuando fue escogida para interpretar en el papel principal a Kate Austen en el hit de televisiòn, la serie Lost en el 2004.

Conocida por sus principios morales cristianos, sus actitudes rudas y su frecuente uso de un colorido lenguaje, asì como su muy admirada figura femenina, la actriz canadiense admite que es una "paradoja caminante".

El siguiente artìcul explora el lado espiritual de Evangeline Lilly, incluyendo sus creencias acerca de Dios, la religiòn y su propòsito en la vida.


A Spiritual Biography of Evangeline Lilly.

Nicole Evangeline Lilly was born on August 3, 1979, in the small prairie town of Fort Saskatchewan in Alberta, Canada. She is the middle child of three sisters.

Her parents worked to make ends meet, but "we lived on cabbage for a week at one point." However, they weren't poor at Christmas: every year, her father would take out loans in order to splurge on gifts for the children.

Lilly's father worked as the produce manager at Safeway; her mother was a clerk at Estée Lauder and ran a daycare center out of the family home for a time. The future actress supported herself financially from the age of 15.

Lilly's upbringing was religious and grounded. Raised Baptist and Mennonite, she taught Sunday school for eight years.

As a child, Lilly was an athletic tomboy known for climbing trees (an ability which has been written into her character on Lost and led to her nickname of "Monkey"). Puberty came relatively late — at 16 — but virtually overnight. Suddenly the freckle-faced, buck-toothed tomboy had become a beautiful, curvy woman. Her male playmates looked at her differently and her former girlfriends hated her. She was miserable.

I spent many nights crying myself to sleep wishing I was ugly because of the way men leered and disrespected me, because they assumed things about my mental capacity or my physical willingness based on the way I look.

I spent many nights crying myself to sleep wishing I was ugly because of the way men leered and disrespected me, because they assumed things about my mental capacity or my physical willingness based on the way I look.

But Lilly's beauty also attracted the notice of a woman from the Ford Modeling Agency, who encouraged Lilly to contact the company. She said, "No thanks, you're wasting your time." Neverthless, she held onto her card. Lilly recently reflected, "I think there's a part of everyone that's intrigued by the thought of being recognised."

Although she enjoyed acting, Lilly had no interest in modeling or being a celebrity. Always interested in humanitarian work, Lilly studied international relations at the University of British Columbia. She worked various jobs to support herself, including waiting tables at Earls, a trendy Canadian chain. She finally quit when she could no longer endure being ogled by customers. "I felt like a whore," she says. "You feel like they're paying to stare at your ass when you're walking away from the table."

Needing steady work that could pay for tuition, Lilly called Ford eight months after being "discovered," hoping to appear in commercials. She found work immediately. Her first job was a late-night dating service commercial in which she had to say into the camera: "Where are you going tonight? I think you should pick up the phone and call me!"

The conservative young woman who had been trying so hard to avoid being treated as a sex object was devastated. "I cried when I saw it." 7 (David Letterman recently embarrased the actress by playing it when she appeared on The Late Show.)

Determined that Hollywood was not for her, Lilly nevertheless found contentment working as an extra on movies and television shows, sometimes playing a corpse. Among others, she appeared in Judgment Day, Smallville, and Stealing Sinatra. The income was steady and she could use the endless on-set waiting time to study. "I loved being anonymous and settled," she says.

In the meantime, her distaste for Hollywood only increased. "Whenever I turned up to castings I'd see all these women in trampy clothes, flirting with the male director. It was awful." But despite her interest in acting and clearly bankable appearance, Lilly resisted shooting for anything higher than work as an extra.

"I avoided the industry for so long because I resent it for so many reasons. There was no way that my ideas about life and morality were going to coincide with that industry, so there was no point in even playing with fire."
Eventually, however, "a friend" (widely believed to be her then-husband Murray Hone, an amateur hockey player she married in 2003) challenged her to aspire for more. "I think you're afraid of your own success — but you're built for it." His words hit home and she broke down and cried. 12 Lilly recently reflected, "Ever since high school I had done things so people wouldn't just respect me because of the way I looked. I decided, to hell with it. I'm going to pursue mediocrity, and I'm going to be so happy."

She went to her first speaking part auditions in January 2004 and by March 2004 she was making the pilot for Lost. Producer J.J. Abrams saw Lilly's audition tape just two weeks before shooting was set to begin on the pilot, after rejecting countless actresses for the lead role of Kate Austen. He immediately proclaimed her to be both beautiful and goofy — exactly the girl he wanted.

When asked a year later how it felt to have landed the role, Lilly replied, "I love it. I LOVE it! I love acting, being paid to be creative. I've always been really passionate about the arts. But I also constantly yo-yo between wanting to do this for a long time, wanting to achieve a certain level of respect in this industry, and then at the other end of the scale wanting to run for the hills screaming "this is terrifying and I want out." She relates the anxiety that came with essentially learning how to act while shooting the pilot of a major TV show alongside experienced actors.

But the greater difficulty with her overnight success, it seems, was balancing her moral principles with the world of Hollywood. And although Lilly refuses to talk about any aspect of her love life, British tabloids reported that around the time she left Canada for the Hawaiian set of Lost, she split up with the man she'd married the year before.

She said in an interview at the time, "I'm doing everything in my power just to continue to tick along as a normal girl. And fighting the weird, surreal insanity of what my life has become in just a single year."

But the drastic change in Lilly's life finally came crashing down at the end of Season One, when she called her parents in a full meltdown. They told her, "Screw Hollywood — you come home and we'll feed you some chicken-noodle soup." Instead, Lilly escaped to Rwanda, where she helped a friend with missionary work. "I holed up and read and wrote and prayed," she says. "I just disappeared off the face of the earth."

Today, Lilly lives in a humble bungalow in Hawaii, where she is filming Season Three of Lost. She has long been rumored to be dating her costar, Lord of the Rings star Dominic Monaghan. For the future, Lilly hopes for a film career in "meaningful roles." The self-assured actress has learned how to delicately balance her beliefs and her job, and hopes to use her fame to make a difference (see below).

The outlook of the serious-minded Evangeline Lilly was well-summed up in a 2005 Rolling Stone interview, part of which took place on a thrilling glider ride. The talkative pilot was only interupted once by Lilly: when he declared, "Youth is wasted on the young," she countered, "It's not wasted on me."

Beliefs and Practices of Evangeline Lilly
A "Walking Oxymoron"

Evangeline Lilly has not often discussed her religious beliefs in interviews — perhaps because she has not been asked. Generally, though, both Lilly herself and her colleagues refer to her as a Christian and a Lost producer reports that she carries a Bible with her at all times.

These comments are frequently coupled with observations that she has a dirty mind and potty mouth — a fact that has given her a reputation as something of a paradox:

"She's a Christian, but she's a pottymouth" (Dominic Monaghan)

"There's a lot of that Christian good girl in her, but sometimes certain things come out of her mouth. She's got the devil mixed in there too." (Jorge Garcia)

"She has an absolutely filthy, filthy mouth. She can swear like a sailor and dress provocatively, but that doesn't reflect her beliefs. She's a walking oxymoron." (Bryan Burk, a Lost executive producer)

"Over and over again, I've been called a walking oxymoron. I do things that you wouldn't associate with a good little Christian girl. People say I'm half-boy, half-girl." (Evangeline Lilly)

Using Fame for the Greater Good

Potty mouth notwithstanding, Evangeline Lilly has deep religious and moral principles that she still struggles to uphold while pursuing a career she loves. Her solution has been to regard her newfound fame as a tool that she can use to make a difference in the world.

I actually feel like I'm more capable now of doing humanitarian work because I'm financially able to make a difference. You have to sacrifice something to get something. For me, fame is that sacrifice, because I never wanted it, and I still don't. It's something I have to live with.
Lilly has said that if she didn't try to help others, she'd be no better than the Paris Hiltons of the world, waltzing around with their Louis Vuitton bags and their little dogs. Those people couldn't give a rat's ass if somebody was starving on the street next to them.

And her early impression of the entertainment industry has changed little, but she has been happy to discover some positive aspects:
Hollywood is the Sodom and Gomorrah of today. It's a world I avoid because it's destroying our culture. And yet, I've recently seen a turnaround. People like George Clooney and Michael Moore are using Hollywood as a platform to send out positive messages.

Another actor admired by Evangeline Lilly is Audrey Hepburn. Reading a biography of the actress, she thought, "Wow, that is the life I would kill to emulate."

The Anti-Starlet, Anti-Sex Symbol

In the meantime, Lilly battles against the trappings of her celebrity that she regards as immoral, particularly her image as a sex symbol. She famously refused to do a partial nude scene early in Season One of Lost — a gutsty move for a new actress. She was less successful with an early magazine photo shoot, which made her weep when she saw it. "It was too sexy for me," she says. "It crossed my line."

In interviews, Lilly continually emphasizes her tomboy characteristics and her anti-starlet behavior. She says she tries make her image in photo shoots "portray strength or intelligence. I try not to be the sweet girl with perky boobs and make-up, because I'm not." 32 She insists, "I really don't want to be mysterious. Women in this business are expected to put forth a poised and perfect persona. I want people to see that I'm an ordinary-Joe girl. I blow my nose after work, I drool in my sleep and my shit stinks."

And she loves to tell the story of peeing in a garbage can on a $20 dare from Lost costar Jorge Garcia as well as in the jungle seconds before filming, just 15 feet from her shocked costar Matthew Fox.

Lilly also takes pride in living simply and privately, and remaining the same person she was before her big break. Lilly shares a modest whitewash bungalow with two stand-ins for her on Lost. She proudly pointed out to an interviewer (who she called with specific driving directions and advice to bring a sweater) the well-worn '70s-era brown leather furniture she picked up at a Salvation Army when she arrived on the island two years ago, boasting that she furnished her entire living room for $350.

Las 10 pelìculas màs històricamente inexactas.

Las 10 pelìculas màs històricamente inexactas.

10,000 B.C.
Director Roland Emmerich is usually a stickler for realism (see: sending a computer virus via Macintosh to aliens in Independence Day). So we hate to inform him that woolly mammoths were not, in fact, used to build pyramids. Heck, woolly mammoths weren't even found in the desert. They wouldn't need to be woolly if that were the case. And there weren't any pyramids in Egypt until 2,500 B.C or so.



Gladiator
Emperor Commodus was not the sniveling sister-obsessed creep portrayed in the movie. A violent alcoholic, sure, but not so whiny. He ruled ably for over a decade rather than ineptly for a couple months. He also didn't kill his father, Marcus Aurelius, who actually died of chickenpox. And instead of being killed in the gladiatorial arena, he was murdered in his bathtub.



300
Though this paean to ancient moral codes and modern physical training is based on the real Battle of Thermopylae, the film takes many stylistic liberties. The most obvious one being Persian king Xerxes was not an 8-foot-tall Cirque du Soleil reject. The Spartan council was made up of men over the age of 60, with no one as young as Theron (played by 37-year-old Dominic West). And the warriors of Sparta went into battle wearing bronze armor, not just leather Speedos.



The Last Samurai
The Japanese in the late 19th century did hire foreign advisers to modernize their army, but they were mostly French, not American. Ken Watanabe's character was based on the real Saigo Takamori who committed ritual suicide, or "seppuku," in defeat rather than in a volley of Gatling gun fire. Also, it's doubtful that a 40-something alcoholic Civil War vet, even one with great hair, would master the chopsticks much less the samurai sword.



Apocalypto
This one movie has given entire Anthropology departments migraines. Sure the Maya did have the odd human sacrifice but not to Kulkulkan, the Sun God, and only high-ranking captives taken in battle were killed. The conquistadors arriving at the end of the film made for unlikely saviors: an estimated 90% of indigenous American population was killed by smallpox from their infected livestock.



Memoirs of a Geisha
The geisha coming-of-age, called "mizuage," was really more of a makeover, where she changed her hairstyle and clothes. It didn't involve her getting... intimate with a client. In the climactic scene where Sayuri wows Gion patrons with her dancing prowess, her routine - which involves some platform shoes, fake snow, and a strobe light - seems more like a Studio 54 drag show than anything in pre-war Kyoto.



Braveheart
Let's forget the fact that kilts weren't worn in Scotland until about 300 years after William Wallace's day and just do some simple math. According to the movie, Wallace's blue-eyed charm at the Battle of Falkirk was so overpowering, he seduced King Edward II's wife, Isabella of France, and the result of their affair was Edward III. But according to the history books, Isabella was three years old at the time of Falkirk, and Edward III was born seven years after Wallace died.



Elizabeth: The Golden Age
In 1585, when the movie takes place, Queen Elizabeth was 52 years old - Cate Blanchett was 36 when she shot the film - and was not being courted by suitors like Ivan the Terrible (who was dead by then). And though the movie has her rallying the troops at Tilbury astride a white steed in full armor with a sword, in fact she rode side saddle, carrying a baton. She was more of a regal majorette than Joan of Arc.



The Patriot
Revolutionary War figure Francis "The Swamp Fox" Marion was the basis for Mel Gibson's character, but he wasn't the forward-thinking family man they show in the flick. He was a slave owner who didn't get married (to his cousin) until after the war was over. Historians also say that he actively persecuted and murdered native Cherokees. Plus, the thrilling Battle of Guilford Court House where he vanquishes his British nemesis? In reality, the Americans lost that one.



2001: A Space Odyssey
According to this film, in year 2001 we would have had manned voyages to Jupiter, a battle of wits with a sentient computer, and a quantum leap in human evolution. Instead we got the Mir Space Station falling from the sky, Windows XP, and Freddy Got Fingered. Apparently the lesson here is that sometimes it's better when the movies get the facts all wrong.





Fuente: Yahoo Movies.

Sweeney Todd y las consecuencias de la venganza.

Tim Burton es uno de mis directores favoritos, en verdad, soy fan desde que saliò Beetlejuice. Nombren cualquier pelìcula de Burton, los Batman's, los Jack Skellington's, los Marcianos o los grandes peces.

Y sin embargo, sucede algo especial cuando une su talento al de Johnny Deep. Simplemente la magia sale. Ed Wood, Corpse Bride, Sleepy Hollow, Edward Scissorhands (mi favorita), o la reciente Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

¿Sabìan que en realidad hubo un "Sweeney Todd? Al menos es lo que asegura la pàgina crimelibrary.com y pueden encontrar la investigaciòn en el siguiente link: http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/weird/todd/index_1.html

De lo que yo les quiero platicar es de la pelìcula. ¿Cuàles son las consecuencias de la venganza? Por màs justificada que sea la razòn... ¿en verdad vale la pena? Sè que esto es fàcil decirlo desde mi lugar y sin haber experimentado lo que le pasò al señor Todd en la pelìcula de Burton. Un personaje otrora felìz, en un mundo asoleado, con esposa e hija, convertido en el sanguinario y vengativo barbero de la calle Fleet.

Si ya vieron la pelìcula, dìganme: ¿Què hubiera pasado si Todd hubiera controlado su deseo de venganza? No lo habrìa perdido todo... ademàs por su propia mano. Podrìa haber estado con su hija, podrìa haber, quizàs, reestablecido la cordura a su esposa. Quizàs hasta hubiera sido felìz y su Londres no tendrìa que ser como el de los demàs, podrìa haber sido de tardes asoleadas nuevamente y no de grises tonos.

Sin embargo prestò oidos a alguien que sabìa la verdad, y la disfrazò con mentiras.
A alguien que le dijo lo que querìa escuchar, y no lo que debìa escuchar.
Alguien con una cara hermosa y un corazòn màs oscuro que las chimeneas de su cocina.

La lecciòn de Sweeney Todd.

Axl Rose... Maestro de Escuela Dominical.

Recuerdo que uno de mis grupos favoritos era Guns N Roses... Slash tocando esa preciosa guitarra en Sweet Child O' Mine, o la baterìa de Matt Sorum en You Could Be Mine, o el silbido de Axl Rose en Patience. La cumbre de esa etapa fue la "pesadillesca" trilogìa de los videos Don't Cry, November Rain y Estranged.

Lo admito, me gustan esas canciones, me gusta Guns N Roses, aùn su nueva encarnaciòn, porque Axl Rose es Guns N Roses, aunque hayan pasado màs de 15 años de esos tiempos.

Recuerdo sus presentaciones en vivo, en Japòn (yo tenìa esos VHS)y su magnìfica versiòn de Knocking On Heaven`s Door en vivo en Wembley.

Como cristiano, ¿què puedo decir del siguiente texto?. Tomado de la biografìa de Axl Rose en wikipedia:

"Rose was born as William Bruce Rose Jr. in Lafayette, Indiana, to parents Sharon E. and William Rose. The family were of Scots-Irish and German descent. His father left the family when Rose was two years old. As an adult, after recovering repressed memories in therapy, Rose publicly stated that he was sexually abused by his biological father.

Rose's mother remarried when he was a small child. She changed his name to William Bailey, using the last name of her new husband, L. Stephen Bailey. He has two younger half-siblings, a sister named Amy and a brother named Stuart. Rose has stated that he, as well as his siblings, were physically abused by Bailey. Growing up, Rose believed that Bailey was his biological father.

Because of his turbulent upbringing and his mother's reluctance to leave the abusive Bailey, Rose is said to have issues with women. He claimed in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in April 1992, that during his childhood, he was made to believe that women and sexuality were evil and that due to the violent treatment of his mother by his stepfather he witnessed as an impressionable child, he had been led to think that domestic violence was the normal way of doing things.

The Bailey household was deeply religious, and Rose grew up attending a Pentecostal church, where he was required to attend services three to eight times per week. He sang in church from the age of five, and also performed at services with his brother and sister in the "Bailey Trio". Rose was so involved with the church that he even taught Sunday School. Later, he spoke of his disillusion with his religious upbringing:

My particular church was filled with self-righteous hypocrites who were child abusers and child molesters. These were people who'd been damaged in their own childhoods and in their lives. These were people who were finding God but still living with their damage and inflicting it upon their children. I had to go to church anywhere from three to eight times a week. l even taught Bible school while l was being beaten and my sister was being molested.

—Axl Rose
Church did provide an outlet for Rose's musical interests. In addition to singing in church, he also participated in his high school chorus and studied piano."

¿Què puedo decir? Con razòn nadie nos cree. Con razòn hay mucha gente que piensa que somos unos hipòcritas. ¿Què habrà en el corazòn de Axl Rose? Solo Dios sabe.

Esto es triste.

Rambo... El Hijo Pròdigo.

La historia del hijo pròdigo se puede contar de muchas maneras, siendo la de Rambo la màs violenta de todas ellas.

El recluido soldado veterano de Vietnam tiene una pacìfica vida hasta que es confrontado por un grupo de misioneros cristianos para llevar medicamentos, Biblias y compartir al oprimido pueblo de Burma, en Birmania. "Vive por nada, o muere por algo. Tù decides".

Una joven misionera, de nombre Sarah, le pregunta si hay alguien quien lo espere en casa... y es curioso que no diga, mi madre o mi esposa o alguna hija... dice directamente, "mi papà, quizàs". Es de notar que no estaba pensando en que alguien que dependiera de èl lo estuviera esperando, sino alguien de quièn depender, alguien a quien en algùn sentido le debiera algo, una figura mayor, no un igual, no alguien menor, una figura màs grande que uno, para Rambo, su papà.

Esta pelìcula es la que màs se acerca al espìritu de la primera entrega, y Stallone demuestra su capacidad para dirigir secuencias difìciles de digerir, donde vemos que la guerra no se detiene ante nada, ni hombres, ni mujeres, ni siquiera niños.

En algùn momento en nuestras vidas buscamos cerrar ciclos, y Stallone lo ha hecho con Rambo y Rocky, para quienes ya llegò el tiempo de descansar.

Al final todos somos simplemente niños que queremos estar con papà. Al final todos somos hijos pròdigos.

De Lestat a Jesùs...

¿Recuerdan esa maravillosa pelìcula llamada "Entrevista con el Vampiro"? Todo ese ambiente gòtico y lleno de romanticismo... ¿Quièn no querìa ser vampiro al salir del cine? Tengo que confesar que yo sì.

¿Y recuerdan a Anne Rice? Autora no solamente de ese libro, sino de toda la crònica vampìrica que incluìa tìtulos como la Reina de los Condenados y El Vampiro Lestat entre muchos otros.

Pues la semana pasada, Anne escribiò este pequeño comentario con respecto a las festividades de Semana Santa. El texto viene en inglès, sin embargo voy a traducir el primer pàrrafo, por si les interesa seguir con el resto.

Anne Rice
Mi Confianza en Mi Señor.

Miren: Yo creo en El. Es asì de simple y asì de complejo. Yo creo qne Jesucristo, la Segunda Persona de la Bendita Trinidad, el Dios Hombre que vino a la Tierra, nacido como un pequeño bebè y entonces vivò màs de treinta años en medio de nosotros. Yo creo en lo que celebramos esta semana: el escàndalo de la cruz y el milagro de la Resurrecciòn. Mi creencia es total. Y yo sè que no puedo convencer a nadie de esto a travès de la razòn màs de lo que un ateo puede convencerme a travès de la razòn de que no hay Dios.

Aquì dejo el texto completo en inglès, tomado de la secciòn On Faith de la pàgina de Newsweek, Washington Post:

Anne Rice
My Trust in My Lord

Look: I believe in Him. It’s that simple and that complex. I believe in Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the God Man who came to earth, born as a tiny baby and then lived over thirty years in our midst. I believe in what we celebrate this week: the scandal of the cross and the miracle of the Resurrection. My belief is total. And I know that I cannot convince anyone of it by reason, anymore than an atheist can convince me, by reason, that there is no God.

A long life of historical study and biblical research led me to my belief, and when faith returned to me, the return was total. It transformed my existence completely; it changed the direction of the journey I was traveling through the world. Within a few years of my return to Christ, I dedicated my work to Him, vowing to write for Him and Him alone. My study of Scripture deepened; my study of New Testament scholarship became a daily commitment. My prayers and my meditation were centered on Christ.

And my writing for Him became a vocation that eclipsed my profession as a writer that had existed before.

Why did faith come back to me? I don’t claim to know the answer. But what I want to talk about right now is trust. Faith for me was intimately involved with love for God and trust in Him, and that trust in Him was as transformative as the love.

Right now as I write this, our nation seems to be in some sort of religious delirium. Anti-God books dominate the bestseller lists; people claim to deconstruct the Son of Man with facile historical treatments of what we know and don’t know about Jesus Christ who lived in First Century Judea. Candidates for public office have to declare their faith on television. Christians quarrel with one another publicly about the message of Christ.

Before my consecration to Christ, I became familiar with a whole range of arguments against the Savior to whom I committed my life. In the end I didn’t find the skeptics particularly convincing, while at the same time the power of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John swept me off my feet.

And above all, when I began to talk to Jesus Christ again it was with trust.

On the afternoon in 1998 when faith returned, I experienced a sense of the limitless power and majesty of God that left me convinced that He knew all the answers to the theological and sociological questions that had tormented me for years. I saw, in one enduring moment, that the God who could make the Double Helix and the snow flake, the God who could make the Black holes in space, and the lilies of the field, could do absolutely anything and must know everything --- even why good people suffer, why genocide and war plague our planet, and why Christians have lost, in America and in other lands, so much credibility as people who know how to love. I felt a trust in this all-knowing God; I felt a sudden release of all my doubts. Indeed, my questions became petty in the face of the greatness I beheld. I felt a deep and irreversible assurance that God knew and understood every single moment of every life that had ever been lived, or would be lived on Earth. I saw the universe as an immense and intricate tapestry, and I perceived that the Maker of the tapestry saw interwoven in that tapestry all our experiences in a way that we could not hope, on this Earth, to understand.

This was not a joyful moment for me. It wasn’t an easy moment. It was an admission that I loved and believed in God, and that my old atheism was a façade. I knew it was going to be difficult to return to the Maker, to give over my life to Him, and become a member of a huge quarreling religion that had broken into many denominations and factions and cults worldwide. But I knew that the Lord was going to help me with this return to Him. I trusted that He would help me. And that trust is what under girds my faith to this day.

Within days of my return to Christ, I also became aware of something very important: that the first temptation we face as returning Christians is to criticize another Christian and his or her way of approaching Jesus Christ. I perceived that I had to resist that temptation, that I had to seek in my faith and in my love for God a complete certainty that He knew all about these factions and disputes, and that He knew who was right or who was wrong, and He would handle how and when He approached every single soul.

Why do I talk so much about this trust now? Because I think perhaps that with many Christians it is lacking, and in saying this I’m yielding to the temptation I just described. But let me speak my peace not critically so much as with an exhortation. Trust in Him. If you believe in Him, then trust Him. Trust what He says in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and trust what He says about having conquered evil; trust that He has won.

Don’t ever succumb to the fear that evil is winning in this world, no matter how bad things may appear. Don’t ever succumb to the fear that He does not witness our struggles, that He is not with every single soul.

The Sermon on the Mount is the portion of the New Testament to which I return again and again. I return to the simple command: “Love your enemies.” And each day brings me closer to understanding that in this message lies the blueprint for bringing the Kingdom of God to Earth. The Sermon on the Mount is the full blueprint. And it is not impossible to love our enemies and our neighbors, but it may be the hardest thing we have ever been asked to do.

But we can’t doubt the possibility of it. We must return to Jesus Christ again and again, after our failures, and seek in Him --- in His awesome majesty and power -- the creative solutions to the problems we face. We must retain our commitment to Him, and our belief in a world in which, conceivably, human beings could lay down their arms, and stretch out their arms to one another, clasping hands, and bring about a total worldwide peace.

If this is not inconceivable, then it is possible. And perhaps we are, in our own broken and often blind fashion, moving towards such a moment. If we can conceive of it and dedicate ourselves to it, then this peace on earth, this peace in Christ, can come.

As we experience Easter week, we celebrate the crucifixion that changed the world. We celebrate the Resurrection that sent Christ’s apostles throughout the Roman Empire to declare the Good News. We celebrate one of the greatest love stories the world has ever known: that of a God who would come down here to live and breathe with us in a human body, who would experience human death for us, and then rise to remind us that He was, and is, both Human and Divine. We celebrate the greatest inversion the world has ever recorded: that of the Maker dying on a Roman cross.

Let us celebrate as well that throughout this troubled world in which we live, billions believe in this 2,000-year-old love story and in this great inversion -- and billions seek to trust the Maker to bring us to one another in love as He brings us to Himself.

Anne RIce is the best-selling author of 27 books, including "The Vampire Chronicles" and "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt." Read an excerpt of her latest book, "Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana."

Posted by Anne Rice on March 21, 2008 2:50 PM

Walk The Line...

"Love is a burning thing"

Recientemente vì esta magnìfica pelìcula y el trabajo que hacen tanto Phoenix como Whiterspoon es sobresaliente.

Basada en la autobiografìa de Johnny Cash y dirigida por James Mangold, "Walk The Line" nos presenta a Cash desde niño, pasando por la lamentable muerte de su hermano (algo que lo marcarìa para toda la vida) hasta el momento en que le propone matrimonio a June Carter.

Johnny Cash es como un Elvis oscuro y solitario, que nunca se sintiò del todo parte de este mundo (al igual que Elvis), que sufriò rechazo de parte de su padre y que a lo largo de la pelìcula vemos que el peso de las palabras en un niño pueden marcarlo para toda la vida.

Vemos que el hombre es un ser fràgil, necesitado de amor, de ser amado y de sentirse libre de expresar lo que siente. Nadie es en realidad tan fuerte como para decir "no importa" o "no era necesario", cuando alguien dice estas palabras, en realidad quiere decir lo contrario.

Cuando sientas la necesidad de decirlo, dilo: "Te amo", "Te extraño", Te necesito", "Te perdono", "No te vayas", porque no sabes si tendràs otra oportunidad.

Johnny Cash y June Carter son un ejemplo de esas parejas que estaban destinadas a estar juntos.

June falleciò el 15 de Mayo de 2003, y Johnny la siguiò casi 4 meses despuès, el 12 de Septiembre de 2003. Estaban destinados a estar juntos.

Ashes and Snow...

Aprovechando el puente de Semana Santa pude ir a ver està exposiciòn antes de que la retiren y tengo que decirles que es maravillosa. Al principio al ver solamente las fotografìas pensè que era un trabajo de fotomontaje o algùn tipo de manipulaciòn digital, pero cuando pude apreciar los videos de verdad quedè admirado... un gran trabajo del canadiense Gregory Colbert.

La intensidad que el artista logra transmitir a travès no solamente de las imàgenes, sino tambièn de la mùsica y la narraciòn que acompaña la exposiciòn llega a una parte que no sè si sea el corazòn o la razòn... quizàs un punto intermedio, y nos damos cuenta de que no somos tan diferentes a los animales (en el mejor de los sentidos), y donde las arrugas de los elefantes son tan semejantes a las de nuestros ancianos.

Por otro lado, aunque la afluencia de la gente era mucha (en realidad demasiada), me diò gusto ver a tanta gente tan diversa reunida por un motivo como este. No era futbol ni un mitin polìtico... Era una exposiciòn fotogràfica de un artista canadiense y la gente hacìa una fila de màs de 2 horas por entrar a ver la exposiciòn. Eso es bueno.

Altamente recomendable, estarà todavìa el mes de Abril y despuès, la exposiciòn seguirà con su nòmada andar.

Jesus Eyes... Jesus Rocks... Jesus Loves...

Aprovechando este puente de Semana Santa, les recomiendo algunas pelìculas màs sobre la vida de Jesùs. La primera es una miniserie llamada "Jesùs de Nazareth" (1977), dirigida por Franco Zeffirelli (el mismo de Romeo and Juliet, no la incomprendida versiòn de Romeo + Juliet de Baz Lurhmann), con una duraciòn de poco màs de 6 horas, no creo que haya mucha gente que no la haya visto, al menos por segmentos. Un impresionante Robert Powell interpretando al Jesùs de màs dulce mirada que haya visto en la pantalla. Excelente e inspiradora producciòn. Llamada por el TV Guide estadounidense "La Mejor Miniserie de Todos los Tiempos".


La siguiente pelìcula es una opera rock llamada "Jesus Christ Superstar" (1973), dirigida por Norman Jewison, acerca de un ensamble teatral que se dirige al desierto de Israel a montar la obra del mismo nombre, a partir del momento en que bajan del camiòn donde viajan comienza la puesta en escena. Con una instrumentaciòn musical impresionante, aùn para los estàndares actuales, la pelìcula es un deleite para todos los que aprecian el gènero.


Y por ùltimo, la controversial "La Ùltima Tentaciòn de Cristo" (1988), donde, a pesar de que el pùblico en general no entendiò el mensaje, la idea principal era presentar a Jesùs como una persona que en el momento en que està màs vulnerable, colgado de la cruz, es cuando tiene un mayor miedo y un deseo de haber escogido otro camino, un camino donde sus deseos se hubieran hecho realidad, donde pude haber sido un simple carpintero, con esposa e hijos, y no el redentor de la humanidad.
El director, Martin Scorcese nos muestra los deseos de la parte humana de Jesùs siendo sometidos por su parte divina, la de Hijo de Dios. Excelente pelìcula.


Estas pelìculas, junto con la de "The Passion of the Christ" de Mel Gibson, no pueden faltar en tu casa.

La Pasiòn de Cristo...

Se puede tratar de la pelìcula desde muchos puntos de vista, desde el màs escandaloso hasta el màs ingenuo, pero ninguna le harìa justicia al valor de la misma, asì como a su mensaje.

Gibson, como creyente, hizo algo para lo que se necesitaba màs que valor, se necesitaba fe. Tuvo fe en su trabajo, sì, tuvo fe en su equipo de producciòn y tuvo fe en los 30 millones de dòlares de su bolsillo que invirtiò. Pero tuvo màs fe en sus convicciones, que en otra cosa. Sabìa que su cuello iba a estar expuesto y que iba a sufrir las consecuencias, y asì sucediò.

A cuatro años, ya todos sabemos lo que sucediò, y ni siquiera el morbo generado por la pelìcula màs sangrienta acerca de Jesùs pudo empañar su enorme èxito, tanto material como inmaterial.

Es un buen tiempo para visitar nuevamente el jardìn del Gethsemane y llorar por el miedo de saber lo que nos espera, es tiempo desufrir los 40 latigazos menos uno y dejar que nos desgarren la piel, y que nos arranquen la barba y nos escupan. Es hora de que se burlen de nosotros y jueguen suerte con nuestras ropas. Es hora de que nos separen de nuestra madre mientras ella ve còmo nos estàn matando. Es hora de colgar desnudo de un madero a la vista de todos. Es hora de morir.

Afortunadamente alguien ya lo hizo por nosotros.

Batman Confidential N 14.

Batman Confidential N 14

Por Bedard y Morales.

Un tìtulo muy entretenido que por mucho se està comiendo a Superman Confidential (lo contrario a lo que sucede en la lìnea All Star).

Cada uno de los personajes estàn completamente en caràcter y actùan como se espera que lo hicieran en las situaciones en las que los vemos. Dick Grayson tratando de vivir fuera de la sombra de Batman, y cometiendo errores, y un Batman que casi pierde el control cuando The Wrath, le menciona una fecha que puede traer complicaciones en la relaciòn que tiene con Gordon.

El arte de Rags Morales se mantiene a la par del nùmero anterior, y sus rostros transmiten las emociones perfectamente.

Buen nùmero.

5 = Clàsico
4 = Excelente
3 = Bueno
2 = Regular
1 = Malo
0 = Evìtalo

Rocky Balboa.

Esta es quizàs la pelìcula màs relajada, con la que màs se siente a gusto Sylvester Stallone, todavìa no veo John Rambo, pero espero hacerlo este puente. Stallone escribiò y dirigiò este filme que relata la ùltima pelea de Balboa, una pelea que no era necesaria, ya que no tenìa que demostrar nada a nadie... pero que necesitaba para sacar a esa bestia que llevaba por dentro, y que hacìa que le faltara el aire, una bestia que naciò el mismo dìa que muriò Adrian, su esposa... una bestia llamada "Dolor".

La razòn de este dolor era el vivir en el pasado, el aferrarse al pasado y no dejarlo ir, aunque te estè haciendo daño. Rocky estaba en esa situaciòn, a pesar de tener un exitoso restaurante y ser admirado por mucha gente, no se permitìa ser completamente feliz, hasta el momento en que reconociò que tenìa a esa bestia dentro y que tenìa que hacer algo.

No voy a contar la pelìcula, pero si no la han visto o creen que el gènero (box) no es para ustedes, les pido que se den una oportunidad. Creo que es una manera muy digna de cerrar la carrera de un personaje que sin duda es muy querido por los cinèfilos.

Stallone hace un trabajo decente con la direcciòn, sin pretensiones pero entregando a su hijo, Rocky, con un guiòn que sencillamente es la historia de cualquiera de nosotros.

¿Cuàl es la causa de nuestro dolor? ¿La falta de perdòn? ¿Lo que hice o dejè de hacer en el pasado? ¿Lo que le dije o no le dije a alguien que ya no està conmigo? Dejemos ir el dolor y seamos felices, seamos campeones, seamos como Rocky.

En una discusiòn, Rocky le dice a su hijo lo siguiente:
"El mundo no es todo rayitos de sol y arcoiris. Es un lugar malo y rudo que te golpearà hasta que estès de rodillas y y te mantendrà asì hasta que tù lo permitas. Ni tù, ni yo ni nadie te va a golpear tan fuerte como lo hace la vida. Pero no se trata de que tan fuerte pegues tù, sino de que tan fuerte puedas ser golpeado y tù sigas adelante, cuànto puedes soportar y sigas adelante. ¡Asì es como se gana!

Deas Vail - Rewind...

Deas Vail es una banda de rock independiente (indie). Un grupo de universitarios que se reunieron para hacer mùsica... buena mùsica. Les sugerirìa que compraran su disco, pero el inconveniente es que la distribuciòn y venta en cuanto a rock cristiano en inglès en Mèxico apesta... en serio, es terrible. Yo he tenido la disposiciòn de tomar mi dinero e ir a una tienda especializada en este tipo de mùsica, y todas las veces que lo he hecho, salgo decepcionado. Por eso, he decidido buscar el material en internet, y lo descargo de ahì.

Como sinceramente no creo que lo vayan a encontrar en ningùn lado, y en verdad pienso que esta banda es de tan gran calidad que no se la deben perder, pongo aquì un enlace con el material que hay disponible de esta banda. Creànme, vale la pena.

This Place is Painted Red
http://rapidshare.com/files/32416964/The_Place_is_Painted_Red.zip.


All the Houses Look the Same
http://rapidshare.com/files/21252673/Deas_Vail.zip.


Collapse
http://rapidshare.com/files/89951376/Deas_Vail.rar.




Deas Vail - Rewind

I promise you we’ll be fine now… just wait until the morning light.
Ghosts will come in these night hours,
but they’re forgotten when the sun comes up.
I’ve watched my life through windows.
This is how it feels to break up sound waves and fall into a quiet place.
This is how it feels to stay the same and leave your side.
This behaves like a bad dream, where we go walking in the dark,
and heavenly are these bright lights.
They’re keeping me awake,
and I can’t close my eyes as daylight turns to night.

Delirious? - Inside Outside

Imaginen un amor asì... ¿Es posible imaginarlo? Un amor que no sabes hasta donde tiene fin, o si lo tiene. Un amor que te cubre como el agua cuando estàs sumergido en el mar. Un amor que te cautive, te sature y te libere. Un amor imposible hecho posible.

Delirious? - Inside Outside.



Inside outside, under my skin
Never ending love I don’t know where it begins?
I don’t know where it ends, I don’t know how high
I don’t know how deep, I don’t know how wide
Outside inside around the world
Never ending love envelops me like a cloud
I feel you in front, I feel you behind
I feel you up above, And I feel you at the side

And you, you’re all over me, you’re all over me
Your banner is over me, I give it all ‘cos

You still captivate me, fascinate me
You still captivate me, saturate me

Inside outside, pulling me in
No matter where I run I know you’ll never give in
I see you in the storm, I see you in a kiss
I’ve been around the world and never found a love like this

You’re all over me, you’re all over me
You’re everything I want to be
I’m all over you, you’re everything I want to see
You’re all over me

You, still captivate me, fascinate me
You still captivate me, saturate me
You still captivate me, liberate me
You still captivate me.

Descàrguenlo... es una joya.

http://rapidshare.com/files/97905603/Delirious_-_2003_-_World_Service__192k_.rar.html.

Letras de los videos actualizadas...

Efectivamente, creo que le hacìa falta la letra a los videos que he puesto y asì lo harè de aquì en adelante. Pueden checar las entradas màs antiguas para los videos.

Los "Oscares" Cristianos...

Voy a ser sincero... no sabìa que existìan estas premiaciones. Y mucho menos me hubiera imaginado que premiarìan a pelìculas del medio secular. Tengo que admitir que estoy gratamente asombrado por la selecciòn de las pelìculas premiadas. Lamentablemente el artìculo no da muchos detalles, me hubiera gustado saber quienes fueron (si es que fueron) a recibir los premios.

Creo que de todas las mencionadas, la que me da màs gusto que haya sido ganadora, es indiscutiblemente Ratatouille. Quizàs esto no les importa a ninguno de ustedes, pero llegò en un momento muy importante de mi vida. Y aunque se parezca raro, le trajo paz a mi corazòn un par de lìneas que dice el personaje de Linguini... màs paz que quizàs la que hubiera recibido en alguna predicaciòn.

Pero esto no se trata de Ratatouille, si no de las ganadoras. Aquì el texto:

Gala de los Oscar Cristianos

Se celebró la gala anual de los “Premios Fe y Valores” (Oscars cristianos) el pasado 12 de febrero, en la cual se premiaron a las películas que durante el año 2007 fomentaron el conocimiento de Dios y su amor a través de su mensaje. Entre las mismas se destacan “Ratatouille,” “Bella” y “Amazing Grace”.
La celebración se realizó en el Hotel Beverly Hills en California. Los ganadores fueron seleccionados por una comisión especializada con el fin de reconocer a aquellas películas que se hayan destacado a la luz de los principios bíblicos y que fomenten valores positivos en favor de la familia. Estos premios se vienen otorgando desde el año 1992 y popularmente se les han reconocido como los “Oscar Cristianos”.

La gala fue presidida por Ted Baehr, fundador de la guía y del portal internauta “Movieguide”. Movieguide se dedica a clasificar las películas que se proyectan en las salas de cine y orientar a la audiencia bajo una perspectiva cristiana.

Uno de los momentos más resaltantes en esta ceremonia fue el anuncio del premio de la fundación John Templeton que otorga 50 mil dólares a la película y al programa de televisión que se detaque en dar honor a Dios.

“Amazing Grace,” fue la ganadora en la categoría película. Este film se basa en la historia de William Wilberforce que se dedicó a luchar y promover la abolición de la esclavitud en el Imperio Británico. Esta película histórica producida por Samuel Goldwyn Films venció a “Bella,” “I Am Legend” y “Spiderman 3″.

“Amazing Grace” también se destaca en la lista de las 10 mejores películas para la audiencia adulta. Cabe destacar que dichos premios eran de esperarse debido al impacto que han tenido en el pueblo cristiano el “rememorar” la obra Wilberforce audaz cristiano que inspira el rol que debemos tener en nuestra cultura y nuestra sociedad.

En la categoría programa de televisión para el premio de la fundación Templeton el ganador fue “El Valle de la Luz” (Valley of Light). Producido por Hallmark su trama se basa en la vida veterano Noe Locke en los tiempos de la Segunda Guerra Mundial.

El actor mexicano Eduardo Verastegui fue honrado con el premio “Mejor Actor” por su participación el la película “Bella”. En la misma Verastegui caracteriza a un exitoso jugador de football quien termina su carrera abruptamente por una tragedia y quien posteriormente siente un frescor en su vida al ayudar a una camarera que ha quedado embarazada.

El film “Bella” ganó el premio “Fe y Libertad” por su mensaje en favor de la vida.

Por su lado Walt Disney también fue galardonado con su película de dibujos animados “Ratatouille” que encabeza la lista de las 10 mejores películas para la familia.

Las mejores películas de 2007 para la Familia
1. “Ratatouille”
2. “Enchanted” (Encantada)
3. “Alvin and the Chipmunks” (Alvin y Las Ardillas)
4. “Bella”
5. “The Game Plan” (Entrenando a Papá)
6. “In the Shadow of the Moon”
7. “Shrek III”
8. “The Ultimate Gift”
9. “Nancy Drew”
10. “Bridge to Terabithia” (Un puente hacia Terabithia)

Las mejores películas de 2007 para la Audiencia Adulta
1. “Amazing Grace”
2. “August Rush” (El Triunfo De Un Sueño)
3. “Spiderman 3″
4. “I Am Legend” (Soy Leyenda)
5. “Strike”
6. “The Great Debaters”
7. “The Astronaut Farmer”
8. “Pride” (Orgullo y prejuicio)
9. “Transformers”
10. “Live Free or Die Hard” (La Jungla)

Mad Eye Moody...

Aquì dejo otro "Antes y Despuès"... ahora de Mad Eye Moody, con colores de X-Treme.

Aquì mi dibujo original...


Y aquì el trabajo de X-Treme.