Lately

So, I have been in Oxford for May intercession, and I am truly bored. Jesus has provided some boredom relief with great fellowship lately, but now most of those people are gone. So, I have been struggling with sluggarddom and empty-house-syndrom. Besides getting really deep into God's word, I have also been stockpiling my Netflix queues with quality films. Also, I have been writing some stories, always working on getting published. (As a note, I originally started this blog to share my stories with the world, but upon further instruction from a writing mentor I took the stories off for publishing's sake.) 


I am preparing for my trip to Jordan this summer, which should be either really awesome, or extremely boring. Arabic, as always, is very difficult and headache-inducing. 

أنا ممل مع حايتي في أكسفورد ألآن. 

(Even that didn't come out right)

I recently compiled my favorite recently made Westerns. I guess I'll share that.

(In no particular order)

The Proposition (2005) Rottentomatoes: 87% Roger Ebert: 4/4 stars

Uniquely in the Australian outback, this gritty, dark epic follows an outlaw who must turn in his own brother, a worse outlaw, to save his life.

True Grit (2010) Rottentomatoes: 96% Roger Ebert: 3.5/4 stars

Coen brothers' remake of the John Wayne classic. Matt Damon was in great form here, and I believe Jeff Bridges's form of Rooster Cogburn is much superior to John Wayne's version. The movie itself has a strange and epic feel. 

No Country for Old Men (2007) Rottentomatoes: 95% Roger Ebert: 4/4

The Coen brothers yet again make a masterpiece that is based almost exactly on the book of the same name by Cormac McCarthy, my favorite writer. This fantastically violent adaptation of the novel is incredible and possibly my favorite on this list.

3:10 to Yuma (2007) Rottentomatoes: 88% Roger Ebert: 4/4

The only way I can describe this film is just as "fun". It has many traditional Western values, a cutthroat, wise villain, a honorable hero, and an impossible goal. It's acting is well done and this is another remake, but a good one.

There Will Be Blood (2007) Rottentomatoes: 91% Roger Ebert: 3.5/4

One of my favorite actors, Daniel Day Lewis, is enthralling in this oil epic. Perhaps my favorite theme of the movie is the West as a place full of superstition and the religious extremists that were jaded and crazed by the barren landscape.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) Rottentomatoes: 75% Roger Ebert: 3.5/4

2007 was a great year for modern Westerns, and this is another one. It was not as well received as the others, but this film is epic and stands firm in the slow pace of the West. The wide-open spaces give the film an epic feel as well. Superb acting by Casey Affleck.