Weekly Links!

~ LINKS TO SOME INTERESTING READING, FOR WHAT'S LEFT OF YOUR WEEKEND ~


-I have loved Linda Holmes' thoughts on reality TV since the days she was covering Survivor for the now-defunct site Television Without Pity. Here she is, talking about the ethics of a recent episode of Top Chef for NPR.



-A review of "Nailed It" from Aimee Byrd over at The Housewife Theologian. A snippet:

This is a devotional for those who don't fit into the happy-little-Christian box. And it's also for those who think it's okay to have a little humor in their reading reflections. Kennedy doesn't pick all the easy verses either. She pulls devotion to God out of what may have seemed random acts in history. Our days are kind of like that, aren't they? Circumstances often seem arbitrary and we sometimes question if it really matters how we get through them. That is what I especially appreciated about the book---Anne weaves all the tapestry together and helps the reader see the significance of God's holiness, mercy, and love in Christ working in our own lives now.

-And while I'm on the topic of my favorite devotional, here's a lovely podcast: "Persuasion: How Sarcasm is Good for the Soul." 



-And speaking of good podcasts, I liked this one: "Mere Fidelity: Humble Roots, with Hannah Anderson."



-And here's another good thing by Hannah Anderson, this time an essay: "You Can't Do It All: Rex Tillerson and the Limits of Vocation."



-"Minimalism Gets It Wrong."



-Also, "The Minimalism Trap."



-And, on our current season of the church year, here's "How To Throw an Epiphany Party In Four Easy Steps." 



-"How 'Sherlock of the Library' Cracked the Case of Shakespeare's Identity"



-These short filmed scenes of King Lear are amazing.



-And, finally, sailing the solar system with solar sailing ships.



I hope you have a lovely Sunday, full of worship and rest!

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Links! - Tiaras, Screen Rules, Reality TV, and Jane Austen's prayer

A Tiara a Day - fun fashion (tiara fashion!) blog with cool historical details about each piece.

"Screen Rules" - my kids aren't quite old enough to need social media rules, but they're old enough I'm beginning to ponder the subject. This post by Elizabeth Foss seems like a great jumping-off point for making our own house rules for screen time.

"What It's Like To Be on Reality TV":

Their day usually begins around 5 or 6am, when they chug down a yogurt smoothie from the hotel fridge and stumble down to the lobby to get on board a chilly van to head to the set for a day that alternates between excruciating boredom (ie, waiting 4 hours in a holding area in forced silence before filming begins) and intense stress (cooking challenges, then more waiting for hours, regretting mistakes and choices from the challenge). Then an elimination. Which, despite what you might think from the editing, is very depressing and deeply unsettling for EVERYONE. But it’s not over. More waiting, and then 2 hours worth of interviewing about everything that happened that day. And it’s not a “Tell me how you feel” interview. It’s an invasive interview with questions drafted by a psychologist who watches your every move all day on camera, delivered by an expert story producer to raise within you the same emotions you’ve been experiencing all day.

"A Prayer for Sunday (Jane Austen)":

We thank thee with all our hearts for every gracious dispensation, for all the blessings that have attended our lives, for every hour of safety, health and peace, of domestic comfort and innocent enjoyment. We feel that we have been blessed far beyond any thing that we have deserved; and though we cannot but pray for a continuance of all these mercies, we acknowledge our unworthiness of them and implore thee to pardon the presumption of our desires.

returning TV shows I'm looking forward to this fall

the returning champs!
-Doctor Who - This has already started - God bless the British!


-Sherlock - oh, wait, there aren't any new episodes this fall - dang British.

-Downton Abbey - pretty people on pretty estates . . . oh, but one of my least favorite actresses is now a recurring character. Yay . . .? the British . . . ?

Castle - Maybe. I dunno, Fillion, will the goodwill from Firefly finally expire?

Once Upon a Time - bring on the stories, bring on the campiness! bring on the strangely-moving romance between Belle and Rumpelstiltskin!

Survivor - nothing but love, because they're bringing back Penner.

The Big Bang Theory - if I could watch the geeky parts without watching the smutty parts, I'd be a happy camper.


Oooookay, that was more negative than I thought it would be. Maybe television really IS unredeemable!  ;)

What are you favorites?

-Jessica Snell

Links: Human Trafficking, a Better Version of the Oscars, and more!

The New Christian Abolition Movement - on the fight against human trafficking. An excerpt:

But the assistant U.S. attorney still believes in the partnership between church and state.

“On one hand the fact they’re a religious organization is not directly relevant,” he says. “However, if you look at the history of the abolitionist movement, it has always been religious communities and those are the people who are concerned enough to be active in it.

“And today with modern-day slavery the same is the case.”

Another take on "Once Upon a Time", Semicolon's "Once Upon a Time . . . We All Believed in Marriage".

And the Oscar Goes to . . . "Twilight"! - I love this article about what the Oscars should actually be. The author convincingly argues that the Oscars neither reward what Hollywood does really well (impeccably produced blockbusters) nor what art house films do really well (beautiful, thoughtful stories). Instead, he describes the films it rewards this way:

While it’s impossible to lay out a precise description, it’s like Justice Stewart’s famous definition of obscenity: You know it when you see it. Earnest, middleweight dramas that teach life lessons and feature major emotional climaxes always leap to the forefront. They should make you laugh before they make you cry, or vice versa. Classic three-act structure; a major star playing slightly against type; at least one odd or gruesome or humorous supporting performance from a name actor.

Yep. And where's Alan Rickman's nomination for his portrayal of Severus Snape? That too.

A Nerd's Guide to What Jeff Probst Won't Tell You: How to Win Survivor. "Don't be afraid of being bad television, is what I am telling you."

My sister-in-law writes about Mary and Simeon, about love and loss.

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Game Trust, Real Trust, and Love

When I watch reality TV, I'm always surprised by the contestant (and there's always at least one), who is shocked to find out that another contestant wasn't telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but that truth. It's a bit like someone being shocked that poker sometimes involves bluffing.

Of course, there's a whole conversation about ethics that can be had here, and it's a conversation that fascinates me, but I'm going to put it aside for the moment in order to focus on something else: the nature of trust.

Game Trust
In reality TV game shows - or in just about any game - the person you can trust is the person whose interests align with yours. You  have "game trust"*. Game trust means that you can predict what the person will do and therefore you can trust them to act in the way you expect. To use game trust to your advantage, find where your opponent's interests correspond with yours, and exploit that correspondence to your benefit.

All very dog-eat-dog, right? Well, it can be. It's also very close to the reason why capitalism works and is the worse system in the world - except for all the others. Capitalism is an economic system that assumes that people are going to operate in their own self-interest, and builds all its checks and balances around that assumption. And, people being people, they do act in their own self-interest, and that's why capitalism usually works okay.

So: game trust.

Real Trust

What comes next in this hierarchy of trust? It's what I'll call "real trust". It's what we have with our spouses, our parents, our friends, and our kids, at least in the healthy versions of those relationships. We can trust them to act "not just in our own interest, but also in the interest of others".

When I was engaged to marry my husband, my mom shared a great piece of marriage advice. She said, "If it's good for Adam, it's good for you." Or, in other words, if there was a thing Adam loved - say a hobby or a job or a friend - and it wasn't something I loved, it was still good for me if he had that good thing. Because when we married, his good became my good. Anything that makes him happier, better, stronger? Makes me the same, because we've become - in ways both mystical and practical - one. His good is my good, and my good is his.

Other good relationships work this way. I have friends who have passions that baffle me - they're things I'd never want to do. But I can see the good effect that nurturing those passions has on their lives, and because I love them, I'm happy to encourage them that make them happier, better, stronger - in other words, more themselves.

So, real trust. I can trust the ones I love to love me and do me good - sometimes even to their own hurt. There are people of whom I do not need to be afraid.

Love

But, of course, even in good human relationships, there's a limit to love. We're selfish in even the best of our relationships, we can't help it. We can never fully empathize with someone else. And since you have to know well in order to love well, we can never love fully: we're not omniscient. My husband probably has a better guess about what constitutes my good than any other human being has - but it's still, at least partly, a guess. He is not all-knowing and so cannot be all-loving.

But God can. He knows us fully and loves us fully. He knows what our good is (it is Him) and is constantly working to give it to us.

And here is the marvelous thing: as Christians, the Holy Spirit dwells within us. As we commune with God in prayer, the Holy Spirit continually works in our hearts to direct them towards love and good works. As we pray for our family and friends, He shows us how to love them.

In other words, real love, full love, can be ours. It can be ours when we let God love our loved ones through us. It is not us doing the work, but Him. Will we ever see more than that "dim reflection" here? No, but the light will grow, if we walk in obedience. I'm reminded of the words Tennyson wrote in memory of a well-loved friend:

We have but faith: we cannot know;

For knowledge is of things we see

And yet we trust it comes from thee,

A beam in darkness: let it grow.

Let knowledge grow from more to more,

But more of reverence in us dwell;

That mind and soul, according well,

May make one music as before,

But vaster. We are fools and slight;

We mock thee when we do not fear:

But help thy foolish ones to bear;

Help thy vain worlds to bear thy light.

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell


*I'm not sure, but this phrase might have been invented by Linda Holmes back when she wrote for TWOP under the name "Miss Alli".

Links! - Cancer, Criticism, and more!

This news - that scientists have tweaked a smallpox virus so it just attacks cancerous cells - is super-cool. Even if it does spookily remind me of the beginning of Feed.
Simcha Fisher on how criticism is not un-Christian.
Even though I knew some of the 18 Things You Didn't Know About Firefly, there was enough in there I didn't know to make this link interesting.
In the wake of the reality-TV-related suicide, the excellent Linda Holmes proposes an ethical code for the producers of unscripted television. It's pretty brilliant, especially as she admits that some types of reality shows could never sign on (hi, Jersey Shore!). Some however - basically the ones that involve any level of skill on the part of the contestants (from game-playing on Survivor to dress-designing on Project Runway) could benefit greatly from agreeing to a standard code of ethics, including things like psychological after-care for the contestants.
Reality TV is still pretty young, historically speaking, and the ethics of it are still under a lot of debate. I think it's a fascinating discussion (and I think the popularity of books like The Hunger Games bears me out one this).
Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell