The Bad On Friday, Stepan and I went to see The Gospel of John. I was sucked in by the hype for The Passion which will be coming out next year. I thought the controversy and press generated by one mainstream, bible-related movie would tend to make all mainstream, bible-related movies worth seeing. The Austin Chronicle also gave The Gospel three stars so I wasn’t expecting it be too bad. Apparently, I was wrong. Please don’t get me wrong, I enjoy reading the Bible and have enjoyed movies, plays, and pageants based on or excerpted from the Bible, but sitting through a three hour, word-for-word retelling of an entire book was just too much for anybody to ask. (Tongue in cheek -->) It was kinda preachy! It had the potential to be a good movie, but this adaptation was entirely too long and repetitively redundant (yeah, I know...but it's exactly what I meant). Jesus begins most of his soliloquies saying, “I am telling you the truth…” and he says it 2-3 times in every conversation…I almost started wondering if he was trying to convince himself as well as the disciples, Pharisees, and gentiles. In conclusion, it’s a good concept for a film, but a poor execution (no pun was intended). If you see 10-15 movies this month, don’t go see The Gospel of John. Many abject apologies to my loving husband for dragging him to this movie.
The Wurst Our weekend was redeemed on Sunday. After church (where the gospel reading was from John), we had pineapple pancakes, home fries, and bacon for breakfast at a neighbor’s house. Afterwards we drove to New Braunfels for Wurstfest – a premier German festival celebrating sausage, beer, and the polka band. There, we met up with one of Step’s co-workers and his family. We heard some great music and danced a bit. Despite the cool weather, I got all hot and sweaty doing a polka with 4-year-old Henry. Sadly we were still fairly full from breakfast so we didn’t get to sample all the great food that we usually do though it didn’t stop us from sharing a plate of homemade potato chips and a funnel cake :-). We finished up the trip at the outlet malls in San Marcos where Stepan purchased a number of nice shirts and I drank a coke.
Glad you had a nice weekend, although that's too bad about the movie. Maybe you could consider it your payback to Stepan for Jackass?
Wurstfest sounds like fun--it would have been nice, but I think a bit much for the little guy who'd had a fever again the day before. We shopped instead (naturally, w/Joy & Brian around!) while Dale went for a bike ride and watched the England quarterfinal game of the rugby World Cup.
Posted by: Cuz on November 10, 2003 10:22 PMI remember Wurstfest being lots of fun in NB - before it got too big, it was held downtown.
Posted by: Cynthia on November 11, 2003 7:24 AMI laughed at the fact that the gospel reading was from John. I am surprized that the two of you didn't get up and walk out at that point.
Posted by: mom on November 11, 2003 7:37 PM