Hello World!

Hello, out there!  I'm an author, but this is my first real attempt at blogging.  My goal is to contribute something interesting, thought-provoking, inspiring and/or helpful each time I post.  (God help me!) 

I'll start with something simple, a brief movie review.  Keep in mind that I'm not a critic, just a movie-lover, and these opinions are strictly my own.  I mean no offense to anyone, and feel free to disagree.

I saw "The Great Gatsby" yesterday. I'd give it an A- for being very true to the novel, for cinematography, casting, direction, costumes, etc. The performances were riveting. Just one problem, very distracting at times:  bits of hip-hop/rap music...in a period piece! Honestly, would someone who wanted to watch this movie also be interested in that type of music? The chances seem pretty remote. I wish that they had stuck with the music of the era, even if tinny.

My second realization about this story is the similarlity in theme to Bronte's Wuthering Heights.   I read Gatsby in high school, Wuthering Heights a few years later in college, and didn't make the connection then.  But memory served me yesterday:  both are about men who amass a fortune for the woman that they love, only to find that she has married someone else.  Both works end tragically and with death, although Daisy survives, unlike Catherine.  Of course, Daisy is "dead" to Jay Gatsby in a way.  I wonder if she was just too weak and frightened to leave her husband, preferring familiar pain to the promise of the romantic unknown.

Then, there were my other spiritual/religious thoughts, spurred by Gatsby saying to her, "I did all of this for you."   Forgive me if those are not the exact words, but you get the idea.  He had created everything for her, as God has created and done everything for us.  Am I weak and frightened?  Yes.  Probably even worse than Daisy, who "smashed things up," as Fitzgerald said.  But, I want to love God back, to make some sort of return--no matter how flawed or puny--for everything that He has given me and done for me, and continues to give and do for me.  I'm dependent on Him for my every breath.  I hope that I have trillions more of them left to me, because I need to improve in so many ways...

Have a blessed day, all.