My Newest Project: Blessedly Peculiar

Just in case you don't follow my Twitter and Facebook updates, I'd like to introduce you to my newest endeavor: Blessedly Peculiar.

Blessedly Peculiar is a new blog that I've started featuring devotional writings and inspirational quotes aimed towards who I'm referring to as "unconventional Christians": believers who find inspiration in a wide variety of places, from summer blockbusters to classic literature. It's a way for me to get into the habit of reading and writing about my faith as well as a way to share the weird things I find inspirational with others. I'm updating three times a week, with a pop-culture-inspired devotion on Mondays, a short Bible study on Tuesdays, and a quote on Fridays. You can follow the project through Blogger, Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook for updates in whatever way you like best. Please check it out!

Top 5: Lines from My Favorite Movie

If you've been keeping up with this blog, then you know that I started a new feature counting down to Christmas. I have spend the last few weeks posting every day about the holiday, and it has taught me one thing: I am sick of talking about Christmas. I love the holiday, and all of the things that go along with it, but I don't think I can write yet another post about it. So for today's Top 5 I decided to talk about something about as far from Christmas as possible: Fight Club.

Fight Club is my favorite movie. I'm not sure why - it's violent, has a ton of bad language, and plenty of disturbing imagery. But the storyline, the cinematography, the acting, I love all of it. I get the best double-take reactions when people ask my favorite film and I tell them that it's Fight Club. Apparently I look like a fan of The Notebook or something? I don't know. I've read the book by Chuck Palahniuk also, and all of his books I've read are equally fascinating and disturbing. Both are wonderfully quotable, and below the jump are my Top 5 favorite lines from the film. 



5. "With a gun barrel between your teeth, you speak only in vowels." 

There are a lot of flashbacks in this film, so I'm not sure if this is at the beginning at the end, but at this point in the film Brad Pitt has a gun in Ed Norton's mouth. And it's true, he did only speak in weird vowels.

4. "This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time."

I know a lot of people look at this movie and see a testosterone-filled blood fest but the characters bring some really great commentary on the purpose of life. Is there more to existence than showing up for work and ordering all your furniture form the Ikea catalog? Yes. Does that mean you should burn down your apartment and start making soap in your basement with your imaginary friend? Probably not. But this quote is still applicable. 


3. "On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero." 

In other words, you won't live forever. It's just a fact. The narrator in the movie spends a lot of time with the terminally ill (he crashes support groups) so he has a lot of first-had experience with the dying. And as messed up as his life is, I think it helped him understand how fleeting life can be.

2. "It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything." 

This is probably my favorite inspirational quote from this movie, if there can be such a thing. I have a tendency to find inspiration in the most ridiculous places - as you can probably tell - and really like this sentiment. Before you can do the things you want to do, you have to get rid of all the rest of the junk in your life. Who knew you could learn so much from Tyler Durden? 

1. "I am Jack's smirking revenge."  /  "I am Jack's complete lack of surprise." 

I chose the "I am Jack's..."  lines from the film as my favorite quote of the movie because I couldn't choose my favorite. I used to have a list and I think there are like 8 variations throughout the film. In the books Palahnuik used a name other than Jack, although I can't remember which one. They don't make any sense outside of the context of the movie, which is kind of why I love them - you only get it if you are a fan. Which I am.

I could go on and on about the things I love about this movie (Helena Bonham-Carter, Jared Leto, the spliced-in scenes, etc.) but I will spare you for now. Maybe next Christmas.

Top 5: Shakespearean Insults

Apparently I've been noticing commercials for movies lately, because like last week's dance sequences a la Footloose, today's Top 5 was inspired by an upcoming film. This time the movie is Anonymous, a political thriller revolving around the theory that someone else wrote all of Shakespeare's plays. I took an entire class on Shakespeare's work in college, and was lucky enough to visit his hometown of Stratford upon Avon when I visited England. One of the souvenirs I picked up there was a pack of buttons featuring epic insults from the bard's plays. Below are my five favorite Shakespearean insults! Use with caution.

5. "You have such a February face, so full of frost, of storm and cloudiness." - Much Ado About Nothing (Act V Scene 4). 

An extremely poetic way to tell someone that they look cold and mean.


4. "More of your conversation would infect my brain." - Coriolanus (Act II Scene 1)

Trying to escape someone who is talking your ear off? Recite this line and leave quickly before they realize exactly what you said. 


3. "Thou art a boil, a plague sore, an embossed carbuncle in my corrupted blood." - King Lear (Act II Scene 2)

It means roughly the same as "you disgust me" but sounds much, much fancier.


2. "I do desire we may be better strangers." - As You Like It (Act III Scene 2)

Perfect for people who cannot distinguish compliments from insults.


1. "A knave; a rascal; an eater of broken meats; a base, proud, shallow, beggarly, three-suited, hundred-pound, filthy, worsted-stocking knave; a lily-liver'd, action-taking, whoreson, glass-gazing, superserviceable, finical rogue; one-trunk-inheriting slave; one that wouldst be a bawd in way of good service, and art nothing but the composition of a knave, beggar, coward, pander, and the son and heir of a mongrel bitch; one whom I will beat into clamorous whining, if thou deny the least syllable of thy addition." -  King Lear (Act II Scene 2)

Why settle for just one insult when you can have 25?

Heroes

Remember me saying he's my favorite actor? This is another good reason why.
(Found on Pintrest, link to original source broken.)

Harry Potter vs. Twilight

I found this online somewhere and just had to share! Sorry, Twilighters.

Quote:

"Men who would letterspace blackletter would shag sheep." - Frederic Goudy

That is the correct quote. E. Ginger did the research for “Stop Stealing Sheep”, and she actually spoke to an old lady who had been to the event and heard Goudy say the “s” word. Patrick Ames, then publisher for Adobe Press, loved the quote, suggested it as the title for the book and changed it, for obvious reasons. The book was intended for typographic novices, and those were obviously not deemed grown-up enough for real four letter words. I always thought the title way too obscure, but I do have a collection of model and toy sheep (too small to shag), because lots of friends think it very funny to give me sheep as presents.

- Erik Spiekermann, typophile.com

Common Typographic Diseases

Various forms of dysfunction appear among populations exposed to typography for long periods of time. Listed here are a number of frequently observed afflictions :

Typophilia

An excessive attachment to and fascination with the shape of letters, often to the exclusion of other interests and object choices. Typophiliacs usually die penniless and alone.

Typophobia

The irrational dislike of letterforms, often marked by a preference for icons, dingbats, and—in fatal cases—bullets and daggers. The fears of the typophobe can often be quieted (but not cured) by steady doses of Helvetica and Times Roman.

Typochondria

A persistent anxiety that one has selected the wrong typeface. This condition is often paired with OKD (Optical Kerning Disorder), the need to constantly adjust and readjust the spaces between letters.

Typothermia

The promiscuous refusal to make a lifelong commitment to a single typeface—or even to five or six, as some doctors recommend. The typothermiac is constantly tempted to test drive “hot” new fonts, often without a proper license.

- Ellen Lupton

Quote:

An artist’s only concern is to shoot for some kind of perfection, and on his own terms, not anyone else’s.

- J.D. Salinger