For Your Entertainment

Here's a little quiz to test your cinematic knowledge. Can you name these movie quotes? Here's a hint, these movies span from the 1930's to the current decade and are from a variety of genres. Good luck!

1. Not that I condone fascism, or any -ism for that matter. -Ism's in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an -ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon, "I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me." Good point there. After all, he was the walrus. I could be the walrus. I'd still have to bum rides off people.

2. Yes, the actual 10 Commandments, the original stone tablets that Moses came down out of Mount Horeb and smashed if you believe in that sort of thing. Didn't you guys ever go to Sunday School? Look, the Hebrews took the broken pieces and put them into the Ark. When they settled in Cainan they put the Ark in a place called The Temple of Solomon where it stayed for many years. 'Till all of the sudden, whoosh, it was gone.

3. And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a most painful death.

4. Why, you stuck up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerve-hurter.

5. I'm sure that in 1985 plutonium is available in every corner drugstore, but in 1955 it's a little hard to come by.

6. I'm telling you this guy is protected from up on high by the Prince of Darkness.

7. I run my unit how I run my unit. You want to investigate me, roll the dice and take your chances. I eat breakfast 300 yards from 4000 Cubans who are trained to kill me, so don't think for one second that you can come down here, flash your badge, and make me nervous.

Extra points if you can name these last three:

8. Well, I guess the gentlemen are in a pretty tall hurry to get me out of here. The way the evidence has piled up against me, I can't say I blame them much. And I'm quite willing to go, sir, when they vote it that way - but before that happens I've got a few things I want to say to this body. I tried to say them once before, and I got stopped colder than a mackerel. Well, I'd like to get them said this time, sir. And as a matter of fact, I'm not going to leave this body until I do get them said.

9. Come on, *all* the long distance lines are down? What about the satellite? Is it snowing in space? Don't you have some kind of a line that you keep open for emergencies or for celebrities? I'm both. I'm a celebrity in an emergency.

10. Young men make wars, and the virtues of war are the virtues of young men: courage, and hope for the future. Then old men make the peace, and the vices of peace are the vices of old men: mistrust and caution.

The Russian Icon Museum

So, what else would we be doing on a Saturday afternoon in the summer other than visiting our local museum of Russian Icons. Okay, so it's a little random, I know, but we heard about this place a while ago (I'm not sure how) in Clinton, MA and figured today would be a good day to drive out there to check it out. And we're glad we did. The museum is the largest of its kind in North America and has a collection of around 370 icons. You can visit the museum online here.

We have an icon in our house of Saint Euphrosynus who is the patron saint of cooking:


And Liz has an icon in her office at the church. It looks like this:

They are such an interesting art form and part of church history. It was fascinating to see so many in one place and to learn about the various styles. I highly recommend stopping by this museum if you're ever out by Clinton, MA.

Here's a picture of the museum, it's no hole-in-the-wall:

A Khmu picnic

I am quickly learning that as the spouse of a pastor I get to attend all sorts of events that I wouldn't normally go to and this weekend was no exception. Last night we attended the monthly Oasis Coffee House performance at 1st Pres., Waltham. It's part of the mission of this church to support the arts (and the hope is that the program will grow to support the mission of the church as well). We heard two folk/blues singers, one of whom, Danielle Miraglia, was particularly good. She was an excellent guitar player, singer and songwriter with a surprising bluesy voice.

Today, we drove out to Cochicuate State Park, about a half hour west of Boston for the annual Khmu picnic. There are a few members of Liz's church that are of the Khmu ethinic group and today I learned about their fascinating and difficult history since the Vietnam war. The Khmu are the native ethnic people of Laos but have faced extreme discrimination by the Laotian's which drove many of them to seek refuge in other countries like Thailand and the United States. Many of the Khmu in the Boston area came to the states in the 1980's and 90's. Today they seem to be thriving here and they get together once a year for a huge picnic where they cook amazing food. We had spicy noodles, all sorts of BBQ'd meats (Liz accidentally ate chicken liver), fried rice,
sticky rice and spicy chicken in lettuce wraps. Here are some pictures of the get together and this beautiful park.

It's official

Now preaching at a church near you ...

June Happenings

It's been a while since I've updated the blog so here's a run down on what we've been up to this past month.

A couple weeks ago we marched in the Boston Pride Parade with Liz's new church. It was amazing to see the reaction of people in the crowd when they saw a pastor in a clerical collar marching in the parade. Liz carried on a Smith family tradition by carrying a "Choose Love" sign. It's a message that works for pretty much any occasion.


Last weekend we took a trip to Owatonna, Minnesota for Ryan and Mariah's wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony at Mariah's church and reception at a nearby golf course.



Touring the modern art of Minneapolis.
Interactive Art?
This afternoon will be Liz's Installation at First Presbyterian Church, Waltham so more to come on that soon ...

Rev. Liz, ad gradum Divinitatis Magistri

Yes it's true, when my wife preaches to me I have to listen to her now. On Thursday, June 4th Liz earned her Master of Divinity (M. Div.) and today, Saturday, June 6th she was ordained as a minister of the word and sacrament in the Presbyterian Church, USA. She will go on to begin a position as co-paster at the First Presbyterian Church of Waltham, MA beginning in early July.

The graduation ceremony was held at the Harvard Memorial Church and was followed by a very nice luncheon on the lawn at Andover Hall. The ordination was held at Clarendon Hill Presbyterian Church where Liz worked during her third year of divinity school. We had many friends and family at both events and enjoyed getting the chance to celebrate with them all. Here are some pictures of the events.

Graduation

Dean Graham awarding Liz her degree

Angels Mariah and Liz (see them featured also in the Boston Herald)
Michael, Leanne, Mariah, Anna, Liz and Rob

Ordination

Liz doing her first communion

Augustus, Ann, Rob, Liz, Karl, Dudley and Burns
Ann from Presbytary of the Cascades
Rob, Liz's new co-pastor

Congratulations Liz !!!

It Was 20 Years Ago Today that Sgt. Pepper Taught the Band to Play

On June 4th, 1989, a million people were cleared out of Tienanmen Square by Chinese army tanks. I found it interesting, though not surprising, to read in the past week's news coverage that the Chinese youth of today have little knowledge of this event because the media was so restricted at the time of the event and continues to be restricted to this day. Despite initial reports from the Chinese Red Cross that 2,600 people were killed they now deny ever issuing those reports and the Chinese government put the official death toll at 241.

This week, websites, news agencies and other media outlets in China have been blocked, shut down, censored and otherwise restricted from making any mention of Tienanmen square and the protests that occurred there. Vocal critics deemed likely to make note of these events have been preemptively placed under house arrest.

Unfortunately foreign governments and political leaders will make no protests of their own because the world needs China to help with growing nuclear threats from N. Korea and Iran and companies that do business in China (even media and internet service providers that will be involuntarily censored) will say nothing because they have to keep Chinese government officials happy in the hopes that they can expand into China's ever-growing, ever-strengthening market.

So, until Chinese media and Chinese citizens gain the right to free speech the rest of the world has to do our part in remembering, and talking about, these events and hoping that they will one day be seen as pivotal moments in the path to obtaining the basic human rights and freedoms that many non-Chinese citizens enjoy today.