Thursday Thread #40
Intro
This is Time's Corner, a weekly newsletter by Christian Leithart. I’m co-founder of Little Word, editor of Good Work magazine, and creator of Psalm Tap, a yearly colloquium for church musicians. By day, I teach make the most of summer break, and by night, I edit this newsletter.
Here at Time’s Corner, Thursdays are devoted to your replies. On Monday, I asked:
How do you choose what to watch?
From You
Moses says:
My wife and I have been on a years-long British detective/crime show kick. We keep expecting to run out of new, excellent British shows to watch, and it keeps not happening. Generally, we start by browsing through the offerings on Britbox or Acorns (we subscribe to these as add-ons to Amazon Prime - just one at a time). Once we find a show that looks interesting, based on plot, setting, and starring actors, we watch the trailer and check the IMDB rating and Parent's Guide. If the trailer is intriguing, the IMDB series rating is above 7.0, and if the Parent's Guide suggests no explicit sex/nudity, we'll probably give it a try.
Smith says:
Since our wedding a year and a half ago, my wife and I have decided what to watch mostly based on a list of films we each love that the other hasn’t seen. We’ll get to the end of that list relatively soon, though.
Another common factor: when a film comes out that I or a friend of mine has worked on, I usually go to the theater to watch it (if that’s an option).
One of my friends created a scratch-off poster of his 100 top film recommendations. I’m considering buying that and slowly making my way through it.
Remy says:
I envy the access to information that the younger kids have. When I was a teen, watching a move meant spending as much time in a Blockbuster as on the couch. Now I follow screenwriters and directors, watch what they make and track down the movies they enjoy. In the past I used Metacritic to follow the two or three film reviewers that I enjoyed, but the internet killed reviews, so I now rely on the small group of cinephiles whose taste I mostly trust. Even then, I use a 2 or 3 witnesses to establish whether a film is worth my time. Also, I've given up watching as many new movies as I can and focus more on rewatching the great movies.
Upcoming
This isn’t an event so much as an invitation. My church, Trinity Presbyterian, is planting another church in north/central Birmingham. We hope to start weekly services in the fall, and to that end, a small group of families has started meeting twice a month to eat, sing, and pray together. If you want more information, let me know.
The Theopolis Ministry Conference is July 17-18. Register here.
On July 19, the fourth annual Psalm Tap will convene at Third Presbyterian Church in Birmingham. You don’t have to register, but if you do, we’ll give you lunch.
Up To
Reading: The Westing Game. What a great little book.
Watching: It’s been mostly Better Call Saul lately, which I maintain is better than Breaking Bad.
Listening: This isn’t music, but I recently listened to Josh Gibbs read his booklet A Short Introduction to Classical Christian Education and found it very worthwhile. You can listen to it on the Anchored podcast created by the folks at the Classical Learning Test.
Essay of the week: “On a Great Wind,” by Hilaire Belloc. If you have trouble getting into it, start in the middle, where it says, “No man has known the wind by any of its names who has not sailed his own boat and felt life in the tiller.” Then go back and read the whole thing.
Poem of the week: “A Poet to his Baby Son,” by James Weldon Johnson:
Take the advice of a father who knows: You cannot begin too young Not to be a poet.
About
I’m Christian Leithart, a writer and teacher living in Birmingham, Alabama. I’m not active on social media, but you can read my blog here. Use the button below to share this issue of Time’s Corner, if you so desire. Thanks much for reading.