Beautys and Beasts

My brother sent over a bunch of stuff through one of my students who visited LA last week. One of the things I had requested was the (500) Days of Summer dvd. Even after watching it for the third time in less than a year, I thoroughly enjoyed all 95 minutes of it and was even able to notice little things that had never stuck out to me before like the downward spiral shot when Tom is running down the stairway after finding out about Summer's engagement and this quote: "People don't realize this, but loneliness...is underrated." Anyway, I'm going to give this dvd away as a Christmas present this year. What a terrific gift!

One interesting thing I noticed was that many people said that Zooey Deschanel was particularly beautiful in this movie. I actually argue that she was not objectively beautiful but rather quite attractive due to her character. Clearly, we all know that attraction and beauty are different, but we often interrelate the two. I know that I for one have become deeply affected by people's appearances when it comes to things like attraction or dating. When people say that I'm "picky," I think it's their nice way of saying that I only like pretty girls. When I look back on the history of the girls I've ever liked, I'd say that's about 90% true. Of course, there's nothing wrong with being attracted to good-looking people, but I've also come to realize that being beautiful often brings about a beast.

The Bible speaks of several beautiful women throughout the Old Testament, but many of them (if not all) undergo hardships or actions leading to sin due to their appearance. We have Sarah's beauty that caused Abraham to lie to the Egyptians. We have Rebekah's beauty that caused Issac to lie to the Philistines. We have Rachel's beauty that caused Jacob to love her more than Leah. We have Bathsheba's beauty that caused David to commit adultery and murder. We have Tamar's beauty that caused her own brother to rape her. We have Esther's beauty that caused her to be a part of the king's harem. We have Solomon's hundreds of wives and concubines that were probably beautiful and led him astray. And judging from Samson's temperament and behavior, I have a feeling that Delilah was beautiful as well who brought about his downfall. What's up with all these beautiful women?

"We desire physical beauty to cover a sense of shame and inadequacy...only if we see what he did for us and only if you see that the ultimate beauty in the history of the world was the beauty of giving himself for you, the beauty of his losing his beauty so that you can become beautiful in the eyes of the only one that counts. Only as we see what he did for us will our hearts be melted and freed from the belief that we can judge a book by its cover or the need to."

-Tim Keller

It's December, but why are there still mosquitoes?!

Thought of the Day: Paris Park

Song of the Day: The Temper Trap-Sweet Disposition