June 2022 Top Ten

I’ve talked about this a few times now, but John Van Deusen’s new album “Marathon Daze” released in early June and its so good. He’s definitely my favorite musician right now. Check out the full version for free on Bandcamp, which includes six extra songs (the last two are just...the best). Enjoy!

I listened to Bonhoeffer’s Life Together again. It was great. This quote stuck with me:

“The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.”

I finally watched Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and actually…enjoyed it. It’s the darkest Marvel movie yet, but the dark stuff was portrayed as being dark/bad, so it actually didn’t bother me much. Some of the horrendous lines of dialogue were more upsetting.

But, the themes. The themes! I won’t spoil it here, but it was basically a $200 million dollar exploration of the poem Summer Storm by Dana Gioia.

I started Field of Dreams but didn’t finish it. It was late, and it wasn’t as good as the public consensus says it is. The storytelling was choppy and rushed, and some of the dialogue was not good. I love me some Kevin Costner though.

We also started Rookie of the Year (I told you I’m on a baseball kick), which I loved as a kid. We didn’t finish it either though, because sleep.

I read Praying with the Church by Scot McKnight, a book about the different traditions of fixed hour prayers. I enjoyed it. We ordered this book of Psalms and prayers to use in our home. Here’s my full review of McKnight’s book.

I couldn’t sleep one night, so I read Silver Surfer: Parable by Stan Lee. The story is so rushed and heavy-handed, but the art was awesome. My full review.

My almost-four-year-old son loves watching Wall-E. We watch it weekly. It’s so fun to see him crack up laughing before anything funny happens, because he knows exactly what’s next. Also, I’m fascinated by the ability for a story to be able to hold a three-year-old’s attention during a twenty minute opening scene with no dialogue.

I know I put this in last month’s email, too, but Youtuber and general funny guy Ryan Trahan completed his “30 days to travel across the country living on one penny and deliver it to Mr. Beast challenge” and fundraised over $1.2 million for the Feeding America charity. It was a blast to watch these daily videos. Wholesome and fun. Highly recommend. Here’s the last video if you just want to see how it ended.

10.

I finally read On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson. It was a fun little story and each chapter made me want to keep reading, but some parts were a little too silly, and others were surprisingly murder-y. I’ll pick up the next one soon though. My full review.

10.

I snuck this in the main email, but this painting, The Monk by the Sea, by Caspar David Friedrich has been occupying a lot of my mind space these last few weeks. Just look at it.