Living the Laugh-Track Life

Ever imagine that you were living a television show?

No, not like The Truman Show, where you are the victim of strange voyeurism.  More like, sitcom, living in an The Office, on-location type of show.

I used to imagine that often when I was in middle school.  Since everything played out in my head, anyway, why not be the star of my own show, right?

One of the long-lost memories during that time was that I included my own, personal laugh-track.  It accompanied all of my jokes and one-liners.  For example:

Mother:  “Joey, you want some ziti now or wait until your father gets home?”

Joe:  “Sure, ma.  I’ll take two mar-zitis, on the rocks.  Don’t forget the olive, and hold the meatballs.”

Cue laugh track.

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I was reminded of this “way of being”  (which was probably a survival mechanism to cope with the torturous years between sixth and eighth-grades) when my children and I sat down to watch some classic Scooby-Doo the other day.

I picked up one of the Scooby-Doo reprises, a pirate-themed DVD that included three classic, circa-1970s episodes, for $5 at Target.  We put in the disc, and let the episodes roll.

And there, as if waiting to haunt me once again, was the laugh track that Hanna-Barbera so infamously utilized in the shows at the time.

Shaggy and Scooby say something even remotely funny.  Laugh track.  Freddy gives a zinger to Daphne.  Laugh track.  A masked villain slips on a banana peel.  Laugh track.

Occasionally there’s a single belly laugh during a scene.  It’s usually strategically placed at a time when the content might otherwise frighten little children.  The lone laugh seems to be a middle-aged gentleman, one who  can might wear a tweed coat and wool fedora and sit in a chair similar to Archie Bunker.

Then there’s the unique track with a woman laughing a little longer than the rest of the canned crowd.  Corny, Babe, corny!

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Now that I reflect upon my middle-school years and my obsession with “Me TV”, I’m awfully thankful that God didn’t choose me to be a TV reality star.  I’m even more grateful that there is no such thing as a laugh track in the real world.

I would have burned out the recording by now.    I can’t imagine having to hear that thing when I’m preaching or when I tell my church a joke.  Then there’s my family, most of whom have made humor a sport.    We would be sick of laughter by now.

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My fear is that there are many people who do feel that they are being followed by a camera and judged with a laugh track.   Caregivers, for instance, who care for their family day-in and day-out but never feel like they do enough for their loved ones feel this way.

Sure, caregivers don’t explain their situation like that.  Yet, when they talk about their feelings– that they don’t “measure up” to their loved one’s or God’s expectations–it seems that they have fallen victim to a spiritual, cosmic-sized video camera that records their every move.

Then there are people who forget that there is someone watching them whatsoever: “God does not see what mortals see,” the prophet Jeremiah reminds us, “For mortals only see the outward appearance, but God sees the heart.”

God doesn’t include a laugh-track in our life of discipleship.  God is more concerned that we live out His will in order to help unfold the larger narrative of God’s redemption history going on right now!

You are “live,” as it were, in God’s eyes.  And, yes, people are watching, especially if they know you are a Christian.

That’s not something to boast about; nor is it something to fear.  It’s just the truth of the matter.

Our lives are the greatest sermons people will ever experience.  Although we may not appear on the big screen or have the advantage of getting a laugh track to cover up our awkward moments, we are still called to be witnesses to God’s love and live out the commission-call that will bring others to Jesus’ redemptive grace and mercy.

Some people are watching.  And we are called to respond in love and compassion.

Pajama’s Final Word: Despite the laugh tracks, The Scooby-Doo Show is actually as great now as they were when we watched them years ago.  The kids love it, parents love it.  Sure, the plots are always the same (“If if weren’t for you kids!”), and you still wish that at least one of those ghosts were really real and not an illusion, but the show creates some wonderful family time together.

Pajama’s Rating: The Scooby-Doo Show: 5 out of 5 pajamas.  Laugh tracks:  No comment.

Spirituality in the mundane world of “Somewhere”

The Christian journey has its ups and downs, peaks and valleys.  “But you can’t always live on the mountaintop,” fellow Christians used to tell me.

That’s true.  How many of us face the valleys more than mountaintops?  If your life is anything like mine, those mountaintop experiences are few and far between: During a retreat at the monastery or perhaps as a result of reading a brilliantly written book.

Yet, it’s in the valley that we learn how to pick up our cross and follow Christ.

Discipleship in the valley inspires us to learn how to connect to God in the midst of daily routines, schedules, and monotony.   Some call it the spirituality of the simple; others, like Brother Lawrence, call it an opportunity to be with the Lord.  Lawrence, for instance, saw to it that when he was about to embark on a daily task–say, bake bread–he extended an invitation to Jesus to come along.

Unfortunately, many Christians flounder in the valley and disconnect from God.  They drop out of church, read the Bible less, forget to pray.

In Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere, Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff) is a playboy actor that dabbles in the frivolities of life. He hires dancers, hosts parties, and drives his Ferrari aimlessly around town to pass the time.  Occasionally, he cares for his daughter (Elle Fanning) from a previous marriage.

Through it all, there seems to be a boring routine to the high life in which Marco chooses to live.  Although there are exciting times–he travels to Europe to receive an award for playing the lead role in a spy thriller series–he just exists, booze and bottle in hand, from one day to the next.

You’d think that something would happen during the film: say, tragedy strikes or someone kidnaps the daughter.  No.  In this melancholy film, there is no violence, intrigue, or thrilling action.  At least one critic commented that Somewhere goes nowhere.

But isn’t that like life sometimes?  Sure, we expect our movies to have explosions and gritty humor and senseless slapstick, but that’s not real life.

Being a fan of Madame Coppola, I have come to expect her films to be more art than action, more mood pieces centered on melodic plots than hair-raising suspense thrillers.  For that, I think her work is engaging and honest.  It reflects life at its most vulnerable.

And its precisely in vulnerability–the “nowhere” where many people spend their time–in which we meet God intimately.

Consider the farmer who works forty years growing corn or the couple who celebrates a 60th anniversary.  There is nothing more mundane than that, but that’s precisely where God chooses to work.

Our attentive search for God in the mundane–in the everyday experience–makes life vibrant and fulfilling.  Even our cubicle can have the power to conjure a worship experience in which the Holy Spirit moves us in the midst of sticky-notes, PCs, and Daytimers.

“Regarded properly,” writes Barbara Brown Taylor in An Altar in the Word, “anything can become a sacrament, by which I mean an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual connection.”

She continues, “Paying attention requires no equipment, no special clothes, no greens fees or personal trainers.  You do not have to be in particularly good shape.  All you need is a body on this earth, willing to notice where it is, trusting that even something as small as a hazelnut can become an altar in this world.”*

When we look around, our “somewhere” may be a long road to nowhere grand.  But, in God’s larger scheme of things, we all fit–each and every one of us–into the cosmic narrative patchwork of God’s redemptive Story that unfolds in all creation.

With a little bit of gumption and a whole lot of prayer, we start to see that the mundane isn’t so mundane after all.

Source:

Barbara Brown Taylor, An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith, New York: Harper One, 2009.  Pp. 30, 34.

2012 summer movie schedule

I must admit: for all of the movies that I watch and my love of movies in general, I only see a limited number of movies at the theater.  For one, prices are outrageous. Star Wars: Episode 1 in 3-D, for instance, cost me $55.00 for my family of four.  And, no that wasn’t at the IMAX theater.

Also, I don’t have much time on my hands, especially now that I’m a father of two.  With opening trailers and credits up to 20 minutes long, a movie-watching experience can last well over 3 hours.

Every year, however, my movie-watching buddy and I chart out what movies are  worth seeing on the big screen.  We don’t go for the Academy contenders; rather, we focus our limited funds on the popcorn blockbusters.  I can get all of the drama I want from the “big” small screen at home thanks to Netflix.

When it comes to the theater, I want explosions, action, and lots of heavy-duty awesomeness fit for the middle-school boy stuck in my thirty-something-year-old body.

This year, my buddy and I have narrowed down our “must” list:

May Movie–”Avengers”:  What is not to like about this movie?  The fact that it has Ironman, reprised by Robert Downy Jr. is worth the boatload of money it’s going to take one person to see this film in 3-D and IMAX.  Go to 1:45 on the clip and exhale, “Oh, baby!”

June Movie–”G. I. Joe: Retaliation”:  Although I have some reservations about this movie based on the trailer (that at least half of the characters from the first G. I. Joe movie are not present in this movie), it’s going to be a must-see for the summer.  The Rock’s participation in the film helps; also, the music just makes me excited like a giddy kid.

July Move–”Batman: Dark Knight Rises”: The trailer alone gives me chills.

Other possible movies for summer-time fun:

Men in Black 3:  Alright, we can all admit right up front that MIB 2 was a real stinker.  The original was fun and fresh; the sequel echoed all of the lame jokes and flopped.  We hope that this installment will be as vibrant as the first, but with a humor that moves the franchise into the 21st century.

Expendables 2:  I know what you’re thinking: “Expendables 2 over the new Spiderman?”  Well, if you grew up in the 1980s like I did, you will never miss a movie that has Jean-Claude Van Damme in it.  ’nough said.

Happy movie watching, folks!

Comment and let me know what your 2012 favorites are going to be…