"laestadian, apostolic, gay, lgbtq, ex-oalc, ex-llc, llc, oalc, bunner" LEARNING TO LIVE FREE: FinnFest is a'Comin'

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

FinnFest is a'Comin'

Hoo. What a crazy week it has been. Relatives visiting, cars kerplunking, noses sniffling, plans unraveling. It was a little too much. To get away from it all, I saw two movies recently. They were of such disparate quality that the first is among the absolute worst I've ever seen, and the second among the best.

Both had top-flight actors. But Bill Murray could not lift "Garfield" from utter crassitude (although the kids thought it was hilarious), while Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, and Lily Tomlin gave beautifully-crafted turns in "Prairie Home Companion." It was a real treat to see Jearlyn Steele and Tom Keith and the other familiar voices from the radio show, and although Garrison Keillor has a face made for radio, he did not ruin my fond feelings toward him and the whole PHC universe. Beneath the movie's humor (often occasionally crass) and musical bits, a poignant theme gathered power: Savor this life, as soon we'll be leaving it. (It is a movie made by a director on death's door.)

GATHER ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying.

Oh, and you friends who know this song so well, when you hear "Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling," it will get you good. Bring Kleenex.

On another note, Finnfest is fast approaching: July 26-30. I'll be there for the kantele Mass on SundayThursday and possibly Friday. If you are going and would like to meet up, please send me an email at extoot (at symbol) earthlink.net (make sure there are no spaces and extoot is singular).

Maybe we can break pulla together.

6 comments:

  1. I tried to send an email to extoots@earthlink.net about Finnfest and it came back. Will try again.

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  2. There is no "s" in the address . . . please try again!

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  3. As a Minnesotan, I love Garrison and saw the movie the opening night. It was great.

    I also enjoy a Prairie Home Companion. Garrison cracks jokes on Norwegians, Swedes, and Germans, and maybe an odd Dane or two, but I've never heard him reference any Finns. Been thinking maybe he don't like us too well.

    Years ago, when I was reading The Protestant, I began to feel uncomfortably paranoid like he had somehow been to my church and figured us all out and then was retelling later. At the time, I had many less doubts about Laestadianism than I do now.

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  4. Not to hijack your thread, but i want to extend an invite to the 2006 ALC convention hosted by the hockinson church. Here is a link with more info. God Bless!

    http://www.hockinsonchurch.com/convention2006.php

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  5. Here is the link. I missed some formatting.

    ALC Convention info

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  6. Garrison does indeed love the Finns. He did a monologue at the Variety Show at FinnFest '02 (Minneapolis) in U. of M.'s Northrup Auditorium. As a part of his time he read, with great vigor, "The Finn Who Wouldn't Take a Sauna". He also autographed copies of this piece which were later sold to raise funds for the festival. I haven't seen the movie yet but look forward to it.

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