Joseph Kreydt

Tag: weather

  • Storm Fronts and Jeremiads

    Storm Fronts and Jeremiads

    A few months ago, I began noticing extreme cloud changes. I’m sure they’ve always been there, but for the first thirty-five years of my life, I failed to see them.

    In the past year, though, I’ve seen and taken pictures of a few of these storm fronts.

    These abrupt changes strike me as beautiful. They also remind me of The Book of Jeremiah in The Old Testament.

    For most of the book, Jeremiah prophecies doom and gloom for Israel. He explains the terrible agonies the nation is experiencing because they’ve turned their backs on God.

    As I read the book, I kept thinking, “this is terrible. Is it ever gonna end?” Every page seemed to weigh a thousand pounds. I’d flip through and see that I had many pages to go.

    Then, around verse 16 of chapter 30, there is an abrupt change. Chapters 27-29 are entirely prose. Chapter 30 is almost entirely poetry.

    For the first half of chapter 30, the Lord recounts the pains of Israel.

    All your lovers have forgotten you;

    they care nothing for you;

    for I have dealt you the blow of an enemy,

    the punishment of a merciless foe,

    because your guilt is great,

    because your sins are flagrant.

    Why do you cry out over your hurt?

    Your pain is incurable.

    Because your guilt is great,

    because your sins are flagrant,

    I have done these things to you.

    (Jeremiah 30:14-15)

    But then, in verses 16 and 17, it all changes. It looks, to me, exactly like those sudden, drastic changes in the cloud formations.

    Therefore all who devour you shall be devoured,

    and all your foes, every one of them, shall go into captivity;

    those who plunder you shall be plundered,

    and all who prey on you I will make a prey.

    For I will restore health to you,

    and your wounds I will heal,

    declares the Lord,

    because they have called you an outcast:

    ‘It is Zion, for whom no one cares!’

    (Jeremiah 30:16-17)

    Thus says the Lord:

    Behold, I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob

    and have compassion on his dwellings;

    the city shall be rebuilt on its mound,

    and the palace shall stand where it used to be.

    Out of them shall come songs of thanksgiving,

    and the voices of those who celebrate.

    I will multiply them, and they shall not be few;

    I will make them honored, and they shall not be small.

    (Jeremiah 30:18-19)

    Unfortunately, Jeremiah darkens again in the remaining chapters. The ending is not a happy one. Too, in the pictures of the cloud changes, the storm is as often coming as it is going. But those small moments in between, when everything is changing, leave us with awe. They remind us that, through clear skies and storms, something wonderful is happening.

  • Why I Deleted the Weather App from My Phone

    Why I Deleted the Weather App from My Phone

    I deleted the weather app from my phone. Then I got caught in a storm. But that was the point. I wanted to be surprised. I wanted to rebel against our modern tendency to control and predict everything.

    Prediction, especially if it’s accurate, gives us a sense of control over something by taking away its ability to surprise us. We try to love the wild, unpredictable world, but only on our own terms. We try to control what is not meant to be controlled. But true love and deep relationships, whether with a person or with nature, cannot exist under the weight of conditions and control. The myth of Davy Jones and Calypso (Pirates of the Caribbean) expresses this painful truth.

    Calypso, the goddess of the sea, and Davy Jones, a mortal sailor, fell in love.

    Calypso rewarded Davy Jones by giving him the sacred task of ferrying souls who died at sea to the world beyond. Jones agreed to set foot on dry land once every ten years. If the love between him and Calypso was true, his task would be complete.

    Calypso, like the seas, was fickle and unpredictable. After ten years, Jones went ashore, but she was not there. This meant Jones would have to ferry souls for another ten years. He refused.

    Years later, when Calypso was imprisoned, the lovers finally met again.

    Davy Jones approached her cell and said, “Ten years, I devoted to the duty you charged me. Ten years, I looked after those who died at sea, and finally, when we could be together again, you weren’t there. Why weren’t you there?”

    “It is my nature,” said Calypso. “Would you love me if I was anything but what I am?”

    As painful as her words are, they are beautifully honest. Only free things can be loved. Machines, things under our control, cannot. We can only truly love beings, and beings are unpredictable.

    If we refuse to love a person unless they’re predictable, we’ll never love them. People are inherently unpredictable. And to truly love someone is to love them as they are.

    True love is unconditional. The moment it becomes conditional, it ceases to be love, and instead becomes a transaction; I’ll give you my love only if you are predictable. True love is far greater. True love is given without any expectation of repayment or even the expectation that it will be accepted.

    While Davy Jones’s story is a cautionary tale about conditional love, the ultimate example of unconditional love can be found in Jesus Christ’s Passion. Christ gave his life to redeem the sins of humanity without any expectation that humanity would accept this redemption. We’re entirely free to deny it. He knew many would deny it, and gave it anyway.

    Davy Jones was the opposite. He ferried souls to the afterlife not as an unconditional gift to Calypso, but so that she would be with him. When she wasn’t there, he stopped ferrying souls. His “love” for her was closer to the love a client has for his prostitute. In other words, he didn’t love her. He was paying her for an intimate relationship by ferrying souls to the world beyond.

    While it’s definitely not cool that Calypso didn’t hold up her end of the agreement, it also was against her nature to make such an agreement in the first place. And if Davy Jones had truly loved her, he would have loved her true nature, not her as he wanted her to be.

    So, what does the weather have to do with all of this? Well, for one, we saw weather as fickle and unpredictable, like Calypso, until we developed meteorology. And like Davy Jones, we refused to accept the unpredictable nature of it. Instead of loving it as the living thing it was, we took away its ability to surprise us. We turned it into something that could not be loved.

    By forecasting the weather, on-demand, we can be inflexible and unrelated to it. If it’s going to be hot outside, we can plan to be in an air-conditioned room all day, ignoring the heat. We don’t need to adapt as much. We don’t need to be surprised by it. We can, to a large degree, disconnect from the weather as it truly is; wild, natural, beautiful.

    Of course, we can’t totally control the weather. We can’t make it rain. By avoiding the heat, we’re still reacting to the weather. But not as deeply, not as personally. We don’t have to go outside and look at the sky to guess if it might rain. We just look at some data on a screen.

    It’s a subtle change in the relationship. But relationships are everything, and subtle doesn’t mean negligible.

    There are different levels of relationship. One of the deepest levels is what sociologist Hartmut Rosa calls resonance. At its core, resonance is about the quality of our relationship with the world; whether with nature, other people, art, work, music, ideas, or even with ourselves. Resonance is a level of relationship that opens us to that sense of awe we feel when we really see a beautiful work of art or someone helping a neighbor in need.

    According to Rosa, when we resonate with something, it calls us. But if we control a thing, then we cannot be called by it. It can only do what we allow it to do, and so it can never surprise us. And if it can’t surprise us, it can’t call us, and then we can’t resonate with it. We can’t relate to it on that deeper level. Instead of relating like lovers, we relate transactionally, like Davy Jones and Calypso.

    Weather is a wild, living thing, but by constantly knowing what it’s about to do, we blind ourselves to its ability to surprise us the way a wild or living thing can. It’s a shallow way to relate to anything, but especially something as wonderful as the weather.

    That’s why I deleted the weather app from my phone. Not because I’ll never look at a forecast again, but because I want to deepen my relationship with the weather itself. I want to be surprised by it. I want to resonate with it.

    Davy Jones made the mistake of demanding certainty from something that was never meant to be certain. He only wanted love if he could predict its shape. But love, whether for a person or for the living world, is always given into mystery.

    Weather is like that. It’s wild, fickle, alive. To stand in its presence without trying to reduce it to a chart or a number is to allow wonder back in.

    We might get caught in storms, but we’ll also be caught by awe.

    That, I think, is the better forecast.

  • Best Winter Films That Aren’t Christmas Movies

    Best Winter Films That Aren’t Christmas Movies

    These are movies that fit well into the winter season, but are not Christmas movies. Don’t get me wrong, Christmas movies hold a special place in my heart. But in January and February, when I want to embrace the cold and snow, I want some options that are not Christmas movies. That’s what I’ve compiled in this list.

    The Top Ten

    1. Lars and the Real Girl

    Why it’s mid-winter: Lars and the Real Girl takes place during a midwest winter with plenty of snow, warm blankets, and the hope of springtime.

    Why it’s a great movie: This is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated movies of all time. The premise makes it sound silly, and it does have its silly moments, but the movie is also a thoughtful portrayal of a compassionate community of people making efforts to help one of their own. It’s really a beautiful film.

    2. Fargo

    Why it’s mid-winter: Fargo is another movie that takes place during the winter months in the midwest. It has more snow than you could ever hope for and just the right amount of mystery and murder.

    Why it’s a great movie: It’s a Coen Brothers cult classic with plenty of their characteristic dark comedy, introspection, and delightful characters. And even though it’s a dark comedy, the ending is far from dark. Overall, the film is, yes, dark, but it’s also hilarious, snowy, cold, and uplifting. Fargo is a true masterpiece.

    3. Dumb and Dumber

    Why it’s mid-winter: Dumb and Dumber is a buddy comedy about a misadventure to the mountains of Colorado.

    Why it’s a great movie: It’s a great, lighthearted mood-lifter with more than enough slapstick and goofball comedy to get you through until spring.

    4. Ip Man

    Why it’s mid-winter: In Ip Man, when things get dark, they get cold and dark. Even though there’s no snow, there are plenty of other signs of winter, like dreary undertones, cold-heartedness, and survival in hardship.

    Why it’s a great movie: Watching the great martial artist Ip Man live through riches and success, then poverty and oppression, and then come out a better man in the end, is inspiring, uplifting, and encouraging, to say the least. If the Rocky films inspire you to stay strong, Ip Man will inspire you to stay strong and wise.

    5. Dead Poets Society

    Why it’s mid-winter: Dead Poets Society may be the very first dark academia film, and when is dark academia ever not wintry? The film also takes place during the school year at an oft-snowy boarding school setting.

    Why it’s a great movie: It’s about a band of brothers discovering the wonders of poetry, art, excellence, and, through those things, life itself. I’ll warn you, this one doesn’t exactly have a happy ending, but it’s a great film nonetheless.

    6. Beauty and the Beast

    Why it’s mid-winter: Beauty and the Beast also feels a bit dark academia. It’s not quite that, but it certainly has its fair share of darkness, books, and snow.

    Why it’s a great movie: It’s a timeless love story, through and through. Need I say any more about such a classic?

    7. Scott Pilgrim vs the World

    Why it’s mid-winter: Scott Pilgrim takes place during winter in Toronto. It doesn’t get more wintery than that.

    Why it’s a great movie: It’s a romantic comedy for nerds with plenty of action, excellent music, and hilarious characters.

    8. Mr Deeds

    Why it’s mid-winter: Mr Deeds takes place in two places–Vermont and New York City–with a fair helping of winter jackets and snow.

    Why it’s a great movie: It’s a hilarious Adam Sandler classic about an average guy who writes his own greeting cards and happens to inherit a huge fortune. As you might expect from an Adam Sandler movie, it has its fair shares of romance and humor.

    9. Spectre

    Why it’s mid-winter: Spectre is the snowiest and most introspective James Bond film I’ve seen.

    Why it’s a great movie: This one has an excellent balance of action and introspection, winter and romance, snow and camaraderie.

    10. The Proposal

    Why it’s mid-winter: The Proposal takes place, mostly, in Alaska, and it doesn’t hold back on beautiful shots of the scenery.

    Why it’s a great movie: I know this list is getting pretty full of romantic comedies, but this one is tough to pass up. This is one worth giving your full attention–no scrolling through social media while it’s on–so you don’t miss the great cinematography or hilarious blunders that might take you by surprise.

    Those are my top ten, but there are plenty of others. Who would have thought there were so many movies to fit the winter season? Here are a few more.

    A Few More Wintry Movies

    Amadeus

    Amadeus has a dark feel as it follows Mozart, the great musician, plunging into vice, despair, and death. It also has a long runtime, perfect for a long winter night.

    Balto

    Balto is an animated film based on a true story about a sled-dog delivering much-needed medicine through a harsh winter storm.

    Beautiful Girls

    Beautiful Girls is about the comings and goings of small town folks during a small town winter. That makes it sound kind of like a Hallmark Christmas movie. It does have some romance, but it’s far from being Hallmark-esque.

    A Case of You

    A Case of You is a cheesy, romantic comedy that takes place during winter in Brooklyn.

    Out Cold

    Out Cold is a hilarious 00s teen comedy that takes place at a ski resort with plenty of snowboarding and drinking.

    Casablanca

    Is Casablanca wintery? It has always felt wintery to me. Perhaps it’s because of the noir-like, melancholic tone, or maybe it’s the cool, foggy aesthetic. Or maybe it’s because Out Cold is loosely based on the plot of Casablanca.

    Higher, Deeper, and Further

    Higher, Deeper, and Further–three separate films that make a series–are snowboarding/trekking documentaries that offer plenty of inspiration to explore the snowy, great outdoors when you’ve been cooped up inside for too long.

    Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

    Eternal Sunshine has one of the greatest winter scenes/shots in cinematic history. The main characters–played by Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet–flirt, play, and dream, on a frozen lake.

    Force Majeure

    Force Majeure is a French film about a family vacation to a ski resort with plenty of humor and a bit of introspection as well.

    The Hateful Eight

    The Hateful Eight is a Quentin Tarantino murder mystery that takes place in a western haberdashery during a winter blizzard. It’s strange, hilarious, twisty, and cold.

    Ice Age

    Ice Age is an animated goofball comedy about a couple of animal friends trying to survive the ice age.

    Reign Over Me

    Reign Over Me is probably Adam Sandler’s darkest film, but it’s an incredible story. It’s not quite wintery, but it’s certainly not summery either. It matches that feeling at the end of winter when you just can’t take another snowfall, when you desperately need spring.

    Rocky

    Rocky is the perfect inspiration to keep your New Year’s Resolution, even when it’s cold outside.

    Three I Haven’t Seen

    These last three are pretty obviously winter films–based on their covers, trailers, and/or names–but I haven’t seen any of them yet so I can’t say much about them other than that.

    • The Revenant
    • Snowpiercer
    • A Tale of Winter

    Have you seen them? Do you have any others to add to the list? Let me know. I can always use another good, wintry movie to get me through these cold months after the holidays.