Rabbit Trails #23

Click through for this week’s edition of Jonny Jimison’s Rabbit Trails.

Bilbo’s Garden

“Inside Bag End, Bilbo and Gandalf were sitting at the open window of a small room looking out west onto the garden. The late afternoon was bright and peaceful. The flowers glowed red and golden: snap-dragons and sunflowers, and nasturtiums trailing all over the turf walls and peeping in at the round windows.”
—The Fellowship of the Ring

The Habit Podcast: Karen Swallow Prior

The Habit Podcast is a series of conversations with writers about writing, hosted by Jonathan Rogers. This week, Jonathan Rogers talks with Karen Swallow Prior, author of On Reading Well and Booked.

The Second Muse: Don Chaffer

In Season 2, Episode 9, Drew Miller talks with Don Chaffer about the song “Be Invisible” from his musical, The (Almost) Unforgettable Edwin Booth.

Fixed In Post: Quarantine Edition

We’ve got a new episode of Fixed in Post—our podcast for the moviegoers among us, wherein co-hosts John Barber and Pete Peterson discuss films they love and what they would have fixed in post-production to make them even better. Except this time, John Barber is not joined by Pete Peterson. He is instead joined by the Rabbit Room’s Director of Sales & Event Programming, Chris Thiessen, who himself wields a sharp pop cultural eye.

Hero-worship, Humor & the Harrowing Rescue of Jojo Rabbit

The montage that runs under the opening credits of Jojo Rabbit is one of the most insightful moments in a movie full of insights. Newsreel footage of Nazi youth rallies is accompanied by The Beatles’ “Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand” (a German language version of “I Want To Hold Your Hand” that The Beatles recorded in 1964). Frenzied, dewy-eyed teenage girls scream “Heil Hitler!” But if you weren’t watching their lips closely, you might think they were screaming “Paul!” or “Ringo!” Arms wave frantically in the air, like those of excited fans at Shea Stadium. It is only after the second or third shot that you realize that the hands are extended in a Nazi salute. Likewise the hysterical cheering running along in the background might have been recorded at the Nuremburg rallies, or it might have been the crowd at the Ed Sullivan Theater (“Ladies and gentlemen . . . The Beatles!!”).

The Lost Art of Listening, Part 6: A Scarcity of Mind

[Editor’s note: click here to read Part 5: The Case for Nostalgia by Leslie E. Thompson.]

When I was twelve years old, my parents bought me the 10^th Anniversary Concert recording of Les Misérables on VHS. I’d begun to demonstrate a zeal for musicals, starting with the Phantom of the Opera soundtrack, which I listened to on repeat until I could sing you the entire thing through—with all its varying parts—from start to finish. The only other musical recording we had was a VHS of CATS (which I also watched repeatedly and will unabashedly defend), and my parents figured that they ought to guide my budding passion toward a higher quality of musical theatre. Hence, my introduction to Les Misérables.

Finding a Way Forward: A Review of The Door on Half-Bald Hill

“And the wrens have returned and they’re nesting
In the hollow of that oak where his heart once had been
And he lifts up his arms in a blessing for being born again”
— Rich Mullins, “The Color Green”

He Will Redeem It All

“He Will Redeem It All” started as a dedication to two friends—one had just lost her sister to cancer, and another unfairly lost his job. Both of these friends held their heads high during their trials, trusting that God would operate even while sorrow and uncertainty seemed to carry the day.

The Habit Podcast: Leif Enger is Delighted

The Habit Podcast is a series of conversations with writers about writing, hosted by Jonathan Rogers. This week, Jonathan Rogers talks with Leif Enger, author of Virgil Wander and Peace Like A River.

The Resistance, Episode 19: Jericho Brown

Jericho Brown was not waiting for these rewards, although we’re certain he’ll gladly receive them.

The Second Muse: Ella Mine & Evan Redwine

In Season 2, Episode 8, Drew Miller talks with Ella Mine and Evan Redwine about the making of Ella’s song, “Sound & Fury.”