Best 11 Movies of 2011:
50/50- My favorite movie of 2011. Definitely go see, especially with your best friend. Heartwarming, hilarious, and a great story accompanied by great acting and a great soundtrack.
Crazy Stupid Love- One of the best romantic comedies I have seen in a long time, and probably one of the best ones made in a long time. Beautiful intimacy, great acting, and hilarious.
Our Idiot Brother- So good. Great message. Beautiful people, beautiful heart of Ned, the brother. One of the funniest this year.
We Bought a Zoo- Such a phenomenal story. True story too. So natural, and a great follow your dreams story.
X-Men: First Class- Best superhero movie this year, among a slew of them. Amazing characters, great story and development, and just all around brilliant.
The Muppets- Such a blast from the past, and so delightful. It worked so perfectly, reminded me of my childhood, and left me feeling warm. So funny too.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- Part 2- THE END OF HARRY POTTER. A great end, a well put together movie, and so sentimental for me.
Captain America: The First Avenger- My other favorite superhero movie this year. Captain America has a great story, and the movie was excellent and beautiful.
Attack the Block- Such a different but great movie. Super interesting and fun, worth the wait since it wasn't in theaters.
The Bang Bang Club- Great true story of photographers in South Africa. Super deep movie.
Source Code- A really fun and unique movie, a great story idea and done well. Left you with questions and curiosity at the end, which was great.
Still Want to see of 2011:
Drive
Life in a Day
Win Win
Midnight in Paris
The Way
Coriolanus
The Help
Mr. Popper's Penguins
Real Steel
Johnny English Reborn
Tower Heist
Please Don't go See:
Young Adult- Awful movie about an awful person who becomes more awful at the end rather than better. There is a little hope at the end, but it's crushed by a weirdly creepy character. Don't' go see it.
Super- Bah. Messed up movie. Not funny like Kick-Ass. Just sad.
Honorable mention:
Rubber- Just. So funny. And weird. Not even sure what to say.
Monday, January 02, 2012
Monday, May 02, 2011
Follow Up
Nǐ hǎo everyone,
As you know, the first four months of this trip were spent in Germany, taking intensive video classes, and intensive classes on the Holy Spirit, our relationship with God, and how He works in the world. We also got the chance to learn a lot about the injustice that is going on in this world, with our focus being on fighting human trafficking. Human trafficking is in short, when a human is kidnapped and sold for labor, or sex. This happens to children all around the world, as young as four years old! During this phase in Germany, we were able to travel to Hamburg and host a conference for a groupcalled Not For Sale, which fights against human trafficking. We got the chance to help raise awareness of this to hundreds of people. Directly after this, my video crew went to Cheb, Czech Republic, to start filming on a movie we were making. This movie was also to raise awareness against human trafficking, and you can find it on Facebook:www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1953710922746
And here is the link to the Not For Sale website:
www.Notforsalecampaign.org
It was an amazing four months of growing closer to God, learning more of His heart, and in general, getting fired up to save the world. Because that's what I was looking forward to. Mum always told me as a kid that I would grow up to change the world. I never realized how possible that actually was. Not necessarily in a crazy monumental way;(that script still has time to be written) but the simple ability to change one person's life, even in a small way, only by showing them love. God's love.
After those four months, I found out that I was going to go to China for my outreach. I was so excited. My original plan upon coming had been to go to India, but after praying about it, I felt like God was wanting me to go to China. I didn't know why. I knew my heart for China was for the orphans there. But I had no idea how much interaction I would be able to have with them there. So it was much to my surprise and joy when I found out that two of the places I would be going to in China, we would be mainly working with orphanages and ministering to orphans.
The first orphanage we went to was called Maria's Big House of Hope. It's a Christian special care center started by Steven Curtis Chapman, after his daughter Maria died. It is more of a hospital than a typical orphanage. All the kids there are either mentally or physically handicapped, and in some cases, both. They are mostly under the age of 3. It is a place for these kids to go to get health care, to be looked after, and for some, to wait to die in comfort. It was a very heavy place to be. But an amazing place to be as well. Every day we had the chance to go and spend the whole day with the kids, loving on them, playing with them, and being able to give them the attention and love that they deserve. It was a really challenging but amazing experience. I grew especially close to a young little girl named Jessica. Jessica has very limited control of her body from cerebral palsy. She can't walk or crawl very well, and her mouth is usually open in a beautiful little smile, tongue out and all. Every day I could I'd go down and play with Jessica, riding her around in her wheel chair, she'd play with my bracelets, take my camera and take pictures, or we'd just sit there and I'd talk to her and pray for her. It was the hardest thing in the world to leave her after those two weeks. I think secretly she knew that I was leaving, and she stole one of my bracelets before I left. I know I'll never forget that little girl. It wasn't that she got healed, or that miraculously she could communicate with me or anything. It was simply that I was able to give her a little taste of a love that she had maybe never experienced before. It wasn't just my love; it was our Father's love.
You can check out the link for Maria’s House of Hope here:http://www.showhope.org/OrphanCare/SpecialCareCenters.aspx
After the House of Hope, a small group of us went to a government run orphanage further south in China. This was by far the toughest thing I had to deal with all outreach. Now, this wasn't exactly the best living situation at the orphanage. In China, the value of life for orphans is very low, and when they're mentally or physically handicapped, it's even lower. So you can imagine how low the standard of living was there. For courtesy's sake, I can't go into detail. But there was one kid there that caught my eye and my heart. I called him "Didi", which means little brother. We were only at the orphanage for three days, but in those three days I got to see so much change in him.
Didi was a wiry little 10 year old kid. He was a classic trouble maker, always running around and getting into trouble, ignoring people, making messes, and generally giggling as he did all these things. He didn't speak much English, or Chinese very well, so there was little or no communication other than hand motions. But I got the chance to take him outside (to get him out of the way of the work the rest of my team was doing there) and hang out with him. I mostly flew him around, sang him some songs, bounced him around, and prayed for him and talked to him. Didi instantly responded to this kind of attention, and was laughing and giggling the whole time. And after this, Didi would seek me out every time I was around to play more.
Before this, Didi never got any attention, and he never asked for any. He always ran around and did his own thing, not caring about people. The nannies would yell at him and hit him, but he never really responded to them. However, I got to devote all my time to Didi, and he responded. As far as I know, it may be the only time in his life that he received constant love from an older person. For me, that made this whole seven months worth it. I know I only got to be in his life for a brief time, and I know he may not even have fully comprehended it all. For me though, just knowing that I was able to show Him God's love and that He was able to experience it in such a real way, possibly for the first time in His life, makes everything worth it. To me, that's changing the world.
Now I know I can't stay away. This isn't something in the immediate future, but I know I want to go back. I sort of fell in love with China in the 10 weeks I was there. And no, I'm not here asking for support. I'm only here laying out my life as it is. You guys prayed for me for the last seven months, and I just want to fill you in on where my heart is at. And right now it's in China. I have such a passion to go back and make a change to the life those kids are living, all over China. To give them a sense of worth that they may never have felt before. To let them know and feel like they are son's and daughters of the KING!
We got to do a lot of other amazing things in China, too. We met people on the streets, played music in coffee shops, taught English, did parkour with school kids, got the chance to share God's love, and in general, were able to just love on the people of China. It was an amazing experience, and I love the people of China so very much.
Now I'm back in the US. I have a job, and am starting college this fall, with an undecided major. Whatever happens though, I know God's in control. I want to thank you all again for everything that you did to make this trip possible. And I want to let you know that you're all in my prayers and praises, and if there's anything you'd like prayer for, feel free to write me back. Also, if you have any questions, or just want to know more, I'd love to talk.
I love you all, and I hope to hear from you soon! Auf wiedersehen!Mikeyy
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
ATOM
So, I know I haven't posted recently, and I have a blog post in the works, but I just wanted to show this to all of you! This is the magazine we created from our school! Check it out:
http://issuu.com/movemeant/docs/atom
http://issuu.com/movemeant/docs/atom
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Herrnhut Cup Round 1
The night was chilly. The snow lay fresh on the ground. The atmosphere was full of laughter, and spirits were high. This. Is. IMPROV!!!!
. . .
Tonight was the first night of competition in the Herrnhut Cup, and the competition was fierce. Team 1, The People Who Don't Wear Any Coats, featured Chad, Nina, Katia, and David B. Team 2, These Aren't My Pants, was none other than Andrew, Christer and Christie, and Mykell. Team 3, Schnazio(or however you spell yhe German word for mustache) featured Maggie, Mike W, Bob, and David S. And finally, we had team 4, the Cosmic Flabbergasted Aardvark Hamocks. This team comprised of yours truly(Mikeyy E), Cam Dueck, Sean Wallish, and Nathan Henry.
The night started off with hilarity in death in a minute, and the alphabet game. From there we went to number of words and word at a time story, genre rolllercoaster, space jump, questions, do ron, and man more inbetween. It was truly a night of hilarity, with no team the clear winner till the end. It seemed neck and neck between team 2 and 4, when a lousy puppets performance and a brilliant sing about it game put team 3 in second place, beating team 4 by just one point.
Even though not everyone could win, everyone had a lot of fun, and the laughter was always loud. Next week we'll see four new teams takethe stage, and the week after that teams 2 and 3 will face off with the winners of next week's competition. But be wary of the wildcard!!!
Also, we Videoed the night, courtesy of David S and Jonas, and I'll be posting that when I can get my hands on it.
Love you all!
. . .
Tonight was the first night of competition in the Herrnhut Cup, and the competition was fierce. Team 1, The People Who Don't Wear Any Coats, featured Chad, Nina, Katia, and David B. Team 2, These Aren't My Pants, was none other than Andrew, Christer and Christie, and Mykell. Team 3, Schnazio(or however you spell yhe German word for mustache) featured Maggie, Mike W, Bob, and David S. And finally, we had team 4, the Cosmic Flabbergasted Aardvark Hamocks. This team comprised of yours truly(Mikeyy E), Cam Dueck, Sean Wallish, and Nathan Henry.
The night started off with hilarity in death in a minute, and the alphabet game. From there we went to number of words and word at a time story, genre rolllercoaster, space jump, questions, do ron, and man more inbetween. It was truly a night of hilarity, with no team the clear winner till the end. It seemed neck and neck between team 2 and 4, when a lousy puppets performance and a brilliant sing about it game put team 3 in second place, beating team 4 by just one point.
Even though not everyone could win, everyone had a lot of fun, and the laughter was always loud. Next week we'll see four new teams takethe stage, and the week after that teams 2 and 3 will face off with the winners of next week's competition. But be wary of the wildcard!!!
Also, we Videoed the night, courtesy of David S and Jonas, and I'll be posting that when I can get my hands on it.
Love you all!
Thursday, November 25, 2010
America vs. The World
Dramatic, eh? It was.
Today was Thanksgiving, and in the spirit of Thanksgiving, we hosted a Turkey Bowl. America vs. The World. It was awesome. America started out with a score, followed up by a score from The World. Two more for America after an interception, and it was 3-1. The World scores again, and is scoring position on their next drive when the quarterback is sacked(by yours truly ;))! Suddenly the score is 4-3. America has the ball at the twenty. Yours truly is hiked the ball, and passes it off to the running back Josh Elke. The 50, the 40, the 20... Goal!!! America wins five to four! Huge mudslides ensue as the crowd goes wild!!!!
. . .
Oh man. That was so much fun. I only put in a few of the highlights, and some ofthe parts involving me :P, but it was an awesome game, and really close. I found out I'm pretty good on the offensive line, as well as defense rushing and covering the receivers. It was good times :) a great thanksgiving so far, and tonight the side building guys are going to the doner for a Thanksgiving meal :)
Happy Thanksgiving all!
America!!!!!! ;)
Today was Thanksgiving, and in the spirit of Thanksgiving, we hosted a Turkey Bowl. America vs. The World. It was awesome. America started out with a score, followed up by a score from The World. Two more for America after an interception, and it was 3-1. The World scores again, and is scoring position on their next drive when the quarterback is sacked(by yours truly ;))! Suddenly the score is 4-3. America has the ball at the twenty. Yours truly is hiked the ball, and passes it off to the running back Josh Elke. The 50, the 40, the 20... Goal!!! America wins five to four! Huge mudslides ensue as the crowd goes wild!!!!
. . .
Oh man. That was so much fun. I only put in a few of the highlights, and some ofthe parts involving me :P, but it was an awesome game, and really close. I found out I'm pretty good on the offensive line, as well as defense rushing and covering the receivers. It was good times :) a great thanksgiving so far, and tonight the side building guys are going to the doner for a Thanksgiving meal :)
Happy Thanksgiving all!
America!!!!!! ;)
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
They are Not For Sale
27 million children are trafficked every year.
Children as low as 4 are sold into sex slavery. Children are sold into forced labor, brothels, and as child soldiers all around the world. Human Trafficking is happening in your backyard.
Human Trafficking is quickly becoming the largest trade in the world, larger than drugs and weapons.
Human Trafficking needs to STOP.
We are modern day abolitionists. We are artists, teachers, athletes; students, business people, consumers; we are ordinary people, joining together to end slavery. They are NOT FOR SALE.
http://vimeo.com/10759343
. . .
This was the theme for the Not For Sale conference we had the other week. As a DTS, we were the host for this conference. We cleaned and set up, worked at booths, set up art, filmed the speakers, and made sure everything ran smoothly. For me, it was a blast. I was on the security team and the film team. It was such a great experience to be working on making this amazing conference work together. It was so much fun to get filming experience with a live director. And it was an absolute blast to work as security, and being in charge. It was an amazing conference, and really inspiring.
The conference lasted three days, and then the whole DTS was off to the mini outreach, which was basically just a week long outreach to prep for big outreach, and minister to the people closer to our area. The majority of the group stayed in Hamburg, and our video team went off to Cheb, in the Czech Republic, to film our movie.
We're making a movie on Human Trafficking, to raise awareness. It's going to be anywhere between 45-90 minutes. It was an absolute blast to film, as cold and rainy as it was. There was a couple of late nights where we were filming on the side of the road in the cold windy rain. It was a pretty good/miserable time. But mostly great :)
Cheb was a super interesting town. It's very prostituted, sex oppressed, and gambling oppressed. Quite a depressing town, with lots of racism among the different people groups. Even so, it was such a fun town. We had such a blast in that town. There was only 12 of us there, but we all got along perfectly. It was almost a perfect group. We all got along well, and made so many inside jokes. It was a great bonding time. We went on prayer walks while we were there, and really just tried to spiritually fill the town with more positive spirits. We went to an English club on Friday night, and got to talk to a whole bunch of Czech students trying to learn English. It was really great just to meet a whole bunch of people, and get to make new friends.
Not to mention, while we were there we got to hit up the hot springs, which were absolutely amazing. All in all, it was a pretty beautiful mini outreach, and a good prep for big outreach :) And we got a good headway on our movie, which will be done before the end of the DTS!
So yeah. That's what these last two weeks entailed :) Love you all, thanks for following my trip!
Ciao!
Children as low as 4 are sold into sex slavery. Children are sold into forced labor, brothels, and as child soldiers all around the world. Human Trafficking is happening in your backyard.
Human Trafficking is quickly becoming the largest trade in the world, larger than drugs and weapons.
Human Trafficking needs to STOP.
We are modern day abolitionists. We are artists, teachers, athletes; students, business people, consumers; we are ordinary people, joining together to end slavery. They are NOT FOR SALE.
http://vimeo.com/10759343
. . .
This was the theme for the Not For Sale conference we had the other week. As a DTS, we were the host for this conference. We cleaned and set up, worked at booths, set up art, filmed the speakers, and made sure everything ran smoothly. For me, it was a blast. I was on the security team and the film team. It was such a great experience to be working on making this amazing conference work together. It was so much fun to get filming experience with a live director. And it was an absolute blast to work as security, and being in charge. It was an amazing conference, and really inspiring.
The conference lasted three days, and then the whole DTS was off to the mini outreach, which was basically just a week long outreach to prep for big outreach, and minister to the people closer to our area. The majority of the group stayed in Hamburg, and our video team went off to Cheb, in the Czech Republic, to film our movie.
We're making a movie on Human Trafficking, to raise awareness. It's going to be anywhere between 45-90 minutes. It was an absolute blast to film, as cold and rainy as it was. There was a couple of late nights where we were filming on the side of the road in the cold windy rain. It was a pretty good/miserable time. But mostly great :)
Cheb was a super interesting town. It's very prostituted, sex oppressed, and gambling oppressed. Quite a depressing town, with lots of racism among the different people groups. Even so, it was such a fun town. We had such a blast in that town. There was only 12 of us there, but we all got along perfectly. It was almost a perfect group. We all got along well, and made so many inside jokes. It was a great bonding time. We went on prayer walks while we were there, and really just tried to spiritually fill the town with more positive spirits. We went to an English club on Friday night, and got to talk to a whole bunch of Czech students trying to learn English. It was really great just to meet a whole bunch of people, and get to make new friends.
Not to mention, while we were there we got to hit up the hot springs, which were absolutely amazing. All in all, it was a pretty beautiful mini outreach, and a good prep for big outreach :) And we got a good headway on our movie, which will be done before the end of the DTS!
So yeah. That's what these last two weeks entailed :) Love you all, thanks for following my trip!
Ciao!
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
And the Winner Is...
Sorry for my infrequent posts. A lot has been going on here in Deutschland. I miss and love all of you at home, and thank you so much for the support and prayer. It has been carrying me through for sure.
A little bit of back tracking: about a month and a half ago, we moved out of the side building where we were staying. We had a DTS that came and stayed with us for a month, and we needed room for them. So we moved out into the Jesus Haus, which is a community place in town. It was really cool to live in town for a little while, and just to be around the Jesus Haus community. There were a lot of cool people there. Even so, it's amazing to be back in the side building. We've moved back in this Saturday. The community in our side building is amazing. I love all the guys there, and we really have a great brotherhood. Even though there's only about 25 of us, and 100+ girls. But it's a great brotherhood.
Coming up this Thursday, we have a Not For Sale conference that we as a DTS are hosting, in Hamburg. Not For Sale is an organization that fights against sex trafficking. The video track will be filming the whole thing, and we'll probably be making a dvd of the conference afterwards. It's going to be an amazing conference, and I'm sure it will pump a lot of us up for outreach.
In other news, I joined an improv team called the Cosmic Flabbergasted Aardvark Hammocks. We improved up the name, each of saying the first word that came to our heads. I thought that would be a good start. We're going to have improv competitions to see who will win the Herrnhut Cup! It's going to be great.
Just to let everyone know, DTS stands for Discipleship Training School. And Marriage of the Arts, the school I'm at, is basically an art focused DTS where all different art forms like video, photography, dance, etc, get together and use their art to glorify God. :)
I'll let you guys know how the conference is when I get back. Love you all, and thanks again for your support! IT means the world to me.
-Mikeyy
Also, if you want to send me snail mail:
Mikey Evans
Youth With a Mission
Untere Dorfstr. 56
02747 Herrnhut
Germany
Send me mail! :D
A little bit of back tracking: about a month and a half ago, we moved out of the side building where we were staying. We had a DTS that came and stayed with us for a month, and we needed room for them. So we moved out into the Jesus Haus, which is a community place in town. It was really cool to live in town for a little while, and just to be around the Jesus Haus community. There were a lot of cool people there. Even so, it's amazing to be back in the side building. We've moved back in this Saturday. The community in our side building is amazing. I love all the guys there, and we really have a great brotherhood. Even though there's only about 25 of us, and 100+ girls. But it's a great brotherhood.
Coming up this Thursday, we have a Not For Sale conference that we as a DTS are hosting, in Hamburg. Not For Sale is an organization that fights against sex trafficking. The video track will be filming the whole thing, and we'll probably be making a dvd of the conference afterwards. It's going to be an amazing conference, and I'm sure it will pump a lot of us up for outreach.
In other news, I joined an improv team called the Cosmic Flabbergasted Aardvark Hammocks. We improved up the name, each of saying the first word that came to our heads. I thought that would be a good start. We're going to have improv competitions to see who will win the Herrnhut Cup! It's going to be great.
Just to let everyone know, DTS stands for Discipleship Training School. And Marriage of the Arts, the school I'm at, is basically an art focused DTS where all different art forms like video, photography, dance, etc, get together and use their art to glorify God. :)
I'll let you guys know how the conference is when I get back. Love you all, and thanks again for your support! IT means the world to me.
-Mikeyy
Also, if you want to send me snail mail:
Mikey Evans
Youth With a Mission
Untere Dorfstr. 56
02747 Herrnhut
Germany
Send me mail! :D
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