Happiness For Blessing

We who say we love God...

2012-01-29T16:06:00.004-06:00

We who say we love God: why are we not as anxious to be as perfect in our art as we pretend we want to be in our service of God? If we do not try to be perfect in what we write, perhaps it is because we are not writing for God after all. In any case it is depressing that those who serve God and love Him sometimes write so badly, when those who do not believe in Him take pains to write so well…

The fact that your subject may be important in itself does not necessarily mean that what you have written about it is important. A bad book about the love of God remains a bad book, even though it may be about the love of God. There are many who think that because they have written about God, they have written good books. Then men pick up these books and say: If the ones who say they believe in God cannot find anything better than this to say about it, their religion cannot be worth much.

- Thomas Merton, from a meditation set down on 14 August 1947

(with thanks to Jeff Childers)

"Do Not Merely Listen to the Word"

2012-01-01T15:28:00.003-06:00

This is a sermon I preached this morning at New Life Church of Christ in Cleburne, Texas. Feedback is welcome and appreciated.

Words are important. Everybody sitting in this room knows the power of words, whether you realize it or not. You can lift somebody up with words, whether you tell them that they look nice today…or you could be bringing good news – “You’re hired!” “You’re going to be grandparents!” “I’m happy to say that the tumor is not cancerous.” “I’m proud of you.” “I love you.” “You look nice today.” Words can lift us up. It’s why we answer the telephone when it rings, or get happy when we receive a hand-written letter, or yes, even a text. When I was a young person I couldn’t understand why the old people wanted to sit around at the table after eating and talk. I didn’t want to talk; I wanted to go play. But now I know that growing up doesn’t mean you no longer enjoy playing – it means you enjoy talking to people that you love that much more. Words are important, and we know that in the church. It’s why we don’t just sing tunes (although I think that might be nice to do now and then), we sing songs that glorify God and encourage one another. We dedicate 20 minutes OR MORE (but not much more, right?) to a sermon – again, something I wasn’t quite on board with as a kid – because we think it’s important to hear a word from God.

I have a ministry mentor that I have learned a lot from, both about life in church and about making my way through this world, and he loved to say that words create worlds, that preaching and teaching and just talking to people about Jesus is way more than just a casual conversation, but that we all take the place of the prophets when speak a word from God. Have you ever stopped to think about what that means? We dare to say that we speak God’s word. It makes me nervous just thinking about it. I get nervous every week that I preach as I prepare my sermon, not because I’m afraid of speaking in front of people, though that still grips me sometimes, but because I’m speaking on behalf of the God who created a world through his own speech. And I know that you know by now that ministry is not just done by those who wear the title, it’s done by every one of you, and I encourage you once in a while just to have a sense of wonder and awe about speaking about God. This God who was hovering over the waters and spoke and all of a sudden things began to happen and matter came into being all because of a word.

Words can hurt, too. James reminds us of that when he tells us that the tongue is like a rudder on the ship, controlling the whole thing. He says that words are sparks that can ignite an entire forest fire, that’s how important words are. “I’m sorry, we think you were a very qualified candidate, but we decided to go in a different direction. We’ll keep your resume on file.” “I have bad news. The cancer is very advanced.” “I have bad news. You are unable to have children.” “Did you see what she’s wearing? There’s no way she can pull that off.” “I think maybe we should just be friends.” “Your mother and I love you very much, but we’re not going to be living together anymore.” Words can hurt. Sometimes, we don’t want to answer the phone, because it could be bad news. Sometimes, all it takes is one or two words to bring us down – maybe for a long time. Maybe forever.

It’s good to be reminded of this as well in the church, isn’t it? Not only are we responsible for comforting those who are hurting, but beyond that, sometimes we forget that we are the ones bringing others down. We gossip about each other – it’s one of those things that we all say that we hate, but we all do it anyway, every single one of us. Your words could be hurting somebody, even if they don’t hear what you say. I think it’s very important for all of us to stop once in a while and realize what kind of power we have. It’s the kind of power that once we notice it, it’s very tempting to use for our own selfish purposes. Just like words have power to create worlds, they have power to bring them crashing right back down. I’d like to believe that we’re the kind of people that would interpret that power as a responsibility.

I believe I’ve made my case. Words are important. They have power, they have weight. If you can speak, you have the power to life people up and tear people down. Let’s read some more about words.

22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. 26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

[James 1:22-27; 2:14-19, 26]

Okay, everything I just said about words? Words are useless if they’re not backed up. James spells it out real simple for us right here. If somebody has no clothes and no food, and you tell them, “God be with you, I hope you find your clothes and food that you need”…what have you done for them? Absolutely nothing. Your words are empty and useless and void if they’re not accompanied by some sort of action. If I say that I’m going to give you something, and then I keep it for myself, I’ve done you no favor. In fact, I might have actually hurt you a little bit, because you were counting on me and I let you down. It doesn’t just have to be about giving. If I say that you can call me any time of day if you need to talk, and then whenever you call, I let it go to voicemail because I don’t want to talk to you, what good has that done? There are a million examples. If I say out loud that Christianity has called me to live a better life, but the only difference between me and any other person out there is that I have someplace to be on Sundays and Wednesdays, what have I done? I pointed out just a little bit ago that we do a lot of talking here…and that’s a GOOD THING. When it turns into a bad thing is when we let it be all talk and no action. Did you know that the original word for church implies action? It means that we have a mission, and it’s not just to go into all the world and invite people to our thrice-weekly services. We go and make disciples, people who follow Jesus and do and act and speak as he did, helping the widows and orphans and hungry and needy and thirsty and imprisoned, standing up for those who can’t stand for themselves, giving hope to the hopeless, doing acts of justice and mercy. Faith is not just about words. It’s about giving up on ourselves for the sake of others, and it’s something we talk about a lot, but I bet if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll admit we never actually get around to doing a lot of it.

I guess you’re wondering how I’m going to tie this into New Year’s. This is the third year in a row I’ve preached here on or around New Year’s Day, and that’s mostly just a coincidence. Last year I got up and I said, all of these resolutions that we do, it’s all about ourselves. I want to lose weight. I want to be in better control of our finances. And so on and so on. But the Gospel isn’t about self-improvement, and it’s not a self-help manual. I said those things last year, and I had a couple of people say to me, “I can’t believe you’re against New Year’s resolutions.” Well, that wasn’t really the point. Of course it’s great that you want to get your life in order, and if New Year’s is the motivation you need to get into gear, then that’s fantastic. I do get a little bothered, though, that some of the resolutions we spend our time and energy on don’t really reflect what we’re all about. I hear people say things like, “I need to get my relationship with God right,” and what they really mean is that they should spend more time praying and reading their Bible. That’s great – please don’t hear me say it’s not. I happen to know that there are more than a few people in here that spend hours every day reading Scripture and praying, and you know what? We could probably all still stand to do that even more. There’s a little tiny part of me, though, that wonders if that’s really the point. Are we really called to do more reading and praying? I would argue that’s the part we don’t have a lot of trouble with. With the amount of time we spend reading God’s Word, you would think that we would get the message, which is to get out and be a part of our Father’s business in this world, but we’re so focused on our objective, whether that’s spending an hour on it every day or finding new insights we’ve never noticed before or reading the whole book in 365 days, that we forget that the very words we are reading are telling us to GO. BE. JESUS. IN. THE. WORLD. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

I want to play you some audio. This is a story about a man who is mugged, and instead of fighting back, gives up his coat. You may be surprised to hear where the story goes. It’s a beautiful tale.

I don’t know if Julio Diaz is a Christian. He doesn’t say. I do know that on that day he acted like Christ. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives us this instruction:

38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

[Matthew 5:38-42]

Most of us are familiar with these words, and honestly, we treat them like hyperbole. Jesus doesn’t really mean to give up your coat or to walk two miles. Let me tell you something. In Jesus’ day, in Roman occupied Jerusalem, it was a law that a Roman soldier could force any citizen to carry his gear and equipment for a mile if he so chose. And the Jews in that day, proud as they were, thought that it was within their right to refuse, especially on the Sabbath. After all, this was Jerusalem, the land founded on YHWH’s principles (sound familiar?). Jesus goes the other way with it. Don’t just walk that begrudgingly, plotting or imagining your revenge the entire way. Be gracious. Go an extra mile, and in so doing, you will reveal yourself to be a Christ-follower.

That is my New Year’s resolution. I want to be like Julio Diaz, or more specifically, I want to be like Christ. Maybe you’re at a point in your spiritual journey where what you need is more time spent in God’s Word. God be with you. We want to walk alongside you if that’s what it takes. I’ve been putting together some Bible reading plans for our kids as they work on their LTC projects, and I’m happy to share those with you as well. However, I suspect that there are some of you who need to be challenged. If you’re reading God’s Word already, then you know what it says to do. Maybe you just haven’t gone out and actually done it yet. Make that your resolution. You know, a popular resolution is lose weight, and that’s a noble goal for sure.

It’s a long story about why Jodi and I watch this show, it has to do with one of our old neighbors, but we watch The Biggest Loser every week. I don’t necessarily recommend it. It’s trash TV. Manufactured drama, the challenges each week are exactly the same, sometimes the whole show is just a huge advertisement for a certain brand of turkey or treadmill. But I found some truth in it. They were showing one of the contestant’s before videos, where they basically talk about why they’re overweight and what their favorite foods are and all of that. Well, this man loved double cheeseburgers, and he would regularly eat 2 or 3 of these big huge burgers with grease falling off and everything, and he stopped eating for a second, looked at the camera, and he said, “I know this is bad for me, and I know I should be healthy, but I don’t want to start working out because I’m afraid that I’ll lose the taste for this burger, and that’s not something that I want.” The man didn’t want to let go of his cheeseburgers, even though he had diabetes and heart problems and he was way too overweight, and the thing is, he knew in his head that it was bad for him, but he wasn’t willing to give it up. Have you ever felt that way with sin? You know, the reason sin exists and is so prevalent is basically because it’s fun. You’re supposed to want to sin; that’s how The Accuser works. Maybe you’ve got a favorite sin, and sometimes you say to yourself, “I know this isn’t right, and I know I should stop, but I don’t want to because I’m not willing to let go of this.” Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

[INVITATION]

The Sermon on the Mount

2011-03-10T00:08:00.001-06:00

Here is a sermon I preached on Sunday on Matthew 7:24-29, based on the premise that Jesus' impossible teachings in the Sermon on the Mount can only mean that the solid foundation he asks us to build on is grace. (I actually accomplished this without making the obvious reference to a certain Caedmon's Call song in the process.) Comments welcome.

The Sermon on the Mount by happinessforblessing

Best Picture 2011: Reviewing All 10 Nominees

2011-02-26T21:03:00.002-06:00

This is the third year that I've reviewed all of the movies nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, but the first that I haven't dedicated a separate blog post to each one. I'm rather busy, what with the job and the upcoming baby and all. Oh, and did I mention that I now blog for a real website?

In any case, I did watch all 1o movies again and I've provided a short (in most cases) review for each one. In my opinion, this is one of the strongest years for nominees in recent memory, and I honestly liked all of them. The reviews, therefore, can sometimes take a negative tone, but that's because I'm nitpicking. I've ranked them all from #10 to #1 below. All you have to do is follow the jump.

10. Winter’s Bone 3.5/5

I’ve seen a lot of praise for this movie for accurately portraying the culture of methamphetamines in the Ozarks and how it turns people into animals. I agree with that. The setting is adequately drab and the actors did the best they could with the material, and there are some memorable scenes. The story, however, was entirely forgettable and not quite the world-changing narrative some would have you believe. I also took great issue with the way the children are treated as props instead of characters. There was a great opportunity to further humanize Ree, and by extension, Teardrop, but instead we are treated to occasional shots of the seemingly nameless kids playing on their trampoline. It was easy to sympathize with Ree based on the principle of her desire to raise her siblings properly, but not because of any sort of character development. Truly the only movie on the list I wouldn’t necessarily recommend to anybody.

9. The Kids Are All Right 3.5/5

What should have been a wonderfully touching statement about a family overcoming conflict was marred by two things: (1) Having ½ of a lesbian couple have an affair with a man perpetuated the stereotype that all gays are just straight people who are fooling themselves or living a lie, and (2) Having the conflict in a marriage manifest itself in an affair was an incredibly obvious and boring choice. I did think the ending was ultimately redeeming, while a tad bit cheesy, but not enough to cover the flaws present. Still, I think it’s worth a look.

8. The Fighter 4/5

The Academy loves boxing movies. The format allows for plenty of drama and commentary on the strength of the individual fighting spirit. The Fighter is no different, and it is a quality movie that manages to be about more than just boxing. Christian Bale is nothing short of amazing as Mickey’s cocaine-addicted half-brother, and his performance helps sell the family-oriented storyline, but what he brings to the table the gaggle of sisters takes away in equal measure. Their roles are lazily written and performed. They play the role of the unnecessary, annoying villain. It’s really a shame, because otherwise The Fighter had a chance to be mentioned among the great movies in a rich genre. As it is, I think it’s merely a pretty good movie.

7. True Grit 4/5

The Coen Brothers are often criticized for the endings of their movies. I am a noted supported of the Coens and have defended some of their more maligned endings (No Country for Old Men and A Serious Man) in the past, but I thought this time that the narrative framing device using Mattie Ross as an older woman was lazy and made an interesting character pretty unlikeable. The strong performances of several actors plus the fast-paced, witty dialogue made this an enjoyable flick, but I thought the story itself was formulaic and ultimately forgettable. It’s one of the better westerns in recent years, which I’m afraid is more an indictment of the genre than praise for the movie.

6. Black Swan 4/5

Just as The Fighter isn’t really a boxing movie, Black Swan isn’t really a ballet movie. Natalie Portman plays a ballerina who must make the transition from a dancer who possesses technical skill but must learn to dance with feeling, and gets lost in the role along the way. The result is a psychological thriller, one that culminates in a brilliant final sequence. While I did appreciate the parallelism between the story and the story within the story, I found the execution to be a little heavy-handed. Director Darren Aronofsky relies a little too much on horror clichés, such as Portman’s reflection not responding correctly (this actually happens twice, just in case you missed it the first time). Portman’s character has a “pure” personality and wears white; her foil has a bad girl attitude with a tattoo to match and wears black. This film is still very good and a must-see, but the excessive hand-holding places it outside the top tier of movies on the list this year.

5. The Social Network 4.5/5

How do you make a movie about a couple of lawsuits over intellectual property compelling without resorting to unnecessary courtroom theatrics? By focusing on the character development (or lack thereof) of a genuinely interesting person. Telling the story through flashbacks with the depositions as a framing device is effective as well. The Social Network is characterized by sharp wit and a penetrating look at a boy millionaire who has no friends and a million friends all at once. David Fincher has an excellent sense of pacing and does a great job of keeping the story moving. My quibble is with the unnecessary storyline with Eduardo’s crazy girlfriend. It seemed that the only purpose of exploring this relationship was to put a clip of a girl setting things on fire in the trailer, and that really bothered me. Otherwise, I thought it was a great character study that didn’t try to do too much but still accomplished quite a bit.

4. Toy Story 3 5/5

I love Pixar movies, so it’s not an insult for me to say that Toy Story 3 is probably third on my list of favorites produced by the studio (behind Up and Finding Nemo). However, I’ve found that whenever I mention this to people, they’re shocked I haven’t placed it immediately at Spot Number One. Toy Story 3 is probably the best of the Toy Story trilogy (again, high praise) and it had a great emotional impact on me, I’m not sure it belongs in the All-Time category. Like so many other Pixar masterpieces, it takes advantage of the medium and tells stories that wouldn’t be the same in live action. Toy Story 3 goes deeper than other animated movies dare to go, and the result isn’t sugarcoated, but somehow the ending is happy. That’s a hard line to walk. Have I praised the movie enough yet? My nitpicks with the movie have to do with some of the new characters. I didn’t think the Ken storyline was particularly compelling or funny, and I found Lotso to be a just a tad bit on the shallow side as a villain. Still, I hate that this movie will not be seriously considered as a contender because it’s animated. One of these days Pixar will win, and it won’t be because they finally made a good movie; it will be because their movies were finally accepted as legitimate. A year with several weak nominees will help, too.

3. The King’s Speech 5/5

The King’s Speech satisfies the Academy’s requirement that at least one nominee reference World War II, and specifically Hitler, but to saddle this movie with that distinction is really pretty unfair. Yes, the story revolves around the King of England’s ability to inspire solidarity among his countrymen at the outset of the war, but the focus is more on the King’s personal struggle than the implications for the common person, though I believe that side of the equation was handled very well. Most royal movies are epic and broad visually, but we never view the King from the point of view of the common man. Instead, when he stammers and stutters in the opening speech, the audience members are shown to be more embarrassed for the man than disappointed that they didn’t receive the inspiration they were searching for. The final triumph is far from perfect (which adds a sense of realism, by the way), but just the same the victory belongs to King George VI and his instructor Logue as much as it does the people, which I believe was the best way to handle this story. It’s the relationship between Logue and “Bertie” that keeps this story afloat, and Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush definitely have the chops to keep it interesting.

2. 127 Hours 5/5

I had incredibly low expectations going into this one, so that may have skewed my view of this movie, but I think I would have loved it anyway. My low expectations were due to my perception of the story as unwatchable. It takes 10 seconds to describe the real-life story (a guy goes hiking, gets his hand stuck, and has to cut it off to survive), and somehow Danny Boyle, who himself described the challenge of making this film by saying, “It’s an action film about a guy who can’t move,” made the story compelling for 94 minutes. He accomplished that by focusing only on the necessary elements of story and making quick cuts (the fantastic performance of James Franco helps, too). In addition, Boyle uses the real life video that Ralston himself shot as an inspiration and frames the narrative quite well. I also enjoyed the way he used the split-screen, something that bothered me when the film first started but which I quickly grew to appreciate. I love it when a director pushes the boundaries of what the art-form is capable of communicating without unnecessary flourish, and Boyle walked that line perfectly here. One more note: I love the authenticity. They actually filmed several scenes in the actual spot where the incident happened. This story from The Guardian featuring an interview with Aron Ralston further illustrates just how realistic the depiction was.

1. Inception 5/5

Inception is a summer blockbuster. It is epic in scope, was quite popular when it was released, has tons of special effects (though even less CGI than Christopher Nolan’s previous project, The Dark Knight), and it requires a massive suspension of disbelief to enjoy. In the months following its release, much was made of the ambiguous ending and of the complex rules that govern the world of the film. I believe that all of this has contributed to the backlash that Inception has seen in the popular culture.

I just don’t see it. This film is an absolute achievement in filmmaking, both technically and in terms of storytelling. Repeated viewings show that the complexity goes beyond just the framework of the story arc. Various reviewers have posited that the film stands as an allegory for filmmaking itself, while others suggest that Nolan was commenting more on relationship issues (compare the similarities between the relationships of Cobb and Mal, Fischer and his father, and lastly Cobb and his children). I believe one of the true marks of good art is that multiple interpretations of the same work are considered valid, and obviously this applies to the ending here as well.

I’d like to say something about the soundtrack. I noticed the soundtracks of most of the films nominated this year were very well done. If I had given myself more time and space and I was a proper reviewer I would probably be remiss if I didn’t mention the music in every single one of the movies here. I’ve come to the conclusion that the soundtrack is truly the “secret sauce” that will often elevate a movie from good to great. The music in Inception is outstanding. It complements the futuristic yet nostalgic setting of both the real world and the dream worlds perfectly. I believed that before I watched this video, and now I believe it even more, if that’s possible.

Let’s be honest with each other. I looked for a reason not to rank this movie #1. For a while I considered putting #2 on top, and truthfully I wouldn’t be upset a bit if it won. My motivation for looking to knock this film down a peg was the perception among cinephiles that Inception represents a dumbed down version of cinema that the “common people” enjoy, and if the plebes like it, something must be wrong with it. Usually, I’m actually one of those people. That Two and a Half Men is the most popular comedy on TV really, really bothers me. I consider most of the music on popular radio to be absolutely unlistenable. That doesn’t mean that a popular piece of art can’t be great, though, and I believe that’s the case here. Inception is a masterpiece, plain and simple, and it’s my pick for Best Picture of 2010.

Stockholm Syndrome

2010-08-22T16:37:00.001-05:00

A sermon I preached this morning on Revelation 13:1-4:

Stockholm Syndrome - Revelation 13:1-4 by happinessforblessing

So many "um"s!

Your 2010 MLB All-Stars (In a Perfect Universe)

2010-06-16T23:40:00.004-05:00

Every year, I do my best to present what the MLB All-Star rosters should look like. Let me know what you think in the comments.

NL

Catcher
Miguel Olivo, Rockies

Brian McCann, Braves

First Base
Albert Pujols, Cardinals

Prince Fielder, Brewers
Joey Votto, Reds
Adrian Gonzalez, Padres

Second Base
Chase Utley, Phillies

Martin Prado, Braves
Kelly Johnson, Diamondbacks

Third Base
Ryan Zimmerman, Nationals

David Wright, Mets

Shortstop
Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies

Hanley Ramirez, Marlins

Outfield
Marlon Byrd, Cubs
Andres Torres, Giants
Josh Willingham, Nationals

Andre Ethier, Dodgers
Andrew McCutchen, Pirates
Colby Rasmus, Cardinals
Ryan Ludwick, Cardinals
Michael Bourn, Astros

Starters
Roy Halladay, Phillies
Josh Johnson, Marlins
Ubaldo Jimenez, Rockies
Adam Wainwright, Cardinals
Tim Lincecum, Giants
Matt Cain, Giants

Relievers
Jonathan Broxton, Dodgers
Luke Gregerson, Padres
Sean Marshall, Cubs
Brian Wilson, Giants
Tyler Clippard, Nationals
Carlos Marmol, Cubs
Heath Bell, Padres

AL

Catcher
Joe Mauer, Twins

Victor Martinez, Red Sox

First Base
Justin Morneau, Twins

Kevin Youkilis, Red Sox
Miguel Cabrera, Tigers
Daric Barton, Athletics

Second Base
Robinson Cano, Yankees

Orlando Hudson, Twins

Third Base
Evan Longoria, Rays

Adrian Beltre, Red Sox

Shortstop
Derek Jeter, Yankees

Alex Gonzalez, Blue Jays

Outfield
Alex Rios, White Sox
Carl Crawford, Rays
Magglio Ordonez, Tigers

Shin-Soo Choo, Indians
Josh Hamilton, Rangers
Nick Markakis, Orioles
David DeJesus, Royals

Designated Hitter
Vladimir Guerrero

Starters
Francisco Liriano, Twins
Cliff Lee, Mariners
Jon Lester, Red Sox
Ricky Romero, Blue Jays
Jered Weaver, Angels
Phil Hughes, Yankees
Justin Verlander, Tigers

Relievers
Joel Zumaya, Tigers
Matt Thornton, White Sox
Darren Oliver, Rangers
Joba Chamberlain, Yankees
Grant Balfour, Rays
Frank Francisco, Rangers
Rafael Soriano, Rays

A Renouncement Announcement

2010-06-05T11:51:00.004-05:00

I posted this a couple of weeks ago (right before the Rangers vs. Cubs series in Arlington) on a message board where a couple of friends could see. I now offer it up to you.

Let's talk about Milton Bradley, shall we?

You will all remember that he spent the 2008 season in a Rangers uniform. He had a great season. He got a well-deserved invite to the All-Star Game. He was even well-behaved, something that has been attributed to Ron Washington's superior clubhouse mojo, or some other spectacular lie like that. (Separate rant: I want Wash out as manager. He has the in-game management skills of celery, to borrow a quote from Dave Barry. The thing that's got him holding on is that he is a players' manager. Players just love playing for the guy, which is worth something I guess, but not really a whole lot when he orders his leadoff man who has an OBP of .420 to sacrifice bunt IN THE FIFTH INNING. Anyway, I blame Milton Bradley that he's still around. He behaved here, then continued to act a fool when he left. So of course that's got to be Washington's influence, and so now he can do a line of coke if he wants and still hold on to his job, despite the fact that he is literally losing us games out there. Okay, separate rant over, at least for now.)

Anyway, that 2008 season was nice (at least for Bradley; it's pretty sad that the one thing people remember about the 2008 Rangers season happened during All-Star Weekend), but for whatever reason, Bradley walked. I'm not complaining about that; we got Tanner Scheppers with his compensation pick. What's important in this story is that Bradley went and signed with the team we begin a series against tonight: The Chicago Cubs.

If you know me, you know that I have a history with this team. I wrote a post last time the Cubs were in town trying to explain my sports bigamy. Well, a funny thing happened when Uncle Milton landed in Chicago: he turned back into himself. In an interview he gave after arriving in Seattle, Bradley attributed his behavior problems to the city of Chicago, which is of course laughable. Maybe, though, this is closer to the truth than it seems.

Most people who don't follow the Cubs very closely think that Bradley's problems began after that game when he threw the ball into the stands after miscounting how many outs there were. (Sorry for the crappy video quality in the link, blame MLB's outdated policies on sharing video) The fact is, his problems came long before that. You see, what I wasn't fully aware of was the reputation of the Bleacher Bums at Wrigley Field. Sure, I knew they were bad. Put a bunch of drunks out in the sun and crude stuff is going to happen. What I didn't know was all of the racist stuff that went down, even against Cubs players themselves. When I read that article (seriously, click on the link) last April, I was blindsided. It was like the air was let out of my little balloon. Do you realize that Torii Hunter has the Cubs on his no-trade list because of that nonsense? I told myself that the article referenced isolated incidences, and I moved on. However, I found myself caring a little less about the team. I probably wouldn't have even noticed, but being a fan of two teams you start to realize that one team's wins and losses mean more than the others. Not a huge deal, but I wasn't exactly switching between FSN and WGN on Sunday afternoons like I used to. Yet, I hung on to my Official Cubs Fan Card (I don't actually have one of those). Then, this happened. It probably wouldn't be a big deal in my mind, because after all, it was just one guy throwing a beer - there's an idiot in every crowd. But when I got home and watched the game back, I realized something - the rest of the fans cheered after that happened. Not cool. So I did what any good fan would do - I tried to put it out of my mind.

It's not the team, it's the fanbase. But you know what? We're all cheering for laundry out there. The second Vladimir Guerrero put a Rangers uniform on, I was in love. I hate Mark Teixeira now. It's not just about the players. Our love for team transcends players, and if the rest of the fans really really suck, I think you eventually have to give up.

Besides, isn't it true that being a fan isn't just about rationality? I mean sure, hate the Yankees and the Red Sox because of who they are, but I didn't root for the Cubs because I wanted to root for a team that hasn't won a title in 100 years, it's because there's an emotional attachment there. But that attachment for me is gone. If I flip over to WGN and see the Cubs playing, I get excited because there's Wrigley Field and the 7th inning stretch is awesome, but I don't really care that much whether or not they lose, and you can't rationalize yourself into caring.

So, I'm making it official. It's a breakup. I am renouncing my fanship of the Chicago Cubs. It's actually been this way for a while, I just haven't been able to admit it. I still think Wrigley Field is the greatest venue in all of sports. It's just the drunks in the bleachers that I'm renouncing. I'll still keep my Wrigley Field poster on my wall, and I'll still jump at every chance to go visit. If I had to do it again, I'd still name my dog Wrigley. Lots of other things will stay with me, too, like my affinity for the late, great Harry Caray and my fanship of individual players, like Aramis Ramirez and Derrek Lee. And you know what? If the Cubs were to go to the World Series and they played someone besides the Rangers, I'd probably still cheer for them, just not the same way. Oh, and one more thing: I'll always hate the Brewers and the Astros. That will never change.

Fox News

2010-04-21T00:12:00.002-05:00

"You're criticizing me for not living up to your tagline. And you dismiss any criticism as further evidence of how the rest of the media persecute you. You like to pretend, Bernie Goldberg and Fox News, that the relentless conservative activism of Fox News is the equivalent of the disorganized liberal influence you find on ABC, NBC, and CBS. You may be able to detect a liberal pathogen in their bloodstream, however faint, but Fox News is such a crazy overreaction to that perceived threat. You're like an autoimmune disorder. I'm not saying the virus doesn't exist in some small quantity, but you're producing way too many antibodies. Fox News, you are the lupus of news." - Jon Stewart

Master of the Sea

2010-04-08T18:44:00.003-05:00

A sermon I preached on March 21, 2010 on Mark 4:35-41:

Master of the Sea - Mark 4:35-41 by happinessforblessing

Sorry for the poor quality. This is a recording of a recording and will have to do for now. Feedback (both positive and negative) welcomed and encouraged!

Best Picture Review #10: The Blind Side

2010-03-09T11:08:00.003-06:00

This concludes my review of all the movies nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards this year. Click here to view my final ranking.

If I had to sum up my criticism of The Blind Side in one word, it would be this: Caricature. Everything is overdone. Teachers at Michael Oher's teachers dismiss him for no apparent reason, save for one brave soul who dares to do her job. Leigh Anne Tuohy's rich lunch buddies have zero depth. Their racism stops just short of being rally-worthy. The football coach is horribly portrayed as a gutless idiot. Sandra Bullock's Southern accent is atrocious. There's a comically bad recruiting montage, complete with juvenile-level acting from actual college coaches. (By the way, why is Nick Saban shown recruiting Oher to Alabama? He was actually head coach of the Miami Dolphins at the time.) There's a scene (shown in all the previews and on the late night shows) where Mrs. Tuohy interrupts practice to inspire Michael to pretend the quarterback is her and he is to protect him as he would her. The scene is praised because it captures the psyche of the Southern woman so well. It does, but are we really supposed to believe that Michael is so dense that this is what inspires him to play great football?

There were positives. I don't mean to imply that there are not. While I do believe that Sandra Bullock's accent was over the top, she absolutely nailed the mannerisms of a Southern woman, as I noted above. Jae Head was absolutely great as the adoptive little brother SJ. The framing of the story was fine. Overall, though, TBS suffers from campiness.

It's really a shame, because the true story that lies behind the movie is inspiring and deserved better treatment. I heard many people, especially Christians (there are many references to "Christian duty" in the story, and Michael is placed in a Christian high school), lauding The Blind Side as a quality family-friendly movie. I hate the false barrier that many try to place between the "Christian world" and the "secular world," but if it exists, I don't think we're doing ourselves any favors when we try to sell mediocrity to secular society as quality. The main reason The Blind Side fails, in my opinion, is that there is virtually no ambiguity contained in the story. There is a tendency in the mainstream Christian movement to avoid shades of gray, and this is where our credibility is in question, because there is gray everywhere. 2.5/5

Best Picture Review #9: The Hurt Locker

2010-03-08T20:19:00.002-06:00

The Hurt Locker is a rare war movie in that it doesn't seem to have an agenda. Its primary message, "War is a drug," is explicitly stated at the beginning and hammered home throughout the entire film.

I see this primarily as a good thing, by the way. Most recent war movies delve too heavily into the "Should we be there?" question, rather than acknowledging that we are there and dealing with the issues at hand. THL wastes no time. One of the bigger name actors in the movie is cast into the role of a soldier that dies in the first 10 minutes. I imagine that some people weren't fazed by this, but it rattled me. From that point on, it seemed that no character was guaranteed to make it to the end of the movie, making the already well-shot and focused bomb-defusing scenes even more tense. There are plenty of memorable scenes, the best one being at the end where the protagonist stands in the grocery store looking at a wall of cereal boxes. How is it possible that this world and the world the rest of the movie is set in are compatible?

I have seen the tight cinematography listed in reviews as the major strength of The Hurt Locker, but to me it is the cat-and-mouse game that is played between the bomb makers and the bomb defusers. Each bomb is more complex than the last, and the interesting thing is the Iraqis will stick around to see whether or not they win. This exploration of the tactical game is rare in war movies.

I think where THL goes awry, though, is when Sgt. James reaches his breaking point. It's hard enough to believe that a three-man explosives team like this exists in the first place, but I was willing to overlook this until James makes his bad decision, and then the whole thing fell apart as unbelievable to me. There is absolutely no way that there is no CO that he reports to. The only consequence of his action was that the affected party cursed at him a little. In the large scheme of things, this inexcusable scene bumps this movie down from an all-time Top 10 war movie to merely an above-average one. It's that big of a deal for me. 4/5

Best Picture Recap: Ranking the Nominees

2010-03-07T16:37:00.007-06:00

I haven't posted my reviews for The Hurt Locker or The Blind Side yet. I have seen them; I just need to write them up. They will be posted later tonight or tomorrow. I wanted to get my rankings up before the actual ceremony, though. This the order that I personally rank them, not a prediction.

1. Inglourious Basterds
2. Up
3. A Serious Man
4. Avatar
5. Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
6. The Hurt Locker
7. An Education
8. Up in the Air
9. District 9
10. The Blind Side

Best Picture Review #8: A Serious Man

2010-03-07T08:54:00.001-06:00

You should know this up front: I'm a sucker for well-done Biblical allusion. A Serious Man takes the story of Job and applies it to a Jewish man in 1967, and the result is a wonderfully deep tale that questions the role of God in our affairs.

Nothing is going right in the life of Physics professor Larry Gopnik's life. He uses pithy illustrations about cats to teach complicated physics problems, then gets frustrated with a student when he focuses on the illustration rather than the math behind it. When the Junior Rabbi uses a similar hokey analogy to try to explain why everything in his life is going bad, his frustration goes. Larry doesn't "understand the math" behind why Hashem isn't bailing him out of his situation. At one point, he is standing on his roof trying to get better reception on his aerial antenna (brilliant symbolism), when he notices his neighbor sunbathing naked. Sound familiar? There are at least a dozen other allusions, and none of them seem forced or extraneous.

The most poignant is Larry's feeble quest to speak with Rabbi Marshak, the oldest and wisest of the clergymen. Like Job, he is turned away. In A Serious Man, the protagonist can see into Rabbi Marshak's office and tell that he isn't busy, but he is told there is no time for him to be seen. Eventually, Larry's son Danny is the one that is allowed to go in and speak to him, and the Rabbi is surprisingly not as serious as you might think. (The title is also spoken in the film about another character, but it works on many levels.) Marshak finds meaning in a Jefferson Airplane song, but whether or not Danny appreciates the Rabbi's attention or interpretation is in question.

I want to step aside and think about the son for a minute. I think that on one level, he is the key to the entire story. Larry is without a doubt the protagonist, but much of his final acceptance is based on his relationship with Danny. For that, I am very grateful for the way the Coen Brothers treated his part of the story. On the other hand, I absolutely hated the Bar Mitzvah scene. I read somewhere (can't find the link) that the idea of a kid being high at his own Bar Mitzvah was the original idea that the screenplay came from, but it seems like the script evolved enough that this scene came from a completely different movie. I thought it was wholly unnecessary, and so were Danny's friends that ride the bus with him. Maybe there's a way that they fit in that makes sense, but I've been thinking about this movie constantly for three days and it continues to bewilder me. In fact, I don't think I've been so internally conflicted about the quality of a movie before.

My conclusion (subject to change) is that A Serious Man is a brilliant movie that gets bogged down by a couple of extraneous plotlines, but it's still very much worth a viewing. The ending shot alone (a whirlwind, which some people claim whispers right before the credits roll) is worth the experience. 4.5/5

Best Picture Review #7: Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire

2010-03-04T20:31:00.000-06:00

I didn't want to give Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire a chance. From what I knew about the plot (a girl with a bad home life is redeemed by education), I had seen this movie before. I was partly right. There's not a whole lot in the story that differentiates it from the crowd of inspirational movies of the same ilk. There's a teacher who goes out of her way to give Precious individual attention, even though she's been left behind by the system. A social worker and a nurse fill the same roles, and because of them Precious gains the confidence she needs to take care of herself. Much of her motivation comes from her new child. It's the same old stuff. And you know what? It's a decent story. Why else would producers green light so many films with that same plot?

There are two things that make Precious stand out from all those other cookie cutter movies: the first is the way director Lee Daniels handles Precious' first person account. Daniels slips in between reality and fantasy throughout the narration and exposition of the film, to great effect. Even during the lowest moments of Precious' life (and boy, are they low), she is daydreaming about how it could be better. The dreams are vivid and somehow both far-fetched and realistic. What this allows Daniels to do is inject hope into an utterly hopeless situation without cheapening or watering down the story. I also appreciated the use of the handheld camera in certain situations to emphasize where Precious' focus was (although it tended to be distracting in parts).

The other distinctive feature of Precious is the realistic depiction of the moral ambiguity of the secondary characters. Daniels chooses not to paint the teacher and the social worker and the nurse as merely perfect selfless robots, but as normal people trapped in the system who happen to be performing extraordinary heroic acts on Precious' behalf. This ambiguity, personified especially by the performances of Paula Patton, Mariah Carey (yes, that Mariah Carey), and Lenny Kravitz (yes, that Lenny Kravitz) is what pushes Precious from good to great. 4.5/5

Best Picture Review #6: An Education

2010-03-03T15:01:00.001-06:00

To say that An Education is a coming of age story almost does it a disservice. Yes, it's primarily about a 16 year-old girl's education (both on the street and in the classroom), but director Lone Scherfig accomplishes so much more than that. Scherfig tells a compelling story about Jenny's ill-advised romance with a much older man, and along the way manages to slip in commentary about the role that education plays in a patriarchal society without being distracting or overbearing.

Mostly, though, the film does examine the education Jenny receives from David. Their on-screen romance is awkward at best, but I think that's what makes the film work. Jenny was never really in love with David himself, but with the idea of being liberated and whisked away to France while her man-friend does his Eddie Haskell routine with her normally overbearing father.

I really enjoyed the treatment that Scherfig gives to Jenny's character. As she gets more and more wrapped up in her "adult" life, Jenny's surroudings, costumes, hair, demeanor, and disposition transform as well. It is clear that this experience has changed her. Is it for the better? The film almost lets you make that decision for yourself, but the ambiguity is lost in the terrible ending.

An Education is based on a true story. The real Jenny, Lynn Barber, wrote a short memoir about it, which can be found here (major spoilers). The film remains very truthful to Barber's account, but the ending takes her conclusions and goes in a completely different direction. Consider the following statement from Barber (spoiler, highlight to read):

What did I get from Simon? An education - the thing my parents always wanted me to have. I learned a lot in my two years with Simon. I learned about expensive restaurants and luxury hotels and foreign travel, I learned about antiques and Bergman films and classical music. All this was useful when I went to Oxford - I could read a menu, I could recognise a fingerbowl, I could follow an opera, I was not a complete hick. But actually there was a much bigger bonus than that. My experience with Simon entirely cured my craving for sophistication. By the time I got to Oxford, I wanted nothing more than to meet kind, decent, straightforward boys my own age, no matter if they were gauche or virgins. I would marry one eventually and stay married all my life and for that, I suppose, I have Simon to thank.

Why, then, does Jenny narrate that she'll act is if she'd never been to Paris? It seems as if the screenwriters are trying to insert a happy ending into a story that already has one, which to me killed all the emotional momentum the film had going for it. Still, up until that point An Education is a fantastic character study, and for that reason alone I recommend watching it. 4/5

Best Picture Review #5: Inglourious Basterds

2010-03-02T23:27:00.002-06:00

At the end of Inglourious Basterds, one of the main characters looks at the screen and says, "This just might be my masterpiece." The implication, of course, is that the movie itself is Quentin Tarantino's masterpiece, an assertion that may actually be correct.

Tarantino's quirky fingerprints are all over IB, from the misspelled title (speculated to be accidental in this humorous post) to the film's complete (and obviously purposeful) lack of historical accuracy. These quirks are very off-putting to many, but as a QT apologist, I see the value in many of the oddball things he does. An example: In the very tense 21-minute opening scene, Colonel Hans Landa (superbly portrayed by Christoph Waltz, my pick for Best Actor) and Perrierr LaPadite are speaking in French (they are in France, after all) when Colonel Landa casually suggests that they switch to English. When watching it the first time, I inwardly groaned, thinking this was one of THOSE movies where the foreign characters speak English only so that American audiences won't complain about having to read subtitles. I should have known that this would end up being an important plot point, and it was. (Of course, it opens up a possible plot hole at the end; if you've seen the movie, think about the inserted scene in the theater.)

Overall, I think Tarantino uses his powers for good here. His over-the-top violent style actually seems quite perfect for the subject matter. Likewise, The double Mexican Standoff scene (another Tarantino trademark), while ridiculous, doesn't seem unnecessary and actually serves to move the plot along quite nicely while adding a layer of intrigue to the proceedings when the separate storylines start to intertwine.

This convergence of the seemingly very different stories is nothing short of masterful. The protagonists of each story never even meet, but they are kindred spirits in many ways. One, Shoshanna, is motivated by personal revenge, while the other, Lt. Aldo Raine, seems to be spurred on by a sense of justice (as well as a desire for scalps). Each faces significant obstacle to achieving their purpose, and while it may seem far-fetched that each has to go through Col. Landa to get there, the confrontations don't feel forced at all. In the end, both the effectiveness and futility of each character's actions are represented by the American Jews that stand on a balcony shooting at people who are dying in a theater fire anyway. In Tarantino's world, the final victory is both inevitable and completely dependent on the resolve of the major players. The resulting tension is profound.

I'm not sure that you could have planned for a greater irony than for this film to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. Holocaust and other World War II flicks are invariably highly favored by the Academy, and Inglourious Basterds is as close to a parody of the genre as you can get while remaining respectful. Even so, it never feels like a parody. It is indeed a masterpiece. 5/5

Best Picture Review #4: Up

2010-02-18T16:08:00.002-06:00

There's a cliché that the judges on American Idol love to overuse: "S/he could sing the phone book and it would still be good." Well, I'm going to use a modified version of it at least one more time: The people at Pixar could make a movie about the phone book and it would still be compelling. Up wasn't the first Pixar movie I went into expecting a train wreck - I didn't really think a movie about a fish swimming across the ocean to find his lost son would be that compelling - but once again, I find myself in awe.

If you think about it, every single one of the Pixar films has at least one memorable scene that advances the plot without using a single spoken word, and I think that's what makes their films distinctive. In Up, they have perfected the art. Consider the following scene (it's from the first act, so there's no spoilers here):

That's not even the only important scene to utilize this technique. The adult Ellie has no lines, yet she's an important character all the way to the end.

There's plenty to be said about the words that are spoken as well. The characters that you don't expect to talk are maybe the funniest, and they provide comic relief at all the right times. This device in lesser hands would have been a serious detriment to the overall feel of the movie, but directors Pete Docter and Bob Peterson made sure that the silly elements didn't dominate.

Ultimately, Up is about how one man deals with grief, and while I'm typically skeptical of movies where everything is wrapped up neatly at the end, the storytelling here is so masterful that I don't think viewers should feel cheated. In fact, the inclusion of the stowaway and the relationship he develops with Carl makes it that much more believable, not to mention more relatable. Up is the first animated movie since Beauty and the Beast to be nominated for Best Picture, and the distinction is more than deserved. I can't think of another animated movie that's tried to do so much and succeeded. 5/5

Best Picture Review #3: District 9

2010-02-16T00:35:00.002-06:00

First-time director Neill Blomkamp wants you to know that District 9 is an important movie. Nothing is more obvious in the first act of the film. If you didn't get the District 6 reference in the title, Blomkamp hits you over the head with repeated mentions of South Africa, then ups the ante by naming his protagonist van der Merwe (There's an entire genre of jokes in South Africa devoted to a bumbling idiot named van der Merwe - here's one example). The first 10 minutes skewers bureaucratic inadequacy and exposes human nature's xenophobic tendencies in no uncertain terms.

As the mockumentary structure advances the storyline, it becomes increasingly apparent that the audience is being set up for a huge bait-and-switch (minor spoilers ahead). Wikus van der Merwe's eventual victimization is fairly predictable, but the manner in which his rejection comes to be was a pleasant surprise to me. His somewhat Kafka-esque metamorphosis provides some of the more poignant and thought-provoking scenes of the film. The scene where Wikus' wife Tania calls him back - apparently after much deliberation; Blomkamp takes care to tell us plenty of time has passed - and accepts him despite his compromised state was a particularly touching scene.

However, the problem with that precise scene underscores the problem of the film of the whole - the story runs out of steam and starts to rely on action movie cliches. When watching the scene in question the first time, I was hung up on the idea that the phone call might be a trap set by fictional MNU to get a fix on the cell phone location. (Sorry to be so vague. If you've seen the movie, you understand that I'm trying to avoid spoiling too much.) In fact, MNU has not thought of this and is apparently resigned to spreading negative propaganda. The subsequent scenes resemble a capture the flag game that could have been in the Halo movie that Blomkamp and producer Peter Jackson were reportedly working on before moving on to District 9.

While the final act seems weak due to way too many last-second close calls, it could have been redeemed had the relationship between van der Merwe and Christopher Johnson been stronger. D9 tries to sell Wikus' final act as selfless and sacrificial, but given his repeated pleas to Johnson to "fix him," his transformation as a character rings false.

In light of this disappointing denouement, the promise of a cutting commentary on humanity that District 9 makes at the outset seems hollow. The effect is almost as if the two halves of the movie were written by two different people, which is entirely possible given the split screenwriting credit. I wrote this review once before deleting it and writing a more favorable review (it may not sound like it, but there's plenty to like here), but eventually I came back and rewrote the original one. I don't think it's overly harsh to be down on the movie as a whole because it doesn't live up to its own lofty expectations, especially when they're made so explicit as I outlined above. I look forward to a more experienced director remaking this movie in 20 years. A successful formula for the fictional future director living in my head would be to keep the first two-thirds of the story and then to take the ending in a completely different direction. Here's hoping. 3.5/5

Best Picture Review #2: Up in the Air

2010-02-09T19:24:00.011-06:00

This review contains minor spoilers. You've been warned.

Let's think about the standard components of a standard romantic comedy. Funny? Check. A girl teaches a guy to stop being selfish and open up to others? Check. Said guy realizes this important fact at the exact moment that he's about to achieve his life goal, resulting in him going silent, then bolting for the door and ignoring requests to stay, followed by a "running through the airport and getting to the gate just in time" scene so he can go see her? Oh yeah.

Up in the Air is without a doubt a romantic comedy on the surface. Go snorkeling a little bit, though, and you'll find that there's so much more.

At its very core, UitA has a philosophical question for you - is having and cultivating relationships worth the trouble, or is having that much weight on your shoulders holding you back - personally or professionally? It's not a unique question for Hollywood - the content itself doesn't differentiate itself from, say, The Family Man starring Nicolas Cage, but the execution in answering that question sets it apart.

How so? For me, the scene that forces the issue is the one in Detroit. They're testing they're new technological way of firing people, which results in an odd set-up where Ryan (George Clooney) and Natalie (Anna Kendrick) are firing people from the next room. Ryan, a man who believes in keeping people at a distance, has been resisting the changes because he knows that helping someone "transition" requires a personal touch, but he hasn't noticed the tension until now. In the moment where a just-fired distraught employee walks past their conference room, Ryan gets it. I love it when the moment of realization in a character study is palpable like this. The director, Jason Reitman, also did Juno and Thank You for Smoking, and this is exactly what makes those movies great as well. In each of these three movies, you can see the main characters cognitively recognize how they're supposed to change, and here's the rub: they never do it right away. Isn't it like that in real life? It takes some time to change your actions even after you've changed your belief system.

Of course, what this does is set up a cheesy moment like the one I mentioned at the beginning, with the running through the airport and all. If you haven't seen the movie and you've read this far, I've already ruined it for you anyway, so I don't mind telling you that this actually happens. This is the struggle that I have with UitA: it was an amazing character study. All three characters did brilliantly. For the most part, the narrative structure was tight and purposeful. But it seemed like Reitman didn't know how to end it. The twist at the end was believable, but lazy. MAJOR SPOILER (highlight to read): Sure, the fact that Alex had a real family allowed her to say that line about Ryan being her escape from real life, but then why did she agree to go to the wedding? A better plot line would have been for her to have several other "escapes" that she encountered on the road. And let's not forget the gigantic elephant in the room: product placement. Call me a purist, but that was way too much. Overall, I really liked Up in the Air, but it suffered from some fatal flaws that make me wonder why it was nominated for Best Picture. 4/5

Best Picture Review #1: Avatar

2010-02-05T23:29:00.001-06:00

I will be reviewing all of the Best Picture nominees in the days leading up to the Academy Awards on Sunday, March 7, just as I did last year. (You can find those reviews by clicking "Academy Awards" under "Labels" to the right.)

It would be very easy to pigeon-hole Avatar as a movie that is heavy on special effects with a story that seems to be borrowed from other well-known works. I did that very thing with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button last year. While that description would not necessarily be untrue for Avatar, I don't think it's fair.

First, let's talk about special effects, which almost seems like a misnomer. Effects implies that something was added in post-production, and nothing could be further from the truth here. According the The New Yorker (link NSFW - language), Avatar is "the first big-budget action blockbuster [shot] in 3-D." James Cameron wrote the script in 1994, but the technology wasn't good enough to actually shoot the idea. It wasn't until he saw Gollum on screen in one of the LOTR movies that he was convinced that the technology was ready, and even then he basically had to invent his own camera to accomplish what he did.

The result is absolutely breathtaking. Cameron is quoted as saying (back in early 2007!), "Ideally at the end of the day the audience has no idea which they're looking at," and in my opinion, he accomplished just that. There were only a couple of instances in the entire 162 minutes that didn't ring true to me, but those were very easily overlooked. (An example would be at about 2:56 of this video, where one Avatar pushes another and it just doesn't look quite right - understand that I'm really nitpicking here.) Have I said enough about the technical achievement yet? If you haven't seen it, go watch it in 3-D at the theater while you still can. This will probably be the first movie that's done an injustice by putting it on Blu-ray.

The vast majority of the criticisms I've heard about Avatar concern the story. Let me summarize them for you: it's not completely original. A simple internet search led me to comparisons of Dances with Wolves, Delgo, Dune, FernGully, The Last Samurai, Pocahontas, and many, many others. While it is true that Avatar and several of these movies share common archetypes, I don't think that this really diminishes the story arc at all. Cameron's screenplay challenges militarism and ethnocentricism (among many other topics), and since we apparently aren't getting the message, I'm okay with stories that attempt to engage these topics in a fresh way. If anything, the message is a little heavy-handed. Note to Mr. Cameron: Using the phrase "shock and awe" is the opposite of subtlety.

My quibbles with Avatar concern more of the same problems that affect other Hollywood blockbusters: too many shallow characters (especially Col. Quaritch and Trudy), cheesy one-liners, monologues given by the bad guys before they die, and plot twists that exist solely to justify more explosions. In a regular action flick, it's easy to overlook these flaws, but not in this case, at least not for me. Avatar aspires to be included among the Pantheon of Great Movies, and while I certainly agree that it will go down in history as a hugely influential work, it falls short of being an all-time great. 4.5/5.

The Book of Eli

2010-01-17T22:49:00.005-06:00

Warning! This post contains major spoilers for "The Book of Eli." I strongly recommend that you see the movie before reading this.

The Book of Eli is, for lack of a better term, prophetic. I hedge my bets a little because this interview leads me to believe that perhaps I'm drawing more meaning from the movie than perhaps the filmmakers are themselves. Still, I believe that God can speak through people despite their intentions. Even if you can't go there with me, I think you'll agree that there are "lessons" to be found in the ordinary.

Depending on your viewpoint, the message of TBoE is either really good or really terrible news. This wasn't evident to me immediately, but upon further reflection I have come to this conclusion. I believe this is true for other works in the same genre. Perhaps the most famous entry in the Apocalyptic tradition, Revelation, contains an extensive passage that explicitly backs up this claim. In Chapter 18, Babylon, the symbol of excess wealth (among many other things) falls, and the people who have built their lives on the sandy ground of materialism weep for it. In the very next chapter, the multitude who have been calling for its destruction celebrate the one who destroyed it. Two groups of people witnessed the crumbling of an empire and had completely different reactions to it.

So it is in TBoE. When asked about the difference between the world they live in versus the one before "The Flash," the titular character observes: "People had more than they needed...we threw away things people kill each other for now." This is the thought of a man who is not invested in the culture of STUFF. In fact, this is the thought of a man who is truly on a mission from God. Contrast his attitude with that of Carnegie. The entire infrastructure of the world has collapsed. Roads and bridges are no more, cannibalism and "hijacking" is commonplace, and even the currency system has been replaced by bartering. Yet Carnegie is a man who is so in love with capitalizing on capitalism that he hoards what is probably the most precious resource in the world (water) and uses his coercive power to gain more power. He exploits the weaknesses of others. Optimistically, we would call him an opportunist. Either way, you have to admit that he is smart. And because he is smart, he knows that one surefire way to control people is through religion.

We Christians don't like to admit that this is true. We're not under anybody's control but our own, we say. (Church of Christ-ers have a particular independent spirit due, in no small part, to the autonomy of our congregations.) But if we're honest with ourselves, how often do we use religion as a means of control over others, both within and without the Church?

There's so much more I want to talk about in regards to this movie - the symbolism of the blind man being the one that "sees" the best and the weak shaming the strong, the fact that Eli's ultimate destination is nicknamed "The Rock," the moral ambiguity of Eli ignoring the women getting raped so he can complete his mission, the subtle and not-so-subtle references the director makes to other post-apocalyptic and dystopic works, and so on. This post was originally a lot longer and rambled more, if that's possible. But ultimately, I cut it down because I want to discuss this question with you. Whose side are we on? When our infrastructure crumbles, are we going to be rejoicing because we have been faithful to the Word of God, or are we going to be devastated because we've used the Word of God as a false pretense to wield power over others?

The 2006 Rose Bowl, Part 2 - Alabama Gets Overhyped

2010-01-07T08:56:00.005-06:00

National Championship Game. Texas is in it. So is another undefeated school, a media darling. Texas' quarterback has already had a career that few could dream of, yet he was snubbed for the Heisman again this year. This time, the winner is the running back for the team they're about to play in the title game. The teams have no common opponents, yet most of the populace and even more of the pundits are going with the traditional power. After all, the Big 12 is weak, and Texas struggled against Texas A&M of all teams, only beating them by 10 or 11 points. Don't forget that they can't run the ball.

Listen, I know it's not the 2005 Longhorns that are going to take the field tonight against Alabama, but it sure has that feel. I remember the hype surrounding the Trojans before the game was even played. Mark May, Kirk Herbstreit, and Colin Cowherd were just some ESPN employees who were crowning USC as one of the best college football teams of all time. It turns out that they weren't even the best team that year. This time around, it's not so much Alabama getting the love as it is the SEC. For the past few years, we've heard so much about how great the SEC is that people simply state as fact that they're the best conference, hands down. I don't buy it, and I really don't see how it's relevant. The Big 12 is not playing the SEC tonight. Texas is playing Alabama.

Another reason you can't just assume tonight's game will be a walkover for the Tide: you cannot use the transitive property in sports. People try to do it in college football more than any other sport because when two teams from different conferences get together, there's almost no common opponents. This doesn't happen in real leagues where the league sets the schedule. The problem is, comparing Alabama's win over Florida to Texas' win over Nebraska, for example, is insane. Just the same way, you can't go back in the season and compare Texas' 34-24 win over Texas Tech to Alabama's 34-24 win over Virginia Tech. The reason is that there are way too many variables to consider. People like to use the phrase "comparing apples to oranges" a lot, but I think that analogy was originally used about college football teams. If it wasn't, it should have been.

Finally, the coaching. Alabama folks will tell you that Nick Saban is a great football coach. They may be right. He does a great job of getting his boys ready to play from week to week. The problem is, the National Championship Game is played over a month after the last bit of action. Saban has won a title before, so he can't be terrible at this, but it's not like he's great at it either. In 10 bowl games, his record is 4-6 overall and 1-1 at Alabama, including that embarassment last year against Utah. Mack Brown is 11-5 overall and 8-3 while at Texas. The point is, Mack can coach 'em up when he has a month to prepare for a team, while Saban's ability to do so is questionable at best. Let's not forget that the players in this game are kids. That's the number one thing people overlook when talking about college football, in my opinion. Professionals don't care what the media says; they just line up and play. College kids are affected. When a team is discounted, they tend to play inspired, while teams that have already been crowned tend to play with a sense of entitlement. (By the way, I think that's what happened in the Big 12 Championship Game. Another circumstantial part of the game that people fail to consider when comparing apples and oranges) In 2006, Mack Brown said the following in his press conference the day of the game: "I would like to thank all of the members of the media. I don’t even have to make a pep talk.” He could probably say the same thing today, and I think that's reason enough for Alabama to be scared.

ATTN: Bono Haters

2010-01-04T20:32:00.003-06:00

Lots of people love to hate Bono, the lead singer of U2. A lot of it has to do with his perceived vapid self-importance.

I disagree with this viewpoint. I've been paying attention to Bono's guest columns with the New York Times, and they have been intelligent, articulate, and relevant. Here's a list of his Top 10 something or others of the next decade. (I didn't say he could stay on topic.)

There's not a comment page on the NYT website (probably a good thing), so I'm interested to hear your thoughts.

The Best Comedy Movie of the 2000's is...

2009-12-08T23:52:00.004-06:00

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story

Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive, and...Dodge.

Thanks to all who voted.

The final list, from 1-64 (ties broken using a combination of voting results and original seeding):

1. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
2. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
3. Zoolander
4. Hot Fuzz
5. The Hangover
6. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
7. Elf
8. The Simpsons Movie
9. Shaun of the Dead
10. The School of Rock
11. Wedding Crashers
12. Napoleon Dynamite
13. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
14. Meet the Parents
15. Knocked Up
16. Kung Fu Panda
17. Stranger Than Fiction
18. Shrek
19. Super Troopers
20. Old School
21. The 40 Year Old Virgin
22. Hitch
23. Thank You for Smoking
24. 50 First Dates
25. Bruce Almighty
26. Little Miss Sunshine
27. The Royal Tenenbaums
28. Juno
29. The Replacements
30. Starsky & Hutch
31. The Emperor's New Groove
32. Shanghai Noon
33. Step Brothers
34. Get Smart
35. Tropic Thunder
36. Role Models
37. Monsters, Inc.
38. Accepted
39. I Love You, Man
40. Anger Management
41. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
42. Superbad
43. Click
44. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
45. Dan in Real Life
46. The Longest Yard
47. Ratatouille
48. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
49. Blades of Glory
50. Meet the Fockers
51. Be Cool
52. You, Me, and Dupree
53. Mr. and Mrs. Smith
54. Fun with Dick and Jane
55. Analyze That
56. Sideways
57. My Big Fat Greek Wedding
58. Finding Nemo
59. Pineapple Express
60. The Benchwarmers
61. Jackass Number Two
62. Orange County
63. Clerks II
64. Shanghai Knights

The Entire Bracket

Round 1

Round 2

Sweet 16

Elite 8

Final 4

Championship Round

The Comedy Movie of the Decade Final (Finally)

2009-12-05T10:13:00.003-06:00

It comes down to this: two hyphenated titles that were released three weeks apart in 2004. Your finalists:

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

The Entire Bracket

Round 1

Round 2

Sweet 16

Elite 8

Final 4

Loading...

Comedy Bracket: The Final Four

2009-10-08T10:13:00.005-05:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the Final Four:

The Entire Bracket

Round 1

Round 2

Sweet 16

Elite 8

Loading...

Comedy Bracket: Elite Eight

2009-09-12T14:31:00.004-05:00

My apologies for waiting so long to get this up. We're in the middle of a longer-than-we-ever-imagined move, so it's been kind of tough to get around to this. If you've missed any of this, here's a quick review:

Round 1

Round 2

Sweet 16

Here are the results from the last round of voting. This is your Elite Eight bracket (click to enlarge):

Finally, the new poll. Deadline is next weekend-ish - unless I'm actually moving stuff into our new house, in which case it will take longer.

Loading...

8 Reasons Pro Football is Better Than College Football

2009-09-12T12:16:00.004-05:00

8 - Loyalty to conference?

The bizarre ranking system (#3) and lack of a playoff (#2) means that your chosen team looks better if the other teams in the same conference perform better. This sets up some bizarre rooting situations. Fans end up cheering for their hated rivals when they play against teams from neighboring conferences. Last week I observed two fans cheering for Oklahoma State against Georgia. One fan was dressed head to toe in Oklahoma apparel while the other sported Texas A&M gear. They weren't rooting for Oklahoma State so much as against the hated SEC. But in what sport is it okay to cheer for a conference or division rival?

7 - The NCAA's ridiculous rules

Recently my alma mater was forced to vacate its wins from the 2007 season because of recruiting and amateur status violations. The crime? Allowing a student to take an admissions test on a computer in the athletics department. Apparently not going to the library was reason enough to erase a playoff season (this is Division 2). The sad part is, you're probably reading this and saying, "That's nothing. My school wasn't allowed to go to any bowl games for 5 years because our coach spent too much time on the phone with a kid." And that's ridiculous. I understand that the amateur status of student-athletes needs to be protected, but the NCAA ends up picking on small schools and letting others get away with highway robbery. The rules are not enforced evenly because some schools have boosters and money and all kinds of influence. Which leads us to...

6 - Student-athletes at big-time football schools are not really amateurs

This is the biggest open secret in college football. Once in a while, somebody like Rhett Bomar or Reggie Bush gets caught. The NCAA was forced to act on Bomar because he still had time to play, but in Bush's case, they basically left well enough alone. Meanwhile, small schools like mine (#10) are punished for minor violations. Neither USC nor Oklahoma had to vacate wins. The fact is, football factories use boosters like politicians do PACs - funnel the money somewhere else, and if something goes wrong, there's no accountability to the parties that are actually responsible.

5 - 1 foot vs. 2 foot, down when touched

Let's get to some on-the-field stuff. Some of the rules that make college football "distinctive" from the pros are simply ridiculous. Exhibit A is the rule that once your knee hits the ground, you are down. It doesn't matter if you were tackled or if there's nobody within 20 yards. If this is the case, why not call an incomplete pass if you bobble the ball before securing it? Exhibit B is the one foot inbounds for a completed catch rule. You cannot argue that this makes the college game more exciting. Inaccurate passes and lazy receiving is rewarded in this system.

4 - Parity

As I type this, I have a choice of watching 4 football games. Not one of them holds any interest to me, because the teams are so unevenly matched. I flipped to the Florida-Troy game to see how it was going, and Florida was winning by 32 points in the second quarter. You don't attend or watch that game expecting to see an actual competition. You watch it because (1) You went to one of the two schools, (2) You want to be watching in case Troy pulls off the impossible, or (3) You have money on the game. The gambling line for this game was -37. The biggest line in the NFL this week? -13.5, a game that involves the only winless team in NFL history, the Detroit Lions. The worst team in the NFL has a legit shot at winning every week. You cannot say the same for many teams in college football. Another way to say that is you can turn into any pro game and expect a fairly evenly-matched game. Of the 4 games I mentioned earlier, only 1 is what you might call competitive.

3 - Rankings & Schedule

It's hard to separate this from the lack of a playoff system (#2), but let me try with a hypothetical.

Let's say Prestigious Team A is ranked #8 in the preseason poll. Less Prestigious Team B is ranked #19 in the same poll. In Week 1, Prestigious Team A loses to Very Prestigious Team C (#5) by a small margin while Less Prestigious Team B beats Less Prestigious Team D (unranked) comfortably, but not in a blowout. In the Week 1 poll, Prestigious Team A drops to #13, while Less Prestigious Team B jumps up to #14. Both teams win out, and at the end of the year, Prestigious Team A remains ranked above Less Prestigious Team B, despite Team B having a better record. The reason? The teams never played each other, nor did they have any common opponents, meaning even computer formulas were useless and relied on things like margin of victory, which is code for running up the score. The entire season for both of these teams hinged how they were ranked in the preseason, before anybody settled anything on the field.

2 - Playoffs

I realize this is a contentious subject, but let me say this: I cannot respect college football as a viable competitive sport until it finds a better way to determine its champion. I probably don't need to make the case for a playoff system - that's been done numerous times. If you believe that the BCS is the best system for postseason play, you are either (A) a college president, (B) a retard, or (C) both.

I will say this: Less prestigious schools that continue to be forced out of the national championship discussion should form their own league or division.

1 - Logic

If I had only argument for the superiority of the pro game to the college game, it's this simple point: the pro game features the best athletes playing against the best athletes. Not many people argue that minor league baseball is better than the major leagues, and that's essentially what college football is: a glorified minor league system. At least in minor league baseball, the teams are fairly evenly matched!

4 Reasons I can see the other point of view:

4 - Overtime

Pro overtime is flawed. Each offense should get a shot at scoring. I like college overtime a lot, but there is one change I would make: move the starting position back from the 25 yard line. I think teams ought to have to work to get into field goal territory.

3 - The option

This is one of the most exciting plays in football, in my opinion, and you rarely see it in the pro game. The reason points back to my earlier point (pro players aren't fooled by the option), but I would like to see more innovation in the pro game like we see in college.

2 - Greed of the Shield

It is well documented that the NFL is a greedy league. Proponents of college football can point to NFL blackout restrictions, and I have no answer for that.

1 - Fans/Atmosphere at games

This is the number 1 argument I hear from people who "don't know anything about the NFL because I don't watch it." Seriously, is there anything more annoying than that? Except for Apple fanboys, of course.

Anyway, it's hard to argue against a college atmosphere, especially when some NFL teams have lame, gimmicky fanbases. I'm looking at you, Oakland, Washington, and New York (Jets). I suppose my response is that the product on the field is inferior.

Comedy Bracket Voting Extended

2009-08-16T22:42:00.002-05:00

Due to embarassingly low voter "turnout" this week, I am extending the voting period for the Sweet 16 round by an entire week. You may vote right here. I emphasize once again that you may vote as many times as you want.

Loading...

Universal Health Care: A POV from an ER Doc

2009-08-10T16:38:00.001-05:00

Note: I did not write this. It was written by Dr. Jeremy Spinks, who used to work in the Emergency Room at Parkland Hospital (where Jodi currently works) here in Dallas, and I have reposted it with permission. I find it to be a very articulate argument for universal health care. I don't consider this to be the final word, but a start to healthy and reasonable discussion. Let me know what you think.

A striking phenomenon occurred in the emergency department at Parkland Hospital every morning around 6AM: about twenty to thirty patients with kidney failure would show up at the emergency department, would have their blood drawn and EKG checked, and each person would hope that he was sicker than the other, because only a lucky few would be selected to receive emergent dialysis that day. Patients with insurance who have kidney failure normally receive dialysis three times a week; without it, fluid builds up in their lungs, making them feel like they are drowning; nitrogen levels build up in their bloodstream, causing severe abdominal cramps and muscle aches; their blood pressure becomes drastically elevated, causing intractable headaches and putting them at risk for a brain hemorrhage; and their potassium levels grow unchecked putting them at risk for sudden death. The swarms of uninsured kidney failure patients that would come to the emergency department every morning were lucky if they were chosen to receive dialysis once every few weeks. The “lucky” ones in this scenario were the people whose potassium levels were the most elevated, the ones who might die from a heart rhythm abnormality at any moment. I once had one of these patients go into cardiac arrest while waiting to be seen in the ER. We rushed her into a resuscitation room, performed CPR and defibrillated her, and we were fortunately able to get her back, after which she quickly received the life-saving dialysis treatment that she needed. I later found out from her that she had consumed numerous bananas and soft drinks that morning in a deliberate attempt to elevate her potassium level so that she would be chosen to receive dialysis. That’s why her heart stopped. This is how desperate she was to get the treatment she needed, and the only way she knew how to do it.

This is the situation that millions of Americans face today – access to health care only when their situation has become so grave that they are knocking on death’s door. And what I came to discover very quickly in my training as an Emergency Medicine physician is this: the vast majority of people who do not have health insurance are hard-working, good people who simply cannot afford it. And because they cannot afford health insurance, they receive no preventative or maintenance health care, which leads to worsening of their illnesses. They are then forced to visit the emergency department where thousands of dollars are spent to deal with the complications and consequences of their untreated illnesses that could have been prevented if only these people had received access to regular, basic, and much cheaper health care from a primary care physician. The system, as it stands today, refuses to provide basic services to persons who need those services the most, but then is forced to provide far more expensive services to these same people when it is already too late.

When I finished my residency and started working at a private community hospital in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., I was eager to see what it would be like to work in a system in which the majority of patients have health insurance and good access to health care. I’ve been here for two years, and I am still eager to see what that would be like. In talking to numerous colleagues that practice emergency medicine in a variety of settings, the consensus I get is that the situation is the same at all emergency departments across this country – a very large percentage of the patients seen have no health insurance and no decent access to health care once they leave the emergency department. I’ve seen far too many patients come to the ER in very difficult situations that shouldn’t be allowed to occur, like the gentleman who comes in with an arm splint that he has been wearing for months, originally placed for a broken bone. This splint should have been taken off and replaced with a cast a few days after his injury, and now his broken bone will never be able to heal properly, and he can no longer function in his job. But no orthopedist is willing to see this patient and provide this very basic service because the patient doesn’t have health insurance. And more and more, specialists are refusing to take call for emergency departments because they know that they will wind up having to care for numerous patients without health insurance. This results in a dangerous situation for emergency department patients because the expert help required for certain emergencies is no longer available. I often have to transfer patients who have a very treatable problem to other facilities because I have no specialist on-call to treat the patient. These transfers result in dangerous delays to patient care and are extremely expensive, putting a drain on the health care system’s valuable resources, and so the cycle of inefficiency continues.

I’ve been fortunate to experience health care in our country from many angles – as a resident training in a county hospital that serves the poor, as an attending physician working in a private, community based hospital, and as a patient who must fend for himself in the private health insurance system. The issue has become very dear to me – every day I see numerous patients that deserve so much more than what we as a country give to them. It is wrong to have to prescribe a man an inferior antibiotic for his pneumonia because he can’t afford the more expensive antibiotic that he really needs. (By the way, he will later come back to the Emergency Department and require admission for his pneumonia.) It is wrong to tell a patient to follow up with an endocrinologist to manage her thyroid condition when I know the endocrinologist will refuse to see her because she can’t afford his fees without health insurance. (She’ll be back, too.) It is wrong to have to intubate a patient who has a brain hemorrhage caused by uncontrolled high blood pressure that existed simply because the patient couldn’t afford to see a primary care physician. It is wrong to have to send that same patient by helicopter to another facility, dangerously delaying the patient’s care, because my hospital can’t convince a neurosurgeon to take call for the emergency department because he doesn’t want to have to deal with uninsured patients. Day in and day out, the inadequacies of our current system force me to do things as a physician that are not in the best interest of my patients.

I used to believe that healthcare was a privilege, but what I have come to discover is that when healthcare is treated as a privilege, only the privileged receive it. I now fervently believe that health care is a fundamental human right. It is morally wrong for a society to have the basic resources that are necessary to save lives and prevent suffering and to distribute those resources in a fashion that favors the lucky few and ignores the millions of people who need those resources the most. Furthermore, denying millions of uninsured and under-insured persons access to basic healthcare results in a system that is appallingly inefficient, costly, and impotent; it costs us more as a country to persist in restricting access to healthcare than it would cost us to provide that care. And health care, much like education, a police force, and a military, is something that is so crucial to the welfare of our society that it cannot and should not be relegated solely to a for-profit system whose goal is not the welfare of the public but the financial profit that can be made at the expense of the public. Every day that I work in my emergency department and see patients coming in whose needs I cannot meet because of the inadequacies of our system, I become more steadfast in my belief that it is our duty as citizens of this country and as members of the human race to work quickly towards finding a system in which we all have access to basic health care, a fundamental human right.

(If you agree, please contact your district's representative and more importantly both of your state's senators and let them know! Specifically, let them know that you support a public health insurance option as an alternative to compete with private health insurance. Here's a website where you can get your senators' and representative's contact information - just click on "contact elected officials": http://www.usa.gov/index.shtml )

Comedy Movie of the Decade - Sweet 16

2009-08-10T01:28:00.009-05:00

In case you missed it:

Round 1

Round 2

The results for Round 2 are in. Check out the bracket.

For the second week in a row, we had one unanimous decision. In Round 1, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy took home the honors, while Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story came away with the prize in Round 2. We sure do love those hyphenated movies.

We have one double-digit seed still alive, and that Cinderella is one Kung Fu Panda. It faces a tough opponent this week, going against #1 seed Anchorman. Just about every matchup this time around has some sort of intrigue, but there are 3 that particularly catch my eye. Two films that feature Will Ferrell, Wedding Crashers and Elf, face off against each other, while Simon Pegg fans will have to choose between Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Meanwhile, Zoolander and Napoleon Dynamite come together in a battle of mentally challenged lead characters.

This week, I've asked two other committee members to list their favorite moments from each of the remaining movies. I haven't received their submissions yet, but once I do, I'll update the post, so check back. For now, I'll just include my own. Note: I've included links to video clips when available. Some clips may contain language you find unsuitable.

(1)Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
RB:Dodgeball is packed with memorable scenes and quotable quotes, but the best part for my money is the scene in the bar where Average Joe’s celebrates after defeating the Girl Scout Troop to qualify for the national tournament. The full scene isn’t on the internet as far as I can tell, but here’s a partial.

(5)Talladega Nights
RB:I don’t think anybody really prayed to Baby Jesus before Ricky Bobby came out. Now, I imagine there may be one or two people that actually do.

(3)The Simpsons Movie
RB:Don’t tell me you don’t know this song.

(7)Meet the Parents
RB:Sorry if this seems obvious, but the funniest part of MTP is when Gaylord first meets the parents – and then they share dinner. Greg’s prayer alone makes the movie, but there’s also a hilarious exchange about milking a cat…

(1)Shaun of the Dead
RB:Listen, I love zombie movies (no, really), but anything that spoofs one is automatically funny. Probably the best part, though, is when Shaun and Ed finally figure out what’s going on, then go about learning how to actually kill the zombies. Couldn’t find the clip, sorry.

(4)Hot Fuzz
RB:This clip contains major spoilers. The death at 3:10, in context, made me laugh so hard I had to pause the movie.

(3)Wedding Crashers
RB:Vince Vaughn’s delivery in this scene is spot-on: “I felt like Jodie Foster in ‘The Accused’ last night.”

(2)Elf
RB:Every time I pass “Santa” in the mall, I get the itch to expose him a la Buddy the Elf.

(1)Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
RB:I don’t like this movie as much as a lot of people I know, but Jack Black’s cameo will always be hilarious to me.

(13)Kung Fu Panda
RB:The Kung Fu Panda is awesome – and attractive. Lucky for us, there’s no charge for such things.

(6)Knocked Up
RB:Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen do mushrooms in Vegas and talk about chairs in a hotel room. Hilarity ensues. Unfortunately, I could not find a clip anywhere.

(2)The Hangover
RB:There’s a lot of good material to choose from here, from Stu’s song about Mike Tyson's tiger to the tazing in the police station to the naked man jumping out the trunk, but when I think of The Hangover, the scene that immediately comes to mind is Alan’s speech on the rooftop.

(1)Zoolander
RB:The walk-off.

(5)Napoleon Dynamite
RB:Even if you haven’t seen this movie, you probably know it because everybody (myself included) does a really bad impression of the title character. All of that quotable quote stuff is great, but Napoleon Dynamite is not the same without the dance scene.

(3)The School of Rock
RB:TSOR is about the songs, and this is the best one.

(2)Forgetting Sarah Marshall
RB:Russell Brand’s ludicrous portrayal of a douchebag rocker takes the cake in this one. Sodomize intolerance!

EDIT: I just figured out that you could embed the poll. Happy voting!

Loading...

Deadline is Sunday, August 16 at 11:59 pm.

The Comedy Movie Bracket, Round 2

2009-08-03T00:43:00.004-05:00

In case you missed it, here is the Introduction & Round 1.

Let's get to it.

The results for Round 1 are published. You can see the bracket here:

Best Comedy Movies of the 2000's

Out of the 32 first round matchups, there were only 5 upsets, two of them being 9 seeds. The lower-seeded movies moving on are Starsky & Hutch, Shanghai Noon, The Emperor's New Groove, Kung Fu Panda, and Juno. I find several interesting matchups in Round 2. In the Vince Vaughn Region, Dodgeball and Starsky & Hutch face off in a battle of Ben Stiller movies that were released in the Summer of 2004. The 2-7 matchup features one movie that is already considered a classic in The Royal Tenenbaums going against recent success The Hangover. Meanwhile, there's a chance that Owen Wilson movies Shanghai Noon and Meet the Parents could meet in the Sweet 16. In any case, there are some good movies that will not advance to the next round. Which will survive? Vote here:

Round 2

Voting ends on Sunday, August 9 at 11:59 pm.

The Quest to Find the Best Comedy Movies of the Decade - Part 1

2009-07-25T23:04:00.005-05:00

I know it's been awhile since I've last posted, and I'm sor - you know what? I'm not apologizing. Since my last post on April 27, a lot has happened in our lives. Most importantly for myself, I interviewed for (3 times!), accepted, and started a new job. I'm now a bona fide youth minister. Hooray for using my degree! To be honest with you, a lot of what I was doing for a while was for my sanity. I needed to know that I did indeed still have a brain and was capable of using it for more than customer service and kitchen know-how. I don't have that problem anymore! Anyway, I say all that to tell you that things will be different around here. The Weekly Links feature, which I had just gotten the way I wanted it, is no more. It was very time-consuming, and I don't need those kind of pursuits to distract me.

Having said that, however, I would like to introduce to you a project that, yes, took me some time to put together. I have set out to determine the best comedy movie of the last decade. I don't remember anymore how this whole thing started, but I do remember how I decided to settle it. There's a new local radio show in Dallas called "The Ben & Skin Show." It's a sports show, but they actually spend at least half of their time shooting the bull, and it's their opinion that any open-ended debate is best settled using a 64-team bracket, NCAA tournament style. I happen to agree. I think you know where this is going.

Before I reveal the bracket to you, I think it's important that you know that a lot of hard work and serious thought went into this. To start, I formed a rather large committee that was eventually whittled down to four people because of the amount of work involved. Each person created their own Top 75 list, which was averaged to determine the seeding in the bracket. The only requirements for candidacy were that it was a full-length feature released from January 1, 2000 until now. The original ballot had almost 200 movies to choose from, and even though there were only 4 lists of 75 movies submitted, a total of 137 movies were listed. (Fun fact: The movie ranked #137 was "Dude, Where's My Car?") From there, the bracket was created. This is where you come in: Each round will be determined by popular vote, and anybody who wants to vote is welcome to do so. There are some weaknesses to the system: admittedly, the committee is a pretty homogeneous group. We're all middle-class white males who have a lot of the same tastes in movies (although the submitted ballots varied widely). So if your movie is left off, it's probably not you, it's us. You're more than welcome to go make your own bracket. But as far as I'm concerned, this will settle the question, "What is the best comedy movie of the 2000's?"

I tried to take an image of the bracket, but it's too big to fit on this page, so here's the link:

Best Comedy Movies of the 2000's

You'll notice that if you click on each movie's name, you will be taken to its IMDB page.

And here's how you vote:

Round 1 Ballot

Round 1 voting ends on Sunday, August 1 at 11:59 pm. Vote as often as you want, discuss it in the comments, and please tell other people. Happy voting!

I've Been Thinking, Hobbes...

2009-04-27T00:05:00.002-05:00

Christianity
This feature story, like the people in it, is conflicted. Sure, Christians are supposed to forgive, but to what extent? Also, are you a profiteer if you're a convicted murderer and you use your testimony to draw people to your mega-church?

Sports
One spring evening about two years ago in Clyde, Texas, I found myself in a very scary situation. I was umpiring a little league game, and a comebacker up the middle hit the pitcher square in the chest. It was a solid 10 seconds (or was it? The way time moves in these situations, it was hard to tell) before the kid caught his breath. I had heard all kinds of arguments against children using metal bats, but had never before been forced to deal with it on a personal level. We used metal bats as kids, and nothing ever happened to any of us. My experience as an umpire forced me to reevaluate my stance. These bat companies are increasingly making metal bats more dangerous for anybody of any age to use - better for performance, yes, but also more dangerous. The issue is examined more deeply here. A couple days after finding that article, I came across one that makes a similar case against maple bats in the MLB.

Some thoughts about literature and baseball. A great read if you love either. Lots of stuff for Rangers fans in there.

Film
A no-frills (some might argue no-substance) preview of this summer's upcoming movies.

TV
Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse (the creators and head writers of Lost) answer questions about the direction of the show. Lindelof: "I think our hope is that looking back on the entire run of the show, that people remember the EXPERIENCE of watching it — what it actually felt like to be mystified and frustrated and surprised — as opposed to just where it landed storywise." Um, Damon? I'm worried about where it ends up storywise.

The Written Word
Walter Benn Michaels apparently espouses a fairly narrow-minded view about setting in contemporary fiction. Still, it sparks an interesting debate.

Games
This tone matrix doesn't fit the technical definition of "game," but it's fun to play with, so it counts.

Technology
Jason Kottke weighs in on the ever-growing Twitter debate. If you've decided to side with Jason, here's how to get started.

The New York Times profiles a team that's trying to beat the land speed record. Pretty cool.

Dallas
The new Parkland is going to be green.

Texas
Rick Perry started a controversy a couple of weeks ago when he "asserted Texas' right to secede." (Aside: Two years ago, Perry was calling Bush-haters "unpatriotic." Really?) Turns out, he was wrong.

U.S. Politics
It's kind of hard to believe, but the waterboarding debate has resurfaced. I don't see how anybody can say this is not torture. The act suffocates the detainee and simulates drowning. Nevertheless, there is a contingent that supports the use of it in the name of national security. I don't understand this. If another nation violated the Geneva Convention so blatantly and then tried to justify it by redefining the act through dubious memos, we would probably carpet bomb that nation anyway. Lest we get too serious, here is a light-hearted (or perhaps heavily sarcastic? Let's opt for that) look at a recent DOJ memo:

We can't separate pain and suffering? The justification machine is running on all cylinders.

Sean Hannity has offered to be waterboarded to prove that it's not torture. The Huffington Post says here that Keith Olbermann has "called his bluff" and offered to pay $1000 to charity for each second he can last. I wouldn't go as far as HuffPo goes in its praise of Olbermann - this is just one blowhard trying to outshout another blowhard - but he raises a good point. This debate is serious, and it sure seems like one side is just trying to justify it so their former leader won't look so bad. Lost in all this is the fact that neither one of them has actually done what they say they're willing to do. These days, I guess it takes a Playboy reporter to do the real journalism. This clip has some language, but power through. It's worth it.

I found what the soldier said interesting - waterboarding isn't torture because it "invokes an existing fear of drowning." I have a fear of being whipped to death. If you whip me almost to the point of death, is that torture?

Finally, this story just came out about a soldier who killed herself after refusing to participate in torture in Iraq.

Switching gears: The Hurricane Katrina flooding trial against the Army Corps of Engineers has begun.

World News
Front page photos rarely startle me, but this one from Friday made me look twice for some reason:

The U.S. has declared a public health emergency. Three cases have been identified (sort of) in Dallas.

The Economy
Some time last week, the front page of the Dallas Morning News started to look a little bit more optimistic. Headlines wondered aloud if the economy could be starting to turn. Not so fast, says The Economist. Recommend that you skip this if you're already the slightest bit depressed.

Humor
I've always been dissatisfied with the idea that Paper covers Rock. Following a very lame flip of a "coin" to make a decision this morning, Ira, Jodi, and I spent some significant (read: way too much) time trying to unpack exactly what kind of covering Paper is doing that defeats Rock so. Unable to come up with a satisfactory explanation, we turned to Wikipedia. The official answer? Um, nobody knows. Finding this to be a terrible oversight (who decided on these three "weapons," anyway?), we have now begun a quest to find the perfect rochambeau. Luckily, the same Wikipedia page is a great starting point. Jodi is partial to the "cat-tinfoil-microwave" variation, while I want to further explore the "earwig-human-elephant" variant. Also contained within the article is a hilarious idea that fire and water be added to the original three, with the caveat that "a player may only throw (fire) once in his entire lifetime." What say you, readers? Any good RPS alternatives?

Video of the Week

One of the best of these kind of videos I've seen.

Movie Trailer of the Week

I haven't seen Earth yet, but I'm already pumped for Oceans. Release date: Earth Day 2010.

Image of the Week

Check out this heart-breaking gallery.

I've Been Thinking, Hobbes...

2009-04-18T14:22:00.005-05:00

Christianity
I know I'm about a week late on this, but Slate (!) ran an opinion piece on passion plays during Easter week.

The Dallas Morning News profiled the Cowboy Church movement.

Sports
On Thursday, Ian Kinsler of the Rangers hit for the cycle and collected 6 hits at the same time, becoming the first player in the modern era to do so. He was a triple and home run away from the "bicycle." The next day, the Rangers got themselves beat down by the Kansas City Royals. Evan Grant says Ron Washington surrendered the game, and all but called for his firing. Consider me on that bandwagon.

Film/TV
2015 is still six years away, but apparently we're close enough to evaluate predictions made in Back to the Future, Part II.
What it got right and
What it got wrong
No examination of the $50 Pepsi can. I call shenanigans.

Music
I just discovered this pretty cool site that aggregates rankings from social networks, music blogs, etc.

The Written Word
Someone has resurrected an essay from the February 1960 issue of Harpers about billboards. The author, Howard Gossage, argues that billboards are an invasion of privacy. This is a fascinating read, and the style kind of reminds me of the giant video boards of Fahrenheit 451.

Also, I just stumbled across an on-going feature from The Guardian: Digested Classics, which is just what it sounds like. Beloved literary works are retold in 700 words or less. Here is one of my favorite books, Lord of the Flies.

Games
After I received my new computer, it wasn't long before I found my way to Minesweeper. I was surprised to see that the design had changed, and my curiosity about it led me to Wikipedia. What I found was a whole bunch of theory on how to play. Minesweeper is supposed to be mindless fun, people!

Technology
Speaking of Back to the Future, apparently we're not really that much closer on the flying cars, either.

Dallas
The war between Dallas and Arlington continues as the two cities find themselves outbidding each other for a museum that hasn't even announced a desire to relocate: The College Football Hall of Fame.

Politics/World News
I don't usually condone paying attention to idiots on the internet, but take a look at the comments on this story. (Read the story while you're at it.) The response reminds me of several tragedies throughout history, perhaps most notably the internment of Japanese people during World War II. Disgusting.

The Texas Senate has rejected Rick Perry's attempt to play politics with money that could be helping people that need it. Good for them.

The Economy
So we all know by now that the housing bubble caused this whole crisis, whatever that means. So why didn't the technology bubble do the same thing?

Humor
Last week's story had to do with flatulence. Why mess with a good thing? Also, this is creepy.

Youtube
This is the worst thing I've ever seen. (Okay, that's an exaggeration.) Most of these kind of videos look staged, but the best man's horror is anything but manufactured.

Movie Trailers of the Week
Our first trailer reminds me of both 2001 and Solaris. I have high hopes for this. Release date: June 12.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince looks epic. This is my favorite book in the series and the only one of the movies I've been excited about seeing. Release date: July 17.

Image of the Week
I've mentioned before that I think The Big Picture is the best site on the internet. It's now got competition: Life has opened their photo galleries.

This week's image is much sillier than all that. Blow this image up and post it in your time machine. As always, click to enlarge.

Workout Playlist Update

2009-04-15T19:02:00.002-05:00

You may remember that a short time ago I asked for your help in compiling The Ultimate Aerobic Workout Playlist. When it's finally all said and done, I hope to post a list that you can scan through, complete with streaming music. Here's how it's going so far:

After taking suggestions and doing some research, I created a playlist of 133 songs I already own, and I've been taking my iPod with me to the gym to try them out. I still have about 200 songs that I'm slowly downloading and adding to that playlist. I'm still very early in the process, and I've found 7 songs that have a chance to make it into the final rotation. I'll use iTunes Genius and Pandora Radio to then generate similar songs and try those out. As you can see, this could end up being a very cyclical process that could take a while.

Why am I telling you this? Because I want to give you another opportunity to share the songs that work for you. Also, I want to give you a taste of what I've got so far. Right now, it's just a list - no music.

Bowling for Soup - "Ohio (Come Back to Texas)"
Smashing Pumpkins - "1979"
Deep Purple - "Highway Star"
Black Eyed Peas - "Let's Get Retarded"
Eminem - "Lose Yourself"
U2 - "All Because of You"
Soft Cell - "Tainted Love"

I've Been Thinking, Hobbes...

2009-04-12T20:29:00.005-05:00

Christianity
A reflection on Easter.

Sports
We've started posting short recaps of every Rangers game on Odd Man Rush.

Film/TV
The Simpsons are getting their own stamps.

Music
*Ahem* U2 will be playing at the new Cowboys stadium on October 12. Tickets go on sale on April 20, and will likely sell out that same day.

The Written Word
Roger Ebert thinks about Twitter culture.

Games
This site poses the question, "What if Criterion released video games?"

Dallas
As I noted before, the Dallas police officer that stopped Houston Texans running back Ryan Moats received some national attention for his lack of professionalism during the stop. Here's a positive story about an officer that ran last week.

Politics/World News
The Economist has a report on the gap between the rich and the poor. An interesting read, especially in light of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.

Humor
A soccer player was given a yellow card for, um, distracting a shooter.

Youtube
I've never noticed this before, but of course I've never paid THAT much attention to Disney movies.

Movie Trailer of the Week
Two adaptations of children's books I have fond memories of are coming out soon. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs drops on September 18, and Where the Wild Things Are will be released on October 16.

Image of the Week

(click to enlarge)

President Obama hosted a traditional Seder dinner in the White House on Thursday night.

Arkansas Recap

2009-04-11T19:07:00.004-05:00

My brother-in-law Bret has been posting day by day recaps of our trip to Arkansas. I have three videos and 1 photo from Day 3, although the photo belongs to Part 2, which has yet to appear.

New Project: I Need Your Help

2009-04-07T23:06:00.003-05:00

My new computer comes in on Thursday (hooray!), so I am just about ready to start a new collaborative project that I've been thinking about for a while: I am on a quest to create the ultimate aerobic workout playlist(s). I have compiled over 100 songs into a playlist that I have placed on my iPod and I have been taking it with me to the gym to try them out. I picked them in a fairly arbitrary fashion, although I did reference this article and a couple of others. As you can imagine, some of them work pretty well, but others turn out to be duds. My problem is that I have a limited knowledge of music. That's why I need your help. What are the songs that you like to work out to? I want songs with a good rhythm and that I don't mind having to listen to. Songs from every genre, from rock to country to rap to Christian, are welcome. If there are enough songs that I like, I may make multiple lists, and perhaps some based on genre. Leave your submissions in the comments, and I'll download the ones I don't have onto my brand new computer and go try them out on the bike. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

MLB Preview 2009

2009-04-05T01:20:00.003-05:00

I posted this on Odd Man Rush as well.

Opening Day is here!

Predicted Standings for 2009

First number in parentheses is predicted # of wins, following number is differential from 2008.

AL East
New York (98, +8)
Tampa Bay (Wild Card) (94, –3)
Boston (90, –5)
Toronto (84, –2)
Baltimore (67, –1)

AL Central
Chicago (91, +2)
Minnesota (89, +1)
Kansas City (80, +5)
Cleveland (77, –4)
Detroit (76, +2)

AL West
Los Angeles of Anaheim (91, –9)
Texas (83, +4)
Oakland (79, +4)
Seattle (66, +5)

NL East
New York (94, +5)
Philadelphia (Wild Card) (92, +/-0)
Florida (81, –3)
Atlanta (75, +3)
Washington (58, –1)

NL Central
Chicago (95, –2)
Cincinnati (88, +14)
St. Louis (84, –2)
Milwaukee (80, –10)
Houston (73, –13)
Pittsburgh (66, –1)

NL West
Los Angeles (95, +11)
Arizona (86, +4)
San Francisco (78, +6)
Colorado (62, –12)
San Diego (60, –3)

Preseason Power Rankings

1. Tampa Bay Rays
2. Boston Red Sox
3. Chicago Cubs
4. New York Yankees
5. New York Mets
6. Philadelphia Phillies
7. Los Angeles Dodgers
8. Chicago White Sox
9. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
10. Minnesota Twins
11. St. Louis Cardinals
12. Toronto Blue Jays
13. Cincinnati Reds
14. Arizona Diamondbacks
15. Texas Rangers
16. Oakland Athletics
17. Florida Marlins
18. Milwaukee Brewers
19. Cleveland Indians
20. San Francisco Giants
21. Atlanta Braves
22. Kansas City Royals
23. Detroit Tigers
24. Colorado Rockies
25. Houston Astros
26. Baltimore Orioles
27. Seattle Mariners
28. Pittsburgh Pirates
29. San Diego Padres
30. Washington Nationals

Individual Awards – American League

The top vote-getters are listed in order for voting awards, and in statistical order for other awards.

MVP: Mark Teixeira, Grady Sizemore, Josh Hamilton
Cy Young: Roy Halladay, Jon Lester, Joe Nathan
Rookie of the Year: Matt LaPorta, Matt Wieters, David Price
Comeback Player of the Year: Francisco Liriano, David Ortiz, Andruw Jones
Batting Champ: Ian Kinsler, Nick Markakis, Dustin Pedroia
Home Run Champ: Grady Sizemore, Evan Longoria, Jermaine Dye
RBI Champ: Josh Hamilton, Mark Teixeira, Kevin Youkilis
ERA Champ: Roy Halladay, Jon Lester, CC Sabathia
Wins Champ: Roy Halladay, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Andy Sonnanstine
Strikeout Champ: CC Sabathia, Roy Halladay, Zack Greinke
Saves Champ: Joe Nathan, Jonathan Papelbon, David Price

Individual Awards – National League

The top vote-getters are listed in order for voting awards, and in statistical order for other awards.

MVP: Albert Pujols, David Wright, Aramis Ramirez
Cy Young: Tim Lincecum, Cole Hamels, Brandon Webb
Rookie of the Year: Cameron Maybin, Andrew McCutchen, Jason Motte
Comeback Player of the Year: Aaron Harang, Troy Tulowitzki, Chris Carpenter
Batting Champ: Albert Pujols, Lance Berkman, Ryan Theriot
Home Run Champ: Ryan Braun, Albert Pujols, David Wright
RBI Champ: David Wright, Aramis Ramirez, Albert Pujols
ERA Champ: Tim Lincecum, Rich Harden, Johan Santana
Wins Champ: Brandon Webb, Cole Hamels, Chad Billingsley
Strikeout Champ: Tim Lincecum, Cole Hamels, Dan Haren
Saves Champ: Brad Lidge, Francisco Rodriguez, Jonathan Broxton

I've Been Thinking, Hobbes...

2009-03-29T00:42:00.002-05:00

Thank you to everyone who checked up on me following my camping trip in Arkansas. It was great, but I'm glad to be back. This week's IBTH is abbreviated as a result.

Film/TV
Did you know that there's a site where you can watch every episode of The Simpsons ever made? I just wasted a whole lot of time...

Dallas
I never would have heard of this had I not gone back through the Dallas Morning News archive after returning home, but apparently this story gained national attention last week:

NFL Running Back Ryan Moats, who grew up in Oak Cliff, was involved in a controversial altercation with Dallas Police Officer Robert Powell. Moats was on his way to attend to his dying mother-in-law at Baylor Regional Medical Center in Plano when he ran a red light, prompting a chase by Powell, who then proceeded to be the world's biggest jerk, despite Moats' repeated pleas to let him simply go inside the hospital. The entire altercation was caught on Powell's in-dash camera, which is shown unedited here. Probably the most appalling part of the video (and there's plenty there to choose from) is when the nurse comes outside and informs the officer of the situation. His reaction is to snap back, "I'm almost finished here." Powell has since apologized, but apparently public backlash hasn't waned. This editorial lauds Moats' reaction, and I have to agree. It would have been easy for him to lose his cool, but he didn't raise his voice, curse, or act insubordinate in any way. Hopefully Ryan can transform his new-found (unwanted) fame into something positive, and I'm sure he will.

Politics/World News
In 2003, the Republican Party in Texas, led by Tom DeLay and Rick Perry, gerrymandered US Congressional Districts in a move that ranks among the worst abuses of political power in recent memory. Among many other things, the Abilene area (historically bipartisan) was lumped in with ultra-conservative Lubbock. As a result, Charlie Stenholm, a conservative Democrat who wasn't afraid to reach across the aisle, lost his seat in 2004. Stenholm served 13 terms as Representative from the Abilene area, and he was on several influential committees. He was replaced by Randy Neugebauer, a rookie who has since voted with the Republican delegation 98% of the time. Stenholm wasn't the only one to lose his seat.

Now, the Texas Senate has approved a measure that ensures that any future redistricting will be handled by a bi-partisan committee. The measure passed 19-12, with the only "no" votes coming from Republicans. The bill now has to go through the incredibly partisan House of Representatives. If there is any justice, it will pass, but I am not holding my breath.

Humor
A pub in London was recently evacuated after a replica "Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch" was mistaken for a real explosive device.

Youtube
Fans of Arrested Development should recognize this face:

Weekend Links: Week 12, 2009

2009-03-21T14:55:00.005-05:00

There will be no Weekend Links next weekend, or any posts at all for the the next week. I leave for Arkansas tomorrow. We'll be kayaking the Buffalo River and backpacking along various trails along the way. I'll take pictures when I can and post a recap sometime next week. Enjoy this week's entry.

Christianity
Kudos to the Christian Book Expo, which ends today in Dallas, for reaching out to those with different viewpoints. These types of authentic discussions are what the Church should be about.

Sports
I heard about this on the radio this morning: If the Texas Rangers win their first 4 regular season games and the New York Yankees lose their first 4, every Honda bought at Vandergriff Honda in Arlington within a certain timeframe (the radio ad said the deadline was today, this article says differently) will be paid off by the dealership. Quite a gamble. The Rangers play 3 at home against the Indians, then travel to Detroit to face the Tigers. I'll be at the opener. Meanwhile, the Yankees play four on the road, but the opponents are cupcakes: The Orioles and Royals. I think the odds are stacked in the dealership's favor.

Film/TV
If you didn't watch the series premiere of Kings last Sunday (and based on the ratings, you probably didn't), you should. It's an hour and half long on Hulu, but totally worth the time investment. The show is a modern retelling of the Biblical story of David and Saul, and it is very intelligent and well-acted. Watch it, tell everyone you know, and then watch the second episode tomorrow night. This show needs to air, but there are already rumors of cancellation if the numbers don't improve.

Music
A medley of hip hop songs that sounds like it comes from an NES game.

The Written Word
The Seattle Public Library is hosting a debate today that's sure to cause (or reveal?) all kinds of teen angst: Which is better: Harry Potter or Twilight? Luckily, they're talking about the book series, not the movies.

Games
You think you're good at Tetris? See how long it takes you to fill a single line in this mega-size Tetris game. I left it running - with the spacebar pressed down, which makes the pieces move superfast - and it still took 1 hour, 20 minutes, and 18 seconds for the board to fill up. (Click on image to enlarge)

Dallas
The Hard Rock Cafe is returning to Dallas, this time in Victory Park.

Politics/World News
My major complaint about the Anti-Gay Marriage Crowd is that the same people who claim to be defenders of the sanctity of marriage don't have a lot to say about divorce. It's become an accepted part of society, a necessary evil. Well, Texas State Representative Warren Chisum of Pampa has proposed some legislation that will make it harder to obtain a divorce. I wonder about the logistics though: the proposal essentially places a $150 tax on divorce, which may be an obstacle for poor people in abusive relationships. I still feel uncomfortable about legislating morality. Marriage is an institution where the line between church and state has been obliterated, which makes this legislation still seem hypocritical - if you want to deny marriage to homosexuals on religious grounds, shouldn't you also want to ban divorce altogether? And just what is the role of government in marriage anyway?

Humor
This portrait featuring Sean Connery - sort of - is more bizarre and creepy than humorous (though it is that). So many questions come to mind, but the most important one may be "Why?"

Youtube
A cool graphic representation of the metamorphosis of the Batman logo over time.

Movie Trailer of the Week
Another selection from the AFI Dallas International Film Festival. Lymelife will show on Monday, March 30 at 10:15 pm at Landmark's Magnolia. If you'll be in Dallas the week of the festival, I'd love to have you join me at some of these movies. I've written a note on Facebook with all the details.

Image of the Week

(Click on image to enlarge)
This week's image is taken from a Big Picture post about the recession. The newspaper stand graveyard is a metaphor not only for the state of the economy, but the impending death of the print media.

Weekend Links: Week 11, 2009

2009-03-13T19:54:00.004-05:00

Three notes before we dive in:

1. I stated that a clever name for this weekly feature is coming. I've come up with a few, but they're just a little too...inadequate. Until I come up with one I'm really satisfied with, we'll stick with the vanilla title. If you have any suggestions, please share them in the comments.
2. I changed "Books" to "The Written Word." This gives me flexibility to link to items such as the one featured this week.
3. I fully realize that the links posts are the only items I've produced for this site recently. This will likely continue to be the case until I get a new computer to replace my poor, poor laptop.

Christianity
Michael Spencer of the Christian Science Monitor, an evangelical, posits that the evangelical community is on the verge of a "major collapse." Rod Dreher, apparently an orthodox blogger on conservative politics and religion (his little logo makes me sick to my stomach), responds.

I'll simply pull a couple of interesting quotes from Spencer's article, with the caveat that I want to explore this thesis more thoroughly in its own independent post. (Or in the comments - come on guys.)

1. "Evangelicals have identified their movement with the culture war and with political conservatism. This will prove to be a very costly mistake...We fell for the trap of believing in a cause more than a faith."

2. "Expect evangelicalism to look more like the pragmatic, therapeutic, church-growth oriented megachurches that have defined success. Emphasis will shift from doctrine to relevance, motivation, and personal success – resulting in churches further compromised and weakened in their ability to pass on the faith."

3. "A small band will work hard to rescue the movement from its demise through theological renewal. This is an attractive, innovative, and tireless community with outstanding media, publishing, and leadership development...We can rejoice that in the ruins, new forms of Christian vitality and ministry will be born. I expect to see a vital and growing house church movement"

4. Despite all of these challenges, it is impossible not to be hopeful. As one commenter has already said, "Christianity loves a crumbling empire."

Sports
Fighting has come under fire recently in hockey. Mike Heika, who covers the Stars for the Dallas Morning News, takes a look at the honor code that players follow when fighting. Take a look at this video after you read the story.

Now comes news that the NHL is thinking about adding ten-minute game misconduct penalties for "staged fights" - fights that occur immediately after face-offs, like in the video above. Scott Burnside, who writes this opinion piece, thinks that this won't be much of a deterrent to staged fighting, but I think that, if passed, we will see reduced fighting as a result of this rule. Coaches can get fined if too many game misconduct penalties are assessed or if they happen at the wrong time. I hope to write a more in-depth post about fighting in hockey at a later point.

Film/TV
The New Yorker profiles screenwriter Tony Gilroy, who wrote and directed the upcoming Duplicity. The piece is supposed to be flattering, and it is in parts, but I think Gilroy comes out looking like an arrogant jerk. Most notably, Gilroy, who wrote all three movies in the Bourne Trilogy, completely trashes the Robert Ludlum novels on which the films are based, as well as the readers who have enjoyed them over the years. Note to Tony: I loved your movies, but they were nowhere near as good as the books. Gilroy still remains compelling for me, however, and I now have a desire to see Duplicity that I didn't have before.

Music
The A.V. Club takes a look back at Johnny Cash's American Recordings. Contains audio.

The Written Word
It is my humble opinion that Calvin and Hobbes is by far the best comic strip ever produced. Bill Watterson stopped writing it much too early, in 1995. Calvin was perpetually 6 years old throughout the life of the strip, and some artists have imagined what a teenage Calvin would look like. At the bottom of the page you can find a fictional final strip that reveals the end of Calvin's and Hobbes' relationship as we know it. The actual final strip was full of optimism, and it is the image at the top of this post.

Games
Leonardo Notarbartolo is being released from prison this week. The April issue of Wired details his exploits as mastermind behind the World's Biggest Diamond Heist. How many screenwriters do you think have taken notice of this story?

Dallas
A follow-up to last week's post about the DART: Now they're talking about raising rates. Yeah, because the people who need to be shouldering the financial burden right now are the ones who depend on public transportation. What about the stimulus package? Incidentally, if the DART is going to start raking in some extra dough, how about figuring out a way to provide transportation to the Ballpark in Arlington?

Politics/World News
Texas Governor Rick Perry is trying to reject $556 million of the $16 billion dollars Texas is due to receive from the stimulus package. At best, this irresponsible, and at worst, it is a grave injustice to jobless people. More than likely, it is a publicity stunt designed to give Perry ammo against KBH in the 2010 governor's race. Governor Perry, Texans pay taxes too. You may be against the stimulus package, but it has passed. Do not give our tax dollars to California.

Humor
It appears that a Japanese baseball team may have shaken its own unique curse involving Colonel Sanders. You can't make this stuff up.

Youtube
And now, something completely silly.

Movie Trailer of the Week
This week's trailer comes from a movie that will be shown at AFI Dallas International Film Festival on Wednesday, April 1. Sugar is the story of a 19 year-old Dominican baseball player trying to break into the big leagues.

Weekend Links: Week 10, 2009

2009-03-07T23:57:00.002-06:00

This week I deleted the "Internet" category and added "Games." I also split "Humor" into "Humor" and "Youtube." Don't forget to set your clocks forward!

Christianity
A perspective on Lent from someone who used to be in the Church of Christ.

Sports
The World Baseball Classic has started! I'm starting to get excited for the "real" baseball season, but until then, there's always the US to cheer for. Schedule

Film/TV
This theory on "Lost" has been around a while, but it's recently gained credibility due to the events of recent episodes. There are only 26 episodes left in the whole series, so expect more and more theories like this to pop up as time goes on (See what I did there?), although I'm sure something will happen at the end of Season 5 to throw everybody off track.

Music
Not only is Guitar Hero: Metallica coming out on March 29, but the band recently announced that they'll be releasing a 163-track digital box set on iTunes two days later. I guess Metallica will be making a lot of money that week. Oh yeah: they get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 4 as well.

Books
Mike Sacks announced this week that he's releasing "And Here's The Kicker" in July. The book contains interviews with 21 humor writers about their craft.

Games
Rock Band announced that they're basing a game around the Beatles, similar to what Guitar Hero has done with Aerosmith and Metallica. The release date? 09/09/09. I can just see the commercials now: Number 9, Number 9, Number 9...

Dallas
The DART is looking to expand. Plans call for a "Green Line," which runs northwest to southeast along I-35E, and an "Orange Line," which will wind its way from Union Station and other downtown stops to the DFW Airport. However, recent developments about a $45 million shortfall, followed by news about receiving Stimulus Package money, and now some possible reneging by transportation officials who asked for this in the first place have thrown everything in to question. Everything, that is, except for the Green Line, which is now confirmed to open in September, just in time for the State Fair.

Politics/World News
I don't want to pile on the Bush Presidency, but...well, here we go. We all know the Bush Administration used 9/11 to justify all kinds of things that would have never flied before. On Monday, the Obama Administration, as part of the initiative to bring more transparency to government, released 9 memos detailing just how far Bush and company tried to go. Chilling.

A quote from the AP article: "Too often over the past decade, the fight against terrorism has been viewed as a zero-sum battle with our civil liberties," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a speech as the documents were being prepared for release. "Not only is that school of thought misguided, I fear that in actuality it does more harm than good."

A quote from Benjamin Franklin: "People willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both."

Humor
Nerd Humor Alert!

Youtube
Somebody went and found a bunch of videos of people playing instruments on Youtube and remixed them to form 7 different songs. This is a lot better than you think, and it's actually pretty fun if you've ever come across any of the originals before. The guy that looks like Dirk with a backwards hat in the first song does some pretty cool instructional videos for acoustic guitar.

Movie Trailer of the Week
The trailer for Public Enemies was released this week. PE stars Johnny Depp and Christian Bale and reminds me of Catch Me If You Can in some ways.

No Line On The Horizon

2009-03-03T14:50:00.006-06:00

I mentioned this before, but U2 released their album today. It's available from the Amazon MP3 Store for $3.99. The band is playing on The Late Show with David Letterman all week long. Here is the video from last night's performance:

In other late night news, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon debuted last night. Here is the funniest segment, in my opinion:

Weekend Links: Week 9, 2009

2009-02-28T03:00:00.001-06:00

This is my first installment of Weekend Links. It's pretty simple: I'll provide one link for each of the categories below. The categories will probably be fluid for the next couple of weeks until I figure out what's going to work best for me. Enjoy!

Christianity
My sister-in-law Rachel has a great blog that chronicles the adventures of those three crazy boys I call my nephews. This week, she made a plea for help purchasing Bibles for their children's class at the church plant they're a part of in Burleson.

The Internet
Roger Ebert, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite contemporary writers, was especially put off by the level of snark exhibited by viewers of this year's Academy Awards show. His response sums up what I've been trying to articulate in my head for quite some time.

Sports
In light of Alex Rodriguez's recent steroid confession, Rick Reilly reassesses past MVP awards now considered tainted and awards them to the rightful winners.

Film/TV
The March issue of Vanity Fair includes a behind-the-scenes look of how The Godfather movie came to be. The story of how Marlon Brando was cast is particularly fascinating.

Music
U2's 12th studio album, No Line on the Horizon, drops Tuesday. It's currently streaming on their Myspace page.

Books
The Amazon Kindle 2 was released this week. Jodi got hers in the mail today and I have to say, it's pretty sweet.

Dallas
Tickets for the AFI International Film Festival go on sale on Wednesday. Anybody want to go to a movie or two?

Politics/World News
The Internet's best site, The Big Picture, let me know once again how ignorant I am of what's going on in the world. The feature is about the conflict in Congo, which has been raging for over 15 years. The pictures are poignant, and the stories are even more touching. #33 is the saddest thing I've heard in quite a while.

Humor
Music videos are often an exercise in ridiculousness. The folks at Funny or Die have started a series where they redub old music videos with a literal "translation" of what's going on on-screen. On the internet, it's rare to find such a great idea executed so well.

Movie Trailer of the Week
Explicit Ills has all the makings of a powerful message about poverty in contemporary America. It opens on March 6, and I will be in line to see it.

What the Future Holds

2009-02-25T22:52:00.003-06:00

Some things you can look forward to in this space:

A weekly collection of links that I'll post on the weekend. A clever name is coming - if you have suggestions, let me know.
I'll soon be asking for some input on a special project I'm working on. Be watching for that sometime after I get my laptop back (it's in the shop).
A preview of the 2009 baseball season.
Another weekly feature: Listmania!
An upcoming opinionated piece about a somewhat controversial topic - consider yourself teased.

I'll be implementing all of this stuff soon, so stay tuned!

Best Picture 2009: Who Should Win?

2009-02-22T14:51:00.005-06:00

Over the past several days, I've been providing you with my own personal reviews of all of this year's Best Picture nominees. They are ranked below. These are preferences, not predictions, and you can click on the name of each film to read its review.

I believe that Slumdog Millionaire is far and away the best film out of the five nominees. Milk and Frost/Nixon were both very compelling, but suffered from structural flaws. I can't help but think that there were other more worthy nominees than The Reader or Benjamin Button. I find it interesting that each story is told through flashbacks. This is certainly not a new literary device, but I wonder if we might see more movies in the coming months utilizing them as a response.

Winner: Slumdog Millionaire
Milk
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Picture Review #5: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

2009-02-22T12:36:00.003-06:00

Technically speaking, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is quite an accomplishment. It is first and foremost a film about visual effects. The job that the special effects people did with Brad Pitt is nothing short of amazing. I am usually very critical of CGI; many a movie experience has been ruined for me because I can't get over, for example, how corny the Hulk looks when he's jumping across the desert. In this case, I was blown away. The line between actor and animation is even more blurred than it was before this film. I have to believe that the groundbreaking nature of Button is what got it nominated for so many awards, because I don't think the rest of it was that great.

The story was compelling enough - except that it wasn't about anything. Screenwriter Eric Roth adapted F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story, which is to say that he took the idea of a man aging backwards and his name and went in the complete opposite direction. The story is a comedy, while the movie tries desperately to be a serious drama. Roth could have examined Benjamin's condition in so many compelling ways, but instead settles for an awkward love story and a silly gimmick with a hummingbird. Much has been made of the similarity between Button and Roth's other major screenwriting accomplishment, Forrest Gump. I have included the following humorous video to highlight that fact:

The Curious Case of Forrest Gump - watch more funny videos

I really wanted to like this film, but it started to drag about an hour of the way through. It was simply too long. However, I am giving it a positive rating because of the quality of the special effects work. 3/5 stars.

Best Picture Review #4: The Reader

2009-02-21T23:55:00.001-06:00

Depending on the point of view, The Reader is one of two movies. To some, it is a romantic tragedy. The love that Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet) and Michael Berg (David Kross when young, Ralph Fiennes when old) share can never be, whether its because of their age disparity (the whole affair starts when Schmitz is 32-ish and Berg is 15) or because of Schmitz's unfortunate incarceration. To others, the story is an invitation to reevaluate the Holocaust from a different point of view. Because the audience identifies with Schmitz, the big reveal that she was a guard at Auschwitz almost forces the watcher to reconsider what he thinks about her role in that travesty.

The problem is that TR desperately wants to be both of those movies at once, but its not strong enough to bear the weight of it all. The film is about 30 minutes too long, and if you believe in The Reader: The Romantic Tragedy, it's the cumbersome court scenes in the middle that get in the way, while if The Reader: Holocaust Edition is more your cup of tea, the courtroom drama represents the crux on which the entire story hangs. I tend to subscribe to the latter line of thinking, and even though I believe some important questions were asked here (What do we make of the "I was just doing my job" defense, and what about people today that could say the same thing? Guantanomo, anyone?), I still thought the script was a little heavy-handed and in your face. Young Berg's impromptu visit to an abandoned concentration camp seemed gratuitous, to say the least, and I was a little insulted by the way his classmate was utilized to sway the audience's opinion.

Then, of course, there is the excessive level of sexuality. I was watching TR on my laptop, and for the first 30 minutes I was afraid that Jodi would walk in and think I was looking at porn. It's that ridiculous. I understand that the intense connection between the two leads had to be established, but after a period of time I found myself thinking variations of the following:

"Does Kate Winslet have to be naked the minute she walks in the door?"
"She hates clothes!"
"She sure takes a lot of baths for someone who's supposed to be poor in the 50's."

I probably wouldn't be so skeptical, but the only trailer I've ever seen for this film was one where the producers were clearly trying to draw people to the theater based on the sexual content involved.

Nevertheless, The Reader is a very beautiful movie. It is wonderfully acted by almost the entire cast (the lone exception being the aforementioned classmate), and the soundtrack is just about perfect. I am slowly becoming convinced of Kate Winslet's acting prowess. Because I was so taken by the production in this film, I am probably giving it about 1/2 a star too much. 3.5/5 stars.

Best Picture Review #3: Milk

2009-02-20T15:27:00.002-06:00

I knew going in to watch Milk that it was a social film; a biopic about an individual who had accomplished something groundbreaking in civil rights, so I knew what to expect, and I got it. Milk feels like a movie you've seen before, but it does have its own unique qualities. Director Gus Van Sant and writer Dustin Lance Black made several choices about the format of the film that both distinguishes Milk from other similar films and establishes its place among the pantheon of well-made movies about civil rights and liberties.

Some of these liberties work very well. The cinematography is excellent. Real footage from the 1970s is seamlessly blended into the story, and the camera's use of mirrors in pivotal situations is terrific. (If you've seen the film, think of the scene with the whistle. Brilliant.) I thought the portrayal of the secondary characters was also very well done. The political supporters that surrounded Harvey Milk had depth and were not merely portrayed as sheep, which would have been an easy thing to fall back on. Harvey's uneasy relationship with political rival and fellow supervisor Dan White was very humanizing to both characters, which made the final ambiguity of Milk hard to ignore. Finally, Sean Penn's performance is amazing. His portrayal of Harvey Milk made him come to life on the screen and made the story very believable and accessible.

On the other hand, the movie is not without its problems. Milk cannot decide which vehicle it will use to drive the story along. Harvey Milk's dictation of his will (only to be heard if he is assassinated) is the main device that keeps the action moving, but sometimes news broadcasts, subtitles, or even short musical montages provide the transitions. It's all very distracting and inconsistent. And why in the world was the news clip announcing his assassination included at the beginning? It seemed like a clever attempt at foreshadowing, but felt like a mistake.

Despite all this, Milk is a very well-made film and a timely commentary on the state of homosexual advances in society. One cannot ignore the parallels between the 1970s Proposition 6 and Proposition 8 of 2008. I'm sure opponents of that bill wish that it had been released before this year's election, but I think that would have cheapened the movie's value and made it seem like a big political commercial made just for 2008. As it is, Milk stands on its own, just like its namesake. 4.5/5 stars

Best Picture Review #2: Frost/Nixon

2009-02-19T02:34:00.005-06:00

What sets Frost/Nixon apart from other Nixon biopics is that it is sympathetic to the former president. That is not to say that it exonerates or panders to him. It doesn't. But the mere fact that Peter Morgan (writer) and Ron Howard (director) are willing to explore the "other" side of Nixon go a long way toward making this a great movie. Most films about the man will face comparisons to Oliver Stone's 1995 film, and F/N stands up to it because of its perspective. The protagonist is in many ways a foil to Nixon, and so it is in Frost's reflection that we are able to understand what drove the former president to make his landmark confession.

I was not a huge fan of the format of F/N. From the beginning, the story is told in documentary-style, which only underscores the talkative nature of the piece. The story is about an interview itself, so why burden the slow-moving plot even more with interjections from the characters explaining what is going on? In my mind, they were more interruptions that transitions. In fact, the first hour or so seemed like just a really good documentary, like the type you may see on the History Channel, just with better acting and a bigger budget.

The film picks up right about the time that Richard M. Nixon drunk-dials Frost in his hotel room. (No, really.) The moment is a result of the painstaking lengths Howard takes to establish the two main characters. They are the opposite of each other, yet they find common ground in their respective conundrums. At this point, I was able forgive F/N for dragging its feet, because the pay-off is well worth it. Nixon's ultimate confession and apology (er, statement of regret?) is one that people who lived through that era remember and history students know well, but it is seen through fresh eyes here because of the circumstances surrounding it. By knowing the interviewer, the interviewee's admission is much more poignant.

That poignancy could not have been displayed without the superior acting skills of Frank Langella (Nixon) and Michael Sheen (Frost). Their performances are augmented by a terrific supporting cast, especially that of Sam Rockwell (James Reston). While I don't totally agree with Ron Howard's choice regarding the overall style of the piece, I was glad for his presence. His fingerprints are all over this movie, and that's only a good thing for a handful of current Hollywood directors. Without his direction, this would not be one of the better biopics in recent memory. 4.5/5 stars.

Best Picture Review #1: Slumdog Millionaire

2009-02-17T23:47:00.005-06:00

It is now 5 days until the 81st Academy Awards are presented. Every day until then, I will review one of the films nominated for Best Picture. On Sunday, I'll do a recap and choose which of the nominees I believe is most deserving. There are possible spoilers here, but I've done my best not to ruin the film.

Slumdog Millionaire is widely considered by the media, and more importantly, Nate Silver, to be the favorite to take home Best Picture on Sunday. I knew this going in, which is usually a bad thing for my enjoyment factor - if I expect good things from a flick, I am likely to be let down. My theology professor Randy Harris would say, "Low expectations, few disappointments." Yet despite my raised level of expectation, SM was a great joy to experience. In other words, I have very little negative to say about this movie.

Like its title, Slumdog Millionaire is a study in contrast. Protagonist Jamal Malik's slumdog-ishness is established in the presence of a Bollywood star and even in settings such as the Taj Mahal and (of course) the set of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" It is in the live broadcast of this game show that the fundamental question, "What can a slumdog possibly know?" is initially asked, and in the police station where Malik is interrogated that it is answered. (The answer is, "The answers.") The story is driven by the game show, but the background story of how Malik knows these answers is what makes this movie the great commentary that it is.

It would have been easy for any film tackling the subject of poverty and oppression in India to fall into pretentiousness and get preachy, and indeed many have done just that. SM, though, makes no pretense at all. It is predictable. If you don't know what the million dollar question will be by the midpoint of the film, you haven't watched many movies at all. In fact, the movie practically tells you from the beginning that yes, there will be a happy ending, but no, it won't be an easy journey. The beauty is that Boyle is able to balance this typical Hollywood/Bollywood formula with the dissonance that pervades the film. There is a prevailing attitude that slumdogs such as Jamal shouldn't know things, or for that matter, have a shot at romantic love. There are so many levels here (Jamal vs. his brother Salim, Jamal & Salim vs. the men that run the orphanage, etc. etc.), but I want to leave you to find some of them on your own.

The only criticism I have been able to come up with (and I have tried) is based on a plot device. In order to make the story work, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" was broadcast in real time, meaning the "Phone A Friend" lifeline could have been severely abused. Also, it is my understanding that in real life the show is taped. If that really bothers you, I understand, but it doesn't really affect my enjoyment of the movie.

I've been speaking solely of plot elements and storytelling devices, but to neglect SM's production value would be a crime. The editing is tight, the cinematography is beautiful, and the score is beyond excellent. The story is basically told in 3 stages of Malik's life, so that means the 3 main characters, Jamal, Salim, and Jamal's love interest, Latika, are each portrayed by 3 actors. All 9 do a wonderful job, especially Dev Patel (older Jamal), Ayush Mahesh Khedekar (younger Jamal), and Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar (middle Latika). Overall, I believe storytelling is its greatest strength, which should speak volumes. The story of 2 Indias is one that is not told often enough, and it is told masterfully here. 5/5 stars.

Caedmon's Call

2009-02-17T00:39:00.005-06:00

You may have guessed from reading the subheader that I am a Caedmon's Call fan, and you would be right. I love the complexity that they bring to the table, both lyrically and musically. I could go on about exactly why they're my all-time favorite music group, but I don't think we've really been acquainted long enough for me to show you the level of my nerdiness on this matter. Maybe in a few dozen posts or so.

Anyway, the point of letting you in on this part of my life is to tell you that in November, Jodi and I went to go see Caedmon's. I was content just having the tickets, but when we got in, she grabbed my hand and led me up to the second row, front and center. I don't have to tell you that this was a memorable experience for me. They played several of my favorite songs, though not all of them, and some that I think are okay. One of those was "Hold the Light." For some reason, it really resonated with me. Again, (and I really don't mean to beat a dead horse) I was feeling down about my recent lack of a real job, and the lyrics really opened my eyes. Now it is among my favorites.

Today I found a video of the song at that exact concert we were at, so I couldn't not share it: