I'm going to hold a racial reconciliation workshop for youth. I came up with the idea on the bus home from camp last week, when I stumbled upon an untapped power. It seems I now know one a power that crosses all boundaries and should be able to unite the masses under the banner of laughter.
Napoleon Dynamite, sucka.
I've been on a lot of bus trips in my life. Almost ended my life outside of Memphis a few years ago when we hit an ice storm and the bus almost careened off a bridge (true story). I've had bus drivers lecture kids at 2am in the parking lot of a Western Kansas rest area. I've seen bus drivers who look like they came straight out of the Beastie Boy's Sabotagevideo. I've stepped straight off of am all night bus ride and onto ski slopes, thus getting a horrible altitude/dehydration headache. Against my better judgment, I've woken up in the middle of the night and gone straight from a bus to the food line inside a White Castle. I've learned the hard way that you should follow those signs inside a bus bathroom that tell you not to stand up when you pee.
Every bus trip has been different. Some with kids from the 'burbs, some with kids from the 'hood. But there is one common denominator. Every single trip I've been on with students has included a screening of Napoleon Dynamite. I was a little shocked when it blew away the competition in a two-stage democratic process with all of my inner-city friends, because the film is very different from most that they find funny. But they were hungry for it. They giggled at all of the appropriate times. They even made fun of me because I bear a striking resemblance to the title character. It was just like all of the trips that I've taken with groups of suburban kids. There is power in that kind of ability to unite.
So don't steal my idea.
Ok. You can steal it. But use it for good. And give me a little footnote of credit. Thanks.
In 1989, I was 9 years old. That fact alone made it remarkable that my father took me to see Batman in the theatre that summer. I was thrilled. My first ever PG-13 movie a good 4 years before I had earned the right.
In my mind, the movie was fantastic. I remember recounting the entirety of the film to one of my neighborhood friends that afternoon with zeal. The characters were amazing. The action scenes were unlike anything I had ever seen before. And the movie was so dark. Disney didn't do that.
Probably the most memorable part of the film was The Joker. Jack Nicholson was memorable. In fact, for the past 20 years I have been unable to separate the man from the character. The dude who sits court side at the Lakers games? The Joker. The dude who starred in As Good as it Gets? The Joker. Jack is the Joker.
Until Friday. Because from now on, Jack was the Joker.
It takes a lot of guts to remake a perfectly good movie. To make a dark movie darker. And to recast one of the more memorable characters in superhero lore. But it has been done, and it has been done well.
But I wonder if we were really ready for it. Because Heath Ledger's Joker might just be a little too crazy for us to really get it. A little too evil. When I was sitting in the theatre on Friday morning I was getting a little annoyed with people who would crack up every time The Joker would make a funny. My guess is they couldn't escape the past images of the The Joker to really allow themselves to be jolted by this new incarnation. And perhaps it's better that way. Because the 2008 version is one bite of human flesh away from being scarier than Hannibal Lecter. Seriously.
There is a lot to like about these new Batman movies. Not the least of which is that they make you think. I was struck by how Batman Begins really wrestled with the difference between justice and revenge. And Dark Knight does a good job of helping us wrestle with the true nature of people, and the circumstances under which that might come out.
Did the movie run too long? Maybe. Or maybe I just get really tired at 4am.
We have searched high and low for a brainwashing technique...errrrrrr...DVD that could successfully help in potty training. We picked up a couple from the library that managed to get annoying songs stuck in my head ("Bye bye pee pee, bye bye poop"), but nothing has really convinced Elli that she should use the toilet.
Enter Elmo's Potty Time.
We still have work to do. But the movie, the Elmo panties and the sticker chart are proving to be tools of worth. The best part is that I actually enjoy the movie. And who wouldn't? There is so much to love.
As an adult I don't have that many opportunities to laugh at toilet humor. And in all honesty, there are a lot of things in the movie that are not intended to be funny. However, that small fact does not stop Elli and I from laughing ever time they play out on the screen.
Like when Grover dances around with his old man belly and informs us that he has that "got to go" feeling.
Or when King Kong drinks too much and they have to bring in a huge toilet for him to use.
But my favorite segment, far and away, is the montage of kids sharing what they call their "stuff". Widdle, wee wee, poop, two. The usual list of suspects. But then, out of nowhere, this adorable little kid pops up on the screen. He grins. He announces very proudly: "I call it DOOKIE".
Score.
In our house, "dookie" has never been considered proper terminology. But we are clearly living in an age where it has gone mainstream. Look, if it's on Sesame Street, it's fair game. That's my feeling on the matter.
Now we have a little power struggle going on in our house. One parent is encouraging Elli to include "dookie" in her everyday vernacular, while the other is absolutely mortified by the idea. We'll just have to see how this one plays itself out.
Mario Kart Wii is the super bomb dizzle. I love it. I take my Wiimote, plug it into my steering wheel and rock and roll. I've gotten a little bit obsessed however, as I am striving to achieve a star rating on every single race in the game. That way, when I get online to race people from all over the world my name will have a little gold star next to it. Street cred.
The only problem is that I think my ability to drive well in real life has decreased since I started playing MKW. That might explain why Stacy thinks I've become a more aggressive driver lately. All I know is that the Sunday drivers on the road are lucky my '99 Taurus isn't packing any red shells. Suckers.
My obsession prompted me to pick up a strategy guide for the first time in 15 years. Back in the day I had a number of video game code magazines and strategy books laying around. Mostly for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Contra? Up, up, down, down, b, a, b, a, select start. Don't forget the warp cheat codes for Mario 1 and Mario 3. Get off me, son.
You can typically get any video game info you need on the internets these days. But for some reason I began to crave the feeling of the strategy guide in my hands. The full color track maps. The checklist of unlockable characters and vehicles.
All of this is slightly concerning to Stacy. She walked into the bathroom one day and saw me reading my strategy guide. Her response was less than endearing.
"I don't know what's more concerning to me. That a grown man is reading a video game magazine, or that a grown man wrote a video game magazine."
Hey, at least I'm not as OCD as those cats in King of Kong. It is the story of grown men who get all jealous of this one dude who is trying to set a new world record score for Donkey Kong. Seriously. Those dudes are straight crazy. My main man Adam Paul recommended the film to me a couple of months back, and was so kind as to bring it over to mi casa for a screening last week. You can read his review over on his blog. I agree with everything he says, though in my book Hoop Dreams earns the distinction of best documentary ever. There is also a good review over at Burnside Writer's Collective. Pretty much covers all the bases.
The bad news is I am currently without my MKW disk. It seems as though my good friend Coleman accidentally took it with him to Rhode Island. That's pretty far away. Gonna have to work something out to get that back. Perhaps a teleporter.
Big Happy Birthday shout out to George Lucas. Sigh. I do love George's work.
I also love the above political propaganda set to the Star Wars theme. I'm such a sucker for Star Wars. This commercial is sooooo in my top 3 all time fav political ads. The other two are the Obama Yes We Can video, and the Huckabee/Chuck Norris smackdown.
The good news is that even though this Obama ad was pretty long, it came nowhere near close to exhausting the Star Wars material fit for consumption. I propose a contest between the three remaining campaigns to come up with the best Star Wars ad possible. The good news for the other two is that Obama has already shown his hand. They have the opportunity to respond to some of the claims in the ad, while adding their own little sass.
Just in case they are having a hard time thinking of good quotes to incorporate into their ads, let me help:
I find your lack of faith disturbing. (Vader)
That's right, yeah. Got some old debts I gotta pay off with this stuff. Even if I didn't, you don't think I'd be fool enough to stick around here, do you? Why don't you come with us? You're pretty good in a fight. We could use you. (Solo)
Now don't you forget this! Why I should stick my neck out for you is far beyond my capacity! (C3P0)
I don't know who you are or where you've come from, but from now on you'll do as I say, okay? (Princess L.)
Who's the more foolish: The fool, or the fool who follows him? (Obi Wan)
Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper? (Princess L.)
I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened. (Obi Wan)
You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy (Obi Wan)
I thought these things smelled bad on the outside. (Solo)
It took forever, but I finally got to use my new smoker on Saturday. I had intended to use it on January 1, but we barely fought our way out of single-digit temps that day and Stacy had a long call shift. Getting to know my new friend under extreme weather conditions while acting as the sole caretaker of my child did not seem like a recipe for my best meat smoking performance.
In hindsight, it was a sheer act of genius.
I was rewarded for my patience with a 55 degree day as well as the opportunity to host some friends for our initial effort. The ease with which the new member of our family was able to hold an ideal temperature was great. It looked absolutely beautiful sitting outside that afternoon, and it produced my best rib effort to date. We have a keeper, folks.
Oh, and I have officially named the smoker "Vader". Stacy wanted me to name it "R2" because R2-D2 is her favorite Star Wars character, but I would have none of it. First of all, the new smoker is Black. R2 is white and blue. Secondly, R2 is going to intimidate nobody when we start entering official contests. You gotta have a little swagger to your sauce, if you know what I'm sayin'.
Most importantly, this leaves room for a natural progression should we ever upgrade in size again. If we get a slightly bigger smoker, it could be aptly named the Tie Fighter. And though it is very unlikely, should we get really serious there is a chance that we could finagle our way into a monster unit that we could christen the Death Star.
I just gave myself the chills.
What would really be amazing is if we could have a whole Star Wars themed setup at contests. How cool would it be if we got a beat up old RV or Van, and painted it to look like an X-wing. We could build some removable wings, and then place a proper R2 on top. I already have a life-sized Han Solo cardboard cutout, and you can very easily find a Chewbacca outfit on ebay. I'm sure that Stacy would have no problem throwing her hair in side-swirls and donning an authentic Princess Leah outfit. And Elli could be an Ewok. That would be so tight.
I've been playing a fun new game this past week. It starts whenever one of my Christian friends asks me what I am doing today. I pretend to ponder the question for just a brief moment, and then I casually announce that I'm taking some kids to see "The Golden Compass".
It is at this point in the conversation where my friends begin to aspirate. Pandemonium ensues. I jump in with a huge smile and a peppy "just kidding!!", right before anyone passes out and gets a nasty bump on the head.
I consider myself to be fairly well-read, so I am a little bit ashamed to admit that I had never heard of Phillip Pullman or "The Golden Compass" prior to last week. What an ignorant dolt I must be. I only mention it so that we are all clear that I'm forming all of my following opinions on second-hand knowledge.
My initiation into this fantastic public debate occurred in the friendly confines of Facebook. One of my friends joined a group entitled "Do NOT support 'The Golden Compass'". I clicked on the link to see what in tarnation was going on, to find that the group had over 120,000 members and that its homepage contained a link to a very fair and balanced story from Fox News.
What I can surmise from my fact-gathering mission is this: my fellow Evangelicals are mad that Hollywood has a pro-athiest agenda. They are calling for us to boycott TGCas a sign of solidarity that we will not support a trilogy of movies based on fictional books that culminate with kids killing god so that they can do whatever they want to do.
I agree that Hollywood has an agenda. It's called money. If bare breasts and swear words sell, they will release movies with bare breasts and swear words. If movies based on a series of books written by a well-known Christian author will sell a gaggle of tickets, they will release such a movie. If a movie will cause Christians to raise such a ruckus that the movie gets tons of free advertising in the form of newspaper stories and tv news debates, they will release such movies.
That's right, friends. You are once again masterfully filling your role as puppet.
It's like I always say...When Hollywood sends you limes, squeeze the juice into your rum and coke and relax.
The last time I checked, people really like to do whatever they want. Not only that, but there are 4 books in my bible dedicated to a story of how people wanted to kill god so that they could do whatever they wanted. And you know what? They actually killed god.
***Spoiler Alert*** Unlike TGC, that isn't the end of the story. Jesus rises again. Truth wins. Grace wins. Love wins. God wins. ***End Spoiler Alert***
So my question is, why don't we just use this movie to our advantage? As someone who works with adolescents, I think there would be great value in watching the films with ensuing discussions on how they fit into a Christian worldview. Here's a question...what would really happen if we succeeded in permanently killing God and doing whatever we wanted? How do we try to kill God every day to do what we want? How is the god in TGC fundamentally different from the God we worship?
I mean, honestly people. In the process of trying to make money Hollywood is throwing you a softball here. Right over the middle of the plate.
There is a good chance that Pullman's trillogy will be required reading in our home when our kids hit middle school. We will read the books together. We will talk about them. We won't get our underwear all up in a bunch. We will grow together and have respectful conversation about who our God is and how we can better serve that God.
I have perused multiple toy catalogs over the past couple of weeks. With Christmas fast approaching, every store in America is trying to get you to enter their doors and leave with a sack full of high-priced goodies. An interesting development, many toys I played with as a young child are now becoming popular once again. Cabbage Patch Kids. My Little Pony. Care Bears. As I am now a father, I have the opportunity to nostalgically relive my childhood through my own daughter. What a gift.
But then my eyes gazed upon a product that was very disturbing to me. It fell under the category I will call "Mythic Synchretism". This category includes toys that are mash-ups of two toy franchises into one, easy to play with toy. But this time they've gone to far.
I present to you...(stop reading if you have a weak stomach)...Star Wars Transformers I know. I know. I too am totally appalled. Not only that, but I now have the daunting task ahead of me of preserving true Star Wars Mythology. I dread the day when I will have to explain to my kids, "No, no, no honey. Han and Chewbacca DRIVE the Millennium Falcon. They don't turn INTO the Falcon." Talk about an awkward conversation no father looks forward to having with his kids. It's probably time for us to start showing the Classic Trilogy on a weekly basis to make sure Elli knows her orthodox Star Wars history.
Talk about a disservice to society. Where will it end, I ask. Where will the insanity end?
The Christmas Story. Quite possibly, one of my favorite non-religious yultide traditions. The Red Rider toy gun, the little boy unable to stand up because of his over-restrictive winter onesie, the tongue getting stuck to the flag pole on the double-dog-dare. So many beautiful memories wrapped up into one glorious two-hour package that is repeated 12 times straight on Christmas Eve thanks to our good friends at TBS.
Haven't you always wanted to relive just a moment from the film? I know I sure have. But alas, I don't want to go to the hospital for frostbite on my tongue. I don't want to get my mouth washed out with soap. I'm against guns, so that whole beebee deal is a no go. But halt! Fate has stepped in and provided the opportunity for life to imitate art. Right now, at deepdiscount.com, for the low low price of $85.95 both you and I can procure our very own leg lamp. What glorious opportunities doth behold us in this first day after Thanksgiving. It's at times like this where only the words of the foremost contemporary philosopher can adequately frame how fortunate we are.
If I would have known, you would have received a card in the mail this week. But nobody told me until I saw it in the paper this morning, so you will have to settle for a public proclamation of my undying affection on my blog.
Happy 20th Anniversary Princes Bride!!!
All of humanity is indebted to Rob Reiner for his direction in this film. It is certainly a classic for people my age, and I hope that the generations to come get to enjoy it as much as I did. And believe me, I enjoyed it a lot.
There came a time in the mid-1990's when viewing of Princess was almost banned in our home. During those years there was a cable TV station that owned the rights to the film (I can't remember if it was TNT, TBS, or USA...they're all the same), and they showed it all of the time. So whenever my sister and I were looking for something to do and nothing else was on the old boob tube, we could always find Princess. The only way that movie could have gotten more run is if it had its own channel, which some might argue it did.
We watched Princess so much that the image of Fred Savage was permanently burned into our tv. Just kidding. But the viewings did give us occasion to frequently hone our acting talents after the comedic genius that is Andre the Giant. I'm not exactly sure how many times, "Anybody want a peanut?" was uttered in our home, but it was certainly in the quadruple digits.
All of this led to my father very nearly having a nervous breakdown due to an inability to escape Rodents of Unusual Size and bad British accents. But then his kids got lives and started having more diverse interests, so we only watched Princess once each month. Nothing like cutting back. Breakdown averted.
It is with equal parts trepidation and elation that I have dreamed about this day. Almost 90 minutes of The Simpsons on a big screen without commercial interruption. In what must be seen as a huge gamble, the film could either soar or bomb, but the creators bit the bullet and went for the ultimate challenge. I dare say, we are all the better for it.
My relationship with the Simpsions did not get off to the best start. When I was just a wee lad, my family sat down to watch the maiden voyage of what would later become one of the most successful sitcoms ever. Unfortunately for my 8-year-old self, the show proved to be fairly inappropriate for my budding mind and the Simpsons was thus banned from our home immediately. On second thought, perhaps it was a fortunate occurrence. I'm as big a Simpsons fan as the next guy, but the first two seasons were absolutely brutal in comparison to what would follow. It's as though after a couple of years the creators figured out they had enough clout to unleash the power of their Harvard-educated brains and really blow us away with dry wit and social commentary.
Those middle-year Simpsons are the ones I fell in love with in college. Emancipated from my parent's home, I encountered a culture where young men gathered together every evening to watch The Simpsons. It was a grand culture, and one where I got completely hooked. One where we talked about the pros and cons of a movie that might maybe perhaps happen at some point in the future.
The future is now. The future is good. I had my doubts. One of the best aspects of any Simpsons episode is the little game that goes on with the sensors. What are they going to allow, and what crosses the line? Go into the theatre and there aren't really any rules. The writers made a good call in keeping with the tone of the tv series and not going overly raunchy. They dropped a couple of sweet bombs that probably would have been allowed on tv, but that certainly snuggled up and cuddled with the aforementioned line. But in the end, The Simpson's movie is a barrel of laughs with just the right amount of social commentary and Star Wars references.
There are certain elements of film making that a movie must include if it is going to be considered a "great" film. It needs to have compelling dialogue. It needs to have a strong plot. It needs stout acting. A foreign language is known to help.
Pretty much none of those things were in Transformers. I take that back. The robots did speak some form of robotese. Other than that, all of the other elements were lacking. And you know what? I'm ok with that. I did not go to the theatre to have my emotions moved. I went to watch robots from outer space blow things up, and did they ever blow things up. To the max, dogg.
I can honestly say that this film surpassed my expectations of how good computer generated characters could look. These robots were off the hook. Granted, they moved so much that there were times that I was this close to getting overstimulated, but it was so totally worth it.
The other really impressive aspect of Transformers had to be the use of military vehicles. I read an article in a recent edition of Wired that mentioned how Michael Bay gets whatever he wants from the Pentagon because the DOD felt he did such a great job on Pearl Harbor. Hey, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Anyway, I fully believe that the Pentagon has some kind of eternal indebtedness to Mr. Bay, because they let him use just about every sweet action piece of military equipment possible. It was pretty amazing.
In hindsight I only have two beefs with the movie. The first I will not mention because it would be a major plot spoiler, but if you ask me away from the blogsphere I'll get on my soap box. My public outcry is the fact that there was NO Transformers theme song. I have two words for you. Weak sauce. I really don't think it would have been too much to ask to get Linkin Park or The Gorillas to redo a little classic cartoon theme song action, tricked out for 2k7. This is a summer blockbuster film, after all. Perhaps one will surface on the internet and I can play it during the credits if I ever rent the film for viewing at home. We shall see.
One of the fringe benefits of working with kids is that you get plenty of chances to see movies that are rated PG. If it wasn't for my vocational calling, I would not have had the opportunity to discover such gems as Daddy Daycare and The Little Rascals. Granted, I would have also been spared the misery of Happy Feet, but most things in life involve trade offs.
Hollywood has been trying for a long time to make a movie that appeals to Christians and yet can garner wide-spread appeal. That is no easy task. Their effort with Pay It Forward came up dreadfully short on all accounts. Passion was a profitable experiment but said far too little about grace for my liking, and really isn't something that can be replicated into sequels.
And then steps Even Almighty onto the stage. As a big fan of Bruce Almighty, this was one of the few comedies I have been excited to see out of the box. Throw in some of the talent from The Office and you have me. The previews made the movie seem more kid friendly than Bruce, and I was even interested by some of the theological statements made in the previews.
But then the media burst my bubble last week with their tepid reviews, and I was sufficiently bummed. I just really wanted this one to work out. Nonetheless, it seemed like a good kid-friendly option so we took some kids to see it.
Evan is what it is. Is it corny? Yes. But what PG comedy isn't. I thought the corniness was cute and funny. I thought the film had a lot of good messages. I was shocked that there was nothing theologically in the film that really made me squirm. I was happy to sit through an entire feature film and not worry about what the kids were seeing and hearing. It was fantastic.
My advice is drop the $7 and go see the movie. Show Hollywood that they got it right and that you'd be willing to support efforts that are creative, funny, clean and include talented people. Maybe we'll get more films like Evan.
The Civil Rights Movement does not get enough run in schools. The very fact that I had never heard of the Children's March is proof enough of that sad fact. It's a good thing I saw a clip from a documentary about the subject that prompted me to chase it down and watch it. I'm glad I did.
The Children's March took place in Birmingham, AL in 1963. As the story goes, Birmingham was one of the most oppressive cities in America. However, the adults in the city were afraid to really speak out against the oppression for fear of losing their jobs. The kids in the town didn't have such concerns however, so they organized a huge march to protest their oppression. It was a created protest. It was a measured protest. It was brave, and it was meant to go to great lengths. In the sense that it changed the game, it worked. In the sense that it was totally nonviolent? Not so much. At least not for a sustained period of time. The March achieved that goal the first day, but was later beat into submission by the Birmingham authorities.
You know those images you see during Black History Month of people getting sprayed with hoses and attacked by police dogs? That was Birmingham. I have to admit that seeing those images in motion was slightly shocking and made my heart sad that people had to endure such hardships in this country. It was also appalling to hear racist venom coming from the mouths of elected officials, but such was the social situation at that dark point in our history.
In the end, the kids accomplished a lot. It was those revolting pictures that helped prod President Kennedy to speak out. It was that turnaround that helped lift Dr King's spirits as up to that point he was feeling frustrated and a little burnt out. And it showed what kids are capable of. Let's just hope we don't put kids in a situation where they have to prove themselves like that again.
Anne Lamott respected Maunday Thursday as a Holy Day. She chose not to swear. A good thing, I'd imagine. Respecting Holy Days, and all. Me? Yeah. About that. I chose to spend part of my Good Friday screening Blades of Glory. For shame.
I did laugh a few times. I have a real soft spot for watching other men get hit in the genitals. It's an age-old comedic tactic, though one I fall for every time. So, for the record, I did laugh at most of the racking jokes. It's a bad sign when those are the high points of a major motion picture. It's also a bad sign when you are in a movie theatre with a bunch of middle school boys and many of the jokes are so lame that they float by garnering nary a laugh. Potty humor and sexual humor is typically money in the bag when it comes to adolescent boys, but this movie was so dumb that they didn't even think it was funny.
Part of my not liking Blades has something to do with me being a comedy snob. I just don't enjoy that many comedies. I liked Napoleaon Dynamite and Nacho Libre. I got quite tickled by Blue Streak when I saw it on an airplane once. Joe Dirt had it's moments. Dumb and Dumber is nostalgic for me. Other than that, I just don't get into the so-called "funny" movies. I'll take The Simpsons, The Office, 30 Rock or Wild 'n' Out any day of the week. The Daily Show? Yeah. Sometimes I pee my pants when I watch it.
That'll teach me to not be reverent on Good Friday. Idiot!
As of yesterday, I am the official owner of a Kansas City, Kansas Public Library card. In retrospect, it is difficult to understand why it took me so stinkin' long to get one of these puppies. As I learned yesterday, there is a lot of free stuff in the Library. Not just books and mags, but a ton (and I do mean TON) of movies and cds. From my initial perusal, it would seem as though it has a great independent films section, as well as a wonderful kids section. Oh, and where else are you going to go to find the complete DVD anthology of ALF!!! I could hardly believe my eyes that (a) the library actually invested in the complete collection of ALF, and (b) that the whole collection wasn't checked out. Shoot. After college basketball and soccer aren't on TV every Saturday, I'm totally grabbing those disks and camping out on the couch.
By far the most outstanding part of my trip to the library yesterday was that Elli loved it. It took me back to the days when I used to frequent the Portland Public Library on a regular basis as a little rugrat. My sister and I had a babysitter who would take us there every single week. We would go during the time when one of the librarians would gather around all of the kids and do a little story time, and then we would be released into the massive collection of pages, ink, imagination and wonder to pick out our weekly selection of books. I probably owe a lot to that baby sitter, because I'm sure that those field trips have a lot to do with the love of reading that I still have today. Some might say that it went a bit to far and now I suffer from a sever case of book addiction, but I certainly choose to hold to a more positive paradigm.
A couple of things are clear to me as of this point. First, Elli, the Dashiell Child(ren) to be determined at a later date and myself are going to be taking a lot of trips to the library. The highlight of Elli's trip yesterday was the oscillating fan that blew on her face, but judging by how much she enjoys the books she has at our home we are about 18 months away from her truly enjoying the literary aspects of the library. Plus, we'll have to go to pick up some child-friendly films as well. Yesterday, there was this guy there with his 5 year-old son. The kid was begging to be allowed to check out Tron for what appeared to be the 50th time. Apparently, this father had done his duty in sharing with his children the joys of 80's sci-fi flicks. That's what I'm talking about. I was glad to see that there were at least 5 different kid appropriate Star Wars DVD's in the children's section, which means my children will be nursed on the joys that I experienced growing up. Which brings me to my second point. If I ever spend money at Blockbuster again you should pinch me. There are more than enough movies at the library.
I usually don't go to two movies in the span of 12 days. However, I did go see "Happy Feet" with some of our kids yesterday, and here are some of my random thoughts from the experience.
*There is nothing like watching kids movies with kids. You never know what they are going to find funny, and when they start laughing it's totally contagious. I loved it.
*Kids movies probably don't need lots of sexual innuendo. This movie had a ton of it, which was a disappointment. I'm not sure how much the kids pick up, but why not just keep it clean and innocent? Then I don't have to spend my time worrying about how I'm going to explain things later.
*This was probably the most bizarre movie I've seen in a while. The problem was that for most of it, they were trying to be somewhat realistic. It's CGI talking penguins, but at the same time the creators had obviously watched a lot of penguin documentaries, and modeled the entire plot after such accuracies. Well, the last 15 minutes were the most ludicrous movie minutes ever. Huge plot jumps, completely implausible scenarios. It was a mess. I was actually stunned and shocked by how plain odd the last part of the movie was.
*Robin Williams is amazing in cartoons. So is Eddie Murphy for that matter, but he wasn't in this one. Nicole Kidman was in it, and I am constatly amazed at how well she can sing. She's really really good.
*One of the perils in going to a movie with kids is that you end up in the front row. I think my retina almost exploded.
When I worked at Hillcrest, we would often sit around after a big event or trip and recap how it had gone. It's easy to remember and want to talk about the negative aspects, so we would be very intentional about bringing in the positive aspects as well. One of the questions we asked a lot was: "Who surprised you in a really good way?" There would always be students or leaders who would surpass our expectations, and it was helpful for us to bring those people up so that we could affirm them.
Well, yesterday's blog entry was a real downer. I'm still torn up about the whole situation, what with it ruining Christmas and all. In an effort to change the mood, I'm going to blog about some things that have surprised me in a really good way recently.
This past weekend, Stacy and I had the opportunity to go on a date. The grandparents took the little one for the evening, and we hit the town. The town I am referring to is none other than the great metropolis of Emporia, Kansas, which happens to be the metropolis that is nearest to my in-laws. In planning our date, I was disappointed to find that the movie selections were quite meager. Not only that, but going to a movie was "plan b". Our first choice was to go mini-golfing, but for some reason the outdoor mini-golf place in town didn't anticipate a run of 70-degree days in late November, so they were closed.
In the end we decided to go see "Stranger Than Fiction". I had only a rudimentary understanding of what the movie would be about, but it seemed like the only thing playing that we would have even the slightest chance of enjoying. I must say, the movie really surprised me.
I think that this movie is for Will Ferrell what "The Truman Show" was Jim Carey. Both funny guys, and both were able to find a script that let them be funny with depth. "Fiction" took a lot of risks, and most of them paid off. It was probably the most original movie I've seen since "Memento", and was so unlike most of the stuff big studios release that both Stacy and I were pretty shocked when we left the theatre. Now, the plot is by no means believable. You really have to suspend reality going into the experience, or you will probably hate the movie. But if you can let go for a little bit and let yourself get lost in the striking characters, it ends up being a very enjoyable couple of hours. It really is a fantastic piece of story telling.
I think people should support the movie, if for no other reason than it will show Hollywood that people really want cinematic experiences that are new and fresh. Or, if you don't want to tell Hollywood that then you can feel free to go watch James Bond have sex with women and blow things up in the 21st installment of what has to be the most redundant movie franchise in the history of movies.
I'm a husband, a dad, a student, a Christ Follower. Mostly, I'm just this dude trying to figure out how God wants me to live this life, and I'm open to suggestions.
