Favorite Movies and Music of 2007

It's time for me to do that year-end list of highlights... not "best of" though. That's too definitive and I have no claim to make as an arbiter of stuff like that. So let's just jump into what I enjoyed the most in the public domain of culture since last January 1...

Favorite Movies: Across the Universe - The Beatles theme, fresh takes on the music and Julie Taymor's suitably trippy visuals made a winning combo for me.

The Darjeeling Limited - This is actually the first Wes Anderson film I got to see in the theaters and I've seen it twice. He appears to have moved a bit beyond some of the "twee" tendencies that characterized his earlier productions, which is good even though that tweeness was part of what made "The Royal Tenenbaums" and "Rushmore" in particular so enjoyable. I think going to India relieved him of some of the pressure of having to physically construct each scene before lensing it in his customary symmetrical format. The story is fairly slight, which is also fine - basically, a road movie about three brothers in an exotic locale dealing with some unsettled family business. Wes and his troupe all appear to have grown up a bit so the whimsy is bit less obvious but still there enough to produce many subtly humorous and a few laugh out loud funny moments. I will get the Criterion DVD upon release...

Hot Fuzz - Crazy English action spoof had me laughing throughout but be ready for the grim, bloody humor (and I mean real bloody, not "bloody" like the Brits use it.) There were several other films that I didn't get to see that might have made this list. "Into the Wild" comes to mind - I'm waiting for it to show up at the discount theater, very soon I hope.

Favorite New Music: Chemical Brothers "We Are The Night" - Any new ChemBros music is big news to me, I'm a huge fan of everything they've done and was thoroughly pleased with this release. They continue to take electronic dance music in new directions and their production is simply stunning. I liked the CD enough to download pre-release bootlegs of each track, buy the CD and purchase it from iTunes to get the bonus tracks. Plus the CD singles - I even named my fantasy football team "We Are The Night" (though it didn't seem to help any.) I'm a fan, without apologies.

Justice "Cross" and Digitalism "Idealism" represented a kind of techno revival last summer, at least to my ears. They're both European based duos who put out some fresh new synthetic sounds that got my attention and I look forward to hearing more from them if they choose to stay in the music game.

The Go! Team "Proof Of Youth" - This is, I think, mainly one guy's musical vision, but it's quite entertaining - he somehow melds 70's TV car chase themes with cheerleader chants and a funky electronica big beat hip-hop feel to produce very hooky tunes about topics that don't really seem to register much with me for content but I enjoy listening to it anyway. I recommend them highly if you are feeling adventurous and experimental, assuming that the above description appeals to you in some way.

The Arcade Fire "Neon Bible" - This is my nod to something resembling "contemporary classic rock" that I think I will look back on to remind myself that rock isn't really dead after all. I will put "Icky Thump" by the White Stripes in that same category, though I do wish they had come up with a better title for the project.

Polyphonic Spree "Fragile Army" - The Spree are another group I've been following for a few years, since their first CD came out. I like the retro-seventies "Up With People" peace love and sunshine orchestral pop music they produce. This CD darkened up the mood just a bit but they have found a unique niche. Listening to just a couple of their songs produces a quick uplift effect for me so I like having them around.

M.I.A. "Kala" - M.I.A. is a young woman from Sri Lanka who came to England some years ago and presents an intense and engaging mix of techno, hip hop, world music sounds infused with a political stance that settles somewhere between militant and trendy. Certainly a finalist for the most garish multi-colored packaging of the year. I love the heart and soul that comes through the crunchy, heavily processed rhythms and textures.

Favorite Music Re-Issues: Love Is The Song We Sing - the fourth offering in the "Nuggets" series of box sets, this 4-disc collection focuses on the S.F. Bay Area in the mid-60's, before during and after the Summer of Love. Features all the big groups - Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Quicksilver, Country Joe, etc. as well as numerous obscure and nearly forgotten bands. Lovingly packaged in a coffee-table quality book. A most awesome and delightful relic of a bygone era!

Bob Dylan "Dylan" - I went ahead and splurged for the deluxe edition box set, which features little black CDs that look like vinyl albums, a set of postcards but most importantly a very succinct overview of the biggest songs from the full span of Dylan's illustrious career. No rarities or outtakes to be found here, which bothered some of his hardcore fans, but this is simply an amazing collection of music and deserves appreciation simply as a document of what the man has accomplished. A great introduction for younger fans who may be curious to know what all the adulation directed at the old guy is all about anyway.

Favorite DVD Releases: The Third Man - Orson Welles as the enigmatic black-marketeer running for his life through the sewers of Vienna. Two-Lane Blacktop - James Taylor and Dennis Wilson race Warren Oates across early 70's America, for no particular purpose other than it's something to do. Ace In The Hole - I didn't know that cynicism to this degree could come out of a Hollywood studio in the 1950's, but glad that it's been preserved for our enjoyment, awaiting an era when it's sardonic take on the media could be fully appreciated by the mass audience.

That's it for now... I may get around to books and/or events of the year later. Or maybe not!

Christmas 2007

In bed shortly after midnite after making a forgettable joke about scaring away Santa and the reindeer. Christmas Eve spent as tradition has it with my mom, sister & brother-in-law, our first Christmas without Grandma B who passed away in February, new additions this year being Ashley (Curt's girlfriend) and LeeAnn (Brandon's girlfriend) who arrived a bit late but it was fun to have them along I wasn't expecting it. Fell asleep quickly but awake again at 5 a.m. due to irritated stomach which makes sense given all the ridiculously rich and flavorful food I'd eaten the night before. Too awake to go right back to sleep after munching a couple of Tums, I went to my computer since I couldn't sit on the sofa and read, it being occupied by Curt (Brandon on the loveseat, absurdly poking legs over the armrest) since both the boys beds had been moved to their apartment in October, marking another development in our family history and a change from Christmases past. Checked out a couple of emails, looked at the fantasy football websites which were still in some kind of odd statistical limbo where the final results hadn't been correctly tallied yet (but when I looked at them later in the day everything looked the way it was supposed to.) Nothing much to really hold my attention, plus I didn't feel like actually getting up and staying up that early so I crawled back into bed about 15 minutes later, stomach ache easily subsided and resumed sleeping, remaining there until around 9 a.m. Upon waking realized that we didn't have to worry about delivering morning papers which marks yet another significant bit of progress and a differentiating detail from the last seven Christmases. So we meandered about for awhile, Josh Groban's Christmas CD playing in the kitchen while we jammed in the living room to Guitar Hero III on the XBox borrowed from B&C's roommate, then for traditions sake got together to make our customary waffle breakfast even though we weren't all that hungry and a bowl of cereal would have sufficed for meeting our hunger and nutritional needs. Spent some time trying to finagle a timed group photo but the first one didn't turn out so well and the subsequent attempts suffered from battery failure so we just postponed that and figured we'd do one around the tree later which is a better shot than us sitting around the table, we did that for Thanksgiving just a month ago anyway so what's the difference really? And none of us were dressed up all that nicely anyway.

After breakfast we quickly clean up the dishes and make the kitchen/dining area somewhat manageable again, before heading to the living room for our gift exchange. Brandon was Santa this year and everyone got nice things even though our gift giving is pretty low budget and modest compared to many other families I suppose, that's how we want it to be. So here's the quick rundown: Gas cards, gift cards, magazine subscriptions, memberships to local organizations, concert tickets, DVDs, CDs, board games, video games, a shelf for the downstairs bathroom (to set CD player), clothes, books. I think that about covers it.

Post-gift opening we hang out for awhile, trying out some of the new Wii and DS games, watching a couple Looney Tunes cartoons (I got Golden Collection Vol. 5 which has an awesome disc dedicated to Bob Clampett - alone worth the cost!), picked up some of the mess, talked and relaxed. Then the twins had to move on to other things, specifically going over to their girlfriends' holiday events so we had to kind of hustle lunch along sooner than ideal but that's how Christmas might have to be as our family disperses itself a bit, another traditional "big meal," this time with ham, baked potatoes, sweet potatoes and steamed asparagus tips, all very tasty but wow who really needs to eat so much in such a short period of time? But we did and it was delicious and there's plenty of leftover ham and sweet potatoes for us to enjoy for the next couple days.

Another last round or two of Guitar Hero and then it's time for the boys to leave but oh yeah, gotta take that family Christmas pic around the tree so I do, but first gotta put the new batteries in - though that doesn't really seem to help because the power dies before I can finish setting up the self-timer prompting the thought that it may be time to put a new digital camera on one of next year's gift lists. After wrestling around with it and trying a few little adjustments and tricks I've learned about this particular piece of equipment I finally get it to work, but just the one, because I didn't want to keep anyone hung up for the sake of a snapshot, so here it is.

And with that, and hugs, B&C are off to do their thing and the other four of us resume our hanging out and taking it easy. Rest of the afternoon passes in a hazy blur, reading, chatting, keeping busy with little pastimes. We play the new Cities and Knights of Catan expansion set that Derek got, a lot more complicated bunch of rules, new strategies, stuff to buy and nerdish calculations to make that add some intrigue to the game but kind of mess up the elegant simplicity of the original but Derek likes it (Julie not so much, though she's a good sport about it) and we'll have to see which version we turn to when it's family game time in the weeks and months to come. Then it's dark out and cold and the evening winds down to snuggling up and watching the Narnia movie that Julie got for Christmas last year but had not even yet taken out of its shrinkwrap! (I never leave the shrinkwrap on my DVDs even if it takes me weeks before I get around to watching them!) And despite basically doing not much else besides sit around all day we were tired enough to turn in and sleep before the next midnight rolled around.

open time

I'm going to be away from work for the next week or so... at least, I'm not going to be in my office doing my regular job until Dec. 31, though I will be carrying our "crisis team pager" next weekend so who knows, I may be called in to assist somewhere during that span of time. But I'm pleased to see a bloc of open-ended, unstructured time sitting in front of me, even though "holiday events" will take up a portion of it over the next couple of days.

I want to use this partly as a time to reflect on what I'd like to achieve in the coming year and to re-evaluate my priorities in a number of areas - job, family, social action, spiritual development... I haven't been blogging much lately (been pretty busy with managing some conflicts on my email list but I'm not going to go into that story here - it's best kept either there or to myself...)

The only real purpose to this post is to make a public statement to that effect that may provide the stimulus that I think I need to refine my thoughts and stay ready to move into the new year feeling more invigorated, creative and focused than I have in recent weeks. I'm thinking it would do me some good to put my energies into something with a longer shelf life than blog posts, emails or the kind of writing I do at work. My concern is to avoid dissipation. I've been taking in a lot of media and ideas and I like that but I also want to produce, not simply consume.

It's Movie Watching Time

The coldness of winter has set in, presumably to stay, for the next four months or more. We're close to entering into what I call my "sports free" time of year... of course that doesn't mean that sports aren't happening, it's more that I'm not as involved with tracking my fantasy sports rosters, at least until mid-to-late March when it becomes necessary to prepare for the baseball season. So given the combination of long nights, cold weather and the pleasures associated with huddling up together on the sofa, what better way to spend that time than watching great movies.

And when I say great movies, I mean truly classic and provocative cinematic works. I'm talking about... the Criterion Collection.

Yes, that's where my movie-viewing tastes are running these days. I enjoy going to see the occasional Hollywood blockbuster popcorn muncher, and I'll do what I can to stay current on the films most likely to make a serious run at the Oscars. But if I was stuck on a desert island with a choice of only one theater, I would without a doubt make it an art house indie-movie cinematheque.

I hope you are already aware, to some extent, of the Criterion Collection. If not, visit their website and you should soon get the idea. I'm not going to recap the history of the "movement" or even go into great detail on how my own interests have built up over the years. But suffice it to say that I'm looking forward to getting some additions to my library at Christmas time, and for birthdays, Fathers Days and other special occasions for years to come.

Last night, after we got back from moving Lys out of her dorm at GVSU and back home with, Julie, Lys and I watched Jean Renoir's The River. It's a nicely done Technicolor epic shot in India in 1950-51, just a few years after the nation had secured its independence from Great Britain. The film is a coming of age story, based on novelized reminiscences of Rumer Godden, who wrote "Black Narcissus" (another great Criterion DVD that I watched earlier in the week while Julie was working on wedding flowers.) I'm glad that my wife and daughter watched it with me because it's something of an art-house chick flick than a "guy film." I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much if I watched it with only my sons. But some wonderful little moments came out in the portrayal of three young women each coming of age, each facing their own unique dilemmas in the late stages of the colonial era in India - little tidbits of philosophical wisdom and timeless beauty, even in the constraints of a slightly hackneyed 50's style of acting and screenwriting. And I really love watching Technicolor productions! This film took tremendous advantage of the bright colors and (to western viewers) exotic locale, the Ganges river and surrounding countryside, even though most of the action takes place on a colonial estate where the British family lives (echoing the author's own personal history.) Well, enough for that mini-review. That wasn't the purpose of this blog entry.

My aim is to watch a fair number of Criterion films this winter - some for the second or third time from my own collection of DVDs, others from the library, which cuts down considerably on the costs, especially for titles I'm not sure I want to own. I already have Bicycle Thieves, Overlord and The Importance of Being Earnest checked out, with more titles soon to be on hold. Andrei Rublev (from my personal collection, is on the tube right now in the room next to where I'm typing, kind of a visual wallpaper thing to create atmosphere and keep its images fresh in my mind without necessitating the commitment of sitting down to watch the three-hour epic at close attention.

Any other Criterion aficionados out there with personal favorites to recommend?

The Steroids Thing...

I was asked in a comment below about the latest baseball controversy stemming from the Mitchell Report (or as Sportsline.com put it yesterday, "Mitch-slapped.") This email I composed just a short while ago this morning will get the conversation started. The comments marked by the > signs represent quotes. Let me just say that though it may read like I'm upbraiding my correspondent, he's a brilliant writer and thinker. I really like this guy and only dish it out the way I do based on the context of our long-standing email acquaintance... (he is quite capable of doing the same himself...)

> Will baseball fans accept baseball statistics tainted with the
> corrupted practices of players and team directors and ignore the
> skewed results they now seem to display?

So you join the haters weighing in with their lofty and pious sermonettes
denouncing major league baseball... I take this opportunity to
disagree with the fundamental presumptions behind these comments.

If we refused to accept everything in our world and society that was
tainted by corrupt practices, I don't think there would be very much
to enjoy in life besides wild flowers growing in the meadow and the
occasional gorgeous sunset.

And other natural phenomena that humans have basically nothing to do with.

> If they do, which will probably accord as the case. what will that
> mean first for science at the academic and research levels? And
> second, how will that influence the political and social life and
> culture of the U.S.?

I think this story is the most overhyped mass contagion of the vapors
that I've seen in a long time. I don't advocate steroid use but I'm
not aghast that it's been happening. It's been fairly obvious that
illegal and semi-legal suppliements have been a factor in the game for
years now. I think any reasonably informed adult follower of the sport
should have processed this by now, and figured out a long time ago
that the use was not limited only to big time sluggers who hit the
long ball. But I suppose it takes orchestrated PR campaigns like this
to dispel the illusions and sentimentalities that many continue
(naively, imo) to invest in baseball, the great American pastime.

> Said in different terms, how will a society portray itself or believe
> about itself when a dead horse remains in the middle of their living
> environment, permanently, stinking the whole place up? How can a
> society deal with that kind of situation, day in and day out?

You suggest that baseball is that proverbial dead horse? Wow, I think
that baseball is more reflective of our culture, not generative as a
source of moral leadership, guidance or inspiration. I suppose that
some have tried to sell baseball off as this paragon of virtue, this
noble expression of "what makes America great" but a clear-eyed
assessment of the history of the game quickly complicates the picture.
I think baseball was much more corrupt and degrading when segregation
was enforced, but that's the so-called "golden age" in the eyes of the
mythologizers.

Baseball has a problem in which the players, owners, commissioner's
office, agents, the unions, management and the supporting-services
industry surrounding the game share complicity in and now must
address. This action is way overdue. They've been trying to maneuver
their way out of this with as little jeopardy to the corporate edifice
as possible. Nobody wants to fall on the sword for the greater good
here.

> I feel curious about how children will feel about their country when
> the national pastime includes the perception that statistically
> speaking, all those statistics accord as unreliable.

The events happened. The statistics reflect that. How do they not
accord as reliable? Each of those events is probably stored on
videotape somewhere. Statistics are not capable of reflecting the
moral and ethical decisions that went into producing the events they
record.

> What a country, no?
>
> What kind of a country will the U.S. represent in the future?
>
> Will honesty matter in this country, even on bit of it, to anyone?

These are all fine questions, and the answers are troubling to
consider, but I hardly see baseball as the harbinger of the crisis.
It's a business, highly competitive, and conditions led many players
to pursue advantages that presented other risks to themselves further
on down the road. People do this kind of thing in many professions
everyday. Doesn't make it right, but I just see all this carrying on
about baseball as an excessive reaction to the actualities of the
situation.

> Suppose for example that you read in a history book or an
> archaeological account that a certain political entity, say the Romans
> or the Spartans, or for that matter, the Mayans, who played the
> original game of baseball, instead of playing honestly with each
> other, regularly tainted their games with dishonest practices. What or
> how would you feel about them and what type of understanding would
> that bring to you?

That they were human. I've heard that the Mayans played games that
involved kicking a small ball around a large court with the objective
of getting it through a stone ring some twenty feet or so above the
ground. There was only one goal scored in the game. Members of the
losing team were sacrificed to the gods. (Or so I've heard. I was
actually on one of these playing fields down at Chichen Itza, I think
it was, back in 1982.) Now that's a game with some serious corruption
issues!

College Graduation Weekend

Alyssa was recognized with a "Creative Achievement Award" at the Honors College reception on Friday night, for having two books published, another one due out any day now, and contracts for at least eight more that will be in print sometime in 2009.

















Around 950 Masters and Bachelors Degree recipients stream into Van Andel Arena...

















...and there they go now that we've all performed the graduation ceremony rituals.

















Speaking of rituals, that night we decorated our Christmas tree. We always begin with a ceremonial clinking of egg nog glasses.
















And here's the tree getting the finishing touches, at least for the night. Julie laid a string of pearls on it tonight. There's probably more to come even though we're trying to keep the tree tastefully simple this year...

I Never Saw Another Butterfly

Last Friday (yes, I know, nearly a week ago...) Derek and I went to see the Wyoming Park High School production of "I Never Saw Another Butterfly," a one-act play concerning the experiences of children forced to live in the Nazi concentration camps of World War II. Not exactly your typical light-hearted, overly-familiar, amateur-level high school play! But as usual, it was very well done and quite effective at drawing the audience in to the story, the emotions and the atmosphere that the playwright, director and cast sought to convey.

The director, Jeremy Schnotala, continues to impress me with the diversity and controlled risk-taking of his annual selections. Over the years, his crew has covered the gamut from serious fare like "Animal Farm" and "Lord of the Flies" to breezy entertainments like "The Egg and I" (which featured my twin sons in a bit role) and very ambitious undertakings like last years full-costume extravaganza, "Cats." By doing so, I think he's greatly expanded the theatrical vocabulary of his audience, mainly family and friends of the students living here in Wyoming, many of whom I dare say would not be so likely to see plays like these if they didn't feature kids they knew. And of course, he's provided a memorable experience for the students themselves as they get to dig into some seriously illuminating and challenging literature over the course of the production.

Having said that, it was a bit unsettling for me (and I suppose a few others) to see so many of the energetic, cheerful kids we know at the Park adopting the demeanor of heavily-burdened, oppressed, starving and chronically neglected refugee children! The opening scene featured a line-up of downcast youth, having their names called one by one, along with the date they perished in the extermination camps. After each name was read, they would silently shuffle over and place their shoes in a pile at the feet of a swastika-wearing Nazi guard. Sheesh, what an opening number!

And that somber tone, though it did relent somewhat from time to time, pretty much carried the evening. This clearly isn't the play to show off student talents for slapstick, wordplay or comic timing. But it was very moving and I have special words of praise for the acting talent of Leah Ruark, a freshman who really had to carry a tremendous load of responsibility as the central character, a young girl named Raja who actually survived the Holocaust and supplied the narrative continuity as a series of vignettes unfolded on stage. I have to say that she gave one of the most memorable individual performances I've ever seen in my years of going to high school plays. And it wasn't until afterward that I learned she was only in 9th grade. That happened because I happened to run into her uncle Peter as we were exiting the theater. Peter is an old friend of mine who lives in Lansing now and whom I haven't seen in years. We went out together afterward to catch up on things and that was a fantastic coincidental benefit of going to the play!

I will also give props to Henry Marcusse who did a solid job as the Rabbi (and allowed himself to be aged quite dramatically with his beard and make-up) and the set designers who created a very professional looking replica of the sinister guard towers and roughshod barracks where the children of Terezin were forced to live. Another job excellently done, folks! Even though this is the last year that I'll have a child at WPHS, you can count on me to regularly attend. I'm already curious to see what they have in store for us next year!

Ceremonial Slicing of the Turkey

This is posted mainly for the benefit of those who don't have a chance to see my facebook profile picture (which my son Curt said was "the single most amazing profile picture ever") though I suppose it fits here just as well...

My Thanksgiving Playlist

From my stupendously eclectic iTunes collection, here are the songs that I loaded into my iPod for this special occasion...

Abba - Thank You For The Music
Alannis Morrissette - Thank U
Alicia Meyers - I Want To Thank You
Andrew Gold - Thank You For Being A Friend (Golden Girls Theme)
Angie Stone ft. Snoop Dogg - I Wanna Thank Ya
Bachman-Turner Overdrive - Thank You For The Feeling
The Beatles - Thank You Girl
Bob Hope & Shirley Ross - Thanks For The Memories
Bob Marley - Thank You Lord
Bob Marley - Give Thanks And Praise
Chris Cornell - Thank You (Led Zeppelin cover)
Christina Aguilera - Thank You (Dedication to Fans)
Deee-Lite - Thank You Everyday (original and five different remix versions)
Devo - Thanks To You
Dido - Thank You
Duran Duran - Thank You (another Led Zep cover)
Filter - Thanks Bro
George Harrison - Thanks For The Pepperoni
Harry Richman - Thank You Father
Jane's Addiction - Thank You Boys
John Denver - Thank God I'm A Country Boy (three different versions)
John Mellencamp - Thank You
Kaiser Chiefs - Thank You Very Much
Kris Kristofferson - Thank You For A Life
Led Zeppelin - Thank You (the original!)
Mariah Carey ft. Joe & 98 Degrees (yech, but still...) - Thank God I Found You
Massive Attack - Be Thankful For What You've Got
Neil Diamond - Thank The Lord For The Night Time
Neko Case - Thanks A Lot
New Buffalo - Cheer Me Up Thank You
Oasis - Thank You For The Good Times
Page & Plant - Thank You (covering their own song)
Paul McCartney - Robbie's Bit (Thanks Chet)
Queen - Thank God It's Christmas (well not quite yet...)
Ralph Rainger/Leo Robin - Thanks For The Memories (1950 Bob Hope Show Theme)
Ray Davies - Thanksgiving Day
Rita Marley - Thank You Jah
Saint Etienne - Thank You
Sam & Dave - I Thank You
Simply Red - Thank You
Sly and the Family Stone - Thank You (Falettin Me Be Mice Elf Agin)
Talking Heads - Thank You For Sending Me An Angel
ZZ Top - I Thank You

Anything that I ought to include to make this list truly comprehensive in expressing thankfulness?

Alyssa's Senior Show!

This past Thursday evening marked a pretty significant milestone for our family. The occasion was Lys' Bachelor of Fine Arts show - she's just a month or so away from graduation and one of the final things art students need to do is set up a gallery featuring works created especially for the event, unified by theme and medium, basically set up to show off the artists' strengths.

Since Lys is clearly focused on becming a children's book illustrator (and already has two books in print and more on the way in the months ahead,) it made sense that her Senior Project would be something along those lines. She told us several months ago that her plan was to illustrate a poem by the famous poet, illustrator and Victorian eccentric Edward Lear. I was pleased with the notion, having been a fan of Lear's whimsical, absurd style since I was nine years old, when I happened to watch a short-lived Saturday morning cartoon called "Tomfoolery," which was largely based on his writings. Lear is best known as a writer of limericks, and his most famous poem is almost certainly "The Owl and the Pussycat." But I was happy to see that Lys had dug deeper into the Lear canon, choosing instead "The Quangle Wangle's Hat."

But though I knew her subject matter, I was truly amazed to see, for the first time at any stage of the creative process, just how captivating and delightful her work turned out to be. My emotions, walking through the exhibit, ranged from pride to awe to astonishment as I considered the path that life had taken me on, from first discovering Lear's silly nonsense, incorporating his skewed outlook on the world into my own, growing up, getting married, starting a family and passing my appreciation of Lear on to my own children, and now seeing the profound impact that it had in inspiring my daughter's own education and creative expressions.

So needless to say, we had a very pleasant night. Julie took the day off to prepare snacks for the reception (along with the mother of Lys' friend Kendra whose works also comprised half of the overall show.) We saw a lot of friends and relatives and everyone was quite impressed with the accomplishments of these two gifted and charming young artists! So without further ado, let me allow you to join us in seeing (alas, only snapshot quality) reproductions of the originals, along with the accompanying verse, of...

The Quangle Wangle's Hat

On the top of the Crumpetty Tree

The Quangle Wangle sat,

But his face you could not see,
On account of his Beaver Hat.

For his Hat was a hundred and two feet wide,
With ribbons and bibbons on every side
And bells, and buttons, and loops, and lace,
So that nobody ever could see the face
Of the Quangle Wangle Quee.

The Quangle Wangle said
To himself on the Crumpetty Tree, -
'Jam, and jelly, and bread,
'Are the best of food for me!
'But the longer I live on this Crumpetty Tree
'The plainer than ever it seems to me
'That very few people come this way
'And that life, on the whole, is far from gay!'
Said the Quangle Wangle Quee.

But there came to the Crumpetty Tree,
Mr and Mrs Canary;
And they said, - 'Did you ever see
'Any spot so charmingly airy?

'May we build a nest on your lovely hat?
'Mr Quangle Wangle, grant us that!
'O please let us come and build a nest
'Of whatever material suits you best,
Mr Quangle Wangle Quee!'

And besides, to the Crumpetty Tree,
Came the Stork, the Duck, and the Owl;
The Snail, and the Bumble-Bee,
The Frog, and the Fimble Fowl;
(The Fimble Fowl, with a Corkscrew leg;)

And all of them said, - 'We humbly beg,
'We may build our homes on your lovely Hat, -
'Mr Quangle Wangle, grant us that!
Mr Quangle Wangle Quee!'

And the Golden Grouse came there,
And the Pobble who has no toes, -

And the small Olympian bear, -
And the Dong with a luminous nose.

And the Blue Baboon, who played the flute, -
And the Orient Calf from the Land of Tute, -
And the Attery Squash, and the Bisky Bat, -
All came and built on the lovely Hat
Of the Quangle Wangle Quee.

And the Quangle Wangle said
To himself on the Crumpetty Tree, -
'When all these creatures move
'What a wonderful noise there'll be!'

And at night by the light of the Mulberry moon
They danced to the flute of the Blue Baboon,
On the broad green leaves of the Crumpetty Tree,
And all were as happy as happy could be,
With the Quangle Wangle Quee.

It's getting weirder still

OK, nobody wants to get into discussing the foreign policy recommendations of Jimmy Cash, so let's move on. (I understand, that email was about as inviting to handle as a radioactive nugget of ambiguous provenance.)

Here are just a few random observations from recent days...

Pat Robertson, the guy who said that the 9/11 attacks were God's way of chastening America for our tolerance of gay rights, feminism and other bugaboos, has now endorsed Rudy Giuliani, the socially-permissive, morally-compromised ex-mayor who's made 9/11 the central pillar of his candidacy? What the-?!?!

Ron Paul, the little Libertarian who could, has set an internet fundraising record by raising over $4.2 million in a single day (Guy Fawkes Day, amusingly enough.) And he just won the New York state Republican straw poll. (Do I need to point out that he beat Giuliani in Rudy's home state?)

Finally, for now anyway, last night I heard this interview with Ahmed Raza Kusuri, an advisor to Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf. He uses the example of what's happened in the USA after 9/11 as justificiation for what's happening in Pakistan today. So what does that tell you about how American's reputation has been "enhanced" over these past seven years of Bush Rule?

A "drumbeat to war" worthy of John Bonham...

... not that I want to imply that the late Led Zeppelin drummer was in any way a warmonger. He just pounded the skins harder than any other drummer I can think of at the moment.

This is going to be a long post. I received this email from my Mom today... basically, a call from a former general (and as far as I can tell, this message is legitimate, the writer does have a valid military biography, though I shudder to think that he rose to the rank of General!) to achieve "total victory" in a war with Iran.

I have my own regrets about furthering the spread of this particular meme, but it alarms me enough to realize that this message is probably circulating widely already so perhaps this could be considered a kind of inoculation...

Here's the message. I will make my response to Mom the first comment if you want to pursue it. But let me know if you've seen this or other similar battle-cries coming through your Inbox.

Middle East Imperative

BY: JIM CASH, Brig. Gen., USAF, Ret.

I wrote recently about the war in Iraq and the larger war against radical Islam, eliciting a number of responses. Let me try and put this conflict in proper perspective. Understand, the current battle we are engaged in is much bigger than just Iraq. What happens in the next year will affect this country and how our kids and grandkids live throughout their lifetime, and beyond. Radical Islam has been attacking the West since the seventh century. They have been defeated in the past and decimated to the point of taking hundreds of years to recover. But they can never be totally defeated. Their birth rates are so far beyond civilized world rates that in time they recover and attempt to dominate again. There are eight terror-sponsoring countries that make up the grand threat to the West. Two, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, just need firm pressure from the West to make major reforms. They need to decide who they are really going to support and commit to that support. That answer is simple. They both will support who they think will hang in there until the end, and win.

We are not sending very good signals in that direction right now, thanks to the Democrats. The other six, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria , North Korea and Libya will require regime change or a major policy shift. Now, let's look more closely. Afghanistan and Iraq have both had regime changes, but are being fueled by outsiders from Syria and Iran. We have scared Gaddafi's pants off, and he has given up his quest for nuclear weapons, so I don't think Libya is now a threat. North Korea (the non-Islamic threat) can be handled diplomatically by buying them off. They are starving. That leaves Syria and Iran. Syria is like a frightened puppy. Without the support of Iran they will join the stronger side. So where does that leave us? Sooner, or later, we are going to be forced to confront Iran , and it better be before they gain nuclear capability.

In 1989 I served as a Command Director inside the Cheyenne Mountain complex located in Colorado Springs , Colorado for almost three years. My job there was to observe (through classified means) every missile shot anywhere in the world and assess if it was a threat to the US or Canada. If any shot was threatening to either nation I had only minutes to advise the President, as he had only minutes to respond. I watched Iran and Iraq shoot missiles at each other every day, and all day long, for months. They killed hundreds of thousand of their people. They were fighting for control of the Middle East and that enormous oil supply. At that time, they were preoccupied with their internal problems and couldn't care less about toppling the west. Oil prices were fairly stable and we could not see an immediate threat. Well, the worst part of what we have done as a nation in Iraq is to do away with the military capability of one of those nations.

Now, Iran has a clear field to dominate the Middle East, since Iraq is no longer a threat to them. They have turned their attention to the only other threat to their dominance, they are convinced they will win, because the US is so divided, and the Democrats (who now control Congress and may control the Presidency in 2008) have openly said we are pulling out. Do you have any idea what will happen if the entire Middle East turns their support to Iran , which they will obviously do if we pull out? It is not the price of oil we will have to worry about. Oil WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE to this country at any price. I personally would vote for any presidential candidate who did what JFK did with the space program---declare a goal to bring this country to total energy independence in a decade.

Yes, it is about oil. The economy in this country will totally die if that Middle East supply is cut off right now. It will not be a recession. It will be a depression that will make 1929 look like the "good-old- days". The bottom line here is simple. If Iran is forced to fall in line, the fighting in Iraq will end over night, and the nightmare will be over. One way or another, Iran must be forced to join modern times and the global community. It may mean a real war---if so, now is the time, before we face a nuclear Iran with the capacity to destroy Israel and begin a new ice age.

I urge you to read the book "END GAME" by two of our best Middle East experts, true American patriots and retired military generals, Paul Vallely and Tom McInerney. They are our finest, and totally honest in their assessment of why victory in the Middle East is so important, and how it can be won. Proceeds for the book go directly to memorial fund for our fallen soldiers who served the country during the war on terror. You can find that book by going to the internet through Stand-up America at [links deleted.]

On the other hand, we have several very angry retired generals today, who evidently have not achieved their lofty goals, and insist on ranting and raving about the war. They are wrong, and doing the country great harm by giving a certain political party reason to use them as experts to back their anti-war claims.You may be one of those who believe nothing could ever be terrible enough to support our going to war. If that is the case I should stop here, as that level of thinking approaches mental disability in this day and age. It is right up there with alien abductions and high altitude seeding through government aircraft contrails. I helped produced those contrails for almost 30 years, and I can assure you we were not seeding the atmosphere. The human race is a war-like population, and if a country is not willing to protect itself, it deserves the consequences. Nuff-said!!!

Now, my last comments will get to the nerve. They will be on politics. I am not a Republican. And, George Bush has made enough mistakes as President to insure my feelings about that for the rest of my life. However, the Democratic Party has moved so far left, they have made me support those farther to the right. I am a conservative who totally supports the Constitution of this country. The only difference between the United States and the South American, third world, dictator infested and ever-changing South American governments, is our US Constitution.This Republic (note I did not say Democracy) is the longest standing the world has ever known, but it is vulnerable. It would take so little to change it through economic upheaval. There was a time when politicians could disagree, but still work together. We are past that time, and that is the initial step toward the downfall of our form of government.

I think that many view Bush-hating as payback time. The Republicans hated the Clinton 's and now the Democrats hate Bush. So, both parties are putting their hate toward willingness to do anything for political dominance to include lying and always taking the opposite stand just for the sake of being opposed. JUST HOW GOOD IS THAT FOR OUR COUNTRY?In my lifetime, after serving in uniform for President's Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and Bush I have a pretty good feel for which party supported our military, and what military life was like under each of their terms. And, let me assure you that times were best under the Republicans. Service under Jimmy Carter was devastating for all branches of the military. And, Ronald Regan was truly a salvation. You can choose to listen to enriched newscasters, and foolish people like John Murtha (he is no war hero), Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, Michael Moore, Jane Fonda, Harry Reid, Russ Feingold, Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, on-and-on to include the true fools in Hollywood if you like. If you do, your conclusions will be totally wrong.

The reason that I write, appear on radio talk shows, and do everything I can to denounce those people is simple. THEY ARE PUTTING THEIR THIRST FOR POLITICAL POWER AND QUEST FOR VICTORY IN 2008 ABOVE WHAT IS BEST FOR THIS COUNTRY. I cannot abide that. Pelosi clearly defied the Logan Act by going to Syria, which should have lead to imprisonment of three years and a heavy fine. Jane Fonda did more to prolong the Vietnam war longer than any other human being (as acknowledged by Ho Chi Minh in his writing before he died). She truly should have been indicted for treason, along with her radical husband, Tom Hayden, and forced to pay the consequences.This country has started to soften by not enforcing its laws, which is another indication of a Republic about to fall. All Democrats, along with the Hollywood elite, are sending us headlong into a total defeat in the Middle East, which will finally give Iran total dominance in the region. A lack of oil in the near future will be the final straw that dooms this Republic.

However, if we refuse to let this happen and really get serious about an energy self-sufficiency program, this can be avoided. I am afraid, however, that we are going in the opposite direction. If we elect Hillary Clinton and a Democrat controlled congress, and they carry through with allowing Iran to take control of the Middle East, continue to refuse development of nuclear energy, refuse to allow drilling for new oil, and continue to do nothing but oppose everything Bush, it will be over in terms of what we view as the good life in the USA. Now, do I think that all who do not support the war are un-American --of course not. They just do not understand the importance of total victory in that region.

Another failure of George Bush is his inability to explain to the American people why we are there, and why we MUST win. By the way, it is not a war. The war was won four years ago. It is martial law that is under attack by Iranian and Syrian outside influences, and there is a difference.

So, what do I believe? What is the bottom line? I will simply say that the Democratic Party has fielded the foulest, power hungry, anti-country, self absorbed group of individuals that I have observed in my lifetime. Our educational system is partially to blame for allowing the mass of America to be taken in by this group. George Bush has done the best he can with the disabilities that he possesses. A President must communicate with the people. And, I would tell you that Desert Storm spoiled the people. Bush Senior's 100-hour war convinced the people that technology has progressed to the point that wars could be fought with no casualties and won in very short periods of time.

I remember feeling at the time, that this was a tragedy for the US military. To win wars, you must put boots on the ground. When you put boots on the ground, soldiers are going to die. A President must make the war decision wisely, and insure that the cause is right before using his last political option. However, CONTROLLING IRAN AND DEMOCRATIZING THE MIDDLE EAST IS THE ONLY CHOICE IF WE ARE HELL-BENT ON DEPENDING ON THEM FOR OUR FUTURE ENERGY NEEDS.

Jimmy L. Cash, Br Brig. Gen., USAF, Ret. Lakeside , Montana 59922

"I'll tell you what war is all about, you've got to kill people, and when you've killed enough they stop fighting."Gen. Curtis LeMay

Prelude to Electile Dysfunction, 2008 Edition

This post is actually a first-draft of a short essay I've written for Equity, newsletter for the Institute for Global Education, a local social activist organization of which I'm a board member. - DB

The USA is now less than a year away from choosing a new president and a new administration to run the federal government. As primary season draws near, I'm recognizing some of the same nauseous symptoms that afflicted me around this time back in 1999, when the conventional wisdom predicted that either Al Gore or George W. Bush were going to be the likely nominees for their respective parties. Though I and many others at the time saw little meaningful difference between an eventual Gore and Bush (or a Bore or a Gush) presidency, we all know how that turned out. Now the same CW from the same sources indicates that we are heading toward a showdown between Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani. I'm holding out hope that this cycle is not quite as rigidly predestined as was the case in 2000, but it's getting hard to ignore my gut feeling that 2008 is not going to represent the dramatic break from a downward political trajectory that I began hoping for shortly after the reality of the 2004 election settled in.

A lot of us have understandably come to view the Bush administration as a uniquely malevolent and regressive influence on our culture. Wars in the Middle East, the mainstreaming of torture into our laws and rhetoric, the promotion of corrupt and incompetent cronies to key positions, exploitive economic and cultural practices and the simple elevation of smug, self-satisfied and fear-based ideologies that fool none except those who operate under their sway are all hallmarks that will taint my memories of this decade. Bush, Cheney and company will always serve as the chief figureheads of this dark period of American history, surrounded by a cast of lesser but no less disreputable characters who acted, enabled and dissembled on behalf of them and the military/corporate/globalist stakeholders who've reaped the biggest benefits of these calamitous years. As the constitutionally-appointed termination of their reign draws nearer, a countdown to the celebratory moment of January 20, 2009 has commenced. But what do we realistically have to look forward to at that time beyond the ability to say that "Bush no longer occupies the White House?"

I don't aspire to punditry or prophecy in writing this. Though I will most likely pay some attention, despite my better instincts, to the "horse race" aspects of the 2008 race, I don't feel ready to put much stock in the notion that everything's going to get better if/when the right person takes the next oath of office. The divisions, triviality, greed and paranoia that characterize our popular culture seem deeply entrenched and a new president will have to contend with doubters, detractors and the collective strength of big money interests who want to ensure that the status quo is maintained, however the window-dressing is rearranged.

Listening to the Democratic candidates' debate in Philadelphia the other night, I was appalled at the asinine quality of discourse offered by moderators Tim Russert and Brian Williams. Russert was self-aggrandizing in the worst way, doing whatever he thought was needed to create a trip-up or a stumbling statement from some of the "front-runners," driving complex problems into simplistic either/or sloganeering that candidates (and our society) are then expected to choose from. Williams facilitated over a "lightning round" where each person on the stage was expected to cram their answer to various problems into the confines of a 30-second statement. This game-show format quickly degenerated into a theater of the absurd where Dennis Kucinich was asked if he believes in UFOs and Barack Obama was queried on his choice for a Halloween costume. What idiocy! I would expect better lines of inquiry in a debate for positions on the Student Council at my local high school, yet this is what our leading journalists attempt to "edutain" us with. And don't even get me started with what's happening on the Republican side of the ledger - it's sad enough having to consider that there's still a substantial portion of the electorate looking to them for guidance and leadership on the issues of our times.

The temptation to assign responsibility for ensuring the prevalence of justice and peace in our lives to "the powers that be" leads to little but disappointment, even in those rare cases when the candidate we support gets elected! We each have an important role and task in being the change we want to see in the world. Politics, in the end, can become a huge distraction, or a convenient scapegoat for justifying our own apathy, cynicism and self-indulgence. (I'm preaching to myself here as I write this!) The "Bush years" have been pretty tough for a lot of us to endure as we see so many regrettable developments going on around us. We've vigiled, protested, voiced our opposition in numerous ways, only to see many of our fellow citizens get ever more deeply entrenched in mistrust, suspicion and ill-placed faith in leaders who are so clearly misguided and committed to violence. It's discouraging to have to put up with all this when the alternatives seem to make much more sense to us. What seems to be needed at this time is a resurgence of creativity, an acknowledgment of our individual and collective responsibility to build a stronger peace-focus in our community and a renewed sense of inspiration that our efforts make a positive difference in our world. That implies a need for risk-taking, exchanging honest, considerate feedback and on-going reflection.

Enough, for now, with focusing on the national political scene. I suppose we will all have more to say about it in the months ahead, though it's still unclear what kind of input Michigan voters will have on even determining who the two big-party candidates will be with all the controversy surrounding our state primary date. The wheels will turn as they will and we each have our part to play in that process. But before, during and after the transitions that will take place in Washington DC in early 2009, our lives here in West Michigan (and wherever else the Equity newsletter reaches) still require commitment, passion and the courage to shape our culture according to principles of justice, peace and sustainability. At least, that's what members and friends of IGE have committed to. Your involvement, support and life-commitment are important to us - we want to hear from you and hope you continue to draw encouragement from what the Institute stands for.

Obama Over, or am I just Over Obama?

I think I'm moving past my earlier-declared enthusiasm for Barack Obama. I suppose I'd be open to seeing him mount an amazing comeback and step forth as the kind of visionary leader and national unifier that he aspires to be. But I watched the Democratic debate in Philadelphia last night and I just didn't see the dynamism that I think he needs to supply in order to draw in the uncommitted, much less the skeptics who question his readiness to be president for whatever reason. It's too bad because I was really hoping that some kind of consensus candidate could emerge who could do something more than squeak out a narrow win over Hillary Clinton and whoever the Republicans nominate. I suppose the fantasy of seeing the nation as a whole rally behind a new kind of leadership is just too much to expect of reality. But the fact is that Obama's not really supplying the fuel to run that engine anyway. He answers the questions just fine if you listen, but the energy and clarity of vision are lacking in the debate format and there's something about his laid-back style and non-linear thought process (which I can relate to myself quite easily, because that's how I operate too - but I'm not aspiring to the presidency either) that just doesn't seem to suit the role he's aiming to fill. And I don't see him offering a compelling reason to people who don't just naturally like the idea of someone like him being President of the USA.

So where does that leave me? I find myself thinking about guys like Joe Biden and Chris Dodd, actually. There are things about John Edwards that I could like but he is beginning to grate on my nerves as too canned and smooth. I could still vote for him but I'm attracted by the idea of just finding a competent, insightful, experienced and solid, non-controversial candidate (like Dodd) who puts forward good ideas and seems committed to actively restore the degradations to our government and constitutional system that Bush has initiated. I think there are a lot of people who want to see something bold and dramatic happen to counteract the Bush years (first woman president, first black president, a visionary like Kucinich or whatever) but there are serious risks that come with breaking new ground, including the prospect of seeing a corrupt buffoon like Rudy Giuliani take over in the White House. I think he's the only candidate I've seen who seems to me even less qualified than GWB to be president and it astonishes me that he's really being taken seriously as a front-runner.

Baseball Is Over (for now, sort of)

As I expected (and hoped), the Boston Red Sox did indeed solidify their reputation as a team for the ages by thoroughly dominating the Fall Classic. I had the TV on for most of the four games but can well understand that this series was probably not very interesting or compelling to anyone who's not already a die-hard baseball fan. There were a couple of close games but the outcome never seemed to be in the slightest degree of doubt. The Rockies rode a super hot streak into the WS and I'm just glad that this struggling franchise enjoyed a boost and a chance to step onto the big stage. They were clearly overmatched by a Boston lineup that gelled at just the right time, holds a few guys destined for the Hall Of Fame, a few others who might wind up there if they keep it up, and some otherwise pretty admirable veterans who perform their role with class and professionalism. It is weird to think of the Red Sox as the clutch-hitting, dominant franchise of our era, after decades of coming agonizingly close or just outright bumbling. But we're in a new millennium after all. Once again, I'm ready for baseball to be over for a few months and the off-season sure didn't waste any time getting under way with Alex Rodriguez' poorly timed leak that he's opting out of his contract with the Yankees before the champagne corks had even popped.

Across The Universe

After weeks of anticipation and enduring the knowledge that several of my friends and my own children had seen it before I had a chance to, I finally made my pilgrimage to see the new Julie Taymor film "Across The Universe." Now I knew from the minute I heard about this project that I would ultimately want to own the DVD and watch it multiple times. The people who told me that they'd seen the movie all said it was great and that I would really love it. So my expectations were high but I am pleased to say that I was in no way disappointed - in fact, I think it surpassed what I was hoping for because there wasn't a scene or probably even a frame of the film that I feel the need to overlook or minimize in order to say that this is a thoroughly enjoyable cinematic experience.

I was enthralled right from the opening shot of a young man sitting on the beach singing "Girl." I have the entire Beatles official catalog pretty much burned into the root sector of my internal hard drive and I've also assembled a pretty decent collection of various cover versions of Beatles material as well, but I really appreciated the way that their music was used in ATU. The film was vastly improved by having the actors sing the songs rather than dubbing in the originals in the soundtrack. Hearing a bunch of young people singing the lyrics, particularly the straightforward love songs at the beginning, brought the messages forward and freshened up the listening experience considerably. I don't have the soundtrack yet and I don't know that I'll be zipping right out to get it either - I'll wait for a good bargain somewhere in the future - but the application of Taymor's incredible visual imagination with these timeless and well-crafted songs was simply brilliant to behold and I could have happily sat through an additional hour or more of watching what she came up with. But this was perfectly satisfying enough just as is.

So what is ATU about? I would call it a multisensory mythologizing of the 1960's that utilizes historic events, archetypal characters and images, vivid colors, set designs, costumes, choreography, puppetry, animation and of course the music to evoke a range of emotions as it tells coming-of-age stories that most of us can relate to in some way or another. I thought of "Forrest Gump" on a few occasions as I saw various recreations of scenes familiar to and central to the lives of American Baby Boomers in the 1960's. Though of course there are big differences between those two films - ATU being a lot more daring, provocative and politically uncompromising (even though I consider Forrest Gump to be an excellent, entertaining film in its own right.)

It helps - a lot - to have a thorough-going familiarity with the Beatles' canon in order to fully enjoy all that Taymor and crew have packed into the production. Not just their music, but the visuals and the story and the context of each of the Beatles' albums as they were released in those pivotal years between 1963 and 1970. There are tons of inside jokes, visual quotes and subtle twists thrown in all throughout the film. I imagine that there are already websites or chatrooms full of Beatle-fanatics who've deciphered and cataloged the references much the same way they did when the "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love" videos were released in conjunction with the Anthology CDs in the mid-90s.

But even if you only know the hits, I imagine that this film will easily generate a devoted cult-following among those who enjoy the trippy visual effects, innovative animation and dance sequences and the appealing performances of the young and attractive cast members. Evan Rachel Wood did a wonderful job portraying her transformation from a rich, naive "Suzy Creamcheese" into a socially-conscious but disillusioned young woman. She is an exceptional young actress who has already demonstrated a willingness to take on adventurous roles. Jim Sturgess looks like the genetic hybrid of a young Paul McCartney (eyes, hair and puppy dog air of vulnerability) and a young George Harrison (the sharper angular features), perfect for the part of a dock worker from Liverpool who finds his way to America. There's also surrogate "Janis Joplin" and "Jimi Hendrix" characters as well as several others who fill the requisite parts to create an alt-universe version of the 60's as many of us would like to imagine it, and now can quite easily with the assistance of Ms. Taymor. She is clearly now in the upper ranks of film-makers who I will be tracking anytime she has a creative hand in something. I watched "Titus" again last night in preparation for ATU today and I'm so impressed with her craftsmanship and freewheeling, psychedelic sense of style.

What else can I add here? The narrative hits most of the high points of the 60's cultural timeline. The transition from straight-laced and sheltered "sock hops" youth culture to a more open, grittier outlook on life. Civil rights, urban riots, the draft, Vietnam, pot and acid, the radical left, mass demonstrations, assassinations, free love and student protests. About the only thing that didn't get included was the bitter aftermath of calamity following the Altamont debacle and the deaths-by-overdose of Joplin and Hendrix. Oh, I guess the NASA space program didn't get much mention at least that I can recall. But pretty much everything else was there.

As always, I'm willing to expand on this in the comments section, but I will conclude by giving this movie my highest recommendation. It's easily the most enjoyable time I've had in the theater this year and I don't know of anything coming out that's likely to top it.

Screen time

I spent my workday getting advanced training on PowerPoint. It was kind of fun to learn a bunch of new stuff but at the same time, the training felt kind of formulaic. I would have gotten more out of the time if I had been given some freedom to get some actual work done on real projects I have in front of me than in putting together bogus reports and learning some tricks that didn't really appeal to me. But that's training for ya...

Then tonight I spent most of the evening rearranging my media collection. I picked up three different shaped-and-sized bookcases from work last night - we are closing down a woodworking shop in advance of a campus relocation coming up next year and they had some decent cases for sale, super cheap. My books and CDs have been piled up and double-stacked for a long time and now they have room to be displayed neatly and in order! So that's a nice improvement to our newly improved living space (now that we have empty space and less stuff filling up our house, with the twins moved out.)

In other news, my daughter just got offered another book contract with Zondervan Publishing to do a series of six children's books that will be published sometime in early 2009. This is a more professional and lucrative deal than the first one she got, a very nice step forward for her budding career as an illustrator and artist! BTW, her second book is now out. Unfortunately, the publishers haven't updated their website so I can't borrow an image from there to put up here.

Wait, I'll just scan it myself and upload it from there. Here you go.

Manufactured Landscapes

Went to go see this documentary with my son Derek last night. (Julie was home feeling sick but didn't mind us leaving her alone.) "Manufactured Landscapes" caught our interest because of his trip to China last year and I enjoy these cinematic experiences that show us what's happening in parts of the world I normally don't get to myself.

The film documents the work of photographer Edward Burtynsky who travels the world capturing images of industrial impact on the environment. The film is loaded with amazing visuals and the reality behind them, what's happening to the people who live in these places, is kind of stunning to think about, especially compared to the relatively static and tranquil patch of suburbia that I inhabit. It's not a political film, not a guilt-trip or a blame-fest, which I appreciate. The Chinese path toward economic expansion and industrial development is a massive story and this film just brings it a little closer to home than merely browsing the shelves at Wal-Mart and Meijer and noticing how many things they sell are marked "Made in China."

This is cool.

Check out this press release explanation statement thing issued by the awesome indie band Yo La Tengo on their website:

The Freewheeling Yo La Tengo Tour is a rare opportunity to see this ever-surprising band in a setting more intimate and interactive than any tour in their 23-year career. A little bit "Storytingboellers", a little bit "Unplugged", with a soupcon of their famously varied Hanukkah shows, it will feature the band playing an almost-acoustic set of songs from their entire catalog, with stories about their life as a band, and an encouraged back-and-forth with the audience. Already famous for never playing the same show twice, this fresh look at Yo La Tengo offers rare insight into one of the most important, unique, and beloved bands in American rock. Yo La Tengo's latest CD, I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass, will be the springboard for these shows, though anything can and will happen from there.

Even if you are not already a fan of YLT, I hope you appreciate and admire just how accessible and adventurous this group is willing to get while performing.

And what's even cooler is that I am going to go see them tonight! Now that, I'm sure you will agree, is stupendously awesome! I just found out two days that Yo La Tengo had scheduled a show at Calvin College of all places. Note to self: pay closer attention to the Calvin Alumni newsletters and event schedules that are sent my way every few months.

So that's what I'm going to be doing tonight. Review to follow!

And if you wonder just exactly what Yo La Tengo is about or what they sound like or any of that, their website offers plenty of music that you can download 100% guilt-free.

I Love Library Clearance Racks!

I was out on my lunch break today and swung by the library to return a few items that were coming up close to their due dates. As I often do, I took a glance at the shelves full of old stuff for sale. Much to my delight, I noticed a huge blockbuster of a book laying on its side, across the top shelf, basically crushing a bunch of flimsier titles under its sheer bulk: Total Baseball, the 8th Edition, published in 2004, containing just about every conceivable stat, roster and abounding in trivia on everything that's happened in the major leagues between 1871 and 2003. What an awesome collection of information and lore. The cost for me to lug this 2676-page behemoth out to my car was exactly $1.oo. One slim buck. I didn't even have to pay sales tax! The book retailed for $59.95 when it was first published, and other than a couple stamps that say WITHDRAWN on the edge of the pages, it's in perfect condition. And so what if it's a bit outdated now that we've finished four more baseball seasons since this edition came out? Stats for the past four years are easy enough to find. And in today's hateful atmosphere, I know that there won't be any more versions printed up with Barry Bonds on the cover, so I'm content with the one I've got.

It's amazing the quality merchandise that one can find in our prosperous and information-saturated society. Just last week I got an unblemished hardcover first edition of Kevin Phillips' American Theocracy that I'm going to dig into once I finish my current reading (a cyberpunk paperback by Rudy Rucker called Software.) I've gotten some pretty nice books, CDs and DVDs at local libraries for ridiculously low prices over the past several years, but this has to be the best overall bargain yet.

Seismic Shift in the Music Distribution Biz

This morning I received my unique link to download the new Radiohead music collection. I'm not calling it an album or a CD because it wasn't released in that form. (It will be eventually though.) It's called "In Rainbows," 10 mp3s that are available to anyone for whatever price (including free) that they feel like paying for it. You just have to find the website, and I think googling "radiohead.com" will get you there. Follow a few steps and then you'll get the files sent to you, zipped up.

I voluntarily paid 2.5 pounds (converts to about $6 American, after adding a 45 pence transaction fee) out of respect for them allowing me to set my own price. I like this system and hope that it flourishes. I've already heard that Nine Inch Nails (who I don't like) and Oasis (who I do) are seriously considering going this route and leaving the corporate labels behind. Fine with me. I'd much rather deal directly with the artists than with the intermediaries.

Musically, I'm on my second go-round through the tracks and it basically sounds like a Radiohead project, nothing terribly striking or innovative about it, but that's fine. I don't consider them "the best band in the world right now" by any means, though they have that reputation in some circles. I don't really get what that's about, but they are fine musicians and obviously willing to be adventurous in their careers and I respect that. A lot.

Imagine Peace

Yoko Ono (with whom I am friends on Facebook) dedicated a new installation piece to her late husband John Lennon yesterday on what would have been his 67th birthday. It's called the Peace Tower, and it's made of light. Basically, a powerful shooting beam projected straight up into the sky from an island off the coast of Iceland, energized by geothermal sources. It's a pretty cool thing, I think. You can see some videos and read more about it here.

Ehlers on the Environment

I had a chance to interact with my U.S. Congressman on Sunday. Representative Vern Ehlers spoke at Ada Congregational Church after their regular service, talking about his views on the environment. Ehlers is a fairly conservative Republican who has frustrated me over the past several years by consistently following Bush's lead on the Iraq War, never seriously deviating from the establishment line throughout the whole ordeal and even going so far as to try and defend the invasion on the basis of "just war" theory. That to me is more offensive than if he were just a run-of-the-mill red-meat chompin' flag-wavin' redneck chicken-hawk kind of guy. Ehlers is a physicist who used to teach at Calvin College and likes to present himself as a thoughtful, reflective and theologically informed guy. And I think for the most part he is, but it really bugs me when he tries to dress up his party loyalty and his unwillingness to seriously rock the boat with intellectual justifications that ring hollow to me and many others.

He was there to talk about energy and climate change issues, so we didn't press too hard on the war issue. He decided to try and get that one out of the way in any case by saying something like, "The Iraq War, it's a terrible situation, a big problem and I don't know what to do." And he tried to be light-hearted about it but that was pretty much his way of putting the controversy to the side. Thing is, Ehlers is a nice guy and it's hard to really get mad at him or press the issue as hard as I might wish if he were in a different setting. (The room was a little church parlor with comfy sofas and kindly senior citizens all around.)

So he proceeded to go into a fairly lengthy discussion on the growth of human energy use, as he put it, "from Adam to the Atom." He had a little overhead graph that shows how spectacularly the expansion in per capita energy consumption has grown from earliest agricultural societies up through the Industrial Revolution and into the Technological Age we live in now. He did a nice job getting us to reconceptualize how energy can be viewed as a resource, the only natural resource that is completely non-recyclable. Once the material has been used, there's no way to re-energize it and capture what was spent. He has this line about how he wishes "that energy was purple." If we could see it in some way, we would perhaps be drawn to be more conservation-minded - I think he's imagining "ordinary citizens," not people who are probably more in touch with this sensibility than he assumes most of us are. His points are relevant but in some ways he seems more like an elder who has a lot of knowledge that is worth learning and preserving but lacks some awareness of younger and more contemporary attitudes and perspectives. Which makes sense because of the circles he travels in. And to be fair to Ehlers, he is a lot more progressive on environmental issues than perhaps any other significant Republican politician in Congress. He's very involved in Great Lakes preservation efforts and is willing to cut against the grain when it comes to the kind of breaks that many GOP activists and politicians want to bestow on polluting industries.

Anyway, one woman asked during the Q & A why it seems so difficult to convince politicians to take the environmentalists more seriously and his reply was that the politicos are representing their constituencies who are not as well read or are sometimes confused or in denial about these issues, so it only makes sense that their representatives speak from similar positions. I wasn't really satisfied with that response, since I see so many of his Republican colleagues as being actively involved in the obfuscations and sowing of skepticism when it comes to enacting environmental reforms and addressing issues like global warming, emissions regulation, endangered species and more. I am still confused as to why he seems so willing to give President Bush so much benefit of the doubt about walking away from the Kyoto Protocols and doing basically nothing except posturing about it in recent months. I think Ehlers is just one of those nice guys (like me) who is reluctant to get strident about his views, confident that over the long haul, needed changes will occur. But I followed up to ask him about this phenomenon of politicians, pundits and industry lobbyists basically stirring up skepticism and defending the status quo to the point where it effectively creates more resistance to the kind of legislation he'd like to pass, and he replied with a vague and diplomatic statement where at least he was willing to pin down the head of ExxonMobil who he admitted was completely opposed to regulations that aim to address climate change and more or less scoffs at all the environmentalists out there who are trying to affect public policy. But it was clear to me that he did not want to get into either defending or criticizing his political party or the ideologues who seek to speak on its behalf.

So while I found it interesting and memorable to have this time of close encounter with a real live member of the US House of Representatives, I walked away a bit dissatisfied that we couldn't really get down to the heart of the matter. But that's how it goes so much of the time...