FOX News confuses Stephen A. Douglas with Frederick Douglas

Would the real Stephen Douglas please stand up?

Here's the other video I mentioned below. I've been trying out Google Accelerator, but it seems to mess up YouTube. I keep getting messages about videos no longer being available and my files fail to upload. When I disable the Accelerator YouTube works fine again.

Anyway, enjoy the video.

Sometimes when life gets rough, you just need to watch some kittens play with an empty Coke box.

I haven't played World of Warcraft since sometime in November. Yeah. I spent countless hours getting my epic flying mount and then I started the insane Netherwing quest chain. Somewhere into my gazillionth daily quest I guess I just got burnt out and I stopped playing. It became a sort of job that I would do while watching TV or movies, not something that was really a ton of fun for me, which is what playing video games should be.

I'm sure when the expansion rolls out I'll get the burning desire to play again, but for now I'm more than occupied with my increasingly massive DVD collection, my 360, and my DVR. Not to mention those little things called social life, work, and school. Please note that I am not making any kind of attack on people who currently play WoW. I can personally testify to the fact that it is possible to have a life and also play the game quite a bit. It's just gone to the wayside for me, for now.

The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett

Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis

Daniel had a lot of fun playing with the helium balloons left over from the baby shower. I tied them to small weights to keep them from floating to the ceiling.

I spent a good twenty minutes removing tiny amounts of weight from one to try to achieve equilibrium, so it would just hover in midair. I ended up with a balloon that falls back to earth very, very slowly. As Daniel would try to catch it he would accidentally bump it back up into the air, and then wait for it to come back down again.

I tried uploading that video too, but YouTube won't take it for some reason. I'll have to try again later.

I really hate that I have to wait for that stimulus check to arrive to purchase my copy of what is surely to be the new crack cocaine. If anyone wants to send me a copy (I know there are many adoring brendoman.com fans at Rockstar, right??) I would not complain. In fact, I would do the opposite. But seriously, I can't wait to play the game. The multiplayer sounds great and I love games that reward OCD types like myself with a completion percentage. My percentage on Bully: Scholarship Edition is currently at 98.73. I have three classes left to complete. It's driving me kind of nuts.

McCain opposes equal pay bill in Senate

"They need the education and training, particularly since more and more women are heads of their households, as much or more than anybody else," McCain said. "And it's hard for them to leave their families when they don't have somebody to take care of them.

I've been avoiding the political thing for awhile but I couldn't help but mention this quote. Apparently McCain thinks women aren't educated enough to get equal pay. Seeing as how 58% of college graduates are women, that's some good reasoning there. Maybe once you women out there get a little more educated, McCain will consider that you might deserve equal pay for equal work. Women are fighting back by sending McCain their resumes. Get all the info here.

It's been a good year for mushroom hunting. My dad, his friend Kevin and I went out Saturday morning and found about 590 of them in 3 hours. They both said that it was the best year they can ever remember. In the picture it's (left to right) Kevin, me and my dad, Jim.

We filled up our bags and were still finding them, so dad and I each tied our jackets into bags and left with them half full. Dad found one spot where 20 were growing within a foot or two of each other and 10 or 15 of them were actually touching. We scooped the dirt up around those and brought them back together.

I mowed my yard yesterday and found 3 more there. Not enough to bother with frying, but I chopped them, sautéed them in some butter and scrambled them into my eggs tonight. There are some more pictures in my photo gallery.

I spent so much time at home over the weekend I almost went nuts. But I did manage to get out here and there. On Friday I was sick, so I asked Ric if we could get food out somewhere. We ate at the Elephant Bar. Once we got home, I let the cat out on the patio with a leash because he had been craving it for so long. Poor little guy. Our patio is so much more boring than Little Vietnam. I think we must have watched tv or dvds the rest of the night.

Saturday was a work day, but only after sleeping in. I spent about five hours working on trim. Thank goodness for audio books, because Tarzan of the Apes helped me get through the monotony. Ric worked on painting doors. Once we were sick of paint, we headed out to run a few errands, which ended up taking almost the whole night. We went to Panera because we hadn't eaten anything all day and were starving. Then we went to Best Buy because our Vonage adapter (actually, it's made by V-Tech) broke down. We bought a new set of phones that aren't made by V-Tech, which makes us happy. Then we went to Lowe's to re-order a water heater because our first one we ordered ended up being too big. That took an incredibly long time. After that, we went back home and spent more time watching tv together.

Sunday I forgot about a special church service being at an earlier hour, so I missed it. I spent most of the day lying around watching tv and dvds and reading. I went out once to get some dinner, but that was about it. It was a very long day. I did get some cleaning done, though.

Up this week: not all that much. Probably more paint. Sigh.

So the L.A. Times Festival of Books ended up being a bust. My friend Matt and I got pretty close to the UCLA campus on Saturday morning only to find an insane amount of traffic. Not to mention it was about 95 degrees outside. We decided to retreat to the cooler confines of his apartment and then I went across the street to the Grove and watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which I really enjoyed. I then met up with my friend Brett and we went to the Dodger game, which was exciting for the first inning when the Dodgers scored 10 runs and then quickly died down. I love going to the ball park though so I had a great time.

After seeing the traffic situation at UCLA, looking at the current gas prices, and seeing as how it was even hotter, I opted against going to the book festival on Sunday. So I sadly didn't get to meet Wil Wheaton. I'm pretty sure he'll be at Comic-Con though so hopefully I'll get my chance then. Hope you guys all had a good weekend and stayed cooler than I did. The roommate hunt is still on in earnest. Here's hoping for my sanity that something works out soon.

I would've posted it sooner but it was a busy week at work, and then I got entirely too drunk last night. As a side note, I should not be allowed to use my cell phone on Friday nights, Brendan and like 50 other people got drunk texted by me lmao.

Enough with being behind. Here I go with a little bit of catch-up!

Moliere (2007)

Moliere is a costume comedy-drama about the famous author of delightful plays, whose beginnings were mostly in serious theater--and not very good serious theater. As the author finds himself in a series of preposterous situations, including dressing himself as a tutor to help a married man gain the attention of the smartest lady at court in order to pay off his debt (and stay out of prison), he learns a little bit more about what makes a good play. Sadly, the actor who plays Moliere is a little bit creepy and uninteresting. And the wigs in this movie are some of the worst I've ever seen in moviemaking. Luckily, a little bit of heart helps this one go a long way, and it ended up being better than I thought it would. I think the acting of Fabrice Luchini is what holds up this entire film.

The King of Kong (2007)

Who doesn't love a good-hearted geek? Steve Wiebe looks just like Dave from News Radio, and is just as likable. He strives to reach the all-time record for Donkey Kong, and keeps getting thwarted by a shadowy man named Billy Mitchell, who refuses to play head-to-head in live circumstances. Instead, the Nick Cave-esque (only not half as cool) turns in videos of his best games. Never did I dislike a person more in last year's movies than Mitchell's little Smithers figure, who runs around getting people to come watch Wiebe play in the hopes that all the pressure will make him crack. Full of fun and frustration, I loved this one.

Leatherheads (2008)

Leatherheads doesn't know what kind of movie it wants to be. Does it want to be a clever, quick-witted jaunt between male and female, or does it want to be a physical comedy? The movie moves back and forth between both, and not very easily. Zellweger can't catch the pace of her own dialog, and the movie suffers from a lot of slow moments. While there are bits of fun and Clooney can catch a cool looking scene (see above), it offers only a few laughs, and is ultimately forgettable.

Blind Chance (1987)

Blind Chance is another of my Kieslowski movies. Apparently, it may have inspired the concept for Run Lola Run, because it operates in a series of three movies. The main character takes a break from his studies. He decides to board a train, and in all three movies is running to try and catch it at the last minute. Whether or not he makes it changes the outcome of his life. There are three different outcomes, all of which make the audience think about chance, fate, and related topics. The beginning sequence of this movie is incredible and took my breath away with how quickly it moved through the main character's life leading up to the moment when he leaves school. The music is so memorable that it was stuck in my head for days after seeing the movie, and I can still remember it now. While I'm not sure the three scenarios are as exciting as the concept and start of the film, it was certainly a great find for me.

The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)

This adventure story follows little-growing-bigger Freddie Highmore as twins who discover a hidden world outside their new home, a creepy old Victorian place that belonged to their great-Uncle. The balance of good and evil within this world of interesting creatures is shifted when the evil Mulgarath discovers that the twins have a book that tells the secrets of all things in their world. Mulgarath seeks to destroy them, and they seek to save themselves and the world, along with a little help from their sister, mom, and plenty of tomato juice. While the movie is full of action, I wouldn't call it all that exciting. Interesting for me is the connection of John Sayles as one of the screenplay writers. Too bad it didn't come together as something a little more amazing. Still, it passed the time pleasantly enough.

Untraceable (2008)

Untraceable was one of those "I need to see a movie right now, so what's playing?" movies for Ric and me. We caught it for two bucks, and that's about what it's worth. I'm not saying it's terrible, but it's definitely flawed. It takes the interesting idea of how far the internet and the media can go with coverage of real-time deaths. Lane's character works to find online predators or hoax-makers and have them arrested. When she comes across a website that features live footage of a victim who will be killed more quickly as viewers log in to the site, she is concerned. At first, a little kitty dies, but then the victims are real human beings. She and her team work to find out how the victims are connected and who the killer is. It's an idea, but executed with a lot of lame scenes scattered throughout. I'd say to give it a pass if you come across it. Maybe someone will get it right another time.

Ahh.. Now I've only got a few more to get myself completely caught up! Time for the weekend!

A Nickelodeon Quiz

I grew up watching Nickelodeon in the 80's and even I thought some of these questions were tough. It took me awhile to remember Turkey Television, but then I remembered that it was the show that introduced me to Monty Python.

It's been awhile and I think my iPod is about to run out of battery life so let's see if we can make it through this.

1. Beastie Boys - Putting Shame In Your Game
2. Of Montreal - Waiting on the Weather
3. Sweeney Todd Soundtrack - Alms! Alms!
4. Beastie Boys - Groove Holmes
5. Soul Junk - Rap City Ark
6. Blur - Chemical World
7. Jimmy Eat World - Feeling Lucky
8. Animal Collective - Winter Wonder Land

At this point my iPod died so let's see what my Pandora station has to offer for the last two tracks.

1. Interpol - Roland
2. Robyn - Do You Know

That's quite an eclectic selection. I should be getting my PC back from Jon this weekend so I can get some new tunes on the iPod. I've been listing to Pandora a lot at work and my station is pretty darn good for my tastes. I think I'm really confusing the heck out of it though with the mix of electronic, indie, and bubblegum pop I've been throwing at it lately. Right now it's playing All Saints. I had forgotten all about them. Okay, enough of the embarrassing music revelations. For the good stuff, head over to Justin's. Even he isn't without a few skeleton's in the closet though.

Guillermo Del Toro Comes Out of The Hobbit Closet - Film School Rejects

Variety is reporting the announcement from Executive Producers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, New Line president Toby Emmerich and MGM chief Mary Parent that Del Toro will helm not one, but two Hobbit films. The sequel, as the report states, will deal with the 60-year period between ?The Hobbit? and ?The Fellowship of the Ring?, which as you will remember was the first in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Del Toro will move out to New Zealand for the next four years to work with Peter Jackson and his Wingnut and WETA production teams on the two flicks, the first of which will probably not hit theaters until 2010.

I had the great privilege of attending the Hellboy 2 panel at New York Comic Con and Del Toro was being pretty coy about whether or not he would be directing The Hobbit or not. Apparently there was still some legal issues being worked through but he said we would know in the next 5 days. Looks like he's a man of his word. I've been a huge Del Toro fan since Gringo and I went to see The Devil's Backbone at the Ragtag. I'm an even bigger fan after seeing him in person. He reminds me a lot of Kevin Smith in the way he interacts with the fans. He's definitely one of us and he has a huge passion for movies. He's also really freaking funny. If there's ever a dream team to collaborate on something like The Hobbit, it's Del Toro and Jackson.

So now that the gears appear to be moving on the project, let the casting rumors begin! Ian McKellan has said he wants to return and I'm sure Andy Serkis will be there too. The big question is who will play Bilbo. If they can somehow make Ian Holm look younger, I think that would be cool. Hopefully they'll also be able to get Hugo Weaving to return as well. As far as new characters go, if Del Toro is on board how about Ron Perlman for Beorn? Then you have all the dwarves. I don't really know who would fit well in those roles. Feel free to comment with your ideas.

UPDATE: Check out this interview with Del Toro from TheOneRing.net. Lots of good stuff there. Sounds like McKellan and Serkis are all but confirmed.

I've only been back at work for two days and I'm ready for the weekend. I also wish it was July and it was Comic-Con time. In addition to the usual homework and doing nothing, I have a couple cool things on tap for this weekend. Saturday morning I'll be heading out to the L.A. Times Festival of Books with my friend Matt. We'll be hitting up the Mike Mignola panel and maybe a couple others. That night I'm going to the Dodger game with another friend. They're playing the Rockies. It's two teams I don't really care about but I love going to the ball park and I'll be rooting against the Dodgers (quietly, so I don't get killed). Sunday I'm heading back to the book festival. I'm hoping to meet Steve Garvey, who is one of my favorite baseball players (despite his tenure with those pesky Dodgers), and the one and only Wil Wheaton. I'm afraid I might geek out huge when I meet Wil, seeing as how he's the godfather of this blog and all. Hopefully I'll be somewhat cool and collected.

Thanks for all the comments on my China post. It's nice to see I'm not totally insane in my thoughts on the subject. It's also nice to see Lauren alive and well. Apparently she is having her own adventures in far off lands. I'm currently stressing a bit due to desperately needing a roommate. Hopefully things will get worked out in the next week. All right, now I'm rambling.

Taking a few cues from old comedies of the 30s, this little romp features an accidental social secretary, played by Frances McDormand, who struggles to keep up with her new employer, played by Amy Adams. Adams' character has three prospective men in her life, and needs a little bit of help balancing them, as well as deciding whether love or fortune matters to her most. Guess what wins out?!

This movie starts off poorly, but eventually wins you over with its heart. McDormand is comfortable and easy to like, and Adams eventually wins you over despite a bit of excessive perkiness.

I don't have much else to say. It's a nice little flick, worth a watch some time if you catch it on tv.

This is just ridiculous. Chicago pulls bus ads for Grand Theft Auto IV but meanwhile I'm sure there are ads for just as violent (if not more) movies and television shows up all over the place. This focus on video games being the root of all evil really boggles my mind. Censorship in all forms bothers me, but inconsistent censorship bothers me even more. For instance, Wal Mart won't sell albums that have explicit lyrics, but you can buy all the R and Unrated movies you want. It just doesn't make sense to me.

Some people have asked me how I feel about all the protests and backlash against China and the upcoming Olympic games so I figured I would write a little bit about it and if folks wanted to comment we could have a little discussion. Let me start off by saying that I agree 100% that there are serious human rights violations occurring in the country. That being said, I think the reaction of many Americans and other western countries towards China is offensive and counter-productive.

First of all, you have to understand that some of the values we hold are not the same as the values held by the average person in China. While we uphold the idea that personal freedoms are the most important thing, most Chinese uphold the idea that the body, the nation, is the most important thing. This is seen in many different ways, most recently in the way the Chinese are uniting against the attacks on their country from Western protesters. It's creating a very polarizing atmosphere and I believe is very detrimental towards all the work that has been done over the last 30 years to get China to where it is now. If this trend continues, we'll get from China exactly what we think is happening now, only it will be real, and probably worse.

In my time spent living in China, I heard many horror stories from survivors of the Cultural Revolution and the tragedies that occurred under Mao Tse-Tsung. I could see first hand that while there is still a lot of progress to be made, things are definitely headed in the right direction. Yes, there is still lots of poverty and horrible things occurring, but compared to just a few decades ago, things have improved in leaps and bounds. While I do think it might be a little too early, having the Olympic Games in Beijing can only lead to good things. It raises awareness both about the good things occurring in China and also the bad things and hopefully will bring these issues to the forefront so they can continue to be addressed in the proper fashion.

I've heard people I know and respect say some horrible things about China and its people and it makes me sad. That's a billion plus people they are writing off and dismissing as vile and evil. Change takes time, folks. Let's keep it rolling in the positive direction. I know it's a complicated issue, especially with the situations in Tibet and Taiwan, but it's definitely not as black and white as some would make it out to be.

YouTube - Flickr Song

I had the opportunity to see Jonathan Coulton perform at the Quickstop Entertainment panel at New York Comic Con. I had heard his song from Portal before but I wasn't aware of the rest of his work. I guess I'm really late to the game here. This video is for his song Flickr, which is about a series of pictures he found on the photo sharing site. It's really funny. He's playing in Hollywood next month and I'm definitely thinking about going.

I missed home a little bit, but I love New York and I met some cool people there. I'm officially a huge fan of Virgin America. On the way home I got to sit in the front row and I had so much more room. It was a great flight. I watched A LOT of Top Chef.

In other news, I met up with Luis on Sunday. We took a photo together to document this amazing occasion, which Luis will hopefully post soon. We went to a sneak peek of Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D at a theater in Times Square. The footage was pretty cool. They really went all out with the 3D tricks though. The only bummer was I got shoved aside by a security guard literally a second before Luis got the chance to take a picture of me and Brendan Fraser in the lobby. He was at the screening and even sat up in the crowd during the footage. I did get my picture taken with Seth Green, which I'll post later tonight if I get a chance. I'm still only on the EEE as my PC is getting some work done on it.

I took a ton of pics of cool toys and statues and some other random stuff but my camera has no zoom so I didn't really get any pics at the panels. Overall I had a fantastic time. I hope to get back to New York some time in the future and tour around a bit more. Big props to Adam, my gracious host who let me stay at his place the whole weekend. All my panel coverage can be found on my Twitter feed. I'll probably post a recap but that's pretty much all I observed. I hope you all had a great weekend and happy Earth Day!

Hi everyone,

Over the weekend we were able to get out to see a couple of movies, but seemed to spend a lot of time at home as well. On Friday, Ric and I joined up with the Hutchinseses to see Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I'll comment on it later, but save your $10 and pay $2 when it's at the cheap theater. Saturday, we worked around the house, and in the evening I had dinner with my sister at Market City Cafe (don't order the trout unless you want your dinner to be looking at you) and met up with Ric to see Expelled. Sunday, we had church and a free meal at Liz's parents' place and spent the afternoon working on the condo. We had dinner at El Pollo Loco because I was tired of sitting at home. Yes, I know I'll be a restless stay-at-home mom.

I continue to work out every day after work, but have had a bit of a setback lately because I'm having some hip trouble. I went to the orthopedic doctor twice. He x-rayed me both times and the first time he gave me a cortisone shot, which made no real difference. This time he referred me to get another MRI because he thinks my hip looks fine and the pain may be related to my back problems. He's wondering if something has gotten worse in the back, which is causing the hip trouble. Right now I can't even run a full lap, which is really frustrating. So I'm walking 4-5 miles every day (at least I can still do that!). We'll see if the MRI shows anything interesting.

So, besides an MRI and a regular chiropractor appointment this week, we've got a movie night with the Agadonis and pretty much nothing else planned. I need to get motivated with the condo a little more. I didn't do any painting last week, but I did get a lot of things organized. I'd like to be able to say one room is completely finished, but I'm still a ways off from that. The bedrooms are the nearest things close to done, so at least I can feel relaxed in those rooms.

Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut

It is really strange for me to be posting on a Sunday morning like this. While of course you may be thinking that it is strange for me to be posting at all. Anyway the reason for this strange occurrence is that I am not teaching Sunday School this morning. It is the first time in forever that I haven't done that. While of course it is nice to not have the pressure of teaching it really sucks cause I really enjoy teaching.

Anyways on the teaching note I found a school to volunteer at. I need sixty hours in the classroom in order to get into teaching school, and I am hoping to get thirty of them knocked off this term. Fun times. I am really looking forward to this opportunity because I want to see how well I can function in a public school classroom. It is kind of weird because I am in a third grade class, yet I was home-schooled in third grade after being in school for second grade and only to return to school in fourth grade.

Good news for me it that the teacher whose class I am volunteering in said they normally do math on Friday afternoons, when I am volunteering. I am excited because I love math. It might just be the absolute best subject ever, because it is always the same. So I hope I get a chance to teach or to help someone learn math skills.

On a new note for the last few weeks I have been doing the work of two people at my job. That means that I have had to work incredibly hard all day and having to come in a half hour early. However tomorrow I get the opportunity to sleep in, all the way to 2:15. That is right. No longer am I starting at 3:00am I am working at 3:30am. Wo07! I know you are all jealous of me.

Lastly, from now until the final episode of "Scrubs" I all of my posts will start with the word My. This will be to honor the man the myth and the legend that is the man Zach Braff. Seriously, if I even got to pretend date as many good looking women as he does, I could die a happy man.

Hello from New York

Originally uploaded by brendoman

Things at the con are going swell. I just met Seth Green and Stan Lee. Hope you all are having a good weekend.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Plain View #85 - April 11, 2008

Sickness

Marriage Conference

The Sheraton

Fire!

Playa Hayta

Church Website

Some Like it Hot

Surf's Up

Toilet Papering

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Next stop, NYC. I'll be in town until Monday evening. Follow me on Twitter for the latest updates from the Con. Also, I might finally get to meet Luis, which will be awesome.

June 1st at the Shrine Auditorium (I've never been there!) - my sister might not be in town and Ric is going with me to the Bowl show, so I need a partner or two! There's a presale tomorrow morning.

Last week I went to a conference in Pasadena, California for a project that I am working on. I was flying into the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, picking up a car, and driving to my hotel. Being unfamiliar with the area, I of course turn to Google Maps. This was despite the unreliability in Ireland (I let it slide since it was a foreign country) and the issue of telling me the county tax building here was several miles down the freeway from where it really is. Well Google Maps, I am done with you.

Check out Exhibit A:

First notice the line marked with a "1." This is where Google told me to turn left on I-5. This would have taken me to Sacramento, and later Seattle. Already a bit leery of Google's reliability, and because the road sign said "Pasadena - right," I turned right.

Now notice the area marked with a "2." I arrived in Pasadena last Monday night, the night of the NCAA men's basketball championship, with about 10 minutes to play in the second half. "Yay!" my brain said to my self, "You can catch the end of the game!" Well, Mario Chalmers hit the tying 3 while I was parked on the side of the road trying to figure out where to go from my Hertz map. You see, even though I typed "Pasadena" into the search box, I was given an address in Alhambra. The address was some dude's house in a residential neighborhood. I finally made it to the hotel more than an hour later than I expected. Below you can see where the hotel really is. Point A is Bob Hope Airport. Point B is Joe Schmoe's house in Alhambra. Point C is my hotel. And it really is in Pasadena! Fancy that.

To be fair, Google does state that the maps are "for planning," (see highlighted box in Exhibit A) but I had actually used them quite often for maps with no problems. Now, I'm done.

I heard a bit of buzz around this movie when it was released in the States, so I decided to give it a try. The movie begins with a man in a medical facility being forced to pour mass quantities of toxic chemicals down the drain, which leads out to the Han river in Seoul. Several years later, we meet the Park family. The father and his grown son work in a small shop near a recreational area by the river. When the son, who the family sees as lazy and unsuccessful, is serving snacks to customers, he suddenly sees a giant monster come out of the river and start attacking people. He snaps into action and tries to help, but when the monster goes after his teenage daughter, his efforts are in vain. The family mourns her loss, but soon receives a phone call from her - she's alive and trapped somewhere in the sewer system. It's up to the family to figure out where she is and fight the monster, which isn't easy since the government has quarantined all of them and set up blockades around the river.

I had no idea what I was going to see when I rented The Host. I didn't expect it to be humorous in the least. When it first began, there was a little bit of humor, but a lot of action, too, so I settled in for a good action flick. But when the family started mourning the lost little girl and they're falling all over the floor while they wail, I realized I was in for a lot more humor than I expected. It ends up being a careful balance of action, humor, and drama, which works incredibly well.

I really liked the creativity used with the story, the monster, and several camera effects. Only ten minutes in, I was already noting that this wasn't just a cliche action or comedy flick. When I try to explain it to others, I say it's like the action and seriousness of a monster movie with the humor of Kung Fu Hustle, only not as exaggerated. Haha. I know that's hard to imagine. The family each have different personal attributes that make them stronger as they move toward the end of the movie. They all come together to fight for their cause, and all in ways I didn't always see coming.

The movie definitely ends on a note that I didn't expect, but appreciated. I'm definitely glad I decided to give it a try. It's weird, funny, creative, gruesome, and exciting, and that combo makes for a great little movie.

Crystal Castles

Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

The Complete Far Side 1980-1994 (2 vol set) by Gary Larson, Steve Martin

There Will Be Blood (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition)

Twin Peaks - The Definitive Gold Box Edition (The Complete Series)

Everybody's Dead by Brian Lynch, Dave Crosland

The Office - Season Three

It's that time again, folks. Summer movie season is right around the corner. While there are a few sequels and remakes on the horizon, I have to say this summer is looking a bit more solid than last year. It's hard to decide my vote but the eternal wide-eyed 9 year old inside of me is going to have to go with Doctor Jones. Speaking of being 9, how awesome a year was 1989? Batman and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade alone made it great. In addition to comic book flicks and your standard action fare, there are some good comedies coming as well. Heck, this weekend we have Tina Fey's Baby Mama and the Apatow clan's Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Later in the summer we have Pineapple Express and Ben Stiller's Tropical Thunder. Then there are the big juggernauts, Iron Man and The Dark Knight, as well as the dark horse, Hellboy 2. I'm excited for all them, but like I said, Indy still has my heart. I've already got the one sheet to prove it. Feel free to chime in with your choice if I didn't put it on the list.

Edit: Holy crap, I must be tired this morning if I actually put "Mosted" in the title. That's pretty freaking bad.

Keep the BBS for Alumni

If you're a Biola alumni, as I know some of you readers are, I highly encourage you to sign this petition to keep BUBBS, our long running bulletin board system, available to alumni. Apparently Biola is switching to a new bulletin board system and they have decided not to grant alumni access to it. This is surprising, as one of the benefits of membership in the alumni association is access to the bulletin board system and a Biola email account. The alumni association has yet to inform us that we will no longer be receiving this benefit.

I don't use BUBBS nearly as much as I used to, but I still use it to keep in contact with some of my fellow alumni and to see what's going on on some of the discussion boards. If it wasn't for BUBBS I probably never would have made some of the friends that I have today. It's a great community and it would be a sad thing to lose. Hat tip to Jeri for keeping us all in the loop.

It's all the talk around the university BBS these days - they're switching to a new system, and alumni won't have access.

Personally, I think it's a bad business move because alienating alumni = no donations.

But beyond that, the community would suffer. If you think that alumni should have access to the new BBS system, sign the petition here.

Ric and I both agree that In Bruges is our favorite movie we've seen this year. I know it's only April, but I expect it will probably stay near the top as the months pass by. Staring Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell, the movie is about two hitmen who are sent to Bruges (in Belgium) to keep under wraps after a botched job.

Ray, the younger of the two, thinks Bruges is the most boring place he's ever been. He distracts himself by hitting on a local girl and trying to befriend a little person who is in town to film a movie. Ken, who is a bit of a mentor to Ray, loves the city and drags Ray around to sightsee. At first, the movie functions by letting the audience get to know these two likable characters, and to find out what went wrong with the hit. The social and cultural humor is hilarious. I particularly love the scene where Ray tries to explain to a bunch of tourists that they shouldn't try to go to the top of the church tower because they're too fat to climb the stairs.

Then, the movie shifts gears and becomes much darker and more serious than I had anticipated. Even with this giant shift in tone, the movie comes together wonderfully.

All of the actors involved are wonderful. Someone I forgot to mention was Ralph Fiennes, who plays the boss, whose insanity and ruthlessness are absolutely perfect. Gleeson is charming as always, and Farrell shows a new dimension of himself, in a kind of comic and tragic role that suits him perfectly.

Oh, and now that I've seen this movie, I would really like to visit the city of Bruges. As soon as the movie began, I turned to Ric and said, "I want to go there!" and I'm serious. I don't know when it would happen, but I would love to see it.

Since I didn't know very much about the plot before seeing the movie, I believe that's the best way to see it, so I'm not going to discuss it much further. I don't think it's for everyone because of how dark it can be. But Ric and I loved it, and will definitely recommend it to several of our friends.

Thought I'd include a life snip for Josh from my quiet weekend. Obviously, Jenny isn't serious about becoming King.

I've nearly finished reading Annie Dillard's Teaching a Stone to Talk, and I'll definitely be seeking out more of her writing after this.

It's hard for me to say exactly why I love her so much. She writes creative non-fiction essays, about which she says, "This is not a collection of occasional pieces, such as a writer bring out to supplement his real work; instead this is my real work, such as it is."

I had previously read her most famous work, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, first for a graduate English class and then a second time, more carefully, after I heard her mentioned as a Christian writer. The first time I read Pilgrim I didn't notice anything about Dillard's faith. The book is mostly observations on nature, and whatever spiritual reflections it contains are of a very general sort.

In Teaching a Stone to Talk Annie Dillard exposes her faith much more directly. She writes on a variety of topics and in a variety of styles, but what keeps me coming back to her is just the way she has with language. She often takes a very roundabout way to get to what she wants to say, but it doesn't matter because every sentence is enjoyable to read. Sometimes I get so engrossed in the way she writes that I don't care if she ever gets to the point. But she always does, usually in one great punch that ties together all of the little anecdotes and loose threads that she had carefully placed along the way.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about. It's called "God In The Doorway." It's one of the shortest essays in the book, but it is a great example of how she leaps from thread to thread, not showing the connections until the very last sentence. I also happen to love the point she makes here. This would be a great essay to read to the family on Christmas day.

One cold Christmas Eve I was up unnaturally late because we had all gone out to dinner-my parents, my baby sister, and I. We had come home to a warm living room, and Christmas Eve. Our stockings drooped from the mantle; beside them, a special table bore a bottle of ginger ale and a plate of cookies.

I had taken off my fancy winter coat and was standing on the heat register to bake my shoe soles and warm my bare legs. There was a commotion at the front door; it opened, and cold winter blew around my dress.

Everyone was calling me. "Look who’s here! Look who’s here!" I looked. It was Santa Claus. Whom I never-ever-wanted to meet. Santa Claus was looming in the doorway and looking around for me. My mother’s voice was thrilled: "Look who’s here!" I ran upstairs.

Like everyone in his right mind, I feared Santa Claus, thinking he was God. I was still thoughtless and brute, reactive. I knew right from wrong, but had barely tested the possibility of shaping my own behavior, and then only from fear, and not yet from love. Santa Claus was an old man whom you never saw, but who nevertheless saw you; he knew when you’d been bad or good. He knew when you’d been bad or good! And I had been bad.

My mother called and called, enthusiastic, pleading; I wouldn’t come down. My father encouraged me; my sister howled. I wouldn’t come down, but I could bend over the stairwell and see: Santa Claus stood in the doorway with night over his shoulder, letting in all the cold air of the sky; Santa Claus stood in the doorway monstrous and bright, powerless, ringing a loud bell and repeating Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas. I never came down. I don’t know who ate the cookies.

For so many years now I have known that this Santa Claus was actually a rigged-up Miss White, who lived across the street, that I confuse the dramatis personae in my mind, making Santa Claus, God, and Miss White an awesome, vulnerable trinity. This is really a story about Miss White.

Miss White was old; she lived alone in the big house across the street. She liked having me around; she plied me with cookies, taught me things about the world, and tried to interest me in finger painting, in which she herself took great pleasure. She would set up easels in her kitchen, tack enormous slick soaking papers to their frames, and paint undulating undersea scenes: horizontal smears of color sparked by occasional vertical streaks which were understood to be fixed kelp. I liked her. She meant no harm on earth, and yet half a year after her failed visit as Santa Claus, I ran from her again.

That day, a day of the following summer, Miss White and I knelt in her yard while she showed me a magnifying glass. It was a large, strong hand lens. She lifted my hand and, holding it very still, focused a dab of sunshine on my palm. The glowing crescent wobbled, spread, and finally contracted to a point. It burned; I was burned; I ripped my hand away and ran home crying. Miss White called after me, sorry, explaining, but I didn’t look back.

Even now I wonder: if I meet God, will he take and hold my bare hand in his, and focus his eye on my palm, and kindle that spot and let me burn?

But no. It is I who misunderstood everything and let everybody down. Miss White, God, I am sorry I ran from you. I am still running, running from that knowledge, that eye, that love from which there is no refuge. For you meant only love, and love, and I felt only fear, and pain. So once in Israel love came to us incarnate, stood in the doorway between two worlds, and we were all afraid.

Punch by Punch Brothers

Hey there. Sorry I forgot to post towards the end of the week last weekend. We were doing software consulting at work and I was away from my desk, and then I took off the afternoon on Friday.

For lunch on Friday, the office went to an Indian restaurant in Buena Park. I took off from there to meet up with my mom and sister at Disneyland. Speaking of which, I renewed my pass, so if any of you ever want to go together, let me know. We spent a lot longer there than I expected (thought mom would poop out), so I got worked because I parked at Downtown Disney and didn't get validated (I thought you could get validation from purchases at a store, but actually you need validation from a restaurant or the movie theater). Twenty-eight bucks later, Jenny and I went to downtown Fullerton and spent a while at Starbucks.

Saturday, I worked on finances, put on another layer of paint on the baseboards in the living room, and lounged around the house. Ric and I made a trip to Lowe's to buy a few things. In the evening, the Andersons called us up and asked to come over for a while, so we all played Wii for a while together.

Sunday, we went to church with the Andersons as usual. I spent the afternoon playing through my classics songbook on the piano, then Ric and I returned to Lowe's to finally make a purchase of a new water heater. We also got the duct work for the microwave. Too bad we're having trouble making it fit! I put another layer of paint on the living room baseboards, and Ric and I watched some tv together. Finally, Ric got bored (I was already bored) and asked to go to see a movie. We ended up at the cheap theater to see The Spiderwick Chronicles. I topped of the night with a bit of laundry.

All-in-all, a kind of slow weekend. I could have used some more excitement, but I guess it was fine. I got some stuff done.

Up this week: working on the condo, a dinner with the Andersons, and probably more work on the condo.

Tatiana, an old friend of mine, has a new blog and for one of her first posts she wrangled up one of Matt Wignall's (former front-man of Havalina Rail Company) journals while he was on tour with Cold War Kids in Europe. Check it out. It's a really good read. Here's a highlight:

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