Filed under: life
Our son has had the perfect storm of discomfort hit him in the last few days: Hardcore teething coupled with no poo for a few days, too. The gums are white and slightly swolen. We think he’s going to show a few at the same time. Who knows. Glad I don’t remember getting teeth for the first time. I must have been thinking “WTF is going on with my mouth!?? There’s this stuff coming up and out of my softies! MOOOOOM!”
So last night we determined that we would probably be spending a fare amount of time at our house, rather than at friends’ this weekend, and we rented 2 movies, 1 for Andrea and 1 for me.
First up was Andrea’s: “Smart People.”
I did not want to see this film so I played a game in my office while she watched. I could hear some of the dialogue and music over my game, and realized that this was the film that Nuno Bettencourt scored, and I had wanted to see it after all. Plus Dennis Quaid has a great beard. But by the time I realized it, the film was too far along so I kept playing.
Then tonight after I finished cleaning the house I plopped down and watched it, and I would like a refund for those 2 hours please. It was quirky in a way that wasn’t amusing or entertaining or even insightful. It was void of purpose, a point, and good acting. The music was OK, but very predictable. Good thing Nuno got the band back together because I don’t think films are his thing. Dennis Quaid did have a rock’n beard, but that was about it as far as good stuff. I can’t say enough bad things about this film. It was truly awful.
After my game last night it was my turn to watch the movie I had originally rented for myself, “Jumpers.” Like “300,” this movie was a 2 hour commercial for a film yet made. It had no soul, and I didn’t care about the characters at all. It, too, was predictable from the very start. I thought it would be weird to see Darth Vader and Black Jedi back together again, but it actually wasn’t. I did like the world this film created, and I’d like to have that power at times, but there was absolutely zero chemistry between characters. I stuck around to watch the making-of thing afterwards, and apparently the stretched out this story to be told over 3 films. Problem is, the other two have not bee made, and when this film was being made they didn’t know for sure that the other 2 would even happen. Thus, the crap movie. This, too, was awful.
Am I just getting older and cranky, or do movies really suck this bad these days? I can’t recall the last good new movie I saw. Everything that looks great in a preview turns out to suck.
Filed under: happenings
After last night’s very disappointing speach by Barak Obama, which lacked any substance or specific plans (I kept thinking: “You serve ME – You are my employeee – What are you going to do while I am paying you?!?” No answers.), I began leaning away from my previous pledge to vote for the guy. I can’t express how disappointed I was with that!
But as I write, Sarah Palin is being unveiled as John McCain’s VP pick 30 miles north of where I live, and my mind is made up. This pick closed the sale for my vote.
John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate today is one that makes it really hard to stay away from political thought and discussion. I guess for me I can allow myself back into political conversation now that I have a distinct knowledge of what is of a Kingdom and what is of an Empire.
This past May I sat in my living room with friends and told them that I thought McCain would pick either Palin or Bobby Jindal. BTW – I am looking for a 2004 Obama-esque speech from Jindal at next week’s RNC. I thought that either of them would be picked because both are true Conservatives, and governors in states of big issues (Oil and Katrina, respectively). They are also strong future candidates for the Presidency, and I think we could see a Palin/Jindal ticket in 2012.
By McCain picking Palin today, he just injected a lot of fuel into the GOP base, specificlly the Conservative wing. Pundits for the Moderates and Left will call this move desparate, but I know otherwise. This is the shot in the arm the McCain ticket needed. Up til now he had been running neck-in-neck with Obama (despite what NBC would have you believe), and I will not be surprised when polls show this pick giving McCain a boost. Obama’s pick of Biden did nothing for his campaign.
I also have a few other random thoughts that keep piling in my head as the day goes on:
- The Palin pick will take more than a handful of Hillary supporters.
- She’s pro-life which, alone, will energize the Conservative base. Not just talk either – she has a 4 month old that I’m sure some feminists would have aborted due to her son being born with Downs Syndrome. She also has 5 kids, so I guess she and her husband like to party
- She’s the governor of a state rich in oil, and she is strongly in favor of drilling for it using the eco-friendly technology that exists right now.
- Obama cannot talk about her lack of experience without calling out either his own. And bringing up Biden’s experience will only serve to diminish Obama’s “change” mantra. Picking her just took away a pretty big card for Obama.
- She’s a union member, and card-carrying member of the NRA. I’m sure the polls will reflect Obama support with unions, but come November I’d bet the booth tells another story with this demographic.
- Both she and John McCain have sons in the military, and her son is serving (or has served) in Iraq. Though I’m opposed to this war – and all war – this removes the “would you send your son?” arguement Democrats like to bring up. (BTW – my answer to that question is a firm, resounding “NO.”)
I’m sure there’s lots more to come to mind in terms of why this is a good pick.
One more thing: I think it’s refreshing to see someone on the GOP side actually fight back, politically. McCain is not the pussy I thought he’d be. His ads have been factually stinging, and very quick contextually. If I had to predict today, I’d say that McCain/Palin would win in November, and might just win big.
Filed under: life
Turns out we live three blocks away from the family at the center of a horrible, tragic accident, which I wrote about in my last post. The weekend was heavy as we mourned with this family we’ve never met, for a little girl Garrett would have entered kindergarten with. God allowed us to do some things for the family, things that I will not write about due to this blog being searchable, and the last thing I want is for the Cincinnati media to find it and exploit it.
There are so many things I have written in this space and deleted. I have a lot of anger work out, and I don’t think my blog is where it will be released. I’ve tried a few times, and the writing it out just serves to make it grow.
My anger is not toward the mother whom is at the center of the rage of this city. I feel deep sadness with her, I mourn with her and her family. My wife and I spent a weekend crying and mourning with this family we’ve never met.
No, my anger is toward the kid-glove journalists of the Cincy media, and toward the personalities of 700 WLW-AM whom have used a particular phrase to knick-name this tragedy. I have written and re-written words for you. I won’t publish them because I’d rather work out my feelings in another way, a way of peace. Regardless, I pray for justice to find you for what you’ve said.
This week I also learned of two others in our community whom are suffering from an illness or something similar. It’s been a very sobering week. The odd thing about seasons of life like now is that they tend to be fertile ground for deepening relationships. I know we’ve experienced that in the last seven days, and I can look back at other relationships that were deepened during hard times.
On a brighter note, a few doors down from us lives the mother and family of David Payne, Olympic Medalist for the USA! He won the silver in the men’s 110m hurdles! Congrats to him.
Filed under: happenings
Wednesday night Andrea and were driving back to our home when we heard the news of an 11 month old girl whom had died a few hours earlier after being left in her mother’s minivan all day.
As listened to the story, we learned that the mother is a professor at Cincinnati Christian College, with her PhD in counseling or something like that. We learned that she had left her daughter in her car from around 8:30 to 4:30 on a day when outside temps were around 92, making the inside of her dark gray minivan well over 100.
I learned this morning that the mother lives here in my little city of Wyoming. For all I know she lives the next street over, or in one of the homes I walk past every day with Jake.
Garrett rode in the back, in his car seat, while we listened to the details of the tragedy. Garrett is just shy of being 10 months old, so the girl whom died became vividly real – where she might be in development, what her day might be like with mommy and daddy, if she had teeth yet, and so on.
This was a sobering moment.
Andrea’s first reaction, as we listened on the radio, was rage. Mine was a deep crushing sadness. I think one reason why this tragedy is so sobering and gut-wrenching is because, as a father of a boy whom is just about the age of the girl, my mind has been fleshing out what it might be like if I was in the mother’s shoes. The worst part is that I know my quasi-understanding is like a speck on a beach of agonizing for the mother and her family. In all honesty, I attempted to pray for the family, but I have no idea what to pray for.
In the time that has passed since we first heard of the girl’s death, I’d bet I’ve told Garrett how much I love him a hundred times or more. Last night we had to go out because (thankfully) we had a showing of our house. We hung out with some good friends, and had some Graeter’s ice cream, which I shared with Garrett. He was a bit fussy due to some stubborn teeth that just won’t break the surface. And on the drive home, he was hysterical with crying and carrying on. But I soaked in his cries and fussiness – it’s all a blessing that I cannot take for granted.
I’m late hearing this, but the best news I’ve read in weeks just crossed my eyes: The Smoking Popes are back.
“Destination: Failure” stands the test of pop culture time. It is infinitely fun to sing along and harmonize with the catchy melodies. I’d put it up there with “Spilt Milk” by the Jellyfish and “Grace” by Jeff Buckley on my list of favorite projects from the 90s. Certainly up there with the All Time favs list, too.
Good for these guys. Good to see that they’re back. Can’t wait to hear the new tracks.
Filed under: happenings
This is not one of the aforementioned three thoughts – it’s something I noticed the other day while driving away from a dog park.
Good news/side bar: We were at a dog park because we had a house showing. It’s so weird. You leave your house, know that total strangers are going to come to it while you’re not there, judge your dwelling place, and then leave. You might get to meet them someday at closing. Bizarre.
Anyway, we hung out at a dog park while strangers walked our abode, and as I drove off I thought a new Obama window sticker caught my eye.
I have to say that if I voted as only a desinger, Obama would win hands-down… though I have to give McCain props for branding himself in a very militant way – that star thing works. Anyway, Obama has the best branding and design any candidate has ever had, and I’d be curious to see someone post media of him without the branding to see how his hyperbole plays out. I’d bet it’s not as polished. Packaging maters, and we do in fact judge books by their covers. It’s my job to design a book’s cover so you’ll judge it worthy of purchasing.
Anway…
My eye always catches stuff that I think is “good” design (in design, good is subject to one’s opinion… there is no objective “good design”). I thought I saw the “O” of the Obama logo, but what I saw was not the logo. Instead it was this:
This is the USA Water Polo logo, and it sure looks familiar, doesn’t it? Try blurring your eyes and looking at it. Try envisioning it being produced in one color for a window decal.
Even though I don’t respect Obama in the least, don’t agree with his politics or policies, and don’t like the thought of him being the leader of the USA, I at least had respect for his branding. It’s good. It’s really good. I imagine Ad Age or HOW or GDUSA or some other design industry pub will have a special issue just for his branding whether he wins or loses. The Obama branding is the beginning of candidates from this point forward employing the services of very with-it branding professionals to manage their brand… which is good news for my field, sort of.
Anyway, I have to confess my disappointment when I later googled the USA Water Polo logo, and found it to more ore less be the source of Obama’s logo. For the record, the USA Water Polo logo has been around a lot longer than Obama’s logo.
I already knew that much of Obama’s content was originally John Edwards’ content from his previous presidential and vice-presidental bids (look it up), and that what he proposes is well-branded Socialism (at best). But I assumed that the really good branding we were seeing was the product of good original thinking.
Now this?!
It’s all a scam. I’m waiting for either Obama or McCain to look into the camera on a Tuesday night speech, and say “Live from New York… it’s Saturday Night!” in order to confess that this race has been one big farce. But I don’t think that will happen.
Ok, enough with this. Back to being cynical.
Filed under: life
This morning I listened to a podcast by Ravi Zacharius titled “Flirting with Truth.” I highly recommend his podcasts to anyone. He said something that is a great way of entering into this blog that I’ve been shaping for the past three days.
While listening to politicians or some kind of political speech he turned to his wife and revealed that the thing that bothers him most about current-day politics is that the politicians have moralized politics, and politicized morality.
Ravi’s thought dovetails nicely with this little post I’ve been trying to extract from my head and onto this corner of the InterWebs.
Over the past week a few thoughts have crashed into my head, without anticipation of their arrival. They are somewhat random, or at least have no common theme between them. So in the interest of future reflection – and maybe a few contributing thoughts – I thought I’d post them.
The next few blogs will be these thoughts. I want to give each their space.
Ignoring Something Really Big?
How can broken people destroy Earth or restore Eden by themselves? That, to me, is the crux of my problem with the green push in response to global warming/climate change. The green push assumes the prevalence of what Del Loven referred to as Secular Humanism. That is to say: the belief that Humans are of the highest order, and capable of God-like achievements. As I see it, the push to “save the planet” is backed by a believe by some that humans can save their broken nature.
Yes, we are to be mindful stewards of our planet, and I don’t disagree with some green practices. I am not anti-green. Over the last year I’ve developed a keen eye for litter along the Cincinnati area roads. It’s unfathomable! I’m all in favor of alternate fuels so as they are initiated by a free market with little-to-no government oversight. We recycle, use natural cleaners around our house, and bunch of other small things that equate to being good stewards of our small lot of land we’re in possession of.
But I certainly do not think that all this is capable of either destroying Earth or restoring Eden. I do not believe that it is possible for a broken creation to fix itself. I know that this belief hinges on my Christian worldview, and that because of this my realization will never gain ground. But I think it was an important realization for me to consider what lay at the core of the green push.
The green push is the result of people wanting to restore Eden, make right what appears to be broken and getting worse.
But is it just the tip of an iceberg – something really big that is being ignored? Are followers of The Way not picking up on a very blatant cultural shift (at least in the USA) right now.
A few more examples: The rise of popularity for Barak Obama is due in part to the way he presents his perspective. It’s wrapped in themes of hope for something better, and this resonates in people. Anyone asking “Why?” without injecting politicized morality into the question? From where I stand I see and hear people resonating with restoration and hope. There is a large and growing segment of our country that wants an end to war. Peace resonates with them. There is a crisis in healthcare – to a degree – and general concern for its affordability. Injustice and concern for the sick resonate with a lot of people.
In light of all this, where is the voice of The Way? Does our Way not offer the promise of restoration, hope, justice, and ultimately – to be saved?
I’ll be blunt: I believe that the traditional church’s Come To Us way of thinking is not sufficient, alone. Come To Our Building thinking is not a sufficient answer to the call of people in our times. It works in cases, in certain situations, and as an institution in which some find great rest in. I’m not bashing the traditional church – I’m observing that this cannot be all there is to offer. There has to be real, authentic, un-branded, ordinary loving-my-neighbor going on if relevancy is to be gained again.
It’s easy for me to get ramped up on this topic. I’ve contributed to this post for a few days, sprinkling in thoughts here and there, trying not to get carried away. It’s a lot easier to say a bunch of stuff than to actually do it. So having said that, I will stop.
