Last night, a friend and I took a trip down to Erie, PA to watch the Erie Otter take on the Oshawa Generals of the OHL. Good game: good offense, good goaltending, a couple good fights. A night of good hockey.
These were taken within the last couple weeks. They're just pics taken around the parsonage where I currently live. This is the eternal struggle for me: I hate snow, but is is really pretty.
Anyway, enjoy the pics and stay warm, dear readers!
It's a wonder that it took this long to put this list together. But, here we are. This is a list of my fave books. They have all impacted me in some meaningful way. Some helped shape my worldview. Others were just good reads. It should go without saying that for me, The Bible is #1. The rest are in no particular order.
1. The Bible 2. No Country For Old Men- Cormac McCarthy 3. Native Son- Richard Wright 4. The Awakening- Kate Chopin 5. Something Wicked This Way Comes- Ray Bradbury 6. Breakfast of Champions- Kurt Vonnegut 7. Side Effects- Woody Allen 8. Cannery Row- John Steinbeck 9. Can You Drink The Cup- Henri JM Nouwen
I've been a fan of the op-ed column since high school. These little essays are usually a good way to get a good discussion going. And, with the advent of blogging, it seems like everyone is a pundit (myself included)these days . But here's my list of my fave pro pundits. Some are political and some are sportswriters. As always,. the list is in no particular order.
1. Robert Scheer 2. Joe Conason 3. Greg Freeman (RIP) 4. Jonah Goldberg 5. EJ Dionne 6. TJ Simers 7. Bill McClellan 8. Kathleen Parker 9. Kevin Blackistone 10. Jason Whitlock
So, I was snowed-in today. I was able to get some other work done, even though I really don't like doing my job stuff in the house. Even when I was in college and the Sem, I had to do my studying in the library.
But I digress.
Anyway, here's a little music for you. It seems to fit the moment of just being at home and watching the snow blow around outside. Enjoy!
A quick overview of this blog will reveal all sorts of gadgets. You see them: My picture, the Feedjit Live Traffic dealy, etc. There's also one on there which informs you that I am also on Facebook and what my current "status update" is.
I love Facebook! It allows me to be connected to people I've lost track of, and stay connected to people I haven't lost track of. I even like most of the applications available to you, the Facebook user. Many of them, while not completely necessary to human existence, are just fun little ways to break up the day. After all, isn't that what this is all about? Isn't that what Habakkuk's Complaint is designed to do: stave off boredom for a couple minutes? That what the header says.
But there's a couple applications I just don't get. One is a little garden. the other is a little blue cove. For the uninitiated, people send each other little plants and animals (or caricatures of said plants and animals)in order to place them in a fictional garden or aquarium. That's fine. I get that part.
Here's where my confusion kicks in. Somehow these are supposed to help in the fight against global warming or other causes. I am not sure how this works. I am all for legal types of civilian activism. But this doesn't seem to do anything. How does my putting a fake plant in a virtual garden help alleviate global warming?
I agree it's fun and inane. I'm just confused as to how that's supposed to help.
My buddy Dave suggested this might be Clint Eastwood's last movie. If so, this is an incredible swan song. This was, I felt, a brilliant movie. Many felt it got snubbed by the Academy. If that is true, then the other films that did get nominated must be very powerful indeed.
Eastwood directed and stars in this urban tale of racism and forgiveness. Eastwood plays an elderly tough guy named Walt Kowalski who knows his neighborhood is declining. The film starts at the funeral of Walt's wife. He seems intent on living out his days proving his toughness to the world and being grizzled. Things come to a head when a Hmong family who lives next door literally spills over into his life.
This film touches on so many different aspects of life. The easiest and most obvious layer here is racism and tolerance. On a completely superficial level, the message is about having your prejudices diminished after getting to know someone. Keep in mind, I said superficial. I did not say this is a bad thing. How else can prejudice and racism be stopped?
The theme of forgiveness is powerful in any film. But it is especially powerful here. The reason for this is also clear in the film. It is one thing to be forgiven. It is another thing to be able to forgive yourself. Often, this causes just as many problems in human interaction.
The problem with seeing movies the way I do, is that I often see them by myself. Sometimes this is OK. But, when it comes to heavy dramas (my fave genre), it's nice to have some instant processing. But, that why I have you, dear readers. That said, the discussion factor is really high in this film. Other issues it addresses are vigilantism, aging and conformity, self-sacrifice, and maturation. You can probably come up with some others as well.
The "that guy" factor is also in full-effect, most notably in the character of the barber.
I will put out one caution, dear readers: This is not a film for the easily offended. Racist slurs and f-bombs abound. If that is off-putting to you, wait until the movie is on network TV.
This blog marks the end of a hiatus. This blog has had many incarnations, some successful, some not so much.
Despite the title, I hope to not do much complaining. Most of this blog will be reactions and lists, thoughts and ideas.
This blog will probably not intoduce anything new or be very deep. In fact, most of what's on here will probably be quite inocuous and/or inane (to most of you anyway).
But, who knows? Maybe it'll give you something to talk about while you're bored.
