42) The Neverending Story

I am happy to say I received The Neverending Story from Blockbuster.com this week. I am going to watch it keeping in mind how much I loved it when I was younger. However, I am fully expecting the special effects to look terrible.






For Instance, I am pretty sure Falkor: The Luck Dragon is going to look like a giant robotic dog with Showbiz Pizza quality of movement.







And I remember G'Mork freaking me out when I was a kid.










But if I am being honest, I must admit that my favorite character in this film is Morla: The Ancient One. If you do not remember her, she is basically the giant turtle who lives in the Swamp of Sadness. She is irritable and sneezes a lot.





Here is my problem. I worry that kids are going to miss out on this classic film because the technology used does not compare to fantasy movies of today. I feel like the old man telling his grandchildren how great movies were back in the day. But here is what I want to do. I want to come up with a list of movies, books, bands, TV shows that come from our childhood that today's kids are going to miss out on unless parent's take action now. If I miss important things be sure to let me know.

Forgotten Art:

* The Neverending Story
* Flight of the Navigator
* Robinhood (The Disney Version)
* Knightrider
* Alf
* Pee Wee's Playhouse (even though I heard they are making this into a movie to come out within the next year. Not sure it has a chance of being as good as the show was, though)
* Q-Bert
* No Retreat No Surrender
* Steven Wright's comedy specials
* Space Camp
* Fraggle Rock

41) Hall of Fame: Dirk

This weekend I taught my class at Eastfield College on the art of persuasion. I chose to structure the class as if we were going to build an argument on a controversial topic of today. By doing this, the students could see what sort of questions they need to ask when researching their topic, as well as figuring out how they want to devise a strategy to make their point. I wanted so badly to execute this exercise using the hot and imminent topic of healthcare reform. Basically I wanted to stand in front of the class and tell my students how their beloved Republican leaders prey on their fear and prejudices, and prove to them that with a little thought and research we would learn together that our healthcare reform is not the reincarnation of Stalin's communist Russia.

Instead, I chose a more important topic. As the moderator I divided the class into 2 groups and asked this question: Should Dirk be in the Hall of Fame?

As a class we discussed the criteria needed to get into the Hall of Fame and compared Dirk's career to this criteria. The exercise engaged most of the class and at the end we were able to address the both sides of the argument. I built a spread sheet so we could see how stats combined with championships and league MVPs affect a players ability to get into the Hall. Here is a taste of that spreadsheet:








As you can see, stats alone do not guarantee a spot in the Hall. Rolando Blackman has numbers equivalent with such inductees as James Worthy and Kevin McHale, but he lacks the championships. Mark Aguirre and Joe Dumars have the numbers and a championship, but they are not in the Hall. Horry and Kerr have many championships, but they do not have the numbers, and they are not in the hall. This is a heated controversy, a seemingly rationale situation riddled with the emotion and perception of fans all over the country.

Dirk's career is not over, and his numbers have the ability to grow to an indisputable level, but if he were to retire at the end of this year, would he make it into the coveted Hall of Fame?

I will say this concerning my class: A woman in my class has no idea who Dirk is. She has lived in Dallas the last 20 years but has been able to turn the channel before any talk of Mavericks basketball could be broadcasted into her living room. She says she hates athletes because they are spoiled and they are given free passes to be drug addicts. I respect her opinion though I completely disagree, however, I am sure Stern will find a way to get this woman on the voting committee when Dirk becomes eligible for the Hall of Fame.

40) Intelligent Politics

I got a wild hair up my ass earlier this week and wrote a long letter to one of my Republican friends. I will post excerpts here so you can see what sort of letter it was:

Ok, since you are a republican I need to talk to you a little about what has been going on politically. I know you do not like getting in these discussions, but I need some clarification from a republican about some of the things other republicans are doing. If you are not familiar with many of the things I am about to reference, call your dad and talk to him about it, as I am sure he is aligned with some of this stuff.

The Baby Killer comment: I am all for people disagreeing about politics, but the Texas senator screaming out Baby Killer while referring to either Stupak (another senator) or the healthcare plan in general (depending on who you believe), I think is pretty childish. I know there are many issues like this going on in politics and people vehemently disagreeing with other people, and I am sure for every 1 comment like this we hear about 100 comments like this fly around both sides of the room. However, with
facebook and news footage I have seen recently, seems like this sort of behavior has reached a new tier and I think it is bordering on completely disrespectful and counter productive. No matter what someone’s stance on abortion (one of the most heated and controversial topics ever) healthcare is not working the way it is and something needs to happen. Calling someone a baby killer during a debate makes no sense.

2. Texas Seceding: I have seen many comments on facebook about Texas proudly seceding from the union. Thought it was just trash from ignorant Texans living in rural communities like Tyler. I was wrong. Our governor brings it up at speeches and rallies, and though there is an heir of humor in his tone, there is also some seriousness to his demeanor. I do not understand Republican figureheads (people holding high levels of office) talking about seceding when they disagree with projects the president is working on. When Bush sent us to war so that his companies would become ridiculously rich many people disagreed (including myself) but I never once considered or talked about secession from the Union. That sort of behavior gets nothing positive done and gets people fired up for the wrong reasons. I would be willing to bet that many people in Tyler hear the governor say things like that, yehaw, shoot their pistol in the air and get fired up when what we need to be doing is figuring out solutions for some of the problems we have. Again, I expect this behavior from rednecks in East Texas, not our governor. Seceding from the union is one of the stupidest ideas I have ever heard. Do you remember what happened the last time states seceded in favor of slavery? A civil war happened that cost the lives of more Americans than all other wars combined. Seceding is not a sensible solution and talking about it or threatening it is a waste of energy.

3. The tea party movement: Below is the mission statement for the Tea Party Movement. By reading the definitions stated on the Tea Party website, the main focus of the organization is to limit government involvement in America’s economy. Fiscal responsibility refers to the national deficit and the government spending too much. The constitutionally limited government is pretty clear. Free market refers to business being unrestricted by government. To me, this is completely see through, but there are people on board with this philosophy and I want to know what a republican thinks of this. By see through, I mean these are the actions and organizations of big business trying to protect the large amounts of money they already control. For instance: if you own the electric company, you do not want the government having any control over how you do business, because everyone needs electricity, there is a monopoly, so when changes happen it costs millions for this company. However, the electric company sees such high profits every quarter. What is better for the people? If the garbage were handled by a private company, what would stop them from charging $2000 a month for them to take your garbage? I would venture to say this problem happened in earlier America until the government recognized how ridiculous their rates were and took control. Yet we do not complain about garbage being handled by our government. How does the Tea Party movement help a local small business owner?

Mission Statement For Tea Party Movement (sourced from Tea Party Website)
The impetus for the Tea Party movement is excessive government spending and taxation. Our mission is to attract, educate, organize, and mobilize our fellow citizens to secure public policy consistent with our three core values of Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally Limited Government and Free Markets

4. Healthcare reform: The ins and outs of the healthcare reform being debated right now are somewhat confusing. However, from what I can tell, some of the main initiatives are getting healthcare for everyone and making it mandatory, lowering healthcare costs, and figuring out ways to make healthcare affordable for families who make less than$88,000 per year. I do not see what is wrong with these initiatives. It does not change much for the vast majority, except that it intends to lower healthcare costs. And Republicans are so against this they would rather secede from the union and perhaps embark on another civil war instead of tweak the bill and work with Obama to get something better figured out. I can see how forcing people to get healthcare can seem unconstitutional, but no more so than forcing people to get Auto Insurance. The idea is if everyone has insurance, there is more money in the pool, which means everyone pays less, instead of having people show up at the hospital with no insurance, get billed for $100,000 worth of hospital care, not pay and then the hospital charge more to people who do have insurance. How does this cause problems for Joe Schmo Republican? I do not understand. Can you explain to me your perspective on this?

C., I am not trying to start an argument and I am not trying to send this out to bash republicans. I really am trying to understand the rationale behind some of the things going on right now so that I can know if there are components to the democratic philosophy that I am missing or have blinders to.

And by excerpts, I guess I meant pretty much the entire thing. After sending this letter to him and a few others, I learned the answer to one of my questions. I learned that politicians will say ridiculous things (baby-killer, liar, Texas needs to secede) because when the fanatic followers hear this stuff they become inspired and will donate more money to the campaign. The people who have said the things I mentioned in this letter saw spikes in contributions aligned with the comments they made. This completely makes sense to me. Now I understand. It may make me feel less for the politician taking advantage of these people and for firing up constituents for the wrong reasons, but at least now I have some sort of understanding.

I say all this because I am considering formatting a blog that will accomplish the same sort of revelation for me writing that email did. The format would be as follows: 4 contributors (2 republicans, 2 democrats- all reasonable) will take turns posting 1 question. The question would be posted at the beginning of a 2 week cycle. For example, the question could be: Why does the Governor talk about seceding from the union when he addresses the public. After posing the question that person can write their perspective, their interpretation of possible answers. Throughout the next 2 weeks the other 3 contributors post their answers/perspectives on the question. The question and 4 answers would constitute 1 post or issue. The next contributor would begin the next post by asking his/her question. Does this make sense?

The idea behind the blog would be for sensible, middle of the road individuals to attain knowledge on an issue from both sides of the issue in a sensible environment. It would be an education blog. My question for you is: Is there any sensible people who would want to put forth effort in the name of education? Or are all the sensible people so fed up with politics that we should simply sit back and make the best of what we can?

I ask these questions because I think this blog idea, while good in theory, will take a lot of effort from me and I am not sure I want to put forth this sort of effort if there is no chance for participation. Perhaps this is at the root of the American dilemma...Laziness.

39) Random Movie Post

Over the last couple of months I have watched some random movies. The definition of random, as it pertains to this post, refers to movies I watched that were not highly publicized or did not just come out. The following is a list of some of these movies:

Boys Don't Cry: An interesting and dark movie that most people will not find much interest in. Hilary Swank won an academy award for her performance and was good in it, but the movie in general is not easy to watch. If you like longer, slower movies, then this is one you should check out. Or, if you like movies about a girl from a trailer park dressing up like a boy in an attempt to seduce other girls from trailer parks, then you might also want to check this out.

Diggers: This is a drama with Paul Rudd, Ron Eldard and Maura Tierney. It is trying to be a serious and funny look at the life of 4 clam diggers in the New York area in the 70's/80's. Was boring and tough to watch. Don't let your love for Paul Rudd lead to you giving this one a try.

Chaplin: A biographical look at the life and work of Charlie Chaplin with Robert Downey Jr. A fine movie, but slow at times. If you like biographies, period pieces or movies that glorify the history of film, this is a movie you should check out. Or if you remember the good ole days before sound ruined movies, then you might like the nostalgia of this one.

The Crucible: Winona Ryder and Daniel Day Lewis square off in colonial America in this film based on the award winning play by Arthur Miller. Actually, I do not know if the play won any awards, but I think maybe it should have. The movie is long and many aspects of the story are drawn out for dramatic purposes. At some points the tragedy and dialogue become excruciatingly Shakespearean, but all in all the movie was fine. That said, I would not necessarily suggest this film to anyone else, as it does take effort to watch and many people do not like giving effort to watch a movie.

The Piano: Another colonial drama with Holly Hunter and Harvey Keitel. This movie is slow and boring, but I liked it very much. It is a strange love story set in a realistically brutal colonial America, but the real draw for this film is the fact you get to see Harvey's penis for minutes at a time. You also get to see Holly Hunter naked, but it is not quite as captivating as Harvey Keitel. There is something about seeing The Wolf naked that makes an entire long, boring movie worthwhile.

Ethan Frome: Another colonial drama with Liam Neeson. Though long and boring, this film had potential. Ultimately, it is too long and too slow for me to endorse publicly. Anyone who watches this because I tell them to would no longer listen to my thoughts on movies. So, be warned. Long and boring with a payoff that is lackluster.

The French Connection: An old movie with Gene Hackman that I watched late night by myself after the family went to bed. I must say I enjoyed this police drama immensely. It followed many of the police drama cliches, but I cannot help but wonder if this film is responsible for many of these cliches. Hackman rocked as a gritty, down to earth detective and though the movie suffers from 1970's technology, is definitely worth the time it takes to watch.

Moon: A new movie with Sam Rockwell. Did not get much publicity, but is a cool sci-fi that strives to be like 2001 but is different enough to make an impact. Is somewhat slow, but the style works and the film should have enough going on to keep you paying attention. You should watch this movie.

My Sassy Girl: A cheesy romance movie that came out in 2008 (or sometime recently) with Elisha Cuthbert. The main dude in the movie is a terrible actor and the story is pretty much standard, but there were moments in the movie that were not too bad, if you like cheesy, romance movies. Not the wittiest of films and not one I would watch again, but if your significant other likes these sorts of movies it was one I could sit through. Be warned, the main dude is not good at acting.

Tyson: I watched the documentary on Mike Tyson that recently came out and was happy with it. Tyson is an interesting figure who dominated a sport for almost a decade. His life is interesting, especially if you wonder what it takes to be a dominant boxer. If you like sports, you should watch this. If you hate sports and documentaries bore you, then you should skip this one.

Days of Heaven: Richard Gere is a traveling worker in early 1900's America who comes up with a plan to get rich by having his woman marry a rich landowner he thinks is about to die from illness. The movie is not terrible, but this fits the category of long and boring, and so I cannot endorse it here for many of you. If you really like period pieces then you can check this one out. And you must really like period pieces, because this movie is not easy to watch.

The Escapist: A british jail movie about some guys planning an escape. It has Brian Cox and Joseph Fiennes in it and is a good movie. The only problem I had was sometimes understanding what they are saying because the accents are too thick. By the end of the movie, I watched with subtitles on. If this is a concern, you may want to skip it. But I like this one and think you should watch it.

Age of Innocence: Martin Scorcese directs Daniel Day Lewis and Michelle Pfeifer in this early American Aristocratic love story set in New York at the turn of the century. Definitely long and boring and at many points pointless. However, I was able to enjoy this one in ways I could not with films like Ethan Frome, Days of Heaven and The Crucible. I would not suggest this one for everyone, but if you love Martin Scorcese and you want to see his attempt at a period piece love story, then rent this one. Otherwise, I would consider finding something else.

Flight of the Navigator: I watched this with Liz and Stephen and must say it is a crappy 80's movie I loved when I was a kid, and thus enjoyed for nostalgic reasons now. If you remember this movie and have not seen it since you were a kid, then rent this and Howard the Duck immediately and make a nice weekend out of it. Otherwise you will be watching a crappy 80's movie and you will probably be mad at me.

The Damn United: An English film about a soccer coach from the 70's taking over the best team in the English Premier league. A nice sports film that focuses on the coaching rivalry of England's top 2 coaches in the 70's Don Revie and Brian Clough. The acting in this film is top notch, and you do not have to be a soccer fan to enjoy this one. In fact, I might suggest that the more knowledge you have about soccer the more the film's lack of soccer knowledge is exposed. I suggest this film for anyone who likes a good sports film, and this might be the best soccer film since Victory. Definitely better than Ladybugs.

If you can think of any random movies that I should watch or avoid, let me know.

38) Stephen's Wedding

My younger brother Stephen got married on March 6. It has been almost 2 weeks, much too long for me not to have posted my thoughts on the wedding and the marriage. So, here they are:

Marriage:
I couldn't be happier about the marriage. I think Stephen is built for marriage and I love Meghan a great deal. Here is a short list of the things I love about Meghan. She thinks about the future in ways Stephen does not. She understands and respects family. She is fun to be around. She is laid back and can have fun in all sorts of situations. She is beautiful. She is down to earth. She likes to sing New York, New York when she gets tipsy. She is passionate about things and she brings out Stephen's passion. This is something I have not seen with Stephen in his previous relationships. I have not seen Stephen happier in his life, and Stephen is generally a happy person. She puts up with Stephen's quirks (like watching and singing Pete's Dragon at 4 am), and on some level finds humor with them. She has a championship dance. She likes to take and be in pictures. She gives so much of herself in a world of takers. She has a strong spirit that I have not seen waver. Most importantly, she thinks I am funny.

Wedding:
The wedding weekend went well. Instead of telling a long narrative that would most likely fail to capture the grandeur of the event, I will list the things I remember and will want to look back on in the future.

* Britt asking me about the weird looking guy in the corner of the rehearsal dinner and me jokingly reply that we invited Sam Houston to the dinner.
* Joe introducing Sam Houston to the room.
* Joe whispering in Sam's ear "the guy wearing the tie behind you" as Sam is about to make his speech.
* Sam giving Stephen and Meghan a set of steak knives and talking at length about a Rose Emporium somewhere in Texas.
* Joe having each person in the room stand up and introduce himself/herself starting with Britt.
* Seeing Myra Jane enjoy a Corona with a lime.
* The two moving speeches given by Joe and Dan.
* Seeing Ashley, Amanda and Natalie pretty much grown up.
* Taking a nasty tequila shot at the hotel bar after dinner.
* Joe's introduction of Charles late night at the hotel bar.
* Joe and Garrett reliving high school glories. And by glories I mean Garrett whiffing on a crucial play in a district championship caliber game.
* Garrett's hairline touch up that extended to the middle of his head.
* The swankiest Men's Wearhouse in Houston and the hour and half drive it took us to get there. Not to mention the outfits worn by the service women inside that made me feel like I was at a cheap whorehouse somewhere in the middle of Mexico.
* Sitting in the convertible with Stephen while the top was being pummeled for 3 minutes straight by the all inclusive car wash.
* The horrible drawing of Stephen and his happy trail inside the church dressing room.
* Seeing Garrett's hairline touch up job after he put his tux on.
* Watching Mom and Beverly realize how similar their dresses were.
* Matthew's camo hat at the ceremony
* Watching Stephen watching Meghan walk down the aisle.
* Listening to Scott read the letters to Stephen and Meghan written by all the parents during the ceremony.
* The DJ at the wedding filling the dance floor simply by mentioning a relationship between how many children Stephen and Meghan will have based on the number of people on the dance floor for the first song.
* Giving my speech to Stephen and Meghan at the reception.
* Cody giving a cooler speech to Stephen and Meghan at the reception.
* Cody saying that when he first heard about Stephen and Meghan he thought tentatively to himself, "Okay?" But after getting to know Meghan he thought, "All right!" While extending a thumb's up.
* Liz having so much fun on the dance floor.
* Britt and Elissa performing The Devil Went Down to Georgia while we clapped and sang the chorus.
* Seeing Johnny and Brandon at the wedding and getting to catch up with them a little.
* Stephen on the dance floor surrounded by Dan's sisters.
* Salena dancing and sleeping at the same time.
* Watching Jeremy dancing with Kylie.
* One of Dan's sister's introducing herself to me as Dan's Brother.
* Making drinks for 90 people at the after party.
* Talking with Jules about buying some property in New Orleans
* Listening to Elissa play Irish music on the violin.
* Hearing that Stephen and Meghan made it back to the hotel around 2:30 in the morning to find Britt and Joe sitting outside talking, where they had been for several hours after the wedding.