upon further political reflection

While writing a friend who, over the years changed from very convicted Republican to equally convicted Democrat, I found myself reflecting further on the results of the recent Presidential marathon. As someone who planned for seven years to vote for Hillary Clinton, it has been difficult to muster enthusiasm for the administration about to enter the White House. I applaud President-elect Obama's choices, especially all those people from the Clinton administration. And, yes, I think his choice for Secretary of State is a good one (keep your friends close and your enemies closer).

But I'm still recognizing some missed opportunities for this country and have several big disappointments in Hillary not being President:
- Would Bill be called, "The First Gentleman," "The First Lad," "The First Man?"
- When introduced, would they be introduced as President & President Clinton?
- And the biggest. I so wanted to see Bill lead the televised tour of the White House Christmas Decorations!!! That alone should have gotten Hillary the nomination and the Presidency. The American people have missed a unique opportunity! Christmas, 2009 is not going to be as exciting as it might have been.

Sure, President-elect Obama will have a well-organized administration and his children will be adorable. His wife is no Jackie O, but I'm sure she's going to do some good things. It will be good for some people in this country to have the first half-African American President. We've had 43 Presidents, all of whom were Caucasian males and now our 44th will be a half-Caucasian male. But I was looking forward to the first female President and nothing President-elect Obama has done has soothed my disappointment.

movies of 2008

Lots of movies were released in 2008.
Most of them did not have interesting enough trailers or advance press to gain my attention.
My favorites were surprises.
I expected my two favorite movies of the year to be Prince Caspian & Indiana Jones.
I did not hate them, but they did not capture me in the way I anticipated.
My favorites:
Iron Man
WALL-E
The Dark Night
Speed Racer

Movies I liked a lot but were disappointing at some level:
Prince Caspian
Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Movies I liked better than anticipated:
W
Twilight

Movies that were a major disappointment:
Mama Mia

sounds of Christmas

Christmas Music is very important to me partly because I'm a Christian, partly because I'm a musician but mostly because music has always been an important part of my Christmas celebration. The following are some of my favoirte Christmas songs most with a suggested performer who seemed to perfectly capture the mood, theme, or messaage of a song.

* O Holy Night, performed on the December 4th, 2006 episode of Studio 60 on Sunset Strip by a group of New Orleans musicians. The trumpet is played by Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews. It is a perfect performance of a perfect song. You can see the performance on YouTube or as a free download, tromboneshorty.com or on a Christmas CD sold by Barnes & Noble titled Sunday Music 5: Holiday. The Studio 60 web site used to have a video of the pure performance without the additional scenes from the episode.

* Please Come Home for Christmas The Eagles. When the Eagles released this single, not too many rock bands had Christmas singles. They offer a great performance of a great Christmas love song. For me, their performance edges out the Charles Brown original, but just barely.

* Santa Claus is Coming to Town Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. Pure fun. Great live performance.

* Happy Xmas John & Yoko and the Plastic Ono Band with the Harlem Community Choir. But really, this is John's song, everyone else is window dressing. Lyrically and musically it's not the most interesting song he ever wrote, but it fits with the season.

* The Christmas Song Nat King Cole. Of course there needed to be some traditional Christmas music on this list. This is the performance of a master. All other performances of this song are a tribute to the master.

* White Christmas Bing Crosby but I really prefer the performance in the movie, too bad the sound track is different.

* Blue Christmas Elvis Presley. Have to include the King. I love to get crowds to sing this as an "elvis-a-long" with people trying to imitate Elvis.

* Linus & Lucy Vince Guaraldi Trio. Of course the entire soundtrack is great but this is really the main theme.

* Do They Know it's Christmas? Band Aid. Above average performances of an average song but it serves the purpose.

* Christmas Time is Here Again The Beatles. They were talented musicians who could be very serious about music and worked hard in the studio but could still have fun.

* In the Bleak Mid-Winter No particular artist. This is one of my favorite Christmas hymns.

I could keep going, but every entry needs to stop somewhere...
Happy Christmas

pastor swap

A friend recently asked which Reality Show was my favorite. I think Jon & Kate Plus 8 is a riot. Sometimes I watch Dancing with the Stars and The Bachelor with my wife, depending on whether or not the contestants are interesting, but My Favorite Reality Show is called Pastor Swap; a black, liberal, Harvard & Yale Divinity schools pastor changes places for one month with a white 3rd-grade-educated pentecostal, snake handling, poison drinking, heaving, pastor from the hills of Tennessee. Unfortunately the show was canceled after one episode. Something about the black pastor dying of snake bite and the white pastor inducing a riot his first Sunday when he introduced his favorite rattlesnake, Clyde, and asked "Who's first?"

Well it would be better than some...

My Perfect Beatle Album

A friend challenged a group of us, all Beatle nuts, to assemble our perfect, personal Beatle album. We had to limit ourselves to 14 tracks and were given two weeks to complete the challenge. The following is my list including my rationale for each song choice. It is arranged as an LP with bonus tracks for the CD version.

Side One

A Hard Day’s Night – The best opening of any rock & roll song ever.

Help – Another great rock & roll song that shows a four-piece group already moving beyond typical arrangements with great lyrics, melody, vocals, instrumentation and beat.

Boys – My favorite Ringo song. Pure Cavern/Germany Beatles simple rock & roll. I hear this song and think, this is what they sounded like in those clubs. Straight ahead, 4-piece rock & roll band with great playing, girl group bgv’s, bass line that proves that Stuart did need to leave the band, a lead that reminds us that George got Chet Atkins.

Back in the USSR – My favorite Beatle song. The Lads give homage to Chuck Berry & the Beach Boys with a farcical lyric.

Revolution (single version) – Years later, they still know how to play rock & roll with a protest song.

The End – These guys can play their instruments! My only complaint; I wish the drum solo was twice as long. Does anyone know, is the guitar duel order, Paul, George & John, then repeating in that same order?

Hey Jude – I wanted an anthem and this is my favorite Beatle anthem. Almost included Give Peace a Chance instead but I think this is a better song. They got Top Forty radio to play a song longer than three minutes! Plus it is a song of hope. Things will get better.


Side Two

Here Comes the Son – The best second side of an album opening song ever, plus I have always, always liked this song. Also, I had to include at least one George song!

In My Life - This is so much more than a love song. It is a celebration of life. It’s one of the songs that will be performed at my funeral. The others are Tears of Heaven (Clapton), Time of Your Life (Green Day), and That Where I am, There You May Also Be (Rich Mullins)

Here, There & Everywhere – Perfect love song.

Strawberry Fields Forever – This song and Penny Lane are recording masterpieces. Many people point to Sgt. Pepper as a masterpiece of the time but I put SFF & PL in the same vein. There is an abundance to hear in these two songs. I remember when Dick Clark played a short film the Beatles produced for one of these songs and asked for responses from the audience one boy said, “They went out with the Twist.” At the time I thought, “Kid you have no idea what you’re saying.” I wonder if he regrets his comment.

Penny Lane – George Martin told the story of the recording of the piccolo trumpet. After the guy finished playing it he was completely out of breath and Paul said, “That was pretty good. Let’s have him do it again to see if he can play it better.” The guy had a shocked expression on his face, looked at Martin and said, “I don’t think I can do it again.”

Because (a cappella version found on disc two of Anthology Vol. 3) – The Beatles sang incredible harmony. John, Paul & George each sang this three times so there are nine vocals on this song yet it is incredibly tight. This also reminds me of one reason why I’ve never been as interested in their solo work. It appears as if they all forgot how to sing harmony.

Kansas City – The Beatles were a great cover band. No question The Fabs great song writers, but equally great as a cover band.


CD Bonus Tracks:
Christmas Time is Here Again – Not a great song, but lots of fun.
You Know My Name, Look Up My Number – A strange song that, for some reason, I enjoy hearing.

Nancy Drew

When I was in grade school we regularly did oral book reports in class. One day a girl in class presented a report on a Nancy Drew mystery. I thought it sounded interesting so I went to the library that afternoon and checked out The Secret of the Old Clock, with the original blue cover. I'm not sure how many more Nancy Drew mysteries I read, at least 20, but I enjoyed them all. As a guy, I'm not sure why I never read The Hardy Boys, but I didn't. When the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys television series aired in the 70's I watched it even though the show did not begin to capture the atmosphere of the books.

Given that background I was really interested in the recent Nancy Drew movie. Would it be a period piece or would it have a modern-day setting like the TV series. I was not prepared for the answer to be "both."
The movie is fun. It captures the Nancy Drew of the original books. Even though it is a contemporary setting, the Nancy Drew character is a throw back to the original books, complete with her blue roadster.

While watching the movie, I wished my daughter was 10 again because at that age, I think she would have enjoyed this movie.
I can imagine showing this movie to a group of giggling 10 year old girls during a birthday sleep over.

Be careful though. After watching this movie you might find yourself involved in a little "sleuthing!"

the sting

Paul Newman's death prompted me to pick The Sting up at the library and watch it again. One of the best movies ever.
Great story, great dialogue, great actors, great characters, great music.
I still remember watching it in a theater and hearing the shocked responses to the surprise ending.
I like Butch & Sundance but like The Sting more. Maybe because even though it appears they die at the end of The Sting, they don't, then they walk off into the sunset together.
Always hoped for a third Newman/Redford movie.
Why wasn't Newman in Sneakers? He would have been a great addition to an already excellent cast and fun story. If you've never seen Sneakers, and many, many people have not, correct that deficit in your cinematic experience.
If you've not seen The Sting lately, it's time.

the bucket list

Powerful movie
Talent like Rob Reiner. Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman, and Sean Hayes produce high expectations. Perhaps high expectations not met, but the move has many, many surprises.
This is not the best work by any of those talents, but it is a fine movie.
If it bogs down for you in the middle, be patient, the end is incredible.
Perfect for any older man going through mid-life or later-life crisis
Points to those things that are most important in life
Sometimes choices in life produce results no one expected
Jack Nicholson & Morgan Freeman play men who, while dealing with cancer
realise they are disatisfied with their respective lives.
After establishing friendship, they help each other.
The results are not what you expect.
I predicted wrong, who would be kissing "the most beautiful woman in the world"
and I predicted wrong who that woman would be. The result was so much better than my prediction. If you get it right, let me know.
The Bucket List is a good, good movie.
It is a great movie of faith.
The next time I teach a Faith on Film class, The Bucket List will be included.

leatherheads

George Clooney, Renée Zellweger, comedy
What could go wrong?
Quite a few things
Flat dialogue
Poor editing choices
Weak support cast
Not the worst movie ever made
But a disappointment

my first film festival

The Waterfront Film Festival in Saugatuck, Michigan (www.waterfrontfilm.org) is my first professtional film festival. In it's tenth year, it has been called one of the top five film festivals in the country, at least according to it's web site. If the opening night festivities are any indication, I wonder about the quality of the others. It sounded like fun; a street fair starting with a parade through town (which I missed because of not watching the clock) followed by a band (nondescript urban, funk), special guests (no one famous), then the opening night movie, Doubletime, under the stars in a lakeside location.

Everything started at 5:30. The movie, because it was being shown in an outdoor venue would start at dusk. Reminders of my childhood going to the drive-in! Unfortunately, because of the band deciding to offer an unwanted encore, the time it took to remove equipment from the stage, listen to speakers, then show trailors of other weekend films, the opening night movie did not start until 11:00 pm. By then at least a dozen people seated near me already left. Many more left during the first half hour of the movie. That's too bad because the movie was incredible.

Doubletime is a 2007 documentary film that features competitive jump roping. The two top American teams, the Bouncing Bulldogs and the Double Dutch Forces, belong to separate leagues that do not compete against one another. After twenty years of separation they finally meet at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, for a competition which features "fusion" routines where Double Dutch is blended with hip- hop dance and music. The movie contrasts the two teams. The Bouncing Bulldogs, from an affluent section of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, are a primarily white team with one African-American member and an African-American coach. South Carolina's Double Dutch Forces are predominately poor African-Americans. The Bulldogs are shown boarding an airplane and riding taxis while in New York while the Double Dutch Forces drive to New York in a van. Fortunately the film does not belabor these points but shows that even with their diverse backgrounds, everyone is there for one reason; to excell while they jump over ropes.

The film is fascinating because the kids, ranging in ages from 11-18, are fascinating. These amazing athletes who do things with a jump rope that I would not think possible. The short interviews paced throughout the movie provide character background and add spice to the movie. Although very competitive, these kids do not hesitate to cheer for the other teams. Who wins? It doesn't matter. The movie is so good it does not need a climatic winner/loser scenario.

I am not a huge fan of documentries, but this one is definately worth seeing.
More films today and tomorrow.

Finally, a Great Super Hero Movie

Iron Man is a great super hero movie.
It is the first great super hero movie.

Every previous super hero movie, even the good ones, are not close to the quality of Iron Man.
I've enjoyed some; the first Christopher Reeve, the first Warner's Batman, the recent Superman & Batman.
But none of these movies captured the characters and atmosphere of the comics I remember.
I read comics in the late 50's & early to mid 60's. Both DC & Marvel. Superman was my favorite character, but I read everyone; Batman, Flash, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Thor, Spiderman, Captain America, Daredevil and others I've forgotten.
I lost track of comics in high school; I was more interested in playing guitar & daiting girls.
Because of my background I've waited for a really great Super Hero movie.
Until last night I've experience some level of disappointment with each and every super hero movie.

Iron Man didn't meet my expectations, it surpassed them.
Robert Downey, Jeff Bridges, and Gweneth Paltrow completely inhabit their characters.

The movie is the right combination of humor and drama.
It does not try to be too serious like recent Superman and Batman movies.
It has just enough action for flow, but it is not all action.
There is humanity and good storytelling.

Is there a message? Of course, several:
Money and fame are not as important as relationships.
Accomplishment without genuine purpose is shallow.
Use resources creatively and do something good.
The movie is not preachy. No one explains these messages, they are contained naturally in the dialogue and actions.

If there are weaknesses I did not notice.
I was completely absorbed in the story.
But isn't that the purpose of a movie?

If you have not seen the movie, go and stay through the credits.
If you saw it but did not sit through the credits, go see it again and stay till the end.
You'll be glad you did.

The Prince & The Archaeologist

Finally the latest Narnia and Indiana Jones movies are out.
Saw both last weekend. Liked both. Like Prince a little more than Indy 4.
Both have recieved mixed reviews from critics.
My opinion, if they were stand alone movies, not sequels, they would probably have received better reviews.
Unfortunately, Prince Caspian is not as good a movie as LWW, and Indy 4 is not as good as Raiders.
But, both are good movies. Both have weaknesses. Both are fun.
Prince Caspian is a beautiful movie.
Every scene, every setting, every shot, absolutely beautiful.
Unfortunately a lot of the emotion and soul of the book was left out of the movie. More of an action adventure story than the book. Still, it is good, I enjoyed it and I will see it again. My favorite scene, which is not in the book, is the night time raid on the castle from the air. That needs to be a Disney ride!
I look forward to Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Indy 4 is my third favorite of the Indy adventures. Raiders is a near perfect movie; Crusade (my second fav) is a great romp that added depth to the character of Indiana; Temple of Doom was a disappointment when I first saw it and still a disappointment. I don't even own it.

I'll probably write more on these movies when I'm in a more introspective mood.

This weekend I'm finally gong to see Iron Man.