End of the Year Slobberfests

I've been reading a lot of year end lists for movies promoting No Country For Old Men as the best movie of the year. And I must admit I was looking forward to seeing it. But then I actually saw it, and it made my list for the worst movie of the past 10 years. I'd rather endure Mr. Holland's Opus again before subjecting myself to this craptacular bit of film making from the Coen Brothers. Hey, if you enjoy a bleak, post modern, nihilistic view of life then this film is right up your alley. There is no good, no bad, things just are. Film students are probably writing papers on this movie now in hopes of impressing their instructors about what a statement this film makes. If the goal of films is to elicit reactions from the audience, then mission accomplished. The Coen Bros did a masterful job in making me feel angry for wasting 2 hours on their pointless movie. So that should guarantee it an Oscar nomination, no doubt.

Do turkeys really trot?

So I ran my first 10k since the fiasco last February on Thanksgiving this past week. It was the inaugural Folsom Turkey Trot, on a course that I loathe: a hilly, tight bike path that cannot accommodate the massive amount of people that show up to these things. And thanks to clear as mud starting line directions, I started the race 15 minutes after the 10k participants left. I never heard the start for the 10k, hence having to weave my way through an insane amount of strollers, dogs, and little kids. But once I hit the 10k turn off that separates the race from the 5k, things picked up.
Normally I abstain from wearing headphones at races, but I'd figure I would try it out and see what happens. I made an unusually long playlist of songs specifically picked to keep me going, and man did it work. I waited until the 10k turn to put the headphones on, and cranked the music. And because I had screwed up the start, I was running by myself. For 4 miles I saw maybe 15 people. It was great. And the music kept me energized, and I never hit that wall I usually do around 4 miles in. So when I crossed the 10k finish line I looked at the start clock for the 5k race which showed 1:10. I thought that seemed like a pretty bad time considering how good I felt running, when the guy at the finish line told me that the course was 7.4 miles long instead of the customary 6.2 miles. Which means I could have finished the 10k in less than 60 minutes, but was foiled again.
Still, what went from a potentially terrible experience turned out great, and having run the extra 1.2 miles gave me a reason to have another piece of pie. The only downside is I have absolutely no proof of my time as the cutoff for posting 10k times was 1:10, and that clock showed me at 1:20. Ah well, maybe next time.

Random Celebrity Sighting

Yesterday one of the people I've always wanted to meet stopped by my office. The Edge, the guitarist from U2 popped in to say hello. What are the odds it would be on Halloween?

Click here to see him at work.

Stress Relief

This picture cracks me up. It's very helpful to look at when feeling stressed out.

No Posts Explained!

Is your life boring? Looking for something to do every minute of every day? You should get one of these bad boys. This particular model is now 2 months old. It's amazing you don't need a license for a baby. And the next couple I hear about trying to "save" a relationship by having a child, I will hunt them down and beat them.

Going to be a dad

Wow, it's going on three months since my last post. Not too much has happened other than I become a dad sometime in June. I suppose I could read books about what to expect, but even then I'd be woefully under-prepared. All my friends who have become parents just laugh manically when I ask them about becoming a parent. So far I've embraced the fact that I'll be perpetually tired, and in a zombie like state. I'd ask my own dad for advice, but they'd be sarcastic questions like, "How old should my daughter be before I split?" So it's probably better if I don't ask him.

Well, crap

So I ran a 10k this past weekend with a couple of friends on Super Bowl Sunday. I am not a fast runner (I even hesitate to use "runner"), so my goal has always been pretty modest: finish a 10k in under 60 minutes. That's 6.2 miles. Any ordinary weekend warrior can do this with no problem. You need to average about 9:39 per mile. My problem is that I average about 10:07 a mile, which equates to a finish of about 1 hour, 3 minutes, which is what I finished this race in last year. This year, however, I enlisted my friends to help me out by setting a pace that would guarantee we'd finish in under 60 minutes, as they are both avid runners, and both having completed marathons. It's a lot to ask of someone who is quicker to slow their pace down to meet your goals, but they were willing to help. You'd think that 3 minutes isn't a big deal, but you'd be wrong. To this point, the highlight for doing 10k's has been crossing the finish line: people are cheering, and I've always had a nice feeling of accomplishment. This year however, not so much. I was within 15 yards of the finish line and I started retching uncontrollably. I was bent at the waist trying to get across the finish line when I saw the finishing clock posted at the finish line: 59 minutes 32 seconds! So I quickly (for me) got across the finish line under 60 minutes accomplishing my goal, and continued to try and toss my non-existent cookies, thankfully owing to the fact I had not eaten anything that morning. And it was all thanks to my friends who would not let me fall back to my normal pace.
So this past Sunday I watched the Super Bowl and ate with impunity knowing that I had accomplished my personal goal that very morning. My sense of self-satisfaction came to a screeching halt when I checked the results of the race online later that night: expecting to find my name and a sub 1 hour time posting, I instead found my name next to a time reading 1 hour, 46 seconds. What happened? Well, this race which took place in Davis (a city I loathe) did not use the requisite chip timers that most races use these days. Chip timers are placed on the runners shoes and are activated by mats at the start and finish line, recording to the exact second a runner's time. Instead, they just take a perforation from your race bib and record the time manually. So either the clock at the finish was inaccurate, or the race officials antiquated methods were wrong. So yeah, I could take satisfaction in knowing what the clock said when I crossed the line, but that leaves a hollow feeling, as somebody could say "Prove it," and all I have is a time saying I fell 46 seconds short. So I'm still in search of this goal, hopefully which I'll break sometime this spring. I did take one thing from my near puking in front of a 100 or so people: I will never make fun of Julie Moss again.

What is a thoroughly entertaining read?

Boy, it's amazing how fast time goes when you have a blog that shows it's been a month since you last updated it. So, what have I been doing over the last month? Well, I finished Ken Jennings' book Braniac, which is a book about trivia interspersed with his 75 win total on Jeopardy back in 2004. He's a very good writer, who has a great self-deprecating touch. This helps him come off as a regular guy, as his accomplishment of winning so much ($2.5 million) could easily lend itself to pomposity. He interviews various people throughout the book whose lives are affected in some way by the pursuit of trivia. The best book I've read this year. Gets an A for sure.

Movie of the Year

It was a pretty slow year for movies, and not a lot jumped out as great. There is however, one movie I enjoyed more than any other: Little Miss Sunshine. This movie had a great cast that featured Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Alan Arkin, Steve Carell and Abigail Breslin, who was around 9 when this movie was filmed. She is fantastic in this, as is the rest of the cast, and she really deserves accolades from the numerous award shows Hollywood uses to pat itself on the back at the end of the year. That said, it should be noted that by no means is this family friendly fare, given the standout performance comes from a 9 year old. The film deals with things like depression and death, albeit in the most humor-filled ways possible. This movie had such a hold on the audience at the screening I attended, that when one of the characters in the film was confronted with a particularly awkward situation, the entire audience began to cheer hoping to encourage this person who was on film. A strangely captivating movie.

Book of the Year

Anyone who knows me, would know I would pick Philip Yancey's book Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? as my favorite book this past year. I was lucky enough to read an advance copy from the publisher Zondervan because I am on a Philip Yancey mailing list, and they were looking for volunteers to read the book, and then submit a survey. So, was the book good? Yes, very much so. It was classic Yancey, taking a hard look at a subject about which volumes have already been written. It's not a feel good piece of fluff that one might expect from say, a Max (Shudder) Lucado, but a well thought out book that raises questions of its reader without necessarily providing answers in neat little packages that is so common in Christian books. It definitely forced me to look at my own prayer life and desire to make some drastic changes. By all means, get this book. It gets an A from me.
On a side note, I was able to hear Philip speak at a church in the Bay Area a couple of months ago. I was excited and anxious about hearing him, as seldom do the people admired from a distance come off as anticipated. It was a great relief to find both Philip and his wife Janet exceptionally nice people, especially as I groveled on about what a great writer he was as he signed my book at the speaking engagement. A true highlight for me, even as I resisted the urge to ask him what Bono was like in person.

Heavy Metal Hooligans

Just finished reading two more books picked up at the library. The first is Among the Thugs, by Bill Buford. I heard about this book around the time the world cup was going on, and it sounded interesting. Alas, it was wasn't. It does give insight into how mob mentality functions, and it's mostly due to alcohol and racism. It does show a perverse national drive that soccer hooligans operate under. When a bunch of drunk England fans riot in Italy get away without being arrested, they actually consider it as taking over Italy in the name of England. Very strange book. I'd give it a C.
And the second book I just finished was called Bang Your Head: The Rise and Fall of Heavy Metal by David Konow. I'm not really a heavy metal fan, but the genre has always intrigued me, probably because it was considered so off limits to me when I was a kid. So I read it hoping to find interesting stories concerning the people behind the music. It offers an overview of heavy metal that includes profiles of bands such as Black Sabbath, Metallica and Poison. (Which one of these is not like the other?) And really, the VH1 show Behind the Music did a better job telling these stories. Ironically, the author even cites this show quite a bit in the book. The book doesn't really focus on any one band, or time frame for that matter, going off in all directions without ever making a coherent point about what caused heavy metal to actually rise or fall. The book comes off as a mish mash of various interviews and first person accounts. And looking at the footnotes at the back of the book, it seems all the author did was summarize tons of other books and articles. It was still a pretty quick read, but not very insightful. Worthy of a C+.

Church shopping explored

Having changed churches over the summer, this article really resonated with me. We spent months debating whether or not to change churches, and finally after meeting with our pastor and explaining our decision to leave did we feel comfortable making the change. It was definitely not a decision we took lightly.

This is SportsCenter?

I just finished reading ESPN: The Uncensored History by Michael Freeman last night. It is an interesting glimpse behind the scenes of the cultural phenomenon that is ESPN. Basically, it comes down to ESPN is the most misogynistic and denigrating place where a woman could possibly want to work. And based on the incident that receives the most coverage in the book, the biggest perpetrator of note of this philosophy would be Mike Tirico, the new lead announcer on ESPN's Monday Night Football. The book was published in 2000, and he was suspended by the network for 3 months back in 1992. From all accounts, it looks like he learned his lesson, but it made me wonder about the quality of the people who comprise ESPN on the whole. I guess it's like enjoying a hot dog: tasty, but I don't want to know how it's made. This book is pretty fascinating though, and it pretty much confirms the fact that Keith Olberman is a self-centered blowhard. I'd give it a B.

Book Buffet

I've been on a recent reading kick lately, thanks to working across the street from the library. All I do is go online and request the books I want, and then they send me an email when the books are ready to be picked up. I highly recommend this for anybody who likes to read, but doesn't like paying for a book a week at Borders.

I recently finished Ball Four by Jim Bouton. This is a first person account of Jim Bouton's season as a relief pitcher for the Seattle Pilots. I had always heard about this book, but never got around to reading it until now. I can see how this book was shocking in it's time, but now in the age of ESPN, it comes off as kinda dull. It doesn't help that Bouton comes off as an arrogant jerk. I'd give it a C.

The next book I read was Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis, which is about the game of Scrabble, and the people who play the game competitively. It really goes into detail about the words that can be used in playing the game, to the point of serious tedium. But if you can get past this, the profile of the players and how they interact at tournaments is fascinating. And the author starts the book out giving himself a year to become an expert, and slowly becomes consumed by Scrabble. He becomes very much like the people he set out to write about. I give it a B.

Finally, last night I finished Body Piercing Saved My Life by Andrew Beaujon. It is an outsiders look at the world of Christian rock music. By outsider, I mean someone who isn't a Christian, or has any previous experience with evangelical Christianity. I really give the author credit for covering a topic like this objectively. He doesn't act scornful or disdainful of the subject he covers, with maybe the exception of worship music (and I really can't fault him for that). Bonus points for his interview with one of my all time favorite artists, Steve Taylor. I recommend this book for anybody who is a Christian and wants to see how their lifestyle appears to non-Christians. An excellent book. Definitely an A.

Finally, It Gets Better

I finally found the summer movie I've been waiting for: Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest. It's a decent action flick that seems to have a little bit of everything for everyone. I particularly enjoyed Johnny Depp's character, as he seems to be having fun playing this character. It more than makes up for the disappointment of all the other so called "blockbusters" heading down the pike these days.

What a letdown

OK, I admit it. I bought the hype and thought that Superman Returns was going to be a decent flick. That it would exorcise earlier crap I sat through this summer and really deliver quality entertainment. The CGI was excellent, and Brandon Routh is excellent as Superman. Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor, eh.....
What really blew was the script. It was like throwing a wet blanket on a can't miss idea. Brian Singer really has the chops to be a great director, but if this was his story idea for Superman, then he should be severely reprimanded because the movie came flying off the tracks at the big "twist" in the plot. When I go to movies like this I want escapism, not some freakin' soap opera with daddy issues up the wazoo. Man this movie sucked.

Summer Suckfest

This has to be one of the worst summer movie seasons ever. So far, I think the best one I have seen is Over the Hedge, the animated kid flick. Steve Carrell was hysterical as Hammie the Squirrel. After that, it goes downhill in a hurry. MI-3 started out promising as a tense, psychological thriller that came completely off the rails in the last third. And could somebody tell me why Brett Ratner is allowed to direct movies that don't have Rush Hour in the title? He completely butchered the new X-Men movie with such ham-handedness that even George Lucas cringed while watching it. It seems Bryan Singer and his Superman movies are the last shot for a decent popcorn flick, but I'm not holding my breath. Kevin Spacey does look like he'll add plenty of cheese, though. Too bad we're talking movies, not nachos. Oh well. Maybe next summer will be better.

Further Itunes Adventures

I just recently purchased three more albums with my itunes gift certificates. They include: All the Roadrunning, by Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris which I highly recommend; this in turn prompted me to buy Private Investigations: The Best of Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler which was a great buy as you get 22 songs for about 12 dollars which is quite the deal; and lastly I bought The Body Acoustic by Cyndi Lauper, where she strips down her old hits and duets with people like Sara McLachlan, among others.

I have to say I'm pretty impressed with all three, and have found that Cyndi Lauper is really an excellent singer. Back in the 80's I didn't enjoy her all that much, but she has aged really well.

The Davinci Furor

Here's a good article from Christianity Today, that hopefully those who picket things for a living will read. I find that its better to be well educated on a subject rather than placing blame and name-calling without knowing what you're talking about

Give me a break

This article covers "Christians" who believe that Jesus was not resurrected. The article quotes someone as saying:
"Marcus Borg really does not believe Jesus Christ was bodily raised from the dead. But I know Marcus well: he loves Jesus and believes in him passionately."

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the Jesus I believe in and the one he follows are not the same Jesus. To deny Jesus didn't rise from the dead is to object to Christianity itself.