December 2005 Archives
In honor of the Darkness video I put up the other day, Brooklynne took this picture of me trying on a pair of leather split-up-the-side pants. Maybe I can start my own band. I guess I shouldn't have cut my hair! Note to self: send my revised Christmas wish list to Santa pronto.
Some of you may have seen that Barbara Walters is airing a special about heaven on ABC tonight at 9/8c. The show is almost certain to play up a "many paths" story, but I'm not too interested in what Richard Geer thinks about heaven.
I have been thinking about heaven and hell recently, though. I spoke with a few friends about a blog post I read the other day so I wanted to put it up here for comment. The article concerns whether or not hell could be redemptive. The author seems to lean toward the answer yes, but I also get the sense that he might be avoiding a hard answer to a hard question. Still, he makes some good points that are beyond my ability to answer (like the meaning of Greek words for example). So I'd love to hear your thoughts, especially those of you with seminary learn'n (Burly). Here's the link:
http://natebostian.blogspot.com/2005/12/could-hell-be-redemptive-and-not.html
I was googling Brooklynne's name to see if our Blog made the top of the list (it did) but I also stumbled across these two mp3s:
The Untrue Tale of Brooklynne Travis
Brooklynne the Robot's Day at the Park.
The songs were created by a guy named Jason Harwell who organized the Rebuilt Records label. I emailed the guy, but I haven't heard back from him yet. You can check out his main site or go to his "Flavor of the Week" page where you can find other such free goodies.
After signing Derek Lowe a season ago, the Dodgers have now hired Grady Little, signed Bill Mueller and Nomar Garciapara, and are reportedly rushing to print Los Angeles Red Sox t-shirts before the Christmas shopping season is over. Really I think these moves, along with the signing of SS Rafael Furcal, will make the Dodgers a better team in April, but I have to say that the continual shake-ups that have haunted the team over the past five or ten years (two new owners, three managers, various GMs, and revolving door in the locker room) makes me wonder who I'm pulling for--the Dodgers logo? Tommy Lasorda? I don't know. This team is a far cry from the Dodgers I pulled for in my formative years of the early 90's, when they had 4 or 5 rookies-of-the-year in a row and everybody on the team seemed like they were part of the family. I guess that's the reality of baseball these days. I'm glad I like the sport, because otherwise there would be no reason to watch.
In other news, UNC is still rolling along. I think they have a good chance of going 9-1 and making the top 15 before their January 7 meeting with State. I have to be back from Durham by Thursday, Dec. 29, but I might get Brooklynne to stay for the UNCA game on the 28th. If so, you can try to see me in the crowd on Raycom/JP. Also, I wanted to pass along a link from Marshall who found this site of UNC basketball clips. The first clip is the best, especially since I saw many of those dunks in person while a student at UNC.
Just for fun, if you have a quick connection, or time to wait on a long download, here is another clip you should check out.
***UPDATE: Jackie's dunk video was malfunctioning on some people's computers and was playing automatically in a loop, which was really annoying, so I moved it to the extended entry page. you can still view it by clicking the "continue reading" link below.***
Finally, the Steelers are hanging in there, and I feel good about their chances to make the play-offs. They are tied with the Chargers for the last AFC wildcard slot, but the Steelers' remaining opponents are a combined 9-19 (Browns and Lions), while San Deigo's opponents are 19-9 (Chiefs and Broncos). The Steelers also beat the Chargers in a head-to-head meeting, so I think Pittsburg wins the tie-breaker (?).
Congratulations to the first official Blogger of the week, Barbara Buczynski! In web lingo, Barbara was a lurker, a person who reads, but never comments. Well, I've been giving her a hard time about leaving a comment and she finally posted--TWICE! So she has inspired me to create a new award for Blogger of the Week. The award will be given for significant contributions to the blogosphere, with special consideration for comments or entries (Brooklynne) posted to this site that deserve recognition. Other nominees for the inaugural award:
Tim Berners-Lee - hypertext visionary and co-creator of the WWW got his first blog.
Brian Sellers - Finally updated his site again.
Cory Cavin - For his new Christmas carol which I think is the first holiday jingle to include the phrase "iron smeltin'."
Brad Barrett - For the intriguing first half of his own autobiography.
By the way, I had to google Tiny Tim to catch the reference. Thanks again Barbara!
Forget the Vespa, I have a new item on the top of my Christmas wish list, the new Bugatti Veyron 16.4. It has 4 turbo chargers that help it go from 0 to 62mph in 2 seconds with a top speed of 230+! Thank you Volks Wagon!!!!
Not to start a huge debate, but this kicks the Toyota Sienna's butt.
I updated the Darkness video with a second source that I hope will work for those of you who were having trouble. Also, I've been told that my color scheme is still too dark for some people's monitors (although I lightened the text color in the main index). This is a survey to see how many people have trouble seeing the text and would prefer a different design (brighter, more contrast, etc.) Please let me know either way in the comments. Thanks!
PS- I know the Blog still has problems in the newest release of firefox, and I'll get to that when I get to it.
Some folks have asked me about how blogging came to be. I stumbled across a short version of a history in Dan Cohen and Roy Rosenzweig's recent book, Digital History: A Guide to Gathering, Preserving, and Presenting the Past on the Web.
"An even more experimental form that has begun to attract some academic historians is the blog. Jorn Barger, the proprietor of the Robot Wisdom Weblog, first coined the term in December 1997. Originally, weblogs (in Barger’s definition) were simply web pages “where a weblogger . . . logs all the other webpages she finds interesting.” But rapidly blogs (the truncation of the word quickly took hold) became something closer to personal journals, especially popular among twenty-somethings working in dot-coms. Starting in 1999, blogs spread rapidly across the net, fueled, in particular, by the availability of easy-to-use software packages like Blogger that simplified the task of creating and maintaining a blog."
Now that Petra has retired, Andrew Jones led me to this reason to keep my chin up through the Christmas Season....
Video Code provided by VideoCodeZone.Com
**UPDATE**
If the video will not play, try clicking "continue reading" below for an alternative format. If that doesn't work, I'm sorry, you'll have to get a new computer.
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Rated PG, 2 hr 12 min
Critics' Rating: B
Miles's Rating: B
Brooklynne's Rating: A
Saturday night, Evan, Kelly, Zach, and Aileen joined Brooklynne and I at the movies to watch Disney's adaptation of C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The film has generated a wide range of reactions in the press, from gushings over the casting and acting, to harsh criticism of the allegory, and everything in between. In churches across the country (or at least in mine), the film has been billed as a great opportunity for communicating the Gospel to the non-Christian community, although I've seen some skepticism in Christian circles as well.
This review is really difficult for me, because I really like the story of the movie and I do think it is an entertaining film, but I have to say that I was not impressed with the fine points, especially the directing. I have my doubts that director Andrew Adamson understood the subtleties of Lewis's faith, and it is Lewis's handling of the subtleties that make Christians cherish his stories.
WARNING: IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK OR SEEN THE MOVIE, THERE ARE SPOILERS AHEAD.
It's hard to pinpoint these oversights in retrospect, but I'll try to explain a few examples. For one, Adamson misses a key component in the film when he brushes aside Edmund's addiction for the witch's turkish delight. To me, all of Edmund's tragic flaws are encapsulated in his inexplicable lust. Late in the film, the witch explains that Edmund sold out the others for "sweeties." But Adamson never established that Edmund was completely seduced and controlled by the power of his desires. Edmund enjoys the candy, but then we can't tell that he's thinking about it again until he asks for it in the witch's castle. In the book, the narrator is semi-omniscient and we are told that he is obsessed, but short of a voice-over, a film has to be more creative in communicating this message. That's what makes the difference between an ok movie and a great one, and its even more critical in this instance because Edmund's struggle over turkish delight makes us identify with him and identify with his need for Aslan's sacrifice.
Adamson also missed developing the intensity of the witch's evil and desperation. Isn't it important that the queen knows that she is losing her grasp on Narnia, and is seeking desperately to hold on to her power? When she trades her claim on Edmund and finally murders Aslan, the celebration of her victory is the greatest irony, but the irony is lost in the flatness of the witch's character. She seems so self-assured and unphased by the melting snow around her. Aslan is not a real threat, he's only a wrinkle to be dealt with, a fly in the ointment. That's not how I interpret the situation and I think the witch of Lewis's book is rattled and desperate to kill either the children or the lion.
Finally, I didn't particularly like Aslan. He was too tame, too gentle. I love Lewis's lines that make it into the end of the film,
Mr. Tumnus: He's not a tame lion.
Lucy: Yes, but he is good.
But in the movie, except for one instance that I can remember, ASLAN IS A TAME LION!
To me, these shortfalls sadly rob the movie of some of the spiritual power of the book. But despite these complaints, the movie is a good show. The children are well cast and Lucy (Georgie Henley) constantly steals the show. I thought any film with talking animals would be lame from the start, but Disney comes through with their typical special effects magic. One great move that I loved in the film was that after the witch kills Aslan, she appears on the battlefield cloaked in his shaven mane. I don't remember that detail from the book (although it might be there), but it is a cool decision that added to my experience. The sets are beautiful and, if the film doesn't capture the texture of the book, it does closely honor the basic plot line. I'm glad I went to see the movie and I will gladly pay to see the next installment.
For the past couple of days Elizabeth was in town for a meeting with the professor she works for. But lucky for us, the meeting was cancelled due to the snow and ice we got yesterday, so she was free the whole time to hang out with us. Here's a run-down of the festivities...
The promo is officially over. Despite objections from some loyal fans, my hair has become unmanagable. So I have taken a picture to prove the fulfillment of my promise and here it is. My hair is at least as long as Mick's, so I am now gunning for the Michael Stipe look (unless Brooklynne can convince me otherwise)!
I've had a couple of requests for a post about the new edition of the Tar Heel basketball team, so here goes. Obviously, Byron Sanders is no Sean May, and we aren't going to be the first choice of the experts to contend for the national championship again. But I've been hearing more and more blue-tented optimism, especially after we had the good showing at Kentucky. I think it is time for a reality check. BYRON SANDERS IS NO SEAN MAY--AND NEITHER IS TYLER HANSBROUGH (at least not yet). I think we will finish in the top 25. And I think we will finish in the top 3 of the ACC. But I think Carolina fans need to be ready for some bad losses along the way, maybe even tonight, or before January.
With that said, I DO like this team ALOT. I think this team is going to be fun to watch because they will compete hard in every game. There's no key player for defenses to focus on (sorry Tyler), so there will be fewer painful streches when it seems like the offence is standing around not doing anything (see Wake and Illinois 1 last year). The defence seems solid. And maybe this will be the first team in recent memory to suffer from zero attitude trauma. My prediction for the season... 19-8 + ACC 1-1 + NCAA 3-1.
My Blog-fast is over and I'm announcing the revitalization of the site. So if you are still checking this after almost two weeks of no post's, get ready for the rain!
Well, last night it snowed here and Brooklynne's school is closed, so it's really beginning to feel alot like Christmas. This morning we got up and pluged in the lights on our new Christmas tree. Evan and Kelly went with us to pick it out from Bob's Tree Farm in Faquier County. We went there last year too. It's this place way out in the country (even past Brooke's school!) that charges $21 and you can cut any tree on the property. This is the last year they are selling trees, which is sad, but Evan and Kelly and Brooklynne already have a plan to cut a wild tree from the NC mountains next year. Brooklynne even sawed our tree down herself! Check out all the bonus room for presents at the bottom! SCORE!!!!
