The Abilene Reporter-News is publishing a series of religious columns I wrote for my Media and Religion class this semester. They chose to start off with this one, which isn't my best, but oh well. They also edited it incorrectly, so one sentence doesn't make sense. The sixth paragraph should start off like this: The PTC, an antiquated watchdog group that uses scare tactics to lure parents into complaining about TV shows not worth complaining about, has campaigns against MTV, FXÂ's show Nip/Tuck and releases lists of the best and worst shows on TV. I guess it was too much of a compound sentence for the Abilene readership. Thanks, Reporter-News. But I guess beggars can't be choosers.

hustlers grab your guns, your shadow weighs a ton, driving down the 101

Even at night, I could see the smog settled over the city as my plane landed, along with crawling lines of countless cars making their way down highways and interstates. An orange tinge from buildings and street lamps ensures that the sky is never completely dark.

My weekend in Los Angeles was filled with In-N-Out burgers, movies, nearly dying in traffic, celebrity sightings (apparently I walked right past Horatio Sans from SNL at the theatre on our way to see Capote, there was an actor sitting near us at Baja Fresh and we saw The Daily Show's Dan Bakkedahl in Hollywood with a camera crew, presumably filming a segment for the show), being a tourist in Hollywood, being accosted by street performers in Hollywood, hanging out in Santa Monica and seeing the Pacific Ocean. The visit was brief but memorable.

Here I am with Anakin Skywalker, Mr. Incredible and Sponge Bob Squarepants down at Hollywood and Highland in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre. I hadn't intended on having my picture taken, but I unfortunately made eye contact with Anakin, who beckoned me with his finger and took the camera from my hands before I knew what to do. Daniel loved every minute of this scene and took my picture. After Anakin mentioned twice that they accepted small tips, I gave them each a dollar and we were on our way.

This is Dan Bakkedahl from The Daily Show, talking with various street performers across the street from Grauman's Chinese Theatre and the Kodak Theatre, where the Oscars are held. I'll have to keep watching The Daily Show next year to see if this segment, or something like it, makes it on air. After we saw him, we ate at Mel's Diner, which the diner in American Graffiti is based on, and sure enough Dan and his crew came in to eat there as well. I had trouble staring.

The pier at Santa Monica, Saturday night at sunset. Tourists and locals come down for the fishing or for the rides. The best part was the 3rd Street Promenade, a blocked off street of shops and entertainment that was alive with people.





The funnel cake we devoured while at the pier, killing time before dinner and our viewing of Brokeback Mountain at the ArcLight.











The Pacific, and a farewell to California.

Blame Canada

In case you were wondering how demented my brother and I actually are (you probably weren't, but oh well), here is an excerpt from a recent AIM conversation we had. For background, he was talking about reviewing Memoirs of a Geisha and how many are upset that Chinese actors were cast in Japanese roles. This had us talking about actors of different nationalities acting as Americans.

Daniel: i mean, casting a white guy as a mexican is just stupid, like in Touch of Evil. but casting a latin actor to play latin is deemed ok. and canadians play americans all the time, those sneaky bastards. like alan thicke and michael j. fox
Me: mike meyers
Me: tricky
Daniel: yeah
Daniel: they slip right in
Me: it's crazy
Daniel: we should exterminate them
Daniel: or put them in camps
Daniel: or something
Me: why that border isn't protected more is beyond me
Daniel: totally
Daniel: it's so long. too long to be unguarded
Daniel: dangerous
Me: i agree
Me: they just come on over as if they'd been invited
Daniel: elk or whatnot could just roam on down
Daniel: seriously. something should be done
Me: hmmm
Me: we need a plan
Daniel: we should just invade canada. turn it into a ski resort
Me: haha
Me: have you noticed how high up alaska is? they're practically canadian. we should kick them out of the union
Daniel: they're too close to russia. those commie bastards. acting like they're american. then why do your islands stretch like a chain to soviet land, huh? why?
Me: let's get rid of them
Daniel: with nuclear fire
Me: sounds like a plan
Me: blame canada
Daniel: you know bush would do it. he hasn't bombed anything in like 3 months. dude's got a build-up he needs to unleash
Me: if only we were his advisors
Daniel: we could be
Daniel: easily
Me: we could whisper our canada extermination plan into his ear
Me: it's true
Me: we'd have to pretend that we voted for him
Daniel: hmm. then no
Me: exactly
Me: i'll only go so far
Me: i don't really want to put my soul in jeopardy
Daniel: kill puppies? yes. but say i voted for bush? no way
Me: i'd rather be tortured
Daniel: luckily, we have the facilities for that
Me: thanks, cheney
Daniel: seriously, this whole place is messed up
Me: but not as messed up as Canada...those bastards. stop saying 'eh' after everything.
Daniel: and hockey? HOCKEY? no one likes hockey
Daniel: lame ice sport
Daniel: lame
Me: the maple leaf is a dumb flag
Me: sure doesn't beat the stars and stripes
Daniel: tell me about it. a symbol for syrup vs. the bold colors of righteous freedom? eat it, canada
Me: what the crap is up with mounties? your border? like we'd want to cross it. it's the canadians who are the invaders. our country is awesome enough as it is.
Daniel: you're not fooling anyone with your free health care and low crime, either, canada. we know it sucks up there
Me: south park got it right in their depiction of canadians. not really worth drawing.
Daniel: their little heads bouncing around
Daniel: and bryan adams...
Daniel: shame on you, canada
Me: "Let's make it all for one and all for love?" I still haven't gotten over that.
Daniel: i mean, it's a nice sentiment and all, but i don't know how you got sting to be involved with your scarred canadian mug. and what's up with that robin hood song? you made him sound like a wuss
Daniel: you're the wuss, bri
Me: truer words were never spoken.

bah, humbug

Does something about this strike you as inherently wrong? Yes, Christmas is a time for family, but look at it's name: Christmas. I'm sorry that it's stressful putting on a show, I mean, service, for thousands of people, but can it really be called work in the sense of punching a time card for a nine-hour day? And if you're afraid of low attendance, why not try encouraging your parishioners to come. Maybe that's just old fashioned, but at least it's not secular.

This scene is one of my favorites in the film To Kill a Mockingbird, which I just watched on TV. Atticus Finch guards his jailed defendant the night before his trial from the town people out for their own form of justice. My favorite part comes when Scout, Jim and Dill come running up through the middle of the crowd. Atticus looks terrified that his children are there and asks Jim to leave, but he refuses. While Scout is standing next to her father, she looks over and recognizes Mr. Cunningham, who had done business with Atticus. She talks to him and asks him how he is, mentioning that she goes to school with his son, Walter. This goes on for a while, with Mr. Cunningham looking embarrassed and Atticus looking amazed.

He replies back to Scout and tells her he'll tell Walter she said 'hello.' He then corrals the group of men to leave. Scout reminded him of his humanity, something hard to do in the midst of such hatred and mob mentality, something probably only the innocence of children can do.

Melanie's comment on my previous post had me thinking of great film adaptations of books. I have to say, To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the best. Usually, when I learn of a new movie coming out that is based on a book, I rush out to buy the book before the movie premieres. Right now, I'm reading Memoirs of a Geisha.

Why must all good books be made into probably not-as-good movies? I say this in anticipation of and nervousness toward The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, opening Friday. Let's hope this adaptation will be true to the story and not fall into the melodramatic category Peter Jackson made his own.

Anyone have any favorite book-to-movie adaptations?

five hours of awesomeness

Latest review: Pride & Prejudice. I've seen it twice and you all should see it, too. While it can never replace the 5-hour extravaganza brought to us by the BBC and A&E starring Colin "Wet Shirt" Firth (I stole that), it's still really good. I also, of course, have a mistake in this review as well. I spell the Bennet name incorrectly, although when I pulled out my copy of the book to verify the name - I spelled it Bennett - the back of my book had it spelled that way, which is incorrect. I blame finals, Dr. Marler, my fellow staff members for distracting me, rock 'n' roll, the 40 mph wind we had here, Colin Firth, caffeine, Joseph McCarthy and Jane Austen for this error.

Current reading: The Boxcar Children, Book 1. I have a 5th grade reading level...probably should admit it...

I should be studying right now. I have to figure out what exactly which area of the Intelligent Design debate I want to argue in my editorial for my Opinion Writing final. Personally, I'm tired of reading about monkeys, the Galapagos Islands, crazy people, Dover, Pa., and Pat Robertson. Intertwined with this research comes studying for my Bible final, for which I have to read 1 Samuel through 2 Kings and know random information. If I sit in my room to study, I'm distracted by my computer. I've been sitting in the living room, but if I look up, I see the rows and rows of pretty movies I own sitting next to the TV.

Ah well, I just need to make it through a few more days, then I have one semester left of not being an adult.


OK, one more picture of Colin Firth and I'll go back to studying (this is from the best scene in the miniseries):

concessions of the weak, part 2

Screw them all, screw them all. Screw, screw, screw them all.