two more things

I want to add to my "things I like" list, just two things:

1. I really, really enjoy the bud light commercials where it shows the guy who just says "dude" in a bunch of different settings. It seems there are two of them now, and both are excellent. The one below is actually expanded from the one on TV. It gets more and more rich each time you watch:


Bud Light Dude - Watch more free videos




2. A friend of mine just put me onto Andrew Peterson's music - www.andrew-peterson.com. He's folky and a colorful song writer. He can be a little "over the top" in his artsy-ness. All around very good. How about these for some strong lyrics to begin a Christmas song:
"It was not a silent night
There was blood on the ground
You could hear a woman cry
In the alleyways that night
On the streets of David's town"

That song also includes these fantastic lyrics:
"Noble Joseph at her side
Callused hands and weary eyes
There were no midwives to be found
In the streets of David's town
In the middle of the night

So he held her and he prayed
Shafts of moonlight on his face
But the baby in her womb
He was the maker of the moon"

That is good, good stuff.

Current Likes/Dislikes

Lists seem to be popular in media these days. So I'm in:

Elements of Life I Am Currently Enjoying:

1. B's insistence on calling the great fish in all the Jonah story books "a dolphin." I don't know why, but this is funny to me every time.

2. J had to give his preschool class a "tip" yesterday, his tip: "Don't stand up on top of the car."

3. Found a pretzel place near our house that cranks out fresh hot pretzels starting at 6am. Unbelievable.

4. Donna Reed in "It's a Wonderful Life"

5. Jimmy Stewart in "It's a Wonderful Life"

6. "Southbound Train" by Jon Foreman

7. I knew it:


8. The 76ers are really bad, but they have some young players who might turn into real NBA players.

9. My living room lit with Christmas lights.

10. Getting to listen to Sunday Morning Over Easy streaming over the internet on Sunday mornings from the finest radio station, 92.9WBOS in Boston.

11. Seeing some old China friends.

12. The knockoff NPR skit on SNL with Alec Baldwin. As with B and "the dolphin", Pete Schwedy and his balls are funny every time.



Elements of Life I'm Not Enjoying So Much:

1. No college football for a few weeks, except for the D-IAA and D-II championships, which I watched like they were the superbowl.

2. "Southbound Train" by Jon Foreman

3.

4. The fact that I haven't read a book for a couple of months.

5. Not getting to see more old China friends.


And there you have it. I'm sure more lists of likes and dislikes will surface in the days to come.

I feel the need, the need for extremes

Why must we move to the edges? In politics, entertainment, sports, and religion the tendency to label something/someone "all good" or "all bad" is obvious. The ability to discern something as both good AND bad (to use simple terms) is not often observed. I read an article a while back about how one of the original "hater" blogs - gawker - built an empire on labeling the world of NYC in extreme terms. It happens as well in the Christian community: emerging church is ALL bad, calvinists are ALL crazy, proclamation evangelism is COMPLETELY modern, and the list goes on.

I've seen it in the response to "The Golden Compass." The movie is ALL bad (if you're a religious type) or it is ALL good and harmless (if you are secular and want to rebut the religious nuts).

So what I am saying is that everyone should just calm down and become like me and see the world as I see it. Then everything will be ok and peace and justice will be restored....if I were king...

Look Kids, A Deer!

In the family tradition of the Griswolds, we got us a Christmas tree last night. Here are two equally true versions of the experience, one traditional and the other modern/urban.

TRADITIONAL: There was a light snow flurry in the air as we rolled off to the Christmas tree lot. We stopped to pick up some egg nog, and listened to the radio station that plays only Christmas music during December. The boys played with the pine branches that were laying around and we also purchased some small evergreen bushes to plant in our window boxes.

MODERN/URBAN: There was a light snow flurry in the air as we rolled off to the Christmas tree lot. We stopped at the light next to the railroad tracks, where the homeless guy keeps all his stuff. He looked cold. We sang "The Hannukah Song" by Adam Sandler, which was playing on the radio station that plays only Christmas music during the month of December. We searched for a nice tree under the pink glow cast by the neon lights of the neighboring strip club.

Merry Christmas season everyone. When I go home today, I'll be greeted by the great seasonal smell of the nice 8 foot tree in my living room. Until then, drink you gin and tonic-ahs and smoke your marijuani-cah:

College Football Musings

I have watched, and enjoyed, a LOT of college football of late. It was a wacky season, which was for the most part very enjoyable. Here are a few thoughts (this is therapy for the reality that I'll be without college football for the next nine months, save for the bowl games):

1. The powerhouses of the '90s are now lousy, e.g. Nebraska, FSU, Miami. It's nice to see them suck, but it's almost no longer enjoyable because they've been so bad for so long (this does not hold true for point number 3 below).

2. The underachievers of the '90s are now very good. LSU, Florida, USC, and Ohio State always had tons of talent and didn't win when it mattered. Weird.

3. Does anyone know which team Notre Dame is going to lose to in a bowl this year? Oh yeah, they only won three games. It is ALWAYS a treat to watch this arrogant program with an arrogant coach lose. Fortunately, because of their arrogant television contract, I got to watch them lose quite often this year.





3. Penn State plays A&M this year in the Alamo Bowl. We whipped them 24-0 several years ago, and I hope beat them again.