I’ve always avoided showing any pictures of myself or my family here, or mentioned much personal info about them. That may or may not be necessary, but it’s the choice I’ve made to this point. However, since it’s three years old now and he’s changed quite a bit since then, I did want to share this.

On his fourth Halloween tonight, my son has chosen to be “Batman”. But his first costume - the one I got to choose for him - is still my favorite (not surprisingly.)

Beautiful, isn’t it? That is us at our church’s 2004 “Trunk or Treat” in Huntsville, Alabama, where we lived until the following summer. He didn’t really understand it at the time, but I’m sure some day he’ll look back and thank me.

And maybe in another 15 years or so, he’ll be dressing up like this.

John Kerry, testimony before congress, April 23, 1971:

We are asking Americans to think about that because how do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?

Bruce Springsteen, 2007, from his album Magic. This one, of course, pointing to our present day ill-conceived war in Iraq.

Last To Die

We took the highway till the road went black
We’d marked Truth Or Consequences on our map
A voice drifted up from the radio
And I thought of a voice from long ago

Who’ll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break
Who’ll be the last to die for a mistake

The kids asleep in the backseat
We’re just counting the miles, you and me
We don’t measure the blood we’ve drawn anymore
We just stack the bodies outside the door

Who’ll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break
Who’ll be the last to die for a mistake

The wise men were all fools, what to do

The sun sets in flames as the city burns
Another day gone down as the night turns
And I hold you here in my heart
As things fall apart

A downtown window flushed with light
“Faces of the dead at five” (faces of the dead at five)
Our martyr’s silent eyes
Petition the drivers as we pass by

Who’ll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Whose blood will spill, whose heart will break
Who’ll be the last to die

Who’ll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Darlin’ your tyrants and kings fall to the same fate
Strung up at your city gates
And you’re the last to die for a mistake

Each time I stop and consider the damage done to American and Iraqi lives over the last 4+ years, I can only think of this quote attributed to Mohandas Gandhi.

I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.

All for a mistake?

Since it’s almost Halloween, here’s one of my favorite bits from Jerry Seinfeld’s I’m Telling You For The Last Time.

During yet another preview weekend on DishTV, we had Showtime and TMC channels. I came across the music special “Heart of Gold” featuring Neil Young. It’s a concert of Neil and some friends filmed at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville a couple of years ago. It’s also available on DVD.

I’ve never really listened to much of Young’s music over the years, but I’ve known a number of people who loved his stuff. And I’ll probably be listening to more it now. I’ve only watched about half of the concert so far, but it’s been quite good. Besides the music, some of Young’s comments between songs are enjoyable as well.

Here’s a couple of videos - first, a trailer for the film:

And, a performance of “Here For You” from the film:

I’ve heard good things about Young’s album Living With War, a collection of war protest songs mostly directed at the Bush administration. I’ve had that on my want list for a while, but it hasn’t made it to the top just yet.

Leading up to Halloween, I’ve noticed a number of “ghost videos” out there. Some of them are spooky or creepy, but not many are necessarily convincing. This one, however, stands alone. You may or may not you believe in ghosts, etc., but this just might change your mind.

Shortly after I posted Thursday I called my wife to check on my daughter. She was home sick that day, after having developed a cough the seemed to be growing worse each day. So, she was heading to the doctor, and I called home to check. No answer, so I called her cell. She was still at the doctor, waiting for a nurse to reappear and give my daughter a shot. The reason? She had pneumonia.

Four days later, after the shot and antibiotics, she seems to be doing fine. The doctor said that they’d seen a lot of it recently. My daughter’s friend was just in the hospital with it a month or so ago. Fortunately, the medicine, fluids and rest seemed to have done the trick. She returned to school today, which the doctor said she’s be able to do, and so hopefully she’ll remain well.

Unfortunately, this has limited some Halloween related activities for us. We were planning to visit “Boo at the Zoo” here at the Little Rock zoo last Wedensday night, but she’d come home from school running fever. “Boo” lasts through Halloween, and we may still try to make it tomorrow night, if possible, since it’s a bit warmer here this week. But last Wednesday was members night (we are members and wanted to go on that night), and it gets more crowded the closer you get to Halloween. It will probably depend on how my daughter does over the next two days.

More movies… I watched a couple of movies this week that I’d never seen. Being the season of Halloween, there have been plenty of “horror” films on cable. I caught the original Saw last week and figured I’d see what it was all about. I’m not much into “horror” movies, mainly because they usually suck - just a bunch of gratuitous violence and little else. I kind of enjoyed Saw because there was a little more to it than that, although it’s still not exactly my kind of entertainment. I later came across Saw II, which, unfortunately, I would have to rate well below the original film. It was more along the lines of a Friday the 13th where a bunch of people are killed over the course of the movie. Just not that interesting, and basically a waste of time. You knew, too, after having seen the first one, that there’d be a twist at the end and it was pretty predictable. So, I think I’ve watched my last Saw film.

Over the weekend I also finished Al Franken’s Lies And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair And Balanced Look At The Right. It’s a few years old now, but I “mooched” a copy and thought I’d check it out. I’ve always thought Franken was pretty funny, and this book was no exception. My wife began to find my laughing out loud annoying at times. There was a lot of interesting info in the book, and while I’m not willing to take everything Franken said as gospel, I suspect much of it is on target. Seems unlikely you’d write a book about so-called liars without making sure your facts aren’t pretty solid. Of course, he has a (left-leaning) perspective unlike those he criticizes, so no doubt there are those on the right who would see some of his facts and interpretations in a different light. I even felt some could be viewed as saying more or less than they did as Franken presented them. Still, the book was a lot of fun, and the story of him taking his “son” on a visit to Bob Jones University (as if he was searching for a college) was hilarious. You can read that online here.

I found this morning (via Mark Elrod and Political Cartel) that athiest Hemant Mehta spoke at my alma mater, Harding University, last night. I read Mehta’s book, I Sold My Soul On eBay, just a couple of months ago and enjoyed it. His is an interesting story. I’m glad he was invited and would like to have been there to hear him myself. However, I found it interesting that an athiest was allowed to speak at HU, where folks like Mike Cope would be denied.

There are three sizable developments happening within a few miles from my house here in west Little Rock. All are primarily retail shopping developments, one of which is to be the largest shopping center in Little Rock. It will include a number of restaurants which, I must admit, I’m excited about (since I’m a big fan of food.)

I drive be two of these every day as I take my daughter to school and drive to work. And with each trip by these areas, I try to remember what was there just a few months ago. But it’s getting harder to recall what it looked like, what with all the trees gone and so much earth having been moved around.

As I watch large machines at work each day as I pass by, I wonder more and more if it is a good thing. The city grows (mostly west), more land is cleared for more homes and more retail that we deem necessary for life in Little Rock. All the while, there are fewer and fewer places to find grass and trees.

One of my favorite songs from this year is from Mark Erelli’s album Hope & Other Casualties. I usually think of it now when I see trees being removed and land being cleared, and so it’s been in my thoughts often over the last few months. Here are the lyrics:

Imaginary Wars
Mark Erelli

Behind the house where I lived
Back when I was a kid
I played G.I. Joe beneath the tall pine trees
I’d fight imaginary wars
‘Til my mom called from our back porch
And I’d come home covered in that pine pitch
From my head down to my knees

Too big to wrap my arms around
Surely older than I could count
Must have been there since the Mayflower crossed the sea
They’d been through blizzards and hurricanes
Summer droughts and freezing rain
Them pines would live forever
At least that’s how it seemed to me

Chorus:
Now what’s become of the old pine woods
It’s all gone and there’s a brand new neighborhood
All for a buck they cut down all those trees
They subdivided all of my fondest memories

When those trucks came for my woods
I did everything I could
And it was war for real when school let out that June
I ripped down flags and I pulled up stakes
But what difference can one boy make
Them pines still fell like thunder on a summer afternoon

Chorus

And I never became friends
With the families that moved in
They were different from us or so it seemed
I grew up and moved away
I just go home on holidays
But those tall and tangled pines
They’re still falling in my dreams

We all want the greenest lawn
And a country club where we belong
And an SUV to get us there in style
But we don’t keep track of what we’ve lost
We can’t calculate the cost
When there’s no place left for a boy’s
Imagination to run wild

So what’s become of the old pine woods
It’s all gone and it’s gone for good
All for a buck they cut down all those trees
They subdivided all of my fondest memories

We had a wooded area similar to Erelli’s down the road from my house growing up in east-central Arkansas. I don’t know if it’s still there or not, but I do know that several other areas where I used to play as a child are now populated by homes and businesses. Since my parents no longer live there, I haven’t been back in years, but I suspect there are now other significant changes in the landscape, even in a town that small.

I’ve seen a lot of advances in our society just in my lifetime. It’s really amazing, and I’m constantly in awe of things that are now possible that I would not have dreamed of 30, 20 or even 10 years ago. I think most people are.

But I wonder: are we in awe of what we have often enough, without thinking of what we could have? Are we in awe of what is there, instead of thinking about what could be there?

With all that we have gained, and continue to gain, do we ever really stop and consider what we may have lost? With each step forward we take, are we also taking steps back, so to speak? How much is need, and how much is greed? What is the effect of progress on our lives, our environment, our relationships, our families, our worldview, our future, and on and on?

I’m not suggesting that progress is in itself a bad thing. Clearly, advances in many areas (medicine comes to mind first) are very good for us. Others, perhaps not as good for us. And still others - perhaps most - really depend on what we do with them, how we use them.

There may be no definitive answer to the question of whether or not our gains outweigh our losses. It’s debatable, no doubt, and probably will be forever. Regardless, I think the effects of our progress on the earth and on each other, as well as how we use what we have, are things we must always keep in mind and reflect on as we continue passing through this world God has provided us.

We had a free weekend of the STARZ channels on DishTV this past weekend. I actually managed to watch 4 movies - which for me is practically unheard of in a month, much less a weekend. Unfortunately, these channels are apparently prohibited from actually show any good movies.

Invincible (Mark Wahlberg, Greg Kinnear, Elizabeth Banks)
This is a movie you’ve seen many times - the sports movie about a person or team who triumphs despite seemingly insurmountable odds. In fact, this is a professional football version of Rudy, which was in a college football setting. I enjoyed it for what it was, and for reasons I simply cannot explain, I’ve always liked Wahlberg in the movies in which I’ve seen him star. Still, if you’ve seen The Rookie, Remember The Titans, the aforementioned Rudy or countless others, you’ve already seen this movie.

The Visitation (Martin Donovan, Kelly Lynch, Edward Furlong)
I read Frank Peretti’s novel of the same name a few years back. Here’s enough to make you want to stay away from it - Randy Travis plays the part of a preacher who casts out demons. There you go. If you’ve seen any movies that would fall under the “Christian” genre (think Left Behind with Kirk Cameron), then you have an idea of what you’ll find here.

Preface to next two movies:
If there’s one thing all movies starring post-80’s SNL alums share in common, it’s probably this - they all suck. Some of the original cast have put out some good movies, and at least a couple from the 80’s (Murphy and Crystal come to mind) put out some decent stuff occasionally. I also enjoyed Wayne’s World and Austin Powers from Michael Myers (although not the sequels so much.) Other than that, I can’t think of much to get excited about. So, with that in mind…

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Leslie Bibb)
Will Ferrell can be funny, even hilarious at times, but, like most SNL alum’s, usually for only short periods of time. There are a lot of people, it seems, that worship Ferrell. I’ve seen several of his movies now, and they’re just not good. Anchorman I actually laughed at more than any others, but even it wasn’t partiularly good. This one was just horrible. I must admit that I skipped through several chunks of it just to make it end faster, but I find it difficult to believe I missed anything that would have changed my mind.

Click (Adam Sandler, Kate Beckinsale, Christopher Walken)
Again, like Farrell, I think Sandler can be hilarious, but outside of Happy Gilmore, I’ve never watched one of his movies and felt that I had not wasted my time. This movie had some humorous moments, what with the being able to stop time or fast forward past boring events. The presence of Kate Beckinsale certainly helped as well, regardless of content. And, it actually had a pretty good message - don’t waste your life on things that don’t matter while neglecting those that do. Still, there are other movies with the same message that are much better.

I also have Will Smith’s The Pursuit of Happyness recorded, and will probably watch it within the next week or so. I also still have Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee from our free HBO weekend a couple of weeks back, and I look forward to that. I have Dee Brown’s book but have never read it. I figure I’ll go ahead watch the movie first, because I’ll still want to read the book anyway (and who knows when I’ll get to it.)

Let me just add this - I don’t understand the premium movie channels. We’ve had three weekends in a row of free previews (HBO, Cinemax, STARZ) and there’s been almost nothing on that I was interested in. I knew the ones above would probably not be worth the time, but watched them anyway because I had some time. I can’t imagine paying for this stuff, though. I’d love to have HBO for the 3 months that “Curb Your Enthusiasm” is on, but that’s about it.

 
With my remaining downloads (two full albums worth) I am considering a number of albums, but Blake Morgan’s Silencer, Matt Nathanson’s Still Waiting For Spring, Over The Rhine’s first Christmas album The Darkest Night Of The Year, and (still) The Smithereens’ God Save The Smithereens are the leading contenders at the moment.

This just struck me as highly unlikely.

I was checking out this Dennis Dodd article regarding the college football season thus far, and under the section titled “Hot Seat”, I was not surprised to find Houston Nutt’s name. (He probably would’ve been first on the list last week, but thanks to Nebraska’s embarrassing loss Saturday, he got bumped to second.) However, the last part of his comments on the Arkansas job did surprise me:

Houston Nutt, Arkansas: Only the Paleozoic Era lasted longer than this guy on the hot seat. You have to feel sorry for Nutt. Some dope actually spent money to fly a banner over Razorback Stadium. “There’s Nuttin’ like being 0-2 in the SEC.”
Possible replacement: Tommy Tuberville.

Tuberville? Really? I think he would be a fine choice and certainly do a better job. And, granted, Tuberville is a native Arkansan, and it would be a return home for him. But he’s done well at Auburn and I wouldn’t see it as a step up for him. He would also be coaching his third different SEC West team. I’m not sure where Dodd gets his information - it may be credible, or it may be his own guess - but I just can’t see that happening. Arkansas had their shot at him in 1998 when he was still at Ole Miss, but chose Nutt instead. If he ever leaves Auburn on his own, I’d have to think he would be leaving the SEC as well.

But, hey, if he’s willing to listen, I’d be happy for UA to start talking…