Meditating

The Photo Friday topic was "Meditation". I wondered, "what do I have in my iPhotos that would fit the bill"? Sadly, I haven's shot anything new in a long time. I need to get back at it because I just love taking photos. More, I love having a large library I can draw from when there is a stated theme, and contemplating how my photos fit the theme. This exercise is fun because it is fairly infrequent that I actually intended said photo to fit any "theme".

Anyway, I admire those of you who are more original-photo oriented than I am. Keep up the good work, because you inspire me.

This one was taken last spring. Cheer Chick is one of the most introspective and meditative kids I've ever met when she is in the great outdoors. I love just watching her do her thing.

Embrace Your Inner Bjorn.

We rented "Mamma Mia" this past weekend, and I have to be honest: it really wasn't horrible. The reviews on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes are mixed, and for good reason. It is one of those flicks where you can see the (reasonable) arguments both for and against it.

Let's start with the plot: not exactly A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), is a twenty-something young woman, with a wedding coming up. Donna (Meryl Streep) is her mother, and the proprietor of a Greek Mediterranean money pit of a hotel. The story revolves around Sophie's father; namely, she never knew her father growing up, and Donna isn't exactly sure who the father was. By sneaking a peek at Donna's diary, Sophie has narrowed down the candidates to three, and she has tracked all three down and invited them to her wedding. It's a comedy! It's a drama! It's a love story! (The hotel is purported to be build somewhere near the mythical Aphrodite's fountain.)

In case you've been living under a rock, though, the major contrivance of this movie is that it is adapted from a Broadway musical based on the music of ABBA. And this is the font from which my original trepidation sprang (like the aforementioned Aphrodite's fountain...metaphors are so cool!): Meryl Streep crooning the songs of ABBA. How could any self-respecting man "want" to see this movie and keep his testosterone intact? The mere concept of this movie was, at its very core, emasculating, and thereby intimidating.

But I have been the main proponent of the following theory for some time, and I think it is what ultimately raises this movie to enjoyability: everyone loves ABBA. Even if you don't think you do, your love of ABBA is like some repressed memory. Some day you will be in a crowd of people, maybe waiting for your favorite band to take the stage, and the opening bars of "Does Your Mother Know" will come over the PA quite loud. The synthesizers will pulse; the cheesy guitar riff will ring, and you will find yourself with a dilemma on your hands: do you allow yourself to groove? If you are honest with yourself, you will obey your body and not your mind. You will bite your lip. Your shoulders will start to undulate. Even if you are not a dancer, you will start to re-create the moves of Tony Manero (that's John Travolta to the under 40 set) in Saturday Night Fever, but more wholesomely. And by the time you are bumping into the people next to you, dancing and jiving and singing along gleefully with the ESL-inflected refrain "Well I could dance with you honey/If you think it's funny/Does your mother know that you're out?", you will have embraced your inner Bjorn. It's okay. We all have an inner Bjorn.

Anyway, I digress. But that's all I really feel like I needed to say about "Mamma Mia". The cast is fun: Streep and Seyfried are joined by Pierce Brosnan (sings about as well as you might expect Remington Steele to sing), and Colin Firth. Christine Baranski and Julie Walters take turns stealing the show as Donna's friends Tanya and Rosie. Bottom line? The whole movie plays like the cast had a great time making it. That is worth the cheap rental in and of itself. Is it Streep's weightiest role, or her best acting job? Not by a long shot. Is it one of her more enjoyable performances? You bet.

Do I feel any less of a man for enjoying this movie? Let me answer that with another question: Do Benny and Bjorn look any less manly with their white polyester jumpsuits? On second thought, I'd prefer not to answer that.

Reserve Battery Power

I am informed that my computer is now running on reserve battery power.

That is a very fitting analogy for my whole being right now. I'd love to give more, but my batteries are low. No promises: I can't commit to giving a whole lot more.

My main hope is that this doesn't come off as whining, because it really isn't intended that way. It's really just my way of saying "sorry I haven't been more committed to the blog thing" to my loyal readers, all four of you. (You know who you are!) Anyway, it won't be long until I'm doing another class, and the posts will be even fewer and farther between, so if you're wondering where I am, I'll be somewhere away from the madding crowd, recharging.

So You Think You Know...Christmas?

Wrapping paper or gift bags? Newspaper, painted with watercolors. Or recycled wrapping paper. Or recycled gift bags. Or that red plaid paper I BOUGHT (gasp!) new a couple of years ago because I liked it.

Real tree or artificial? Real. Period.

When do you put up the tree? As late as I can get away with it.

When do you take the tree down? Before CheerChick's birthday on December 28th.

Do you like eggnog? Only Devon's recipe. God I miss Devon right about now! (And many other times, too, but especially around Christmas.)

Favorite gift received as a child? An axe. Really.

Hardest person to buy for? Rach, of course.

Easiest person to buy for? Either of the kids, who have nice long lists.

Do you have a nativity scene? Yes. I wish Willie Nelson were in it, though, bringing his special gift to the Baby Jesus.

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

A Colbert Christmas: Willie Nelson Sings

Colbert at Christmas
Colbert Christmas DVD

Green Screen
Bill O'Reilly Interview

Mail or e-mail Christmas cards? Mail. I'll get the ones to my friends out sometime over vacation, I hope.

Worst Christmas gift you ever received? No such thing...as long as it was given from the heart.

When do you start shopping for Christmas? Whenever I see something that I need to buy someone.

Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Who hasn't?

Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Whatever beast is roasted...lamb, beef, ham, 'possum...it's all good.

Lights on the tree? Too many. I'd like them to be LED, but I'm not sure that's going to happen.

Favorite Christmas song? "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)", performed by either U2 or Darlene Love.

Travel at Christmas or stay home? I'd prefer to stay home on Christmas proper, but I don't mind a short jaunt to Weld for dinner with my parents.

Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? And Olive...the OTHER reindeer...

Angel on top of the tree, or a star? Beer can. (Not really.)

Presents on Christmas Eve or morning? Morning, but the sock is my favorite part.

Most annoying thing about this time of year? Crass commercialism and lack of commitment to peace on Earth.

Favorite ornament theme or color? Theme? I like all our homemade ornaments featuring the kids' pictures from over the years.

Favorite for Christmas dinner? Standing rib roast with garlic mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole. The beef was Woody's favorite, too.

What do you want for Christmas this year? Not much. Everyone to forget about why they think their religion is best, and lay down their weapons and prejudices.

Who is most likely to respond to this? Either SJ or Rach.

Who is least likely to respond to this? Whoever has the least time on his or her hands.

D-Day

When I watched National Lampoon's Animal House for the first time (I was 10...but a very mature 10...) my favorite character was not "Bluto" Blutarski, nor was it Flounder or Hoover. My favorite was the total badass, "D-Day" ("Ramming speed!")

And my favorite part of the movie was the end, where all of the heroes and ne'er-do-wells' personal histories (fictional, of course) are revealed to the viewer.

Recently came news from the New York Times that Daniel "D-Day" Laikin, National Lampoon Chief Executive, has been charged in conspiracy and security fraud to artificially inflate the stock of the company.

It is a career footnote worthy of the movie's closing credits.

Photo Friday: Weathered

While SJ has taken to posting sky pictures on a semi-regular weekly basis, I am somewhat less regular in my posting to Photo Friday. However, here's my entry for "Weathered". I'm hoping some of the prompts will get me taking more new pictures, but I wanted to share this one. It's an old yellow birch standing on the bank of the stream by our house.

I took this picture during one of the field studies for my master's course last winter (just finished my latest class last night...woohoo!) It's an ancient warrior, which--though it is no longer removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and giving us nice, clean oxygen--is still providing food and shelter for birds and small mammals. It's a great tree.

At 89

I was looking around on the Late Show With David Letterman website, because there was an interesting singer called Sia on. She painted her hands bright red and signed along with her singing. I was slightly intrigued, and wanted to find out more.

Then I got sidetracked by a link to Pete Seeger...PETE FREAKIN' SEEGER...who performed ON LETTERMAN. And I missed it. Unfortunately, the CBS website won't let me post the video here, but that's what YouTube is for. Yes, I'll link it a little later on, but you'll have to endure my reminiscences until then. Unless you just skip ahead, or skip it all together. Honestly, I'll never know the difference.

Anyway, Pete Seeger is one of my heroes. I may not always be in the mood to listen to him, but his ideals, his morality, his passion, his sheer love for life and what he does, are an inspiration to us all. Some of my earliest musical memories involve my parents' record collection on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Quite often the playlist involved "The Bullfrog", "Abiyoyo", and other childrens' songs. Other times, there were more socially conscious, politically motivated songs, including some of the things Pete did with Arlo Guthrie. The "Precious Friends" album sticks out. And then there were the Weavers, who showed up now and then.

I'll leave it to you to check on Pete's troubles with the House Un-American Activities Committee (he was blacklisted from network television for a good long time) and his pedigree as a great American. The thing that stands out to me most is that about nine years ago, three of us had the pleasure of seeing Pete perform at Rockland High School. At the time he was 78 or 79 years old, and he was sickly. There were many worries that this would be among his last performances.

Flash forward nine years. Pete has just put out an album (because it would just be silly to call it a "disc" or a "CD" when you're talking about Pete) called "At 89". Dude's 89 years old, and he's still actively performing, writing, and putting out new music. He leaves much more of the singing to his guests and audiences today, but that's the amazing thing: everyone ends up singing along with Pete. I've never seen David Letterman's audience sing along, but they did on this song. His banjo is marked with the words "This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender." Pete, keep on rockin'.