Friday, July 30, 2004

AT THE THRESHOLD OF A NEW SCHOOL YEAR...

I wonder if I could dig a hole...

...and make Fr. Ted live in it.

This makes me happy.

Friday, July 09, 2004

ONE MORE ABOUT MOVIES

My wife and I went to see King Arthur last night. I wish I had paid the cost of the movie ticket NOT to see the movie. Don't go near it. Go see Spiderman again instead. ;) Seriously, I've never seen a worse movie. Stupid moviemaker decided to make yet another grand sweeping movie about camraderie, lost causes and kings. So he had a bunch of crass knights, a guy named Arthur in stupid leather pants and a few lines of dialogue dropping Hollywood's favorite Meaningless Word To Make People Think They're Watching A Stirring Movie. What the heck does Hollywood mean by "freedom" anyway? I doubt they have any clue.

Or, to put it as the above-linked review does:

"Braveheart and Gladiator are two historical films that are particularly satisfying on both the level of grand spectacle, as well as a stirring story of one man's efforts to make a difference in the world. King Arthur just makes me glad we live in an era when soap was invented."

Thursday, July 01, 2004

NEED BROOKS NO DELAY...

I have meant to say this for over a year. And I haven't. So I'm saying it now.

My brother Caleb is in Iraq.

The brother I bullied when we were children, the brother that listened to me into the wee hours of the morning as I daydreamed about girls and adventures and growing up, the brother that played computer games and watched movies with me when our parents' backs were turned, who rose and fell and sinned and shone with me, and quietly stood in the background to my "older brother" role.

The brother that I hardly knew when I left for college, because I had just been too loud and overbearing to listen or care. The brother who then stepped into the role I had left and filled it far better than I ever had, who came into his own when my insignificant shadow fled home for a college a thousand miles away. The brother who was sorry when I was sad, rejoiced when I was happy, and always somehow understood.

The brother who stepped up to life while I frittered away my time, whether at school, over the summers, at home or during Christmas, who acted on principle and turned away from pleasure and leisure and left home to serve while I shirked what I knew I should do. The brother who, as I attempted to share my "wisdom" and "sage counsel" with him (because I still thought of him as my little brother), listened with grace and humility, though he stood in a warzone with trust and honour and strength and I lay on a sofa with a beer in my hand and not a one of the three that are so natural to him.

The brother who is now a man, while I remain a child.

The brother that I scarcely know, and dearly want to know, and talk with, and learn from for years to come. The brother whose friendship and respect I covet more than almost any other.

The brother I miss as I have never missed my brothers.

My brother Caleb is in Iraq. God bring him home.
WOW--WHAT A SURPRISE

I checked my blog today fully expecting Seraphim to have a grumble in my comments section about how I've not posted for a few days. He didn't, and now I've beat him to the punch. I suck, I don't post enough, and I'm doing a dis-service to my readers, if I even have any left now.

;)

I just got back from seeing Spiderman 2 after I got off work. I can't remember the last time I've more thoroughly enjoyed a film without having to exert my (substantial) super-power of making excuses for bad plot twists, bad dialogue, bad special effects, bad storytelling, or just general cheesiness. Nor can I remember the last time I left a movie so uplifted and non-guilty about the way I just spent the last few hours.

So, purely subjectively, I give the movie very high marks. And please, nobody comment about how it actuallY WAS cheesy, the special effects DID suck, and it's NOT ACTUALLY a film in the truest sense. I'm sure you're right, and I don't want to hear it. I enjoyed it without reservation, and I haven't been able to say that for a long time. If you disagree, then you think I have lousy taste, and I'm fine with that. You can even tell me so. Just spare me the details.

And no, I'm not turning this into a blog about movies. I'm just posting, lest I...um...lest I don't.

;)