Anna Turns 8

Anna turned 8 on February 17, but we didn't have her birthday party until this past Saturday. In the past, we had combined with a couple other of her classmates and had these big blow-out affairs. Kinda like the parents you read about that feel a huge birthday bash is critical to their child's development.

This year, we decided to scale back, although by the initial sounds of it, you may think otherwise. We rented the local skating rink in Niles, Michigan and invited all of Anna's classmates and friends at church. The cost to rent the rink was very low, thus making it very affordable.

For food, we just did nachos and cheese that we got from Sam's Club. For dessert, some cupcakes and ice cream. That was it. The kids just all showed up and skated for two hours and we didn't have to do anything else. Last year I had to help corral a bunch of first graders to do the Limbo. Never again!

Our pastor and his wife and 7 kids all came and hung. Aunt Dee Dee from Chicago was theree along with Dorene's mom. It was a good time. We also made presents optional. Anna is never hurting for anything and we said in the invitation that "Anna wants your presence more than your presents." Some still brought gifts anyway, but we wanted to take the pressure off. We had to drag Anna off the skating rink to even open the presents anyway.

Next year, we're going to eliminate the whole birthday theme altogether and just have a "Dennie Skating Party" in between Anna and Cameron's birthday where we'd invite anyone and everyone. Anna thought that was a good idea and didn't seem to care there would be no birthday party focusing on her. Note to parents: Kids don't always care that much about this stuff. YOU DO!

Notes on the Oscar Nominees

Some notes on the Oscar nominees as I get ready for my annual Oscar party where I am actually due to win the pool (I win about every 6 years).

Nominated for Best Picture . . .

The Queen
A much better movie than I was expecting. The movie covered the week from Princess Diana's death to her funeral, focusing on the outrage many Brits had with the monarchy's seemingly flippant attitude about Diana's death. Queen Elizabeth II had her reasons for the slow response, and even Tony Blair comes to her defense at one point. Tony Blair's popularity skyrocketed during this time, but things have indeed changed for him. An interesting portrayal of the Queen. I didn't think someone of her stature would drive an off-road vehicle by herself, but she does. Good as it was, this movie doesn't belong in the Best Picture category.

Letters from Iwo Jima
This was the second of two films by Clint Eastwood dealing with the WWII battle. "Flags of our Fathers" was the first and focused on the Americans that raised the flag and their lives afterwards as they were sent out on tours to promote war bonds. Jumps a little bit too much between time periods, but it's still a very well done movie. "Letters," which is subtitled, focuses strictly on the conflict itself and on a handful of Japanese characters. This is a much lower budgeted movie, but you get to know the characters much better, which for me made for a more involving movie than "Flags." It was very interesting seeing the Japanese point of view and how their soldiers and officers viewed the conflict. This is a very low key movie at first, not much happening. But once the Americans land, it kicks in. There are a few scenes that overlap with "Flags." For example, in that movie, you see the end result of Japanese soldiers committing suicide by hand grenade. In "Letters," you actually see it happening, and it ain't pretty. When you combine the two movies, it's really quite an achievement by Eastwood. For that reason, I would give this the Best Picture.

The Departed
It's directed by Martin Scorses, so two things come in to play: violence and profanity. According to screen-it.com there are 237 uses of the "F" word, so it's certainly overkill in that department. But wow, what a cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, and Alec Baldwin. The movie is 2 1/2 hours long but moves very quickly. Excellent story and great performances all around. But the expletives do fly.

Little Miss Sunshine
I really wanted to like this movie and found myself disappointed. For some reason it didn't connect. However, it's one I keep thinking about. I have a feeling if I were to watch it again I might have a different reaction. Maybe I just didn't think it was quite Best Picture material and thus went in with certain expectations, I don't know. What I do know is that "Olive" is a very memorable character, in fact, one of the most memorable in a while. The movie keeps growing on me in retrospect. It would probably be an upset if it won but I don't think people would be disappointed.

Babel
I wasn't too excited about seeing this movie because it's been called this year's "Crash." I thought that movie was a bunch of overhyped crapola and I'm still ticked off at it for telling my I'm racist whether I want to admit it or not.

But I was pleasantly surprised by "Babel". . .for the most part. The movie has 3 stories that interconnect in one way or another, even though the characters may be continents apart. The purchsae of a gun in Morocco affects what happens in Mexico. The movie is all subtitled, even when English is being spoken. The only major actors are Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. All 3 stories kept my interest and it all added up to a fairly good movie.

HOWEVER, there was a 4th story thread that gets a lot of screen time and is a major detriment, particularly because of the content. It's basically about a sexually promiscous deaf-mute Japanese girl. Leave this story out, and it wouldn't have mattered at all, because the other stories were strong enough. Yes, there was a connection to the other story threads, but the connection could have easily been made in other ways and this girl's escapades did not need to be included. It was a serious detriment to what was actually a pretty good other 3/4 of a movie.

Some Other Categories . . .
Best Actor
The only nominee I saw was Ryan Gosling in "Half Nelson." A pretty good performance in a so-so movie, but he won't win. This is supposed to be Forest Whitaker's year, for his portrayal of Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland"(a movie I'd like to have seen but it never came here).

Best Actress
Helen Mirren all the way for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II, and she deserves it. Didn't see any of the other nominees.

Best Supporting Actor
Only saw Alan Arkin in "Sunshine" and Mark Wahlberg in "The Departed." Both were good, but this is supposedly the comeback year for Eddie Murphy, even though reportedly no one really likes him all that much in Hollywood and he puts out fluff like "Norbit." In my growing fondness of "Sunshine," Alan Arkin's character stands out, even though he didn't have a very big part. So, I'd give it to him, because it was a much less flashy role, which is the reason he won't win.

Best Supporting Actress
I didn't see "Dreamgirls," but evidently Jennifer Hudson was magnificent. But for my money, I'd give it to Abigail Breslin. Basically, when she was on the screen, I wasn't looking away. It didn't hurt that she reminded me of Anna. I guess 10 year old kids aren't truly supposed to beat out older actresses, but hey, Abigail has more acting experience than Jennifer Hudson. Here I go, first I say I didn't like "Sunshine" and now I'm wanting it to win all these awards.

Best Director
This is finally going to be Martin Scorsese's year, or so they say. I don't know, Clint Eastwood had quite an achievement with TWO movies, so he could snatch the oscar from him (or, they give the Directing award to Scorsese and Best Picture to Eastwood). However, I'd give the Oscar to a complete wildcard in this category for a movie not nominated for anything else. That would be Paul Greengrass for "United 93." That movie absolutely should have been nominated for Best Picture, although the term "movie" probably doesn't fit because it was in a category by itself. One of the more exhausting movies I've seen. Suspenseful in that you find yourself hoping the passengers can retake the airplane, even though, of course, you know that doesn't happen.

Best Foreign Film
"Pan's Labryninth" will easily win the Oscar, and for good reason. This also should have been in the the Best Picture category (both "The Queen" and "Babel" could have come out). A great movie. A combination of children's fantasy and 1940's Spain after the Franco revolution. Seemingly an odd mix but you may be hard pressed to find a more original movie this year. This will also likely win some technical awards like Art Direction and Makeup.

Best Documentary
I rarely see any the nominated documentaries, but I've actually seen what will be this year's winner, "An Inconvenient Truth." Can't imagine anything else winning and it'll be interesting to see if Al Gore is there to be part of the acceptance speeches.

Best Original Song
My prediction is that a song from "Dreamgirls" will win. Since 3 of the 5 songs nominated are from Dreamgirls, maybe that's not too bold of a prediction. Yes, there will be a performance by Randy Newman again this year for his song from "Cars," which will win the Best Animated feature category.

Best Documentary Short Subject
Yeah right, I have no idea. This is one of those categories that turns the tide at the Oscar party, seeing who picks the right one. The last time I won the pool, I was the only one to pick a documentary short called "Big Momma!"

Obama v. Clinton

I finally had a chance to ask two of my co-workers (both members of the South Bend City Council) who they preferred between the two Democrat front runners. Both overwhelmingly preferred Hillary, with one indicating she would be the best president in the history of the U.S. They both like Obama, but just don't think he has enough experience yet. Both of my co-workers are African-American, which I think will be an interesting sidebar to the primaries. Does this voting bloc side with the wife of whom Toni Morrison said was "the first black president" or does their vote side with who could actually BE the first black president?

Both Obama and Clinton are now going to try and negative campaign without it seeming like they are negative campaigning. It happened this week when David Geffen dissed Hillary, who then dissed Obama for not dissing Geffen, who then dissed Hillary for . . . .and so it goes. Republicans are going to sit back for now and see how this plays out.

Oh no, Vilsack just dropped out! That really mixes things up now, huh? He said he couldn't win because of the money. No, dude, you couldn't win because you were Tom Vilsack.

Let's Here it for the . . .Girls

The American Idol guys basically stunk up the place on Tuesday night. That left the girls with the task of getting things back on track. That they did and then some. There were multiple performances that were very good. My favorite from the initial audition, Melinda, came out and did Aretha. That's not always a good thing to try and do, but she pulled it off. She reminds me of the policewoman in the Police Academy movies that was always timid and shy but then when it was time to perform, she'd pull her gun on a bad guy and say, "Freeze, Dirtbag!" She was my initial pick (along with the long gone Baylie) to win, and I'll stick with her.

But, gotta also love Lakisha. Simon said the other 23 contestants might need to pack their suitcases now. He could be right. Dorene's favorite is Gina, the one with the red stripe. She did very good on a very difficult Celine song. Overall, a very good night for the girls.

There is a lot of talent in the guys, but they have to bring it up several notches to compete now. The girls have set the bar very high. In fact, Dorene and I commented that it almost felt as if we were in the final week, because so many of the performances were that polished. That does indeed leave room for someone to come from the back of the pack.

I'll still be looking forwawrd to "ABBA" night.

Run for Your Lives, It's the INDIANA FOG!!!

Anna's school got canceled today because of the fog. Visibility was, I don't know, 6 or 7 miles. Okay, that's an exaggeration. But as my family could attest to, you haven't seen fog until you've experienced Tulare County (CA) fog.

When you have to assume you are still on the road, that's fog. When good visibility is being able to see 3 of the center line stripes in front of you, that's fog. When you stop because you know there's a stop sign, but just can't see it, that's fog.

Stuck in the Mud

Today, both Dorene and I had the day off for President's Day. Anna had to go to school because of a snow make-up day. On our way out to pick up Anna, we stopped to look at a house that was for sale. However, as soon as we turned into the driveway, our van sunk into some very wet snow and mud. Tried as we could, the van wouldn't budge an inch.

Several cars went by but didn't stop, even though it was obvious we were needing help. Finally, a pick-up truck came by and did stop. Okay, I'm making this sound like some parable. We were simply stuck. No deeper meaning here. Only the mud was deep.

Anyway, this guy lived at a farm just down the road and saw us. He told us he'd go back and get his tractor. A few minutes later, he was back with the tractor. He hooked a chain up and pulled us out. We tried to get his address so we could send him something, but he'd have nothing of that. He stood and talked with us a while and told us the history of two houses up for sale that we were looking at. That was certainly very helpful and if we ended up with him as a neighbor, that would be great. So, thank you John (we at least got his name)for taking the time to help out a couple stranded city folk.

Snow Day

Today, all of us got to hole up in the house due to the snow. Anna's school called off, Dorene's school called off. Then finally, IU South Bend called it off. I found out this info at about 2:30 in the morning. I'm not sure who more anxiously watches the school closings scroll at the bottom of the screen, the kids or Dorene and I. Actually, that's a simple one, it's us.

We didn't do much of anything, and that was great. Today was Valentine's Day, so we gave the kids some candy treats. I gave Dorene some imported popcorn from Chicago (form Garrrett's, good stuff if you've never had it).

Dorene and I watched "Little Miss Sunshine," a moderately enjoyable but at the same time, moderately overrated movie. Some very jarring tone shifts as the movie wasn't always sure if it was a comedy or a depressing family study. Great performance though, by Abigail Breslin, who played 7-year old Olive. We were told that she reminded others of Anna, and she did. Wow, some of her mannerisms were exactly those of Anna. The dance scene at the end is one to rewind and watch again. This could have just as easily been a PG or PG-13 film, but they threw in some F bombs for good measure, which, as always, never add anything.

By the early evening, the roads were clear enough so we still had church. Dorene and I, along with the youth, threw a surprise birthday party for the high school leader, Joy, and she was completely surprised. Actually, her dad had called and said they wouldn't be coming because their car was stuck. We were like, "uh, we'll come get you." So, we drove the 20 minutes to pick up Joy. She remarked that there really wasn't much reason for her to go since by the time we got back to the church it would almost be over. Little did she know . . .

Now, it's late and I realize we all have to go to work/school tomorrow. That's okay, this made for a fun break. We are now officially ready for spring. Unfortunately, more snow is in the forecast.

Idol Predictions

Drum roll please . . .the next American Idol will either be Melinda Doolittle or Baylie Brown. Melinda was the one totally lacking in confidence but had a magnificent voice. Baylie is the Kellie Pickler/Carrie Underwood type from San Antonio that Simon said had "commercial" written all over here.

Other favorites that I'm hoping will last a while . . .

Sanjaya Malakar: He had a sister that advanced. His was the much better voice. He did a Stevie Wonder song and he was one of those that, to me, the music just flowed out of him.

Chris Sligh: He was really funny and should stick around a while for that reason. Not the best voice but I always like performers with a sense of humor (like Taylor Hicks).

Rudy Cardenas: A Latino has never won. This guy could make a run at it. He sang "Open Arms" at his audition.

My other favorite, well, I can't think of his name. But Simon thought he looked like Fidel Castro. He sang "God's gonna cut you down" at his audition. A look unlike any other contestant.

G-G-G-lobal W-W-W-arming

Now, I believe that global warming does exist. I know this big report recently came out in which all these scientists agreed that global warming is indeed a fact and that humans are to blame. But, as we sit here with record low temperatures in parts of the nation and lots of snow, you gotta wonder. Just seems like it would make it hard to have a global warming discussion when you are freezing your booty getting to work.

An Evolution v. Creation Debate

At IU South Bend today was a lunchtime debate on that well traveled subject of evolution v. creation. The event was sponsored by the campus Anthropology Club. A panel consisted of 3 faculty on the evolution side and 2 on the creation side (actually, one of those was a non-faculty who leads the Campus Bible Fellowship group).

Nothing new came out. I mean, what really could? The science faculty had all their data down as to why evolution clearly wins over creation. The creation advocates had all their reasons to why it's a matter of believing God's word. Both sides did an admirable job. The debate could have gone on all day without either side ever coming to a consensus. Although I believe the evolutionists were a little prickly at times and borderline scoffing, while the creation advocates got a little preachy.

Oh well, like I said, not much new to report on this topic. The debate continues. After it was over, everyone was invited to have a piece of cake in honor of Darwin's 198th birthday. I wanted to ask, "Was it created or did it just randomly appear while we weren't looking?" But I didn't.

A Great Kid's Film (but don't take the kids)

I saw "Pan's Labryinth" recently. It's been nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language film and some technical awards. If you've seen the advertisements or poster art, it may seem like a children's fantasy along the lines of Harry Potter or even Lord of the Rings.

It does indeed appear that way for the first few minutes. But trust me, it is NOT a kids movie. I am sure there are parents that have taken their kids to see it and have had to deal with their nightmares. If you have yet to see the film, then you will clearly know you're not watching Nickelodeon when the interrogation scene with the rabbit hunters takes place early in the film.

A very original film. Combines two storylines: Children's fantasy and 1940's Spain after the Franco revolution. Uh, what's that again? Yep, that's the two main storylines. Kind of hard to describe. But I absolutely loved it. Yes, it's subtitled. But like I will always say, if a book is good, you don't want to put it down. If a subtitled movie is really good, you forget you're reading subtitles. Both storylines are very well done and neatly intertwined. You never tire of either one.

This probably should have been nominated in the Best Picture category. It really is that good. Just don't take the kids. For the adults, you'll have some squirm moments too.

Winter Jam

This past weekend, Dorene and I went to the Winter Jam concert in Fort Wayne with 2 other adults and 10 youth from our church.It only costs 10 bucks to get in, so it's a good deal. A good mixture of bands, designed to appeal to several age groups.

The first group was "Sanctus Real," a group I really like, that has sort of flown under the radar. They've been around a while, but haven't really gotten all that big. They only played 3 songs, so they were on and off way too quick. I wanted to hear much more of them.

Next up was the hard-driving sound of "NewSong." Okay, just kidding. They were okay. Didn't play all that long and I was kinda bored by them anyway. Then, at the end, the band launches into some brief riffs of "(you make we want to) Shout" and "Sweet Home Alabama." Not bad.

Then came "Hawk Nelson," and they were easily the crowd favorite and were definitely the group I enjoyed the most. A sort of pop/punk sound that I really liked. They had a lot of fun out there on stage and didn't get all "worship moment" on us. Sometimes musicians should just play and not talk, because when they try to talk and be all profound, it just doesn't work. These guys just played and had a blast. Kind of reminded me of early Newsboys (before the worship genre got ahold of them and made them take it down a couple notches). I'll be keeping my eye on "Hawk Nelson" and checking out more of their music.

Steven Curtis Chapman came on next. I hadn't seen him since 1993 and have not really been a huge fan. But he actually did pretty good. Did some very amped-up versions of "The Great Adventure" and "Dive." But, what I really liked about him was his band. His guitarist was his 17 year old son and his drummer was his 15 year old son. The other guitarist and keyboardist were not related to the Chapman's but were brothers. They in fact have their own group, "The Following," which played a song as Steven Curtis briefly left the stage. I was impressed that Chapman has changed with the times. He wasn't just changing his style for today's youth, he was changing it for HIS OWN youth. I like that.

The comedian John Morgan came on, with his dead-on impression of George W. Bush. Now, the Coliseum was full, and I'd say that a sizeable portion were Republicans. But the response to this comedic bit was tepid at best. It just isn't funny anymore. Morgan said something about "you mess with the U.S.A., we mess with you." That whole bravado thing just doesn't cut it for me anymore. He also tried to equate himself as in tune with Christians, but with all the scandals that have taken place with Republican lawmakers, this just didn't resonate either.

The evening then closed with Jeremy Camp. Yikes, I didn't like him at all. He got the biggest cheer when he came on with his Peyton Manning jersey, and many seemed to like him a lot, but I found his set very boring. Ended the evening on a whimper. But overall, for $10.00, not a bad deal. Dorene said it was too loud. It was indeed loud, but it's never TOO loud.

Zimbabwe Loves the Bears!

Remember after a championship game when the players are all given hats and shirts commemorating their victory? I've always wondered, hmm, if they printed these for one team, then they had to be printed for the other team, too. Where do these alternate reality shirts and caps end up at?

Turns out, they all head out to Africa. They really do. The NFL donates them to World Vision, under the stipulation that they are sent far, far away. Which they certainly are. There are several countries that they can be sent to (Sierre Leone being a recent one) and evidently this year's country is Zimbabwe. It just kind of strikes me as funny that somewhere in the African plains, people are running around with shirts and caps that say "Bears 2007 Super Bowl Champs" or "Patriots 2007 AFC Champs" or "Seahawks 2007 NFC Champs."

A Season Complete

Wow, it's now official. The Colts are Super Bowl champs! Peyton Manning has the monkey off his back (and Rex Grossman's monkey just grew to King Kong size proportions).

Last night's game was not the most exciting game I've ever watched, especially after the game that got the Colts to the Super Bowl. The Bears couldn't really get anything going. The Colts didn't do much better, but they kept the Bears offense off the field for a very long time. They came through when they needed, and their running game did very well, which was critical in the rainy weather.

Several in our church gathered at a home to watch the game. Vast majority were Colts fans. There was one lone Bears fan, who we almost had to scrape from the ceiling after that opening kickoff. We watched on a big screen t.v., but it was within the NFL policy. It's always fun watching the game with a crowd, and as is the usual custom, the commercials can be just as entertaining. Although, not a whole lot of standouts last night.

A far cry from previous church sponsored Super Bowl parties I've attended. At Scottsdale Bible Church in Arizona, hundreds packed the church's auditorium. The MC was an NBC commentator who attended the church. One year, the half-time guest was Kevin Johnson. At the time, there was no bigger local sports celebrity than Kevin Johnson. Another half-time guest was a rookie golfer from Arizona State University who had just finished his final round at the Phoenix Open. A guy by the name of Phil Mickelson who we figured we'd hear more from in the future.

At Trinity Evangelical Free Church in South Bend, we didn't have the half-time celebrities, but it was still a very big gathering. During half-time (in Arizona and here) was a ministry-oriented moment.

Last night, well, was a little different. Much smaller crowd. So, we watched Prince perform. I must say, he did a very good job, and you had to love the light-up marching band.

The NFL Party Poopers

A church down in Indy wants to have a Super Bowl party. They are going to show the game with a projection screen TV. "Oh no you don't," says the NFL. The policy dictates that mass showings of the game can only be shown on a screen no more than 55 inches big. Way to go NFL! Way to squash that local team spirit!

The pastor of the church says they'll abide by the law, but is frustrated because now the only place to see the game with a large crowd would be at bars, which he states are obviously not appropriate places for children. Click here for the story.

Not sure what the NFL is worried about. The church I used to attend used to show the game on a large projection screen (to a very large crowd). It was always a lot of fun. During the halftime, they would have a brief outreach oriented moment. To my knowledge, no wardrobe malfunctions ever took place.