Movie: "Michael Jackson This is It"

It's kinda interesting when you think about how the public perceives Michael Jackson now and how they did just before his death. He was scheduled to do a series of concerts in London, but when they were announced, it barely caused a ripple here. Even as they approached, you never heard much about them, or that MJ was in Los Angeles rehearsing. It seemed the concerts were a last ditch effort by him to either regain some of his stature as the King of Pop or to pay off the massive debts he had. Michael had become nothing more than a tabloid sensation, with ever increasingly bizarre behavior, and he hadn't performed in almost 10 years. After he died suddenly in June, interest did grow about these concerts he was preparing for, and then it was found out lots of rehearsal footage existed, which was made into the documentary I went and saw tonight.

Based on what I saw, I would have to say that Michael was poised to make a phenomenal comeback. He wasn't just planning a concert, but it was a massive stage production complete with 3D special effects, filmed sequences, and much more. He assembled an impressive line-up of dancers and musicians (my favorite being female guitarist Orianthi Panagaris, but the other lead guitarist, a male, ain't no slouch, either).

I guess what most people will wonder when they first go to see this is, how does he look? Well, he is very skinny, but other than that, he seems just fine. He's very courteous to his fellow performers and crew, makes his intentions clear without being a spoiled prima dona. Can he still dance? Oh yeah, he still has the moves, amazingly so. He never seems distant or detached, just his usual calm, reserved self that I remember from his 80's heyday.

The rehearsal footage assembled is pretty amazing. You see many songs performed close to how they would have been performed in the actual concert. The sound is very good, it doesn't have the feel of raw footage being shot by a handheld camera. The dancing is wonderful, and all the instrumentalists are great (and Michael isn't selfish, he allows them to be spotlighted). Also, they just seemed to be having a blast! This would have been one fun concert to be a part of. I don't think anyone was expecting this from Michael at age 50. He wasn't just going to phone in his performance, he was truly giving it his all, and it shows in the rehearsals.

You don't have to be a big MJ fan to enjoy this. I don't know how much fans were paying for the London concerts, but they were going to get their money's worth. Would Michael truly have ended his career after the London concerts? I don't know. After word got out how great they were, I think there would have been a huge demand for a worldwide tour. Based on what I saw in this documentary, I would loved to have seen the final, polished product (but what you see is still very impressive). This is only playing in theatres for two weeks, so go quickly, you won't be disappointed.

Clever Students

I teach a freshman-level college skills course at IU South Bend. This past week, we spent time in class preparing for an exam they were to take. I divided everyone into small groups to review the different test strategies and how to memorize the material. The test was over a chapter from the textbook. One of the strategies was taking random information and organizing in a way that would be easy to remember. For example, taking a list of 6 terms and making a sentence out of the first letter of each term.

For this example, the first letter of each term they were trying to memorize was E, L, D, H, C, W. Below is the sentence they came up with using these letters:

Every
Losing
Domer
Hates
Charlie
Weiss

I thought that was pretty good.

Dodgers v. Phillies

Watching the Phillies play the Dodgers in Los Angeles brings back memories of when I was at my peak of baseball fandom (my interest now only somewhat perks up during the playoffs). Back in the late 70's, the Phillies and Dodgers met several times in the National League playoffs. At the time, we lived in California and each year we made a trek down to Dodger Stadium. The first game we ever went to? Yep, Dodgers and Phillies during the regular season.

Dodger Stadium is not located in the heart of Los Angeles. You exit the freeway and go up this hill to get to it. You kinda wonder where this thing is at, then suddenly you come up over the hill and the sky blue stadium sits in the middle of a massive parking lot (which, by the way, is a zoo getting out of).

We usually went down 1 - 2 times a year. Ironically, I was never a Dodger fan. In fact, I rooted against them big time. I grew up a Cincinnati Reds fan, this during the era of Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, and Pete Rose. So, we often went to see the Reds when they came to town. But, despite my interest in seeing them lose, the Dodgers were an enjoyable team to watch during the late 70's and early 80's. For one, this was when teams stayed together a long time and they had a remarkable team with players like Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, Davey Lopes, and many others, including Mike Sciosia, who's now coaching the cross-town rival Angels.

The first game I went to featured home runs by Greg Luzinski and Mike Schmidt of the Phillies. For the Dodgers, Rick Monday hit one and a grand slam was hit by none other than Dusty Baker, now a successful coach in the major leagues. Yeah, not quite sure why I remember who hit home runs for an early season game over 30 years ago, but maybe since it was my first trip to a major league game, that made it memorable. It was also memorable in that we were delayed in traffic several hours getting there (traffic accident on the mountain pass) and delayed again on our return trip (another traffic accident on the mountain pass). Not sure if she sang it at the first game I went to, but I remember multiple times Toni Tenille singing the national anthem (you know, as in Captain and . . .

Dodger Stadium is quite old now, and I think it's the oldest next to Wrigley Field and Fenway Park. I've been to several stadiums in my lifetime, but this one is still the best. Plus, it also has the best hot dogs of any ballpark . . .Dodger Dogs!

Returning to Bible Quizzing

Anna is on the quiz team at Trinity Evangelical Free Church in South Bend. Dorene and I used to be quiz coaches there and it's been fun returning but this time in the supportive parent role. We're not switching churches, just having Anna join their quiz team as a free agent. Kinda cool in that two of our former quizzers are now the coaches.

Anna had her first quiz last weekend in Peoria, Illinois. We weren't sure how she'd do because quizzing puts you in the spotlight and you also get told "wrong" several times. This didn't faze Anna a bit. She stepped it up and kinda surprised us. She finished in the top 10, which is quite good for her first quiz meet.

Even better is that quizzing is divided up into two divisions, upper and lower. As a 5th grader, Anna is on the lower division. However, there weren't enough teams quizzing in the lower division, so they combined everything so the lower teams (typically first-year teams) quizzed against the experienced teams with high school juniors and seniors. Anna held her own and outjumped many of the older, much more experienced quizzers. Can you say, YES!!

Cameron has played soccer, basketball, baseball and gymnastics. Anna has not really had anything to call her own. But she called Grandma Dennie after the quiz and told her, "I finally found my sport."

Not to brag on her or anything, but watch out, she's gonna be a good quizzer and comes from good quizzing pedigree. Both my brothers quizzed as did all my nephews and niece (whom I told practiced with laminated note cards in the shower). Myself, we didn't have a quiz team at our small church in Pixley, California, so I never got to quiz. But if we had, I'm sure a team that had me and Jeff Prine would have been unstoppable.

A Nobel Peace Prize for Obama?

Any Republican that questions this is going to be called a right-wing nut that can't accept the fact that Obama is President. But wait just a minute here. Does he really deserve this award NOW? I mean, what has he really done after just a year? I perfectly accept Obama as being President, he won handily, but this award kinda puzzles me.

When I think Nobel Peace Prize, I think of past winners like Lech Walesa, Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Elie Wiesel, Gorbachev, and Jimmy Carter. Usually the award is given as more of a lifetime achievement or for some truly monumental efforts at peace (like Walesa and Gorbachev). Oftentimes it goes to someone you've never heard of, but who has done something extraordinary.

I just don't see Obama deserving this just yet. His "war of necessity" in Afghanistan has gone quickly downhill in his year in office with last August being the deadliest month yet for our troops (we lost 48, but no one seemed to notice). Iraq has stabilized, mainly due to the troop surge he was against. Not saying Obama would never deserve the award . . .but not yet.

Is this making up for the sketch on SNL last weekend which mocked him as a do-nothing President?

Allison Diane Dennie @1

My baby girl turned one today!

Bring Home the Games, Obama

For some reason, Obama is getting some heat for lobbying on behalf of Chicago for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Not sure why this could be a bad thing. I think it would be great if Chicago were awarded the games. If ever I was going to have an opportunity to see an Olympics in person, this would be it. In fact, I'm not positive, but South Bend could possibly be a site because of our artificial white water course (which has been used before in Olympic trials). If anything, I think it would be cool to see the torch relay come nearby and to go see that.

A few years ago, Paris was the frontrunner for the 2012 games but was upset by London. A lot of the credit was given to Tony Blair for his lobbying on behalf of that city. So, if Obama can bring the games to us in 2016, more power to him.

However, I'm thinking that Rio de Janeiro is going to get the games. South America has never been awarded an Olympics and recent history has the U.S. doing pretty good securing the games with Lake Placid (1980); Los Angeles (1984); Atlanta (1996); and Salt Lake City (2002). The other cities in the running are Madrid and Tokyo. I would think Madrid would be a long shot since Barcelona just had them recently. Tokyo would probably be the long-shot upset if they won.

Note to Bill Clinton

Okay, so you still think there is a vast right wing conspiracy? Now, did it keep you from being elected twice to the Presidency? Did it keep the Democrats from retaking the House and Senate in 2006? Did it keep Obama from gaining the White House in 2008? If there's a conspiracy, it sure ain't doing very good at whoever they are conspiring against.

Wait a minute, are you still not coming to terms with the fact Obama beat your wife in the primaries last year and you don't have direct access again to the West Wing?

Birthday Weekend

The birthdays for myself and Dorene are just 3 days apart, so we usually combine celebrations. Not this year, however, since Dorene reached the milestone of 40.

I got her a room at the Farmstead Inn in Shipshewana for her and two of her friends last Friday, which was her actual birthday. They came back late on Saturday after doing the shopping thing in Shipshewana. She had told me a while ago that this is what she would like to do on her 40th when I was suggesting how it should be celebrated (she had actually forgotten she said this, so she was surprised when I told her what she's be doing). Meanwhile, I stayed at home with the kids and had a lot of fun just hanging out with them.

For my 45th birthday tonight, I came home and Dorene, the kids, and the dog were all gathered around the big rock in front of our house. Made for a nice picture but I didn't have my camera with me. But that was a nice thing to come home to. For dinner, I got some wonderful lasagna cooked by Dorene and Cameron (not exactly sure what he did, but he was very proud of it). Anna made my favorite cake, which is yellow with chocolate frosting. Allie just sat in her high chair and didn't contribute.

For my present, I got a Cadbury candy bar, which is one of my favorites. However, tucked in the wrapper were tickets to see the Cardinals v. Lions at Ford Field in December. Okay, this is a really good candy bar now. She said she tried to get tickets to the Cardinals v. Bears, but they were much more expensive. Go figure, it costs more to see the Lions than the Bears? The game is in late December, so by then Ford Field could be really empty unless the Lions make a serious run at it this year (after 0-16 last year, probably not). For the Cardinals, hopefully they can get it together, but either way I look forward to seeing Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald in action.

Next up: Allie turns one on October 8.

Catching up with Alex Cross

Recently finished "Cross Country," the latest novel by James Patterson to feature detective Alex Cross. One thing about a Patterson novel is if you say, "Wait just a minute, I need to finish this chapter," you are actually overestimating the time it'll take to finish. Patterson is known for his rather short chapters.

I've always very much enjoyed all of the Alex Cross series, but this one probably ranks near the bottom. It starts off well enough, with Cross on the trail of a typically ruthless serial killer. But then he sends Cross off to Africa, and everything kind of bogs down. Not much really happens, and I guess Patterson wanted to show his humanitarian side by describing the plight of the Nigerians. In addition, Cross seems to get beat up a lot, which is unusual for this character (note to Hollywood: Morgan Freeman was the wrong choice to portray this guy).

So, not too thrilled with this book. Will have to wait for the next one, which won't take long, because Patterson really cranks these out. He's also written a number of other books with other authors. I've read several of these. One I won't read is "The Quickie," if for no other reason so I don't get caught coming out of the library with a book called, "The Quickie."

The "New" Jay Leno

I watched the rebooted Jay Leno show last night. It actually was okay, only I'm not sure what exactly was new about it. It seemed to be pretty much the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno." He had guests, some pre-recorded bits, pretty much what he did before. Came out shook hands with the crowd as always, joked with Kevin Eubanks, had some pre-recorded bits. Nothing all that new. Maybe a little bit less formal than the Tonight Show, but basically the same.

However, with Conan's ratings not doing so hot, maybe the same old show is what people want. I've never "got" Conan. His style of standing up there and making jokes of how unfunny he is was much better mastered by Letterman and (especially) Johnny Carson. Conan just doesn't do it for me and after his premiere, I've yet to watch it again.

Leno seemed to be enjoying himself and I think his show will probably do just fine (although the interview with Seinfeld was kinda boring). As for Kanye West, I thought he was basically a jerk for what he did in stealing Taylor Swift's moment so his teary confession last night didn't move me a bit. In fact, some of my student workers were talking about him yesterday, and were saying how it's getting harder to listen to his music because of all his antics.

Maybe Wilson is On to Something

Of course the most memorable part of Obama's speech last night was Rep. Joe Wilson shouting out, "You Lie!" in the midst of it. As expected, this was called "outrageous," "unheard of, " "outside the boundaries of civility," and the list goes on. Wilson apologized, saying his emotions got the better part of him.

But you know, maybe he's onto something here. You ever watch the Prime Minister questions that takes place in Britain? Occasionally I've come across this on C-SPAN. I believe it takes place on a weekly basis, where the House of Commons gets to directly ask questions of the Prime Minister, and anything goes. There is nothing scripted here, so the Prime Minister has to be ready for anything, and it's not always pleasant. Lots of grumbling goes on during the responses he gives. Yet, the country goes on. I've never heard of House of Commons representative coming to blows, so they must have mastered the art of how to appear uncivil but asking questions they feel need to be asked.

We often complain about so-called Presidential press conferences and how scripted they are. Or, how the President doesn't really have to answer to anyone and avoids any kind of direct question that isn't fed to him in advance (this goes for any President).

So, what if we adopted the British model? Have a time each week where the Congress could ask the President anything they want and have him respond on the spot? For Bush, this would have been a nightmare. For Obama, he'd need an IMAX size teleprompter to be ready for all the possible questions.

Going to the Circus

Last night the famous Carson & Barnes Circus came to the town of North Liberty, Indiana. Okay, THEY say it's famous and been around 70+ years, but I'd never heard of it. This was actually a fundraiser for the small Christian school that our kids attend and the big top (which was pretty good size) was set up in the grass by the North Liberty Church of Christ.

Growing up, I vaguely remember a 3rd grade field trip in Arizona to see a circus. But other than that, never went to one nor remember ever caring to go to one. Although, I guess I also did go to Circus Circus, but that was in Las Vegas and not exactly the same thing (the trapeze artists for the circus last night, we were told, came from Circus Circus).

The kids absolutely loved the circus, and even baby Allie sat there kind of awestruck. They had the usual assortment of circus acts. You had your jugglers, your acrobats, trapeze artists, and of course the animal acts culminating in the elephants doing their thing ,which Anna really thought was cool. There were also clowns, but I wasn't scared of them like Kramer (that's a "Seinfeld" reference).

Dorene and I were not into it all that much, but it wasn't for us, it was for the kids and they indeed had a blast. We sort of analyzed what the circus life must be like. One thing I noticed was that every single act began with the announcement, "From South America, please welcome . . . " In other words, these were probably all undocumented workers making minimum wage (if they were lucky). I believe just about every act was from South America, except for the dog act from the Ukraine.

The ringmaster was straight out of some old movie. A large fellow with a booming voice. During intermission, he came out with a yellow python that you could get your picture taken with. Anna likes snakes, but not that much. Also during intermission, they do all they could to milk more money out of the parents. They set up pony rides and elephant rides right there in the middle. How could you say no? Thus, Cameron got his elephant ride and spent his other $$ on a light saber, to go with his ever growing collection.

40 Years in Prison . . .Justice Served?

Susan Atkins is 61, has terminal brain cancer, and is paralyzed over 85% percent of her body. However, she was just denied parole from her life sentence in prison. Has she paid for her crime? The victim's sister doesn't think so, and she says Atkins staying in prison for life is the least that can be done.

I guess both sides have a point. No, Atkins isn't exactly a threat to society anymore, so what harm would it do to release her? Hasn't she served enough?

But, on the other side, you have the sister of Sharon Tate, victim of one of the most horrific murder scenes in recent memory. Susan Atkins was part of the infamous Manson Family that went on a murderous spree in 1969. I can see why she wouldn't want Atkins out, paralyzed or not.

Athough, I guess one could argue that Debra Tate should "move on" with her life and take solace that the family members have stayed in jail for as long as they have (they let Squeaky Fromme out recently, but she wasn't involved in the murders). It seems almost an unhealthy obsession 40 years later to be arguing for more prison time.

But then again, I read the excellent book about the case, "Helter Skelter," and remember Atkins describing how she held down the very pregnant Sharon Tate as she pleaded for her life and that of her unborn baby, but to no avail as she was stabbed multiple times.

We'll leave this one to the parole board.

Back in Class

Today was my first day teaching class for the fall semester. I teach a class called "Threshold Seminar" which is designed for under-prepared, incoming freshman. Have a nice diverse group of students, including 4 older students (we call them "non-traditional" students in higher education) who tend to be more vocal than the pups right out of high school.

Had some brief introductions and reviewed the syllabus (that's higher education talk for course outline) then jumped right in on case studies of potential problems that students may have beginning college. Had great discussion, kinda surprising on Day 1 for everyone to chime in, but they did. This bodes well for the rest of the semester. I also have a student mentor working with me the whole class, which really helps because that tends to ease the anxieties of incoming students when they have a fellow student in such a role.

Looking forward to class on Thursday, but not necessarily looking forward to having to grade homework all the time.

Glad That's Over

Yesterday was the final new student orientation of the summer at IU South Bend. Orientation is one of my major job duties and yesterday we had our largest ever. Over 450 domestic undergraduate students in attendance with an additional 40 international students and 125+ parents and guests. My job? Well, basically coordinating everything from A to Z in regards to orientation. Everything from recruiting and training student mentors, staff and faculty advisors, lunch, all the set-up logistics, rounding up speakers, printed materials, you name it. A lot of work, but always very rewarding. It's exciting to see all these students and parents on campus beginning their college careers.

But I'm still glad this one was over. Being so big, things had the potential to go wrong because I'd never worked with this large of a crowd before. But they didn't, everything went quite smoothly. Rain would have been a disaster but it held off until after we were done (I always tell people I do an anti-rain dance the night before).

Now, it's time to begin planning for next summer, but first I need to get ready to teach my class of 20 students in our freshman seminar. That too I look forward to each fall. Classes begin August 31, so I probably should get rolling on this.

Tired of Brett Favre

Okay, so he IS now going to play for the Vikings. Wow, this guy is full of drama. Does anyone really care to watch this guy? Will anyone really want to tune in on October 5 when the Vikings host the Packers or on November 1 when the Vikings play at Green Bay?

Yeah, I'll be interested, too.

A Couple Clint Eastwood Movies

Clint Eastwood directed two movies that were released last year. One was a huge hit and the other was a huge bomb. I caught up with both of them recently.

Gran Torino
This was the huge hit. Eastwood plays an aging racist who comes to befriend the Korean neighbors next door, in particular the son who tried to steal his car. Ultimately the movie plays out fairly well, but I wasn't overwhelmed. Part of the problem is with the Eastwood character. He seems a little over the top in his racist rants and there's a strange scene where him and a barber are teaching the Korean kid all about racist dialogue. I just didn't buy into the fact the Eastwood character was really like this, didn't seem very realistic (was this "Dirty Harry" in retirement?). So, while it does build up to a pretty good ending and there's an interesting priest character, I just didn't like the movie as much as I thought I would.

Changeling
This was the huge bomb, and to me, the far better movie of the two. In fact, very, very good. It tells a true story that seems almost to "out there" to be true, but it is. I checked on a lot of the facts and Eastwood pretty much told it straight. It's set in 1920's Los Angeles where Angelina Jolie, a single mom, has a 7-year old son that goes missing. The cops aren't too eager to help find him, but suddenly do . . .only Jolie insists who they found is not her son (he's not). How the cops respond to her is more of the story that I won't divulge. Suffice it to say that women questioning the cops in 1920's Los Angeles was not looked on too favorably.

While that part of the story I knew going in, there was a subplot that I was not expecting, and it plays a critical role in the movie. There is another villain that enters the story that may or may not be part of the whole mystery of what happened to Jolie's son. It's another true story that seems too far-fetched (and horrifying) to be true, but it is.

I highly recommend this movie, but parents be forewarned. Do not under any circumstances let your kids watch this. There are a couple scenes that to me were downright horrifying. At one point towards the end, I almost stopped watching it, and I don't usually have that strong of a reaction. But being the father of a 7-year old son, you'll know why when you see it. Yes, the movie is very well made, and not explicit, but what is implied is more than enough.

Changing Names

Radio Shack has recently decided to change it's name to "The Shack." Their rationale was that everyone already refers to the store by that nickname. In talking with my nephew that used to work there, he said only internally was it ever referred to that way. Hmm, we'll see how that all works out.

Recently, Circuit City changed it's name to "The City." They went bankrupt before all their signs could be updated.

Kentucky Fried Chicked has survived the change to KFC, as has Federal Express to FedEX. However, will anyone truly refer to that big building in Chicago as the "Willis Tower?"

Another strange one is the cable Science Fiction Network changing to "Sy Fy." Yeah, that helps promote literacy in our nation.

Anna and the Underdog

Our 10-year old daughter Anna is a social butterfly. Nothing makes her happier than to have other kids around to play with. When we go to a motel, after about 5 minutes in the pool, she knows everyone's name.

But there's a deeper part to her that really makes me proud. Anna also is very inclusive. She wants every kid to have a good time and makes sure that happens. Anna herself is a little quirky and a little odd, so maybe that's why she doesn't see anyone else as being quirky or odd. She just wants them to have fun. Recently we were at a playground and one girl was crying because another girl had evidently hit her. She was over with her mom and wasn't going to play anymore. Anna went over to her and before you know it, both of them were running around having a great time. I've seen her sit with special needs' kids and talk to them like she would anyone else, seemingly oblivious to the fact they were different. She has a heart for the underdog. Those that might get left out, she makes sure they get put in.

On Sunday, our pastor spoke on III John. One of the verses he highlighted was verse four, which reads, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." Someday, I imagine Anna could give us a run for our money on that one and make us wonder what we did wrong. But for now, nothing makes this father more proud than to see his daughter practicing the golden rule to its fullest.