i get a bike, my wife gets an education

my wife had her first day of classes yesterday. we went to a local coffee shop before to "prepare ourselves." by that, i mean she read some proverbs and i stubbornly and unsuccessfully tried to upload a file for work (depressingly, it was the second place i'd been to besides my house to upload this file). then it was carpool time. the students headed off to begin their new lives, i moped upstairs to wallow in self-pity. it was a good morning.

so far, class sounds good. to start the class, her teacher locked her in a room with a homicidal schizophrenic. apparently, she did pretty well for a first-timer. i like their hands-on approach!



i'm sure many of you are wondering where i've been recently. sorry if i didn't return g-chats or respond to facebook group requests. i've probably been out riding my brand new old schwinn bicycle: the traveler iii. i got it with the birthday money my wife spent on shoes which i later returned. with some very slight tinkering on the bike, everything mostly stays together. i've taken a couple rides through forest park already. mostly, i hear people crashing or running into things because my bike is so amazing. so, if you start hearing about a lot of bike and people wrecks--it's ok, it's just me and the traveler iii.

road rage

on sunday, we visited a church in webster grove, about 15 minutes away. the service itself was great and we enjoyed a nice lunch with the members afterward. as we left the neighborhood, we heard tires screech and i slammed the breaks as a ford escort with racing stripe flew down the street we were about to turn on.

we were in a pretty quiet neighborhood, without much of shoulder and no sidewalks, so it was kind of scary to see car go flying by right in front of us. my wife decided she should let the chump know how frustrated she by honking the horn. that's when everything became really fun.

naturally, psycho hit his breaks, flipped the escort around and started barreling towards us. not wanting to instigate a high speed chase, i had no choice but to sit, listen to the sound of squealing tires and a red lined engine and await my fate. when he got right in front of us, he, shirtless with bright orange hair, leaned out of his car and shouted, "if you wanna do something, do it!"

then, he raced off in the opposite direction. of course, we were all more than a little rattled and drove slowly home. we passed him once, at a gas station up the street. he eyed us suspiciously as we drove passed. i wonder if he even recognized us. i kept an eye in the rear view mirror the entire ride home, all sorts of disasters playing out in my head.

i've experienced crazy drivers before, but this opened up a entirely new chapter to me. welcome to st. louis!

showtime at the hi-pointe

the past two weekends, i walked down the block to dogtown's local theater, the hi-pointe. the single screen theater has been around since the 20's, under various owners. apparently, they typically show a mixture of indie and big-name flicks. the past two i've seen have both been blockbusters: the dark knight and tropic thunder. more on those later.

i'm pretty excited about being able to regularly stroll down the street to catch a flick. though i was spoiled with the "riveria" in knoxville, the place more than makes up for its lack of option with class. if you can handle the steep steps to the men's bathroom (ADA standards noticeably absent), you are rewarded with urinals that have been voted the best in st. louis by the river front times. yes, they have the generous full length models.

its pretty amazing to watch a movie in a place where people having doing the same for the past 80 years. i'm excited about experiencing many other st. louis gems, but this has been my first.

also, you gotta love a place that let's you know what you're getting into on the marquee.

ok, now onto the movies. if you aren't a nerd, you probably shouldn't read on. i'm not planning on editing to much of this and it will get pretty dorky. also, while i don't give any secret plot points away, i will discuss the movie in detail.

the dark knight:
i went into this movie with very high expectations. i was a big fan of batman begins because it restored the story of batman to something above an overblown music video. but it also was just a good film. batman has always been melodramatic and overwrought, but in a way that still told a good story.

the dark knight may be one of the few sequels that actually exceeded my expectations. as before the tone of the film was excellent. realistic enough to draw you in, but with enough comic book high-paced action to keep things moving.

the acting was excellent. heath ledger literally disappeared into his role. you find yourself watching the movie just for him. as a whole, his scenes stand out as my favorite.

the plot really takes it up a notch from the first. whereas batman begins strayed into hero movie formula on occasion, the dark knight dug in like a good crime drama. at times it was difficult to keep up with the plot--which was good. it's nice to have multiple layers to sift through. it picks up with what batman started in the first film, which is one of the themes of this one. we see batman dealing with what he has created choosing to fight as a vigilante. the fake batmen were a smart addition. the opening scene is excellent--it sets up the plot while introducing us to the joker's sense of style.

the writers really let themselves go with the joker. i think this is where the film truly succeeds. they allow his character to run free, which brings out the complexities of the story that make batman so great, like the relationship between batman and the joker. does the existence of batman make the joker's appearance inevitable? (though i haven't read it, apparently this is the theme that the killing joke by alan moore explores, next on my list of graphic novels to read)

will and i were discussing this when he was in town and i have to give credit to him for bring it up. but it is through the joker that the movie also explores philosophical questions. the first comes from the pressure that citizens, policemen, etc. put on batman to turn himself in. the joker has decided that if batman turns himself in, he'll stop killing more people. out of fear, everyone then places the onus on batman stop more murders. if only he would reveal himself, the joker will stop. what we are willing to sacrifice to have what we want right now? ultimately, the joker changes his mind and decides that life is better with batman around.

the other occurred when the joker rigged the two boats to explode. the boat with the regular citizens votes to blow up the other boat, containing criminals. if one boat does not blow up the other before midnight they are both destroyed. they know it would be wrong to incinerate the other boat, but by taking a vote they try to pass off responsibility to the majority. i thought this was an interesting point about potential weaknesses of democracy, majority rule, and reliance on opinion polls. that's me reading into it.

i love any film that rises above its genre. the dark knight transcends the common super hero movie. but then again, i'm a pretty huge nerd.

tropic thunder:
this movie is pretty funny. nothing special, it pretty much meets expectations. there's nothing like hollywood making fun of itself. unfortunately, its blazing saddles attempt to mock racism seems more like lip service--it takes shots at african-americans, asians, and mentally retarded people alike, but it's generally a funny movie. however, if you find yourself in the wrong circle, you may have to defend your decision to see the film.

things that make me laugh pt.i

i laugh every time.

music: TVOTR

today, i've been enjoying the new tv on the radio single. you can, too:
http://www.tvontheradio.com/

the album comes out next month. if you need to be reminded why you should be excited, watch "wolf like me."

charred paper, fractured plaster

for the past week, i've been forging my resume into a titanic juggernaut that thwart the most stubborn receptionist. or, for an entire week, i've been staring at the past three years of my employed life boiled down to 3 bullet points, fighting back tears and feelings of inadequacy.

why is i'm judged by merits my resume writing capabilities over what i have or haven't done? it just seems to encouraged embellishment. to be honest, this works to my advantage. i haven't actually been working that long. it still drives me crazy.

to spice things up, we decided to hang pictures, shelves, and maps in our apartment this week. mostly, this went according to plan. we generally bickered about the placement of items, moved them around, moved them back, and settled for something neither of us really loved. hanging on plaster is painful as well, but we figured out where we needed to drill pilot holes and where we did not and moved on.

the one piece we didn't argue too much about was our cheap, target "wine rack and glass holder." we both thought the most natural place was next to the refrigerator in the kitchen. dutifully, i pulled out the appropriate tools, measured, and marked the holes and began to drill.

about halfway toward the required anchor depth, i hit and impenetrable barrier. like any man, i assumed i just didn't have to right drill bit, accepted the excuse to go to home depot, and bought a masonry bit--fire wall be damned!

but this trick also failed. after several hours of sweat, tears, degenerate speech and foul oaths i managed to get the thing on the wall--crooked. which is where it sits now.

work at home

out of pity or boredom, a few of you have asked me what it's like working at home. today i decided to do a little documentation. by documentation, i mean that i took a few random pictures of myself and my desk.

working at home has pros and cons. you don't have to shower every morning, but then you stink most of the time. you get to see your wife most of the day, but that reminds her how annoying you are. you don't have to commute, but you find yourself staring at the neighbor's window wondering why they leave the their blinds closed all day long. you start going over scenarios in your mind: meth lab, video game addict, closet goose-stepper. then you realize that you've been staring at their window suspiciously for 45 minutes. you're the reason the blinds are drawn. so, with that problem settled you can go back to doing whatever it is you want to do--i mean, err...work.

then there is the co-worker arrangement. i do miss being in the office because i miss out out the everyday interactions with my co-workers. the squirrel who habitually hangs out on the roof just outside out stairwell has helped me knock around a few new ideas, but squirrels are so unreliable. there one day, gone the next. so that remains a pretty large negative.



the best part about working at home is that you get to one-up your friends about how gas-efficient and 'green' you are. i'm still trying to iron out the exact words, but i'm thinking my line to drop at parties will be something like this.

when it came to my occupation, i took a hard look at the world. gas prices, global politics, and climate change being what they are, i truly believe i have a moral imperative to work from home. and now that i've made the switch, i just sleep better at night. to be honest, i don't know how you could otherwise.

i've been looking for a good angle in making new friendships for a long time. i think this should do the trick.

move in

for the first post of my newly revamped blog, i'm letting the pictures do the talking. my hope is to keep this thing updated regularly.

here we go.

more graphs from the economist...

the above shows the prediction of premature deaths due to ozone defenicies by 2030. i know that on one hand, 57 people out a million doesn't sound like a lot, but i think we should be concerned.

the religious right

Not that I'm a particularly huge fan of Mike Huckabee, but I'm excited about what some are calling a shift in dynamics for the Religious Right. I'm tired of hearing about fellow Chrisitans blindly voting for Republicans simply because they put forth pro-life candidates. And even if huck was not the greatest choice, he was still a step in the right direction. If Christians believe that it is their duty to engage in politics, then they also need to realize there are more issues to debate than abortion.

This from Sojourners Magazine:

What's Next for Mike Huckabee?

Tuesday evening, John McCain clinched the Republican nomination for president, and Mike Huckabee, the last remaining contender, conceded defeat. Huckabee's campaign, and the failure of the Religious Right to support him, has been one of the most interesting and puzzling stories of this primary season.

While Huckabee is certainly a social conservative, he refused to toe the line on a number of issues. And that is more evidence for why I say the monologue of the Religious Right has ended and the evangelical agenda has broadened.In the Republican YouTube debate, the candidates were asked if they believed every word of the Bible. Huckabee said that while some of the Bible was allegorical, we needed to take much of it much more seriously than we do - such the words of Jesus that say, "As you have done to the least of these you have done to me." This is not the text that most conservatives quote when asked about the authority of the Bible.

In an interview with Reuters in January, Huckabee spoke about the broadening evangelical agenda:

Unquestionably there is a maturing that is going on within the evangelical movement. It doesn't mean that evangelicals are any less concerned about traditional families and the sanctity of life. It just means that they also realize that we have real responsibility in areas like disease and hunger and poverty and that these are issues that people of faith have to address.

And when conservative columnists such as Robert Novak attacked Huckabee for not being a "real conservative," this is precisely what they meant. When Huckabee was governor of Arkansas, he advocated spending money on poor people - behavior that is offensive to the economically conservative wing of the Republican Party. While Huckabee is a consistent social conservative, he is considered suspect by the party's economic conservatives who, of course, don't support spending any money on overcoming poverty. Huckabee disagrees with them.On immigration, in that same debate, there was an all-out attack on "illegal aliens" who became the new scapegoat, the new "other," for many of the Republican candidates - and the preferred way to energize their primary base. Except for the acknowledgement from John McCain that "these are God's children too," every Republican candidate preceded to demagogue the issue, beating up on undocumented immigrants for crass political gain.

But then Mike Huckabee spoke. He agreed that our borders need to be protected and enforced (I do too), but then defended his support for a failed bill in Arkansas to give scholarships to exceptional students - including undocumented children. He said he didn't want to punish children for their parents' illegal actions because "that's not what we typically do in this country." This educational plan, he said, was intended to bring people from illegal to legal status. He continued, saying that he had received a good education; but if he hadn't, "I wouldn't be standing on this stage; I might be picking lettuce; I might be a person who needed government support." Then he said, "In all due respect, we're a better country than to punish children for what their parents did." Although he later moved more to the right in the heat of the primaries, that response remains.

Is that ultimately why the leaders of the Religious Right didn't support Mike Huckabee until late in the primary season? Is it because many on the Religious Right are really more committed to economic conservatism than social conservatism? Have religious conservatives gotten so used to their access to power that are they afraid to risk standing for principle over pragmatism? Huckabee was the most consistent social conservative Republican in the race - he won a straw poll at the FRC Values Voters Summit this winter - yet most of the leaders of the Religious Right never rallied around him. But the evangelical base did, keeping him in the race until this week.Now that he is out of the race, what's next for Huckabee? The conservative Washington Times said that Huckabee is at the forefront of an evangelical revival, and quoted his former communications director as saying

He has become the leader of a new generation of Christian conservative voters. ... There is nobody else you can identify outside of Mike Huckabee as a leading person to take on that role, really in a new era where evangelicals care about a lot of things like the environment and working with the poor.

And, as former Bush staffer David Kuo wrote in The Washington Post,

That there's now a pitched battle for the soul of the religious right is a horrifying thought to Republican leaders long familiar with the old religious right, a hierarchical group dominated by larger-than-life figures who'd anointed themselves Jesus's political representatives. But that movement is withering at the top and in revolt at the grass-roots. ... What's new is how widespread social justice issues are in the evangelical world. Leading New Testament theologian N.T. Wright, a conservative, says that the greatest moral issue today is not abortion but the economic inequality between the U.S. and Europe and the developing world.

So, stay tuned. We haven't heard the last from Mike Huckabee.