Two Movie Reviews

I saw two movies this weekend. One good, one bad. Here's my take on both, for whatever it's worth:

The movie Watchmen was a huge disappointment. I figured it was a comic book movie for adults - kind of a Batman Dark Knight meets Iron Man with more Super Heroes. It ended up being more of a Sin City (which I liked) in terms of the edginess and visual aspects, but story wise, I just didn't get it. I know it was supposed to have all of these deep social and political undertones, but they were way over my head. The theater seemed to be filled with a bunch of comic book fan boys who got all of the inside jokes and I was clueless around. The part that my brother Jon would have enjoyed, was the character Mr. Manhattan. The character was blue and naked the whole movie. I just don't need to have 30 minutes of full frontal male nudity in any movie I see. Kind of a rule I live by. I left the movie thinking, "I am $10 poorer and left with 3 hours of my life I'll never get back." Apparently I am not alone. My brother-in-law Kevin had the same feedback.


The second movie Cathie and I watched with Em and Maddie last night was called The Ultimate Gift. I have no idea when I put this movie in my Netflix queue or how I heard of it, or erally what it was about last night. We played the "blindly pick a movie" game last night and this is what we chose. The movie is about a wealthy grandfather who dies and his selfish family who all want his billions. One kid is a trust fund baby and anticipates a big inheritance. Instead, his grandfather has devised a crash course on life with twelve tasks – or “gifts” – designed to challenge the kid and teach him what's important in life. It was a good movie with a good message and good lessons and drove lots of good conversation with the kids. Also it had uch less full-front male nudity than Watchmen, as in none.

Were we meant to live for so much more?

I've read a series of "teen" books lately: The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series, The Twilight Series and the Warrior/Magician/Drago Heir series. I'm not big into the fantasy type books normally, but I liked the Harry Potter series and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I've noticed this theme in each of these series of books. If I've noticed it, it's probably pretty obvious to everyone, because I'm not the deepest thinker out there. Each set of books seems to have these undertones of a larger, hidden world and a of deep, unlocked potential and using those abilities and connection with the hidden world to save the world around them:

• The Nicholas Flamel series is about a couple of twins whose paths cross with a wizard/alchemyst and they have something awakened in them that causes them to see a whole world of magic and a series of powers they didn't know they had. The kids work within this new world and their new abilities to save the world from destruction.
  

• The Twilight series is about a girl who discovers a world of vampires and werewolves and (spoiler alert) is brought into this new world and given great powers as a part of it, and ultimately works together with her kind to save her community.
  


• In the Weir series, an apparently ordinary 16-year-old boy turns out to have magical powers that make him a target of a covert society of wizards, enchanters, and warriors called the Weir. He discovers that he has powers he never knew existed and ends up being a key to saving the world from evil.

One way to look at this would be a bunch of authors piling on the success that Harry Potter has seen. I'm not so sure. I think there's a reason the Harry Potter themes resonate with us. Regardless, I get wrapped up in the stories and I connect them with them for some reason beyond just a love for a good story and underdog. I think these themes are wired into our hearts from the beginning.

I think God has created our souls to be a part of something larger than the small worlds that many of us live in. A lot of people I know live with the sense that it's got to be about more than just getting a bigger house, a bigger car and keeping up with the Jonses. Wedesperately want to discover that there's a larger story that we're a part of and that we have abilities and potential beyond what we know. I think we all have glimpses of what the world could be and what we could do, if we just had what it takes...

It made me think of this song Meant to Live by Switchfoot

Fumbling his confidence
And wondering why the world has passed him by
Hoping that he's bid for more than arguments
And failed attempts to fly, fly

We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
Somewhere we live inside

Dreaming about Providence
And whether mice or men have second tries
Maybe we've been livin with our eyes half open
Maybe we're bent and broken, broken

We want more than this world's got to offer
We want more than the wars of our fathers
And everything inside screams for second life, yeah

I've talked to a lot of guys who like me, regularly ask themselves the question, "Do I have what it takes? Am I enough?" I know I've had this question rattling around in my brain for a long time. Over time, God has answered it for me in amazing ways, but I often come back to the question and wrestle with God over the answer. I saw the movie Taken recently, about a Dad who goes to extrodinary means to rescue his daughter from the mob when she's kidnapped. Something in me wished I had what it took to be the guy who would know exactly how to respond in that situation, just like Liam Nissen's character.

I remember as a kid asking myself the question of "Do I have what it takes?" felt like the world around me answered with a resounding "no". No matter what I did, what I heard from my parents or what I achieved, I felt like the answer continued to be "no" even into my 30s. I'm trying to figure out how to instill the answer of "yes" in my son and "yes" in the boys in my middle school youth group in a way that sticks to the psyches and souls. One of my favorite authors, John Eldredge, has this to say about it:

Asking the question 'do I have what it takes' was supposed to be answered by the father. Unfortunately, 'do I have what it takes' has been answered by our culture in crippling ways. The answer is almost always 'no.' And 'yes' comes with massive conditions - 'yes' if you go into business; 'yes' if you become a doctor; but that's not what's written in their heart. The boy needs to know from his father that he has what it takes. If a man does not have that one question answered deeply and affirmatively, it cripples him the rest of his life. His relationships with men end up driven. He's a guy with huge tires on his truck but never takes it off road. I'm for guys with 4-wheel drive trucks if they use it, but not if they only strut and posture because they're terrified of being a man.

So I started down this train of thought by simply reflecting on a pretty obvious theme I noticed in these books. To conclude, I think God has wired our hearts to connect with these themes for a reason. At the end of the day, I truly believe that God has created our souls to be a part of something huge, to be a part of his larger plan and his kingdom. I believe there is a world beneath the surface and I've been learning more and more about it as I come to understand this Kingdom of God that Jesus continually talks about and how it can invade this world. I believe God wants to answer the question of "Do I have what it takes?" for each of us to let us know that we're made for so much more than we can imagine, and that we have what it takes, because he created each of us uniquely to reflect the answer of "Yes!"

Lola's new hair do

Surprised by Hope?

I've been reading the book Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church by N.T. Wright. Wright is the Bishop of Durham in the Church of England and a really smart New Testament scholar.

I'd had this book recommended by a few friends and seeing this video on Colbert, I thought it sounded good in theory, so I bought it and let it sit on my shelf for about 6 months. I finally needed a change in reading so I picked this up. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

The book is not a self help book, or a "change the world by doing these three things" book. It starts out with a very historical, academic approach on the history of Jesus' resurrection and the early church - dry as can be. He looks at it from an apologetic standpoint and looks at it in the context of Jewish and early Christian beliefs at that time. Sounds exciting, huh?

The ultimate purpose of the book is to basically point out where much of how and where Christianity has gotten off track today in the context of the heaven and how that impacts our faith. The book looks at the how this has shaped various eschatologies (end times stuff, like the left behind book series that Noel and Jason love), how we treat the earth and how we treat social problems, and ultimately often view Christianity and salvation as being all about "dying and getting to heaven".

So how is this book impacting me? In the beginning, the impact was boredom. My friend, Mr. Kenneth James Buck encouraged me to stay with this book for a number of reasons, so I did and I'm glad. I'm starting to understand the early church, the jewish beliefs about resurrection and heaven and where a lot of my beliefs about heaven have come from, not all biblical.

I'm still in the mode where I'm trying to understand so much reading. The book is not heretical, or stating anything crazy like "we all go to heaven" or "this is heaven now". In fact, it really upacks where some of those ideas come from and the fallacies behind them. I'm starting to try and look at things a little different and understanding what Jesus meant when he prayed "let your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven".

Anyone else read this book yet? Am I missing something here so far at about 150 pages in?

Push up Contest

The guys and I at the 6am Triad workout decided to start a 30 day push-up contest. We took a baseline on Tuesday morning at the end of our workout and established our handicaps. We all threw in $5 to see who come make the greatest improvement over your handicapped number.

When we were at the Nascar race this summer I was able to crank out 73 in a row while fresh at the National Guard deal to get my brother Jon a t-shirt (he had worn a collared dress shirt to a NASCAR race?) Later on, Kevin and I then did a Navy Seals challenge (to earn a bag of crap) where I got about 60 push-ups in at the end of a whole series of exercises.

I'm trying to find a good push-up workout, like this 100 Push-Ups workout. Let me know if you know of any great workouts. Here are the handicaps so far:

1. Me -25
   
2. Kirk -20
3. Howard -10
4. Fred -5
5. Alex -5
   
6. Dave 0
7. Mark 0
8. Dr. Roy TBD
   

Interview with Em

This is a cool idea. Cathie asked Em these questions and wrote them down exactly how she responded.

Interview with a seven year old
By: Cathie and Emily Kurt

1. What is something mom always says to you?
"No or Maybe"

2. What makes mom happy?
hugs and kisses

3. What makes mom sad?
When somebody dies.

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
By tickling me or making funny faces

5. What was your mom like as a child?
Uh.....bad? No not really, she was funny and smilied a lot probably

6. How old is your mom?
38..(she got that right?)

7. How tall is your mom?
I don't know...short, maybe 5ft or 6ft

8. What is her favorite thing to do
Go on Facebook

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
go shopping for food.

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
" probably dancing. I can't imagine you singing, mom, sorry". (That made me LOL)

11. What is your mom really good at
Typing and taking care of me

12. What is your mom not very good at?
Playing Zooreka

13. What does your mom do for her job?
You don't even have a job, but you cook, that's your job.

14. What's your mom's favorite food?
Potato soup

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
That you cook for me all the time.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Wanda from Fairly Odd Parents

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Cuddle

18. How are you and your mom the same?
We both have curly curly hair

19. How are you and your mom different?
We're different sizes

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
She cuddles and gives me hugs and kisses and tells me.

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Target

Twitter Frenzy

Got this from Will. Very funny view of the world of twittering and blogging as the solution to the world's problems.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Twitter Frenzy

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

An ode to simpler times...

Thanks to Dana and Ted for this video....

Junie B. Jones

Em had "Dress like your favorite book character" day at school today. I'm pretty sure she didn't remember until this morning, at which point Cathie and Em quickly threw together an outfit based on Junie B. Jones, the main character in a series of books by Barbara Park.

Cathie and I started reading these to the girls when they were little, and I'm not sure who enjoyed them more. Junie B ("The B stands for Beatrice, except I just like B and that's all") is pretty irreverent and occasionally rude, but cracks me up. She's probably all that's wrong with America, but I think we laugh as hard as the girls as we would read these stories to them .

On a side note, I've been reading the Amelia Bedelia books to Emily at bedtime. I remember my Mom reading these to me as a kid, but I'd forgotten just how dumb Amelia is. Emily and I have decided that she's actually dumber than our dog Lola. Amelia's one saving grace is her savant like cooking skills, which even after ruining everything, saves the day and keeps her off the streets selling crack.

This Weekend

We had a fun semi-busy weekend. On Friday night Mark, Brad, Bob, Eli and I got together to play cards over at Bobs. Brad won for the first time ever, and Eli and I won bubkus. Rarely happens. Normally I end up winning and Eli comes in second place.

On Saturday I felt like a sloth, so I figured I'd go for a run. I looked outside and it looked warm and sunny. I was wrong. I froze and dragged my but around.


On Friday night Em spent the night with a friend, and on Saturday night Maddie K spent the night at our house. At some point they had this whole make-up gone wrong thing happen. They followed it up by setting up a carnival in the basement. I found this amusing after talking with my step-brothers Mark and Michael, both of whom are carnies. It sounded intriguing enough that I'd love to go hang with them for a day at a carnival. They claimed they don't know any carni tricks like pick-pocketing or guessing weight, but I figured there's still a lot they can teach me.

On Sunday we went over to the Niemi's for a small surprise party for Matt. Matt showed up early and ruined the surprise. I got him the wonderful hat he's wearing, along with a whole collection of "turning 40" gifts, including a candy dish with nasty mints, a loofa, a ceramic cat and other stuff that old people love.

Gabe and Allie's Basketball Game

We went down last weekend to celebrate a slew of birthday parties in Dewitt. While we were there we went to see my niece and nephew Gabe and Allie play basketball, coached by their Dad. They're on the same team and it was a blast watching them. I love the piture on the right of Allie taking the shot, giving it everything she's got.

You can see more pictures here.

At half time, they invited the parents to center court to participate in a game. Judy jumped right out there only to find that the game was spinning a basketball on your finger. She tried hard and kept the collateral damage to a minimum. I give her tons of credit for trying!

Kurt Birthday Celebration

We went to my Dad and Judy's house in Dewitt to celebrate Kevin, Nate and Judy's Birthdays. We had both sides of the family there, the Kurt/Brown side and the Prelesnik/Kildea side. We all got along beautifully. We were all very careful to not hit Jason in the junk based on recent snippage.

We were all very proud of Dan's brand new hair style, as seen in this picture. Jon was practicing his hand modeling as part of his spokesperson correspondence classes, as he is trying to become one of the suitcase bearers on deal-or-no-deal or a wheel-of-forture letter turner.

Allie continues to amuse me like nothing else. She's got the middle-child-dramatic side of things (as pictured here where Susan is putting her earrings back in) and on the right where she's always up for a little bit of trouble. Her personality is so much fun as she wrestles with her brothers like nothing you've ever seen.

Wilbur was there to celebrate and to keep an eye on us from a social work standpoint. He's demonstrating in this picture how not to huge a child. He would not hesitate to call social services on any of us if need be. Kevin walked around with these blocks on his head all day, which seemed odd to me, but no one else.

Will insisted that we take a slew of pictures that would prove that he is more loved than Kevin, who married into the family. My Dad happily obliged and even suggested that we hold hands in some of the pictures. Again, seemed odd to me, but no one else.

I'm not sure which picture is creepier. The picture of Susan and Dan on the left, or this picture of the funeral the kids conducted on the right.

We had a fun day and for the most part, no one got hurt. We had lots of great food, and I think I even got a nap in at some point.

You can see more of the pictures here.

Fortune Magaine: Xerox #1 most respected in space

This is kind of cool. Xerox was selected by Fortune Magazine as the world's most admired company in the world in the computer industry, according to their annual reputation survey released today. Xerox jumped to number one from last year’s industry ranking of number four.

The survey, compiled by the management consulting firm Hay Group, asked executives, directors, and analysts to rate 1,400 companies on criteria such as innovation, investment value and global competitiveness. Xerox ranked No. 1 in its category for key reputation attributes including use of corporate assets, quality of management and social responsibility.

“This achievement is a direct result of your focus, your respect for our reputation, and your passion for great work,” CEO Anne Mulcahy said. “It is a ringing endorsement of our reputation from the business community and it is a point of great pride for us. It reflects our rich heritage of quality service, world class technology, and commitment to you and to the communities where you work and live.

“Any company that can perform well and maintain its good name during the worst recession in 75 years is arguably more admirable than the best performer during boom times,” said Geoff Colvin, FORTUNE senior editor at large, in the magazine’s overview story. “With admiration in such short supply, it's more valuable than ever -- and in a season of global economic tumult, reputation is more volatile than ever.”

This great news has had no bearing on the stock price, which has dropped below $5/share today. Looks like my kids will need to study extra hard to get those scholarships to college.

Dr. Drew: Sex (Ed).... with Mom and Dad..

I was flipping through the list of recorded shows on our DVR and came across a show with an odd title: "Sex with Mom and Dad". I flipped the screen off and yelled to Cathie, "Did you tape anything with, an, um, odd sounding title?" Apparently, she had.

She had seen Dr. Drew on some morning show talking about the show, which he claims he did not choose the name for. He encourages parents to watch the show to get a handle on what is happening sexually in the lives of teenagers these days.

Cathie and I sat down and watched the show yesterday and it was very interesting. The episode involved a single-Dad and his 19 year old daughter where the daughter was extremely promiscuous, had recently had a flight with her Dad's co-worker, resulting in some major obstacles in the father/daughter relationship. In reality-show style, they were both interviewed about where they were at, and then they met with Dr. Drew. Dr. Drew talked to them about where they were at, the barriers in their relationship, did some analaysis and gave them some exercises to go through. I'm in no way endorsing Dr. Drew's views on sex, but the show does have some real value:

1. It shows some of the consequences of sexual activity for teenagers in terms of their future relationships, their soul, disease, pregnancy, etc. Dr. Drew doesn't focus on this, but he shows the causal at a high level as he looks at the damage in the kids lives and the parents lives.
   
2. It shows the impact the relationship with their parents, and it shows how bad parenting can drive kids to some of this behavior.
3. It points out how badly parents and kids need to talk about this stuff, not avoid it. Parents seem to think if they talk to their kids about it, it will increase their level of activity. Studies show that just the opposite occurs.
   
4. It shows other parents and kids going through the uncomfortable conversations with their kids and living to tell about it, and ending up better for it.

The show's not for everyone. None of my kids are old enough to watch the show yet, but it would be a good conversation starter for kids in the 7th/8th/9th grade range.

Stick it where?

I just received a voice mail from a friend (who shall remain nameless) telling an amusing "What I meant to say" story (of which he reminded me that I have several of my own):
He had two Mormon missionaries at his house, sitting at his table. What he meant to say was,

"Could you stick that rotten banana down the garbage disposal?"

What he instead said was:

"Could you stick that banana in the glory hole?"

Great Response from a Hobo

Hobo: Any change? Anything you got to give?
Suit: I wish I had something to give, but pretty soon, I'm going to be like you.
Hobo: My man, you cannot be this awesome.

-From Overheard in New York

Love your Enemies

At Monday's youth group meeting we talked about enemies. We looked at Jesus's words in Matthew 5:

44But I tell you: Love your enemies[i] and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

As we broke into small groups, Michael made an off-hand comment that the leaders could participate in the exercise we were doing. As a small group, we looked at naming our enemies, went through how we typically treat them, and then looked at how followers of Jesus treat our enemies. I had a tough time coming up with an enemy to put down on the piece of paper. Apparently, I'm a pretty good guy... Or not.

Over the past few days, I've been dealing with someone at work that I would probably now have to label as an enemy, and this whole topic has been stuck in my head. I've been forced to think through the list that I went through with the kids about how I typically treat enemies, and then look at what what I'm called to do. This sucks. But I'm glad it's going on. Funny how this stuff works and how the Holy Sprit works in my life to continue uncover parts of me that aren't congruent who I claim to be as a disciple of Jesus. I'm having to humble myself (no small task), really look at my behavior and go back to this person and apologize and make things right. Fun.

Seven Stanzas at Easter

Make no mistake: if He rose at all
it was as His body;
if the cells' dissolution did not reverse, the molecules
reknit, the amino acids rekindle,
the Church will fall.

It was not as the flowers,
each soft Spring recurrent;
it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled
eyes of the eleven apostles;
it was as His Flesh: ours.

The same hinged thumbs and toes,
the same valved heart
that — pierced — died, withered, paused, and then
regathered out of enduring Might
new strength to enclose.

Let us not mock God with metaphor,
analogy, sidestepping transcendence;
making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the
faded credulity of earlier ages:
let us walk through the door.

The stone is rolled back, not papier-mache,
not a stone in a story,
but the vast rock of materiality that in the slow
grinding of time will eclipse for each of us
the wide light of day.

And if we will have an angel at the tomb,
make it a real angel,
weighty with Max Planck's quanta, vivid with hair,
opaque in the dawn light, robed in real linen
spun on a definite loom.

Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
for our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are
embarrassed by the miracle,
and crushed by remonstrance.
--John Updike

Nitro Circus

The show Nitro Circus has quickly become one of my favorite shows on MTV. The show is a documentary type show, with a group of buddies doing crazy stuff. I's produced by the guys from Jackass, but without the gross stuff, at least not yet. The guys in the show are all extreme sports junkies and semi-pro BMXers, Mountain Bikers, Base Jumpers, etc. Their stunts are at a whole other level beyond Jackass and they actually complete the stuff, like the big-wheel flip below. Prior to showing this, the guys were back-flipping everything you can imagine: scooters, bikes, golf carts and bikes.

One part of the show starts with a guy launching himself out of a plane without a parachute. No setup explaining how dangerous it is, or how many ways he'll die. Just a dude going out of a plane without a chute. My kinda guys. My kinda show.

Buy this Disc

You gotta check out this CD. First, it's a really great disc. Buy it. Worst case, you hate it and help support the adoption of a baby from Ethiopia. I ordered it because I like Phil and his singing, but had no idea about the disc. For all I knew, it could have been him reciting dirty limericks to the music of the chicken dance, or him doing spoken word about his dream of buying an RV and touring America with Screech from Saved by the Bell. I've listened to it 4 times and really like it. I have no great music review, because I am devoid of that kind of original thought.

When I bought my copy, I requested it to be personalized, which Phil did with the following inscription: "To Super Dave, may all your dreams come true".

We've had the Phil Wing band as the worship band at Velocity over the past two years, which is where I've gotten to know them. Aside from sharing my love of gold bond medicated powder and having a band member (Joe) with 12 toes, the band is great musically, their great to hang out with (one of the few bands that actually hang with the kids and leadres at the camp they're working at) and have this deep love of God that leaks out of their pores (this is a good thing, not a weird skin condition).

If you check the Phil Wing media site, you can see this amazing picture of me, and Joe and his 12 toes. This is probably the best possible part of the web site. Oh yeah, you can listen to the album there too.

My bro/sis-in-law Ed & Stacy happen to live about two miles from the church Phil works at. If Phil's church did door-to-door Jehovah's witness stuff, I'd sign them up for an early morning visit, like someone signed me up recently. Maybe I can ask Phil and his band to show up on their doorstep like a Mariachi band, playing early Sunday morning. The whole, "If you can't bring the mohammad to the mountain, bring the mountain to mohammad" kind of thing. (I actually have no idea what that saying means).