New Years Resolution

2008, which was over just as quickly as it began, went out with a whimper, like every other year since Sep. 11, 2001. Thank God.

Why did I say that?

Because I haven't forgotten the day that 3000 Mothers, Fathers, Brothers, Sisters, Grandparents, and Cousins, got brutally blown into the next life by the Religion of Peace.

Every New Years since, I hold my breath as the hours and minutes tick down.

It's not like when I was a kid and would spend the night at my buddy Dan's. His parents always had way cool New Years Eve Parties. All those parents and kids filling up the house with warm conversation. The Mike Tyson's Knock Out tourneys with all the kids; the monster game of hide and seek outside. And staying up past midnight, AND the parents knew and were not only cool about it, but encouraging it! *Gasp!*.

You know that feeling you get when you've just had the best day ever? All full and warm and fuzzy inside? That's what the memory's like for me.

But now, that I'm verging on 1850's middle age-edness, I hold my breath and pray. 1 million merry makers revelling in the new year: a terrorist's supreme fantasy. Don't get the wrong impression, I'm not on my knees interceding for humanity and this country, though I should be. But I'm just observing, asking God for his mercy.

Thank God for our President, who is willing to be the butt of the entire worlds jokes if it means he saves one innocent life. American or otherwise.

Thank God for our Volunteer Warriors who lay their lives on the line everyday, not because they are ordered to, but because if they lose their life saving one innocent life, it was worth it.

IF you ever need some perspective on this world that we live in, read the stories about the Medal of Honor recipients coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan. I'm a grown man and I get choked up when I hear about men falling on grenades to protect their comrades; women, who should not be in combat, going into hot zones to take medicine, school supplies, and candy to children who have never seen medicine, school supplies, or candy. You should look into the Lionesses.

But we had Captain I Know and his first mate the expectant Mail Order Bride over last night. I bought scrabble earlier in the fall. I remember my mom playing it when I was a child, and decided that I wanted it too. It's been great! We've had more people over in the last month than in the last 8 years. Scrabble is a great ice breaking attractant. And if you have a sense of humor, it makes for a blast. Especially when your wife and your best friend are actively, openly engaged in Scrabble War. Doggedly determined to get the highest score. And me? I didn't even break fifty points, after penalties, on the second round. (I had lousy tiles! And I was first, which we all know, The First Shall Be Last.) But it is kinda sad when the non-native English speaking player beats you. Thems the breaks.

They left about 1: or so; me popping up every now and then the whole night to check in on Fox News, just to make sure that nothing had happened. Nothing happened. Belle went to bed about 1:30 almost 2: Bizarrely abnormal for her. She's normally narcoleptic after 8, but she drank some coffee at 9, that and the sweet thrill of victorious scrabble combat was still coursing through her veins.

I went to bed a little later, okay, a lot later. Late enough to be early enough for Shorty to get up and ask for a pre-breakfast snack. She had cold meatloaf by computer monitor light. I thought it was an hour earlier than it really was.

So, I helped Shorty finish her snack, hey, I was hungry too, and then as I was on my way to bed, I thought of some new years resolutions:

I resolve to:

Eat More Peanuts

Eat More Li'l Porgey's

Eat More . . . wait, I wonder if I was hungry

New Class Now Available

So, for some months I have been considering starting a new column here at T.A.A.R.

As you may well have gathered, I love story telling. The conflict, the resolution, the adventure created by brilliant people, and illustrated by your minds eye (reading) or simply visually enjoyed.

That is why I started SpentCasings, to collaborate with my cohorts in a mutually appreciated form (for me, it's a love affair), which failed miserably. (yes, you can read that however you want.) For whatever reason. I don't care any more. I have gotten over the disappointment. And I have not forgotten about SpentCasings either. It just seems like I have.

Then I tried to encourage the exchange of ideas in reading literature with The Looking Glass Wars. And that fell flat too. But that's okay. S'all good.

And to prove that I am undaunted, unfazed by past failures, I am going to begin what I call "Film Deconstruction 101: An interactive study of movies, what works, and what doesn't."

This is the After Action Report after all.

As you may have noticed I like movies, and what you may not have noticed, I am interested in making movies. I also believes that a wise man learns from his mistakes, and an even wiser man learns from ANOTHER MAN'S mistakes. If I can avoid the mistakes that others have made, why wouldn't I?

So, look for Film Deconstruction 101 in the coming weeks.

Justified

I know that it is not polite ettiquet to blow your own horn. But I can not help doing that this morning.

I am justified.

Last year (or was it longer) on SpentCasings I dressed VanHollen, and was flayed alive for my "bad taste."

But then this morning I discovered these.

I realized that that is only just a small part of her ensemble, and yes, those boots truely are hideous, and not what I envisioned, but it goes to show, that what goes around in fashion, comes back with a vengenance. And apparently someone thinks that they are fashionable.

So again, I can not help but go: HA!

downhere

So last year, I discovered this band "downhere" (that's how they write it). You'll remember the post I did with two of their videos: The More and A Better Way. It was actually those two songs that led me to buying their album Wide-Eyed and Mystified and it was the tracks that they WERE NOT playing on the radio that got me hooked on downhere. They are my current favorite ACC band. (It used to be BarlowGirl but then they released "How Can We Be Silent" which is just an homage to loudness and lacks the sincerity and fun of their earlier work) I love musicians who sound just as good live as they do on their CDs, it says to me that they have actual talent, and not just a great producer/engineer. And that's downhere.


For example: there's a group in the playlist at the bottom of the page called Wavorly, I love their song Praise and Adore, inspired by one of C.S. Lewis' books, but when I went over to youtube to check them out, I felt sorry for them, firstly because they couldn't cary a tune in a bucket, and secondly because the front man was covered in ink, and not only did he have both ears pierced, but he had those hole producing barrels in his lobes. Now, I don't care if he wants to do that, but the deapth of his relationship with Christ was exposed. Shallow.

That is not the impression I get from downhere. Obviously I don't know them, but their song writing indicates to me a group of men who want to be more, and who want to encourage others to be more, through tracks like Surrender and Great Are You and From Protest to Praise and The Real Jesus.

I said all of this to say that in the course of looking for songs for my playlist, I went to their websight last night and discovered that they had produced another album, Ending is Beginning. I had company over last night so I wasn't able to spend any time there, so I went back there this morning and found the link to Jeremy Theissen's blog, and it was there that I got the imbed above for their new top 5 single, I Am Here.

Hope you enjoy.