SWEET!!!

So check out this slick $99.99 investment available for the avid Netflix user.

One of my big frustrations with my Mac has been my inability to watch instant DVDs that come with my Netflix account. The cool thing with this gizmo is that it will connect automatically with my wi-fi account, then connect to my TV, and I can instantly watch 12,000 movies or TV shows, instantly, with the ability to pause, rewind or fast forward. And with the benefit of no commercials!

Giddy up!

I'm ordering one, and it should be here by next week.

Miscellaneous

If you haven't put the HBO series John Adams in your queue on Netflix, go do it now! It's a remarkable mini series based on the book by David McCullough featuring Paul Giamatti as John Adams. As is usually the case with Giamatti, it doesn't take long for you to see that he has truly transformed himself into the character he is portraying. He's not himself--he's John Adams and it's a pleasure to watch. All of the other actors are equally up to the task of portraying some of our most important figures. Laura Linney is excellent as Abigail Adams and the story is as much about her as it is about John Adams. I find most films about the Revolutionary War to be trite and boring. They tend to feel like a Saturday morning special on ABC when I was a kid, but this is filled with brilliant writing and even more brilliant acting and directing. Amazing, and for the most part is suitable for kids 12 and over. There are some scenes of bloody violence, but they are few and in the first episode there is a graphic scene in which a British port officer is fully stripped of his clothes and tarred and feathered. The nudity makes it more believable, but for those with kids, you should know it's there.

On another note, I pulled out my Guinness Irish Cream Cake again this morning. Unfortunately, part of it stuck to the pan. One of the unforeseen results of all of that baking madness last year turns out to be a lot of enjoyment in pulling out a recipe that I created back then, smelling the smells of the ingredients again, sampling the batter and smelling the cake as it bakes. It brings back memories of insane dogged obsessiveness last year and I enjoyed making this today quite a bit.

I'm going to reenter my same recipes for the bundt competition again, as well as adding two more this summer that have been floating through my head. I'll probably try to tweak the old recipes slightly, but I'm not going to obsess over them. And the new recipes I think will come together quite quickly since I did all of that mad scientist stuff last year.

Movie Club

I made a post awhile back about starting an online movie watching club. I'm jonesing for it. I know Scott expressed some interest, but maybe he's the only one. I just watched an hour long documentary by Alexandra Pelosi, called Friends of God. It's a road trip about the evangelical movement, including a stop at the Orlando Holy Land theme park, a visit to a wrestling show of the Christian Wrestling Federation, as well as interviews with Jerry Falwell and Ted Haggard.

It's not as awful as one would suspect, considering Alexandra is the daughter of Nancy Pelosi. She has a winning personality and a quirky sense of humor, and except for rare moments, you feel there is no mockery of her subjects, but rather an honest curiosity about people who are strangers to her.

I'd love to discuss it with some other people.

Maybe I should start up another blog, and anyone who's interested could log on. I don't know if Mark M. still frequents my blog, but it would be fun discussing some movies with you too, as well as the rest of you.

Into Great Silence

I wasn't able to make it to a Good Friday service yesterday due to my schedule. Instead, I decided to watch a movie I've had for a few weeks now called Into Great Silence. The movie's inception began in 1984 when German filmmaker Philip Groening approached the Carthusian monks at Le Grande Chartreuse monastery in the French Alps with the request to film their monastic way of life. They said the time was not right, and that they would get back with him in ten to fifteen years. In 2000, they called him and said that they were ready. What resulted is one of the most remarkable films I've ever seen.

The Carthusian monks lead some of the most ascetic lives on the planet, lives dedicated to silent contemplation of God. They live in cells, cut off from their brothers except for their collective calls to prayer throughout the day. They are so isolated that they are even fed through doors in their cells. There is interaction, but it is minimal, intentionally.

I find it bizarre and strange, but compelling and beautiful at the same time. By the end of the movie, I was in awe of these men who've dedicated their lives so completely to God, and when one of the eldest among them began to speak about his conception of God, I took note.

He is old, frail and blind. Based on what he said, I presume he was asked if he was afraid of dying, and this was his response:

No! Why be afraid of death? It is the fate of all humans. The closer one brings oneself to God, the happier one is. It is the end of our lives. The closer one brings oneself to God, the happier one is, the faster one hurries to meet him. One should have no fear of death. On the contrary! For us, it is a great joy to find a Father once again. The past, the present, these are human. In God there is no past. Solely the present prevails. And when God sees us, He always sees our entire life. And because He is an infinitely good being, He eternally seeks our well-being. Therefore, there is no cause for worry in any of the things which happen to us. I often thank God that he let me be blinded. I am sure he let this happen for the good of my soul. It is a pity that the world has lost all sense of God. It is a pity...They have no reason to live anymore. When you abolish the thought of God, why should you go on living on this earth? One must always part from the principle that God is infinitely good, and that all of his actions are in our best interest. Because of this a Christian should always be happy, never unhappy. Because everything that happens is God's will, and it only happens for the well-being of our soul. Well, this is the most important. God is infinitely good, almighty, and he helps us. This is all one must do, and then one is happy.

I come once again to the fundamental belief that the greatest argument for Christianity is rooted in the greatest paradox that we can confront in our lives: how can a good and benevolent God allow so much suffering in the world? I believe that the only compelling answer to the problem of pain is rooted in Christ's death on the cross: ultimate evil transformed into ultimate good. This wise man, living a life of constant contemplation and devotion to God has reached the point where he views his blindness as the greatest of gifts, an expression of God's ineffable love for him. Because everything that happens is God's will, and it only happens for the well-being of our soul. These are hard words, but they ring true.

I struggle constantly with being single, wondering why and when God will bring a companion to my life. I will not lie--I suffer greatly from loneliness. As I've said many times, it is without question the daily cross that I bear, and there is no question of my picking it up. It is my existence and it pains me perpetually. I have not reached the point where I can echo what this wise man has said, that I thank God for the pain of loneliness, because it is my lot and God's will, for the betterment of my soul. But perhaps that is the lesson I'm supposed to learn though this period of a solitary life: to say with gratefulness in my heart, "thy will be done."

It has been a little over six months since I've seen or talked with Meg, and a year and a half since we ended our relationship. We were together for exactly that amount of time, and I realize that I still love her as much as I ever have. I think about her constantly, despite wishing that I was free of thoughts of her. I've tried desperately to move on from her, but I can't seem to do it. I love her, deeply, and it seems still that every day I am pained by her rejection of me.

The question I am confronted with after watching this film, and hearing this wise man's words is this: can I thank God for Meg's rejection of me, and all of the pain that I have lived with as a result of that rejection, and say that it was God's will, and more than that: that it was a gift from God for the betterment of my soul? What is more tragic, blindness or the spurning of a woman? Can I view all of the times I've been rejected by women as God's will for me, for the betterment of my well-being?

That is hard, but it seems to me the only course of action one can take, unless one desires simply to be filled with hatred and bitterness. It would be easy to become a misogynist, I suppose, when you feel so often that women take no notice of you. That's the easy path. The hard path is to thank God for the pain of rejection, simply because it must be God's will, since God is "infinitely good, and almighty, and he helps us." If that is the case, then every women who's ever rejected me has done so because it was his will, allowed for the betterment of my soul.

May I have just a fraction of the faith, trust and wisdom of that blind man.

Helvetica

While I've been practicing the past couple of days, I've been watching the documentary called Helvetica. Who would have imagined that a documentary about a typeface could be so fascinating? If you enjoy words, art, design, aesthetics and the pursuit of excellence, I highly recommend adding it to your queue. I'll never look at fonts the same way.

Netflix friends...

Hi all,

I've been meaning to get hooked up with the Netflix "Community" with a few readers of my blog who I know have Netflix. I'm linked with some of you, but I know that Scott is on the big Net and I'd enjoy being linked to see what you've been seeing and vice versa.

If any of my readers of my blog are interested in linking via Netflix, you can apparently do so here.

God Grew Tired of Us

I'm half way through one of the most moving and powerful films I've ever seen. I think everyone should see this movie about the "lost boys of Sudan."

I am left with two questions: what have I done to deserve a life better than these men and boys?

And secondly: how must I respond to the knowledge that there are people in the world who are suffering right now as greatly as these men have suffered?

When I see a film like this it makes me realize that we in America will be held responsible for the many blessings that have been poured upon us.

Miscellany

Pandora rocks. I've said it before, but I really enjoy it. I think the definite way to go is to use the Quickmix feature. Alison has made the observation that when she listens to a station, the music all starts to sound the same. After hearing her make that remark, I began noticing the same thing. After discovering the Quickmix, I've mainly been using that, mixing three or four of my favorite stations and continuing to tweak the songs that get sent my way. It's reached a point now where every song that heads my way is one I really enjoy. I've been listening for the past couple of hours to my Quickmix and I've only booted a handful of songs, with only one repeated tune. So cool. As I tweak a few more stations, I'll add them to the Quickmix, thus giving me more variety, but still with songs I really enjoy. Oh, and one more cool thing about Pandora, (if you have an Apple): If you have the Airport Express, and if you use a freeware program called Airfoil, you can then send streaming audio like Pandora through your home stereo system. Now THAT'S cool! (Imagine that--a positive Mac comment. What's the world coming to?) My only frustration with Pandora has been the sound quality from only using the speakers on my computer and this could take care of that.

On a chocolate note, apparently when word got to the United Way offices about my auction item, the women in the office got excited and then began asking about "the chocolate guy." The wife of a guy I know works in the office and says he has a few women from there in mind for me when I'm ready to date. Apparently some of them will be at our concert and I'm thinking they'll be stopping at the chocolate table. Maybe it's true what they say about chocolate being the way to a woman's heart. I'll let you know...

On to a Netflix recommendation: if you're a fan of Shakespeare, I recommend the Canadian show called Slings & Arrows. I heard about it on NPR and thought I'd give a try. The story surrounds a Shakespeare company set in the New Burbage Theater. It's clearly inspired by Stratford and even uses some iconic Stratford actors such as William Hutt. It's not the tamest of shows--there's some sex and some dalliances here and there, but nothing lurid since it's a network show. The Canadians apparently can say the F-word on network TV however, which doesn't bother me, but in the interest of full disclosure I figure I'd let you know that you'll hear that once or twice per episode. It's a show that's really grown on me. The characters are believable and and most are likable, though there are a few that annoy me, but that just makes it more like real life, right? The production of a major Shakespeare play in each season is the backdrop to the characters and their lives. The production then becomes a foil for their personal stories and relationships which often parallel what goes on in Shakespeare. Each season's climax centers around the production of that season's play and I've had goosebumps watching and hearing Shakespeare's words unfold. It's reminded me how brilliant Shakespeare really was. I highly recommend it.

And finally, I think I'm done messing around with my blog. I liked the red, but found it hard to read, and the black background before was even harder on the eyes. Let me know if this is a pain on your eyes, will ya?

The Real Age Makeover

I just finished watching a DVD copy of a PBS special called The Real Age Makeover. Netflix recommended it to me after watching You: On A Diet. I thought the title sounded a little embarrassing, but I thought I'd give it a try. Somewhere in the recesses of my consciousness I had heard of a book by the same name and thought it might help shed some light on making the right kinds of healthy choices for living.

The DVD is a bit dry and boring, but I highly recommend it. There is so much I don't know about the body, about physiology and about what our body really needs to function well and this DVD talks about the 30 most important decisions we can make. It's amazing my body functions as well as it does, considering I don't do a fraction of what the doctor recommends.

The most important tip: walk 30 minutes a day. This extends our life, helps our immune system and helps our general outlook and disposition. They don't understand why walking just 30 minutes a day makes such a difference, but it seems this is the biggest choice we can all start doing right now to make our lives better. Here's just one example of how powerful walking can be: in women who've suffered breast cancer, walking a half hour a day will give them a 50% chance of living five more years than they would without it. That's remarkable to me--that's with making no other changes in their lives.

I learned a lot about supplements as well, something that I don't pay much attention to usually. For your immune system, the most important vitamin is vitamin D. And after that, having sufficient folate in your diet is the next most important supplement to boost your immunity. Apparently the "T cells" in our genetic makeup are the chief architecture of gene duplication. Without enough folate, T cells will more readily mutate into potential cancers. I've never heard this before, and believe me, I'm going to start a regimen of supplements now.

Here are a few more tidbits that stick out in my mind: Tomato sauce is a must. This is good news for someone who likes Italian food! Apparently a serving of just 10 tablespoons of tomato sauce per week dramatically lowers the risk of prostate and breast cancer. Dark chocolate is a great source of flavonoids, which are also essential for preventing cancer. We all know about the benefits of red wine as well, but apparently even coffee is good for you and is helpful in preventing cancer. Maybe I'll have to learn to drink it after all.

If you're a Netflix user, I suggest checking it out sometime. I'm going to be buying the book as well, since the author includes much more information in the book than could be contained on the DVD.

Monarch of the Glen

I have a new Netflix recommendation. It's a BBC television series called Monarch of the Glen. It's proof once again that the Netflix recommendations I receive can really hit the mark sometimes. The best way I can describe this show is that it's an aristocratic and decidedly British version of Northern Exposure. It's filled with quirky characters and an interesting plot, but with the backdrop of this amazing castle which is located on a pristine Loch. Much of the action occurs in the beautiful Scottish Highlands--the scenery is breathtaking.

The basic plot line surrounds Archie, a restaurateur living in London who is called back to the family estate, which unbeknownst to him has fallen on hard financial times and is in danger of being lost to the family. He is confronted with trying to save the estate and in the process he must deal with his relationship with his estranged father, and the animosity of some of the local tenants who resent the family's ownership of the land, all the while feeling the pull of his restaurant back in London that is being run in his absence by his girlfriend. Naturally romantic tension is created between the biggest local antagonist and Archie which complicates matters further. Strewn throughout are quirky and eccentric characters which add to the Northern Exposure feel of the series.

It's a lot of fun. I'm halfway through the second disc and I'm enjoying it quite a bit.

24

I've never watched the series 24 on regular TV. I got turned on to it after I joined Netflix and now I'm a huge fan. Just a few minutes ago, I finished the last episode of season five. What an amazing cliffhanger! The sad thing? This is the first season where I can't just order the next disc.

If you've never really watched 24, do yourself a favor!

Back Home

I arrived back home today from California, and it's good to be back. Though I must confess that I'm missing Santa Cruz weather. My brother Jim came and picked me up at the airport in Detroit, and I told him that the air felt like Michigan: It felt juicy. I'm always struck by how you get an idea of what your time in a given place will be like with that first gust of the local air that greets as you step off a plane. In Thailand, the air felt hot and heavy, drenched with the smell of jasmine. In San Francisco, the air felt clean and mildly moist from the fog that rolls in from the ocean. On my layover at Houston, the air just felt cloying and sweaty. And in Michigan--it's juicy. And I don't like juicy.

I'll post some pictures and a summary of my trip in a few days, but while I'm online, I have to post about one more reason why Netflix is the choice for me. I've noticed that they've begun a "play it now" feature on their website, but I haven't taken the time to investigate further. In this day and age of hidden fees and glitzy promises of deals too good to be true, I figured there had to be a catch. But since I'm here tonight, itching for some entertainment, and have nothing to watch, I thought I'd investigate a little bit.

The good news? It's included in your membership. I see a movie in my future tonight!

Planet Earth

If you haven't done so yet, put Planet Earth in your queue. Don't wait--just do it now. It's one of the best series I've ever seen, and I suspect you'll agree. It's easy to watch one disc in one sitting--three hours of nothing but nature, but nature in ways you've never seen, and images of animals and places that have never before been filmed. Amazing stuff.

Me and Isaac Newton

Here's a Netflix recommendation: Me and Isaac Newton. I just finished watching it--very interesting film featuring interviews with seven leading scientists in diverse fields, including cancer research, quantum physics, cognitive psychology, primatology and several more. These are all brilliant individuals discussing their work, their method of learning and inspiration, their successes and failures and hopes for the future.

There is a nobel prize winner among them, the woman who helped find a drug that cures leukemia in 80% of children now, as well as a MacArthur Fellowship recipient. The latter has my favorite line from the movie: "Failures are the fertilizers of our accomplishments."

If you're in the mood for a documentary, I highly recommend it. I find discussions with successful, brilliant people to be inspiring, and this was no exception.

Netflix Rules

I've been living without TV for about three or four months now, and I absolutely don't miss it. I realize I use TV primarily as background, or a diversion when I'm procrastinating or something. It's rare that I would see something on TV that wasn't forgotten as soon as I turned off the TV.

Ironically, though I've been getting a lot of discs of TV shows through Netflix, and it's great! I'm on a huge Battlestar Galactica kick right now. It's absolutely fantastic. (Not for kids, certainly...there's a cylon succubus type character that's a little over the top sometimes.) But beyond that, it's harmless and great entertainment.

When I gave up cable, and began relying on Netflix solely for my in house entertainment, I assumed that I would be sticking mainly with movies in my queue. What I've been finding is that I really enjoy the long term connection with the characters you can establish in great TV shows, and seeing how they reveal themselves and develop throughout the arc of a show. The best ones deal with human nature in believable terms, regardless of how far fetched the plot might be, e.g., Lost and Battlestar Galactica. Movies are great, of course, but surprisingly, the TV shows are what I've been enjoying most. And the best part: no commercials, and no waiting until next week to find out what happens.

I'm about to start in with season four of 24, as well as a British show called Foyle's War that showed up in my recommendations from Netflix. Which is another reason Netflix is so great. Some of the best DVDs I've received have been through Netflix recommendations.

Anyway, just had to give some kudos to good ole Netflix.