Deep Something

Jeff Bridges stars in this drama based on Thomas Cobb’s first novel about an alcoholic country singer. The musician’s career is going downhill as he watches his protégé’s star ascend, but his encounters with a journalist might just keep him from hitting rock bottom. This one was worth the ticket price, and Jeff Bridges gives a well-deserved Oscar Winning performance.

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Photos of my two annual guests who are sticking around this year for a bit longer than usual. Also a link to the photo gallery of the State Fair photos.

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After becoming the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, Amelia was thrust into a new role as America’s sweetheart – the legendary “goddess of light,” known for her bold, larger-than-life charisma. Yet, even with her global fame solidified, her belief in flirting with danger and standing up as her own, outspoken woman never changed. Lay and I were both disappointed with this one.

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Based on two true stories, “Julie & Julia” intertwines the lives of two women who, though separated by time and space, are both at loose ends until they discover that with the right combination of passion, fearlessness and butter, anything is possible.It’s not the movie of the year, but Streep and Adams and outstanding, and all the supporting characters are excellent. The screen play is very interesting, and the two stories are woven together nicely. This is is a movie well worth watching.

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Joel is one step away from selling his flavor extract factory and retiring to easy street when a freak workplace accident sets in motion a series of disasters that put his business and personal life in jeopardy. We watched this on DVD a couple of weeks ago, and it was reasonably good movie.

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Susie Salmon, a young girl who has been murdered, watches over her family — and her killer — from heaven. She must weigh her desire for vengeance against her desire for her family to heal. Lay and I watched this several weeks ago. I really wanted to like it, and while there was good tension, I was overall disappointed.

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This is one of the most interesting films I’ve watched all year, and it is basically an “accidental” film. On the day before Hurricane Katrina–just blocks away from the French Quarter but far from the New Orleans that most tourists knew–Kimberly Rivers Roberts, an aspiring rap artist, turns her new video camera on herself and her 9th Ward neighbors trapped in the city. “It’s going to be a day to remember,” Kim declares. As the hurricane begins to rage and the floodwaters fill their world and the screen, Kim and her husband Scott continue to film their harrowing retreat to higher ground and the dramatic rescues of friends and neighbors.

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In the not-too-distant future, a solitary man walks across the wasteland that was once America. There is no civilization here, no law. The roads belong to gangs that would murder a man for his shoes, an ounce of water… or for nothing at all. But they’re no match for this traveler. It’s not his life he guards so fiercely but his hope for the future; a hope he has carried and protected for 30 years and is determined to realize. Overall, this movie is probably worth watching, but wait until it is out on video.

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AVATAR takes us to a spectacular world beyond imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on an epic adventure, ultimately fighting to save the alien world he has learned to call home. Reborn in his avatar form, Jake can walk again. He is given a mission to infiltrate the Na’vi, who have become a major obstacle to mining the precious ore. But a beautiful Na’vi female, Neytiri, saves Jake’s life, and this changes everything. Jake is taken in by her clan, and learns to become one of them, which involves many tests and adventures. This would normally be a film I’d recommend seeing, but suggest waiting to see it on DVD. However, I have to suggest watching it in the theater on a big screen.

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In early afternoon, four armed men hijack a subway train in Manhattan. They stop on a slight incline, decoupling the first car to let the rest of the train coast back. Their leader is Ryder; he connects by phone with Walter Garber, the dispatcher watching that line. Garber is a supervisor temporarily demoted while being investigated for bribery. Ryder demands $10 million within an hour, or he’ll start shooting hostages. He’ll deal only with Garber. The mayor okays the payoff, the news of the hostage situation sends the stock market tumbling, and it’s unclear what Ryder really wants or if Garber is part of the deal.

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Today in Sunday School, We still going through the Rick Warren book. This discussion was about being friends with God. The discussion went off in a number of directions, and I’m not sure how much I got out of this week. Today is also the Birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., so I wanted to work in a reference to that in today’s prayer. I heard a great story this morning on NPR about how King had once been asked, in his teenage years, what he was looking at as he stared out the Window. He was watching the gas lamp lighter going along lighting the gas lights. King said he was watching the man, “knock holes in the darkness.”

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When a priest is murdered in Boston, the MacManus brothers abandon their secluded life in Ireland to look into the case. Don’t let the lack of promotion for “Boondock Saints 2″ fool you. The plot picks up in Ireland where brothers Connor (Sean Patrick Flannery) and Murphy (Norman Reedus) McManus are hiding out after the events of the last movie. A priest shot in Boston, in the same style the brothers are known for, makes them the prime suspects. Writer/ director Troy Duffy is going for the old-school Charles Bronson-style vigilante movie, and achieves something pretty close to that.

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The Choir of Kings College ’nuff said.

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Christmas Concert – December 2007 – The Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music
Choir: the Antonine University Choir, the NDU Choir and the Lebanese National Higher Conservatory Choir
Choir Direction: F. Khalil Rahme
Under the Direction of Dr. Walid Gholmieh

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What’s become my favorite Christmas song, Still, Still, Still by the Vienna Boys Choir. Still, Still, Still is one of the prettiest carols out there and unfortunately not a lot is known about it other than that it is Austrian, set to the “Salsburg Melody” and was written around 1819.

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“The Christmas Song”, commonly subtitled “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire“, is a classic Christmas song written in 1944 by vocalist Mel Tormé and Bob Wells. According to Tormé, the song was written during a blistering hot summer. In an effort to “stay cool by thinking cool,” the most-performed (according to BMI) Christmas song was born.

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The famous chapel choir sings carols old and new, including the Sussex Carol, God Rest You Merry Gentlemen, In the Bleak Midwinter, the Three Kings, Lux Aurumque – by the modern American composer Eric Whitacre – and O Come All Ye Faithful. This first piece is traditionally rendered by a chorister chosen at random!

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With a bow to my old high school friend, Mike, here’s the King doing The First Noel. “The First Nowell” is a traditional English Christmas carol, most likely from the 18th century. In its current form it is of Cornish origin, and it was first published in Some Ancient Christmas Carols (1823) and Gilbert and Sandys Christmas Carols (1833), edited by William B. Sandys and arranged, edited and with extra lyrics written by Davies Gilbert.

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Another 80’s classic Christmas song. This time it’s Hall and Oates performing Jingle Bell Rock. It was first released by Bobby Helms in 1957 and has received frequent airplay during every Christmas time since then. “Jingle Bell Rock” was written by Joe Beal, a Massachusetts-born public relations man, and Jim Boothe, a Texas writer in the advertising business. It was also recorded by Bill Haley and the Comets.

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Here’s a golden oldie from 1984. Wham performs “Last Christmas.”

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