Quantum of Solace

So there is a bit of an uproar over the title for the newest James Bond flick coming out this November. Seems people don't like the title "Quantum of Solace." Doesn't sound Bondish (or Bondian?) enough for them. But to real Bond fans, those who enjoy both the books and the movies, the title is a pleasant surprise. 007 movies have always been fun...but now they can be smart. "Quantum of Solace" was the title of a short story in the Ian Fleming penned anthology "For Your Eyes Only." The other story in "For Your Eyes Only" is "The Hillderand Rarity."

When I was a columnist for my college newspaper, The ECHO, in the early nineties I actually stole (or borrowed since I did make reference to Fleming) those titles for one of my columns. That particular column piece was entitled "The Laundromat Rarity Leads to a Quantum of Solace." The column was a pitiful little essay on mulitculturalism in the United States. I had just finished "For Your Eyes Only" and liked the titles to those short stories so much I appropriated them for my little read column.

How I miss that weekly column...it was called "Metaphysically Sober featuring Dave White and the 42nd Street Insomniacs." I'm quite sure it looms quite negligably in the memories of those ECHO readers at Southern Nazarene University between 1992-1996. It made no real contribution to the intellectual discourse of the campus yet allowed me to release those inner demons of a desperate pseudo-intellectual.

Anyway, I never thought the 007 producers would be daring enough to use the titles on an actual movie. But Bond has moved into the 21st Century as the ultra-cool "Casino Royale" proved. I believe we have the Bourne movies to thank for that evolution. So as a true Bond afcianado...I think the title "Quantum of Solace" is freakin' supercool.

Radiohead in Big D

I am superfreaking stoked because my wife just scored tix to the Dallas Radiohead concert this May. The tickets sold-out in ten minutes. They have not played Dallas in ten years...1998 the last time they graced Big D. The old Starplex is not the best venue in town...but I'd see Radiohead anywhere. Yeah...I'm counting down the days.

Are you Kiddin?

As a Mavericks fan I guess I'm supposed to be excited about the Jason Kidd trade. I would have been seven or eight years ago. But now I see the Mavs trading away their future (Devin Harris) for an old (he's almost exactly my age for crying out loud) wife-beating punk. Sure he may still have skills...but at what price? Maybe I'll think differently if they win the title. But that's the only way this trade will be considered a success...if the Mavericks bring home the trophy they should have brought home two years ago.

Photo: Me (wearing my supercool retro Mavs hat) and Grandpa

The Death of Mass Politics

My European History class has been discussing the rise and effects of mass society/politics in the 1880s through World War I. The enthusiasm of the working classes must have been intoxicating. Concurrently I just finished Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia" and his description of the euphoria flowing through the working classes of Barcelona was visceral. His description of the bitter in-fighting that destroyed the republican coaltion and doomed the loyalist fight against fascism was equally depressing. So our discussion ran into a comparision of that time with our own. The class pretty much surmised that we live in a society that deludes itself into thinking it dictates the direction of society but in reality follows along like the lap dog the lower and middle classes have always been.

Their raw and basic evidence is...

1.) Pitiful voting turnouts...50% at most for presidential elections and considerably less for the local elections which have a much greater impact on your every day life.

2.) Celebrity driven news cycles. How much of the news is driven by Paris Hilton, Jamie Lynn Spears, Lindsey Lohan the cult of the celebrity (i.e. the death of the Heath Ledger). At 6:30 pm on the local broadcast networks in Dallas, Texas your choices include...Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, Extra, TMZtv, The Insider and Inside Edition. The elites drive fashion and issues of morality in our culture.

3.) Corporate control over the major television media conglomorates.

4.) Out of control campaign finance and lobbying influence on the poltical process.

The tragedy is that in the United States the people could have a greater say in government if pulled away from their myspace accounts, video games, meaningless addictions etc. Americans are not shackled by fascism or an authoritarian poltical system. The mass of Americans shackle themselves by laziness, ignorance and apathy. Stand in line at your local Wal*Mart to see that in first person.The tragedy, as recognized by my students, lies with the inevitable truth that freedom taken for granted is freedom lost and worse yet lost voluntarily...yet there are many throughout history and the globe that risk life and limb to attain a mere fraction of our political freedoms.

Mass politics is dead in America and has been for some time. Its death (or more optimistically, hibernation) is due to the same laziness that allows for sub-prime mortgages to spiral out of control and for the United States Government to run massive deficits which destroys the worth of the dollar around the world. Hopefully we won't turn into Orwell's proles of 1984 and remain asleep. Hopefully we'll wake up before we've lost our souls to atrophy.

Jackson's Favorites

Jackson's favorite book is "Where's That Duck" by Dan Crisp.

More amazingly he really likes The Arcade Fire. I think that is his favorite band. He dances everytime I play them on the stereo. One year's old and already into some supercool stuff.

Here's a short video clip of random Jackson time.

Another Edition of...Overheard in Class

Overheard in class (an A.P. class no less)

My students are convinced that Tony Romo is the best of QB time despite not winning a single playoff game. They think he's better than Montana, Unitas, Favre, Marino...

and I said..."What about Terry Bradshaw?"

They said "who...the announcer?"

"Yes, the Steeler who has four superbowl rings."

And an A.P. student, in all seriousness, asked..."What did Terry Bradshaw steal?"

Bode's Back!

Good to see Bode Miller back on top of the skiing world. He's won two downhill races in a row and defended last year's victory at Wengen, Switzerland this past Saturday. Very rare for a skier to win the same course two years in a row. With this week's victory Miller ties Phil Mahre's record of 27 world cup victories by an American. He should blow by that record being that he's only 30 years old and skiing better than ever. Too bad most Americans only know him for his failure to medal at Torino. He's one of the greatest American athletes in the world who is doing unprecedented things on the World Cup Circuit. Back in the U.S.A. people are more interested in Tony Romo's Mexican vacation with Jessica Simpson.

The 2007 Reading List

Well here's the list of books I made it through in 2007. The number (19) may not be impressive to some voracious readers...but I think it's pretty amazing considering 2007 saw the wondrous arrival of my son and I didn't have much time to read. It's quite an eclectic list with a lot more U.S. History and economics than usual for me. It was a good year of reading material.

• The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin
• Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
• Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
• Banker to the Poor (Microlending and the battle against world poverty) by Muhammad Yunus
• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• Tristessa by Jack Kerouac
• A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
• Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy
• Collapse by Jared Diamond
• Dining with the Devil by Os Guiness
• 1776 by David McCullough
• Satori in Paris by Jack Kerouac
• Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick
• Candide by Voltaire
• The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
• The Hot Kid by Elmore Leonard
• The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac
• Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl

Good Times to Be Bad

My favorite baseball team, the Kansas City Royals, have been a laughingstock for some time now. But if there is a silver lining behind the black cloud that has been the Royal's performance these past ten years is that they picked the best time in baseball history to have a horrible slump. They have no legacy sullied by the Mitchell Report. They have no records worth putting an asterek by during the steroid era. They have nothing to defend despite the fact that some of their players (Hal Morris and Wally Joyner) were listed in the report.

All signs in Kansas City point to improvement under GM Dayton Moore. Unfortunately they did just sign Jose Guillen, a notorious malcontent and HGH/Steroid user. But if you're going to have gone through the worst ten years of your franchise's history...the steroid era was the time to do it. The Yanks, Mets, Astros, etc...all have besmirched records their diehards will have to justify with pathetic and doomed-to-lose arguments. The Royals have nothing to justify during this time span.

Do You Believe your Truth or Not?

Huckabee has gotten some negative attention for asking during a New York Times interview if Mormons believe Satan and Jesus are brothers. First of all, I can't believe the question was entirely "innocent" as Huckabee described it. Huckabee's too smart for that and was certainly trying to raise doubts about Mormonism in the minds of voters. I have no problem with someone's religious beliefs being part of the public discussion of a candidate's background. However, why did Huckabee have to apologize?

If that's what Mormons really believe...what are they afraid of? Why do their beliefs have to remain secret? If Mormons truly believe that Satan and Christ were among several sons of God...then why keep that a secret? Why not stand by your convictions? No Mormon or religious expert has said the Huckabee was wrong. So what's the issue?

The issue obviously is that Mormonism is a cult founded by a convicted fraud that miraculously receives convenient new revelations for political expediency (i.e. renouncing polygamy to gain statehood and being a theologically rasicst institution until 1978). Hey...I respect your right to belong to a cult...but don't hide the facts of your faith and pretend to be something your not.

I won't hide the facts of my Christian faith...and there are some who categorize Christianity (incorrectly in my opinion) as a cult or as an archaic mythology. But I'm not hiding anything and I stand by my beliefs. My faith should be transparent. I know many great Mormons who are among the finest people I know. Some of my top students are Mormon. But Mormonism's repeated attempts to keep their doctrine and practices secret only proves the cultlike nature of their "religion." There may be a lot of criticisms of Christianity...but a lack of transparency cannot be one of them.

Magazine Cover of the Year

Time magazine ranked this magazine cover as one of the ten best of the year. Rarely does a magazine cover make me laugh out loud...this one did.

First Christmas Tree

Here's Jackson seeing our Christmas tree for the first time...

Help from Grandpa

Here's a clip of Grandpa Reinking helping Jackson develop his walking skills during Thanksgiving weekend in Tulsa.

Walk This Way!!!

Here's a clip of Jackson practicing his walking skills. It won't be long now...

Homecoming 07

Enjoyed going back to Southern Nazarene University for homecoming this past weekend. It was Kimberly's ten-year reunion and it's always good to meet up with friends and family. Big shout out to my cousin Allison who did an excellent job watching our son Jackson during the reunion luncheon. He didn't cry or fuss once for her.

I love my university but I am sad to see the change in campus culture due to the increasing presence of athletics. Adding football and baseball has really transformed the dynamic of the campus community. The transformation has been for the most part a negative one.


The problem does not come from sporting events that involve smaller numbers of students...such as basketball, tennis, golf, track & field, etc... The problems arise from sports like football, soccer, baseball and softball where large numbers of athletes are involved. The recruitment of large numbers of athletes often allows some to slip in who are not the most positive members of Christian society. You always hate to see academics sacrificed for big time athletics...and I believe our society in general will not be judged positively by future generations for our obsession with such activities.

Microcredit and Kiva.org

This past May I blogged about how I had participated in providing a microloan to an entreprenuer in Zacatecas, Mexico through Kiva.org. Well, Alicia Pinales Najar has repaid her loan in full and I have taken that same $25 to help finance a microloan to Zipporah Wangari Kihika in Kenya. Zipporah sells eggs in a market within a slum in Mombasa, Kenya. Her husband sells potatoes at the local market. Her microloan will allow her to expand her business and purchase more inventory to help support her family. You can read more of her story here.

I encourage you to take a look at Kiva.org. The website is safe and secure and has been profiled in the NY Times, PBS Frontline/World, Oprah and is mentioned in Bill Clinton's new book. It's fast and easy. You can loan as little as $25. As soon as the loan is paid back you can either withdraw the money or cycle it into another loan. Microcredit is an ingenious way to act locally across the globe. The $25 I gave was given to me as a birthday gift. Now that gift can literally keep giving for as long as I keep cycling it through Kiva's microcredit program.

Halloween Parade

Jackson participated in his Daycare's Halloween Parade this morning in Kaufman, Texas. Here is a short video. Jackson is the little monkey sitting on Pop's (Tom) lap.




More pictures from this festive event can be found at my flickr site HERE.

Overheard in Class

Overhead in class while students were debating the following ancient conundrum...What came first...the chicken or the egg?...

"Well dinosaurs had eggs." - Kalee N.

In Rainbows

Last week I joined the online frenzy and downloaded the new Radiohead album "In Rainbows." I didn't get up at 1:45 am like the hardcore fans. I actually waited until the next day.

The whole thing is marketing genius. Name your own price? I paid 2.90 pounds...little over $5.00. Bypassing labels and keeping all the profits...and creating anticipation...Radiohead's making a killing.

Plus the album is really good. Not O.K. Computer or Kid A good...but still really good. It only took me about ten minutes to get the whole thing bought, downloaded and zapped to my iPod. Don't think there are too many other bands that can get away with bypassing the whole record label deal. Radiohead has always forged their own path.

Free Tibet!