The Sked

Summer Reading

	I was sitting in my wife's grandmother's house in Indiana wondering what to read next. I had just finished the amazing Catch 22 by Joseph Heller but I was already looking forward to the next read. I had read Catch 22 in an actual book format but now that I was out of town I didn't have any other books with me. But I had my Kindle. On my trusty Kindle were dozens of classic works that I had downloaded for free but never read. These classic titles are free because their copyright has expired and many of them were on my elusive list of "books I must read before I die in order to be considered well read."   Moby Dick by Herman Melville has been on that list for some time. Believe it or not I never had gotten around to reading The White Whale. Somehow it never showed up on any of my high school or college syllabi. But it was on my Kindle so I gave it a go. After all, Moby Dick is considered one of the great American novels.   Immediately I was entranced. The narrative sparked my interest from the first page. The writing was poetical and ethereal. The storyline was hypnotizing, a real page turner (or Kindle click). The metaphors were evident but not simplistic. The allegory powerful but not cliché. The descriptions of Ahab's monomania are some of the best detailing of neurotic obsession ever put on paper.   However.   I was forgiving the first time Melville left the linear narrative in order to go on a lengthy discussion on the different species of whales. I was skeptical when he left the narrative again for a long tangent about how different tools, sails and ropes are used on a whaling vessel. I became weary when Melville elaborated on the different paintings of whales and how these paintings are almost completely inaccurate. I was chagrined when I realized that the narrative was taking less and less space and the book was becoming more of a historical treatise about 19th century whaling. Soon I got bogged down.   I read through these tangents not wanting to miss something essential. I didn't want to miss an important metaphorical literary device. Soon I found myself skimming through these tedious passages. They ruined the book in my opinion. These tangents take away from a fantastic narrative and don't really add much heft to the reader's understanding of the context. Most of these meanderings could have been included in the narrative and severely edited without harming any part of the literary experience.   For example, Patrick O'Brian writes about 18th/19th century British naval experiences and never explains what a jib or mizzen sail is. You learn to either figure out the terminology or bypass them for the narrative. O'Brian's narratives are exceptional and never shut down in order to explain what a monkey rope is used for.   I also became weary of the pervasive racism in Moby Dick. I ignored it at first as a cultural relic and an unfortunate world view of the time period. In fact, to leave the racism out may have made the book less realistic. But it kept pounding away at me. Pounding away. And it wasn't written as any type of indictment of racism. It was simply the author's and the character's world view. As historically accurate as it may have been I just got tired of hearing other races so utterly demeaned all the time.   I realize that the modern reader should not necessarily force their modern conceptions of the world on to novels centuries old. But I find whaling barbaric and cruel as most 21st century readers probably do. Moby Dick is not merely a description of events on a whaling ship or a story about a particular journey while whaling. This book is a full on propaganda tract about the wonders and greatness of the whaling enterprise.   Maybe I missed Melville's tone. Maybe I missed the subtext. Maybe he was damning whaling and racism the entire time. Taking an author at face value can be dangerous. But I'm not so sure that I have missed Melville's point. I understand the story of monomania. But the constant going down unnecessary rabbit holes, glorification of a disgusting enterprise and the pervasive racism really took it's toll on my experience.

World of Soccer

Got tix for this weekend's match between FC Dallas and the Los Angeles Galaxy. Looking forward to seeing US International Landon Donovan even though we'll be rooting against him once the clock starts. To get in the right frame of mind we made a visit to the legendary World of Soccer just to look at all the jerseys. Dallas 'Till I Die!

Pinterestmadness

My wife re-did our laundry room inspired by Pinterest. She makes recipes inspired from Pinterest. She organically cleans carpet stains and kills weeds inspired by Pinterest. Yesterday she said she would like to get married again so she could plan it all on Pinterest. 

Just because

Found another Royals shirt at the Old Navy in east Dallas. There was only one left so I decided to dress a mannequin with it. Just because. Oh, and the Royals have the best record in baseball since the All-Star Game.

Drive Ins

It's August 1st and I've been on an unplanned blog sabbatical. Honestly I've just been too busy. I was away from home for 30 out of 36 days due to work, vacation and family reunions. Then I got busy with home projects like refurbishing a patio and painting a storage building among other things. 

It's already August. Unreal. We celebrated the last night of July at the Galaxy Drive In Theatre.  Beautiful night under the stars in the back of the truck watching movies. 

A find

A rare find: A Kansas City Royals shirt at an Old Navy in Dallas. And only one left in my size. Must have been shipped to the wrong region by accident. Of course I snatched it up. Bonus: it was on sale! 30% off! Ten bucks!

Baseball

Well the Royals lost. No surprise there. But a beautiful day at the Ballpark nonetheless. Concert afterwards followed by Taco Cabana. The best part? Knowing the next day is summer and we can sleep in. 

KC v TEX

Tomorrow we go see The Kansas City Royals and the Texas Rangers decide the series in Arlington. 

Last Day of School

The Temple of Doom is closed for the summer

Band of the Week - The Walkmen

The Walkmen have been around since 2000. They are a straight up New York City rock and roll band. They don't put on airs. They don't glam things up. They play guitar driven songs with interesting lyrics. This song, Heartbreaker, is one of my favorite songs of the past ten years...comes off their newest release Heaven.

Trekkin'

My local PBS affiliate a few weeks ago finally brought back one of my favorite shows...Globetrekker. I started watching this show in the early aughts and have been hooked ever since. Produced by Pilot Guides in the UK the show features young backpackers trekking around the world. The difference between this show and most other travel shows is that the hosts get off the beaten path. Although they hit some famous tourist spots they do their best to interact with the locals.

Their travels seem more authentic. I'm not a fan of rigidly scheduled tours. I enjoy the process of discovery. I also don't like rushing around to check off things on some list. My goal is to enjoy the experience and allow the process of discovery to develop somewhat organically. Globetrekker does a great job of portraying that type of travel experience.

The show will sometimes disappear for months and even a year at a time on my local television schedule depending on the caprices of the PBS programmer. So it's always a nice surprise to see it back on the air.

Band of the Week - Local Natives

Having XM Sirius Satellite Radio has been great. Admittedly I spend most of my time bouncing between two stations: AltNation and XMU. Both stations play indie music. Listening to these channels has exposed me to some great bands. Some I had heard of but never given a serious listen. A few of the bands that have caught my attention and I really dig are: Japandroids, Tame Impala, Grouplove, Alt J, The Lumineers, The Walkmen, Best Coast, Dirty Projectors, Milo Greene and more.

But the band I'm digging this week is Local Natives. Yes, all you early adopting hipsters, I know they're not a brand new deal. They've been around a couple of years now and I had heard a few of their songs on KXT in Dallas. But Relevant Magazine gave them a big spread in a recent issue and both Alt Nation and XMU give them serious playtime. They recently released a new album, their sophomore effort, called Hummingbird.

Very syncopated rhythms and intricate vocal harmonies. Sometimes their music is hypnotic. Other times it rocks pretty hard.

Just Keep Quiet

The night of the Oklahoma tornadoes noted pastor John Piper sent out this tweet:

The tweet was met immediately with negative responses and Piper took the tweet down. The 140 character limit often makes it difficult to express complex thoughts. Not quite sure what Piper was trying to communicate that night. Here was his follow up tweet:

My hope and prayer for Oklahoma is that the raw realism of Job’s losses will point us all to his God “compassionate and merciful.” Jam.5:11

Okay, so whatever Piper meant to say he missed an important lesson from the book of Job about dealing with tragedy.

We often breeze right past Job 2:13. Job's friends come into the story and see Job in great misery and distress. What they did next was an admirable display of friendship and understanding in the midst of tragedy:

And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. Job 2:13 ESV

A whole week! They sat on the ground and didn't say a word for a week. They just sat there and let their presence be felt.

Unfortunately they couldn't keep their silence up. As soon as they open up their big mouths they quickly show what kind of lousy friends they are. They offer advice. They offer explanations. They offer guidance. They offer condemnation. And they are completely off-base in just about everything they say. God later excoriates them for their asinine speeches.

They were doing so well...until they started talking. This is a great lesson for us. In times of tragedy it's often best to simply keep our mouths shut and simply offer our support. Be there for those suffering and show God's love through our actions. In the midst of tragedy most aren't interested in theological explanations or questions of why.

When my wife was having emergency surgery and was near death our pastor came and sat next to me in the hospital waiting room. He didn't say anything for a long time. He just put his hand on my shoulder and sat silently. A little later he prayed with me and offered to get me anything I needed. But for the most part he sat there silently. His quiet presence was a great comfort to me.

A little later a layperson came who fancied themselves an unofficial pastor came and sat next to me. They yapped the entire time about God's goodness and quoted scripture and so on and on. They meant well but I found their words distasteful at the time. I was thinking: I am a follower of Christ, I know the scriptures, I know the theology but right now my wife is near death and I wish you would just shut up.

At that time in my life I didn't need a theological discourse. I just needed someone to sit with me in the hospital waiting room.

The two pastoral approaches were striking. They reminded me of Job's friends who did so well while sitting quietly but went completely wheels off when they started talking. If you don't know what to say don't say anything. In fact, even if you think you know what to say...don't say anything. You say a lot more with your presence and your actions.

home

My heart and prayers go out to all those who lost loved ones on May 20th.

I haven't lived in Oklahoma in sixteen years. But I was born there and spent a total of eleven years of my life there. That doesn't include the numerous visits to the state each year visiting my Grandparents and relatives. There will always be a part of me that considers Oklahoma home. It breaks my heart to see the suffering and devastation caused by this storm. God bless you all.

Summer Movies!

Summer movie season has begun! Here are three quick mini-reviews:

Iron Man 3: Good movie. Nice way to wrap up the trilogy...if this is truly the end of the series. Hopefully Robert Downey, Jr. will be back for Avengers 2. IM3 is full of surprises and lots of action. Still not as good as the first Iron Man...but very good nonetheless.

The Great Gatsby: A near masterpiece. Not sure what the negative critics are harping about. Virtually every line comes directly from the book. Only one or two minor scenes are left out. The visuals are stunning. This movie captures the feel of the book perfectly. I'm not sure how it could have been done better. My only gripe is Tobey Maguire. I don't like him in any movie. He was okay in Gatsby but he's such a doofus it's hard to take him seriously...which may be why he made an okay Nick Carraway. I wish they had included his story with Jordan Baker from the book. Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan and Joel Edgerton who played Tom Buchanan were  perfect. Absolutely perfect. Great movie.

Star Trek: Into Darkness: Another great movie. I know some nerds out there wish it wasn't so action packed. I know some wish it was more cerebral. But this movie is great fun. The characters are explored with more detail. The casting is perfect. The way they played with the Trek mythology was brilliant. I'm very glad I didn't read any spoilers coming into this movie. The villain is one of the all time greats in the series if not in any series.

Whew! More to come I'm sure.

Fred White, Rest in Peace

I was sad to hear about the passing of Fred White this week. White was the long-time radio broadcaster for the Kansas City Royals. Fred White and his broadcast partner Denny Matthews were part of the soundtrack of my childhood. Long before the ubiquity of cable, satellite and online streaming, radio broadcasts were often the only way to keep up with the Royals. I would listen to the broadcasts in the car with my Dad or on a cheap little transistor radio in my bedroom in the summer evenings of Kansas City.

Fred White's voice was evocative of the sounds of summer: locusts and the leaves gently rustling in the summer breeze as I lay on my bed looking out the window at the backyard every summer evening while listening to Royals games. White and Denny Matthews didn't spend a lot of time in conversation with one another. Often they traded off innings while the other worked the television broadcast. As a result they were often criticized for the long gaps of silence during the game. But I enjoyed those moments where all you could hear was the crowd. White and Matthews didn't believe in filling in space with nonsensical talking. That approach would probably not be well received in today's ADD world.

Fred White had a reputation of being a great guy who was always willing to help people out. He was an indelible part of my childhood. May he rest in peace.

What to Do When You Grow Up...

A lot of students spend years fretting about what they should do when they "grow up." How does one find their calling in life. Relevant Magazine posted ten ideas I think are pretty useful. Here are just a few...you can find the rest on Relevant's website HERE.


- Fill in the blank to the phrase "If I had a million dollars I would..."
- When are you happiest?

- What bugs you? (enough to spur you to positive action)

- What do personality and strengths inventories say about you?

- What do your friends think you should do?

- What would you like someone to notice about you?

- What kind of jobs match up with what you learned about yourself?

For Beginners

A few days ago I blogged about M Ward without providing any music. Well, here is his track For Beginners from the album Hold Time. One of my favorites.

Trudat Einstein