The sky was blue & cloudless on Sunday afternoon, but I was able to snap this picture of a little bird in the tree by our garage. I think it’s a starling, but I’m not sure.

1. Three Little Birds – Bob Marley & the Wailers
2. Maybe Sparrow – Neko Case
3. When Doves Cry – Prince & the Revolution
4. Swan Swan Hummingbird – R.E.M.
5. Roadrunner – Bo Diddley (One of my favorite versions of this song was made for the Backbeat soundtrack, which was actually a cover of a cover… Dave Grohl, Dave Pirner, Thurston Moore, Mike Mills, Greg Dulli and Don Fleming as the very young Beatles covering Bo Diddley – sounds weird, but it’s awesome.)

And, just in case you hadn’t heard…

Blogging For Peace

Click my peace globe to read Mimi's fantastic BlogBlast post as well as links to hundreds more from around the world

In a world that is ravaged by chaos, war, tragedy, conflict and hatred, it is difficult to look around and be optimistic.

I’ve been thinking about this for a while, ever since I listened to a podcast episode of NPR’s RadioLab called “New Normal”. It opened with a short piece in which a reporter followed around a guy, John Horgan, through the streets of Hoboken conducting an informal, one question survey. “Will humans ever stop fighting wars?”

It’s a question he has been asking people ever since the United Stated invaded Iraq in 2003.

Its one of life’s unanswerable questions. And as John explains, it’s not just a question about war. It’s a question about whether or not humans possess the ability to change who and what we are.

An overwhelming majority, 9 out of 10, answered quickly and adamantly, “NO”. Many of the explanations involved the term “Human Nature”.

Can we change?

Is peace possible?

As a Christian, I try to live my life in a way that embraces hope and love. I have to believe that peace on earth is a worthwhile and attainable goal. It is still hard to be optimistic, but I have to believe that it’s possible.

However, as a human, the best I can do is to change me.

Which is why, like Mother Theresa, I want the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi to be my prayer every day. Because it’s not about assigning blame or responsibility; it’s about taking it.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

It’s also why I am participating in today’s BlogBlast for Peace; a day when bloggers around the world unite in a moment of solidarity, regardless of our differences, to embrace the hope of Peace on Earth.

Dona Nobis Pacem

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

As for mustache halloween costumes in the office this year; how about some 70’s vice-squad action?

And don’t forget; the winner of the American Mustache Institute’s 2009 Robert Goulet Memorial Mustached American of the Year award will be announced tonight at their annual Stache Bash at the Orpheum Theater in St. Louis (featuring John Oates!). If I didn’t already have plans…

Have a Hairy Halloween!

Special Halloween Eve Edition!

The skies were almost orange that morning – but I LOVE those clouds. I tried to take some pictures of a full moon, which seemed more appropriate for this weekend, but they just didn’t turn out. Going to have to play with the settings & figure out how to get a good one.

And how about the Friday Five portion of this post? It’s not as fun as last year’s - but it’s still pretty good!

1. Halloween Head – Ryan Adams & the Cardinals
2. Dr. Bones – Cherry Poppin’ Daddies
3. The Invisible Man – Queen
4. Speak of the Devil – Chris Isaak
5. I’m Your Boogie Man – KC & the Sunshine Band

And one more thing…  leave that no-account Oogie-Boogie out of this!

(via SoulPancake;)

“Amazing tradition. They throw a great party for you on the one day they know you can’t come.” — Jeff Goldblum (as Michael Gold in The Big Chill)

Eight college friends search for lost ideals following the death of their mate Alex in Lawrence Kasdan’s The Big Chill, and brilliantly setting the stage is Kasdan’s iconic opening scene, where JoBeth Williams (as Karen Bowens) starts playing “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by the Stones on a booming church organ. Each of the characters knowingly smiles at the first chords of the song. And a minute later, Mick Jagger’s rendition joins the soundtrack. In an instant, you’re thinking about love and life, memories and friendships, as well as your own death. So, thinking about the group of people that will likely come together over you one day, what songs sum up your life and would bring smiles to those left behind?

List 5 songs you would add to the playlist for your funeral.

Okay, so it’s kind of a dark, depressing subject. But it is Halloween week after all.  So here is my list:

1. Iron & Wine – the Trapeze Swinger
2. U2 – Love Rescue Me
3. Lyle Lovett – Don’t Cry a Tear
4. Norah Jones – The Long Day is Over
5. Louis Armstrong – What a Wonderful World

I thought this morning I would combine SkyWatch Friday with Friday Five, which I haven’t done in a while. The songs in this case are inspired by the picture; a gorgeous sunrise that I was watching in my rear-view mirror on my way to work Tuesday morning.

1. Sun Comes Up, It’s Tuesday Morning – Cowboy Junkies
2. Sunrise – Norah Jones
3. Morning Has Broken – Cat Stevens
4. Sunshine – G. Love (with Jack Johnson & Zach Gill)
5. Why Does the Sun Really Shine – They Might Be Giants (the answer song to their own original, scientifically incorrect, Why Does the Sun Shine)

Have a great weekend!

Halloween is nearly upon us, so it’s time once again to revisit the topic I know EVERYONE has been waiting for… Mustachioed Costume ideas!

Between my original list of ten last year, the seven runners-up & the approximately 23 left in the comments, you would think that the proverbial soup-strainer well would run dry. But you would be so wrong!

So start growing your nose-neighbor and check out these ten additions for 2009;

Brenden Ryan: Maybe I’m a little partial to Brenden because I am a St. Louis Cardinals fan, but his was a great story for 2009. He started out the season as a utility infielder and ended up as an every-day shortstop for the division champion team. In case you didn’t know, the starting pitching staff along with a handful of other team members decided to grow mustaches at the same time for some reason. It lasted a while, but Brenden was the only one that kept it up after everyone else reached for their razors. And oh what a glorious ‘stache it was! So glorious in fact that Ryan was nominated for the 2009 Robert Goulet Memorial Mustached American of the Year by the American Mustache Institute.

Chesley Burnett “Sully” Sullenberger III: Another great story for 2009, as well as another nominee for the Robert Goulet award, Sully was the U.S. Airways pilot that famously landed his Airbus A320 in the Hudson River after being hit by a flock of Canada Geese.

Gabe Kaplan: Go ahead – you know you want to sing the theme song to Welcome Back, Kotter. Doesn’t everyone?

Gene Shalit: I can’t believe Shalit wasn’t mentioned at all last year. Gene has been the film and book critic for NBC’s The Today Show for nearly as long as I’ve been alive. I mean, that’s not just a mustache. That thing is a work of art!

And speaking of the news, what about John Stossel? According to his Wikipedia entry, John is a consumer reporter, investigative journalist, author, libertarian columnist, and former 20/20 co-anchor. But it says absolutely nothing about his hairy upper lip. What’s up with that?

Dale Earnhardt: I am not a Nascar fan by any stretch of the imagination, but the impact of Earnhardt’s tragic death was not lost on me. His legacy will live on forever, and I’m not just talking about his driving. That mustache should be in the hall of fame!

Paul Teutul, Sr.: Not just the founder of Orange County Choppers & star of the reality show American Chopper, but also the proud owner of one of the most magnificent & giant cookie-dusters of all time!

Glenn Hughes: better known as “the biker” from the 70’s disco group the Village People. I realize of course that it would take a very specific kind of guy to pull this off as a costume, but just think of how awesome it would be! There were other members of the Village People that sported whiskers, namely the construction worker & the cowboy, but none were ever as impressive as the biker.

John Waters: The eccentric filmmaker of such wonderful works as Hairspray, Cry-Baby, and Serial Mom, as well as cult favorites like Pink Flamingoes, still sports his trademark pencil-thin mustache that is simply “Divine”. (Get it? Divine? HA! I crack myself up.)

Daniel Day-Lewis as “Bill the Butcher”: He’s a phenomenal actor, and probably the best part of Gangs of New York. But oh what a wonderful lip-sweater!

Light, feathery Cirrus clouds as seen from a third floor hospital window last weekend – where we have spent entirely too much time lately with my Father-in-law.

Tomorrow, the movie adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s 1963 children’s book Where the Wild Things Are opens in theaters.

Our house is torn.

On one hand, it looks awesome! Spike Jonze appears to have done a great job capturing the spirit of the book. And the monsters look like updated versions of Sid and Marty Krofft characters combined with Jim Henson’s creatures in the Dark Crystal, not to mention remaining very true to Sendak’s original drawings.

It’s safe to say that it’s receiving mixed reviews. But out of the 46 compiled by Rotten Tomatoes, 63% are positive. Most of the negative comments say something about whether or not Sendak’s nine sentence picture book was substantial enough to merit a feature length film.

Which brings us to the other hand…

One of the things that my wife is passionate about is children’s literature and how important it is for parents to read to their kids. We both have claimed for years that Where the Wild Things Are ranks high on both of our lists of favorite children’s books. We have bought it for friends that were expecting and own multiple copies ourselves. It is simply a wonderful book.

Yes, it is only nine sentences long. Yes, it is classified as a “picture book”. But the story is deep and nuanced, dealing with topics that hadn’t really been touched previously in the medium. What’s not spelled out on the pages is just as important, if not more so, than what is. It’s about how children deal with difficult situations, anger, and the reality that life isn’t always rosy. How sometimes we deal with our emotions by escaping into fantasy and our imaginations. But at the end of the day we have to come home to the warm embrace of someone who loves us.

It is always difficult when someone wants to take something so beloved by so many, and update it for a younger and more modern audience. People like us are adamant that these things don’t really need updating. The next generation simply needs to be exposed to it in the same way that we were. The book itself is a brilliant work of art and shouldn’t be perverted by making it into something that it was never intended to be for the sake of making another buck.

I understand these arguments and for the most part agree with them. But every time I see a preview or a trailer for the movie adaptation, my heart beats a little bit faster and I can’t fight the desire to see it.

Like I said before, it looks awesome!

Now, convincing my strong-willed, traditionalist, Kindergarten teaching wife to see it with me is a whole other story!