Sometimes Great Things Happen

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Back in 1985, things were cool. If you disagree, you’re either too old or too young. The 80’s were my heyday, and I’ll always identify with everything from that decade. I was a bit younger than most people who identify with the 80s, but really, that’s the time I identify with my youth.

One of the coolest, awe inspiring things that took place in 1985 was “USA For Africa” singing “We Are The World.” 45 pop artists got together, and made a song to raise money for starving folks in Africa. If you were a music fan in the 80s, just watching the video will choke you up a bit. Here were the superstars of the time, getting together and doing something great. And it wasn’t about them, it was about people in need. The song is amazing, but the video is absolutely incredible. There’s a 20 year anniversary DVD with behind the scenes footage. I just discovered it existed, and I’m going to order it from Amazon. Here’s a link if you want to do the same. “We Are The World” is one of those shining points of the 80s that makes me proud to claim that decade as my own. Check out this terribly low quality recording from MTV:

[flv:https://www.brainofshawn.com/videos/wearetheworld.flv 320 212]

Happy Sysadmin Day!

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Yep, today is the 8th annual Sysadmin Day. Every summer, the last Friday of July is the official Sysadmin Day. And every summer, here at the school, the entire staff works (4) 10 hour days, so they take off every Friday. You might think they do this to avoid buying me gifts and whatnot (the thought has crossed my mind), but I’m giving them all the benefit of the doubt. Plus, I have air conditioning, and a whole lotta unused bandwidth. So I’m fine. Really.

Best part of Sysadmin Day for me? This video:

As a note — I would normally host files locally, but this one specifically says not to, so I just embedded a YouTube video of somebody else breaking the rules. So you know, I’m only a second hand party to lawlessness. Leave me alone. It’s my day. 🙂

Families, Grudges, and Reconciliation

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I had a falling out a while back with one of my sisters. It was one of your standard fallings out — basically miscommunication and misunderstanding. Since we’re too old to kick each other in the shins and go tell Mom, we basically haven’t spoken in months.

If I thought hard enough, I could remember the details regarding our spat, but honestly, I’m not going to try. I remember leaving an open door for communication, and then leaving well enough alone in an attempt to not make it worse.

I’m sure you’ve heard time heals all, and there’s more wisdom in that than is seems. See, time heals all wounds, but love ignores the scars. Today, I got a comment on my blog from that very sister, and it was chock full of love. 🙂 I think we’re on our way to being buddies again. I sure hope so. This is my first response, because I want everyone to know we’re talking again. I’m rather excited.

Without further ado, let me introduce you to my sister and her family. I won’t put all their names up, because Tia hasn’t given me permission (she posted her name in the comment, so I figure she’s OK with her name being here). They’re pretty cool though:

tiafamily.jpg

Tia – I love you too. Feel free to leave your family’s names in the comment section if you so desire. Oh, and now that we’re talking, GIVE ME BACK MY WALKMAN, OR I’M TELLING MOM! 😉

Harlot Dolls, the Movie.

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I used to think The Boy Who Could Fly was the dumbest, most absurd movie I’d ever seen. It was my lowest common denominator for movie quality. There may have been others that were worse — but that one always sticks in my head. Then, I saw a movie preview that shouldn’t be. It just shouldn’t be. Read on:

bratz.jpg

I have lots of names for the Bratz dolls. Pink Harlots, Little Hoes, Pedophile Playthings (ok, that last one was pretty bad…) Here’s the deal — Bratz dolls with their big eyes and full lips are designed to look sexual. Add their brainless, ditzy personas, and you have a full line of products that should insult any woman worth her intellectual salt.

Am I reading too much into the Bratz phenomenon? I hope so. I just know I don’t want my daughters to consider aesthetic beauty to be king. My hope is that after seeing the movie, I have to retract my comments here. Hopefully the movie will counter some of the image that plagues the Bratz dolls.

I’m not optimistic.

[audio:harlotdollsthemovie.mp3]
Download Audio File Here

More about Chris

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Yesterday, I posted about how impressed I was with Chris’ performance. I went back tonight, and even though there were some changes to the performance that detracted a little (not Chris’ decisions), it was still incredible entertainment. I have a couple video clips taken with our little digital still camera. The video quality is terrible, but you can get a glimpse of Chris in action.

With a group:
[flv:https://www.brainofshawn.com/videos/chrisstepinto.flv 400 300]

Solo:
[flv:https://www.brainofshawn.com/videos/chrissolo.flv 400 300]

The Joy of Being Outdone

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Maybe it’s because I always feel old around my birthday, but every once and a while, I’m awestruck when young people do amazing things. If you’re a parent, I’m sure you know what I mean, but you don’t have to be a parent to experience it.

I think what really gets my goat is when someone younger does something so much better than I could do it myself. It’s humbling, but I’m old enough now to appreciate other people. Let me tell you a story.

Last year, our oldest daughter Amanda was on the softball team. It was her second or third year playing, and she’d really begun to do well. In fact, she ended up playing first base. If you’ve ever watched youth softball, you understand the significance of first base. See, that’s the only base at which plays ever happen. Little girls generally can’t throw fast enough or accurate enough to get runners out at 2nd and 3rd, so 1st and home are the only bases that get action. It’s a big deal to be on first.

I realized part way through the season that not only could Amanda play first base, but she could play first base well. In fact, she made the All-Star team. It was a moment when my then 9 year old daughter completely surpassed my ability. It was awesome. I never even MADE the team when I was younger, and here my little girl was excelling. I experienced a joy that I’d never had before. Finally, I understood those fathers standing up in stand shouting, “That’s my kid!!!”

This evening, my brother in law did the same thing to me. No, he didn’t play first base, but he made me that sorta proud I got when Amanda made the All-Star team. Chris is in a dinner theater group, and this evening I saw their first performance of the season. It was awesome. The group probably has a dozen or so teens and young adults. Like you would expect, there are some mediocre performers, and a couple that really shine. Christopher shined. Brightly.

It was a little funny after the show, because we started chatting about microphone levels, etc. I awkwardly told him he did a good job, but had to admit I didn’t want to get all sappy. I think he shrugged the compliment off humbly, and went on his way.

Well Chris, here’s the sap. I’ve known you as long as I can remember (literally!), and I’ve never been so impressed and proud of you. I’ve seen you take first chair in band as a freshman, I’ve seen you play sports better than I could ever imagine, and I’ve seen you grow as an individual. Tonight, however, you moved me, man. You have a great voice, but what’s even better is that you really tell a story when you sing. I appreciated the entire performance. Thank you for singing from your heart.

All right, that’s enough. I need to say something silly and sarcastic now to lighten the mood of this post. So imagine I just made an armpit noise, and move along…

I Made It Around the Sun Again

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The SunWell, that’s 32 times now I’ve flown around the Sun. Relatively speaking, I’ve traveled 18,380,173,760 miles, which means I could have flown to Pluto and back, then taken a quick jaunt back to Uranus for souvenirs. I still would have made it back in time to blow out candles this afternoon. Of course, for that to happen, my Mom would have had to launch me into space when I was born at 18.5 miles per second (the orbital velocity of Earth). I was born fast mind you, but my mother is human. 🙂

So there you have it. In comparison to the entire universe, my 32 laps are pretty insignificant. But hey, Jupiter hasn’t even made it around the Sun 3 times in my lifetime. What a pokey little fella.

Harry Potter 5 Movie Review

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hp5.jpgI didn’t really like Harry Potter 4 (the movie). It was too dark, and I thought Harry was a crybaby teenager with an immature angst that was downright annoying. Plus, I disliked several of the other characters as well, so it was just a cruddy movie for me. I was expecting much the same or worse with this one.

I was quite happily wrong.

The Order of the Phoenix, which I just saw with my wife and brother in law, was in my opinion better than the last. Here’s a short list of the whys:

  1. Harry, while still mad all the time, finally realizes he’s mad all the time. In the words of G.I. Joe, knowing is half the battle.
  2. Hermione (yeah, had to look that spelling up) is no longer portrayed as the cleavage induced eye candy that she was in movie 4. She’s back to the cute, down to earth kid that everyone likes as an actual person.
  3. The kids actually do some, you know, MAGIC. This has been a frustration with the books as well as the movies. If Harry is this all incredible bad guy slayer — why is he always such a weenie when it comes to the wand? At least there was some sign that he might be an advanced wizard. I was really frustrated when Hermione always showed him up in the last movies.
  4. The older Weasley boys are always great — but they shined in this movie.

It was really a good flick. I’m looking forward to the last book, which comes out in a week or so. The timing is really nice. And no, I’m not camping outside my bookstore, and I didn’t wear a cape to the movie tonight. I don’t want to be that guy.

UPDATE: Since I confessed to not reading the Harry Potter books on another blog, I guess I should clarify that I’m looking forward to the 7th book so I can read the spoilers online. 🙂