Last night I went to a midnight presentation of The Dark Knight. It’s the first time in over a year that I’ve gone to a midnight premiere (the last time was for Transformers). It’s also the first time all summer I’ve selfishly taken advantage of the fact that I don’t have to go to my office job until 12:30 PM each day. I want to give you some of my impressions, but without giving away any of the plot for the majority of you who probably still haven’t seen it. But before I even do that I want to tell you the story about how I managed to get tickets at the last second.
Viewpoint
Often mindless pontification, occasional greatness. These blog posts are on my opinions, including reviews of books and music.
The last time I made baseball predictions I was 100% correct. Here’s what I think it going to happen this season.
National League
East: Mets
Central: Cubs
West: Diamondbacks
Wild Card: Braves
American League
East: Red Sox
Central: Tigers
West: Mariners
Wild Card: Indians
World Series
Tigers over Mets
Please, tell me why I’m wrong.
Does Leap Year Day have any significance to you? I’m not talking about the scientific relevance of the day, or to the unfortunate few who happen to celebrate birthdays today. Was today all that different from any other Friday or any other day this month? It seems like it should have been. After all, it only comes once every four years! Did you do anything special?
I can’t say that I put on my Leap Year Day hat or sang Leap Year Day carols today. I didn’t eat a fancy holiday meal or spend time with family. There wasn’t a parade or a big sporting event. Still, I’ve been anticipating today. I find that the mere notion of February 29 nearly always gets me thinking about my past and my future. What was I doing four years ago? What will I be doing four year from now?
Shaquille O’Neal is no longer a member of the Miami Heat. He’s been traded to the Phoenix Suns for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks. I haven’t been following this NBA season too closely, in part because the Heat have been terrible and in part because my schedule hasn’t allowed to me watch a single game this season. But I’m a Heat fan and have been one since I was in elementary school. I know Shaq’s one of the greatest to ever play the game, but I’m certainly not sad to see him go. He’s lost a step or two, he’s out of shape, and he has a monster contact that was going to prevent the team from signing any sort of free agent for the next two seasons. I know he helped make the Heat relevant again, and I know he played a part in the 2006 title, but you can’t make today’s decisions based on yesterday’s winning formula.
I have noticed that some authors are now including a list of the music they listened to while writing their book (Donald Miller comes to mind). I thought that might be a pretty cool thing for me to start doing. Below is my soundtrack for 2007. Each of these twelve songs has impacted me this past year. I’ve even set up an easy way for you to buy this soundtrack!
I’ve wanted to write this post for a while but haven’t made the time for it. Since the beginning of the summer I’ve been trying to expand my horizons when it comes to my choices of music. I had gotten myself into a bit of a rut, only listening to the bands and singers I already knew about. You see, I don’t listen to the radio because I can’t stand it. Even Christian radio. Especially Christian radio.
I’ve really soured on the Christian music industry in recent years. I guess I’m just sick of songs fitting into one of two categories: (1) Christian pop that is musically inept and lyrically shallow, or (2) worship music, much of which is either poorly made or just a rehash of a song that’s been recorded by a dozen other artists. Plus when it comes to worship music I don’t like to listen to it unless I’m actually going to be concentrating on God and His character. If I’m just typing away at my desk or I’m hanging out with friends and want some music in the background I don’t want worship music because my attention will be elsewhere.
I’ve recently rejoined the world of secular music. I know, I know. Blasphemy. Don’t worry though, I’m not listening to anything too sketchy. I wanted to blog about some of the great artists I’m now listening to. I’ll give you three names today with more to come later.
Alright, before the postseason starts this afternoon I need to weigh in on what I think is going to happen. Here goes.
National League:
Rockies over Phillies (four games)
D’Backs over Cubs (four games)
Rockies over D’Backs (six games)
American League:
Red Sox over Angels (three games)
Indians over Yankees (five games)
Red Sox over Indians (six games)
The general consensus in the blogosphere is that writing a bad post is far worse than writing no post at all. This is probably true about all writing. With that in mind, I have tried to write this synopsis a couple of times already but each time it has felt stale. The fact is it’s all been said before. Season six of 24 didn’t measure up to season five. The character interactions were awkward. The Bauer family’s involvement was simply too hard to believe. The creativity that defined the series as innovative television was absent from this season.
I’ve tried to look at season six from a big picture point of view rather than as its own entity, and when I do that a lot of the decisions made by the writers make sense. I don’t think people understand what this season was for. Season six, like season three, was a bookend. It needed to bring stories — and characters — to a close. Allow me to explain.
I just realized that three out of the first five posts in my new blog will be about Jack Bauer (one last week, this one and the one I intend to write tomorrow). I’m not turning this into a 24 blog; it’s just that time of year.
Tonight is the two-hour season finale. I wanted to go on record as to what I think will happen tonight. This season I’ve been pretty accurate when it come to making predictions, but I’ve yet to make any in writing. So here they are.
Today I came across an article on CNN.com about the future of the most exciting show on television. In addition to announcing that the show will continue for another two seasons, it was hinted that Jack Bauer and his friends on 24 will be in for some changes starting next season.
The upcoming re-invention of the series was something the producers have talked about for a while, [executive producer/showrunner Howard] Gordon said.
Aside from Sutherland, “24″ will return with a new cast (some old favorites might return in different roles) and a new, non-Los Angeles location, with the producers even contemplating telling the story from two locations.
