The L.A. Dime

Yesterday, Tina celebrated her second annual, 29th birthday. She had lunch with her boss, cake and prezzies with her pals at work, and then Sophie and I took her to dinner with Jan at Pho, our favorite Vietnamese restaurant in South Pasadena. Jan baked a delicious red velvet cake for her, which we devoured with some port at his house, and then she received gifts from Brad and Bophie before going home. I hope it was a happy birthday, Biner! We love you!

Thanks to our good friend, Sabine, Sophie has a lovely wooden push cart that she likes to use to transport her pal, Ernie the Monkey (not to be confused with Bobo the Chimp) around the living room. She’s a very fast walker and stair climber now, and here she is practicing behind our house with Julie.

And here’s our Baby Monster (we call her that because of her ferocious growl), in a brand new dress on her way to our friends’ (Kelly and Jen) dual bridal shower.

We have lots of great video to upload, but without a backup hard drive, I can’t edit it. I’ll be trying to remedy that situation shortly.

Joss Whedon, super-duper writer/producer, created his own internet miniseries to show the Studios that content can happen without them. It’s pretty cool, and pretty darn funny. After tomorrow (7/20/08) it becomes pay to play.  You can download a season pass from iTunes for $3.99 and get all current and future episodes.

I am disturbed.

This week, the cover of The New Yorker depicts Barack and Michelle Obama as American-Flag burning, militant Muslims who have captured the oval office and fooled us all. As a fan of Obamadamus, free speech, and satire, it is not the publication of this image that disturbs me, but the facetious mythology at the source of it. The most recent issue of Newsweek features a photo of Obama praying, with the title — “What he believes.” Both Obama and McCain have been assailed for their church and ministerial associations. McCain is not Christian enough to be Republican, Obama is not American enough to Christian. To this I say that the Founding Fathers would be tremendously disappointed were they here to witness this clash of Church and State they so desperately wished to avoid.

Opening a treaty with Tripoli drafted in 1797, George Washington wrote, “As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded as a Christian Nation….” Thomas Jefferson, revered by all for his role in declaring our independence and framing our constitution, is widely believed to have been an atheist. Madison, Franklin, and Adams are all on record as having been vehemently opposed to any relationship between religion and government, save for the protected toleration of all forms of the former. Now, in 2008, amidst war, climate change, recession, high fuel prices, humanitarian crises, and the need for education reform (among many other problems), all we seem to care about is which Church these men attend, and the manner in which they pray. They both pander to religious folks trying to prove how Godly they are, and I’m sick of it. Focus on the issues, please.

I am not opposed to religion by any stretch, so long as it doesn’t proffer hate and impinge on the rights of others. But, this country was founded on the secular separation of Church and State, and therefore, religious discussion should remain in the churches and not on the stump. When Barry Goldwater ran for President, he railed against the religious pressures placed on him as a candidate, and vowed to keep them separate from his campaign and to not let them effect his policy decisions. And he lost. George Bush, who won (sort of), is on record as a Christian, having said that God lead him to invade Iraq, and that atheists should not be considered American citizens. Huh? Is this Iran? Who is to say that it was God that spoke to Bush, and how can a country founded on religious freedom deny those very freedoms to people who choose not to believe?

I fear that we are headed toward a theocracy, where a man or woman need not only be brilliant, experienced, and a strong leader to become our President, but must also be an ordained minister and Biblical scholar. We may as well elect an American Pope or Supreme Reverend instead of a Vice President. It seems one phrase in our “Pledge to the Flag,” and another on our dollar bills, along with divisive issues such as abortion, stem cell research, and gay marriage, have allowed faith to take a seat beside reason in the governance of our nation. And that leaves me disturbed.

After 6 hours in line, I am writing this post from my new iPhone.

Thanks to Beth for this interesting graph. Screenwriting exists on the exact pixel where Literature, Tattoos, and Origami all meet.

Last night, and far too late — not in the hour but in the timing — Tina and I finally watched an amazing film written and directed by Ted Braun, one my former USC professors, and now a colleague. Darfur Now is a documentary that tells the story of six individuals fighting to free the Darfur region from the genocide wrought by the Sudanese government against its own people, perpetrated by mercenaries known as the Janjaweed. Featured in the story are a woman who lost everything and now fights as a rebel, a UN official working to provide food to refugees, a Los Angeles waiter who successfully writes and passes a law to divest California from Sudanese business interests, actor Don Cheadle (also featuring his pal George Clooney) who wrote a book on the conflict and hopes to use his celebrity to raise awareness, and finally, the U.N. Prosecutor who seeks to bring Sudanese war criminals to justice.

Darfur Now is wonderfully crafted. It’s a heart-wrenching and inspirational film that should serve as a call of action to those like me who sometimes feel that simply being informed about a subject is enough. Knowing is one thing, but doing is quite another. There is no more chilling moment in the film than when the Rebel Fighter claims that things will be better “when the white people come to help us.” Darfur Now delivers their message. Now it is up to us to respond. All of us.

Watch the film on DVD, and visit its official website to see what is being done and how you can help.

I’ve now enjoyed many Independence Days, but none better than last week when we traveled to Florida to celebrate with Tina’s parents, who officially became U.S. citizens in May, and were so happy about it, they decided to throw a party. We cooked up 38 homemade chipotle burgers and nearly as many Johnsonville brats, enjoyed beer from Manfred’s new Heineken microkeg (coolest thing ever), and sang a few patriotic songs before heading off to bed late in the evening to the sound of fireworks. Despite being sleep-deprived, Sophie rocked her first 4th (and 10 month birthday), playing with new friends Romy and Anna. It was a great night. Congratulations M&M, we’re very proud of you!

A trip to Florida means a stop at The Tabletop and a stroll down Venice Main Street, where we now enjoy family and friend discounts at a variety of German-owned stores. After picking up some new Tabletop stainless steel, some Cleopatra’s smell-good stuff, and toys and clothes for Sophie at Nana’s, it was off to the pool and ocean to relax (and watch some pretty amazing tennis).

Sophie has now taken four cross-country flights, swum in three oceans and four pools, and played in one Florida rain storm. Make sure to click on the cool panorama at the bottom.

Rich Copley, The Lexington Herald Leader’s culture writer and blogger of Copious Notes, recently included The Dime in his discussion of Classic 80’s movies. It should be noted that I first consulted The Cheese Fry, and we differed greatly, as we often do about movies and certain blue and silver football teams with QBs whose last names sound like restaurant chains.

Rich interviewed several other filmmakers with KY connections, and most of them brought up at least one movie that I failed to mention which was definitely worthy of consideration. Most distressing to me, was Oscar-winner The Dead Poet’s Society, which truly changed my life. Anyway, check out the lists, and then chime back in with your own.  Here’s mine:

“This was very, very hard to do! My rationale was to go with iconic movies I watch over and over again. Clearly, few of them were Oscar winners, but in my mind, they define the era and are still well-loved today.”

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark

2. The Empire Strikes Back

3. E.T. — The Extra-Terrestrial

4. Back to the Future

5. Tootsie

6. The Breakfast Club

7. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

8. Top Gun

9. Wall Street

10. Amadeus

But what about The Princess Bride, Ghostbusters, Rain Main, Die Hard, When Harry Met Sally, Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, 48 Hours, Gandhi, Driving Miss Daisy and Beverly Hills Cop?

Everyone knows you’re supposed to backup your files often, because computers are machines and machines breakdown. Well, guess what? Evidently you’re supposed to backup your backups, too. My external hard drive disappeared from my computer yesterday. It’s not a huge disaster as my most important files are on CDs and DVDs or uploaded to my numerous email inboxes, but my photo library was not. We have our wedding, and Sophie’s life so far — the most important stuff, along with other bits and pieces from circa 2005 (including Band Camp) when I did my last photo backup, but there is certainly now a gap in the record, and likely bits and pieces I will someday wish I had that I can’t remember right now. The hard drive in question did me one last bit of good service, though, before it died. I recently upgraded my operating system and transitioned to Office 2008, which somehow compromised my entire address book and calendar. Luckily, I had backed all of that up recently, and the old Hard Drive lived long enough to restore them for me before expiring.

I may look into recovering the data, but I hear it’s expensive. Anyone with expertise on the subject, your input is welcome.