Hit and Miss

In an effort to knock the rust from my ability to speak and understand German, I have recently started renting German movies at the local video store. Thus far, I have rented and viewed two movies. The first movie I rented is called "Vitus". I had never heard of the movie. However, I was working from the end of the alphabet in the foreign movie section and this was the first German movie I came across. The movie may very well be one of the best movies ever produced in any language. The movie focuses on the struggles of a young boy with amazing talents and intellectual abilities to fit in with everyday life. Being a German movie, it is almost too complex to explain the various storylines and how they connect with each other. Amazingly, given that this is a German movie, nobody blows their brains out at the end of the movie (or any other time during the movie). Below is the trailer. One thing worth mentioning about the trailer. When you see the 12 year old Vitus playing the piano, there is no double. The young actor that portrays the 12 year old Vitus is a "wunderkind" when it comes to playing the piano. In fact, when you see him in the clip playing in a concert hall, that is an actual concert featuring the actor. Given that the film had a minimal budget, the producers could not afford to rent a concert hall to film the scene. So, they put on a concert and charged people to attend. They then filmed some scenes during the actual concert!



While "Vitus" was a hit, "Sommersturm" was definitely a miss. This was the next German movie I found while working my way backwards through the alphabet. I won't inlcude a video of the trailer - it is not worth it. The basic story was about a coed rowing team that consisted of several members in their late teens. They were preparing for a mixed team regatta. There was one other coed team. The other teams in the "mixed" regatta included a team of lesbians from Berlin and a team of gay men from Saxony (apparently, while they were all of the same sex, the teams were eligible for a mixed regatta). Anyway, one of the young men on the coed team is struggling with his romantic feelings for another male member of the team. The object of his affections is not gay and is in a relationship with one of the female members of the team. They gay young man is being pursued by a female member of their team. Anyway, when the team of gay men shows up, all you-know-what busts loose.

So, this movie was a miss. However, I did learn some new German words! Here is another amazing connection that I must confess - although I stuggle with trying to figure out what it means! Near the end of the movie,while all the teams were training for the final regatta, there was some background music. Within about 2 seconds of hearing this music, I recognized it as a variation on the melody of the verse of a song made most famous by The Pet Shop Boys in the mid-90s. I mention that The Pet Shop Boys version is the most well-known. However, my recollection of the song relates to a version by........The Village People. I must admit that I recognized the song "Go West". The scary part of this is that "Go West" is an obscure Village People song. Could it be that the German movie hit "too close to home"?!?!

Below is a video clip of The Village People performing "Go West". Of course, I have to provide a few comments. The Village People endure because none of them took anything too seriously. The lead singer, Victor Willis, is the only heterosexual member of the group. If one listens objectively, one has to admit that he has a pretty good voice. The last thought I will leave is this. Please listen to a bit of the song. If you are from the older crowd, you may have a sense that there was something a generation before the Village People that had the same sound (although you need to substitute harmonicas and a march beat for horns and a disco beat). Listen to the sound when all of the Village People are singing. It sounds very much like Mitch Miller and the Gang!

Catching The Big One

Those Somali pirates are at it again. They recently siezed a huge oil-tanker from Saudi Arabia. The capture had an impact on oil prices and sent shockwaves around the maritime world. I still don't understand piracy. However, it must be effective - the pirates are capturing larger ships and more loot. For a related article from The Christian Science Monitor, go to: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1119/p01s03-woaf.html.

It is a very uncomfortable feeling to know that, for the time being, there does not seem to be a way to stop the pirates. It is sort of like the feeling many of us might have had after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The increased level of piracy is indicative of the lack of stability in Somalia. Unfortunately, it seems like the instability is rapidly spreading throughout the region. We will soon clearly see that what happens on one side of the world has an impact on the opposite side of the world.

Age Spots

I am now a card carrying member of the AARP. I got in through a loophole. I have a few years to go until I hit 50 years of age. However, my wife recently hit the half-century mark on her life odometer. She wasn't happy about it. I am, since if one spouse is eligible for AARP membership, the younger spouse gets "grandfathered" in (no pun intended) for membership eligibility. While my lovely wife isn't too happy, I am a hppy camper. Now we can get the senior citizen specials at restaurants.

There is another sign of aging that emerged for millions of people a week ago. For the first time for many in the baby-boom generation, the President of the United States is going to be younger than they are. My wife is in that category. I barely missed it.

First The White House, Next The Vatican?

Now that the first black person has been elected President of the United States, Atlanta Archbishop Wilton Gregory (the first black bishop to serve as President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) thinks it is time for a black Pope. See a related story from Yahoo! News:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081106/ts_alt_afp/usvotepope_081106143630

When I first heard about Archbishop Gregory's comments, my first thought was that there must have been black Popes before. Indeed, there have been three - Victor I (he is the guy that required that Easter be on a Sunday), Militiades and Gelasius. However, all three Popes reigned during a time when race was not an issue.

Given the growth of the Roman Catholic Church in Africa (which is a continent, not a country), it becomes increasingly possible that, in the not-too-distant future, a black man could become Pope.

The Day After The Day After

Time heals all wounds.

One day after hearing that our nation is near the brink of destruction, many political and religious conservatives are coming to their senses. As I always do, I spent an hour or so listening to Catholic radio this morning. While callers to the program still think that the world is going to end very soon due to the result of the Presidential election, the hosts were the voices of reason. The hosts said that they initially felt the way many of the callers felt. However, after another day of thinking about the situation, the hosts said that all of us need to "play with the cards that we have been dealt". The hosts even went so far as to say that, like all Presidents, Barack Obama will do some very positive things and will also do some very negative things. They said that it is the duty of every Christian to keep pushing for pro-life causes (not just abortion). Christians must watch the Obama administration "like a hawk". The same hosts also said it is the duty of every of every Christian to work with the Administration - even though some of the major policies of the Administration may seem to be very "anti-life".

Is is too bad that more people do not have that same attitude all of the time.

The Day After

Earlier this morning, I visited several Catholic blogs. All of the blogs included comments about how America sold its soul by electing Barack Obama. Because we elected Obama, we have chosen death. Somehow, a "switched was turned" and now our country is on the highway to hell with no exits.

Where have these people been? Including the recent election, I can recall the past 10 presidential elections. The Republican candidate won 6 of those elections and the Democrat won 4. I really cannot remember any instance where there was a significant change in our nation's culture due to the outcome of any of those elections. I feel the same way this morning than I did on the morning after previous elections.

We don't change much by voting for one candidate over another every two years. We can do more to change things by becoming more engaged in the lives of the people we care about - family, co-workers, neighbors, etc.

It Is Always Negotiable

Here is why I love The Catholic Channel on Sirius Satellite Radio. Yesterday, I was listening to the program, Across the Nation, hosted by Bob Dunning. He was saying that he didn't know for whom he would vote for President. Of course, people were calling in to say that his soul would be in jeopardy if he voted for a pro-abortion candidate. One caller made reference to the supposed "five non-negotiable issues": abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning and homosexual marriage. Dunning reminded the caller that neither Obama nor McCain were on board with all five of these issues. Of course, the caller then said that voters must then pick the candidate that will do the least amount of damage related to the five issues. Dunning then approriately reminded the caller that doing so represents negotiation. If all five of the issues are truly non-negotiable, then we must vote for a candidate that is on board with all five of the issues. The caller's response was a dial tone.