I find that people generally think they have above-average skills in three areas:

1. Driving
2. Communicating
3. Being a good judge of character

That is all for today.

And I’m not impressed. Did they read the book? Thankfully, an article in Esquire says that the trailer does not reflect the film that well—the film is much closer to the novel in its pacing and dialogue. According to the article, the film, like Cormac McCarthy’s novel, offers no explanation for the post-apocalyptic setting. The trailer makes it look like another post-apocalyptic action story like, I Am Legend, rather than a beautiful story of the love between a father and his son in the midst of a harrowing future. I hope that the trailer truly does not give us a good picture of the film and that The Road merely goes down as another example of a bad trailer for a good movie. My hall of shame includes trailers for The Truman Show and Cast Away, which gave away significant plot points that the films try to keep hidden for, you know, dramatic purposes. The trailer for Master and Commander made a cerebral epic look like Gladiator at sea. Then there is the all-time king of a bad trailer for a good movie: The Princess Bride. “It’s as real as the feelings you feel”? A saxophone? Really?

I regularly watch Matt Harding’s videos of himself dancing in front of various locales around the world. Seeing his joyous dancing reminds me that we live in a magical world full of wonder and beauty. His inclusion of so many people in his most recent video (the second one below) shows that humanity itself is as much a part of the beauty of this world as any rock formation or shoreline. If I had to pick one thing from the internet and send it into space to communicate with extra terrestrials, it might be one of these videos. In an interview he did with NPR.org, Harding describes the videos as “humanist propaganda,” but I find that they draw me into worship and in seeing God’s fingerprint on all creation.

You can read his story at his web site, Where The Hell Is Matt?

There has been some good discussion and debate. I thought I’d take a moment to lighten things up since it’s Friday. Over on my arts blog, I wrote about some promising developments in the film version of The Hobbit. Not the least of which is the opportunity to see Ian McKellen as Gandalf again. Here is a fantastic clip from the show Extras where he explains his acting method, using his portrayal as Gandalf as an example.

My good friend Eddy has a funny list of “Ten Reasons Why Men Should Not Be Ordained For Ministry.” It made me laugh. Here are a few items:

7. Man was created before woman, obviously as a prototype. Thus, they represent an experiment rather than the crowning achievement of creation.
6. Men are too emotional to be priests or pastors. Their conduct at football and basketball games demonstrates this.
5. Some men are handsome, and this will distract women worshipers.

Is it just me, or does contemporary advertising not use jingles as much anymore? Or at least jingles that bore their way into my memory so that years later they continue to vex me because I can still sing them word for word. I woke up yesterday with this jingle from commercials in the 1980’s stuck in my head and couldn’t get it out. Share my misery, please.

Here’s the announcement of the “something new” I mentioned in my last post. (Sorry Eddy, my post didn’t mean only one thing).

I have a new blog. I’m still going to write on this blog. Lately I’ve written a lot of reviews and have enjoyed the process, but I don’t want The Space Between My Ears to be just a blog about reviews. So I started another blog for my reviews and commentary on the arts: The Space Between the Arts. I’ve put up all the reviews I’ve written this year as well as a couple of new pieces. It will be less personal and more focused than this blog. Might I suggest starting with my reviews of Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 or the magical film Once?

The new blog does have an RSS feed and you can also subscribe to it there or by using this link.

Something new is coming from yours truly. Be forewarned…

Last night Carey told me about a procedure at the hospital involving lasers, which got me thinking. I’ve grown up in a world where lasers have always existed and are used with increasing frequency in numerous fields. Lasers, however, still connote the future (read that with a loud, booming voice and lots of reverb) and technology found only in science-fiction. Why is that?

In a cheap ploy to get more comments on my blog, I’ve decided to make a controversial post in the controversial realm of politics.

The candidate that you like for President sucks.

He/She would be bad for the country, sending us into the dark ages.

Go ahead, defend your views against that onslaught of impervious reason.