Life Imitating Art?

I’ve never understood why people enjoy Larry King’s interviews so much. He seems to take pride in not doing any research about his guests and that often leads to some of the most senseless questions I’ve ever heard. During the U.S. Open tennis tournament a couple of months ago, he asked Andre Agassi if playing on different tennis surfaces mattered, and if so, how? Wow.

To some degree, I’m a lot like Larry King when it comes to my knowledge about the lives of celebrities. I know next to nothing about most of them, and I don’t have an insatiable appetite to go exploring. It just doesn’t interest me. But when a friend e-mailed me yesterday to ask me if I’d heard that Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams were dating (my friend knows I’m a huge fan of The Notebook—in which Gosling and McAdams acted), I had a desire to know more, I just didn’t have a lot of time to go looking for it.

So, I’m not even sure if they are still together, but their on-screen chemistry was amazing in The Notebook. That doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but the romantic in me can’t help but wonder if their apparent true-life romance is mirroring art. The two characters they portrayed, Noah Calhoun and Allie Hamilton, were so devoted to each other in marriage, in sickness and in health, that they moved movie-goers all across the country to tears. The final scene is so moving that I struggle for words for several minutes every time I see it.

Sometimes a movie, book, painting, or some other work of art becomes bigger than its creator ever imagined. He or she found a way to capture a small, identifiable, relatable snapshot of humanity that moves people so much that the work of art becomes a point of reference. The Notebook was one of those movies (and novels) on the subject of true love. And now that Gosling and McAdams are together, it makes me wonder if they weren’t just as moved as we were by the story’s powerful portrayal of selfless, sacrificial love that overcame everything.

ALF Quotes

I haven’t included any ALF quotes here for several months. I popped in Season Three on DVD a couple of nights ago and almost died laughing at the following things he said:

“The turkey is gone. I can’t bring it back. Wait! Maybe I can—if I can remember which stomach it’s in [Melmacians have eight stomachs]. Hack. Hack. Hack. It’s not in number eight.”

* * * * *

“What is it?” ALF said to Lynn as he wondered what type of food she was about to serve him.

“Guess.”

“Rubber vomit.”

“Pumpkin Jello.”

“I can’t eat that. Hey, I’ve never heard myself say that before.”

* * * * *

“Picture if you will an ordinary flowerpot—empty to the human eye, but one tap with my magic want and the flowerpot becomes…big jaggedy pieces of clay [it broke when he hit it with his wand]. Ta-da!”

* * * * *

“Being no good at something is no reason to quit. Ask anyone at the Fox network.”

* * * * *

“Yes! Yes! I came, I saw, I demolecularized.”

* * * * *

“Hocus-pocus, go for broke-us.”

* * * * *

If you want more (and how could you not!?), here you go:

• ALF Quotes #1
• ALF Quotes #2
• ALF Quotes #3
• ALF Quotes #4

My First Road Trip

Continuing with our Top Ten Tuesday series, here’s another one of my favorite all-time moments. This one occurred in 1984, just like the post from last week—only this event occurred a few months earlier—shortly before I started college. At the age of 17, I filled a cooler full of pop, and stuffed my duffel bag with a few days worth of clothes, and I carefully studied the road atlas before embarking on my first ever solo road trip. I was about to drive from Omaha to St. Louis to visit my dad, sister and stepmother.

The route looked easy enough. I only had to take three interstates to get there. Rather than trying to find my dad’s house, he told me to meet him in the parking lot at a hotel called Noah’s Arc in St. Charles, Missouri, just off Interstate 70. I think it was a Best Western. He told me that I couldn’t miss it because it had fake giraffes and various other animals sticking out of the roof.

I pounded the pops on the way there and simply enjoyed my freedom. If there’s anything like a 17 year-old on his first road trip, I don’t know what it is. As I got close to the eastern edge of the state, I knew I should be entering St. Charles soon. Sure enough, I did, and shortly thereafter I saw Noah’s Arc on my right. I exited and drove into the parking lot to look for my dad. I was a tad bit early, and I didn’t see his car, but I figured I take a peek inside to see if he was there. I walked through the hotel lobby and I didn’t see him. I tried calling him a few times from a pay phone in the hotel but he didn’t answer.

I went back to the car and accidentally drifted off to sleep. I don’t know how long I slept, but I woke up when I heard somebody tapping on my window—which just about scared me to death. I looked up and there was Dad. Turns out, he was parked on the other side of the hotel and had been waiting for me over there. Don’t ask me why I didn’t look over there or what took him so long to find me, I have no idea. I was just happy to see him and even happier that my first road trip was a success.

Podcast Interview

Jill Hart interviewed me about The Experience of Christmas recently for her Christian Work at Home Moment blog. If you are interested in hearing about how your family can truly experience the season rather than just watching it go by in a blur, listen to Jill’s November 13 podcast.

She also has some good information available for those interested in working at home as well as a lot of interviews you can hear on previous podcasts.

It's About the Journey

I’m not crazy about endings of any sort. I don’t like movies to end after I’ve spend two hours rooting for a character(s) to overcome his or her trials because I’ve invested so much emotional energy that it just doesn’t feel right to disengage. I feel the same way about novels and television shows. And if I feel that way about endings in the land of make believe, you can imagine what I think about them in real life.

I’m not real fond of beginnings either. I’m not inquisitive by nature, so beginnings are hard for me, regardless of whether it’s a new job, or a new relationship, or a new novel. I’d much rather move past the awkward stage and get to the journey. I love reaching a point where I’ve grown fond of something or someone and then seeing what happens as life progresses.

The journey isn’t as concerned about false pretenses as beginnings are and generally the journey isn’t overly concerned about the ending. Instead it’s about the excitement generated from experiencing the important things with people you love—good company, good food, good music, anniversaries, birthdays, milestones, and all points in between.

Give me journey and I’m a happy man.

2006 Weblog Awards

Starting tomorrow, the 2006 Weblog Awards will be accepting nominations for the best blogs in many different categories. If you really enjoy somebody's blog, then click on the graphic above and nominate it for an award. It'll mean a lot to the blogger.