Edward J. Pluchar - The Blogsplitter

I’ve been thinking a lot about God lately, and much of the popular “wisdom” about God.

There’s a phrase among some people which runs something like, “God never gives you more than you can handle.”

At the urging of Mike Lloyd, I listened to a broadcast of “This American Life” online.  The episode I chose was “Unconditional Love.”

An interview began with parents of an autistic child.  They were bemoaning the fact that people put them on a pedestal because of their situation, because these other people “could never do it.”  The father answered this common remark, saying, “Yes you could do it.  Unless you’re a (bleep), you’d be doing exactly the same thing.”  (The bleep was just one syllable, so I’m not sure which word he used).

The two parents go on, as the father denies they are saints, then raises up the beginning phrase - God never gives you more than you can handle - ready to knock it down with some common-sense idea.  He starts, “When people say that-” but he’s at a loss for words.

Then his wife chimes in, not missing a beat -  “You just want to kick them in the teeth.”

I haven’t come up with a coherent summary of my recent thoughts, but somehow that fits.

Lately I have experienced some soreness in my lower right back, which is most poignant right after I wake up and when I’ve been sitting in my office chair for a long time.

I know I don’t practice good posture in my chair, so I blamed it on that.  Yet I can’t seem to maintain good posture even when I try.  Plus, I’m pretty sure the chair is tilted slightly to the right.

So I searched for “ergonomic” chairs that would “improve posture,” and eventually I found…a ball.

Yes, it’s like the exercise balls, which force a person to condition his muscles in response to gravity.  But it’s made with a thicker skin so it can withstand prolonged use.  It can also be inflated to varying sizes, depending on the height of the user.

For $45 and a money-back guarantee, I thought I’d give it a try.  I’ll post an update in a few months, after I’ve gotten some serious use from my new chair, but my first thoughts are:

1)  Yes, this will be better for my posture.  Not perfect, because I find that I can still slouch while balancing on the ball, but the frequent inadvertent motion of the ball serves as a frequent reminder to straighten up.

2)  You can bounce on a ball, which seems to have a comforting effect on my body.  I like my active lifestyle, and so sitting still is a chore.  Bouncing is better.

3)  The manual comes with exercise instructions.  If I need time to think, I can bend my torso this way and that, and get a gentle workout.

4)  Joe is jealous.  Some things are priceless.

“It’s my new favorite movie.”

“It’s the greatest movie ever!”

These are the things I heard during The Dark Knight’s opening weekend, among other squeals and guttural sounds of delight.

“Awesome.”

Here’s my problem - Most people might not think so, but these little expressions are spoilers.  They’re not plot spoilers, they’re experience spoilers.  If I go into a movie fresh, with no strong impressions from anywhere, then I will enjoy the movie on my own terms.

But if I go into a movie thinking, “Some people consider this an instant classic, the finest depiction of good vs. evil in cinema,” then I go into the movie spoiled.  It is likely that, if you are reading this post within a few weeks of my writing it, you are not someone who would have spoiled the movie for me.

So, here’s my review of The Dark Knight.

It’s a very good movie, but not great.  I liked 3:10 to Yuma better - thought that was great.

The common thread between those movies is Christian Bale.  At the end of the movie, Marcy exclaimed, “Christian Bale is the best Batman ever!”

“Yes,” I thought.  “There have been about 5 Batmans, and only three of them took themselves seriously.  Of those three, I’m not completely sure that he’s better than Michael Keaton.”

Let me expound - I think Christian Bale was excellent in Batman Begins.  He looked tough, tormented, and even bigger than many of his enemies (before and during his Batman days).  But in The Dark Knight, he looks small - he looks far too unaffected by the turmoil around him.  There are many good moments, of course, but nothing in the movie made me think, “Only Christian Bale could pull that off.”

Heath Ledger, on the other hand, was incredible.  When I first heard of his death, I nearly wept for the loss of a talent, for someone with whom I shared some sensibilities.  What a career he could have had.

Let’s enjoy what we have, though - I set out to pay special attention to the Joker, to see what about him made Ledger struggle so fiercely within himself.  And it was there, explicitly and implicitly.  Ledger’s Joker was a brilliant villain, one who had thought out the value of human lives and the condition of living more thoroughly than most people, and one who had an almost admirable tolerance to endure hatred because of his perspective.

His perspective was driven by pain, the inexplicable and indescribable agony that some people suffer at the cruel hands of others.  In a way, no one can claim to be more righteous than the Joker, only to be just as righteous in the opposite direction - He, dedicated to the idea that cruelty is a given and that one must be ready to match the lawless and ruthless cruelty of any other.

As I get a bit philosophical, I have to say that I enjoyed the deeper moments of the film, largely because the writers (The Nolan Brothers) let most of the weightier statements be delivered in a conversational tone, as two college kids might stay up at night debating the foundations of the world.

In the same way, I like the fact that two villains have shown up in each movie so far, and at least one of them, seemingly, dies.  Further, the second villain is dealt with “conversationally,” so that he doesn’t need his own movie to dominate in order to make an appearance.  The emergence of Two-Face was satisifying and interesting.

For his part, Aaron Eckhart did a great job.  He was noble and shrewd as the DA, then explosive and vengeful as Two-Face.  Nice lead up with the secret nickname the Police had for Dent.

All other acting seemed terrific to me, as far as I cared to consider, and tension and action were delivered.  Let’s have another, and someone tell Christian Bale to turn down one of his other 17 movies so that he can deliver a little better on Batman.

You’ve seen me write before that I am much amused by The Onion’s headlines, but often disappointed by the ensuing article.

Well, here’s one that I found funny as a headline, and even funnier as a story:  “No Values Voters” Looking to Support Most Evil Candidate.

Most readers have probably met our dog Danny, not because my readers are constituted merely by close friends, but because Danny is such an international celebrity.

I often think about the life of Danny because there’s such a disconnect at times between what I’m interested in and what he’s interested in.

I don’t care what that random pile of poop smells like.  Reportedly, he can tell the gender of the dog who excreted it just by scent.

Danny doesn’t care how funny Siko’s post on ShowBiz Pizza Animatronics is.  I can derive amusement from the uncanny synchronization of a sexually charged pop song with jerky mechanical puppets at a children’s restaurant.

Because of this disconnect I make deliberate efforts for both of us to enjoy the other’s company, to take notice of Danny when I’m consumed by things dogs don’t care about.

I may never reconcile the strange distance between our minds, and there remains something to marvel at when friends are gathered and laughing while Danny has barely lifted his head out of boredom.

It would probably be better to come with excerpts and citations to this subject, but I think that won’t be necessary. If you need these things, ask me.

An old bit of wisdom says that one should never talk about religion, politics, sex, or money in polite company. After about 40 minutes in “The Blogosphere,” it’s easy to see why.

Actual opinions and beliefs aside, people are generally idiots when they write or comment about these things.

Now, I read my own sentence there and think, “Well, ‘idiots’ is a potentially inflammatory word, and I probably shouldn’t use it to make my point.” But my point, I’d say, runs off the use of such a word.

Most of these people, I venture to say, are capable of a calm and rational conversation on any of those subjects. Not only would I enjoy such conversations, but I long for them.

Something about the inflammatory words, though - the assumptions, the escalating tones and name-calling, the presumption that one has thought out all sides of a debate and judged all but his own to be utterly inferior - all of these make for idiocy.

About a month ago, Fischer had a streak of three or four days when, as far as I was concerned, he was on: He introduced me to a few new phrases, focused me on a few good ideas, and cracked me up with his jokes. For the last week or so, it’s been Neal - I refer now to his Foray into Four A’s, which is one of those intuitive concepts that you’re glad someone has formulated into words.

But the Four A’s are based on a rational disposition, and it seems to me that many of the people commenting on these blogs, and many of the bloggers themselves, are working out some kind of pain or complex that finds no other satisfying expression than the blind and reckless tongue-lashings they administer on the World Wide Web.

Good movie, overall.  If my 9pm, post-movie self could make a recommendation to my 6pm, pre-movie self, I would say, “Yes, go see it.”

That said, it’s not the kind of movie you want to see again, although I rarely have that reaction to any movie.  It’s Will Smith in an interesting spin on the superhero genre; but only a nuanced spin, not a terribly deep spin.

Good acting.  I like Jason Bateman, and even Marcy said, “Charlize Theron…she’s just hot!”

Please enjoy this headline, with short and fairly funny article linked:  Special Ops Veteran Slips Back Into Family Undetected.

The Cubs take two of three from the Cardinals, the one loss the result of an uncharacteristic collapse by Kerry Wood.  I’ll take it.

Yesterday, I achieved my first three star performance at the 150cc level on MarioKart.  Then, I did it again immediately after that.  I had not been able to perform so well until Neal Lyons made the marvelous suggestion:  Go with the Dolphin Dasher (for medium racers).

Even on a finance-based website, they’re talking about the Cubs going to the World Series.

The nerve of this guy, who brazenly admits he’s jinxing the Cubs, but acts as though jinxes don’t matter.

Word.

Troy Duffy was on a Washington DC radio station recently, confirming production on the upcoming sequel, All Saints Day. Awesome.

Filming is scheduled to begin end of August and/or early September. The title may include “Boondock II,” which would be stupid, but “All Saints Day” will probably be in the title.

Willem DaFoe will not be returning, but it sounds like “everyone” else will be. Higher body count.

You can find the interview(s) at wjfk.com. The interviewer is a little bit of a…fill in your own slightly derogatory noun. But it’s worth the anticipation.