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The gods aren’t angry tour
The wife and I attended the gods aren’t angry tour last night at Orpheum Theater, taught by Rob Bell. Information on the tour:
Part anthropology, part history, part deconstruction – this is new material that Rob hasn’t taught before, exploring how humans invented religion to make themselves feel better.
My thoughts after the jump:
Domo-kun Halloween Costume How To
Download the PDF Domo-kun Costume Guide
The previous Halloween post referenced Domo-kun, I’ve put together simple instructions to build your own Domo-kun costume. Large sheets of cardboard, brown shipping tape, and red spraypaint could make a basic domo-kun. For a more realistic domo-kun, add a screen (for a front window), old carpet, carpet foam, bowls or round objects for eyes (painted black), and paper-mache for rounded corners.
Unique Halloween Costume Ideas
I take Halloween costumes quite seriously, but this year I will be in Mexico and unable to participate. Here are a few ideas I had this year that I won’t be able to pull off. Most of these are group costume ideas – we normally go down to Mill Avenue for Halloween, so some of the costumes are geared towards groups and outdoor (i.e. large scale costumes). These are mostly spectacularly nerdy Halloween costume ideas – not for the faint of heart. Several of these ideas I credit to my good friend Sonath.
The Wilsons| Difficulty: Easy
Hollywood has graced us with several famous Wilsons. This group Halloween costume idea is fairly expandable, but should include two key Wilsons:
Wilson from Home Improvement
Wilson from Cast Away – Put the ball on your head and cut small eyeholes!
A simple picket fence, neck-mounted or handheld mask will do the trick for Home Improvement Wilson (plus Goodwill-based neighborly attire). The Wilson ball may be a bit more difficult depending on the size of your head. Consider a larger ball that is structurally thick enough to maintain the shape with large cuts (i.e. basketball). A handprint from red paint – done! I’d recommend pairing the ball on the head with loincloth or castaway-eque clothing.
Depending on how many people are with you, this group Halloween idea is scalable. Consider adding a Woodrow Wilson, Luke/Owen Wilson, or Brian Wilson.
Bonus: Rita Wilson + Wilson from Cast Away may be a stretch, but certainly a smart couples combination.
Famous White and Black Guy Duos| Difficulty: Easy
Have a token white friend? Or a token black friend? Put them to use.
Everyone remembers this special time when Gary Coleman and David Hasselhoff were photographed in this moment of special specialness. Its a simple Halloween costume, but certainly a hit for this year.
Tom Selleck’s Magnum PI can be done with a mustache, short shorts, and a Hawaiian shirt or a tank top. For TC – suspenders, t-shirt, cap and blue jeans.
A New Year’s Toast: To Crapping Trees
Whosoever wishes to know about the world must learn about it in its particular details.
Knowledge is not intelligence.
In searching for the truth be ready for the unexpected.
Change alone in unchaging.
The same road goes both up and down.
The beginning of a circle is also its end.
Not I, but the world says it: all is one.
And yet everything comes in season.
-Hericlitus of Ephesus
The Illusion of Need
So, I am less than a week away from being a Chimps Blogger for three months. If this were a place of employment, my probation period would be over and it would be time for my evaulation and consideration of permanent status. Over these last three months, I have tried to find out how you, Constant Reader, would best like to experience my thoughts on the world. I’ve written humorous pieces and self-history pieces. I’ve been poetic, serious, and even political. All the while trying to find out what you want. And you are hard to please.
So I am going a new direction. Mine.
I have been working on a book for the last few months, and I want to share with you my thoughts to more or less “field test” the manuscript. The tentative title is It’s Me: Collected Writings.
I hope you’ll let me stick around for awhile…
Deserving
The weather is beautiful, isn’t it? Well, I think so. Absolutely wonderful.
Last night I was enjoying the sunset while I was eating my single, animal style burger at In-n-Out (A loosely veiled named for the cosequence of eating at said establishment), and had this thought:
What do we deserve?
The sunset was gorgeous. The edge of the horizon was crimson red and the purplish-black White Tank mountains were offset by the traffic cone orange clouds creeping across the sky. Like I said, gorgeous. But it took me awhile to actually appreciate this. Beautiful sunsets are common here in the dusty desert of Phoenix. The pollution, smog and dust all help filter the last moments of sunlight and create a prism effect that is second to none. Anyway, the point is that I take them for granted. In fact, I take pretty much all the small gifts in life for granted. I expect roses to smell wonderful and bees to enjoy their splendor. I expect children to run wildly about with beaming faces and cheery voices debating who is, and who is not “it”. I expect amazingly complex combustion engines to get me from one point to the other. And I expect that the operators of these machines understand the rules of engagement on the road.
All these things that I take for granted. All these amazing everyday miracles. I don’t see them as miracles because I have come to think that I deserve them. I deserve sunsets, flowers, advanced trasportation, entertainment, a beautiful community. But the truth is that I can never truly appreciate or understand the value of anything until I fully believe that it is a gift. An undeserved gift.
That’s all I have tonight. I’d love to hear what you have to think about this, though. That is, if you think I deserve a comment.
Cheers,
Sam
“So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him.”
King Solomon
Orki
“I’ll get you, Stanley!”
I can still hear my grandpa retelling his favorite tale, his laughter so genuine I feared he’d forget to breathe. I’ve dreamt of him these past few weeks. I imagine him on his porch waving once alongside my grandmother, then alone, and then growing faint as we drove away past fall leaves and dried-up corn fields. I can still hear his booming voice fill the dining room with tales of the Navy and his tool shop. His eyes would squint through weathered skin as he recalled stories decades past. His contagious laugh is scarred in memory. I never knew the richness of his life – just glimpses into eighty-five years. If only I’d listened more. If only I had taken the trip to see him again.
Leaves!
I love this time of year. Ahh, the cooler weather.
I wrote this on Friday, and have been working on it since. Let me know what you think. What you feel. I’d love to know.
Ok, Ok, No More Politics…
Maybe Steve and I will go start our own blog where we can discuss the things that daily affect our lives in immense ways that are nearly irreversable unless the population as a whole is aware of the corruption taking place in Washington…
I’ll try poetry. Will you guys like peotry? I’m just trying to please you, oh Constant Reader!
Trails
Hey you, it’s me.
I’ve just spent the day on well-worn paths
Worn well by happier faces
With less severe cases of missing you.
You missing the humming bird’s victory
Over the big black bumblebee bids me come home to retell
The homecoming of the baby cub to its
Mother bear.
And how it reminded me of us.
Here’s two more…
Gems from our 42nd President
“We’ve had the look-back this and the look-back that… and I’m not goint to comment on, you know, other comments.”
“And that goes back to her question: Does being on the offense mean we create terroists? My judgement is: The only way to defend a country is to stay on the offense.”
- George W. Bush in a news conference with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan. (Italics mine)
Full Text Here
Interesting Note
The question the reporter asked to prompt the above remarks did not resemble the President’s rephrasing of it in the least…
“Former President Clinton says that your administration had no meetings on bin Laden for nine months after he left office. Is that factually accurate? And how do you respond to his charges?”
Your thoughts appreciated…