Confessions of a Human Nerve Ending

--For a friend's Facebook friends who suggested they take out a bounty to "kick me in the nuts"-- On April 10, 2005, Al Lucas died after being hit during a kick-off between the Los Angeles Avengers and New York Dragons .  I'll admit, I didn't know that before I started working on this, but it's a fact that while his mom was pregnant in 1978, I missed a block during my pre-youth group tackle football game, causing my youth group leader to sustain one too many hits, and I watched as his knee twisted and his tendon snapped.  My missed block; his broken tendon. My guilt; his walking with a limp for the rest of his life. I'll admit that I pretty much stopped caring about football after watching the Denver Broncos get trounced 55-10 by the 49'ers. The payoff wasn't worth it.  I'd be angry for days and suffer the constant ribbing from people who "hated" the Broncos and watch as the real news cycle was buried under the constant barra...

I had the pleasure of watching Stanley Kubrick's 2001:  A Space Odyssey again the last couple of nights.  Its definitely been a few years, but I was actually surprised that the movie didn't really seem all that dated.   I know its a pretty celebrated picture, and totally agree that it deserves all the accolades its gotten.   There are particular sequences that are simply amazing.  For example, when David Bowman goes to disconnect HAL and the only sound is HAL's comments and David's breathing...the whole sequence is stunning, almost terrifying and sad:  "I'm scared Dave." I particularly like that the director relished in the vagueness of not only HAL's malfunction but also what Dave experiences at the end.   Too often we try and tie everything up...and quite often release director's cuts that answer everything...I'm looking at you Donnie Darko .   Film is a collaborative art and while I think there are good reasons for d...

I'm going. Mindy was going to meet me there.   We'd both love a ride.   Mindy could meet us there and hopefully                ride back with us.   She'll have her bike.   So if we can fit              the bike in, we'd love a ride back (just back for Mindy and her bike and me) after just me).