Childhood movies

We just finished watching a good portion of 'Newsies' on the TV.  Not the best movie ever made, but I loved it when I was younger.  Loved it as in watched it a couple of times a month or at the very minimum once a month.  I don't know why, I just loved it.  It has catchy songs.  Nice storyline.  Maybe this is where I got a taste of fighting the Man.  Watching it just now, is it a good movie?  Not really.  Was it fun to watch again and have just a split second for the lines and songs to come back?  Yes.  My wife just rolled her eyes. 

It made me think of some other movies from my younger days that I still enjoy.  Let's start with 'The Goonies'.  This is another movie that was on a constant loop in our house (much to my mom's chagrin, I'm sure).  Who doesn't like this movie?  A bunch of kids on an adventure to find lost gold of a pirate to save their homes?  Sure.  And let's be honest here, One Eye Willie sounds worse when you are grown up as opposed to when you are in your innocent childhood adolescence. 

'The Great Muppet Caper' was my first real exposure to Jim Henson's headliners.  I vaguely remember Fraggle Rock (but watching it in adulthood made me think Henson was on some serious drugs), I never saw The Dark Crystal, I never was around when The Muppet Show was on, so 'The Great Muppet Caper' was it.  While I don't remember watching this as much as some of the others from my childhood, I still list it as one of the tops from my youth.  

Oh Jackson!

Alright, in an attempt to quench my thirst for baseball to start up again, I went rummaging around for the greatest call of this past year from Mario and Rod and found it.  Austin Jackson makes up for his high strikeout rate with an amazing glove and a cannon for an arm.  I love that hockey being played right now, but baseball just needs to get here and replace the basketball games on the television.  


So here it is.  Try not to get goosebumps when Rod goes ape shit. 

The Christmas Post

*Author's note: I wrote this back in 2008 and I have since made it my Christmas Eve or Christmas day post. It is simple and makes it easy for me to say that I at least wrote something for the holidays. Enjoy the day everyone. Be sure to keep the television off as long as possible and love being with family and friends.*

We are watching A Christmas Story right now, and there is nothing better in this movie than the nostalgic feel of the Christmas morning scene. More than the kids ripping apart the wrapping, it is the expressions on the faces of the mom and dad. Just the joy that they have watching their kids.

As much as people think it is all about the Red Rider BB gun, the movie is more than that. It's about family, more than anything.

• Idolizing the father
• Having a life long understanding with your mother
• And the fighting with your brother

And the final scene of the mom and dad relaxing with the Christmas tree alight and the snow falling at night. Magic.

Yoga for Kids

For the longest time I have been wanting to write about this, but have always found other subjects and this just kept getting pushed to the back of the shelf.  Well, when I woke up two hours before my alarm went off, I found this idea kicking around my head and finally am getting around to write about this.

We sell yoga videos for kids at work.  Well, not videos.  Video.  One, but if you can find one there's bound to be more.  When I walk past it, I can't help but think that it's both good and bad.  It's good because it gets kids up and about.  It gets them off their asses and exercising, you can't argue that point.  But I don't remember growing up and having an exercise video I watched to keep me active.  I went outside and played or I went downstairs and ran around down there.  In fact, I can remember my mom owning a few workout VHS (look it up people not born before the 90s) but I do not remember her saying 'here kids, watch this and work out.'  She sent us outside to play with the neighbor kids.  Even in the winter time, we went outside.  We dug tunnels in the back yard.  We went to the Michigan Bell building and went sledding on the huge snow piles from the parking lots that I have always hoped the workers made for the neighborhood kids.   

When you are young enough, you don't realize that you are exercising and that it is good for you when you are playing.  You go out and run around because you are having fun.  You are playing with other kids, but you are outside.  Now, here is where I think that having an exercise video for kids is bad.  If you have a kid exercising using a video, they are still inside.  As people talk about our kids living a more sedentary lifestyle the easiest way to put an end to that is to get them out of the house.  Make them go out and play kick the can or kickball or dodge ball or tag (or freeze tag, or tv tag, or one of the thousands of types of tag we use to play as kids).  Make them get out of the house and get some fresh air, it does a body good. 





Either way, it's good for kids to get away from sitting around and exercising.  Even if the exercising takes place in front of the television that is the root of some of this evil.

Sports at Christmas time

The NBA needs to take a page from the NFL.  This year, Christmas falls on a Sunday and what day does the NFL generally play on?  Sunday.  So looking at that, they have moved all but one of the games to days around the twenty fifth.  There's a game on Thursday, the majority of the games are on Saturday, one on Sunday, and then one on Monday.  Now, the game on Sunday night is Green Bay against Chicago, so it's not like the teams have to travel cross country.  I wonder if the Bears players are going to have to be in Green Bay a day or two before the game or if they have the option to spend Christmas morning with family or friends.  Because that would be nice if they could do that.  I mean, come on, what can they learn from going through a practice or walk through on Sunday morning at the field? 

The NBA has played on Christmas day for most of my adult life, or for as long as I care to remember.  I have never understood that.  Well, I can't say I don't fully understand it, I understand that if they are the only sport on television on Christmas day, they'll get all the ratings and viewers.  I understand that.  However, and I feel like I'm writing a bunch of themed posts here, but Christmas is all about being with your family and friends.  I know that it's all about making money and having a captive audience that is in need of sports, but it's just one day.  Let your players have that time. 

I don't ever remember watching sports on Christmas, in fact, I don't really remember the television being on Christmas day.  Well, the CBC channel use to have the crackling fireplace and soft Christmas music on most of Christmas day and we turned that on once or twice to have some ambiance.  In fact, you can find something similar to this on Netflix watch it now if you feel so inclined.  Just type in 'fireplace for your home' and enjoy.  I thought it's a great idea.  Anyway, I don't remember the television being on Christmas day until late in the afternoon.  You obviously have present opening in the morning, then there was breakfast or brunch, and then we would always play with our new toys or try on the clothes that we got from Santa.  Eventually the clean up would be underway and that could take some time because who wants to clean up versus play with new stuff?  So it wasn't until late afternoon or early evening that the television would be turned on and I don't remember what we watched, I just don't remember watching sports. 





Or maybe we did and I was just too engrossed with my Legos. 

Music Time

One fun thing about the holidays is that there is music that you don't listen to any other time of the year.  With music there is always going to be songs that you like and songs that you don't.  Christmas is no exception.  Everyone has their absolute favorite song.  We were talking about it last night at dinner.  My mother in law's favorite song is O Holy Night, my father in law loves a slower version of All I Want For Christmas is You.  I've tried to think of one absolute favorite song.  I think I have come up with it, but who knows, it might change next year or the year after that.

With the exception of the first year we lived down in Wichita, we have not been home for Christmas since our college days.  So it works out that one favorite song recently has been I'll Be Home For Christmas (If Only In My Dreams), the Bing Crosby version, because is there any other?  It just fits our situation perfectly because it's what we deal with every year.  We can't go home because of my job which has always been a downer, but we have had family come visit and it's been nice to have that little bit of home every year.


Along with number one favorite songs, everyone has their list of songs that they love and can fight for the top spot in each person's heart.  If not favorite songs, favorite albums.  I've been a fan of Crosby's 'White Christmas' because that's what I grew up with, but then again, didn't most everyone?  Along with that, 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' album has always been fun because the television special has always been fun.





And to think, Charles Schultz wasn't a fan of jazz music. 

These nuts(cracker)

I have always liked the traditional feel that Christmas can bring.  Old handmade, handed down ornament.  Family traditions.  And the things that go with the holidays.  Like nutcrackers.  Growing up, we had a nutcracker that was very old.  Like fall apart if you even looked at it old.  Very traditional looking, very European.  He has a beard, a black hat, and a rifle on his shoulder.  Like the nutcracker from The Nutcracker.  It was never used to crack nuts like it's original purpose.  I always thought that it was the coolest decoration that we had. 

So I have been disappointed the past few years at work when different kinds of nutcrackers have been produced.  Firefighters, army men, policemen, teachers, etc.  Even other holidays have nutcrackers.  Halloween themed nutcrackers are making their appearance.  Vampires, mummies, frankenstein's monster.  All sullying the traditional feel and purpose of the nutcracker. 

We have two nutcrackers that are meant to be decorations and they look very traditional.  A nice throw back to a part of my childhood during the month of December.  I'm sure that there are people buying these new themed nutcrackers and they will eventually be a part of their child or children's memories and traditions for Christmas, but doesn't fit in my mind. 

In the end, it doesn't really matter as long as the tradition continues to be passed down from generation to generation because that is what being a family is all about.  Christmas in part is about family.  And families pass things onto the next generation.  That's what a tradition is. 

A what Christmas?!

There is a possibility of a green Christmas this year.  No, this is not a re-posting from my years down in Kansas, this is this year.  2011.  In Minnesota.  Is that even legal?  Last year around this time, Minnesota got slammed with a blizzard that dropped somewhere between fourteen to twenty inches of snow.  Enough snow to collapse the roof of the Metrodome.  Where's it now?  Why can't there be enough snow to collapse it one more time?  That's all I would want. 

One of the reasons we moved here was to have white winters and white Christmas days to wake up to.  Nothing is more depressing than waking up on December 25th, a day full of happiness and excitement, and seeing dead grass and wet sidewalks from the night's rain.  Those are the Christmas mornings you don't want to remember.  You want it to be like your childhood memories.  Looking out in the late morning and seeing the sun reflect off the fresh snow and it being almost too bright to look at.  You want it to be so cold that when you open the door, your lungs tense up a little bit, your nose hurts just a little bit as it adjusts to the cold air.  You don't want to look outside and see the remnants of the fall season.  That time has come and gone, you want cold.  You want white.  You want what Christmas should look like.  Last year, we left the blinds drawn and dealt with having no snow for what we thought was the last time. 

We got just a burst of snow a few weeks ago, but that has since melted away during our recent 'heat wave' (it got up into the mid thirties).  All right Mother Nature, I know you and I have had out differences over the years, but you have eleven days to get your shit in order and bring down the snow.  I demand it!  







Please.  

The curious case of Todd Bertuzzi

For the longest time, I hated Todd Bertuzzi.  There are several reasons why.  He played for the Vancouver Canucks for several years and gave the Detroit Red Wings and their fans fits because they always seemed to match up perfectly in the regular season and the playoffs.  He played like a goon, but had the talent to play and not fight.  And the incident with Steve Moore.  No one can forgive him for that.

When he played with Vancouver, he and Markus Naslund were both just so big and physical and talented that they offered a one-two punch that most teams could not match.  Bertuzzi would just plain knock the guy off the puck and skate away, Naslund would use his stick and brain to pick pockets and skate away.  How do you counter that?  Bertuzzi was also there to protect Naslund, the role of the enforcer/goon.  He's what some would call a power forward.  He can beat you with his skills and his fists, a great physical combination.  The problem is that he came into the NHL about a decade too late to be called a true enforcer and gets labeled a goon because the style of the game had changed.  I'm not going to say that there isn't a place for enforcers in the NHL now, they are just more of an anomaly than a frequent sighting on teams.  And while he may have relished his role as an enforcer, it put a damper on his career and put his skills as a passer and a scorer not on a back burner, but on a smaller burner perhaps. 

Let's talk about enforcement.  Let's talk about the Steve Moore incident.  It is quite possibly the worst on ice incident I have ever seen.  It was retaliation for a hit Moore put on Naslund, a hit that was considered legal by the referees and did not draw a penalty.  The hit gave Naslund a concussion and a bone chip in his elbow.  A week later, half way through the third period, Bertuzzi punched Moore from behind and drove him to the ice, breaking his neck and ending his career.  Bertuzzi became enemy number one throughout all the sports world, regardless of which major sport people were talking about.  Bertuzzi held a press conference in which you can tell he was remorseful for what he had done, but the damage was done.  His reputation had been tarnished forever.

After that, he was suspended indefinitely and was eventually reinstated.  He was traded after the 2006 season and bounced around a little bit (Florida, Anaheim, Calgary) before eventually landing with Detroit.  I don't think he could have stayed in Vancouver after this incident.  It would have sent a bad message around the league.  They wouldn't want to appear to be a safe harbor for dirty players, even if they have been instrumental in your team's success the past few years.  He's still a strong, physical player but you don't see him fight.  He uses his skills now while playing for the Wings and it's good to see.  He has help invigorate the spin-o-rama move during overtime shootouts.  It's a thing of beauty to see a huge man use some skills.  

He has stayed down since the incident and has quietly put together a nice career, it's just too bad that his name will forever be linked to a bad decision.

The Donation Question

Last month, Andrea and I went to the Minnesota Institute of Art on a weekend afternoon.  We needed to get out of the apartment for a little bit and now living in a bigger city, there is more to do.  We got into the car and just drove downtown until we found something to do.  We walked in and found that there was no admission to get in, which is awesome, but a donation box is at the front desk.  There is a printed sign that states 'suggested donation is five dollars.'  I'm not going to lie, I felt a little bad not putting any money in the donation box.  I just expected to pay using a card so didn't have any cash with me.  Now, they do have a traveling exhibit and charge admission into that, so there's that at least. 

The question that comes into play here, is how much do you give and is it ever appropriate to not give?  I'll answer the latter first because that's an easy one.  As we were leaving I mentioned that I felt a little guilty about not giving any money to which Andrea replied 'everyone should get at least one free visit.'  Makes sense and it's something that everyone should be able to get on board with.  I think that this is a place that we could visit every once in a while.  It won't be an every weekend thing, or even a once a month thing.  It might be a once or twice a year thing.  It's big enough that you can't see and appreciate everything in one day so going there multiple times isn't out of the question.  So five dollars, at most twice a year in this written scenario, isn't much.  Twenty dollars for the two of us.  Money well spent. 

Now, as far as how much to give, I think that it depends on how often you go there.  If you are there once a month, do you give the recommended five dollars each time?  Do you stiff them and don't give anything at all (dick move, don't do that)?  Or do you give just a little bit every time you go there?  It'll all depend on the person visiting.  If they are a huge art fan, they may give more than five dollars as they visit.  If they are more like me, not a huge art fan but can still appreciate the talent and skill that most of the artists use (more on that in just a second), and go there quite a bit, a dollar or two each time would be worth it.  It, once again, all depends on the person but I would think and hope that any visitor with a conscience would throw some kind of money into the bin.  If they're a visitor from out of town, what's the harm in showing some appreciation for the institute and give a few dollars?  The amount one gives should be relative to how often they are there, but at the very least, if you are past your 'first time free' visit, throw in a dollar.  It's tons cheaper than going to the movies and you'll be better for it. 

I am not even going to put myself in the same universe as the majority of the artists that have work hanging at the MIA.  I can draw stick figures very well and that's about it.  Even the majority of the modern and post modern artists are fantastic.  HOWEVER, there is some art there that my nephew and nieces could do.  There were two pieces, not joking, that was masking tape strips torn and made into words on a white canvas and framed.  I don't always 'get' art but try to find appreciation for the work that the artists does, but not these pieces.  Two pieces of art by this guy that were the same style, one just had blue tape instead of the regular masking tape.  And then there are the pieces that are just one color on a canvas.  Seriously? 

I would hope that if the zombie apocalypse ever happens, the classic artists come back and just devour those who have defiled the ways of their craft.  Or at the very least, gnaw their hands off. 

Reading more (quickly)

I haven't ever really kept tabs on how many or how quickly I have read books.  It's always been one of those things that I have done slowly, but it's one of those things I have enjoyed doing.  I have people in my life, like my mom and wife, who can breeze through any book that they pick up.  I know my mom will bring two or three books with her on vacations because she has always enjoyed reading and reading at long periods of time.  That's why we got her a Kindle for Christmas last year.  That way she can just bring that little tablet as opposed to her small library that she has back home.  My wife is the same way.  She can sit down for a couple of hours and just read.  I've had to kick her out of bed a few times in the past because I had to get up early in the morning and she was still reading at midnight.  It's just one of those things that some people can do for great lengths of time. 

Not so much me.  I think that part of the problem is that I read at night.  I will want to keep reading, but I know that if I do, it wouldn't take long before it's eleven or later and I have to get up in four hours.  So I read a chapter or two a night and call it good.  Now, depending on the size of the book and the amount of chapters, that can take a very long time to get through just one book.  And then there are the books that are broken up into three or four parts as opposed to chapters then it's all about finding a good stopping point.  With a well written book, that is hard to do at times.  It's usually about finding a page with a sentence ending it. 

Around Christmas time and my birthday (only two months apart), I get several books or gift cards to a book store.  I rush out to get books and add them to my collection.  The problem?  I still have books on the shelf from last Christmas and my last birthday that I have yet to read.  I counted them out when we moved to Minnesota and if I remember correctly, I have fourteen books on the shelf that I haven't read yet.   Some of them have been hanging around for more than a year.  The bad thing is that I see them there collecting dust and I try to tell myself that I will read faster to get to them.  The problem?  Once I get to them, I will slow right down because there are more history books than novels.  It's going to be heavy reading.  It'll be like I'm back in college, but with no paper or discussion circle around which historian the author hacked or what facts did the author leave out to make their point or why book 'A' is more important than book 'B'.  It'll be for pleasure.  History reading for pleasure?  Yeah, it happens.

I think that the best way to go about reading more in a year is to set aside more time during the day to read.  During my weekends off finding time to sit in the bedroom away from the television and the computer and lose myself in the pages.  You hear people say that they just want to curl up with a book and read the afternoon away and it can be easy for some people to do.  I just never have because I am a slow reader and take my time reading through the piles of books that never have an end to them.  

Wrapping presents and winter weather

If music imitated present wrapping, my ability to wrap presents would closely resemble some high school garage speed death metal music.  As opposed to my wife, whose ability to wrap presents is more closely related to Mozart or Beethoven.  It's just a talent I have never possessed.  Refined abilities escape me very easily, and I'm okay with that.  That's why whenever we give birthday presents or presents at Christmas time, she wraps them for us.  I'm the reason department stores offer gift wrapping.  

This year I have been in more of the holiday spirit because of the weather.  It's because of the snow.  In the past several years, I have waited to the week or so before Christmas to get my shopping done and I think it is in part to it not feeling like winter.  There wouldn't be any snow on the ground and it would still feel like the fall.  It wouldn't cross my mind to go Christmas shopping and not be one of those people that does all the shopping on the twentieth of December.  Being up in Minnesota now, it has felt like winter because we had some snow on the ground at Thanksgiving time!  It's been in the twenties or below the past week and it makes me happy. 

So here I sit, in the bedroom taking a break from my death metal wrapping to write a little bit about being happier because we are some place that reminds me of my childhood in the sense of it feeling like winter more than a week out of the year.




Sorry Kansas, but that's another strike against us ever moving back.

Scary commercial

Has anyone else seen the new Motorola Razr that refers to the phone being more 'self aware'?  Here it is if you haven't.  Okay, show of hands, who else does that freak out?  Hopefully anyone that has seen any of the Terminator movies had their hands shoot up in the air before they realized what was going on. 

Maybe it is because I just watched Terminator Salvation the other day, but seriously it's freaky that Motorola would advertise their phone like that.  And maybe they want it to be as a sort of wink at the movie series.  With that said, technology is slowly taking over the world and everyone knows it.  Think about all the electronics you carry with you on a daily basis.  Cell phone.  Ipod or Ipad.  Laptop for work maybe?  Everyone at one point or another has said something close to the following:  'I don't know what I would do if I didn't have my *fill in the blank*.' 

It's so nice to have a phone with you at all times and be connected twenty four hours a day if need be, but how long can you go without your cell phone?  It's always nice to disconnect from the world but it is awfully difficult to do so for long periods of time because we have become so use to having instant communication whenever it is needed.

So maybe the machines haven't risen against us (yet), but they control our lives more than some would like to admit.  I have no problem admitting that.  I actively check Facebook during the day.  I'm on Twitter (@Litzner).  I just recently got a smart phone (I held out as long as I could).  And obviously, there's My Own Manifesto.  Everyone needs to disconnect every once in a while.




And if you can't, just sit tight, John Conner is on his way to save you.  

Sleep cycle

I have been trying to break my old sleeping cycle as of late.  I have always been under the impression that getting eight hours of sleep each night was more of a guideline than a recommendation, despite what you hear or read.  I would shoot to get somewhere between six and seven hours and call it good, but lately I have found myself sleeping in later and having to hurry around the house a little bit before going to work.   In an attempt to get to a point where I'm getting between seven and eight hours of sleep each night, I'm trying a few things. 

I'm not taking a nap after work.  I love naps.  Half an hour or forty five minutes zonked out on the couch completely oblivious to the world around.  You wake up afterwards and feel refreshed.  However, last week these little naps went from being half an hour to an hour long.  So what's the big deal?  Well, if you fall asleep for your nap around four thirty and wake up an hour later, you feel like you can stay up an hour later that night (at least I did).  Before you know it, you're going to bed at eleven o'clock and the alarms goes off at five.  Six hours.  Not good.  Foregoing the nap makes me more tired earlier in the evening and I go to bed earlier and end up crashing hard at nine thirty at night.  So, the alarm goes off at five and I'm looking at seven and a half to eight hours of sleep.  Boom, problem solved, right? 

What about the weekends?  Who wants to go to bed at nine thirty on a weekend where you don't have to get up for anything the next day?  I certainly don't.  So trying to find that right time to go to bed on the weekends has been a little strange.  I think some time between ten and eleven works out because it isn't too far from where I am trying to go to bed during the week.  Plus, I sleep in so I'm still getting enough sleep where I don't over sleep and can't fall asleep Sunday night before the work week starts. 

I feel a bit old manish writing about trying to get more sleep and going to bed earlier in the evening, but at the same time, doesn't more sleep keep you healthy by not getting you run down?  I will risk being called an old man and going to bed before ten at night if it means I stay healthy during the winter months.  No one likes being sick, and getting enough sleep each night can help out with that, apparently.  I never understood why, I have always just gone with it.