Halloween Movies

It's Halloween.  Time for tricks and treats and scary movies.  But not all Halloween movies are scary.  Some are just plain fun.  I like both equally.  Back in high school, my brother and I made it our focus to watch all of the Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Nightmare on Elm Street movies.  Back then they were scary, now I see them as cheesy slasher films. 

Some of my favorite Halloween/scary movies are as follows (in no particular order):

• Texas Chainsaw Massacre (scariest movie I have ever seen)
• The Addams Family
• Clue
• The Blair Witch Project
• 28 Days Later
• Jesus Camp
• Dead Snow
• Corpse Bride
• It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown (duh!)  

And I'm sure that if I were having a discussion with others there would be some more movies that would come up, but these are some that come to mind.  One thing that I have shied away from with horror movies is what I have come to call 'torture porn'.  When the 'Hostel' and 'Saw' movies came out, a new type of horror movie came to be.  The movies have a small plot and lots of blood, not my thing.  I watched the first 'Saw' movie and it was good, but when they started a franchise I stopped.  I saw the previews, I heard the reviews and it did not interest me at all.  If I see a scary movie, I want to be scared I don't want to be grossed out.  A couple of weeks ago, I watched 'Cabin in the Woods'.  A great new horror movie.  It had a great plot, humor, and just enough blood/gore not to distract from what was going on in the movie.  

Have a great Halloween everyone!  Go watch a great scary movie.  

There is No 'We'

This afternoon, I was talking with another employee and he had asked me if I had seen any of the Viking's game before coming to work.  With football, I only have one team, the Detroit Lions.  Other sports, baseball and hockey, I will watch and follow the Twins and Wild just because this is where we live.  I can't stand the NFC North opponents of the Lions.  Yes, they might be better from time to time (i.e. most of the time), but you will never see me take time out of my day to watch them.  Regardless, I caught the score on the radio on the drive to work and told him what it was about forty five minutes ago.  This person was walking past us and spouted 'twenty one to fourteen, we won!' and continued on her way.  And I thought to myself, she said 'we'.  I try my best not to use the word hate, but I hate when people say that.  'We won the championship two years ago.' or 'We beat the hell out of our rival last night.'  Listen, unless you have gotten a paycheck from a sports organization or you are an alumni of a school, you have no right to use the collective term 'we' when referring to a sports team.

I know that the die hard fan will argue until they are blue in the face about this point, but they are wrong.  The athletes are the ones making the plays, putting their health on the line from time to time, to entertain the masses.  They deserve to use the term 'we'.  The owners who put up the cash to put the team together deserve to use the term 'we'.  The general managers and presidents who make the trades and draft the players are allowed to use this term.  Alumni from colleges or retired players who proudly played for a team for the majority of their career can use 'we' without being chastised by me.  But the minute some lazy, beer swigging, sofa surfing, never played the sport but gloats when the team wins and doesn't support them when they are losing, mother fucker starts to use the term 'we' I lose it.

It is the sense of entitlement.  I have always supported my teams, but have never claimed to be a part of them.  Even when the Lions went 0-16.  Even when the Tigers lost 119 games.  Even when the Red Wings were the Dead Wings.  Even when the Pistons were...well, I never really liked basketball.  The fact that the Pistons are still around is pretty amazing.  Go them!  I have no recollection of ever using the term 'we' when talking about the sports teams I follow.  I don't say 'yeah, we went undefeated in '97 and were national champions' when talking about the Wolverines football team.

I appreciate the teams and their efforts and never claim to be a part of that.  I'm just part of the fan base.  I am one of the reasons these professionals go out and play the game.  To be entertained.  To spend my hard earned money so they can make their hard earned (even if it is too much) money.  I don't know if it is because I never heard the term 'we did...(fill in the blank)' growing up and it wasn't engrained in my brain or if I know that there is a division between the fans and the players.  Either way, people need to stop doing this.  It drives me up the wall. 

Time Apart

This time last week, I was spending the days with my in-laws.  They came for a quick visit here in the Twin Cities before flying out to Colorado Springs to see my brother in-law.  My wife went with them.  Family time is always great.  I had to work, so I am still in Minnesota.  I have never objected to her wanting to spend time with her family, that's just not how a marriage should work.  Besides, it gives me time to watch a ton of sports, drink a bunch of beer, and walk around in my boxers (you may think I kid, but I do not).

One thing I have always thought that makes a great marriage or relationship work is the ability of those involved to be able to spend time apart.  Everyone should want to see their partner whenever they want, but there also has to be individualism in the relationship.  Everyone needs their space from time to time, and their partners need to understand that.  I haven't gone anywhere this past week, but have enjoyed the time to myself.  I've had two responsibilities:  go to work, feed and water the cat.  That's it.  Whenever I am left to my own devices, I have some great routines set up (sad, I know).

There are three big meals that I cook early on in the time by myself:  spaghetti, goulash, or chili (depending on the season).  The recipes I have are all from my mom, so they were written to feed a small army, or one grown man four or five times in a week.  Once that domestic chore is done, guess what, I don't have to cook anymore if I don't want to.  If the grill is set up, I usually partake in some Man Grilling Time (or MGT).  The other food oriented thing I do is treat myself to one night out.  Tomorrow night, the Detroit Lions are playing the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football.  That's why I waited until the last night to go out.  I find a sports bar and drink some beers, eat some not so healthy but oh so delicious bar food, and watch some sports.  I feel that doing this in a sports bar is acceptable.  If I were to go to a place like the Olive Garden, it would be weird.  Everyone stares at the person eating in a restaurant all by themselves.  In a sports bar, it's okay.

The other thing I do, and this may seem small and insignificant, is watch movies.  There are only a few television shows that I watch, but I love movies.  I've taken these times apart to watch an entire series (from 'Alien' to 'LOTR' to 'Star Wars') or new movies.  This week, I watched 'A Serious Man' and 'Cabin in the Woods'.  Both I would recommend.  There are also the records that I listen to.  There is just something about listening to an LP that makes me happy.  Yes they are big and bulky and you have to flip them over, but there is a soul in each record.  The music is different on a record as opposed to a CD or the digital version.  

If I am going to be home by myself for a week or so, I always take advantage of the freedom to watch what I want, cook what I want, listen to what I want.  And I think everyone should take this approach.  Your partner may be on their vacation, but you also get a vacation.  Even if you still are home. 

Sweep!

And your 2012 American League champions are the Detroit Tigers!  Gave myself goosebumps just typing that. 

The Tigers are peaking at the right time, now they have to not get rusty like they did in 2006.  Go get 'em Tigers. 

Six Pack of Books

I have finished my six books that I set out to read through the year.  While I feel great for reaching my goal, it's just six books.  Although it did lower the stack of unread books on the bookshelf, this isn't some huge accomplishment.  Having a goal of reading through just six books isn't the largest of goals, but it was for me because I don't read quickly.  What I feel best about is that these books were not all novels, three of them were history books.  Heavy reading well worth it based on the topics.  

The last book I read, Suttree by Cormac McCarthy, was extremely depressing.  I've read books that have had sad moments when you put it down at the end of the night and just want to cry yourself to sleep or wonder how you can avoid such a situation, but this book....the entire time I was reading it, I felt really down.  Maybe it was the way McCarthy painted the situations, he has such a great way with words.  Don't believe me?  Read 'The Road'. 

I think that the one scene in the book that just got to me was four characters sleeping in an abandoned car and starting a fire on the floor boards just to keep warm and make it through the night.  You can just see this old rusted out car with no windows, no wheels, remnants of seats.  You can picture four grown men huddled on the floor of this car and being okay with the situation because they don't know a better life.  I finished that part of the book and didn't read for about two weeks.   

As with all of McCarthy's books that I read, it was a good book just really tough to get through.  I need to find something light and fun to read now.  I still have seven books that I haven't read, but I may try to find an old favorite.  As long as it isn't 'The Jungle', the most depressing book I have ever read.  EVER! 

• Guns, Germs, and Steel:  The Fates of Human Societies
• Tell All
• Damned
• A Little Matter of Genocide:  Holocaust and Denial in the Americas from 1492 to Present
• Suttree
• Founding Brothers:  The Revolutionary Generation

Higher Calling

Hamza and Husain Abdullah are making headlines this year in the football world.  Not because of their play, but because they are not playing.  They have both decided to sit out the entire 2012 season in order to travel across the country and speak at mosques and eventually both will be making a pilgrimage to Mecca.  They are not the biggest names in the league, they haven't had the most illustrious careers, they are just there.  Playing the game they love and collecting paychecks.  Both are aware that sitting out this year may mean the end of their careers, but they both seem to be okay with it. 

This isn't the first time they have made headlines when it comes to their religion and profession.  Each year they observe Ramadan in which they do not eat or drink for thirty days during the daylight hours.  In an interview from 2010, Husain said: 

"I'm putting nothing before God, nothing before my religion.  This is something I choose to do, not something I have to do. So I'm always going to fast."

This is great for them, their family, and their faith.  They were brought up a certain way and they haven't let football get in the way of that upbringing.  They are being solid pillars within the Muslim communities across the country.  The thing is, this doesn't seem to be a huge story in the sports world.  I only caught wind of it because there wasn't much on early Sunday morning and I stopped to watch Outside the Lines on ESPN.  As I was watching I couldn't help but think of how big a deal this would have been if it had been a huge name in the sport.  The Abdullah brothers have decided to step away from the headlines and the hundreds of thousands of dollars to do what they thought was right.  What they knew they needed to do for their own personal and religious reasons. 

 One player that is lauded for his outspoken religious devotion is Tim Tebow.  Everyone knows that.  Now imagine him putting his career on hold to do mission work for an entire year.  What would ESPN do?!  They wouldn't be able to cover the daily Tim Tebow happenings.  And, just throwing my opinion out there, his leaving the NFL for a year to do that missionary work would be a huge deal because he is a Christian, not because he is a great player.  He is a good athlete, not a good player.  The Abdullah brothers' decision doesn't garner much attention partly because they aren't big name players, but I also think that partly because they are Muslim.

Let's be honest, that last statement is a fact.  Despite the fact that Islam is the second most popular religion in the world, there is an obvious stigma in this country.  No matter how far away from 2001 we get, there is always going to be that second thought in peoples' minds that they connect the religion with an attack, WHICH IS WRONG BY THE WAY!  And there is no way to tip toe around the issue, so that's all I have to say on the subject. 

Back to Back

The Detroit Tigers won tonight.  Important because this led to their winning the American League Central Division.  Important because this is the second year in a row.  Important because they did what everyone expected them to do.  There were points near the end of the season where everyone, even the die hard fans, were wondering if they were going to be able to catch the Chicago White Sox.  They did so, but they also got help.  Help from those White Sox they chased the majority of the year because they collapsed.  Not an epic collapse, but you know, a collapse that makes everyone happy. 

The only thing that would have made tonight better would have been if they won in Detroit.  Now they need to focus on playing fall baseball.  They need to tighten up because their defense is scary bad from time to time especially when the infield has to range left or right.  This is what the fans wanted.  This is what they got. 

Congratulations Detroit Tigers!  Central division champions of 2012.