the Kennedy seat

OK, Joe Kennedy. You are the son of RFK, and your uncle - an esteemed Senator - has just passed on. Are you going to step up and claim the Kennedy Senate seat?

“Joe Kennedy, as emotionally drained as he must be, cannot help but be moved by the outpouring of affection and respect that has come from people all over the country in the last several days,’’ said Dan Payne, a longtime Democratic media consultant. “I’m not saying he is going to run, but he wouldn’t be human and he wouldn’t be a Kennedy if he didn’t give serious thought to running for the so-called Kennedy seat.’’

Yeah. The so-called Kennedy seat. Because it's not a Kennedy seat at all. It was a Senate seat - one of two - held by a Kennedy for a very long time. It was only his temporarily, and it isn't his anymore now that he's gone the way of all the earth.

Speaking of Kennedys, I'm most interested in how this particular one will do. He's had such a history with alcoholism, drug use, and a bipolar disorder diagnosis. I hope he effectively utilizes the supports that are there for him.

"Carrie" on TCM

I was flipping through the channels tonight, looking for something interesting. A familiar movie title caught my eye, so I stopped on TCM - Turner Classic Movies. "Carrie." I thought, Now there's a classic horror movie I haven't seen in a while. But I don't remember it being in black and white. And I don't remember the dude who played Zeus in "Clash of the Titans" being in it. Where is Sissy Spacek? Where is John Travolta?

Yep. A completely different "Carrie."

I wasn't able to watch the whole thing - just the very end of it. Apparently it's educational as well as entertaining. The description by DirecTV read this: "A farm girl moves to Chicago, meets men and becomes a stage star."

Wow! If a girl - and particularly a "farm girl" - wants to become a stage star, all she has to do is move to Chicago and meet a couple men. I wonder what a "farm boy" has to do?

Goodbye, John Hughes

No one made a teen film quite like you, with such memorable characters as Ferris Bueller, Samantha Baker, and John Bender. You will be missed.

Who is the Joker?

What I want to know is this: are the same people who are outraged about this, the same people who were pleased with this?

Christian Caricatures

The Reformed vs. The Emergents.

Counseling and the Church

If I lived in the Louisville KY area, I would most probably attend this church. Because they appear to preach the Gospel, and because they seem to have a strong counseling ministry. Sojourn will be hosting a two-day conference next month - The Gospel: Counseling and the Church. Author and speaker Paul David Tripp will be giving the keynote address. I may have to talk to my wife about attending.

RELATED: The best of Christian Biblical Counseling - a listing of Christian counseling organizations.

Tim Tebow: virgin Heisman winner

The celebrated, Heisman-winning college football quarterback is gracing the cover of the latest Sports Illustrated. He talks about his football and his faith, and his father talked about his beginnings:

Watching Tebow zip passes into the seams of opposing defenses, lower his shoulder in short yardage and exhort his teammates like King Henry V on St. Crispin's Day, one might think that he was put on this earth just to run coach Urban Meyer's spread offense. Watching him pace the floor of a gymnasium packed with 660 wayward men hanging on his every syllable is to realize that regardless of what position Tebow eventually plays in the NFL, and for how long, the football phase of his life is merely a means to a greater end.

The man on the other end of the line is calling from the Philippines. He has taken time from his missionary work to reply to a reporter's e-mailed questions. Now Bob Tebow has a question of his own: "Have you heard the story of Timmy's birth?"

Even if you have, it's worth hearing from the mouth of his father: "When I was out in the mountains in Mindanao, back in '86, I was showing a film and preaching that night. I was weeping over the millions of babies being [aborted] in America, and I prayed, 'God, if you give me a son, if you give me Timmy, I'll raise him to be a preacher.'" Not long after, Bob and Pam Tebow conceived their fifth child. It was a very difficult pregnancy. "The placenta was never properly attached, and there was bleeding from the get-go," Bob recalls. "We thought we'd lost him several times." Early in the pregnancy Pam contracted amebic dysentery, which briefly put her in a coma. Her doctors, fearful that medications they had given her had damaged the fetus, advised her to abort it. She refused, and on Aug. 14, 1987, Pam delivered a healthy if somewhat scrawny Timothy Richard Tebow.

"All his life, from the moment he could understand, I told him, 'You're a miracle baby,'" Bob recalls. "'God's got a purpose for you, and at some point I think He's going to call you to preach.'

"I asked God for a preacher, and he gave me a quarterback."

Tebow's also answering questions about his sexuality, questions that aren't usually asked of college - or even professional - players:

Building the Millenium Falcon

What's a little revisionist history, when it's such good fun?

Building the LEGO Millennium Falcon from Gizmodo on Vimeo.

a trip to Monticello

Maira Kalman writes - and draws - of her experience in visiting the home of a remarkable man, the second President of the United States. I've been to his home only once, on a trip to Washington with my parents and grandmother years ago. I remember the bed, though, that separated his dressing room and his study.

Michael Jackson, 1958-2009

For the past two decades, Michael Jackson has been known for his weird lifestyle and accusations of inappropriate sexual behavior. But once upon a time, he was known solely for his music. That is how I will choose to remember the man.

Stop! Hammer time!

The video is a PR stunt for this:

Could the "Up" house really fly?

Wired magazine examines the probability of helium ballons being able to lift an entire house.

BTW, if you haven't seen Up yet, go to the theater this week. Do not delay.

You might be crazier than everybody thinks

Eight new disorders for your self-diagnosing.

Archie picks...

Veronica! Oh, how great the agony of Betty!

Spend your money like a millionaire

A frugal one, that is.

Millionaires make up just 2 percent of the population. They get a bad rap during recessions for being wasteful with their money and are frequently used as examples of excess. It's the millionaires that you don't see that you can learn from in times like these. I call them the frugal millionaires and interviewed 70 of them to uncover ways we can all be smarter with money.

Nearly 70 percent of the economy is based on consumer spending. To keep the economy going we need to keep spending but not waste money in the process. This is where the frugal millionaires come in. They've been smart with their money all along and haven't lost it all and had to remake it. These are the kind of people you want to learn from when it comes to spending your money.

If you can afford to purchase a new car every month, you can afford to buy Cameron's house

Ferris Bueller fans, take note: Cameron Frye's house is for sale. The house used for the film is actually near Chicago, as opposed to the house used as Ferris' home - which is in Long Beach, California.

For those of you - like me - who fondly remember this film during your high school days, please don't feel old when I tell you that Cameron is 52. Alan Ruck was 29 when he played the depressive high school student with the marvelous car. Oh, yeah.

The roofs on every home in the world should be painted white

US Energy Secretary Steven Chu says, "If you look at all the buildings and if you make the roofs white and if you make the pavement more of a concrete type of colour rather than a black type of colour and if you do that uniformally, that would be the equivalent of... reducing the carbon emissions due to all the cars in the world by 11 years – just taking them off the road for 11 years."

So, basically, we should all act as if we live in Bermuda.


H/T: Althouse

Memorial Day Weekend Movies

Like most patriotic Americans on Memorial Day weekend, I usually spend a good bit of time watching movies. On the big screen in the community cineplex. On the small screen in my bedroom. From Blockbuster for $3.99 (for a whole week), or a nearby Redbox for $1 (for one night). Doesn't matter. At some point or another, I'll watch one movie - or two or three - from beginning to end.

I've seen two so far.

Saturday night's film was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, rented from the Redbox. Button was filmed in such a gorgeous manner, with such a beautiful city (New Orleans) and such striking actors (Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Julia Ormond, and Tariji Henson), that I was completely taken aback by how utterly boring I found it. Pitt and Blanchett seemed to have no chemistry together. Should I not have expected more from them? Pitt and Henson were nominated for Oscars, but I didn't find their performances to be particularly moving. I found the most striking character to be the tugboat captain Benjamin worked for, and I mourned his passing because he was the only character who seemed full of life and vitality.

When Blanchett's Daisy tells Pitt's Benjamin that he is "perfect," I almost expected him to say, "Well, of course I am - I'm Brat Pitt!"

Last night's film was Night at the Museum, shown on the ABC Family channel. I was charmed by the film when I first saw it a few years ago, and it still has its pleasures. I think it'd be great fun to have an Easter Island head around the house, but I wouldn't let it get away with calling my "dum-dum." I particularly enjoyed seeing Dick Van Dyke (a Vermilion County native!) and Mickey Rooney as two of the "bad guys" of the film. Has there been another film where Van Dyke has been the villain? Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't think there is.

Always be ready, no matter what you're wearing

Obviously this soldier was a Boy Scout at one time. Their motto is "Be Prepared."

(AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

This is Dan Brown's America

We're just living in it.

RELATED: Check out this site by Westminster Theological Seminary.