Hot Fuzz

This comedy is funniest movie I have seen all summer. I think perhaps too much listening of the BBC has changed my appetite for comedy (It's a British comedy). While the movie is dry at times and takes a while to get going, I enjoyed it.

Defining Relationships

In going on another Northern Exposure binge I watched an episode in which Joel (the town doctor) is absurdly upset at Maggie (the town pilot) because she is going out with Mike (the town's new attorney). In a classic sitcom this would play out as Joel being a jealous lover who upset that he used to be with Maggie, but is no longer, is upset at seeing someone else with her. However, the episode adds a twist to that. He is more confused than upset. He wonders what their relationship means now that they are no longer available for one another. In the series they do not consider themselves good friends, but they are sexually attracted to one another. What a strange conclusion to come to. I certainly was befuddled by the whole interplay.

On the one hand, it is even interesting that they are defining their relationship. Do we as Americans generally define our relationships? How important is it to us? Do we need to do more of it and if we do, would we see our obligations to others better? Secondly, it is interesting that once they have defined their relationship, they define it in such a sense as I described above. Can a sexual attraction really brew out of two people that rather detest each other? Is there attraction trying to break down something about their personalities that they are afraid to concede on? Do both of them secretly desire someone who challenges them, but fall for people who leave them in their comfort zone?

Food for thought.

Brett who? How 'bout 'dem Brewers?

I realized that I totally neglected the Brewers in my last posts and I feel I need to apologize to all the fans out there. The team has been doing superb and it is sad that they have to share coverage with what is going on with Brett Favre. Either he's coming back or not. Either way the Brewers are clearly more important.

I am making this post so that people can comment on their favorite moments from this miraculous season:)

Trivial Nonsense

Question: Is being up on News/Politics as trivial as being up on the latest information related to sports or entertainment?

I lead my life as the answer to the question is a strong "no," however, I feel that I may be nearsighted and arrogant on this issue. I am a stubborn person and this can often happen to me once I have convinced myself that something is right.

I will be the first to scoff at anyone who wants to keep up on who the latest pop icon is or who the latest pitchers for the Milwaukee Brewers are. I will rebuke this action saying that someone's memory could be used for something better.

And in my mind it seems like it could be. I feel that we in this country are trying to keep up a democratic system and that takes an educated population. A population that doesn't waste its time with "nonsense," but with important facts about the actions of their politicians and an understanding of those actions in the context of world news.

I have to believe three things about the turn away from news/politics. One, people for the most part do keep up on news and I just don't notice it. Two, people who do find the knowledge base trivial because it does not help them directly in their day to day life and they may not be likely to discuss it with anyone. Thus if sports or entertainment news is just as useful then I will choose the one that's more fun to listen to. Last, issues have become too complex and overly engrossing for people to worry about with all the other things they have to worry about.

These are the reasons I would come up with if I had to determine why I can never seem to find many people to discuss news/politics with.

I would like to hear some thoughts on this though because I know I am wrong in some sense, but hopefully it's not nonsense.

If you were going to travel across America, how would you best do it?

I pose this question to see what people think is the best mode. I would hands down say train if we lived in Europe, but alas we don't. I would conjecture that car is the best overall and if so what is the best vehicle to make that journey? If you want speed then a plane is a really good way, but you don't get that cross country feel and security is beginning to be a hassle. I don't think this is a clear cut answer I just think it's a person's opinion and that's why I pose it.

How would I answer this?

Volvo C30 or Audi A3 with two bikes in the back or on top. Of course this would be for a trip of one or two. I am open to other possibilities. I would actually like to see some answers on the best way to accommodate a family across the country.

Entertainment News

TV: No Reservations
-Absolutely addicted to this show hosted by Anthony Bourdain. If you don't have the Travel Channel find someone who does and watch this show or see if there are episodes online.

Movie: King Corn
-Essential movie for anyone who cares at all about what they eat. I consider this one of my favorites of the summer.

Movie: Into the Wild
-While the plot is pretty strange and the protagonist is borderline crazy, this movie gets major points for great storytelling, cinematography, and soundtrack. Sean Penn who directed and wrote the screeplay for this movie emerges as a a great force behind the camera right up there with the likes of Robert Redford and Clint Eastwood.

Obama - Foreign Policy

There have been two stories buzzing in the news lately. One is the Brett Favre scandal and the other is Barack Obama's trip out of the U.S.

Since I don't think it matters much what happens to Brett Favre since Vince Lombardi will appear to Ted Thompson in a vision and tell him to sign Brett or he will be cursed for the rest of his life, I move on to Barack.

Barack has been taking much heat lately about his whole decision to remove troops from Iraq on a timeline and as I understand it move them into Afghanistan or bring them home. This sounds like a good plan to me, but the McCain party has the opposite stance and have been knocking on the Obama door screaming to leave the troops there. Why? I watch the news and most of the recent casualties have been in Afghanistan and we as I understand the Army are overstretched so why does McCain want to leave troops there? Last, I have heard very little about what Obama plans to do with Iran. I keep hearing useless banter about Iraq, but what about their brothers from different mothers who are firing missles in the air screaming that they want to take down US and Israeli forces. Seems serious to me...

Just wondering people's thoughts on this and you can throw in something about Brett Favre if need be.

Interesting Cars

As you all should know I have a love/hate relationship with cars. I love observing the designs of cars, but I see it as a necessary evil to drive them right now. A few I have been taking notice of...

Volvo C30
-Cute luxury hatch from Europe that has a plethora of safety features, average gas mileage (29 mpg), and excellent utility. Kudos to Volvo for returning to its true roots. It is what the Ford Focus ST looks like in Europe. Unfortunately, we don't get to see such a car, but we still get this cute thing.

Volvo XC60
-This vehicle will enter the small luxury SUV market with the Subaru Forester, Acura RDX, BMW X3, etc. It looks based on the Mazda CX-7, but packed with safety features. I will be curious to see the engine and consequent gas mileage because the inside is true Scandinavian unlike the XC90, which was tank force built I assume by Ford. The engine is rumored to support biofuels (the good and bad of that).

I think the two vehicles above show a shift within Ford toward smaller vehicles, which is good, but they still have work to do. Who knows, there might come the day when I purchase American for a vehicle.

Tesla Roadster
-All electric roadster goes from 0-60 in 3.9 seconds when fully charged. However, the acceleration quickly changes to 6 seconds as the car loses power. It is too expensive ($110,000) and impractical, but it caught GM's eye and I think is a step toward a better car for tomorrow.

Just my thoughts on some vehicles I've seen lately. What have you seen or heard about?

A Sleeper Society?

As part of my summer I have been staying active with some "green" people and doing some reading on urban affairs. There is this rising thought trend that people are not "conscious" or not aware of the changes happening in their lives. Is it too much to ask people to be "conscious" of their decisions about some basic things? I think so. However, are our institutions failing us or are we failing our institutions? I think a bit of both. Let me explain using food as an example.

When I was growing up I never cared where I bought my items from and money was the only constraint that kept me from purchasing items. As I have grown, I have slowly turned my lifestyle topsy turny and it feels good and painful at the same time.

I feel that there is so much to change that I have to prioritize what I change. I have weened myself from meats and fishes. I have become more conscious of my vegetables and am careful of my milk. I try to supplement my milk drinking with soy milk. I have it with almost everything. I will only have milk if I think it will taste better in a recipe like Mac and Cheese. I have almost totally cut out junk food and replaced it with fruits and vegetables. While I feel good that I have made this progress, I still feel like I'm not doing enough.

I feel like I should be buying my produce from a farmer's market and my other stuff from a Whole Foods. I question whether Sendiks (the local supermarket) is good enough. I have no idea where some of the stuff comes from in the supermarket even though the store itself is local. I still shop there though because it's my most convenient option in Greendale, WI.

I want a farmer who is upfront with me about his or her practices and the butcher who knows exactly how his animals for slaughter are herded and processed. However, I feel like this might be too obsessive. Did we get away from this system because we didn't trust the farmer or we wanted more produce and meat? I don't know, but I feel like I want to begin to ween myself off of the supermarket.

As my discussion above shows, the transparency of food is a tedious matter. Almost as tedious as the transparency of the news. What's authentic, what's not? Should I not care if I don't get sick? Am I slowly but surely getting sick and I don't know? Is my only illness hypochondria? I really hope not.

I just feel like there are things that we can all do to change are diets for the better, but I think it will have to be in baby steps.

The scary part is that I feel that most people will not even take the baby steps. I think some people fear a life that doesn't include meat in every meal, find they can trust their supermarket, or their search for transparency is too hard. I would guess that each of these reasons and a few others keep people from changing their lifestyles.

Given that though I feel that people should be informed about their food, I feel it does not rank very highly on their list though. Which is sad. What is more essential than the fuel for your body? I guess I could make the same rant about the clothes on our bodies, but I believe a coalition of well dressed women would bring me down:)

So are we sleeping when it comes to our consumer purchases? If so, why? Give me your thoughts. I realize I just more ranted and touched on a bit of things, but I feel strongly about this and I know you all have thoughts one way or the other. Tell me straight if I have lost my mind:)

Soundtrack of Summer 2008

1.) Take These Thoughts by Chris and Thomas
2.) Transliterator by DeVotchka
3.) Broken Chair by Chris and Thomas
4.) The Clockwise Witness by DeVotchka
5.) Fast Paced World by the Duhks
6.) El Anden by Bajofondo
7.) Mas Amor by La MC Malcriado
8.) Watina by Andy Palacio
9.) Son Mystere by 17 Hippies
10.)Poljanska Balada by Brina
11.) You're a Weaver of Dreams by John Coltrane