Movie Review: The Messenger

2009. Starring Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson. Directed by Oren Moverman. My Dad was fond of an old country song, “The Letter Edged in Black.” He recalled that, back in the day when all communication, however urgent, relied on mail service, letters bearing bad news were enclosed in envelopes marked with black around the edges. The intent was to warn that the message inside was not routine correspondence, and that the recipient should be prepared to hear the worst. The shock of learning some things without warning would only amplify the message. The next of kin (“NOK” in military parlance) …

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Year Two

Today marks the first day of my second year without a job. I don’t get tired of saying that it’s not so bad — every day is like that laundry day you add to the end of a long vacation. The biggest hit has been to my savings, but I figure that if the period spent rescuing my self-esteem while mourning my father wasn’t a “rainy day,” I’d never save enough for a real downpour. Back in the dark days, coming home from another unrewarding day at the office, that Bright Eyes song would always drift into my head. Especially, …

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Passings: Walter Cronkite

I am sad to learn of Walter Cronkite’s passing this evening. He lived to be 92 — quite an achievement — but he seems like the last of a dying breed. When I was growing up, he was the voice of authority. Hard to imagine in these hyper-partisan days, but he was an anchorman whose outlook you didn’t question — if he said so, it was so. The assassination of President Kennedy was bad enough until Walter took off his glasses to announce his death, then you couldn’t do anything but lose it. Because it was so. 1968 probably changed …

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Happy Birthday to Me

My last truly important birthday was probably my 18th, and that was a long, long time ago. I still feel like I’m 18, act like I’m 12, and sleep like I’m 5 months old. But life doesn’t often let you live in the blissful ignorance that I’ve mastered. Nothing will make you feel the icy fingers of mortality around your neck like cleaning out your childhood home, putting it up for sale, and preparing to close that lengthy chapter of your life. That’s what has occupied me for the past two weeks. My sisters and I looked through our parents’ …

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Passings: Jeff Hanson

Found out late this afternoon that Kill Rock Stars recording artist Jeff Hanson, 31, has died. This tragic news, on a cold and rainy day in Minneapolis, is sad and sobering. I first heard him being interviewed on public radio a couple years ago, describing how he sung his trademark falsetto (forgive me if that’s not the right term) as a child, and utilized the same style when he became a songwriter. I picked up his self-titled LP, and was impressed with the delicate, unconventional songs. If you are a fan of Elliott Smith or Iron & Wine, this is …

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Happy Six Months

Today marks six months since I quit my job. I’m happy to be able to say that I haven’t felt a bit of regret. Sure, when I go to pay rent every month, I wish I still had a paycheck I could turn over. But I don’t miss spending my days with bitter and unfriendly people. In a weird way, I miss the routine, but I’m working on a more-positive one, thinking of ways I can make and save money, applying for jobs, writing and communicating with creative and encouraging friends I’d neglected. Quitting at the start of a recession …

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Elsewhere Online: Humans still carry antibodies from 1918 flu

Scientists have tested 32 people between the ages of 92 and 102 and found that their blood still carries antibodies created to fight the 1918 flu, responsible for killing 50 million worldwide. And the immunity still works, as tests on mice protected them from the killer flu virus. The 1918 flu virus has “mutated out of its deadly form” and is no longer a threat (although researchers have used genetic material from flu victims to recreate the virus in a government lab, so watch out), but the antibodies created by the immune systems of those who survived that period have …

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Shiftless When Idle

Dear readers — both of you — I have to admit that I am now gainfully unemployed. Leaving the job I worked for eight years was painful, but desperate times call for desperate measures. I guess that, eventually, the loss of one’s self-esteem outweighs the anxiety of being without a job, and you decide to trade one problem for a different one. There’s a saying about risk and change: You can’t steal second base without taking your foot off of first. But the thought that has really stuck with me is, you don’t need a perfect plan when you’re trapped …

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Happy Independence Day!

I finished watching HBO’s John Adams miniseries this past week, having read the David McCullough best-seller on which it’s based. The miniseries was very well done, although it stuck with Adams and his story rather than portraying the events America was experiencing at the time. Paul Giamatti’s performance as Adams made the patriot very human, and the film showed that Abigail Adams (Laura Linney) was her husband’s best friend and counsel. Characters so well known to history students wander in and out of the tale: Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Sam Adams, and John Quincy Adams among them. At …

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Condensed Milk

My Dad told me a great story this weekend. When he and his brother were kids (late 1920s), they would visit a nearby neighbor, an old pioneer living in a shack in the woods, who was excited to have their help to set his bear trap. The trap was so huge that the man couldn’t stand on each toothed side and set the trigger in the middle. So he’d have the kids stand on one side while he stood on the other and set the trap. Apparently, nothing fatal occurred to any two-legged mammal as a result. As a reward, …

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