The Arrow's Path

I finally got around to watching Avatar this week, thanks to Netflix. Avatar is, I believe, the all time grossing film now, or close to it. I have read some different accounts of this, depending on how you factor in overseas receipts, subsequent DVD sales, inflation, and such. However you factor the money, James Cameron is clearly a billionaire, as he also directed the No. 2 all time grossing film, Titanic . I dragged my feet on seeing Avatar because I have heretofore thought James Cameron was a dreadfully melodramatic, not a particularly good storyteller, and not a particularly good director in terms of knowing what to cut from films. There is still about an hour gap in the middle of Titanic I have never seen because I have tried to watch that film more than once and always fall asleep about an hour into it, sleep for an hour, and wake up to watch the final hour. For the life of me, I cannot figure out what on earth I missed in that film other than fluffery for that missing hou...

For those with a Hymn tune stuck in their head and can't figure out what the hymn is... This application can help you figure it out.

More good sports writing here by Joe Posnanski . And he's right...Steve Avery was a phenomenal pitcher for the Braves back in the early days of their run in the 90's. He had a pick off move towards a runner on first base, the likes of which I have never seen since. (I'm convinced that lightning fast pick off move probably contributed to his later arm problems.) The Braves would never have won their 1995 World Series against Cleveland without Avery.

There is some farcical idea in some church circles that the summer is the "quiet time" during the church year. There isn't Sunday school; there isn't a major holiday like Christmas or Easter (though Pentecost will likely fall in summer next year because Easter will be on April 24th in 2011.) While those things are true, summer time in parish work is far from "quiet." I feel like I have been incredibly busy this summer to the point that I am looking forward to "quieting down" for the regular year. Youth camps, youth groups, vacation, rummage sales, Mass in the Grass (on the hottest Sunday of the year), and funerals have all added to a particularly busy season as summers go. As such, my blog posting has been somewhat erratic.  Now that fall seems to be on the way (hopefully it won't snow for another month or two), my blog output will hopefully return to a more regular schedule.

For my 1600th blog post, I am including a recipe for Arabic style flat bread. Arabic style flatbread Hat tip: Habeeb Salloum and James Peters 1 oz fresh yeast or 1/2 oz  dried yeast 3 cups warm water 1 teaspoon sugar 8 cups flour 2 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon oil  Dissolve yeast in 1 cup of warm water, let sit for about 5 minutes. Mix flour, salt, and oil, and add the yeast mixture. Add remaining warm water and mix well.  Knead for at least ten minutes until smooth and elastic; then place in a warm and oiled bowl, turning dough over to coat surface with oil.  Cover with cloth and set in warm place, allowing dough to double in size (about 2 to 3 hours.) Punch dough down, then knead for about 2 minutes. Smooth into balls about the size of small oranges, rolling them gently between your hands.  Place the balls on a dry cloth in a warm place; then cover with another cloth and let rise for about 30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 500 degrees. On lightly floured bo...

Father Oliver has another thought provoking post on his blog, which can be found here . I saw the commercial he references in the blog entry while I was on vacation, and I was actually thinking of commenting on it here. It stuck me as a particularly odd pairing of music and commercialism. I would have just assumed it was another attempt by marketers to misappropriate a classic song to sell stuff like the commercial a few years ago for what brand or product I cannot now remember (Was it for The Gap?) that had for the song " For What It's Worth " by Buffalo Springfield. I was always struck by the irony of that particular commercial in that one of the premiere songs that captured the spirit of the 1960's rebellion against the Vietnam war was being used to sell stuff to the grandkids of Hippies.  Father Oliver beat me to it, with theological sentiments worth considering.

Obit here .

I am presuming this Pirate Liturgy  is satirical, but these days, you never know. As a commenter on facebook said this is a lot of word for mere satire.

One of the highlights of vacation was a trip my father and I took to Miller Park in Milwaukee. (I was told by fans that the letter "l" in Milwaukee is silent by 'native speakers.') Having been to the new Target Field in Minneapolis earlier in the year, I was interested to compare it to Miller Park. Miller Park is relatively new, as it opened in 2001. I was surprised to learn it was almost 10 years old. It still feels new, at least to me. Miller Park is a case of "First Impressions can be deceiving." As you can see in the slideshow, Miller Park is truly bizarre looking from the Interstate when you approach it. It looks like a gigantic beetle with metallic back braces. This is because it has a retractable roof. More precisely, it is a flat roof, not a dome. Despite its bizarre appearance from afar, when you walk up to it after parking in the expansive parking lot (paying the extra 13 dollars for preferred parking is worth it, as its a short exit right ont...

Well, yes, testing positive for steroids is in fact "overtraining" for sports. That's why its illegal.

As I posted yesterday, I have returned from vacation. We decided, seeing as my daughter is just over a year old, that we needed a low key kind of place that was good for her to run around. My parents wanted to meet up with us so they could see their grandchild. We live in different sections of the country, and airplanes were probably not doable for us. (I refuse to be that parent who has the baby on the airplane who is intent on singing the refrain from the classic album, Screaming Babies Greatest Hits, for the whole 2 hour flight.) The Chicago/Milwaukee area was a good halfway point to drive from both of our respective homes. I suggested some months back that we might try the DeKoven Center in Racine, Wisconsin. My seminary class did a retreat there a few times. The facility is owned by the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee. (I got the priest rate for doing Mass on Tuesday.) The DeKoven Center was a boy's college back in the Victorian era that went out of business during the Grea...

I am currently back from vacation in Wisconsin. I will have plenty of blog entries over the next few days.