Scott Freeman

We all need a good laugh and these scenes never fail me:

In the interest of cross-promotion and in an ever-increasing homage to laziness I thought I would post the ever-popular Facebook meme here:

1. I love spicy food. The spicier the better. Everything I eat has to be spiced up to nuclear levels.

2. My two favorite teams are the Arkansas Razorbacks and Pittsburgh Steelers. No other teams truly matter.

3. I am an Academy Awards fan. I have seen every Best Picture and Best Actor winner and see all of the major nominees each year.

4. I read constantly. About 145 books a year constantly

5. I am a major introvert. I don’t like crowds and don’t really get into events and gatherings very much. It makes ministry a challenge.

6. My post-ministry career will be working in a library. I am currently getting another Master’s Degree in Library and Information Sciences.

7. I have a Bachelor’s in Philosophy and a Master’s in Religion.

8. I love rainy weather. I love rain more than sunshine.

9. I use to run and I miss it a lot. However, I’m too lazy to get started again.

10. I am given to fits of nostalgia and Facebook has only exacerbated that.

11. I am notoriously difficult to figure out and rarely think conventionally.

12. I have to keep many of my views to myself to keep me out of permanent trouble.

13. People often find me unapproachable. That saddens me greatly and I have to pay close attention to my body language and non-verbals.

14. There is nothing I love more than my girls.

15. I love horror films and books.

16. I love change as long as it doesn’t interrupt my routine.

17. I don’t like being out after 7 at night.

18. I think Michael McDermott is the greatest songwriter of my generation.

19. I am a pacifistic, tree-hugging, civil-rights touting social justice advocate.

20. I love cold weather. I won’t wear a coat until it gets below 40 degrees and wear short sleeves no matter how cold.

21. My perfect job would involve reading and studying all day.

22. I drink way too much Diet Coke but I have no desire or inclination to stop.

23. I am not a morning person.

24. I love my sense of humor but I know that it does not appeal to everyone.

25. I am excited about how Facebook has allowed me to re-establish friendships with people I thought were forever out of my life and determine kindred spirits I have missed out on earlier in life.

There is only one Boss and his name is Bruce. His latest album dropped today and it is better than should be possible. It is truly a masterpiece and is possible that it might land up near Darkness on my all-time Bruce list.

And this song “Outlaw Pete” is simply one of the coolest tunes I have ever heard.

One of the things that I lost in my blog melt-down was the handy-dandy book widget that was on the sidebar. I can add it back but haven’t taken the time to do that. Instead, I have gravitated over to using the visual bookshelf on Facebook.

Friend me to keep up with all of my readings.

One of the things that I want to do more of this year is post my thoughts on what I am reading, listening to, watching and studying. There are a couple of the books I have read over the last 6 weeks that make that list:

Creepers by David Morrell
This book won the Stoker Award a few years back and that my trick you into thinking that this is a horror novel. It isn’t. Instead it is a riveting thriller set in an abandoned hotel. Urban scavengers go into abandoned buildings and study the past. This particular hotel has quite an interesting story.

Out For Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America by Dudley Clendinen and Adam Nagourney
I was prompted to read this book after watching Milk. I fancy myself a student of Civil Rights and Social Justice struggles but had not read much regarding this particular movement. It is an exhaustive history of 1969-1989. I have many thoughts on the content of this work but will hold off until a later time.

I would highly recommend either of these works.

As the few readers I have remaining may have noticed I took another month long break from blogging. Losing a year of posts and all of my comments took the wind out of my sails.

And now I am back to it. With a renewed dedication and purpose. When I first began 4 years ago Monday I blogged as catharsis and with a focus on things that truly interested me.

In time I began to attract readers and comments and became somewhat intoxicated by that. I liked have threads that were 100+ comments and 600+ visitors a day.

But in the process I lost what I was doing this for. And now I am back to a handful of readers and a desire to focus strictly on what interests me. Some will be deep. Most will be light. It will be heavy on the things that I am reading, watching, listening to and studying.

For those of you still here, thanks for sticking around.

Now that we have that inauguration/hope stuff behind us we can turn our attention to what is truly important: The Academy Awards.
The nominations will be unveiled tomorrow morning (7:30 Central Time) and, as usual, I offer my predictions for the major awards.
I have done very well so far in seeing the major players. As a matter of fact I have seen 4 of the 5 that I think will get a Best Picture nod. But, as often is the case with the Academy, the nominations are anything but predictable.

Best Picture
Slumdog Millionaire
Milk
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon

Analysis: This are ranked in order of my confidence in their nomination. The first three, in my estimation, are locks (although I have not seen Button yet). Dark Knight is not a lock but I think it gets in, not only because it is worthy but because the Academy needs it to be in. Frost/Nixon is a stellar film and worthy of inclusion but there are 2-3 pics that could sneak in here: Revolutionary Road and The Reader are the two most likely. If this is the year of Kate Winslet, then that could happen. Despite all of the Wall-E talk I don’t think it makes the cut. Same with The Wrestler. That gets Mickey Rourke a nom but not enough to propel the film. And Gran Torino is good but not a best picture. Although it is foolish to ever count out Eastwood.

Best Actor
Sean Penn (Milk)
Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler)
Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon)
Clint Eastwood (Gran Torino)
Brad Pitt (Benjamin Button)

Analysis: This is a two horse race at this point between Penn (who was masterful as Milk) and Rourke. More will be known as we follow the arc between nominations and presentation but it is down to these two guys. I feel pretty good about this group but can’t completely count out Leonardo Dicaprio (Revolutionary Road) or Richard Jenkins (The Visitor). I don’t think Colin Farrel’s GG win for In Bruges is enough.

Best Actress
Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road)
Meryl Streep (Doubt)
Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married)
Angelina Jolie (Changeling)
Melissa Leo (Frozen River)

Analysis: Winslet gets two noms this year and hopefully this is the year she finally goes home with a statue. I hope this is Hathaway’s award, however. Streep is always a no-brainer and Jolie has garnered raves for a movie that seemed to be split among critics. Leo is the mystery here. I don’t know much about her or the movie but she seems to be getting a great deal of buzz. And that is the name of the game.

Best Supporting Actor
Heath Ledger (Dark Knight)
Josh Brolin (Milk)
Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire)
Robert Downey, Jr. (Tropic Thunder)
Phillip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt)

Analysis: Ledger and Brolin are locks. Patel benefits by a campaign for support rather than lead. And Downey deserves a nod. I would like to see Tom Cruise garner a nomination for his performance in Tropic as well but I don’t see it happening.

Best Supporting Actress
Kate Winslet (The Reader)
Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler)
Amy Adams (Doubt)
Penelope Cruz (Vicki Christina Barcelona)
Frieda Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire)

Analysis: This category is perennially hard for me to pin down. After Winslet, who should win, it is all a crap shoot. However, I would love to see Rosemary DeWitt be recognized for Rachel.

Best Director
Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire)
David Fincher (Benjamin Button)
Christopher Nolan (Dark Knight)
Gus Van Sant (Milk)
Clint Eastwood (Gran Torino)

Analysis: I’m going with Eastwood edging out Ron Howard because it is Clint Eastwood and the Academy loves him and Director and Picture seldom line up 5 for 5.

We shall see how I do tomorrow. Any thoughts?

Chloe, Cassie and Shayla

Today is a memorable day in the history of this country. We will be greeting a new president, the 44th in the 232 year history of the United States. However, this president is a little bit different than the 43 that preceded him. This president is African-American, the first black man to ever be elected to the highest office in our country.
As you grow up you will learn more about the history of this country and our regrettable and unconscionable past when it comes to race relations. Just 150 years ago men such as Barack Hussein Obama could not have aspired to the presidency. Instead, he would have endured a life of a slave if he lived in certain parts of this country. He would have been forced to work for white men with no freedom to hope for and believe in. They were considered to be, not human, but property.
Even after slavery was abolished in America we still endured much hatred and racism. Blacks were often not allowed to use the same restrooms, water fountains or restaurants as white people. Although they were not enslaved they were still not truly free.
But about 50 years ago that began to change. Some truly remarkable people stood up and proclaimed that they deserved to be treated equally. Great men and women such as Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers, Bayard Rustin, Fannie Lou Hamer and others were powerful and persuasive voices that all men were truly created equal and should receive like opportunity and respect.
Without using violence, without hurting the people who hurt them they stood up and fought back. They fought back with words, with passion, with heart and with truth. They marched in Birmingham, Selma and Washington D.C. They sat down on buses and in Woolworth’s. They withstood the spray of water hoses and the pummeling of batons. They stood. Like steel. And slowly those laws, regulations and attitudes that oppressed our black brothers and sisters began to fade and erode.
During that time, one man emerged as the voice and leader of that movement for civil rights. His name was Martin Luther King, Jr. He was a flawed, complex and truly great man. He was the continual and unwavering voice that blacks were equal and that they would win their rights. And he never wavered from insisting that it be done without violence.
For 13 years he oversaw the repudiation of all laws and regulations that were complicit in oppressing people. He organized a boycott of buses and a march in Washington. Equal treatment for African-Americans became a reality because he had a dream. He registered people to vote and he was instrumental in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that ensured that blacks would no longer be barred from attending schools with white kids. He did a lot more than that but you will learn those things in time.
Unfortunately, hatred runs deep. The passing of laws and legislation to ensure that blacks were treated equally did not mean that people changed their hearts. In the south, where you live, that hatred and racism still often holds sway. And in 1968, just 2 months before your father was born a man shot and killed Dr. King. He thought a bullet would end Dr. King’s work.
But he was wrong. Martin Luther King’s legacy and work would live on. And on the third Monday of January every year we stop and celebrate his dream.
And that dream continues today. In just a few minutes I will leave my office and drive home to watch an important event with you. A black man will become our president. Just 41 years after Dr. King was assassinated and the day after we celebrated his legacy and his dream Barack Hussein Obama will be our president. He was 6 years old when Dr. King was shot. In 41 short years we have gone to an nadir of hatred to an apex of hope.
My hope is that you will remember this day. That you will see and learn to appreciate the meaning and symbolism of a black man rising to such a prominent position in our country. It is a celebration of all those people who have endured slavery, oppression, and hatred. It is a moment where we can be proud of where we have come even as we still harbor the regrets of where we have been. Time heals. And today the healing is at its most complete. And we share this moment with our African American brothers and sisters. We share this moment not as black, white, red or yellow. We share this moment as Americans. And this is a blessed day.
This day will not end racial hatred. We will still encounter those people who harbor animosity towards others for no reason other than the color of their skin. More often than we should. But with this moment and stretching forward the voices of those riddled with hatred can be rendered mute by the power of love, acceptance, tolerance and understanding.
I almost went to this Inauguration. I wanted to drive the 1300 miles, brave the crowds and the cold weather and see this moment for myself. I’m glad I didn’t go. There is nowhere I would rather be on this day then with you sharing this moment. Sharing this historical moment where the goodness of the American Spirit will be on full display.
Remember this day girls. Thank you for sharing it with me.
I love you,
Daddy