On Hannuk... Hanukk... Chanu... that Jewish Holiday that starts today and other stuff...

So Justin (the son that's 6) says to me yesterday, "Hey dad, did you know tomorrow is the first day of Hanukkah?" To which I replied, "No Justin, I did not." I asked him what he knew about it and he said that it was 8 days of gifts and candle lighting and spinning a top. Apparently they have been looking at the different holiday celebrations and traditions in his class. What I find interesting here is that even in Judaism the meaning gets lost in the tradition. You hear Christians talk a lot about loosing the meaning of Christmas, but I bet there are quite a few more people who could tell you that Christmas was about Jesus being born then could tell you why the Jews celebrate these 8 days (It's about the rededication of the second Temple after the Maccabee Revolution, and yes I did have to look it up). The point is, when school's look at religion they can only teach tradition and ritual, it is our responsibility as parents to teach meaning and lifestyle, no matter what your preferred holiday celebration. So to all my Jewish readers, have a great first day of Hanukkah, and if you are ever interested in discussing that whole Messiah thing let me know.

Let's roll.

TV

After preliminary inside reports last week that the writer's strike would be ending soon it now appears slated to continue for a long long time. This article about "Lost" scribe (and producer) Carton Cuse finally stopping all work (not just writing) on the best show on TV has got me all messed up. I think it's time for me to admit that Lost may indeed be out of the picture for a while. In addition to the fresh fist sized holes in my wall this news also means that TV will be all reruns and reality TV for a while. This is where I start the "Bring back the Mole" chant, hoping desperately that someone gives it another shot. I mean, seriously, that Anderson Cooper guy that hosted it was great, and I don't think he's got anything else going on these days, right?

Movies

A New trailer is out today for the next Narnia film "Prince Caspian". After watching it, my anticipation meter went from "oh yeah, that's coming out sometime soon, right?" all the way to "MUST SEE THIS MOVIE NOW!" It looks incredible and reminded me how much more pumped I am to see the lesser read books in the Chronicles than even I was for TLTWATW. I just hope it does well enough that they keep making them cause it would be ashame not to get to the Magician's Nephew.

Music

The news that Jon Foreman was doing 4 solo EPs this next year was like Christmas morning for me. I've got the "Fall EP" on my Ipod right now and it is absolutely incredible, can't wait for the others. To give you reference, hearing this news would be like hearing that your already amazing baseball team was adding two more all-stars to it's roster without giving up any of the starting players. Oh wait, that happened today as well. Some days are just good days.

Game/Tech

You have probably never heard the name Jeff Gerstman before just now, but his story is absolutely blowing up in the Gaming world currently and might even cross over into the mainstream news. Jeff was recently fired from gamespot.com for undisclosed reasons (Jeff has been a staple of their editorial staff for 7ish years) shortly after which his harsh video and written review (for a game that was heaviily advertised on the site) was edited to be a bit nicer and the video review was taken down altogether. You can draw your own conclusions from those facts but sufficed to say the internets are abuzz. This comic (foul language warning) was how I first learned of the story and since then Joystiq has been doing a great job at compiling information that is fair and reasoned. I will be curious to see how this all shakes down, and as someone who is always interested in how $$ and integrity seem to be in constant battle, I've been following it closely.

Faith/Culture

Yes, I know you have been waiting with baited breath, but the day has finally arrived. I have finally landed on a presidential candidate that I think is worth voting for. OK, so maybe it hasn't been your every waking thought, but this recent article solidified for me the way I have been leaning for a few months. Huckabee is the man (er.. person, sorry) for the job. It's been encouraging to see his numbers continue to increase in some of the early Caucus/Primary states and if he can get nominated it will save me from ticking all my friends off by voting third party next November. Plus Hillary vs. Huckabee just has a nice ring to it.

Randomness

You might often see crazy predictions of the future that get everything wrong, but how about one that got a lot of stuff right? Check out this video (and the accompanying Snopes page.) of an ad from the 60's that seems to have nailed flat screens, online bill pay, and PCs.