Coopernundrums » kids

Hasenpfeffer or Bust

JayCooper — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 19:46:59 +0000

It’s been a while since I posted anything regarding my beliefs. By and large I have really tried hard lately to be supportive and understanding of my fellow man’s need for intervention by a higher power. I don’t like it when that desire crashes headlong into my day, but I try not to get mad over it anymore. It’s a losing battle. That’s the way you start to think when you get older and (hopefully) wiser.

Normally I enjoy spring and fall the most as far as the seasons go. This year my two sons are as close to being grown as I could hope. I don’t dress them. I don’t bath them. They pretty much get themselves up and out the door for school. You get the idea. They always still take up a great deal of my daily thoughts. I wonder what we might have done right and what we might have done wrong. I also wonder what we can still do to help them with their burgeoning lives. I watch them and sometimes catch a glimmer of some thought in their eyes. Usually it’s when they are seeing something old again in a new light. Easter is one of those things I hope I got right.

I really feel that folks who celebrate Easter are, consciously or otherwise fostering the myth of christianity in some measure. I also never felt the necessity to cram my children full of chocolate, or perpetuate some lore about a magical rodent that farts shiny colored eggs filled with happiness. I do feel it is a good idea to not restrict holiday fun for kids who have to go to school and listen to how everyone else had lots of fun on this “special” day. Doing this, like many other things in religion, breeds resentment. I still feel, with this in mind, that I need not support or endorse such silliness. That’s the way we raised our boys.

I hope my kids will feel the same way I do because critical thinking and logical debate is good for the mind. Remember, the lack of verifiable proof that something exists is not in and of itself evidence of any kind that supports its existence.

So, this Easter please ignore the dizzyingly unbelievable messages from your religious teachers and take this, my Easter message to you as an atheist: Morality is not something a god gives us. It is something that is inside us all as human beings. Love one another and share what you have with those less fortunate. Feed the hungry, care for the sick and above all else this Easter do as you please not as your told because you only live once.

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Dickens of a Holiday

JayCooper — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 04:52:42 +0000

On December the 19^th 1843 a novella written by the most popular author of the Victorian era was published by Chapman & Hall. It has been said that it is the catalyst that both revitalized and restored our nostalgic love of the Christmas holiday. We all love a good ghost story and when you mix that with old world English dialog and settings it just makes for a fantastic story.

Since the medium of Television has really taken over a big chunk of our lives, I thought I would take some time and write a list of my favorite interpretations of A Christmas Carol and why, in no particular order. I hope you enjoy.

Scrooge 1951,
released in the U.S. as A Christmas Carol,
starring Alastair Sim

This is arguably one of the best versions of this story. It is lavish in style and acting. While the sets are rather small and the quality is lacking compared to modern films. The performances and faithfulness to the novella is second to none. Alastair Sim provides us with one of the best portrayals of Scrooge, whom we can see has a true, heartfelt transformation.

Scrooge 1970, a musical starring Albert Finny, and Alec Guinness

This would be my all-time favorite interpretation of this story. Albert Finney was only 34 when he signed on to play both the old Scrooge and the young scrooge. He won the Golden globe for his incredible physical portrayal of the character. I first saw this version when I was about 10 years old and was so awe struck I learned everything I could about the production. It was filmed using all British actors with lavish sets and costumes at the Shepperton Studios in London England. It was not until several years later that I realized that Young and old Scrooge was played by the same man. You may recognize Marley here as he later went on to play Obi Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars films.

Mickey’s Christmas Carol, a 1983 animated Disney film

The quality of the Disney animators really shines here. While this version is sanitized for small children leaving out many of the darkest aspects of the story, it’s cuteness factor, having all your favorite Disney characters make an appearance more than makes up for it.

Scrooged 1988, starring Bill Murray

When you have watched all the other adaptations of this story you can turn to this. It’s a hilarious if twisted version of the tale. Bill Murray does not disappoint and the all-star supporting cast really makes this a fantastic modernization of the story. This is literally a potpourri of comedians.

Things I Like about Fall

JayCooper — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 19:58:02 +0000

I find that I post a lot during the Fall months. Its really because I LOVE this time of year. I wont make this post too complicated. I just wanted to write a bit about my favorite fall things.

Things I like about Fall -

Titans FOOTBALL!! Well hell ALL FOOTBALL, but the Tennessee Titans the most.

New TV Season starts.

The Kids go Back to School

Halloween

Cooler Weather / Backyard Fire Pits

Chili / Homemade Soup

Fall Leaves

Pumpkins

Oktoberfest, mostly for the BEER!

Less Mowing the Yard

I bet some of these are your favorites too. Happy fall!

Music to my Ears

JayCooper — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 03:09:55 +0000

I am a self professed MP3 snob. I love music. Almost all kinds. I believe that somewhere in my 120 GB collection I have every genre and every style of tunes one can possibly imagine. I love collecting music.

Recently I had a pretty dramatic hard disk failure and it put my collection in serious jeopardy. Luckily I have triple redundant backups of ALL my important computer files, music included.

The last few days I have been spending some time gently loving and massaging my music by cleaning up and adding missing ID3 tags and making sure that the album art is embedded into the files. Its a loooooong, tedious process. I have made it through the letter N in my FULL ALBUMS folder. I will probably be working on it all throughout the week. It will pay off though because it will look and sound great on my music player of choice.

I noticed during this love fest that I was also really picky about the quality of music I have collected. There was a time when I didn’t have a clue what a “bit-rate” was or why it mattered. Now, I don’t care for the sound of any bit-rate lower than 192 kbps. The ubiquitous 128 kbps is just too scratchy and tinny for me. I actually prefer my tunes be at 320 kbps and a constant bit-rate not variable. Look it up if you are reading this with a perplexed look on your face.

What this all really means is that I have a lot of great music. My kids enjoy it, I enjoy it and its worth the snobbishness and effort. Now, go love on your music collection. Nuff’ said.

Gateway Getaway in St. Louis

JayCooper — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 02:01:48 +0000

Went on a one day one night tour of St. Louis this past weekend. It was a long drive but a friend of mine actually did the driving. It’s an interesting story so I’ll share it with you. I feel like sharing.

Jamie Palsgrove used to be a coworker friend of mine at TeamDesign. He moved on to another job but we have kept in touch and still hang out. We were tossing the idea around before he left of doing a quick weekend trip to someplace close by with out kids since neither one of us could really afford a full blown vacation this year. He and his lovely wife, Jennifer, really ended up doing all the work organizing the thing. Enough so that I felt terribly guilty by the time it was all over. The destination we decided on ended up being St. Louis, to visit the free zoo and the arch monument.

He offered to drive and use his Ford Explorer to take us there. We originally planned on making the 5.5 hour drive visiting the zoo and possibly the arch then driving home, knowing full well it would be a long long day for all. I really just can’t afford a hotel room this year. Now, you have to know Jamie and Jennifer.

They will give ya the shirts off their backs even if that means they will be without a shirt, that’s just how they are. Jamie and Jennifer both travel a lot for their jobs and they offered to use their travel points to get a couple of hotel rooms for us so we could stay the night.

We got up super early on Saturday and met the Palsgroves at their house and off we went. It was a long drive but the company and conversation were always lively. We visited the zoo in the 100 degree heat. It was an enormous zoo. We got our hotel rooms which were SUPER nice and we went swimming in the hotels pool. It was really the perfect end to a really nice day. We topped that off with a great Italian restaurant that had magnificent pasta called Portabella and then a great nights sleep.

Now, if the mini-vacation had ended there it would have been a super nice vacation, but here once again you have to know these guys and how sweet they are.

We got up the next morning and enjoyed breakfast then shuttled off to the Arch Monument. We had a great walk through the city to the Arch Park by the river and spent a long time snapping photos and enjoying the very cool monument. When we tried to visit the museum under the arch i figured out that being a federally run institution with metal detectors and x-ray machines that you can’t bring a spring assisted knife into the place. It’s kinda funny. The boys went in and I just stayed outside snapping more pictures while they enjoyed.

On the drive home we made a stop in Woodlawn Illinois for gas where I had to explain to the boys that rednecks live everywhere not just Tennessee.

It was a tremendous chance to see sights I don’t think I would have otherwise seen. It was great company and time well spent with my great friends and their family. I want this post to be a personal thank you to both Jamie and Jenn because without their generosity the boys and I would not have had a vacation at all this summer.

Get to the Arch it is a fantastic building that you have to see.

Dirty Little Matt

JayCooper — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 01:03:17 +0000

Dirty Little Matt is sitting in the back of math class, obviously not paying any attention, when the teacher calls his name.

“Yeah teach?” he replies.

“If there are three ducks on a fence and you shoot one of them with a shotgun, how many are left?” asks the teacher.

Matt answers “Well, teach, if I shoot one of them with a shotgun, the loud noise is gonna make them all fly off.”

“No, Matt, there will be two left if you shoot one with a shotgun, but I like the way you’re thinking.” the teacher responds.

“Well, teach, I’ve got a question for you… There are 3 women that come out of an ice-cream parlor, one is biting her ice-cream cone, one is licking it, and one is sucking on it. Which one is married?”

The teacher, a little taken back by the question answers, “Well, uh, gee Matt, I guess the one that’s sucking on the ice cream.”

Matt replies “No teach, the one that has the wedding ring on her finger, but I like the way you’re thinking!”