Random Thoughts 8/7/07

• Apple came out with a new version of their popular iMac desktop computer. "Thin" is in. As usual, it's an aesthetically pleasing machine, combining the previous version of the machine with the appearance of the iPhone. I just love how these machines look and how they work. You couldn't get me to use something else.
• I was reading a blog the other day that linked to and ridiculed another blogger for reporting good news on Iraq. After reading the scathing rebuke (remember, to some people, there can be no good news on Iraq) I clicked the link afraid it would lead back to my own blog. It didn't. But I was disheartened that there are people out there with their eyes closed tight and their hands clamped over their ears, refusing to accept any message that deviates of the Iraq-is-a-mistake template. It's too bad because 2007 has been the turn-around year in the Battle for Iraq: General Petraeus' new strategy, the Sunni rejection of al Qaeda, the standing up of the Iraqi army and police, etc. etc. – now everything is finally coming around but many Americans find themselves too heavily invested in losing. So what do they do? They become cynical, close-minded, blind and ignoble cowards who can't hear good news for their own team.
• We started reading our second Narnia book with the boys, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe this week. The boys are positively thrilled with our evening appointment to read another chapter of C.S. Lewis' classic tale. Now we have to decide, are they old enough to watch the movie? We've generally guarded them from seeing a lot of the movies they desire to watch: no Star Wars (decapitations and dismemberment), Pirates of the Caribbean (violence and mature humor), or Transformers (intense action and, oddly enough, sexuality). So if the older boys watch the Narnia movies, it'll be new ground, especially for Tanner (5). Eventually they'll see most of these movies–when they're old enough–but I just don't feel there's any compelling reason to rush them into it.
• Speaking of movies, I'm still working my way through the list of classic movies on AFI's Top 100 lists. I just watched Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), a movie that's almost 70 years old but ought to be watched by every politician today. On the flip side, I watched Cabaret (1972) and needed a mental enema to remove that dreck from my mind. [My position on those two films ought to tell you everything you need to know about my politics.] I also enjoyed two Peter O'Toole films this week: Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Man of La Mancha (1972). I'd seen part of the former and all of the latter before, but these movies are worth a second viewing. These four films, like all films and books, have philosophical underpinnings that can be embraced or rejected, but shouldn't be ignored. To watch one of these movies and not be provoked to serious thought is shamefully lazy. As Socrates said, "the unexamined life is not worth living."