Notes, Quotes and Billy Goats...

Couple of semi-random musings


Backstreet Boy Goes Christian



Brian Littrell, the former lead singer and face man of the Backstreet Boys has a new album - a new Christian album - called "Welcome Home." Now, before you go getting all cynical here, I'd like to point out that Littrell has said he's a Christian for a long while now. I remember when he got married - to his high school sweetheart - some magazine asked him about a pre-nup and he said, "I wouldn't marry this girl if I thought I had to sign a pre-nup." I knew something was different then - that's a little different tack than his other Backstreet Boy alums, like Nick Carter, who frequents Paris Hilton and AJ Maclean, whose alcohol problem landed him in rehab. Thus far, the album has sold exceptionally well and is currently at the top spot in iTunes' list of the top 100 Christian albums. Apparently, the 14-year-old Christian girl + Dave Tieche market is widely untapped.

I Pulled It. No, really, I pulled it
This past weekend, I had a blast of a Saturday at Jeff Revenaugh and his soon-to-bride Melissa Werner at their co-ed couple's Wedding Shower. Normally, I am against co-ed showers. I don't like to sit around in the hot sun watching people open up gift bags with colorful tissue flowing out the top. "Oooh, these hand towels are perfect!" But this time, we got smart. During the gift opening, I went to my trunk and took out the wiffle ball bat and balls I had purchased that morning from SportsMart. And while the girls were oohing and aahing over the thread count of those sheets, the guys were playing wiffle ball in the street.

It's a surprisingly difficult game to play. We played 7 innings of scoreless ball.

My first at-bat, I was at the plate for the first time, determined to send that ball out of there with a 502-foot-blast ala Frank Thomas circa 1993. The pitch came, I rotated my torso and whipped that 7-oz piece of molded plastic around so fast you could hear the air whistle through the hollow tube . The ball blasted off the "sweet spot" of the plastic yellow bat. I began to do my homerun trot. The ball soared a good 25 feet right into the hands of the left fielder/third baseman, who frankly, didn't even have to move his feet. And then I kind of felt something below my left ribs.

I trotted home, but something kind of felt weird in my chest. That's when I realized it.

"I just pulled a muscle playing whiffle ball."

Whiffle ball. It's hard to even say the word and take yourself seriously. Luckily, the injury didn't last that long, and with some cortisone shots and some steroids from the trainer, I'm going to be okay.


New MercyMe album



So I'm excited because one of my favorite bands, MercyMe, is out with their new album. It's called, coincidentally, "Coming Up for Air." Apparently, they have been underwater for a while. Maybe they've been hanging out with David Blaine a lot, or something.

Keith Richards Having Head Surgey
Keith Richards had surgery Monday in New Zealand to relieve pressure in his head following a fall, his representative said. The Rolling Stone lead guitarist was in the hospital in stable condition, but was complaining of headaches yesterday, and so doctors thought it prudent to move ahead with a small operation to remove the pressure.

Which brings us to the question: how did Keith Richards fall?

Initial news reports have variously claimed that he fell out of a palm tree or from a jet ski. Personally, I think he fell out of a jet ski that was in a palm tree. That'd be a story.

Broken Brokeback
So my wife and I are slowly making our way through the list of 2006 Oscar Nominees. Thus far we've seen King Kong which was visually stunning but I didn't really like that much, and Good Night, and Good Luck, which I really liked. We had rented Memoirs of a Geisha - which by the way, was written by an old white guy from Chatanooga, TN - but we never got to it. So this past Saturday, we watched the controversial Brokeback Mountain.

Initial thoughts: Ang Lee is a genius at cinematography. The film is gorgeous. Secondly, I came away from the film depressed. Not because I had just seen two men make out - but because this was a story of misery and pain and heartache. There is really no way this story could have had a happy ending. And although I can't really understand the physical attraction part - any more than I can understand, say, gambling addictions - the movie did a great job of making you care about these two men, both of whom lived fragmented lives and were desperately trying to connect with someone in a profound way.

But...I can't really say I recommend the movie. I suppose there are people who simply can't get past the characters being gay, and would automatically qualify them as "bad" and not worthy of anything except a disgusted grimace. But like Celie in "The Color Purple" - who was also gay - if you can't see the longing and humanity of these men - and how good and human that desire to simply connect in a lonely world is - then I kind of feel sorry for you.