I Miss

...lazy Saturday mornings when Dad, Mis, Tim, and I would wake up to the smell of pancakes and French toast or any other food that tastes good with lots of Maple syrup, courtesy of Mom

...thinking that flying on an airplane was the most exciting thing ever

...believing in Santa Claus

...the special sound of two parents and three children living in a house together

...being more afraid of the dark than a bad hair day

...when fights with my sister were about nothing and holding a grudge meant you just gave someone the silent treatment for an hour

...terrorizing my babysitters

...when a couple of dimes and quarters were a fortune!

...dreaming of a career on Broadway and a marriage to Jonathan Taylor Thomas

...when "Eureeka's Castle" was the highlight of the day and politics (i.e. "Crossfire," which Dad always watched) was deathly boring

...pushing Barbie in the tire swing, just so I could watch her fall out of it multiple times in a row

...when it was easy and made perfect sense to "just say no"

...singing Ace of Base and TLC songs at the top of my lungs, showing off how I'd memorized all the lyrics

I miss when the world was small and adults were big.

Default Blog Entry About the Oscars

So, seeing as how I often comment on the entertainment industry and would like to one day do that professionally, I figured I ought to blog about the upcoming 7,723rd Academy Awards. I've done something like that before. The caveat, here, is that I don't really care about the Oscars. I've tried to get enthusiastic about it, but I mean, Ben Affleck has an Oscar.

And also, I have a short attention span. (As does the ceremony's orchestra, which starts playing music five seconds into every award-winner's speech.)

Anyways, here are my opinions on this year's nominees.

I don't know and won't pretend to know who will win.

I haven't even seen a good chunk of the films nominated. Scorsese could maybe get lucky this year just because the Academy feels guilty for dissing him last year. That tends to happen.

I'm shocked that Alfonso Cuaron didn't get a nod for directing Children of Men.

But yeah, that's all I got.

Seriously, unless there's some kind of financial incentive, I'm not going to play the guessing game. Fuck, I may not even watch the Oscars this year!

I will make a few bold predictions though. Somebody will make fun of George Bush. An actress will wear a revealing dress. Any takers? And I have no idea why this text is so small. Fucking blogger.

No News is Good News?

As a journalism student, I'm supposed to follow the news pretty closely. Oh, and as an informed citizen too I guess. But as much as I love the BBC, I get really depressed reading the stories of the day -- especially from Africa and the Middle East. (I have a few bookmarked news sites and I've put them in the folder titled "Everything's Gone to Hell.")

While I don't plan on skipping on the negative news reports any time soon, I do plan on visiting this site more often. There is some news that is actually good news. It does exist! Don't just read about car bombs in Iraq. Read the sappier stories too... specifically the one about the 25-million-year-old frog.

Ps. In other non-Middle East related news, Britney Spears has undergone her latest metamorphosis... Virgin Schoolgirl to Trashy Whore and now, Little Boy:

(And Britney, just because you can shave your head, doesn't mean that you can also get a degree from Harvard and be a kick ass actress. FYI.)

I knew this song before it ever became relevant to my life, and I used to think it was just pretty. Now it takes the breath out of me. But while it makes me cry and think of my mom and dad, it's such a beautiful (albeit sad) song and video, that I wanted to share it.

Death Cab for Cutie - "I Will Follow You Into the Dark"

(updated February 12...added on some info)

One Nation Under God: Are we free to not believe?



Just west of the University of Texas tower, students are ducking fliers like bullets on their way to class. Representatives of political causes and organizations stand along the edges of the gardens the University constructed to deter protests and riots (West Mall is the so-called "Free Speech Zone"). They man booths and more often than not hand out paper leaflets promoting ideas and memberships to different groups. On any given day, an unsuspecting passerby may be asked to donate to breast cancer research, rethink Roe v. Wade, and join a student organization.

It's not uncommon for Christians, many not enrolled at UT, to take advantage of the progressive public university spirit toward the sharing of ideas (despite the overbearing, strategically placed plants) and precede to evangelize folks in West Mall. And because we live in America, they have the right to save the masses from damnation. Or try to.

I don't blame them for exercising that right either. College students are at risk of developing dangerous non-Christian beliefs, as they are taught to think critically about the universe, rather than blindly follow irrational dogmas. Hey, if I were a Christian fanatic, I'd definitely set up shop at institutions of higher learning; universities are breeding grounds for hell-bound heathens -- professors are determined to reverse the brainwashing we young scholars endured growing up.

When I see Christians reaching out to students who are trying to make it to class on time, they usually have a very calm, peaceful look on their face, as if to say: "hey, I've got the secret to happiness."

A little arrogant, if you ask me. But the thing is, those of us who aren't Christian just smile right back at these religious activists and go on with our day. Sometimes we might even take a flier just for shits and giggles. Or maybe they're giving out candy to go with the flier, so we figure, why not? Eating candy won't turn me into a Christian.

It's all very quaint.

I wonder what would happen if I made fliers promoting a non belief. What if I was to make a flier that said "religion is a delusion" or "Jesus will not answer your prayers" or "God is imaginary"? What kind of reaction would I get? Would people be afraid to take my fliers? Would they give me dirty looks? Would they be offended? I have a slight suspicion I would get a cold reception at West Mall... even though Austin and UT are about as liberal and secular as Texas gets. Why do I think this? Well, surprisingly, Facebook turned up fewer than 100 declared atheists at UT! Truth is, though, I haven't run this experiment, so I don't know for sure what would happen.

What we do collectively know for sure is that the majority of Americans are Christian and atheists have a tiny voice in this country. In fact, when atheists do speak up, they are frequently blasted by enraged Christians and even CNN. Think about it... if you're a religious or racial minority here in the States, you probably haven't been overtly called an unpatriotic non-citizen by a U.S. president. But atheists sure have! This is probably because they are the most mistrusted minority in America:

American's increasing acceptance of religious diversity doesn’t extend to those who don't believe in a god, according to a national survey by researchers in the University of Minnesota’s department of sociology.

From a telephone sampling of more than 2,000 households, university researchers found that Americans rate atheists below Muslims, recent immigrants, gays and lesbians and other minority groups in "sharing their vision of American society." Atheists are also the minority group most Americans are least willing to allow their children to marry.

Kind of interesting, then, that Christians are overrepresented in the prison system and atheists are underrepresented. But it's not facts about atheists that scare people... it's the ideas atheists have.

The atheist message is "think," not "YOU'RE GOING TO HELL!" So why are the atheists hated in this nation? What is so threatening about a non belief? You don't even have to capitalize the word 'atheist!' So how scary can an atheist be really?

I guess such "non belief" comes from the Tree of Knowledge, and the Bible says we shouldn't eat from that Tree. Well, I'm thinking maybe we should band together and tell people that if they don't start chomping down on some knowledge-ridden apples, they're all going to spread infectious ignorance and blow each other up.

But what do I know at the end of the day? I don't believe in anything.

This is like something out of a movie...


The folks over at Austin 360 have been tallying up votes for the Austin Movie Awards, which includes categories like best actor and best film festival. Somehow, there is real competition brewing between the three Alamo Drafthouse venues and the illustrious Dobie theater. The Dobie runs some respectable films that don't get a chance at other theaters, but other than that, it sits in the middle of what might be the ugliest, dingiest mall in Austin and plus, you can't buy alcohol there. So why does it threaten to beat the Drafthouse? One reason is that you can't just vote for the Drafthouse -- there are three different locations listed, which has sprawled out the votes.

The second reason is unknown: either people are retarded (as the Drafthouse is the best theater in the world!) or a very jealous Dobie has hired people to vote every hour.

So, let's stop this nonsense!

Scroll down to the second poll question and click Alamo Drafthouse Downtown right now! And then do it again in an hour!

So, if I ever doubted I had a natural ambition to write, I guess that doubt's gone, because it's the only thing I want to do right now...

My dad died this morning, sometime between 2 and 730 AM. We don't know yet the cause -- it could have been a blood clot or a fall. He passed away in my grandparent's house in East Texas. He wanted to visit with his father alone for a couple of days. My aunt and uncle were on their way to pick him up and bring him back home when we got the news.

We were preparing ourselves for 12 to 18 months, tops, that my dad would have left. But five? No one was prepared for that. He called my mom last night and said he missed us and wanted to come home early. He didn't make it home.

Right now I'm sad and a little angry, but mostly just sad. I don't have regrets though. I'm disappointed. I was looking forward to a summer at home, where I could see my dad on a daily basis. I was looking forward to more morning coffees and political debates with him. I was trying very hard to come to the terms with the fact that he'd never walk me down the aisle on my wedding day, but I thought he'd get to see me walk across the stage to get my college diploma in May. That won't happen. So while I have no regrets, yeah, I'm fucking disappointed.

I've never felt more connected to my dad than the last five months of his life and for that, I'm so grateful. But I'm going to miss him a lot.

I want people to know about my dad, James Kyle. The only time he ever made a lot of noise was when he was vacuuming or mowing the lawn. He was a quiet, reserved man, and probably the most unselfish person I've ever known. He never missed a family dinner and never once forgot to tell me to check the oil in my car, because he knew I'd never remember to check it myself. I'll have to start remembering now.


He was a wonderful father and husband and he'd be the last person on the Earth to ever say so. But I don't mind saying so.

Click here to donate to the American Cancer Society.