Kids these days will never know the satisfaction of opening the bottom, removing the ball, and then taking an unfolded paperclip to remove all the built up crud and hair on the components inside. I would do this anytime I was left alone in my mom’s office while she had a meeting or something.

Some men are Baptists. Others, Catholic. But me? I’m a Godzilla fan. (Also, Episcopalian, but you get what I mean).

For real tho, I’ve been into kaiju films since I was about six and have introduced them to my kids. My 4 y/o daughter is probably the most obsessed of them. She really digs Godzilla: King of the Monsters. And we all had a blast with Pacific Rim. I even took my eldest to see Godzilla -0.1 in theaters.

Prey is great. It really mixes up the Predator franchise and feels super fresh. It’s pretty violent but, to me, just a smidge above typical PG-13 violence—there is animal violence, so keep that in mind if that’s a problem (you see a few animals get skinned and a wolf gets disemboweled, but it’s shown from a distance and is quick; there’s a pretty intense scene with a bear that gets kinda bloody, but honestly the animal scenes are kinda obviously CGI so it doesn’t look overly realistic). There’s also a bit in the middle that’s in untranslated French, but that’s a cinematic choice. My kids were kinda distracted because they thought the subtitles were broken lol.

Two people in trench coats pull a mass shooting in order to help the world “free their minds.”

It also happened to release in the Spring of 1999…

My Neighbor Totoro is magic for children. I have four kids and each one of them, starting at around 2, would go silent and sit for the entirety of that film any time I put it on.

Showed my 10 and 9 year old boys Alien a few months back. Followed by Aliens (and then AVP). 9 year old was way more scared by Aliens and AVP than the first Alien. But I tested the water on them with Prey, which they really dug.

I’m still Christian and I adore both bands. David Bazan (Pedro the Lion) is recording some of the most theologically rich music of his career now, back under the Pedro name, as he’s come through his whole wrestling with faith. Not sure what he considers himself these days, but it’s clear that he’s never going to shake his Christian upbringing.

Like MxPx, their inclusion of faith in their lyrics became so much more honest and less forced once they left their Christian music label. They introduced me to punk.

Amazing Grace is one of those songs that uses a particular meter that allows for these kinds of tune changes. You can sing it to the tune of House of the Rising Sun as well (among others). One of my supervising/mentoring priests (Episcopal) from when I was in seminary did a Lent study on Amazing Grace and had people listen to all these different versions.

Tracy Chapman’s version is truly excellent.

The rich live better and I’m fine enjoying their leavings.

I want this as a sticker for all my repurposed old tech. This is an excellent quote.