Day 7 of the TV Experiment

I am still sick, but feeling a bit better. The challenge today is not overdoing it. I took a nap after church, and that seemed to help. Hopefully I can get to sleep tonight.

Jacob and I played oh-Wah-Ree, a game I played with my dad when I was about his age. The first game I beat him handily, but taught him strategy all the way along. The second game I helped him more, and made a few intentional not-the-best-moves and he won. He was quite pleased :-) So was daddy.

I read a book today, Go Green, Save Green (review to follow) and wasn't terribly impressed. At least the music was good:

(1) Shelly Berg Trio - Blackbird. - This is an excellent CD suggested by my friend Brett. Well performed it is not terribly adventurous musically, but most enjoyable.

(2) Star Wars Episode III soundtrack - I don't even remember buying this one. I think I must have imported it into iTunes and then dropped it in the box at home. I am not sure I've ever listened to it end to end. Although the movie was good, the music isn't all that special.

(3) Phil Collins - Hello, I Must Be Going! - This is pop at its best. Phil's vocals are awesome and the whole album is light hearted and quick.

(4) Billy Joel - River of Dreams - This album is very hit and miss. It opens strong with "No Man's Land" which laments the commercialization of America, and goes right into The Great Wall of China, a song that is at least memorable. The album pauses for the forgettable Blonde over Blue, and then launches into the soulful "A Minor Variation" a song that sounds like it belongs on the Storm Front album. Next up is the overproduced and very forgettable Shades of Gray followed by the equally forgettable All About Soul. Lullaby (Goodnight my Angel) follows, and it is beautiful, a borderline masterpiece. The signature piece of this album is the wonderfully complex river of dreams, the one big hit from this CD. Unfortunately, these two songs are by far the high point of the CD. It finishes with the Goodnight Saigon rehash Two Thousand Years and the bland Famous Last Words. In this day and age I'd say buy the high points on iTunes and skip the rest...

(5) Genesis - Nursery Cryme - The first Genesis album worth listening to. The strongest number, The Return of the Giant Hogweed, is better on Genesis Live. Still, The Musical Box and Harold the Barrel are quite good.

(6) Genesis - Foxtrot - Not as good as Nursery Cryme. It starts strong with Watcher of the Skies (also on Genesis Live) and then but for a few brief moments is unremarkable.

(7) Cusco - Apurimac - Some albums age like fine wine. This is not one of them.

I also read Saint Thomas More: Selected Writings. I'll review that in another post.

Joel

Day 6 of the TV Experiment

Today was tough. Very tough.

I went to bed last night feeling sick. It got so bad that I had to get up and take Ny-Quill. If you know me, I am the type of guy that tends to look at a missing arm as a "flesh wound" and avoid the world of medicine unless absolutely necessary. It was absolutely necessary...

I woke up this morning feeling a bit like someone who had spent the night being slammed into trees. This is exactly the kind of day that would find me laying on the couch in and out of consciousness watching hours upon hours of college football. It is days like this where I find myself watching games like Nevada verses Fresno State...

Anyway, that wasn't an option. And the brakes in the van desperately needed to be changed, so I went over to my friend's house to work on the van, as well as another friend's volvo. We got the brakes done, made slow progress on the engine replacement for the volvo, and ultimately both guys looked at me and said "you really should go home and take a nap" which is exactly what I did.

Jacob complained he was bored, which makes sense because he spent like five hours playing video games at Mark's house. I had little sympathy. I took my nap, got up for dinner, and got back into bed. I did manage to read today though. Since these books are lighter fare, I'll include the reviews here instead of in a separate post. I read a small book entitled Fortress Introduction to the Prophets. I found it rather unfulfilling. It gave cursory introductions to Amos, Hosea, Micah, Habakkuk and Isaiah. Then it spent half of the book talking about Jeremiah. What happened to the rest of the prophets is anyone's guess. To me it seemed like Rodney Hutton wrote a book on Jeremiah that was too short, so they tacked on the first half of the book to make it saleable. It's not a bad book, I actually enjoyed the cursory introductions, I found them informative and interesting. But I was left feeling like I didn't get the whole book. Not recommended.

I then shifted genres entirely and read The Halfling's Gem, a fantasy book by R.A. Salvatore. This is the third book in the Icewind Dale trilogy, a series my cousin Scott turned me on to. These aren't Lord of the Rings caliber books, but they are quite entertaining to read. They tell the stories of four friends, a dwarf, a barbarian, a halfling and a dark elf. They are well written, and draw you in and keep you turning the pages. If you like fantasy, these books are worth picking up.

Music today was mostly quiet. After the kids went to bed I put on Chick Corea's Akoustic Band. I bought this when it was released in 1989 and long ago lost count as to how many times I have played it. As always, the level of musicianship displayed here by Chick Corea, Dave Weckl, and John Patitucci simply defies understanding. These guys have definitely put in more than their 10,000 hours...

I followed up Chick Corea with Hemispheres by Rush. This is a lesser known work that is, IMHO, one of their very best albums. If you like Rush and haven't heard this, it's time to pick it up or download it from iTunes.

Finally I put on Duke, by Genesis. This album is the last of the big rich sound tapestries that were a hallmark of Genesis through the 1970's. It includes two hits, Turn it On Again and Misunderstanding, that were the start of what became a more pop song orientation for the band through the 1980's. I don't look at that as a bad thing, simply different. This album is the bridge between those two worlds. Well worth a listen.

Today was hard without TV, I'll admit. It would have been a simple day to just lay on the couch and watch TV. On the other hand, I got the brakes done on the van, and being outside was probably good for me. Sleeping in my bed was probably better than watching tv all day as well. In the end, I don't think it would have been a better day with the tv.

Joel

Day 5 of the TV Experiment

Today was different, in that we had a plan. For my birthday I received a new board game, The Settlers of Catan, from Patty's brother and sister in law. I was really hoping to have it for this month, so it's arrival was greeted with much joy. This game was created in 1995 and is probably the best board game to be created in the last twenty years or more.

What makes Settlers so great is that it is fun for all ages. I know that phrase is always used for any game, but this one really was fun for mom and dad and kids alike. It's a strategy game, in which you build roads, settlements and cities, all the while competing for resources and such. It sounds complicated, and at first glance it kind of is, but once you've played it once, it's really rather simple.

The best thing about Settlers of Catan, and where it is so genius, is that there is a random element to it. You can win this game by planning a brilliant strategy and executing it perfectly. But there is also luck, and that luck can strike at the worst times for the brilliant strategy. When we played it took us about two hours, and my daughter ended up winning. She was probably the least planned and strategized, but the game fell into her hands at a few key moments (daddy might have helped her strategize a bit too...).

The game involves trading, which makes cooperation with one another essential, yet at the same time, has a way to trade with "foreign lands" if nobody will trade with you, making the game still fun if everyone turns against you and refuses to trade. I am really impressed overall with the design of the game.

Oftentimes games with a luck element feel pointless, because it's all just luck. This game is not. Strategy is crucial and makes a big difference, but the luck element is there to insure that the best player doesn't always win. Another great feature is the fact that the game board can be set up randomly, so that it is different every time you play. This avoids the "everyone wants austrailia" element of repetitive strategy you find in games like Risk.

We played until almost ten pm. I altered the rules a bit to end the game early, because the kids were getting REALLY tired. We need to try it again, starting earlier.

We listened to only two CD's last night, primarily because we were all playing the game so we didn't really need music on...

Before playing Settlers I put on Supernatural by Santana. This album is a masterpiece. Most known for the megahit "Smooth" the album is excellent from top to bottom. The collaboration with other artists means that the sound varies quite a bit while still retaining a cohesiveness.

We also listened to Much Afraid by Jars of Clay. To be honest, I was never all that impressed with this CD. It simply blends into the background. It is the musical equivalent of beige. It served it's purpose (background music to settlers of catan) perfectly.

All told, a very good night. A TV-less one.

Joel

Outliers

Last night I read the book Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. My dad first mentioned this book to me in July, and I finally picked it up about a week ago. This book was utterly fascinating!

If you haven't heard of it, this book analyzes specific factors that contributed to the success of individuals. It looks beneath the "rags to riches" stories to reveal the unique advantages that well known figures had in rising to the top. It is very interesting to see that birthdate is one HUGE factor in a person's success.

For example, to be a pioneer (and get very, very rich in the process) in the personal computer industry, you basically had to be born around 1955. This put you at the perfect age when computers were entering universities, when the market was just developing etc. Gladwell backs up these assertions with very clear examples, and identifies what likely would have happened if, say, Steve Jobs or Bill Joy had been born five years earlier.

It's not just computers either. Gladwell analyzes the garmet industries of Jewish immigrants at the end of the 19th century, the big takeover law firms of New York city, the tycoons of industry at the end of the 19th century etc. In some cases he compares people to their not-successful parents and shows how the circumstances and timing had far more to do with their lack of success than their character makeup, which they passed to their very successful children.

Gladwell spends quite a bit of time analyzing the fact that IQ does not equal success, but tells the stories of Chris Langan and Robert Oppenheimer (yes, THAT Oppenheimer). Chris Langan has a higher IQ than Oppenheimer, but nowhere near the success. Gladwell identifies the factors that contributed to the outcomes of lfie for each of these men, and again the results are fascinating.

There is also good analysis of plane crashes, and how cultural factors contribute to plane crashes far more than equipment failure. Then the book addresses how airlines have been able to reduce their crashes by understanding those cultural issues and training their pilots to change their behavior in the interest of safety.

Gladwell also digs into the idea that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at something, and cites research that demonstrates how practice is far more important than raw talent in becoming an expert. Again, fascinating stuff.

He addresses the difference in educational development of low income families verses high income families over the summer. The income gap made little to no difference during the school year, but over the summer there was a huge difference. The more well off families took their kids to the library, sent to them to camp, engaged them in things that allowed them to continue to grow and develop. The lower income kids may have had a lot of fun over the summer, but came back to school behind the kids who had continued to develop.

In the section entitled "Legacy" Gladwell looks at how our cultural and genetic makeup affects our behaviors, generations into the future. He cites research into how people respond to being offended and how those responses tie together with their ancestors professions (wild stuff!). He closes with a very personal section about his parents and how their success (and by consequence his) is also tied to events that happened long, long ago and how they benefitted from the fallout from these things. Once again, timing was crucially important.

I absolutely loved this book. Practical application for me really boiled down to this: Seize the opportunities in front of you, because success is as much about opportunities and circumstances as raw talent, work ethic and intellectual prowess.

Joel

Day 4 of the TV Experiment

I didn't writeup day 3 because it really wasn't much different than it would have been with the tv on. Last night though was awesome. I got home around 5-ish, and remembered that it was "National Men Make Dinner Day" so I put on Rush: Signals(a longtime favorite album), and started making tacos. Nothing special, but since I didn't remember until I got home, I wasn't prepared to make anything cool. I was going to grill something, but Patty said that was against the rules.

After dinner I sat down and started reading Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. I'll review it in another post but it was an awesome book. Jacob was on the couch reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6) having just finished book five. I'm amazed at how fast he reads, he just started reading Harry Potter at the end of the summer. Now that he's gotten into it and isn't watching TV, he read book five in a little over a week.

Besides the aforementioned Rush album, we listened to:

Huey Lewis & the News: Fore! - Haven't heard this one in a LONG time. Good stuff.

Falco: Greatest Hits - Yes, I'm weird for listening to German pop music, but it made for good background music while I read.

Dave Brubeck: Time Out - An absolute classic. Most known for "take five" but a very good album top to bottom.

Beethoven: Sonaten - Pathétique & Mondschein - To my mind this is THE definitive collection of these piano works. I've never found another recording that, for me, captured the essence and spirit of these pieces. I use this CD as the standard to which I try to match when I play them. Unfortunately, I need to practice a lot more :-)

I'm amazed at how much music we listen to now, and lament how much of our life has been filled with the soundtrack of tv or video games...

We are four days into this experiment and every day our likelihood of turning DirecTV back on at the end of the month diminishes.

Joel

Paul: In Fresh Perspective

I really like to read, and turning off the tv for a month opens up the time for me to read a lot more. Last night's read was Paul: In Fresh Perspective by N.T. Wright. This is not an easy read. It took serious concentration and effort to get through this book in one night.

This book is about putting Paul in context, specifically context that many scholars overlook. Wright digs into the three realities in which Paul functions: Jewish second temple culture, the greek cultural influences, and living in a Roman world. Wright describes it this way: "As should be apparent, this world could profitably be described in terms of its multiple overlapping and sometimes competing narratives: the story of God and Israel from the Jewish side; the pagan stories about their gods and the world, and the implicit narratives around which individual pagans constructed their identities, from the Greco-Roman sides; and particularly the great narratives of empire, both the large-scale ones we find in Virgil and Livy and elsewhere and the smaller, implicit ones of local culture."

These narratives are important to understanding the writings of Paul because they would have been immediately apparent to his audience. If I use the phrase "Yes we can!" it has an immediate, and in many cases emotional, connection with my readers. I might utilize that connection to save myself a lot of time and writing because my audience has the same context I do. On the other hand, were this blog to be read in 100 years (unlikely, but bear with me) and I titled a post "Yes we Can!" it would be either completely meaningless to the reader, or it might have a vague familiarity along the lines of "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too!" which is a phrase I know, but have no idea what it means.

Wright then digs into this contextual understanding of Paul, giving examples of how these shared understandings color the reading of Paul. He closes with a discussion of how we need to use this hermeneutical approach to fully understand our role as a church in a post-modern society.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I love the study of the meta-narratives in which Paul operates, and anytime we are working to understand things in proper context, I think we are doing good work. On the other hand, I felt a little bit like I wasn't quite up to the challenge of this book. Ironically there are United Kingdom cultural references in Wright's work that I don't "get" and without good internet at home, I don't have time to research them. Likewise, there are scholarly debates that he expects his reader to be well versed in that I have not studied.

On the whole I think this is a good book, but not a great one for me.

Joel

Day 2 of the TV experiment

Day 2 without TV was better than day 1 for the family. Patty said the kids didn't fight on the way to school and were treating each other better. Weird, didn't expect THAT from this experiment. I got home from work at the same time they got home from Girl Scouts, and Jacob sat on the couch and pulled out Harry Potter book 5, while Patty and Grace were doing email or something like that in the office.

As for me, I read Paul: In Fresh Perspective by N.T. Wright. I'll do a review of that in another post.

Around bedtime we read to the kids out of the The Book of Virtues. We bought this book in 1996 or so when it came out, and always planned to read from it to our kids. The last time we tried they were too young. They really enjoyed the stories and poems we read and it seemed like a great thing to do before bed. We read one story and one poem and they asked for more, so that was a good sign. We will try it again tonight and see if they are still into it!

With no TV on we listen to music more. Last night I put on three CD's:
(1) OK Computer by Radiohead. I bought this CD because it was so highly regarded in a book I read, but I honestly don't care for it much. It's a weird mix of screeching guitars and melancholy vocals that just never quite works. In Rainbows is a far superior effort, IMHO.

(2) Debussy and Ravel Piano Works - Long, LONG out of print, this is a fantastic CD of some not-all-that-well-known piano pieces. Alain Planes really does these pieces justice. I purchased this for "LA CATHEDRALE ENGLOUTIE" many, many years ago but the entire CD is top notch. It was really nice to hear this again, as I rarely listen to classical music on iTunes.

(3) The Look of Love by Diana Krall. I really enjoy Diana Krall and have been in the mood for her stuff a lot lately. This is a very mellow, romantic (duh) CD that really shows off her sultry vocals and gentle touch at the piano. The only downside is that I always feel like I should be in a smoke filled bar when I listen to her...

All told day 2 of the tv experiment was awesome. I can't think of anything we could have done as a family with the tv on that would be better than the last two nights. We had told the kids we MIGHT use the tv for a family movie night this month, but I am rethinking that with how much better it has been with it off. More to come...

Joel