by jphilo | Feb 7, 2014 | Current Events
What to say about Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death? I couldn’t answer that question yesterday while writing the week’s Three Thoughts for Thursday. I didn’t know how to put into words my sadness over the loss of this brilliant actor and my anger about heroin and the destruction it causes. So I wrote about other, lighter things.
Thankfully, my friend and co-author Katie Wetherbee penned a post that beautifully articulates what so many are feeling in the wake of Hoffman’s death. Not only that, she shifts the focus from condemnation to compassion and from blame to blessing by revealing the truth of the matter as only she can.
Once you read her post, you’ll see how blessed I am to be writing a book about making every child welcome at church with her. You’ll see why I am certain that even when my focus sometimes shifts from tots to teaching tips and from students to strategies, Katie’s compassion and clear-eyed gaze will correct my course. Therefore, you’re invited to hop on over to Katie’s post, What Philip Seymour Hoffman Taught Me, and read her wise words. You’ll be glad you did.
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by jphilo | Jan 28, 2014 | Current Events
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM 5) recognizes the addictive nature of Downton Abbey. They warn fans to watch for the following signs of Downton Abbey Addiction (DAA):
10. You or those you love no longer call their spouses by their first name. Instead, in a thick English accent, they use their surname. As in “Mr. Philo, could you pick up bread at the grocery store on the way home?” To which your loved one replies in kind. As in “Certainly, Mrs. Philo, I’d be delighted.”
9. You or someone you love plans to wear a beaded flapper dress or black tails and white tie on a Valentine’s Day date.
8. Your children or the children of someone you love get this Sesame Street skit the first time they see it.
7. The first response you or someone you love as to the Harry Potter movies is, “Oh look, Professor McGonagall is played by the Dowager Countess of Grantham.
6. You or someone you love wishes your local news channel would carry more stories like this one which aired on KCCI in Des Moines, Iowa. You or someone you else also TiVoed the clip and show it when company comes to your house.
5. On Sunday evenings, you or someone you loves sets an alarm clock for 20 minutes earlier than Downton Abbey’s start time, so you can pop popcorn beforehand.
4. You or someone you know snorts liquid out your nose every you see the Downton Arby’s spoof.[youtube]http://youtu.be/NMykqW9ibiY[/youtube]
3. You or someone you love is circulating a petition to demand the Olympic Games be suspended when Downton Abbey is on television.
2. Ditto for the Super Bowl and the Grammys.
1. The list of potential baby names for your next child or grandchild consists of these names: Mary, Edith, Sibyl, Violet, Cora, Ivy, Anna, Daisy, Rose, Bates, Grantham, John, Matthew, Tom, Robert, Carson, and Alfred.
The DSM 5 recommends that if you or someone you love is displaying three or more of the above behaviors, they should begin attending Downton Abbey Addiction Anonymous (DAAA) immediately. Groups meet 24/7 except for Sunday evenings when the show airs.
What DAA symptoms are you or someone you love exhibiting. Begin your comment with, “Hi, my name is ______________________ and I’m a Downton Abbey Addict.
by jphilo | Aug 27, 2012 | Daily Life
Hiram and I are hopelessly addicted to the TV series, Lost. Those of you in tune with popular culture realize we are also hopelessly behind the time, as that series ended in 2010. But thanks to the advent of digital television, which left us with one channel even though we installed a converter box, our location which doesn’t allow us to get cable, and a daughter in college, which left no money for satellite TV until last year, we haven’t watched much TV for the past several years.
Until Hiram’s convalescence after surgery this summer.
That momentous event forced the issue and we signed up for Netflix. That’s when we discovered Lost. It’s kind of like Gilligan’s Island meets Lost in Space meets Wild, Wild West meets soap opera. And now, like I said before, we’re hopelessly addicted to the silly show. So addicted we might need a twelve step program. Or at least a notebook to keep track of six years worth of plot lines, flashbacks, crises, cliff hangers, and deaths.
After all, Hiram’s convalescence is pretty much over.
He used to lay on the couch to watch Jack and Kate and Sawyer and Charlie and John and the rest of the gang uncover mysterious hatches, untangle the mystery of the Others, and munch on provisions dropped by helicopter from the mysterious Dharma Initiative powers-that-be. Now Hiram watches while doing a hopping/balance exercise prescribed by the PTs.
It’s pretty cool.
But not as cool as all those sweaty people running around the island, flashing back to their former lives, doing the time travel thing, and finding more new outfits to wear than could possibly be packed in a carry on bag. To think, we wouldn’t even know about them if Hiram hadn’t had back surgery.
But thanks to one ruptured disk, we’re now addicted to the silly show.
The doctor never once mentioned this as a side effect of surgery. Which proves there are some things modern medicine can’t predict or prevent. Even though it does a really good job with ruptured disks.
For which we are extremely grateful.
But we won’t be so grateful if someone spoils things by leaving a comment that spills the beans about how the series end. So if you want to leave a comment about the outcome of the series or some plot twist, please begin your missive with the words “spoiler alert.”
We’re hopelessly addicted to Lost, and we want to stay that way.
