Posting daily at 1pm central about all kinds of things. One day it's dating, the next it's TV commercials. I hope you're entertained. Professional photos on SmugMug – https://benwilder.smugmug.com
It’s sure to be the talk of the town next week when (if) north Florida gets a band of snowfall that will undoubtedly do 3 things:
shout down the city
kids everywhere will be looking for hills to slide down on a garbage can lid
Parents will be pulling their hair out by the end of the day
I’ve been in north Florida for a few years now, using it as a home base for my travels. The last time it snowed in the state capital (Tallahassee) was 2018 according to a quick Google search. A significant amount of snow was way back in 1989 (over 1 inch of snow).
Needless to say, it will probably amount to a lot of hype but not the landmark event it’s getting attention for today, about 4 days before the event is allegedly going to happen. But if it does, that will be pretty wild. I’ve never taken my camper to a snowy area and if the forecast is accurate, the snow might come to me! Either way, the temperature at the middle of next week has a low in the high 20s so that’s sure to be fun.
Maybe it’s time for a quick trip south but exactly how far south do I need to go in Florida to feel that pleasant warmth again in January? Plus, I’m training for an upcoming duathlon and snow has the perfect texture for running. 🤭
I was watching Speed 2 last night and before you say it, yes it gets dark at 5pm and I don’t have any paid streaming services at the moment. Free YouTube movies for the win! This movie is from 1997 so you can imagine how dated it is now after so many technological advances just in the past 25 years. Sandra Bullock is great though and even though the movie is simply too long (I fell asleep after the 3rd ending), I think it filled in quite nicely as the entertainment for an evening.
Music in movies matters a lot. Right off the top of my head I’m thinking of movies like A Knight’s Tale, Elizabethtown, The Lion King… movies with fantastic songs weaved in to the storyline perfectly. Oh, how about my favorite rom com movie ending ever, Never Been Kissed? The way they used The Beach Boys “Don’t Worry, Baby” was 10/10. That’s a specific song at a specific moment and another great example is the wedding scene in Crazy Rich Asians. Using “Can’t Help Falling in Love” was simply to die for! It was excellent.
Speed 2 on the other hand, used the same song, one of my favorite versions actually and it was basically just background noise. They had a chance to bring the song to the forefront of the scene but instead it’s basically just a forgettable moment and I hated that! It’s the dinner scene with UB40 on stage singing “Can’t Help Falling In Love” and if you aren’t paying attention you’ll miss it. Just like the movie producers did.
Last night I watched the science fiction movie The World’s End (free on YouTube) and it was pretty awesome. I I couldn’t tell if it was from 1993 or 2013, which I thought was kind of awesome, too (it’s from 2013 and stars Simon Pegg as Gary King).
Lots could be said about the comedy, the story, the twist, the editing (superb editing) but I’d like to skip all that and talk about how I was caught off guard when the final few scenes strangely coincided with what I’m learning about a book in the Bible… Ecclesiastes. You know the one that says there’s a time for this, a time for that, like that song?
The pastor at the church I go to just so happens to have started a series on Ecclesiastes, kicking off with chapter 1 (the list of seasons like the song isn’t until chapter 3). Pastor Paul explained the chronology of the book in relation to King Solomon’s life; a season he (Solomon, the author) was in after he’d kind of let himself indulge in the pleasures of the world and now he’s reflecting on it all. The word “meaningless” (or “vanity”) pops up a lot throughout Ecclesiastes because Solomon seems to have tried everything and nothing really worked for him. Not wisdom, not folly, not riches, not women, not food, nothing! Nothing except for God, as the book finalizes in its last few verses where it’s written, “The end of the matter is this: Fear God and keep his commands.” But it’s the emptiness from a deflated Solomon that is mirrored by Gary King in the last moments of The World’s End. Now seems like a good time to say that YouTube has a video for EVERYTHING. I was actually able to find the scene I’m talking about with Gary’s low point, the moment in the movie when all seems lost, Gary could quit or give it one last heroic effort. There’s never been a movie where the main character quit at the low point (otherwise, what the heck is the point of the movie to begin with!?) so of course Gary powers through but it’s in that desperate scene where we pick up with the movie. Notice Gary’s confessions sounding a lot like Solomon… hoping in things that just don’t quite match their promised glory.
Gary’s friends seem to have it all together (spoiler alert, they don’t) and Gary admits everything he’s been chasing is like chasing the wind. A false hope. That’s exactly what Solomon confesses in Ecclesiastes! Gary is in the middle of realizing that everything he thought was promised him as a young man was a waste. A lie. Empty. A lot like Solomon searching for wisdom, folly, riches, etc. It turns out that everything Solomon searched for (apart from God himself) was meaningless. Also, in the final scene (after the one above, the villain calls Gary “King of the Humans,” and in Ecclesiastes, Solomon refers to himself as King of Israel. A lot of parallels going on, definitely not what I expected on a random Tuesday night.
If you get a chance, watch the movie. It’s funny, heartfelt, clever, and kind of wild in a really good way. It’s also British so if you like their accents, you’ll be jumping in your knickers about this one. Then read Ecclesiastes and see if you notice the same sentiment from King Solomon.
Did anyone else know Redbox is gone? I began to wonder when one of their kiosk machines wasn’t at this one gas station where I used to see the it. I just figured that location wasn’t working for them. I guess you knew, didn’t you? Or maybe only the people who rented DVDs there knew. Which is evidently me and a few other people because Redbox’s parent company filed for bankruptcy in 2024. Redbox is no more. It was solidified for me when I went to their website and got some kind of error. Then I researched and found out they were going out of business. Now even their Facebook page is run by a company that I assume was one of their competitors. If you go to there, you’ll see where it says it’s owned by Crackle, the streaming service. I guess time and technology are always moving forward. Unlike Redbox’s Twitter. This didn’t age well.
Where am I supposed to get my DVDs now!? The Walmart bargain bin?? I guess the local library is going to see more of me… that is, until DVDs completely disappear, too.
When we’re young we’re taught to “be nice.” Santa has his “nice” list. Politeness is often associated with someone having a nice personality. Somewhere along the way, though, I realized I don’t want to be nice. I want to be kind. I think nice is more circumstantial: being nice to people who are nice back, choosing to be nice on the outside to someone who’s mean, when you really want to rage against them. And then there’s being kind. Kindness is not as much circumstantial as it is a reflection of some other decision they made in spite of circumstances. Nice is just basically having good etiquette in whatever situation you’re in. Kindness is part of who you are.
So I try to decipher which quality I see in myself when I treat people well. Am I just being nice, or am I being kind?
But why? Why does being nice matter? Why should we care about being kind? Maybe it’s part of the nature of humans to have that ability to be kind, but why do we want to be good to others? I think it all leads back to a Creator. If there isn’t something out there bigger than ourselves, then we ought to only be looking out for ourselves. Why help someone get a leg up if it’s survival of the fittest? Why care about anyone? Why should we be kind? Well, I think it’s because God created us in His image, and He’s kind. We, I, should strive to let go of my lower self (selfishness, greed, etc) and reach for the higher self (the fruit of the Spirit type qualities).
Kindness is helping others to feel good, to be better off, and a byproduct is that we have a sense of satisfaction, a sense of purpose, being more on the selfless side of our generally selfish nature. It usually makes us feel good to be kind, whereas being nice can be very short-term. It might not even make us feel good to be nice. Kindness is a deep quality that isn’t usually affected by day-to-day events.
Just my 2 cents. I don’t want to be nice. I want to be kind.
Out of the Wilderness 