www.andrewmackay.net:

While my Toronto Maple Leafs gear up to trade away more talented players (I wonder if the Bruins would trade us back our first and second round draft picks for Phil Kessel. That’d be ironic) for junk, I thought I’d ignore my growing dismay at the state of the Leafs and instead talk about my favorite sports movies. You know, films like Over the Top and Invincible… wait, I did say “favorite,” didn’t I?

5. The Replacements

Keanu Reeves is not my favorite actor, but he does a good job in this film about a theoretical strike in the NFL that leaves teams hiring washed up athletes to continue “business as usual.” I think I have a special place in my heart for this one because of the deaf wide receiver. The actor (Roy from the Office) does an admirable enough job of it that the first time I watched the movie, I had to look up whether or not he was deaf. And I’m the child of a deaf man. On a second viewing, it was a little more obvious. A silly premise, but a feel-good story.

4. Glory Road

This film tells the story of the first NCAA team to start 5 african-american players. Even within the team, the tension is palpable. A good reminder of the power of sports to spread unity and help overcome adversity. Also, the opening scene where the coach is yelling at the players about passing like girls… and then it turns out he’s coaching girls… that’s funny stuff.

3. Miracle

Okay, granted, it’s about the US hockey team beating the Russians in 1980. Through the whole movie, I’m waiting for the guys with the red flag on their jerseys. They don’t show up. Instead, it’s this red, white, and blue stuff. (Cue someone starting a slow chant… U… S… A… As hockey movies go, though, it’s a pretty darn good one. It features the only role I’ve ever believed Kurt Russell in. A quality film, worth the watch. U… S… A…

2. Remember the Titans

Another film about the intersection of race and sport. Denzel does a great job playing second fiddle to the young men cast as his team in this movie. It’s one that I can watch again and again. It’s not just about winning. The multiple levels that this movie communicates on really work… you can feel the awkwardness for the adults, as a black coach takes over, as the assistant coach sends his white daughter (a very young Hayden Panettiere, btw) to play with the black coach’s daughter, the frustration for the football players as they’re forced to integrate, and the relationship between the two little girls serves as a great counterpoint to the racial tension, in that the differences and awkwardness in their relationship had absolutely nothing to do with race and everything to do with personality differences.

1. The Mighty Ducks

Okay, this film doesn’t belong at number one on any other list of great sports movies. But, this is my list. The Mighty Ducks has a special place in my heart. I’m not sure why… timing probably played into it, as it released at the same time that my parents were deciding to move our family to a tropical paradise. The hockey thing probably tied the memories of the film to memories of home. I digress. This is not a great film, but it is a terrifically fun film, if you fell in love with it when you were 9.

No, shampoo is better. Sorry, I’ve been scarred by too many Adam Sandler movies.

Streaming media is all the craze. The theory of replacing cable, dvds, radio, and your CD collection with a media server in your house and a subscription to a streaming account actually sounds pretty good to me. It doesn’t work right now, but it sounds good. Here, in my opinion, are the four things that need to happen before we can actually easily make use of this:

1. Integrate: We need to be able to do it straight from our TV… we don’t need another set top box to go with our dvd players and our cable boxes and our video game systems.

2. Make it easy: particularly when it comes to media we already own, it’d be nice if it was easy to “rip” our media to a digital format and organize our collection. Currently, there’s not a really straight-forward solution for video. Audio is probably there, but unless we’re all going to re-buy every movie we’ve acquired (wouldn’t the movie studios love that) (also, some of us have already bought twice… VHS, then DVD, now digital? When does it stop?), this needs to get easy.

3. Improve the Quality: some of this has to do with the end user’s equipment, some of it has to do with bandwidth, and some of it has to do with immature technology. Bottom line, figure out a way that the average person can set up a functional implementation with at least a cable-equivalent quality, or this will never work.

4. Improve (and consolidate) the Selection: Right now, if I want to watch the latest episode of the Office, I have to go to NBC.com or Hulu. If I want movies that are at all recent, I have to have a netflix account. If I want movies that are recent and good, well… I’m out of luck (case in point — of Netflix’s 25 most recent additions to their “Watch Instantly” list, there are three movies I’ve seen, one of which I’d watch again. There is one movie I haven’t seen but would like to. Out of 25. I’m picky, but I’m not that picky! They need to be offering up-to-date content that I care to watch.

I’d be very content to give a company that did these four things the equivalent of my cable bill plus my netflix subscription. Wouldn’t even blink.

Because I know how many of you are drug dealers.

Not really. But, it is an interesting exercise, mostly derived from an excellent conversation between Michael Hyatt and Seth Godin. There was a time when most workers in north america sold productivity that could be easily measured. If you were a meat packer, you processed so many pounds of beef, pork, chicken, balogna (the other other meat). If you worked in automobile manufacturing, you tightened so many screws.

For most of us, the transaction does not work that way anymore. There are a lot more sales / service jobs out there than production jobs. But, if your employer is still signing paychecks, I’ve got to assume that you’re providing something of value.

So, what does that look like for you? Is success measured in checking accounts opened? Sales volume? Number of positive comments received in one month? Do you ever wish that you could just say, “Yeah, well, I tightened 125,000 screws today, so I’m getting paid?”

It’s a great challenge to engage our hearts and minds rather than our hands. Your hands can keep going in spite of adverse situations (unless they “break”). Your heart and mind are a little tougher to keep on track.

I read some interesting thoughts the other day about The Book of Eli. Apparently there’s some debate about whether or not it’s a Christian movie. In part, Mike Parker says:

But the question remains: is “The Book of Eli” a Christian movie?

I say, no.

Not because “The Book of Eli” is violent or at times profane.  But because I don’t think there is such a thing as a Christian movie.  Or a Christian novel.  Or a Christian radio station.

I think Christ died for people, and only people can be Christians.

What we do with the art we create, be it a painting, stage play, sculpture or film, should be a reflection of the redemption we have experienced.  It should be good art; art that deserves a place at the table of cultural relevance.

Unfortunately, most of what we get from so-called ‘Christian’ art is explicit art, and most of the time it is not very good.

No, I don’t think “The Book of Eli” is a Christian movie.  But I do think it is a good movie, and I think it is good art.  Just my thoughts, what about yours?

I agree with the sentiments he expresses about the art we create as people Christ died for. I agree with his criticism of a lot of “so called ‘Christian Art’” too.

What I wonder is, do we inhibit further dialogue about this by continuing the “There’s no such thing as…” argument. I mean, I get it. I see the point. I understand that it becomes easier to get away with poor quality when the community isolates itself, so by fighting the artistic isolation, perhaps something could be accomplished.

But maybe it’d be better just to speak the truth as honestly as possible, without the semantics. “Call it what you want, but as long as the art produced in the Christian community continues to be this bad, our seat at the world’s art discussion will be at the kid’s table.” After all, what it’s called isn’t as big a deal as the consistent quality issues, is it?

As I struggle with the “why” of writing, the theme I come back to consistently is family. It is not often that you find a functional fiction family. Usually, the parents are either dead (which, yes, provides some great motivation for the character), or much more harmfully, bumbling idiots. “Parents just don’t understand.”

I have a passion for finding a way to write a story that features a protagonist who has parents he can rely on. I know it means finding other motivation (the bad guy hasn’t killed or kidnapped the parents… what ever shall I do?). Outside of maybe the Swiss Family Robinson, I can’t really remember a book where the child could count on his parents, where the family was functional.

Here’s why I think this is so important: there come times in every person’s life when they start to face problems they don’t know how to handle. These often start in middle school or high school. They seem to start even earlier these days. And as we take cues from our friends and the media we consume, its just unfortunate that when a 15 year old hears from his friends, “my parents don’t understand,” it’s simply reinforced by every book he’s read since he was 10.

I’d love to turn that on its head.

Don’t underestimate the power of hard work:

Invention is 1 percent inspiration, 99 percent perspiration.

Thomas Edison

I’d say he’s qualified to make that statement.

I think it’s generally accepted among sports fans that cheering for losers is part of what makes a fan a fan. As a Maple Leafs fan, I know that’s true. I’ve been cheering for a losing team — get this — for as long as I’ve been alive. I remember 1993 distinctly, because we went to the conference finals. i was 10. It stands out in my mind, because we were so close (and robbed by the Great One… maybe that’s why I am not as big a fan of Wayne as some of my countrymen. I love you Wayne, you just ruined 1993 for me).

It’s not quite like being a Red Sox fan before they finally “broke the curse,” but it’s starting to take on that aura. I find myself cringing a little bit when my team is playing a televised game… I want to watch, but it gets harder and harder. We do almost everything wrong. It’s not even journeymen hockey, it’s just bad.

And yet, the TV comes on more often than not in those situations. I sit. I cover my eyes mostly, but I try to watch. And, I’m convinced that the little eyes that are watching will benefit from it, even if I don’t.

They have to win the cup before I die, don’t they?

I absolutely love to open my door first thing in the morning to the smell of a freshly brewed pot of coffee. It makes the impact of the clock reading 5:15 (or 5:30… or 6:30 when I lose track of the snooze button) so much easier.

It’s funny how you can set the tone of a day just by the first smell you experience. The same is true for coming up the stairs from my office to smell something in the oven… it makes me think that the evening has already started without me, and it’s just waiting for me to join in.

When I’m sick, the smell of a cup of Earl Grey brewing (if I can smell it through the stuffiness) is comforting and encouraging.

Of course, there are adverse things that your sense of smell can do to you… sour milk, wet dog, etc., but I guess since we mostly encounter those rather fewer times than the positive ones, it’s the positive ones that stick out.

This ramble has been brought to you by the coffee brewing right now… is there a smell that establishes “good things are about to happen” to you?

I recently posted something on Facebook. It felt kind of weird. I posted something on a business’s facebook page. In particular, I was posting a comment about International Delight Coffee Creamer. They make a flavored coffee cream that actually is great. (I found this out in a free coupon promotion they did before Christmas. I will buy more and more of this. It may become a line-item in the Mackay family budget.)

We’re such different consumers now. In 1910, you might’ve told the dairy guy at the grocery store that you enjoyed the cream. He might’ve passed it along to the farmer / cooperative that he got his cream from. It probably all would’ve happened within about 15-20 miles.

Then, in the 70s – 80s, things moved farther and farther away, and there really wasn’t much outlet for feedback. This led to all kinds of consumer research being important to industry.

Now, if a company works their social media strategy correctly, they can connect with customers and potential consumers directly, carry on a dialog about what’s working (and what isn’t) about their product, and get free, effective research.

I have to imagine that it’s good for consumers, for the most part. But, are we essentially telling business how to get in our pockets?

On the flip side, it opens up the opportunity to be a passionate consumer. We have more opportunities than ever to tell our friends / sphere of influence, just how good (or bad) a product is. This means that it should be harder than ever for bad products to survive.

Have you become a passionate consumer yet? Do you warn your friends and family off when you have a less-than-optimal experience?

“The devil is in the details,” they say. I was sure I’d posted something yesterday. And now, realizing that I hadn’t, I feel like I owe you something doubly awesome. But, yesterday was a long day, filled with an injury to the little guy wedged into lots of busy-ness at work. So, instead of something awesome, you get…

a link to a hilarious choose your own adventure Christian novel at Stuff Christians Like. It’s seriously pretty funny stuff, embedded in old posts, so while you do it, you can also get a taste of how SCL works. It is one funny blog. Kind of like the one you should’ve read here yesterday. Sorry!