American Movie

The Fourth of July is a day to celebrate the birth of a nation, to reflect on what it means to be American. Movies are a big part of American culture, and certain movies encapsulate the American experience. Here are five great movies that strike me as particularly American.

5) Remember the Titans: Race relations have been a contentious part of the American story, and any number of films have attempted to deal with race. Titans certainly doesn't have the gravitas of other films tackling race relations in the US, but it reminds us that when we work together, anything is possible.

4) Rebel Without a Cause: This is the movie that made James Dean an American icon. Rebel perfectly captures the angst of the American teenager. Times may change, but older Americans always think the younger generation is going to hell in a handbasket.

3) Gran Torino: America is a country of immigrants, and Gran Torino is a movie about immigration. Walt Kowalski is a bitter old white man, watching his neighborhood change before his eyes. Walt is a metaphor for the US itself. He is a flawed man who evolves.

2) Rocky: Americans love an underdog, and Rocky Balboa may be the best underdog of all-time. Rocky Balboa is another cinematic metaphor. He gets knocked down, but always gets back up.

1) Saving Private Ryan: World War II may have been America's finest hour, coming to the defense of freedom and justice. Some would argue we haven't always fought for those principles, but freedom and justice are at the core of what America is all about. Saving Private Ryan is the best example of that spirit I've ever seen on the big screen.

These are five movies that scream America to me. What do you think of these choices? And what movies scream America to you?

Does Anyone Have It All?

Last week the Atlantic published an article that caused quite the media ripple. "Why Women Still Can't Have It All" describes the struggles of Anne-Marie Slaughter as she tried to balance a high-powered career with raising two sons. It's a long article, but definitely worth a read. I've heard and seen a lot of response to Slaughter's article since its publication, and I can't help thinking the media got it all wrong, again.

Much of the media focus has been on the notion that older feminists have somehow lied to younger women about the realities of juggling work and family. They've used Slaughter's experience to imply that women can't have a productive career and a happy family life. Slaughter gave up a demanding job, yes, but she didn't leave the work force. She simply went back to her old job, one which allowed her the flexibility to balance work and family better.

Slaughter did not intend to say that women can never have it all, a biological truth she only just came to realize. Quite the opposite actually. She clearly understands that most women in the 21st century don't have a choice. They have to find a way to balance work and family. And this is where Slaughter's main point lies. The majority of women will need to work while raising a family. That's not going to change any time soon. What can change is the way companies deal with their female (and men too quite frankly) employees. Companies need to become more flexible so that women can have more time with their families. That flexibility will create more productive female employees, and that's a win win for everyone.

The media tried to frame Slaughter's article as some existential choice modern women face. Maybe for wealthy women, sure, but for an overwhelming majority of women, there really isn't a choice. Slaughter knows this, and I think she was trying to wake up corporate America. Companies do have a choice. They can work with women to make it easier to balance work and family.

As the father of two girls, this article really has me thinking. I can only hope that by the time they are ready to enter the workforce, companies that don't promote a positive work/family balance will be few and far between.

Fast Five: Sci-fi Edition

Let me do a very brief movie review: I saw Prometheus recently, and I loved it. The look, the sound, the ideas. All top-notch and definitely worth your time.

If you're like me, after seeing Prometheus you might just spend a bunch of time reading stuff online to see what other people think it's all about. That's almost been as much fun as actually watching the movie. In fact, my man, Micheal Offutt, wrote a great piece about Prometheus that helped me sound pretty smart at breakfast yesterday. Thanks Michael. Check him out for some seriously in-depth film analysis.

I wouldn't say I'm a huge sci-fi fan, but Prometheus got me thinking about some of my favorite sci-fi movies. I usually do my lists on Fridays, but I am officially breaking free of that structure. Fast Fives will now appear whenever the motivation strikes. 

So today, in honor of a truly great sci-fi film, I present my top five science fiction movies of all-time.

5) Close Encounters of the Third Kind: This is probably one of the first sci-fi movies I ever watched, and so many of the images have remained with me. The movie perfectly captures a sense of adventure that every sci-fi movie after it has tried to emulate.

4) Back to the Future: I recently watched this again with my daughter. I just kept thinking how damn clever it is. 

3) The Matrix: This movie literally had me on the edge of my seat at times. The sequels, not so much.

2) Inception: The movies love to play with dreams, but nobody did it as well as Chris Nolan.

1) Alien/Aliens: These two are a packaged deal for me. Aliens may be the best sequel of all-time, and Ellen Ripley is one of the great female characters in film history.  

Prometheus may join this list after some more marinating, but for now these are my choices. I'd love to hear what your favorite sci-fi movies are.   

Coke Addiction

Last week New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg caused a stir with his proposal to ban sugary soft drinks larger than 16 ounces. There was an immediate backlash, much of the commentary invoking the tried-and-true "nanny state" reference.

Bloomberg's critics hate the idea of the government intervening in their choice of beverage, and I can't say I disagree. I love me some soda. I have drunk copious amounts of Coke over the years.

I've tried to quit any number of times, to no avail. I don't drink as much soda as I used to, but on average, I drink a couple cans of Coke Zero a day. Meg and I have made a concerted effort to keep the girls off soda and fruit juices for as long as possible. Soda and juice are considered the rarest of treats for the girls, but they are pushing for more, noting the hypocrisy of their parents drinking soda while denying it to their children. Crafty lil' buggers.

So no, I do not want the gov't telling me what I can and cannot imbibe.

But, on the other hand, I wouldn't mind paying more. Which is to say, I can see parallels to what happened with cigarettes. As more and more information came to light, and it was determined that cigarettes are truly bad for you, with massive economic costs, the gov't got involved. Cigarette taxes have undoubtedly reduced the number of people smoking, and I think most people would agree that's a good thing.

Could the same situation be unfolding with sugary drinks? More and more information is coming to light about the negative health and economic consequences of so much sugar. I have to wonder. If the gov't knows something is causing widespread health problems, and the cost of dealing with those health problems is straining the economy, shouldn't something be done?

People will never allow the gov't to ban sugary drinks outright, but they may be willing to adopt the cigarette model. Taxes on sugary drinks could reduce the amount of sugar people put into their bodies, without eliminating the choice to do so.

 I'm conflicted on this, but I have a feeling Bloomberg's proposal is just the beginning.

How 'bout you? Are you on board with Bloomberg? Should the gov't do something about all the sugary drinks? Or should the gov't get its damn hands off our soda?

Unintended Consequences

I came across an interesting article in my twitter feed this morning. The NY Times had a story about the growing digital divide in the US.

The digital divide used to mean that poor kids didn't have access to the same technology as their wealthier peers. While that gap has been narrowed, it does still exist. With the cost of technology coming down all the time, one can assume that gap may one day be nonexistent.

The 21st century digital divide isn't about access to technology, it's about how much time is being wasted using technology. The story chronicles how kids of all socioeconomic classes are wasting time every day watching shows, playing video games, and hanging out on facebook. Without going back to check the specific numbers, kids whose parents didn't graduate college spend 11.5 hours a day, A DAY!, using technology to entertain themselves, while kids whose parents did graduate from college only, ONLY!, spend 10 hours a day.

Pardon me while I hide my kids' ipods.

Now don't get me wrong. Computers and such are great. But as a senior researcher at Microsoft admits in the article, we have failed to account for how computers are actually used. Kids aren't spending 11.5 hours a day honing their math and reading skills. They're simulating war and butchering the English language on social media, and other fun stuff of course.

The use of technology in education is pervasive and unquestioned. School districts spend a ton of money on technology, and while I don't have a problem with it per se, I do sometimes wonder if all that money is being well spent. The ways things are going, it won't be long before every kid gets a lap top on the first day of school. Technology, the savior of the American public school system. What do people think kids are going to do with these free lap tops? Their homework? That's cute.

Not gonna happen my friends.

Say It Ain't So

I knew I wanted to take a break from blogging after the A-Z Challenge, but I didn't realize it would be so long. As if the end of the school year isn't busy enough, I decided to check out some opportunities at other schools here in town. A couple things fell through, but there's a gig I'm hoping works out. I'll know more soon, and I'm sure there'll be a whole work post when the dust settles.

What I really want to talk about today is much less important, but sad nonetheless. After seven years Kristin Wiig is leaving Saturday Night Live. Her last show was last Saturday, and it was one helluva send-off. Mick Jagger was the host and the musical guest, and he was great in both roles. Wiig played a prominent role in the show of course, and her final farewell at the very end of the show was surprisingly emotional. I got a little verklempt. Meg and I watched the show again Thursday, and it occurred to me that Wiig is probably my favorite SNL cast memember of all-time. A thought like that usually leads to list-making in my head. And since it's Friday, and I haven't done a Fast Five in a while, here's a Fast Five of my favorite SNLers:

5) John Belushi: I was just a kid when Belushi was in his heyday, but my parents loved him, and that rubbed off on me. I was the kind of kid who wanted to get what the adults were laughing about. As I got older and saw reruns, my appreciation for Belushi's humor grew.

4) Eddie Murphy: I was a teenager when Murphy blew up. I loved Gumby, Mr. Robinson, James Brown, and Buckwheat. It's hard to believe the guy who was so funny back then is now a shell of his former self.

3) Martin Short: Everyone remembers Ed Grimley of course, but for me, Short's best character was the lawyer Nathan Thurm. I remember seeing Thurm for the first time with my mom, and she was in tears.

2) Phil Hartman: His fellow cast members considered him the glue that held the show together. His Clinton impersonation was brilliant. I still crack up just thinking about Hartman's Clinton in the McDonald's. I also love Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer- Meg and I still quote him to this day.

1) Kristin Wiig: Wiig may have had the most recurring characters in SNL history. My two favorites were Penelope, the ultimate one-upper, and Judy Grimes, the nervous travel agent who's always kidding. I'm really going to miss Wiig, hopefully she'll keep us laughing at the movies. Bridesmaids II anyone? 

Who are your favorite Saturday Night Live alumni?      

A-Z Reflections

This was my second A-Z Challenge, and once again, I quite enjoyed myself. It does take over the month, but the life a middle school teacher can be pretty draining come April, and the Challenge is a nice diversion from the craziness.

I found a lot of great writers during last year's Challenge, and it was fun to see what they came up with this time around. I found more great writers this year, and I look forward to reading more from them now that they aren't bound by the alphabet.

There was no way I was going to make it to all the participating blogs. My goal was to hit at least 5 blogs a day, and if anything, I exceeded that goal. When picking blogs to visit, I went with titles that caught my attention. In my experience, if the title hooks me, the blog itself usually does too. I didn't follow every blog I visited, and I wonder if that's bad etiquette. Not that I'll change my ways if it is, but still, I wonder.

There were a lot more people involved in the Challenge this year, but I think I actually got less comments. Half the comments were my responses on a lot of posts, and even those numbers didn't match last year. I did have a lot more page views, but not the jump in comments and followers you'd expect with increased traffic. I'm not in it for statistics, but let's be honest, we all get a kick out of more comments and followers.

I do have one suggestion. I don't know how feasible it is, but I would like to see a best-of kind of thing. People could nominate specific posts for each letter, and a compilation of sorts could be created. Maybe it could even be made into an ebook. I think we'd all buy that, wouldn't we? We could nominate blogs for overall excellence, give people who are nailing this thing some kind of recognition.

I mean, Inger at Desert Canyon Living may have single-handedly increased tourism to Sweden with a month of beautiful posts about her homeland. And if Sweden is too far, after reading Julie's posts at What Else Is Possible?, you just might want to head on over to Cincinnati some time. My man David over at Brits in the USA had a musical theme going on, and he perfectly captured how music creates memories in our lives. I got to see Great Britain through L.G. Smith's eyes at Bards and Prophets, and Cathy at life on the muskoka river cracked me up all month. This is just to name a few, but the point is, a systematic way to acknowledge excellence during the Challenge might be a way to take things to the next level. Or maybe it's just me. It often is.

This is getting a bit long, so let me just say, I was happy to see the Challenge come to end, but I know by next April I'll be ready to go.

Z is for..........

Z is for..........Zusak.

Markus Zusak has written five books: The Underdog, Fighting Ruben Wolfe, When Dogs Cry, I Am The Messenger, and The Book Thief.

I don't remember how I came to read The Book Thief, if someone recommended it to me or I just came across it in a bookstore one day and it caught my attention. However it got in my hands, I'm glad it did. The Book Thief is one of my very favorite books, certainly in my lifetime top ten.

The Book Thief is a World War II story like no other. Liesel Meminger is a young girl on the verge of adolescence in Nazi Germany. Liesel develops a strong bond with Max Vandenberg, a Jewish fist-fighter taking refuge in the basement of her foster parents' home. Liesel sporadically steals books throughout the novel, perfectly illustrating the transformative power of the written word. I'd say that's what this book is, transformative.

Zusak's language in The Book Thief is unique, sometimes unsettling, consistently beautiful. I have read The Book Thief with some of my 8th graders the last few years, and I'll never forget something one of my students said in class one day. After we'd read the first few pages, she said it sounded like poetry. I've always liked that description.

Zusak has said he doesn't know if he can write anything better than The Book Thief, and to be honest, I highly doubt it myself. It's kind of like Harper Lee trying to follow up To Kill a Mockingbird. Which she didn't do of course. I'm glad Zusak is going to try though. His next book is supposed to come out in 2012, and I can't wait to read it.

Well folks, there you have it, the last post of the A-Z Blogging Challenge. Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting. The feedback has been awesome and greatly appreciated. The Challenge was a lot of fun, but I'm glad it's over. The hosts of A-Z have a reflection post scheduled for May 7, so I'll share more thoughts then. Again, thanks to everyone for making this challenge a rewarding experience.      

Y is for...........

Y is for..........Yellow Jackets.

I was never much of a soccer guy, but when my girls started playing, I quickly became a fan. In fact, I've been coaching one of the girls' teams for the last 6 years.

This past season was my first coaching Quinn's team, and it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. The Yellow Jackets were a great bunch of girls. They worked hard all year, and that hard work paid off with an undefeated season.

The highlight of the season came in the championship game.

There was a girl on the team who wasn't very good. Her own parents called her a baby giraffe. She wasn't fleet of foot, but she was smart. I usually played her at forward, hoping she could get a goal. She would stay in position and throughout the year she had some chances to score, but the shots just wouldn't find the back of the net.

The championship game was very competitive. We took a 1-0 lead early in the second half, but things were still tense. I had my girl at forward, and sure enough, one of her teammates made a beautiful crossing pass. She was in perfect position, wide open, and she blasted that baby in. Our sideline went nuts. And not just the girls' parents, all the parents. Everyone knew this was our girl's first goal of the season, and in the championship game no less. It was awesome.

Winning the championship was cool, but the best part was the look on that girl's face when she scored that goal. It's something I'll never forget.

X is for..........

X is for..........Xenophilia.

When I signed up for the A-Z Challenge last year, I knew what my X post was going to be right away. It had to be xenophobia. Back in April of 2010, our governor signed SB 1070 into law, legislation that many believe promotes racial profiling. Unfortunately, for many people across the US, my adopted home state became the poster child for xenophobia.

With the Supreme Court about to rule on the constitutionality of the law, I thought about doing xenophobia again this year. I changed course when I found xenophilia while doing a search for X words.

Xenophilia is an attraction to foreign peoples, cultures, or customs. The opposite of xenophobia if you will. To be honest, I was unfamiliar with the word. I'm glad I found it. I love learning about foreign cultures and customs, and some of my very favorite people hail from other countries.

So today, X is for xenophilia, because not everyone living in Arizona is xenophobic.

How 'bout you? Have any favorite foreign people, cultures, or customs?

W is for..........

W is for..........Wisconsin.

Arizona is a fairly transient place, not a lot of born-and-raiseds. Talk with someone long enough and the question of where you're originally from comes up.

That's always been a tough one to answer for me. My family moved around a lot, but I guess when it comes down to it, I consider myself from Wisconsin.

When I tell people I'm from Wisconsin, a cheesehead reference soon follows. Which is cool. I am a cheesehead.

But there's more to the story. I lived in four Wisconsin cities, and each one left its mark, making me the person I am.

Port Washington is a small fishing town on Lake Michigan. My childhood there was idyllic, very Tom Sawyer. I remember summer days waking up before the sun, heading down to the creek (very definitely pronounced crick) for full days of fishing.

We moved to Appleton when I was in 4th grade. I wrote about Appleton for the Challenge last year. Appleton is where the hormones kicked in and girls started to matter. Appleton is where I met friends that have stayed with me over miles and years.

Green Bay was only 30 miles north from Appleton, but when we moved there my sophomore year, it felt like another planet. Green Bay is where I learned to fit in again, miraculously finding people who got me, and still do. I graduated from high school in Green Bay, and I suppose one never forgets that.

Madison is a college town, and a great one at that. Madison is where I figured out who I really was, wanted to be, the place where I started to become a man.

Port Washington, Appleton, Green Bay, Madison. All these places are Wisconsin. And when I tell people I'm from Wisconsin, this is what I mean. I haven't lived in Wisconsin for a long time. Nearly twenty years now. But these places remain, they are in my blood.

V is for..........

V is for...........Vomit.

A little while back, the girls had a couple friends sleep over. There'd been a lot of junk food earlier in the day at Quinn's end-of-the-season soccer party. We made the mistake of taking home a nearly full tub of Red Vines. Over the course of the night, the girls polished that baby off. At the time I didn't think much of it. I mean, sure, it was ridiculous for 4 girls to eat that much licorice, but not unprecedented.

Of course, every time I saw Quinn grabbing a bunch of Red Vines, I assumed she was just being the considerate young child I know her to be and sharing with the other girls. Umm, not so much. Turns out the other girls weren't that into Red Vines, so Quinn took advantage and ate the whole lot. Even when we figured out that she'd pulled one over on us, I kind of had to chuckle.

My attitude radically changed around 4:00 the next morning when those Red Vines exacted their revenge. Quinn woke us up to tell us she had to throw up. We tried to get her into our bathroom, but it wasn't to be. Quinn puked her way to the bathroom, leaving a remarkably vibrant red trail. After pretty much emptying the contents of her stomach on the carpet in our bedroom and the tile in the bathroom, Quinn informed us that she had thrown up in her room as well.

There was so much vomit in Quinn's room, it was a small miracle that her friend was untouched. We moved the girls out to the living room and feebly attempted to clean up. I tried the stain remover we had in the house, but to no avail, those stains weren't going anywhere. Meg and I finally gave up and went back to bed. We'd been talking about replacing the carpet in the bedrooms anyway, so we figured this had to be a sign before drifting back to sleep.

It might be a little while before we get to replacing the carpet. In the meantime, those red stains kind of crack me up. Parenting is a funny thing. It can turn a night of prolific vomiting into one of those family stories we'll share and laugh about for years to come.

U is for..........

U is for...........Up.

I'm gonna make this a quick post. I just got back from a conference, and I'm beat. I haven't been around A-Z much the last five days, but now that I'm back, I'll start working on getting myself caught up.

Back in January of 2011, I did a post on my top ten movies of the first decade of the new century. If you get a chance, check it out, let me know what you think.

Number 3 on that list was Up. The best animated movies work on multiple levels, and Up is both a fun movie for kids, and a deeply moving film for adults.

The best movies give you something to talk about, and I have had so many great conversations about Up with the girls. One day Scout asked me why Mr. Fredrickson used a walker in the beginning of the movie. This led to a discussion about symbolism. I didn't have to tell the girls why he used that walker. I asked a few questions and they were able to figure out that the walker was a symbol for giving up, and that by the end of the movie, Mr. Fredrickson didn't need that walker because he had decided to enjoy his life again.

Not bad for a cartoon.

What's your favorite animated movie?

T is for..........

T is for..........Twitter.

My I post for the Challenge was about information. I get most of my news and information from Twitter these days. News organizations tweet their headlines, with links to articles that make it easy to stay insanely current. Only if a story merits an actual visual do I need to turn on the TV. I like this system.

I'm not exactly sure why I joined Twitter, just kind of a joiner I guess. For a long time I didn't really do anything with Twitter. After a friend suggested I tweet when I have something new on the blog, that got me going.

Then I started to find some really interesting people, many of them writers. Hanging out on Twitter makes it feel like every person in the world is a writer. I've had some fun run-ins with well known authors on Twitter, which is really what I wanted to write about in this post.

I'll usually post something about the books I read. Last summer I read Half a Life by Darin Strauss, and I tweeted that it's an incredibly honest, moving memoir. Later that day, Strauss responded, thanking me for the kind words. That was pretty cool. Another time, I was lucky to catch Jonathan Tropper, one of my favorite authors, responding to tweets because his wife told him his Twitter etiquette needed work. I told him I was looking for a book to read, and he suggested Steve Martin's latest.

Those are just two examples, but they illustrate one of my favorite things about Twitter, the chance to interact with writers.

How 'bout you, any interesting Twitter encounters?

S is for..........

S is for...........Springsteen.

The Boss
rock n' roll poet
the ultimate showman
a true American icon.

I've been working on this post for a while, going through the Springsteen catalogue, trying to come up with my top ten Springsteen songs.

It wasn't easy, but here they are, my top ten Springsteen songs:

10) Darkness on the Edge of Town
9) Bobby Jean
8) Hungry Heart
7) Waiting on a Sunny Day
6) Backstreets
5) The River
4) Thunder Road
3) Jungleland
2) The Rising
1) Born to Run

OK Springsteen fans, have at it.

R is for..........

R is for..........Reality.

I'm writing this post as I watch The Voice with my kids. Normally, I wouldn't be caught dead watching this crap, but my kids love it. It's for the kids man. Of course, we might have to switch over and check in with Dancing With the Stars to see what my man Donald Driver is doing. I mean, come on, Donald plays his heart out for my Packers. It's the least I can do. After that I might watch a little House Hunters with Meg. What kind of husband would I be if I didn't spend a little quality time with the wife?

And that's just Monday night.

Reality shows dominate the airwaves these days, and while I generally scoff at them, upon closer examination of my TV habits, many of the shows I watch are reality shows. Some of it I blame on my kids. They love reality shows, and I have to admit, it is nice to hang out as a family and watch shows like Man vs. Food or The Barefoot Contessa or even Storage Wars. There is a dark side though. The girls also love shows like Dance Moms, and it takes every ounce of strength I have not to run screaming from the house when that damn thing is on. And now there's a Dance Moms: Miami. I don't know if I can take it.

There will always be a place for quality scripted shows, but I would imagine there will be more and more reality shows. Gotta give the people what they want.

Pardon me while I go grumpy old guy for a minute.

Sometimes I worry about this generation of kids. They're going to walk around thinking their lives are perpetual reality shows waiting to happen, absurdly melodramatic music punctuating the minutia of their lives.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

How 'bout you? What's your favorite reality show?

I'm going out of town for a conference, so I apologize in advance for not visiting as much as I'd like. I'll be back Monday night, and then I can give the challenge my full attention for the last week.

Q is for..........

Q is for..........Quarterback.

Quarterback is perhaps the most glamorous position in American sports. If your team has a good quarterback, they always have a chance. My beloved Green Bay Packers have been blessed with two great quarterbacks, and a third on the verge of greatness.

Green Bay's first great quarterback was Bart Starr. I never saw Starr play, but he was the first Green Bay coach that I remember. Starr guided the Packers to unparalleled success as a quarterback, but his coaching career with Green Bay would have to be considered a failure.

The thing that really impresses me about Starr is that he was drafted in the 17th round out of Alabama. 198 other players were drafted ahead of him. Guys like Starr aren't supposed to make the team, much less become a franchise icon.

It would be a long time before another great quarterback roamed the frozen tundra.

Brett Lorenzo Favre was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the second round of the 1991 NFL Draft. Favre was traded to the Packers the following year, and most Green Bay fans were underwhelmed. Quite frankly, most of us had never even heard of the guy. But oh my, how that quickly changed.

Favre got his chance in the 4th game of the 1992 season (which Green Bay won on an incredible Favre touchdown pass no less), and he went on to start every game through the 2007 season. Favre is the only player in NFL history to win three consecutive MVP awards (1995-1997), and let me tell ya, those were fun times to be a Packers' fan.

Unfortunately, things ended badly in Green Bay. Management was ready to move on, but Favre wasn't ready to retire. Most Green Bay fans cheered for Brett in New York, but when he donned the purple and gold, Favre's reputation took a serious hit. Even now, when someone talks about Favre, my first response is often, "Who?" I still need time to get over the whole Vikings thing, but eventually I'll open my heart to the ol' Gunslinger again.

It wouldn't take another 21 years for Green Bay to find its next great quarterback. In fact, Green Bay sent Favre packing becasue they had a young kid waiting in the wings.

Aaron Rodgers took over for Favre in 2008. A lot of fans were still upset about losing Favre, and the pressure on Rodgers to succeed was intense. While the team's record in Rodgers's first season was an unimpressive 6-10, Rodgers played at a high level. Even the most ardent Favre supporters could see that Rodgers was a special player.

In 2010 Rodgers led the Pack to their fourth Super Bowl title. Rodgers was the league MVP last year, as he led the Packers to a 15-1 regular season record. Unfortunately, the Packers ran into the red-hot New York Giants in the playoffs and failed in their quest to repeat. With Rodgers at the helm, Green Bay should be in the hunt for a title every year.

Green Bay may be the smallest market in the NFL. But when it comes to quarterbacks, they're second to none.

P is for..........

P is for...........Politics.

I've always been interested in politics. I was raised in a house where political debate was encouraged and enjoyed. When one parent is a Republican and one is a Democrat, just about every conversation eventually turns political. Let's just say things were always lively at the Riley house.

Sure, there were arguments, some hard feelings now and then, but ultimately, there was respect. Always.

Respect seems to be sorely lacking in our politics today. Politics has become a blame game, our two political parties acting like petulant children, each whining that the other started it. Politicians get elected by blaming their opponent for everything that's wrong, not for actually having any good ideas for how to deal with problems.

Vote for me.

WHY?

Because I'm not him/her.

That just isn't good enough.

I was a political science major at the University of Wisconsin, but my interest in politics has been steadily waning since my ivory tower days. Civil political debate is essentially gone, modern politics nothing more than party hacks accusing the other side of trying to destroy the country. As far as I'm concerned, there's plenty of blame to go around. Party hardliners would like us to believe that their party is the one to get us out of our current mess, but it's getting harder and harder for me to see a real difference between the parties. As far I can tell, Wall Street bankers are calling the shots these days.

Now having said all this, I'm sure I will put my cynicism aside to follow the politics of an election year. Republicans and Democrats will try to convince me that this is the most important election in the country's history. Obama and Romney will use scare tactics to win votes, all the while hiding behind negative super PAC ads.

We'll elect our next President this year. One side will celebrate, their hope renewed, while the other will bemoan the end of civilization as we know it.

Politics as usual.

O is for..........

O is for..........Olympics.

Like a lot of people my age, I fell in love with the Olympics in 1980. The Miracle on Ice? It doesn't get any better than that. I'm not a hockey fan, but I still get chills when I hear Al Michaels's famous call: Do you believe in miracles? Arguably the greatest moment in the history of American sports.

The Winter Olympics feel more quirky to me. You've got crazy ski-jumpers, speed skaters seemingly parallel to the ground, that thing where people ski and shoot guns. And then there's curling, that strangely hypnotic frozen cousin of shuffleboard.

The Winter Olympics are brilliant, but I prefer the Summer Games. I'm really looking forward to watching this summer with the girls. Track and swimming are my favorite events, and I'm excited to see if Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps can repeat their dominance.

I'm sure London will be a great Olympic host, but have you seen the mascots they came up with? Meet Wenlock and Mandeville, the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic mascots. These guys are apparently based on a short story by children's author Michael Morpurgo that tells how they were fashioned from droplets of the steel used to build the Olympic stadium.

Um, I'm sorry. What?

I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm sure the kids will love these guys. I mean, what kid doesn't love droplets of steel?

N is for..........

N is for...........Netflix.

I've written about Netflix Guilt before, but recent developments have made it necessary for me to revisit this most pernicious of mental disorders.

Newsweek coined a great phrase a few years ago: Netflix Guilt. If you use Netflix, chances are you've experienced this condition. Netflix Guilt results when a movie shows up at the house, and for whatever reason, you never get around to watching it. The guilt intensifies every time you watch something else, but you just can't bring yourself to watch it. You really want to, but the mood is never right. Finally, after months of excuses, you shamefully place the movie in your mailbox before skulking off to work.

My last bout of Netflix Guilt was brought on by The Last Station. Fine film, I'm sure, but I never did watch it, finally admitting defeat and sending it back in shame. I've been able to avoid NG for quite a while, but I am currently experiencing an attack over another film, Martha Marcy May Marlene. This is one of those small indie movies that all the critics love, and normally, I make it a point to watch those kinds of movies. If that's not enough, the Olsen twins' sister is in it, and supposedly she's great. I mean, the Olsen twins' sister. Who can resist that? And yet poor Martha Marcy May Marlene sits forlornly in a red and white paper coffin, desperately hoping to be resuscitated by the friendly confines of a DVD player.

I fear it's too late. Martha Marcy May Marlene may never know the joy of being watched in the Riley household.

As if that isn't enough guilt, now there's an added layer. When I first wrote about this disorder, I wasn't streaming movies on Netflix. Now that I can stream movies, I find myself adding movies willy nilly to my Instant Watch queue. And there those movies sit, in some kind of digital island of misfit movies, waiting to be watched.

So many movies, so much angst.