The Tennessee Lottery has terrible commercials. That isn't surprising. As previously discussed, any locally-produced commercial should be viewed with a great deal of scrutiny and there's no reason to think a commercial for the lottery should be anything exceptional. More than likely, the most thought that goes into a lottery commercial involves the disclaimer/warning/recommendation at the bottom of the screen to "play responsibly".

That's awfully nice, considering the demographic that the lottery targets. It's the same idea of beer commercials putting some type of "drink responsibly" message at the bottom of the screen when the rest of the commercial demonstrates nothing but irresponsibility. It's a nice thought and it might be just enough to keep organizations like MADD at bay, but it really doesn't accomplish anything. As if the beer companies (or the lottery for that matter) don't realize the effect of their products on a large part of the general populace.

This isn't something to really rant about, but it is interesting and has many applications on a daily basis. Just making that little disclaimer suggest caring, compassion and awareness, not to mention prevents bad media and possibly litigation. It would be interesting if people could go through life completely blase and indifferent, but then make a small disclaimer to erase all liability or scrutiny. Maybe that already happens when we try to justify our actions after we've already transgressed.

Life gets busy. There is so much to think about on a daily, hourly and every minute basis. Of course, the short-term is important and the questions that go along with it are at the forefront. "Will Alabama continue this performance?", "What is there to eat in this place?", "Is it pathetic to just be sitting here on a Saturday night?", "Does it really matter?" This is the kind of stuff that will work itself out between this moment and whenever today ends.

Is it healthy to think far beyond today on a daily basis? A day lasts a long time and there are many opportunities to wonder where you'll spend the rest of your life, who you'll spend it with and how well it'll all play out. There surely comes a point where something important can be thought about too much, but it's hard to let yourself not think about preparing, planning and developing contingencies.

All this thought starts to drive you crazy, but again, it feels like the right thing to do. Nobody wants to lay their head down at night and know they could have done more. If there wasn't an opportunity to physically improve their life, it's good to know that the thought was there, maybe? After all, it's the thought that counts.

The list of certainties last night proved a bit too prophetic as it relates to today's commute home. Due to rain and the resulting poor driving and the resulting wrecks, the worst part of this whole 14.3 miles each way commute idea becomes apparent. Today's events led to being trapped in Brentwood, the land of monogrammed SUVs and all-day in gym clothes acceptability. Over an hour later, after driving past what felt like the same plantation mansion next to a Civil War landmark, all surrounded by stone walls, about 47 times, the journey was complete. Then life got back to normal.

Now that Barack Obama has announced his running mate is Michael Phelps, it's time for this election to take off. The Democratic Convention is underway, so there'll be a lot of news coming out of Denver that everyone will make a deal about, but deep down, not really care about. This isn't a good thing, of course, but the Olympics of electing a president has turned into such a media-driven event that people can't get by without doping.

Once every four years, people care. They care a lot. They care a whole lot. There are t-shirts, bumper stickers and water cooler conversations to prove it. It is that one time (every four years) that all Americans are proud to be Americans and all non-Americans are made to feel more like Americans because they get to hear about Americans as much as real Americans.

The next step in this grand chess match of political posturing and athletic prowess will be McCain's choice of running mate. Every successful team must have a strong bench. It is impossible to predict when an injury or old-age death might sneak into the picture. In an effort to demonstrate teamwork, McCain should go with those gymnast girls. It'll have to be the American ones since the Chinese are clearly too young. The only other possible candidate could be a swimmer, since, you know, McCain is obscenely old. Do numbers even work up to 71?

This morning on the local radio provided a glimpse of what is to come over the next few months. A quick twist of 4 notches on the dial magically transports the listener from NPR to "Liberadio" on the Vandy channel. Such a level playing field, especially at 7am on a rainy Monday. All of the callers had their picks for the upcoming events, but it was clear that the appeal of an Obama/Phelps was too much to resist. However, some were concerned that Phelps might have trouble remembering how many medals he has won. Others were so confident in young Michael's vast experience in international arenas that nothing will outshine his foreign affairs resume.

Regardless of party affiliation, all eyes will be on what the Americans do in response to such a poor showing in 2004. The world noticed and decided to take pride in the US's stumble. If redemption is to come, is it really best to change the gameplan, or just those acting it out? Only time will tell if McCain and the girls can become the Redeem Team. Perhaps a hero will emerge. Maybe even those high-brow Canadians will concede, with or without Alec Baldwin.

And yes, no matter who takes the gold, Cuba is still the enemy.

Certainties in life:

Rain is calming.
Driving in the rain sucks.
Rebates will often be more difficult than advertised and more often never work out.
Roadwork on your street is that much worse than roadwork in general.
Times of arrival will be later than expected.
That kid on the next block of 15th Avenue South will be skateboarding with pirate hat and sword every afternoon.
The beard will itch.
Frustration will ensue.
Clarity will follow.
The DNC will have more appealing fonts than the RNC.
Fantasy baseball will fall apart.
Needs with accumulate.
Being nice to a stranger will pay off.
Strangers behind the wheel of a car are impossible to be nice to.
Peace is achievable.
Peace is fleeting.
Local TV commercials are awful, regardless of location. ("I don't need jacket")
Everyone has a bedtime.

There's a lot of talk about redemption lately. That's not really a bad thing because typically the word represents a lot of action and reaction, usually with a positive result. The unfortunate part is that there usually needs to be a fall before there can be a redemption. This is because the spiritual concept of redemption seems to be the strongest form of the word and that tendency seems legitimate enough. To be redeemed from evil definitely seems to be of greater magnitude than redeeming a coupon for free french fries or bottlecaps for a free t-shirt.

There can be redemption without traveling to the dark recesses of life first, but it just doesn't appeal the same way. The audience would rather see a story that starts way down and finishes way up. That's well and good, but redemption is somewhat of a personal choice, regardless of who decides they want it. The difficult part to understand is whether redemption is earned or given. Is it a gift or is it a reward? Not sure about that one.

Redemption makes for a good premise for a favorite movie or a good motivation for an Olympic basketball team, but its an accomplishment best experienced by the individual in a personal manner. To feel one's own redemption must be a tremendous feeling, but it seems hard to know when it occurs. The involvement of others becomes more necessary when it's time for the story to be written and the label of redemption to be assigned.

It becomes a personal responsibility to grant redemption to others in hope that they might be there to reciprocate the action in the future. Sure, it's simply an application of the Golden Rule or something like that, but an important one.

It would be interesting if there were a way to see all the deleted blog entries that never see the light of day. There must be some pretty important stuff that gets axed upon further review or doesn't quite pass that "will people think I'm crazy" test before the publish button is pressed. Maybe it's just because of poor grammar or questionable subject matter, but really it has to be because the writer doesn't want people thinking they are depressed, perverse, lame, intoxicated, etc. Perhaps those unsavory adjectives don't make for good reading, or at least comfortable reading.

Blogs don't seem to have gotten to the level of best-selling books or movies that tell extremely sad stories and recount incredible hardship. Are blogs only for humorous anecdotes and minute-by-minute accounts of daily life? Someday will there be a Squid and the Whale blog? Maybe the blog equivalent of early Pedro the Lion? Can the world handle this?

An interesting technology would be the high-wire blog. When any letter, word or sentence is typed in, it becomes part of record. No backspace, no delete, no cancel. Strike-through would be allowed for typos and changes of heart. Most blog entries would end up looking like chain letters, but that's ok. The truth would be there, right? Is a first thought always the truth? Can't we decide what we want the truth to be? Once we decide, we can start believing it and it becomes the truth, so no big deal, right?

So, here's the the hope that the future will bring no-holds-barred blogs without safety nets. Only the strong will survive this new world of blogging. The lightweights will be weeded out. Good.

Cliches are cliches for a reason. They're true. Tonight's submissions:

NYC is that cool.
Led Zeppelin is that good.
A glass of wine/beer is that relaxing.

Occasionally, but only occasionally, the world slows down for you. It doesn't necessarily make anything easier to understand, but the slowing allows greater time for observation of everything that goes into making a day. It becomes possible to surprise oneself with oneself's productivity. When adult life sets in, satisfaction comes from the seemingly mundane in life, but the simple ability to go and to do becomes oddly fulfilling. That's why groceries are in the cupboard, clean clothes to wear and sore muscles requiring long evenings of resting.

It's been a while since a "how life is like the movies" post and obviously there isn't a lot of creativity pulsing through these veins lately, so the result of the next 15 minutes of rapid finger motion will hardly be a surprise.

Watching a movie like The Squid and the Whale can paralell The Dark Knight when properly aligned. Certainly there are some differences, but to the viewer, associations can be made and some are more innate than others. As everyone knows, the Joker is characterized both in reviews and the film as an embodiment of a certain part of all of us. Call it the "dark" part or the "real" part, but that's another argument for another time. It's hard to say everyone has that kind of streak in them, but surely some people do. Moving on.

Watching The Squid and the Whale is a little bit of a different animal. It is fairly simple in scope, has no special effects, seemingly unremarkable looking people, really nothing special. But the quality of the film doesn't lie in how spectacular it looks, but pretty much the opposite. It looks real and that's what pins the viewer down for the count. The characters might be a tad sensationalized, but it does more in 80 minutes than most films could do in twice the time.

The difficult and impressive part of it is that an individual can truly see themselves in a movie like TSatW without having to get past the face paint, fast cars and guns of TDK. Sure, at its best, TDK could be an allegory of sorts, but TSatW just goes ahead and makes the idea perfectly clear by unfolding it directly in front of the viewer on the screen.

It is a bit troubling to see pieces of yourself in characters in a movie when the initial thought was how disappointing the characters' behavior is. Usually, the viewer is led to sympathize with a character and therefore sympathize with their own plight, but not always. Of course, everyone has their flaws and all that, but to feel as though you relate to a character in a negative way is a little humbling. It's especially bad when the themes that grab your attention are pompousness, selfishness and pride (the bad kind). So yeah, sometimes watching a movie is an escape to a place like Gotham City that is based on a sensationalized version of the world we live. Other times, it only takes the overly saturated cliche of a family of writers living in Park Slope, Brooklyn to not be an escape from reality, but a one-way trip right back into it.

Olympic fever is sweeping the nation and the globe. This is only day two of competition and yet lives are being altered in order to watch qualifying rounds of such culturally-significant sports as two-man rowing and four-man rowing. It really is captivating in its own special way, though. This is probably the only time when rowing can be seen on TV, much less on a Sunday morning in the middle of August. The added element of different countries being represented by people with seemingly strange names in a location as distant and intriguing as Beijing, makes it all the more interesting.

To watch Olympic rowing on television isn't something that is likely to fall on anyone's "to-do" list, so NBC employed some strategy by placing it directly after USA men's basketball on the lineup. NBC must know, that no matter how obscure the sport, it has the potential to grab attention if it can somehow be on in front of someone. After only a few minutes of viewing, questions start to come to mind about the intricacies of a sport like rowing. Then it becomes a challenge for the commentators to answer those questions as quickly as possible. It's almost as if the viewer is thinking "I'll only watch this until I find out why there are people riding bikes in the background of the rowers." Well, that question was quickly answered. It's coaches that shout encouragement to the rowers and try to chart their pace and progress.

Back to the commentators, that must be an interesting life to lead. Surely these people aren't only qualified to broadcast international rowing? To only be of legitimate use every 4 years when the Olympics come around must be disheartening. Many people might be just as qualified to broadcast baseball as football, but it seems unlikely that a deep knowledge of rowing, or judo or steeplechase for that matter, is lurking in the deep recesses of a broadcaster's brain. This is clearly highly specialized work and just another reason why the Olympics are actually great, no matter how strange or irrelevant it seems.

In keeping with the previous entry's football theme, there is something about this whole Brett Favre situation that is being overlooked. It deserves far more attention than the zero it is currently receiving. It might really change the way people view the whole mess. Maybe if Mike McCarthy, Ted Thompson, Roger Goodell and Brett himself would all just chill out for a minute, they would find the true issue at hand:

Brett Favre's middle name is Lorenzo.