Really Scary

Happy Halloween and Reformation Day! I have decided to sketchup some concepts of Halloween costumes that would scare me.


From Left to Right:

Rudolf Clausius
Though he is a little scary looking, the real horror is his discovery of entropy which predicts that the universe will eventually reach heat death in which there is no motion or life and all matter and energy are equally distributed.

Joel Osteen
He is the poster boy of the health and wealth gospel and can continually give me the jibblies with his “7 steps to becoming all god has created you to be”.

Supreme Court Justice
They are not elected, are appointed for life, and are the only clear and direct law/policy making branch of the government. That’s pretty scary.

McMansion
Involuntary shudder. If these ever start showing up in my nightmares, Laura might have to commit me to an asylum.

Ketchup Clown
Combines my loathing of ketchup and Blake’s fear of clowns. Don't ask.

Industrial Revolution (dog)
Is anyone really grateful for mass production?


Oh and here is my jack o lantern. It is some kind of dragon or fell beast.

Upcoming Movies

There are not a lot of sequels or big impressive movies being produced over the next couple of months so that means there might be some good stuff coming out. The following is a list of a few that I am looking forward to. As a disclaimer: I am not vouching for the entertainment or moral value for any of these, as I have yet to see them. There are even a few that I know beforehand that aren’t for everyone, especially if you are adverse to violence.

No Country For Old Men (Nov 9)
I have been looking forward to this movie for a while. It is based off a book by the brilliant Cormac McCarthy (All the Pretty Horses) and is directed and produced by the Coen brothers (Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou). It is set and filmed in West Texas.

Southland Tales (Nov 14)
What could make me interested in a movie that contains The Rock, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Mandy Moore, and Justin Timberlake? This line: Directed by the director of Donny Darko. That in and of itself makes it worth seeing (in my little world) and seeing the trailer: it looks like a pretty solid sci-fi, musical, parody of American culture.

The Golden Compass (Dec 7)
I am still a little skeptical being a fan of the book but the latest trailer makes me want to give it a look. As a forecast, I expect the evangelical community to have a feeding frenzy with the source material (greater than Harry Potter and the Da Vinci Code put together).

I am Legend (Dec 14)
I will go see this if only for the preview for the next Batman movie, but it looks entertaining enough on its own. Nice to see Will Smith back to doing end of the world movies (well I guess he only previously did one end of the world movie, but now he has two).

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Dec 21)
Perfect material for Tim Burton. A dark comedy musical about a barber that goes over the edge and starts killing people to give to the meat pie lady for filling. Seems like they got the entire Harry Potter supporting cast.

Charlie Wilson’s War (Dec 25)
Interesting story and it has Tom Hanks, good possibility it will be worth watching.

Celebration of Family (In Memory of C.A. Haynes)

This weekend I traveled out to West Texas for my Grandad’s funeral. The service took place out at my great aunt Cathy’s ranch and as you will see from the photos it wasn’t your ordinary funeral. My father officiated from a dirt road to a small gathering of family seated upon folding chairs in the desert. After several stories were told and some songs sang, the grandkids took his ashes up to a ridge to scatter them and bury his boots. Afterwards we ate a huge meal of beef ribs, barbeque chicken, and freshly slaughtered goat with too many sides and deserts to name (this was after a large breakfast of burritos before the service). Needless to say there was a whole lot of eating, all while catching up with family that had grown out of touch.

The thing that many will find odd was the general uplifted spirit of the crowd. There was very little black being worn and posing for a picture at one point Christina asked if we shouldn’t be smiling. Stranger still is the fact that most of my family are not from a Christian background (in any case my Grandad wasn’t). This wasn’t necessarily a recognition of his passage into the kingdom nor was it in any way an irreverent. The only way I can describe it was a celebration of family, the gratitude for a man that brought us all together in life and in his death.

Aunt Cathy's Ranch



people gathering for the service



My dad giving the eulogy




looking back at the service as we go to spread the ashes

(clockwise from top) Aunt Annette, 2nd Cousin Bradon, Uncle Mark, Dad, Mom

C.A.'s sons: Tye, Robert (Dad), and Mark (holding his grandson Bradon)

C.A.'s grandchildren/great grandson/grand daughters-in-law: Corey, Bradon, Josie, Carra, Alex, Heath, Christina, Jacob, Laura




Laura (my wife) and Corey (my sister)

And we eat...

and talk.

My dad preparing the breakfast




My mom preparing for a 4-wheeler ride

My great uncle Bubba

Heath (my brother) holding Bradon

Christina (Heath's wife)

Corey

and a baby javilina.

Woodshop

This weekend I discovered once again why we should have bought a truck. I built some shelves and a ladder at the UTA wood shop. The shelves were for our DVDs and I designed them to fit together like large legos. The ladder is for my future treehouse which I will explain in a later post.

Our poor little car filled with lumber.

The completed shelves.

The big oak and my ladder (note that the ladder is 14’tall)