At last, another week of school done with..... today was a 1/2 day, due to report cards so the children went home at 11:00 a.m.

Janet and I may try to get out with some friends and go to the Pacific Islands Club. Thay have a great buffet and some cool waterslides.

Checked at Blockbuster again today but "Pumpkin" is still checked out. I read some favorable stuff about it in the Chicago Reader online edition.

More thoughts on "Gangs":



My wife Janet preferred "Catch Me If You Can". She didn't care for the starkness and grimness of "Gangs Of NY".

Also, before the movie we were browsing over at Price Costco an someone was listening to a different U2 song- "Elevation".



Just started watching Woody Allen's "Curse Of The Jade Scorpion" this morning- very funny! I'm about halfway through...

I also borrowed "Barbershop" and "1941". I love how Blockbuster lets you borrow movies for a full week now! Only problem is they can't seem to keep "Pumpkin" (starring Christina Ricci) on the shelf.....

Just returned from seeing "Gangs Of New York"; we only got it this weekend at the local theater (kinda like if we lived in Dubuque).

I enjoyed it but would not recommend it to those easily turned off by violence or nudity. The opening sequence contains a massive battle scene between the "Dead Rabbits" (Irish immigrants) and the "American Nativist Coalition" or something like that (a bunch of white guys born in the US of English stock, mostly opposed to new immigrants and freed slaves taking their jobs). It takes place in the later half of the 19th century in lower Manhattan, in an area known as the "5 Corners". Rumour has it director Martin Scorsese (Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Taxi Driver) was working on this for the better part of two years. Now I know where the Irish immigrant footage in his short film during the Concert For New York City came from- that's the one where he gives a guided walking tour of lower Manhattan, post 9/11. I really appreciated the last shot of the NYC skyline in the film... I only didn't appreciate the kid in the projection booth shutting off the projector a few seconds into U2's theme song "The Hands That Built America" during the end credits.

Just recieved in the mail last week: Larry Norman, Upon This Rock (2CD) & Randy Stonehill, Welcome To Paradise- both released by Larry on his Solid Rock label. Very impressed by the sound quality and artwork; these haven't been available on CD, much less available at all since the mid '70s.

Read a good quote today in Newsweek magazine:

"Send us off to foreign land to fight the infidels


God protects the oil wells


God saves gas prices


God saves Texas family fortunes."


-Conor Oberst, Bright Eyes

My wife went to Bible study tonight but I may be coming down w/ a cold so I stayed home to "rest".... work starts up again tomorrow (Monday) after a long holiday. We had a good time, going with my sister-in-law and her husband & 2 kids to a water park/buffet at a nearby hotel that was jam-packed with Japanese and Korean tourists. The tourists couldn't get to Guam because a recent typhoon knocked out a lot of essential services there, so they came to Saipan instead.

The other evenings we played Scrabble and ordered in from a local Thai restaurant. This morning a group of people from Chuuk (formerly the island of Truk) came by the house singing Christmas carols. It's the 5th of January already here but I could listen to their singing all day.

Bought Rolling Stone (w/ Eminem on the cover) and Blender(w/ "Xtina" (?) Aguilera on the front) last night... both had good reviews of Bob Dylan: Live 1975 and George Harrison: Brainwashed. Modern Drummerhad an interview w/ Abe Laboriel Jr., where he mentioned Paul McCartney leads the band in prayer before they go onstage (although I was watching VH1 awhile back and a scantily-clad "Xtina" (?) led her backing dancers in a prayer also). Hmmm.....