Way too Late at the Movies: The Hudsucker Proxy

Up until this week, about the only thing I knew about 1994's Coen Brothers' film "The Hudsucker Proxy" was this:

Now that I've watched the film, I understand a lot more about this scene (Natch). And this is indeed a Coen brothers movie, what with the cartoony action and all.

I liked it. I liked it's throwback feel to bigger morality shows Hollywood used to produce. I saw bits of "It's A Wonderful Life," "Citizen Kane," and other big message pictures in it, with a bit of Terry Gilliam fantasy thrown in.

The Coens excel at casting, or at least the people they hire do (I don't know much about their process). Tim Robbins is wonderful in this film. He's got that innocent goofiness the character needed. Seeing John Mahoney as the hard-bitten newspaper editor was also fun.

I'm not sure if it's a film I need to watch again, but it was certainly worth watching once.

Finally, Aurora

We went to the Menan Buttes with some friends to watch the aurora.

For the first hour or so, we could see a faint green glow, streaked with even fainter stripes of pink and red.

We decided to head home, but about ten minutes after we left the aurora exploded into the curtains of green and pink you see here. We pulled off the highway and, accompanied by a nearby pondful of frogs, oohed and aahed at the display.

Then, as quickly as it appeared, it faded.

Michelle Davidson got these pictures for us. What a wonderful night.

Today Facebook Thinks A Light Pollution Map is Spam

Who knows how this beast works? I'm sure not even they do.

My question for Facebook is thus: Who amd I spamming? Myself? My 500-odd friends? And did the algorithm flag this, or did a visitor flag it as spam? Who knows.

I have, of course, requested a review. I exepct, of course, to have nothing come of it.

Cry Unto Him for Mercy; for He is Mighty to Save

Folks, it's been a stressful week for me at my full-time job, but I'm here to say I've felt your prayers and the prayers of others around me.

My wife and I went to the temple last night, and as we sat in the Celestial Room, I again had confirmation that God knows me and knows my concerns and fears and he sent a comforting spirit to help me feel that.

I know God listens to prayers, and wants to help us in all we do as we do our best and remain worthy to tap into His blessings.

As I sat there, I grabbed a copy of the Book of Mormon, and opened it and random. I landed in Alma 34, where Amulek testifies that we can and should pray for temporal and spiritual blessings:

17 Therefore may God grant unto you, my brethren, that ye may begin to exercise your faith unto repentance, that ye begin to call upon his holy name, that he would have mercy upon you;

18 Yea, cry unto him for mercy; for he is mighty to save.

19 Yea, humble yourselves, and continue in prayer unto him.

20 Cry unto him when ye are in your fields, yea, over all your flocks.

21 Cry unto him in your houses, yea, over all your household, both morning, mid-day, and evening.

22 Yea, cry unto him against the power of your enemies.

23 Yea, cry unto him against the devil, who is an enemy to all righteousness.

24 Cry unto him over the crops of your fields, that ye may prosper in them.

25 Cry over the flocks of your fields, that they may increase.

26 But this is not all; ye must pour out your souls in your closets, and your secret places, and in your wilderness.

27 Yea, and when you do not cry unto the Lord, let your hearts be full, drawn out in prayer unto him continually for your welfare, and also for the welfare of those who are around you.

Thank you for your help.

I'll Be Darned

So my skepticism over a name change for the BSA is proved wrong.

The AP reports today that effective Feb. 8, 2025, the Boy Scouts of America will become Scouting America.

I expect to see some debate over this choice of name.

Beautiful Dreamer . . .

I went to bed last night having stress dreams about things going wrong at work. As I mentioned earlier, I'm temporarily taking on new duties while our boss is on a well-earned vacation (proper level of sucking up achieved).

Before I went to bed, I asked God in my prayers to help ease that stress. I also asked my students and family to pray for me to help ease the burden of these next few weeks. I testify that prayers work.

The dreams turned into dreams of me accomplishing the work using what I've learned in the past few weeks. That was a nice way to start the week.

A Week of WHARRRRGARBL about A Possible Name Change for the BSA

Breathless -- and I mean BREATHLESS -- discussions on Boy Scouts of America-adjacent Facebook forums this morning about a possible name change for the national organization being announced this week (possibly Thursday, as the BSA has a speech scheduled during their national meeting titled "Roadmap Session: Broaden our Appeal and Revitalize Our Brand.")

Is a sweeping name change possible? Those touting this filing at the United States Patent and Trademark Office seem to think so.

But is it likely?

I have my doubts.

First of all, there's Scouts BSA. This name was chosen prior to introducing girls to the BSA in 2019. Do they really need to revitalize the brand this close to this previous announcement?

The "new name" being touted is Scouting America. As some have pointed out, that's already been done, by the BSA itself, back in the 1970s. Or at least something similar was, and it was abandoned shortly after it was announced.

Then in March, the BSA rolled out new scout uniforms. Seems to me if they were planning a name change in May, they might have delayed that rollout to coincide with the new name.

Companies trademark adjacent-sounding names all the time.

I think they're making a lot of noise about this trademark application without really knowing what signal lies therein.

I guess we'll see.

Truth and the Murder House

As much as I think Orwell might not have been prepared for people espousing their own versions of "the truth," I'm pretty sure he knew all to well that as far as the public goes, truth is relative.

Also, forget about that house; that's the murder house.

Books? What Books?

When Lexi moved to North Dakota,we sent the rocking chair that sat in the opening to my closet with her.

For a few glorious weeks, I could see our books floor to ceiling. I could put books away, not pile them in some precarious corner until I could spot an opening.

But then Michelle, prepping for some scout training coming up in June, saw an empty spot. And filled it.

Oh well. I'll look at our books again in July.