Douglas Howe: February 2009 Archives

Bring on March Madness--we need it!

For a competitive guy like me--and Paul the Apostle competed so I know it's a good trait--this is a lousy time of the year to watch television. There's not a lot of drama. There's not a lot that's compelling. There's not much televised competition. It's just boring.

Think about it. Football is over. Baseball hasn't started yet. The NBA playoffs don't heat up until May. At least Tiger's back on the tour, but the Masters' doesn't happen for two months. NASCAR has started, but these early season races don't count for as much, do they?

Earlier this week, the Oscar competition ended. "American Idol" has too far to go. Jack Bauer's only halfway through his afternoon in "24." Gosh, we've got to wait long enough to see if our economy comes back--can't we get some excitement or conclusion or competition to liven things up?

Wow, talk about reality TV!

Earlier this week, President Obama was on every network. He was Must See TV 2.0, the Rock Star of the campaign trail, the Teleprompter-in-Chief, "No Drama Obama" who is no longer running for office. He is now The Man charged with solving our nation's problems, which were named Tuesday evening as the Economy, Education, Energy, and the Deficit. Except for the fact he blew the alliteration points with the last one, his speech was largely heralded in the press.

And now, reality sets in, and this will be the greatest reality show of our lifetime. CNN's David Gergen described it as "one of the greatest political dramas of our time." I think it will be one of the greatest dramas, period. I mean, what's more interesting to you: if we'll make it as a nation--or if we can pay our bills by summertime--or who will win on "American Idol" or "Top Chef"?

We don't post enough about the "books" part of our culture here at Idol Chatter, so here's my step in the right direction: there's a great new book out for anyone who's a person of faith and a deep thinker called "How We Decide," by Jonah Lehrer.

In Gordon Marino's review in this week's Los Angeles Times, we learn a bit about Lehrer's book which helps us determine why we choose "Honey Nut Cheerios or regular Cheerios." It got me to thinking about that most important decision we're all invited to make, regarding our faith in God, or choice to place our faith somewhere else, or actually whatever we choose.

"Lehrer begins by debunking the notion that we should all make our decisions like hyper-rational Mr. Spock," Marino says. That's great news for spiritually minded people who believe that effective decision making lies somewhere in the quadrasphere between logic, reason, emotion and relationship.

"Perfectly intelligent people become virtually unable to make the most trivial decisions when their capacity for feelings are flattened as a result of brain disease or trauma," he summarizes. "Pondering the split-second judgments of quarterbacks, pilots and firefighters, Lehrer shows that if conscious reason were all we had, it would be impossible to make solid nanosecond decisions."

One of the most powerful illustrations in Lehrer's book comes from a combat situation where a Royal Navy Lt. Commander picked up a radar signal showing that something was coming towards their ship:

A new force seems to be taking over the airwaves: Twitter!

I viewed three morning shows earlier this week and they all invited the audience to join their "Twitter" page throughout the show. Celebrities at the Oscars weren't supposed to, but some were sneaking in the chance to Twitter. And Tuesday night, the nation saw members of both the House and Senate with Blackberries on, probably assuming they were texting friends or family. In actuality, most were doing something else. As ABC News reported in its Wednesday news shows, "Many congressman had their heads down: Twittering."

Twittering is the latest social networking craze. It's all very simple: create 140 character (or less) messages telling others what one is doing at the moment. It's about self-promotion. It's about networking.

The public lined up for days. They camped out on the streets. All for a bleacher seat--a chance to see the celebs, the stars, the finest of Hollywood's crop from this year.

And if you couldn't go there in person, you could watch two hours worth of arrivals on E! Television and another half-hour on ABC. You could see the stars, hear them do interviews, know who made their clothes and who did their hair, and learn who it is that they've come to the show with.

What's interesting to me is that it has the aura of being some kind of "super access" event, when, in fact, it's as staged as a live show or even a play at the theater. The actors are on cue, the interviewers are primed with the tee-up questions, the lesser known guests are shooed along and it all seems rather orderly.

The Oscars is one of the most inspiring nights of the year when the ceremony is done well, and I'm not sure I can remember one done better than last night's event. It was quick, witty, fresh and, interestingly enough,...

One of the best and most important awards galas took place Wednesday night. And no, you won't see any replays on E! TV Network. And no, there won't be much media banter about what everyone was wearing. I'm not even...

Christianity Today recently named its Top Ten Redeeming Films of 2008, and they really did a nice job of it. I'd switch the order and swap a few of them out, but more people should make it a point to...

I'm a music lover, and believe it can bring so much inspiration in times of trials and challenges. And music of faith is as wonderful as it is essential. And so it is that I was disappointed during most of...

The Rights of Spring are becoming the Wrongs of Swingers, and the Boys of Summer may soon be the Boys of the Slammer. It's not an encouraging story, and I'm growing dang tired of it. Sports Illustrated broke the story...

With Valentine's Day approaching--and in these days of mp3 and YouTube technology where you can watch and listen to oldies as easy as today's tunes--we thought it'd be great to name the Top 15 Most Inspiring Love Songs of all-time....

Why is Clint getting dissed? I don't know if you saw "Gran Torino," but it was one of the more redemptive films of 2008, albeit with the R-rating, violence, and language. I can't wait to show the TV version to...