Michael Kress: July 2007 Archives

"The Simpsons" movie may not have lived up to it's almost-two-decades of build-up--could it possibly have?--but I laughed my way through it nevertheless. From Homer's "Spider Pig" song to Bart's full-frontal-nudity skateboard trip through town, to Marge and Homer's romantic interlude in Alaska, the movie hit all the right notes that we've come to expect from the show--though I left wishing I'd seen more of typical Springfield, like Apu and his Kwik-E-Mart and Principal Skinner and the school.

But unlike fellow Idol Chatter blogger Donna Freitas, who describes her boredom with the movie being punctuated by only a few moments of laughter, I found the movie funny throughout, albeit slowed down by a few stretches that dragged.

More to the point for our purposes here, the movie extended the TV series' propensity for poking fun at religion and religious people--mercilessly, intelligently, and fairly, even lovingly.

Baseball is about to annoint a new home run king who has allegedly boosted his late-career stats with the help of steroids. Basketball is coping with a referee accused of betting on the game, including games he worked. Football is figuring out what to do about a star quarterback arrested on federal charges of dogfighting. And two leading Tour de France teams have withdrawn from that competition because of doping suspicions.

That's four sports mired in scandals. Am I the only one who thinks it's time to reconsider the central place we give sports fandom in our lives and our culture--not to mention the amount of money we spend on it?

I can't help thinking of the time I was a rookie reporter covering a middle-class suburban community. The school budget was subject to a public referendum, and one year voters rejected the proposed budget--meaning the district's schools would function for the year on an "austerity budget" with funding only for essential educational programs. No orchestra, no class trips, no school bus service, and no sports. Unwilling to accept the consequences of their decision, voters went back to the polls and overwhelmingly approved emergency funding for two items: school buses and sports programs.

In arguing for the latter, school officials, parents, and students all offered what have become standard arguments in favor of organized athletics: They teach children values, such as teamwork and preserverance, they build character, they channel energy that would otherwise go to mischief or worse.

I'll start by saying that I feel a sense of awe and history when imagining the moment when Barry Bonds' 756th home run will sail over the outfield wall, sending him into the history books with the most career home runs, surpassing Hank Aaron. But unlike my colleagues David Kuo and Patton Dodd--call it their Christian forgiveness vs. my Jewish sense of justice--I feel myself overcome by a deep sense of sadness and more than a little outrage when contemplating Bonds's achievement.

I'm not some unforgiving absolutist who refuses to ever look past a person's faults and misdeeds. If Bonds was some rookie yearning to keep his spot in the big leagues, or some minor-leaguer desperate to get ahead, I'd feel sad but perhaps not angry, and be more inclined to understand and forgive the temptation to give into the weight of pressures, the unwillingness to see lifelong dreams die and the desperation to hold onto them at any cost. For that wayward act, I'd argue strenuously for a second chance, a way forward paved with mercy and understanding.

But that's not Bonds.

Saturday is Harry Potter day (starting at 12:01am). But you know that already. The problem is, Harry Potter day is Saturday--or, for us observant Jews, Shabbat, the Sabbath, day of rest, yadda yadda. Of course, nothing is more relaxing and Shabbat-appropriate than settling in with a good book, but the issue is getting that book. We don't spend money on Shabbat, so buying it in a bookstore is out, and we don't open packages or other pieces of mail, so we can't order it online for early Saturday delivery.

This issue was of much concern to my wife, who is the Potter fan(atic) in our house. Luckily, this isn't the first time that a much-anticipated Harry Potter book is being released on God's day of rest. And luckily, we don't live in Israel, where stores on closed on Shabbat, so even the non-observant majority of Israelis can't get their immediate Potter fix (though some book stores are reportedly defying the ban and opening this Saturday).

After much fretting--and concoting a few unlikely or Jewish-law-bending schemes--the solution was easier than expected: More bookstores than I'd imagined allow for preordering and pre-paying. On release day, all my eager wife needs to do is go to the store, say her name, and walk out with the coveted book. No need to even produce a credit card. Now that's magic.

Unless you're a true Hollywood insider (or a N.Y. Times magazine reader), you've never heard of Milton Katselas. But this veteran acting coach is responsible for shaping countless souls into true actors. Head of an acting school called the Beverly...

I knew Paula Abdul was Jewish, but in this video, she talks with two Orthodox rabbis at a Chabad house about lighting Shabbat candles, praying, and living Jewish, as they compliment her dedication and assure us it's real. Props to...

Thanks to our friends at Mixed Multitudes for the heads up about the latest site in the ever-burgeoning Jewish web world: JewTube.com. Yes, our very own YouTube. The site gets points for being clean and uncluttered, though the there doesn't...

Harry Potter mania began long ago--or, rather, never stopped--and while I am not personally a Potter fanatic, I am married to one and work with several others, so it's impossible not to be caught up in the predictions, analyses, and...