The Village Pet Store (And Grill)

While wandering Greenwich Village with Sarah and Krista today, we stumbled upon the Village Pet Store and Grill, an animatronic art show by UK artist Banksy. Banksy's trademark humor shows up in plenty of ways in this show. The show is really about animal cruelty... a rabbit tests makeup on herself, a hen gives birth to chicken nuggets, an ape sits in a cage eating pizza, smoking and watching a nature show about wild apes. I was so pleased we came across the Village Pet Store and would encourage any of you NYC folk to go check it out... it's open until the end of the month.

Favorite quote from a random New Yorker on the street tonight

"You're headed the right direction... for trouble."

This is now my slogan.

Getting our Letterman tickets

Special thanks to the friendly Kate at CBS who kept calling us back until we actually connected on the phone so that she could give us our tickets. Once we finally connected this morning, Kate had to ask my a trivia question to make sure Krista and I were worthy to enter into the presence of the Great Letterman.

Our trivia question: Where does Rupert G work?

I totally aced it.

We're going to be at the show on Thursday, when John McCain is scheduled to appear. Last time he didn't show and Dave was not happy. Here's a clip from that night:



I told Kate to let Dave know that if McCain was busy again on Thursday, that I would be glad to fill his slot, even at the last minute. She said she was sure that Dave would be glad to know I was available.

Mikalatos' Take Manhattan

Krista and I are in The Big Apple this week in celebration of ten years of marriage. We have a full docket of exciting activities plan, and we'll be glad to allow you to live vicariously through this blog.

Tomorrow night we're off to the theatre to see SPAMALOT. Thursday we'll be going to see John McCain apologize to David Letterman, and Friday we'll be spending an evening with Mary Poppins. Who knows what other adventures await us?

We'll keep you updated.

Eavesdropping with Matt (Episode Thirty-One)

Dedicated to our Shipmates on United Airlines flight 836 from Chicago to La Guardia.

Man #1: I'm going to move this bag.

Man #2: Sir. No you aren't. That's my bag.

Man #1: I can't fit my bag in the overheard compartment unless I move your bag.

Man #2: Well, it's my bag and I want it to stay where it is.

Man #1 (moving the bag): I have to move it or there's not enough room for my bag.

Man #2: COME ON! DON'T move my bag.

Man #1: I have to put my bag up here.

Man #2 (voice raised): Why do you have to move my bag?

Man #1: Buddy, there isn't room to leave your bag where it was.

Man #2: Why do you have to move MY BAG?

Man #1: Listen, buddy, I don't want to have to give you a geometry lesson. Now you settle down.

He settled down. This was a good lesson in how threatening the words "geometry lesson" can sound. I guess Man #2 didn't like math.

D.A. Carson in Portland tomorrow

The guest speaker at our church tomorrow morning is D.A. Carson.

Services are at 8:15, 9:45 and 11:30. Krista and I attend the 11:30. We'll save you a seat!

full of grace

As part of a recent day of prayer I went with some friends to the University of Portland and walked around the campus, praying for the students that God would reveal himself to them and draw them toward him. It's a beautiful campus and we met some wonderful people in the school administration and student body. At one point, as the rain started to pour down, I took brief shelter under a wide tree's canopy and looked across the lawn to see the virgin Mary standing silently among the stones beside the chapel. It looked hauntingly beautiful. A student had left a few roses at the foot of the statue.

An Ill-Chosen Political Slogan

This slogan doesn't do much for me. Here's Peterson, running for State Rep. The name Peterson, of course, originally meaning "Son of Peter." And the slogan here is elect Peterson "For Pete's Sake." For me this brings to mind an old man named Pete, sitting in an easy chair in an assisted living home, and his son, Peterson is running for State Rep. Old man Pete has always desired Peterson to be in an important government job. And he thinks he could hold onto life if only his son could finally make it. ELECT PETERSON "For Pete's Sake".

This does not compel me. It seems that some consideration for the rest of the district might be better than just considering Pete.

Toto, I don't think we're in Portland anymore.

I had a great time at the UF retreat last weekend and really enjoyed talking about Jesus with the UF students. Here was a sign on the camp property that showed that I wasn't in Portland any more. I will reproduce the text without further commentary:

PUTT THROUGH THE BIBLE

THOU SHALL NOT:

DRIVE BALLS OR SWING CLUBS

USE PROFANITY

FORGET 2 RETURN EQUIPMENT

Bolsheviks in the Bathroom

Krista and I went to Pix Patisserie tonight with our friends Keith, Kim and Shasta. I laughed when I saw this old advertisement in the hallway near the bathroom. Basically, it says that a business with rough paper towels is breeding Bolsheviks in the bathroom. Now that's comedy.

contingency planning

Z and I had this conversation last night after I tucked her and A into bed.

Z: Dad, what if your eyes never got used to the darkness and when you turned out the lights you couldn't see anything at all?

Me: Use your hands to "see."

Z: What if I was feeling around in the dark and I felt something furry?

Me: You should pet it because it is a cat.

Z: What if it is a wild animal?

Me: You should kick it. Because it is a cat.

Z: What if it is a giant wolf?

Me: Then you are outside. If it is so dark that you can't see except with your hands, just stay inside.

Z: Okay.

Me: Goodnight.

Z: Goodnight.

Spaceships at the airport (with pictures)

On my way to Florida this weekend I had a layover at the San Francisco Airport. SFO has it's own museum that has rotating displays and right now they have one called Out Of This World! The 20th Century Space Invasion of American Pop Culture.

Here are some pictures of what sort of cool goodies you can gawk at if you are a ticketed passenger and can make it past security:


Space capsules. Some of them look like they probably shot sparks, too. This one has a spaceman who pops out, which is cool.


Space tanks are also important if one is going to explore space. Not sure how the research into space tanks is going these days.


This is one of my favorite toys. If you look closely, you'll see that the space tank appears to have run over a Space Ape. The tank rolls forward and then every once in a while it rears up to reveal the ape beneath. The tank is called "The Strange Explorer" and it has no patience for Charlton Heston's only natural enemy.

Tom Corbett's Space Academy. Cool. I didn't know there were any Tom Corbett toys at all.


These are Archer's Space People. I couldn't get a good look at all the pieces, but some of the aliens are holding babies and there are robots and everything.


I love this uniform, complete with lightning bolts. I could have been entertained for weeks with this and a large cardboard box to turn into a rocket.


It was really unclear to me why this space helmet went with this record player. It appears it may be a space phonograph or something.

I had never heard of Les Baxter until I saw this record cover, but I like his style. Other albums of his that I'd like to see the covers of: Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs, Hell's Belles, and Music of the Devil God Cult.


Robots. Everyone loves robots.

Especially cute robots that take care of their little ones, like "Electric Robot and Son." He can also send Morse code!


On the other hand, we earthlings are not as fond of marauding Martian robots.

Luckily, the human race has the amazing "Mr. Hustler" to, uhhhhh... I am guessing "hustler" may have meant something other than what I am thinking of when they built this robot. Cyborg, whatever.


If the Martians beat the Hustler, they will drink our insides out like sodas.



I feel cheated by the future. Where is my disintegrator? How can I fight space tyrants without one of these? I have to rely completely on Mr. Hustler. Grrrr.

Here's a puzzle of Disneyland's "Tomorrowland" from the 50's (?). I think they should retrofit the whole thing to look like this again.


And what space toy collection is complete without a Dalek?

News from My Neighborhood

Man-Eating Kitten. I've mentioned the neighbor's cat, which stalks human beings like small prey. Lately, she's been getting bolder. Here she is, standing at our back door, daring someone to come out so she can eat them. Behold the hungry look in her eyes!

Salamander!

Our buddies in the Autum Film stayed with us a for a few days last week, and A and I took them out to Multnomah Falls. On the way out, at Latourelle Falls we saw a salamander, which was completely unexpected and yes, rad. That's right. Rad. It clambered out of the water so I could get a better picture, and then, with a smile and a wave it leapt off the side and back into the churning white water below.

Three scoops of ice cream in every bowl

In this fraught election season, I just want to remind everyone of my campaign promise that, if elected, there will be three scoops of ice cream in every bowl. This is "home made" ice cream from the local shop "Ice Cream Renaissance" in Vancouver, WA. It is good. My wife took me to this place. Yum! And the ice cream was good, too.

News from my Neighborhood

HOUDINI DOOOOOOOG!!!! Houdini Dog continues his backyard shenanigans unabated. New theories from visiting friends and neighbors include: 1) A really large cat instead of a medium sized dog. 2) Someone "throwing" their animal waste over the fence. 3) Houdini Dog disguises himself as a cat, allowing himself to enter the yard undetected. A less popular version of this theory has him disguised as a frog.

In an attempt to bring this explosive outlaw to justice, I have created the following poster with the intention of putting it up around the neighborhood. Feel free to copy and paste it to your own blog, or to staple it to telephone poles:

Red Eye to Florida

I’m on my way to Florida tonight. I’m speaking at the University of Florida student retreat all weekend. I’m looking forward to it, and I’m sure we’re going to have a great time. I’ll send updates if at all possible.

Before leaving for Florida I always remind myself that although an alligator can run faster than a horse, that it gets confused if you run in a zig-zag pattern. I’ve been out back practicing zig-zag running all week.

Tr2n Tron 2

Since Tron came up in the Mikalatos household today, someone mentioned that I should look up the Tron 2 trailer, which debuted at the San Diego Comicon and was subsequently bootlegged by some intrepid fanboy in the audience. Anyway, for all you geeks who spent your childhood wishing you could be sucked into a computer so you could battle the MCP, enjoy the clip below:

Emergent

I hear people saying a lot of extreme things about the Emergent church. It's from the devil. It's the true church come to eradicate all that is wrong with the American church.

And, as is often the case, this sort of binary thinking isn't useful. It's like our evangelical community has been reduced to playing the part of "Bit" from Tron:



Any excuse for a Tron reference, I guess.

A lot of the people who have trouble with the emergent church actually have issues with the theology of specific individuals in the movement. This is a valid point... but expanding that point to include anyone who goes to a church that falls under the umbrella of "emergent" is a mistake. For the record, I have concerns about these things, too. Gerry Breshears included this link to a recent Doug Pagitt interview in which Pagitt is unable to definitively state whether he believes in Hell or not. At this point my issue with Pagitt transcends emergence/non-emergence and becomes one of heresy. I don't use the word lightly.

So that's one side of the story, right? And if that were representative of all Emergent churches, we could end the conversation right there. But it's not. On the flip side, I went to Imago Dei this week because some friends of ours were singing in the service (I looked for you, Chris... where were you? I wanted to surprise you!). And the pastor, Rick McKinley, spoke about Christ, the wisdom and power of God. It's a great sermon in which he effectively points out that yes, sometimes the gospel is offensive. And that's not a bad thing, and it should not discourage us from sharing it boldly and without apology. And some would consider Imago Dei an emergent church, too.

P.S. Part of the issue, obviously, is that the definition of what "emergent" isn't widely agreed on. People make comments that would be ridiculous in one definition and reasonable in another. It would help if there were definitional precision on that question.

P.P.S. "Bit" was the first completely computer generated character in a movie. Neat!

A great activity tonight for my Seattle friends

Hey, if you're in Seattle tonight at 6 p.m., here's your chance to go see The Autumn Film during happy hour at the High Dive.

I highly recommend that you go. And afterwards, when you are talking to the band, be sure to tell them, "Mikalatos sent me!" You will get a prize.

If you're not in Seattle tonight, you can download some free tunes from the The Autumn Film here.