1. November will get
here soon enough, but I am eagerly anticipating the November 16th release
of the movie LINCOLN. Stephen Spielberg is directing this motion picture, and
he is focusing strictly on the last four months of the 16th
president’s life. Word is LINCOLN is based upon Doris Kearns Goodwin’s award-winning-book
TEAM OF RIVALS.
2. This may be a good
sign for the future of the space program–more than 23 million people watched
NASA’s live streaming of the landing of the “Curiosity” on Mars. I would love
to see humans land on Mars in my lifetime.
3. Judy and I got a
chance to take three of our four kids to NASA the week before last. Let me tell
you, if you have kids, it is a great place to go.
Don’t
miss the tour that takes you to the old Mission Control.
Timothy
and I obsessed over trying to a land space shuttle simulator, which is a lot
harder than you would think.
Of
course, I’m an old-school junkie, so I loved looking at the Mercury, Gemini,
and Apollo space capsules.
Meanwhile,
my kids were mega-impressed by the 363-foot-long Saturn Five rocket. Inside the
building where they housed the rocket, NASA has posted nice summaries of each
Apollo mission. This allowed me to sow the seeds to show Timothy and Annie the
Tom Hanks’ miniseries FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON, which I hope to do soon.
Last
night, our family watched APOLLO 13 together. (If you have younger kids, be
aware of the language… and a couple of scenes you’ll want to fast forward. The
scenes are no worse than commercials you see today, but who says the
commercials today are good for television?)
I
loved the movie and the book it is based upon. Here’s a little
behind-the-scenes nugget–Ron Howard created much of the crew’s conflict in the
movie for the purpose of dramatic tension. The real-life crew was much more
calm than the portrayal. As for Hanks’ miniseries, based upon the Apollo space
program, it is much more kid friendly, much cleaner, and much more spiritual.
4. If you ever get
the chance, tour the BATTLESHIP TEXAS located near Houston. On the NASA trip,
Judy and I took the kids to see the old vessel commissioned in 1912. I am
amazed at how far below deck the ship extends. You can tour the depths of the
ship, and the heights—all the way up into some of the crows’ nests. It staggers
me to think about sailors traveling on that ship 100 years ago.
5. In addition to
what I wrote two weeks ago, here are some of the things I liked about the 2012 Olympics:
A. Michael Phelps. I feel like he is the greatest Olympian of all time. He’s won more
medals than anyone else and more gold medals than anyone else.
Moreover, for someone who is so obviously competitive, he seems to have a
balanced view toward life.
In
2009 and 2010, Phelps barely trained. After his first loss in this year’s
games, Phelps did not pull his hair out and lament his misfortune. He took responsibility
and announced that, considering the work he put in, he got what he deserved.
For example, Phelps
through the years has also demonstrated more of the Olympic Spirit than I have
given him credit for. I had not remembered that in the 2004 Olympic Games,
Phelps gave up his spot on a relay team (sure to win a gold medal) to allow an
older swimmer the chance to win his first gold medal. Gold medals are hard to
come by. (I know; I still have not won my first.) Yet Phelps was willing to sacrifice
for a teammate.
B. Oscar Pistorius. How did he do it? How did he run on those prosthetic legs? And the
speed with which he ran… amazing!
C. Kirani James. Yes, he won the gold medal in the 400 meters. However, he also
reminded us of the original dream of the Olympic Games: athletes competing at
their highest level in the spirit of sportsmanship. It was moving to see James,
after his semi-final win, ask Oscar Pistorius to exchange identification tags.
Furthermore, he then symbolically removed himself from the Olympic Stadium
spotlight and placed Pistorius in it. Truly touching.
*Thanks to Peter King for the inspiration for this blog's title.
