Still Got It

"They say prayer has the power to heal,
so pray for me mother.

In the human heart an evil spirit can dwell.

I am trying to love my neighbor and do good unto others,

But oh, mother, things ain't going well."

"Ain't Talkin'"
from Bob Dylan's latest release "Modern Times"

Octoberfest

Let me start by saying that my blogging frequency has decreased as of late and probably will only continue to do so until October ends. Why?

Baseball playoffs.

Baseball is not my favorite sport to play but it is to follow. I absolutely love all the stats - ERA, batting average, OBP, slugging percentage, WHIP, etc., etc. Hearing two baseball fans talk is like listening to another language - its great. Secondly, I LOVE pitching, thus 1-0, 2-0 games are still exciting for me where others hate them, plus TV baseball is fun for me because TV baseball is pretty much just staring at the back and sometimes intense face of a pitcher in between plays for 3 hours. I love it when fans post K's on the stadium walls. I love the history of the game. I love that every stadium is unique - outfield fences aren't all the same distance or even shape. Some have monster green walls, some have waterfalls, some have hills that centerfielders trip over. If you play for the Marlins, your outfield fence is located in the next county. I love that they play games everday.

And I especially love the playoffs. What's not to love? They still play virutally every day, except the games all matter, and they don't play Black-eyed Pea's songs during the broadcasts and take 3 months to complete like the NBA.

One jewel I have rediscovered is playoff baseball on the radio. If you're driving in your car there is nothing more dramatic than hearing a hometown announcer say things like, "and here's the 3-2 pitch..." or "and that ball's hit hard to deep right field..." all while there is the faint hum of AM static through it all and the crowd has worked itself up into a fanatic din. During Game 3 of the Tigers-Yanks when Kenny Rogers pitched the game of his life, I was listening to it on the radio and over Boog calling the game I could hear the crowd chanting "Ke-nny, Ke-nny" as he fanned the "lineup that couldn't be beat."

I'm not even a Tigers fan and I got goosebumps.

Everyone has heard of J.R.R. Tolkien and Lord of the Rings.
You probably have read at least one of the books or The Hobbit at some point in your life.
Maybe you were that guy who dressed up like Frodo and went to the midnight showing when the movies came out.

But have you read The Silmarillion?

The Silmarillion is to Lord of the Rings as Rocky Balboa is to Tommy Gunn in Rocky 5. Normally I refuse to acknowledge that this movie was ever made because I am a proud Rocky fan and Rocky 5 is just an all out embarrasement - there is no way around it. The budget was too low, the timing wasn't right, Stallone was too old and the plot was too ridiculous. I spend a lot of the movie looking down at my feet in akwardness. The movie never should have been made, they should have stopped with 4.

But it works for illustration.

In Rocky 5, Balboa can't fight anymore because of brain damage he suffered at the hands of the giant Russian he beat in the epic fight of Rocky 4. But Rocky can't stay away from the ring and he agrees to train the upstart boxer Tommy Gunn and eventually turns him into a world champion but in his success Gunn never gives any credit to Balboa and eventually turns his back on him which leads to the showdown at the end.

It's a stretch but Enter the Silmarillion.

LOTR is the greatest fiction series ever written - its an awesome epic. The movies made millions. Millions have read the books, but often people haven't even heard of The Silmarillion. The Silimarillion explains how everything began - it explains the lore of middle-earth, the origin of all the races, it explains the language Tolkien invented when writing the series (by the way who invents a language? Amazing). It makes LOTR. Without it's history, LOTR doesn't come to life. Without Balboa there is no Tommy Gunn.

It's time the book gets it due.

If for no other reason, read the book out of respect for one of the world's greatest writers. This is my second time through and there are times still where I have to put the book down and think to myself: this is a masterpiece written by a man of unparalleled genius. People simply don't write like this anymore.

And the thing with good art is that ultimately it gives credit and points right back to the Artist whose fingerprints are upon us. The beauty of the book moves me and ultimately makes me more impressed with the God who molded the genius of a man like Tolkien and allowed him to fashion his art.

In our fast food, pragmatic-knowledge driven culture we should all more often just stop and read a book - not to learn so that we can spit off facts and feel smart but just to appreciate beauty and the God whose handiwork it ultimately harkens back to.

I recommend The Silmarillion as a good way to start.

"The Silmarillion is both Tolkien's first book and his last, and the core of his imaginative work that underlies all his writings about Middle-earth. Tolkien began The Silmarillion in 1917 and worked on it, changed it, and continued it throughout his life. Edited by his son, Christopher Tolkien, the book finally appeared four years after the author's death, in 1977. "