Christopher's Ten of 10: My Presidential Appointees

I like to think. Well, I don't know if "like" is a good word, I kinda just do it without thinking (I think about thinking... is that even possible?).  I think about a lot of stuff, tv shows, God, playing basketball, and thinking (also known as meta-cognition) among other things.  So something that I think about, usually once a month, is what I would do if I was the president.  For this edition of Christopher's Ten for 10, I will list ten political positions and the people that I will have fill said positions.  I will also give you a glimpse into how I decide what person would fill which position. Lets get started.

10.  Vice President of the United States of America: Tre Delaura - This was a tough one for me, because the position of Vice President is extremely stressful.  Not only do you have be prepared to act as President if the President is assassinated, but also act as a babysitter when presiding over Congress.  For this reason I chose to hand this burden to Tre.  Not only is he great with kids, but if I was ever assassinated he would keep the ship on course ( and keep my office chair warm) until I was raised from the dead.

9. Secretary of the State:  Coach Delaura- The Secretary of the State must be knowledgeable in a wide variety of disciplines, able to deal with difficult people who don't always listen, and, most importantly, enjoy traveling.  Plus, if their personality might lead our enemies to believe we would handle any threat with extreme prejudice... well that's just icing.

8. Secretary of Education: Tina Webb- I know of no one better to reform the education system of America.

7. Secretary of Homeland Security: Doug Webb- With great power comes great responsibility.  I need someone I trust, with similar views on law enforcement, to crack down on crime in a such a way that criminals will tremble at the thought of encountering the DHS.

6. Ambassador to the United Nations: David Lafferty - Considering that the Secretary of the State, the Vice-President, and I will already be ticking off the international community on a regular basis, I need the U.S. Ambassador to give my administration a kinder, more polite face.

5. White House Chief of Staff: Kyle Hersey-  Essentially my personal assistant, the Chief of Staff is the doorway to accessing the President.  If someone want's to see me, they better get on Kyle's good side.  He'll also be in charge of making sure a Justice League movie is released within two years of my taking office.

4. Attorney General of the United States of America: Maria Webb- Incorruptible.  That's what I need at the top of the Department of Justice, someone firm in their convictions with a high moral compass.

3. Secretary of Health and Human Services: Sena Woodall - To be perfectly honest, I have no idea what the Secretary of Health and Human Services actually does.  But, considering Sena is a nurse and has worked in human resources before I'm sure she's up for the task.

2. Secretary of Defense: Andrew Tyler - aka Risk almost-extraordinaire, aka my Star Wars Battlefront Pupil, Andrew Tyler's military background through his father should help in this position.  Plus he has a creative tactical mind, which should be helpful if its ever needed.

1. The President's Secret Service: Chafin Bryant, Josiah Bryant, Abel Cotten, Christina Webb, Jon Bannon, Colleen Talbot, and ... Dwayne Johnson.  I believe that if someone is not trying to assassinate the president, then he's not doing his job right.  With this in mind, I would need a crack team to watch my back.  Here's why I chose each member.
Chafin Bryant - a) Anyone I can hide behind is automatically qualified to protect me and b) he owes me for stealing rebounds from me while we played bball together.
Josiah Bryant - See previous comments regarding his brother + comic relief.
Abel Cotten - a) He's good at COD. b) he can repair the escape car should anything happen to it.
Christina Webb - Anyone who can kill a velociraptor with a vacuum cleaner deserves to be in the Secret Service.
Jon Bannon - In the event someone trains a bear or some other wild animal to attack me, I need someone I know is slower than me so I can outrun them and escape.  As the Bible says, there is no greater thing than to lay one's life down for a friend.
Colleen Talbot- In the event that I get wounded, I need someone a) with medical experience and b) who stays calm under pressure.  It will be my job to make sure I don't annoy to the point where she would want me dead.
Dwayne Johnson- He'd be the "rock" of the team.  Haha.

So what do you think my inner circle has what it takes to handle the hard problems that every administration must face?  Leave your comments and look for the next installment in Christopher's Ten for 10 (Top 10 PVCC moments) to show up in the next couple of days.

"Do not pray for easier lives, pray to be stronger men (and women)."

Christopher's Ten for 10: Top Ten Moments as a Member of the Albemarle Christian Cougars

In this second edition of Christopher's Ten for 10, I give you my top ten favorite moments as a member of the Albemarle Christian Cougars.  Lets get started.

10. Christina scoring 19 points in her Cougar debut:  After playing on a plethora of sub-par Y teams, Christina finally got to put her skills on display in a winning effort that started a career that would culminate in a championship three years later.

9. Carpooling with the Tylers: Usually two or three times a season the Tylers would be kind enough to give me ride to and from a game, usually to New Life.  It is during these trips that ground breaking news was uncovered; namely, the superiority of the Chalupa over the Gordita (which has since disappeared from the Taco Bell menu).  (Fyi, a Gordita is a Chalupa that can't stand up by itself, IOW, useless.)   IOW= In other words.

8. Beginning and end of the year Cougar parties:  Think family reunion, only with an agenda plus you want to see everyone there.  Also add tons of delicious food (although I've personally never been a fan of the hot-dog/tortilla combination), knock-out (the pre-pickup game warm-up), pick up games, agenda for season or honoring of graduates, and finally random hanging-out.

7. Cougar girls winning the semifinal and  championship games in last season's HSPN tournament:  I was already emotionally drained from watching our JV boys squeak out a championship victory in the final hour (more on this later), the last thing I needed was another game that went down to the wire.  This was almost to stressful for me to watch but what can I say, I love the smell of victory in Lynchburg.

6. Road trip to the far corner of the world (aka Danville): My final season as a Cougar involved both the guys and girls teams traveling to Danville to play two games over the weekend.  Here's a list of some of the highlights of the weekend.  1) Free ice cream and cake courtesy the Johnson's to celebrate Maddie's b-day, 2) a heated debate with Cat about which is more sanitary to lick: a pillow or another human (I'm still not sure how this came up but I'm fairly certain it's my fault), 3) watching The Departed with Dad in the hotel room, 4) getting chewed out by Coach Delaura during and after both games due to lackluster effort (we won both games though), and finally 5) breaking my glasses.  Yep, that's what I call a darn good time.


5. Hitting the game-tying shot to force overtime at New Life: The Bad: Tre had fouled out of the game.*  The Good: We had the ball with slightly over 10 seconds left in the fourth quarter.  Somehow I ended up getting the ball just outside the paint near the right block and I elevated into da air and made the game tying basket with something like 3 seconds left the game.  The Good: We forced overtime, another opportunity to win on the road.  The Bad: We lost.
* I remember nothing except for the game tying shot, and a knowledge that Tre fouled out and we lost.  He might have fouled out in overtime, I just don't remember.

4. Abe breaking the Cougars single game scoring record: In what is still the single greatest individual performance in Cougar basketball history* (and probably one of our greatest victories period), Abel scored 39 points on a Lebron-esque 64% shooting to lead us to a 70-62 victory over New Life.  What precipitated this scoring explosion? Abe had missed our first game against New Life (Tre was also absent), a 24-52 beat-down where Andrew sprained his ankle in the first half, leaving John, Cole, Josiah, Chafin (who had just lost 10+ pounds due to sickness the previous weekend), and I to finish the game.  I suppose both he and Tre (who scored 17 points and shot over 50% from the field in the game) wanted to make it up to us.  

* Christina, while no longer holding the overall record, still holds the girls single game scoring record with 36 points.  

3. JV boys winning the championship in the A bracket at the HSPN tournament:  After a tumultuous season which involved little winning, lots of losing and several flared tempers, the Cougar boys finally managed to win the big win.  Since we were playing the same team we had played in the semifinal game the night before, I was worried that our guys wouldn't have the needed intensity to start the game.  At halftime I regretted the fact that I was a prophet and tried to give them some advice (I wanted to pull a Coach Delaura but seeing as I was only an assistant coach I thought it would be out of place).  Fortunately the guys gutted it out in dramatic fashion, coming back to win in the last minute of the game.  I'll never forget the feeling of euphoria, or Patrick's brothers storming the court while ripping their shirts off.  

2. Sweeping the season series against New Community 3-0 my final season: To say that I hate New Community would be an overstatement, hate is a strong word after all, but I think despise and loathe are adjectives that accurately express how I felt about them.  After blowing them out 58-34 on a neutral site the first game, we were down 21-26 on our home court.  The turning point? First, two of their players told some of our fans to shut-up during a jump ball.  Second, their best player (who couldn't drive with his left hand to save his life) disappeared into a black hole when we switched from a 2-3 to a box and 1 on defense.  We outscored them 29-16 to finish the game and won by 8.  In the final game, we traveled to Sodom and Gomorrah to close the deal.  Even without our starting center, we were able to beat them 58-47 to deliver the final blow.  Our starting five played some of our best basketball during the series. Abe averaged 19.3 points, 8 rebounds and shot 49% from the field and 81% from the charity stripe; Tre averaged 16 points and 8.7 rebounds; Chafin averaged 11.5 points and 7 rebounds in the first 2 games;  I averaged 7.3 points, 6.7 rebounds  and shot 50% from the field while personally escorting New Community’s point guard to the black hole; and Josiah averaged 6.7 rebounds).  Yeah ... it was pretty sweet.  I still remember the depressed looks on their faces after that last game.  Hehehehe…  

1. Car rides with the Cottens: Aka the Chris and Abel comedy hour (or hours depending on the length of the trip), the Cotton’s suburban (and RV for one trip) was where it was at.  Fo’ sho’.  The funny thing is we weren't even trying to be entertaining, it just kinda happened.  It was as if the suburban had drug like qualities and everyone was high the entire time.  Not that I know what’s it like to be high, I’m just speculating. Seriously.  Unless were talking about sugar highs, I have had that many times.  But I digress.  Anyway, those were good times lol (lots of laughs not laughing out loud or lots of love or lying on lavatory).  With that being said, I don’t think the RV had the same mystical energy the suburban did because I didn't have nearly as a good a time on it as I did the suburban; although, that might have more to do with the speech I was forced to write for a PVCC class during the trip than anything else.  We may never find out.    

Christopher's Ten for 10: Top Ten Pros and Cons About Being Home-schooled.

This is a kinda truthful, kinda joking list of ten pros and cons of being home-schooled.  They are in no particular order...

Pro 10. Tiny Class Sizes - Why? The smaller the class, the more one-on-one interaction with the teacher. Plus you're usually the class valedictorian.
Con 10. Tiny Class Sizes - Why? Being valedictorian means diddly-squat.

Pro 9.  You can teach yourself some stuff - Why? Don't need to listen to a lecture telling you how to do homework that you could be doing as you read the textbook.
Con 9. You can teach yourself some stuff - Why? A) you can get distracted since your alone and B) you have no one to commiserate with about the uselessness of the lecture.

Pro 8. Flexible learning schedule
Con 8. More accountability and time management needed.

Pro 7. You can do school in your pajamas (although you can also do this at PVCC, lol)
Con 7. You get lazy in your pajamas.

Pro 6. Less interaction with people with foreign germs = getting sick less.
Con 6. When someone in the family does get sick, quarantine is almost impossible.

Pro 5. You don't have to take the SATs (Sometimes)
Con 5. You have to take the SATs (Sometimes)

Pro 4.  Well-versed in talking/having conversations with adults.
Con 4.  Harder to relate to people your age who were not home-schooled.

Pro 3. Random days off- Why? Perfect for spontaneous field trips.
Con 3. No snow days. - Do I really need to explain this?

Pro 2. Less  exposure to foreign substances i.e. drugs, cigarettes, and alcohol.
Con 2. More exposure to natural substances i.e. "bodily matter" i.e. diapers.

Pro 1. Spending time with the fam.
Con 1. Overexposure to the fam.

Man of Steel Review - Spoiler-Free!!! (ish)

Before I start my Man of Steel review, I have some big news to announce.  First, this is my fortieth post ( Thank you, thank you, please hold the applause).  Any who, this means that I'm ten posts away from the big five 0.  So these last 10 posts (including number 50) will be Christopher's 10 for 10: My top ten favorite things for 10 different categories.  I haven't nailed down all ten categories yet, so feel free to let me know if you have any suggestions. In addition, I plan to ask my faithful followers what their favorite posts are, so if you don't remember anything I have two comments: 1) dishonor on you, and dishonor on your cow and 2) there's an archives for a reason.  Click on it. Read it. Use it.   Well that's all for the announcements, now for the man event.

MAN... 

OF... 

STEEL... 

THE REVIEW

Synopsis:  The planet Krypton is about to explode. General Zod (played by Michael Shannon), the supreme leader of Krypton's military attempts to overthrow the current administration  in order to institute new leadership in a desperate move to save the planet.  He and his fellow conspirators fail and are banished to their prison, the Phantom Zone. Meanwhile, Jor-el (Russell Crowe) and his wife Lara (Ayelet Zurer) send their son Kal-el to Earth to escape the planet's fate.  The planet explodes, releasing Zod and his fellow prisoners, Kal-el's space ship crashes in Kansas, and then we learn about Clark's struggles to live on earth with powers through a series of flashbacks as the main story line introduces us to an adult Clark ( Henry Cavill) who is helping people and searching for his origins.  In addition, Lois Lane (Amy Adams) is searching for a mystery hero, against the advice of her editor, Perry White (Laurence Fishburne).  As you can imagine, Zod and his peoples arrive on Earth searching for the last son of Krypton, the Military gets involved, and Superman must earn the trust of the military all while being thrown into IHOPs and skyscrapers by the invading Kryptonians.  

 (17%) Music: 

Best Tracks: "Goodbye My Son" - Starts out soft and then comes to an emotional crescendo; "I Will Find Him" - Intense and gripping, "Tornado" - Invokes the urgency of the scene going on, "You Die Or I Do" and "If You Love These People"- Playing at the climax of the film, these tracks carry the emotional weight of all the stakes that been created in the past two hours of the film, "What Are You Going To Do When Your Not Saving The World?" - The Superman theme, this is a song you won't easily forget (nor will you want to).

This score is fantastic and the music compliments the plot perfectly.  9.5 

2. (20%) Acting: 

Michael Shannon had a quite intensity that made Zod intimidating before he even threw a punch.  Just like I'll never forget Terrence Stamp saying "Kneel before Zod," in the old films, I'll never forget Shannon saying (or yelling) "I will find him!!".  Henry Cavill is Superman, nuff said.  Amy Adams was terrific as Lois, Kevin Costner and Diane Lane were a great Jonathan and Martha Kent, some of my favorite scenes from the movie are just Clark and Martha scenes.  Russell Crowe.... needless to say, I have no need for Marlon Brando. Ever.

10

3. (18%) Plot: 

I thought the plot of the film was very well thought through, everything that happens in the second half of the film has a foundation in events and decisions made in the first half.  9.5

4. (21%) Execution:

Aside from one minor mistake involving the laws of physics in the film's climax, I thought the plot was executed very well.  I know some critics didn't like the pacing of the film, but I thought it was necessary in order to include everything that needed to happen.  I also liked that instead showing young Clark growing up in a linear fashion, they only show flashbacks to points in his life that had a direct relevance to a choice or decision he either had made, or would make later on in the movie; I hope they continue to use the format for the sequels, slowly revealing more of his childhood. Plus I'm for whatever gets Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as much screen time as possible.
9.5

5. (8 %) First Reaction:
Ironically, I liked Man of Steel better the second time than the first.  I think it was because I was able to soak in and really understand what was going on, as opposed to being awestruck like I was on opening night.  Nevertheless, I won't adjust my score.  9.25

6. ( 8%) Comic book-ness -
Superman was punched through a building.  That automatically got it a 9, so everything else was just frosting.  On a more serious note, the special effects in this film are incredible, Krypton looks amazing and the action sequences depict what would actually happen if two super-powered titans actually fought in the middle of big city.  And the flying..... man, I wanna fly so bad!!10

7. (8%) Faithfulness to source material-  

This is a bit of a tricky category to use because for any reviewer, including myself, it depends upon which source material you've read/seen.  There are many incarnations of Superman throughout the comics, tv shows, and movies, both animated and live action.  Now, I've read a plethora of comments by fans who say that the Superman depicted in Man of Steel isn't their Superman.  While I'm not going to doubt their love of Superman, its not my place to do so, I would say that the Superman they like is not my Superman based on everything I've seen and read.  Essentially, it comes down to this, the film was faithful to graphic novels like "Superman: Earth One" (Volumes 1 and 2), "Superman: Secret Origin", and a several other stories while unfaithful to others.  It just so happens that I'm a huge fan of "Superman: Earth One" and am delighted to have seen certain elements from the book portrayed on the big screen.  10

The Verdict

Man of Steel is, as I knew it would be once I saw the first trailer last July, one of my top ten favorite movies. EVER. (Future Post Spoiler Alert).  It's the best movie I've seen this summer and I'm looking forward to seeing it at least one more time before it leaves the theatre.  I would recommend this to my friends, acquaintances, family, and enemies.  My scoring system gives it a 96.6 out of 100, which I think accurately sums up how much I liked it.  So for all you have seen it, what did you think about it? Post your thoughts in the comments section.  And for those of you who haven't seen it yet, what are you prepared to do to rectify the situation? 'Cause if ya don't see it at least once.... 

I WILL FIND YOU!!!!!!