Thunderbolt

It wasn't my intention to watch the last two Best Pictures within a span of three days, but it happened. The King's Speech , which I saw on Saturday night, is a superb film that has two wonderful messages of perseverance and hope. Colin Firth well deserved his awards. Geoffrey Rush was also deserving of his accolades. His role was less flashy, but it was essential to the film and essentially a second lead part. Unfortunately, awards this time of year are rarely handed out to performances that are just good acting. There has to be flash or starvation or wigs and heavy makeup. I like Rush and shouldn't complain, though. Would he have even been in this role if he hadn't won his own Academy Award? And what did he win the award for? Well, for playing a mentally ill piano player which was all... flash. I haven't seen The Social Network, so I can't be a judge as to which film is the "best" picture. But I've reached a point that I don't care. Any mov...

Hello again, It’s that time of the year when we once again reach out to our friends and family to help support us in our quest to find an end to cystic fibrosis. Each year, our family walks in Great Strides, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s 5K Walk-A Thon, in support of our son, Jacob, now nine-years-old, and all people who suffer from this life threatening illness. As you may know, Cystic fibrosis is an inherited chronic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system of about 30,000 children and adults in the United States (70,000 worldwide). A defective gene and its protein product cause the body to produce unusually thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs and leads to life-threatening lung infections. It also obstructs the pancreas and stops natural enzymes from helping the body break down and absorb food. Because of the illness Jacob, must sit through at least two daily breathing treatments and take an assortment of oral medications, including enzyme pills with each meal. We’...

It's been quite some time since I've written a blog entry here at thunderbolt, I fear that I've questioned what worth I have in adding my voice to the blogosphere. Anything I wanted to get out of me usually wound up in the Basement Songs posts over at Popdose, so what else could I really say? Today I have wonderful news I want to share. This week the Cf Foundation made a reamrkable announcement that has spiked the hope of every CF parent. I'd rather give you a link to the NY Times article than to try and explain it myself. So here it is: http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/23/vertex-says-cystic-fibrosis-drug-helped-patients-breathe-easier/ Pretty exciting! Another reason I haven't written much has been my efforts to get my first novel complete. After two years of writing, though, I sent it off to NY in hopes that it will get read by a publishing company and stir up some interest in my skills as writer. With the manuscript out in the world, it seems like ...

One of the reasons I've been so reluctant to add new posts is the spam comments I've been receiving on thunderbolt. I haven't figured out how to delete them, so I guess I'm doing a service for any of my ten readers who are into Asian porn. Enjoy! Yesterday I decided to run 6.5 miles to determine whether I might be able to handle a half marathon in November. I have been thinking about running the Santa Clarita half for a couple of weeks. I need some sort of goal. Lately I've been feeling kind of down about myself and the lack of things happening in my professional career. Suddenly it hit me that maybe what's missing is that physical drive that keeps me motivated to get up every morning to run. Thus, entering a race came to mind. For over a year, now, I have wanted to challenge myself to run a half marathon, and by run I mean not doing a run/walk method. I mean I want to see if I can run without stopping. That's my goal and yesterday when I finished 6.5, which...

Matt’s parents took us to see Huey Lewis and the News in the summer of ’84. Read the rest here.

Working on the latest Basement Song and I've now listened to "Baby" by Justin Bieber over 15 times. The song actually gets better, especially Ludacris' rap in the middle. What have I become?!

Another Saturday at the beach, yesterday. Not much to report except that I'm getting used to the whole "do nothing and listen to the waves" aspect of what the beach experience is supposed to be. I've been reading Lonesome Dove this summer and even though I picked the book up is spurts yesterday, I managed to get through 50 some pages and still retain what I read. The beach up in Carpinteria was CROWDED. I can't recall the last time I've seen that many families hanging out and enjoying the coolness of the water breeze. On the way home we blew a tire on the van. Just like last year's experience with Mom and Dad, the spare had to be put on with traffic speeding by in intervals. It was nerve racking, but there was also this rush of adrenalin that made me feel useful for a change. Luckily I had the experience from last summer to get me through last night's excitement rather quickly. Believe it or not, I didn't slip out any obscenities except for once,...