I'm Old Fashioned...

Okay, I'm going to sound really old fashioned here...

My daughter brought home her high school yearbook and there was a multi-page section in the middle of the book highlighting teen moms with their babies.

When the hell did that become acceptable? When did irresponsible sex out of wedlock by teens resulting in pregnancy end up being something to highlight? Is there nothing worth shaming in our society anymore?

And that brings me to another question... how does a society support a person without supporting their decisions?

The Lord knows my life is littered with the remnants of bad decisions, so I do not speak from any higher moral ground here. Trust me!

Single motherhood, for example, is a tough thing. Thank the Lord the woman chooses to have her baby instead of having an abortion. Seriously, praise God for that!

But, how do you support the woman who is a single mother without condoning societal single motherhood?

Look, I know a lot of single mothers who will overcome their challenges and raise wonderful children. And a lot of them are dealing with the father of their child who is, at best, only a detriment to that child.

But, from a big picture societal standpoint, single parenthood is not something that is statistically healthy.

Studies have shown that children learn how to live in a family by the example of the mother and how to integrate into society through the example of the father. This explains why further studies have shown that 75% of men in prison today were raised without their fathers. It also explains why children who's fathers do not go to church are substantially less likely to go to church as adults.

God designed the family unit to include man and woman, mother and father.

I'm not judging single mothers. Or single parents.

Really.

After all, being a co-parent is hard enough. Being a single one takes super-human strength.

However, I think we could all agree that raising a child without a father is a certainly not preferable. From a societal standpoint, it is very likely damaging.

But, not supporting those in need, especially single mothers, is also blatantly un-Christian.

I don't have any answers... I guess we should hold ourselves up to a higher level of societal responsibility than we do now, but it never seems to turn out that way any more.

So, I'm stuck back at my original question... How does a society help people dealing with the consequences of bad choices without, by doing so, condone those bad choices?

And this problem is not tied to single motherhood alone. That's just the example I'm using now. It applies to any social ill to which the government assists and thereby enables people to continue to make the same bad choices.

Where does compassion cross over to condoning?

From a faith perspective, we believe that God will support us through our bad decisions in the hopes that we will follow his lead to a higher calling, a more holy life. And we also believe that we will be rightly judged for all of our decisions, the good, bad and ugly.

We don't seem to do that in America anymore. We support and then we condone and then we accept and then we expect... and we go un-judged and are not called to a higher standard... instead we lower the bar one bad decision at a time until our society believes everything is acceptable and nothing is worthy of judgment or scrutiny.

It makes me wonder... when I crack open my grandchild's first high school yearbook, what on Earth will I find highlighted there?

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

This long Memorial Day weekend the family and I took a couple of hours to feast our eyes upon the fourth Indiana Jones installment. And, after a couple of days to digest the latest Spielberg/Lucas offering about oblong Crystal Skulls, I've boiled the film down to one word... silly.

The film is really just plain silly.

Not intriguing. Not trend setting. Not record breaking. Not excellent. Just silly.

I don't want to get too much into the plot, because it will give too much away, but... really? That's the best you could come up with in twenty years? Really? Just how hard did you try?

Rumor has it that Frank Darabont, the excellent writer who penned and directed The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, as well as wrote various TV episodes of the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, also came up with the first real script for Indy IV. Spielberg apparently loved it, but Lucas did not.

So, Lucas and David Koepp put their brains together and came up with a story that really offers nothing original, unless of course you believe that taking story ideas from a whole bunch of previous movies (Apocalypto, National Treasure 2, Close Encounters, Raiders of the Lost Ark) and mashing them into a new movie constitutes being "original."

What they came up with is... well, silly.

However, even the weakest of story ideas, bolstered by the immense talent of Spielberg and the star power of Harrison Ford, suddenly become enjoyable and alive. Add the acting and screen chops of Cate Blanchett and Shia LaBeouf and the film becomes a nice cinematic ride.

Blanchett's character, however, offers her few opportunities to shine. Now that I think about it, she's supposed to be some sort of Ruskie mega-psychic, but I can't really remember her being successful at ever using those abilities.

Odd choice.

And only LaBeouf's character, Mutt, brings any real emotion to the film. All of the other characters simply move through the set dressings, seemingly unaffected by the amazing events that have transpired around them.

There were some other things that still bother me a bit as well. I don't know if it was due to the quality of the film print I saw or not, but the special effects looked really cheesy. I never once thought anyone was in real danger, especially during an extended car chase scene, because the effects were so obvious... odd for a Spielberg/Lucas collaboration.

And the demise of the baddies was all too familiar. The lead baddie and the lead henchman all meet their maker in events that could have been taken directly from Raiders... granted, the actual demise is different, but the the structure, the way it all unfolds made me feel like I had been here before. And that was because I had... in a far superior movie.

So, in spite of its vastly weak storyline and razor thin character development, the film is still a lot of fun simply because Spielberg, Ford and LaBeouf make it so.


So, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a fun movie, but you may find that the National Treasure films do a better job in the genre right now.

Spielberg and Lucas have left the door open for LaBeouf to take over the Indy reigns and that would be very, very cool. He's a great young actor and could bring new life into a growing, familiar genre.

Otherwise, you can wait for the next National Treasure release to get your next historical fantasy fix.

Old Vids

I spent Memorial Day going through my computer and storing a lot of files on DVD so I could free up the space for future projects (Messenger Doc, Purgatory USA, etc.). While purging I came across these stills of projects I was in a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

Pete & Leslie in The Tempest... awful.

In A Common Fate Trailer... unimpressive.

Divorce Court... embarrassing.

Hungry Howies... low point.

With Patrick Wilson in Chase Bank's
Sherlock Holmes Spoof... not bad.

Unfortunately, almost NONE of them are any close to being respectable. Sad, sad, sad. It's amazing what we do as actors starting out... just about anything.

Ugh... some of my past I wish I could delete, like the computer files I purged today.

Little League - Regular Season Ends

As the season came to an end the Cardinals finally started putting things together, winning five of their last six games. The league had a series of games to see who would represent Safety Harbor in the District 12 "Best Team" tournament. The Safety Harbor Yankees took that honor.

The rest of the teams played a season ending runner-up tournament, which the Cardinals won, winning their first game 10-0 in four innings and the championship game 15-4 in four innings. Congrats to the Cards and Coach Gannaway on a great end of the season!

For their troubles each player received a season trophy and the Cards received a runner-up tournament winning trophy. Great job guys!

Gabe got stronger as the end of the season approached. It's been a while since I posted highlights, so I edited the remaining ones together into a pretty hefty file. So, don't even attempt to download this unless you have a broadband connection. Internet Explorer is recommended.

When downloading, as soon as the page brings up the video screen, hit the STOP button (button with a square in it) and wait a while for the file to download. Otherwise it will start and stop as it downloads each small piece at a time.

The entire video file is about 3 minutes. Even in the extremely efficient compressed format of a flash file, its still pretty big. You can watch it HERE.

At the end of the video Gabe will thank you for watching, he mentions coming in 2nd (meaning winning the runner-up tournament) and then getting ready for the All-Stars.

In the video you'll also see Gabe steal second on a walk as well as hitting a line drive back at a pitcher (Christian), striking the pitcher in the face. Fortunately, the injury was minor.

On a side note, one of the qualities I love about Gabe is his compassion. In a critical game he threw a home run pitch to a friend. When he got the ball back he called time out and walked over to the opposing teams dugout and handed the player the home run ball. All of the coaches in the league still talk about that. When he accidentally struck Christian in the face with a hit, he ran over to the pitcher's mound and made sure he was okay. On the rare occasion he hits a batter with a pitch, he walks with the batter down the first base line making sure he's all right.

It's those things that make me more proud of my son than what he does in the batter's box or on the pitcher's mound. I'll take him being a better person than a baseball player any day of the week.

Gabe's really enjoyed everyones guidance and response to his highlights all season long. Thank you for your love and support!

Messenger CD Documentary

I've been asked to document the creation of our Lifeteen Band Messenger's first CD. I'll be keeping pics and progress on the project over at the Sonlight Pictures Blog.

Pete behind the camera.

Jim and Chilton rock the house... literally.

The ever-wacky Tiffany and her patient mother, Cathy.

They're a band choc-full-o talent, so we're all looking forward to the final product.

Nerd Test Results

Inspired by my brother Charles' entry, I too took a Nerd Test. The results are below...

I'm officially less of a Nerd than Charles. I can't imagine what my brother Paul's score would be. Can it go over 100%?

Updates at SonlightPictures.com

I've updated the Sonlight Pictures website (sonlightpictures.com) with a new layout for quick links to each of our current projects as seen below. We'll have more info there and at the Sonlight Pictures Blog.

Stop by every once and a while and see our progress.

Iron Man (2008)

Only one actor on the planet could pull off the lead character of Tony Stark in the film Iron Man and that man is Robert Downey, Jr. Who else could effectively play a billionaire playboy, womanizer, wunderkind, computer and mechanical genius, arms dealer with a soft heart surrounded by a thick skin of self indulgence who turns into a superhero?

Seriously. Name one other person.

To say Downey, Jr. is perfectly cast is an understatement.

The story for Iron Man is very well told, both smart and funny. It utilizes the refreshing Stark character to play against the awe-shucks superhero type and give us a flawed man we both want to be and could see ourselves being, yet know we'll never get there. We identify with this imperfect man who turns his gifts that have benefited his wallet and into something that benefits everyone.

He goes from selfish to selfless. From conceited to a man with a conscious.

Actor and director Jon Favreau from Rudy, Swingers and Elf fame, puts on his directing cap and guides us skillfully across the world and into near-fantasy as man and machine become one in the form of Iron Man.

A fun, smart and memorable superhero action flick. Bring the popcorn, bring the wit and enjoy the ride.

Rays in First Place?!?!?!

Do not adjust your sets. The Tampa Bay Rays are now officially in 1st place in the AL East.

The Rays!?! The once awful Devil Rays, now just Rays, have won 8 of 12 this month and have swept the Jays, the Angels and the Red Sox this season.

After beating the stinkin' Yanks 2-1 in extra innings last night, the Rays moved ahead of the Red Sox by a 1/2 game to hold onto first for the first time in franchise history.


I know it's a long season. I know it's only May. But, this team is vastly improved. Four out of the last five starting pitchers for the Rays have left the game pitching a shutout. That's amazing.

So, we'll enjoy this run as long as we can. Tonight Gabe and I are heading to the ballpark to watch our stud James Shields pitch against Mike Mussina, I believe.

Should be fun!

Merrill's Alter-Ego Identified

My niece, Merrill, recently took a job position in Tampa. In Sunday's newspaper she was pictured twice, once as Merrill Stewart and another as Michael Nielson.

Now that I think about it, that actually explains a lot!

Click on the pic below for a bigger image and see for yourself.

Click on me!

Do any of you have any Merrill Stewart, err, Michael Nielson stories you'd like to share?

Great Sermon

Talk about tough love.... this is a great sermon from a Baptist preacher. A wonderful eye opener, discussing the difference between being "saved" and being "holy."

They say...

"This is a Shockingly Powerful & Biblical message preached to about 5,000 youth in a day when youth are appealed to through shallow and worldly means. At one point in this sermon the 5,000 Youth are clapping and yelling BUT THEN the preacher makes a comment that CHANGES THE WHOLE ATMOSPHERE TO WHERE YOU COULD HAVE HEARD A PIN DROP... As you can imagine, the preacher was never invited back."

He presses that saying "I believe in Jesus" is not enough... we must live a holy life. He says "It is not that you have sinned, but that you have done nothing but sin!" Later he says "It is more than just acknowledging Jesus is Lord. Satan acknowledges Jesus is Lord."

If its true he was never invited back... well, I can see why. He holds no punches.

Check it out. It's worth it.

Creation of Sonlight Pictures

Over the next five days at the Sonlight Pictures blog I'll be sharing the humorous creation and faith journey that culminated in the creation of Sonlight Pictures.

Check it out if you like!

Little League - Games A' Plenty

Due to scheduling issues, what was supposed to be a game Thursday and a game Saturday turned into a mini-tournament. So, we played one game Thursday (we won), a game Friday evening (lost 4-1) and another game Saturday (lost 4-3).

The team did well. The losses were competitive games, which is all you can ask for at this level. Gabe did well pitching and at the plate. I'll have highlights in a few days.

We'll have one more weekend tourney just for fun next week and then it's prepping for all-stars.

Club God Rough Edit Complete

Spent the last few late evenings finishing the rough cut edit of the short Club God.



You can see more screen captures from the edit and info on our progress at the Sonlight Pictures Blog website.

Little League - Cards Down Dodgers 13-8

The game started out like any other... accurate pitching from Gabe, good hitting from the other team and a lot of errors by the Cards. That put us in an early 8-0 deficit after two innings. After that Gabe shut down the Dodgers and the Cards bats started to come alive. Everyone contributed. Gabe went 1-3 with a triple, a walk, a ground out and a strike out.

One by one the Cards clawed their way back into the game, ending the fourth inning down 8-7. After hitting away the opposing starting pitcher, the team was patient at the plate with the next pitcher and made solid contact with the ball, ending up rallying to win 13-8.

The game was important to Gabe because the Cards had not beaten the Dodgers this season, he incorporated a lot more of his off speed stuff in the game and he elevated his starting pitching record to 4-2.

The Cards and Dodgers go at it again on Thursday. The opposing pitcher is Gabe's best friend, Robert. That should make for an interesting game.

Little League - Cards Win 5-2!

After a long drought that included two tournaments, the Cards finally put together a solid game to win yesterday evening, beating the Pirates 5-2.

Gabe went 3-4, beating out a throw for an infield single and followed up with two hits to right-center to setup some runs. The Cards had solid defense, especially the second base play of Phil Sorensen and a reshuffled batting order helped on offense.

You can watch Gabe's at-bats HERE (big file, IExporer)


But the real hero was pitcher Tommy Dailey, who struck out eight, made a cross-body diving catch from the pitchers mound on a shot hit right up the middle and went 3-3 with three RBIs.

So, the win was nice. We celebrated by spending the evening at the family sports bar called Varsity Club.

Funny thing was, the Varsity Club is located next door to the Cinema Cafe, where we started earlier that morning shooting Club God! Life can by cyclical at times.

Club God Shoot a Success

Well, the aggressive Club God shoot schedule seemed insurmountable, but we managed to pull it off.

On the set of Club God.

Everything came together. We were very blessed! You can read more and see more pics at the Sonlight Pictures Blog.

Little League - Gabe Hits Four in Loss

Gabe's new and improved swing is finally coming around. After weeks of tweaking his swing to incorporate his hips more, thereby giving him more power, he's finally starting to make consistent contact.

Tuesday night he went 4 - 4, with two line drives to the outfield and two strong hits through the infield. You can see the highlights HERE (you know the drill, big file, Internet Explorer).

In an otherwise typical night at the fields, we fought back, but ended up losing 13-9 to the Oldsmar Indians. Gabe pitched three-innings and struggled a bit, but for good reason. He's trying off-speed pitches (change-ups, no curve balls) during different counts... they require a different release point, so, like his swing, these additions to his pitching repertoire will offer some challenges at first, but we're hopeful he'll have it all worked out by All-Stars.

Sonlight Pictures Blog - Update

Don't forget to frequent the Sonlight Pictures Blog, where we're updating our progress on our first Christian short film called Club God.


The Club God short is scheduled to shoot this Saturday, May 3rd and stars Brian Shea and John Snell.


On the blog you can read about how to make Do-It-Yourself (DIY) lights and Props being used for Club God and future projects.


After Club God, we'll be shooting a six-part Christian web comedy series called Purgatory, USA. It's a very funny comedy about a young girl, Nikki (played by Dorothea Bauer) who must spend the summer with her flaky cousin, Babs (played by Tiffany Ross).

The Purgatory, USA script is already written and we've had a successful read-thru... we'll have more on that in a few weeks.

I'll be keeping the blog updated with all of our busy work this summer, so stop by and make the Sonlight Pictures Blog one of your favorites.

Fox News Promo - Update

So, as mentioned in our trip to New York City, while showing the kids the Statue of Liberty we were asked by some people from Fox News to participate in a pro-American promotion.

Well, about two weeks ago we got a call from the producer, Brad, asking us if we could send them some pictures and home videos they could incorporate them into our spot. Apparently there is going to be a website that shows all of these videos... Brad will let us know when its up and running.

So, this past week Dea and I scoured our old pics and old videos and picked out 50 pics and 20 video clips over the years that augment what we said during our interview. I put them on a DVD and sent them up to NY. Sending these personal memories off to Fox News certainly takes a fair bit of trust, but Brad had been a stand-up guy so far, so I'm confident they'll be used in a positive manner.

Can't wait to see the end results.