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Stream Weaver
Three of the items purchased with an Amazon.com gift certificate that I got for Christmas were Instant Videos. Two were movies that were on my wish list for a long time: “Shaun of the Dead” and “Stormy Weather.” The third was a black-and-white episode of “The French Chef” in which Julia Child cooked lobster.
The hassle of connecting a laptop to my television in order to watch “Sherlock Holmes” inspired me to click another link on Amazon. Set-top boxes and certain newer model televisions can be connected to the Internet and can play Amazon videos. The Sony SMP-N100 is currently on sale for less than $50 online and at several retailers.
I had $20 in cash and a $30 gift card to a big box store, which I decided to spend on the streaming video box while Frank Jr. is still home and available to help me hook it up. The only disappointment was that the store would not let me use their coupon in the Knox County School Coupon Book because the item I wanted was on sale. I will probably never use the coupon, because I can’t think of one thing I would buy there that wasn’t on sale.
In addition to Amazon Instant Videos, the SMP-N100 has pre-programmed links for podcasts from NPR and other sources, free videos from Crackle and YouTube and many more that I haven’t tried yet.
It was relatively easy to use the device to log-in to my Amazon and YouTube accounts. I showed Frank Jr. a couple of funny Einstein Simplified videos, including my current favorite in which Dave Fennell is trying to get Aaron Littleton to guess “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.”
The Brew Crew
Kim Leslie came down the stairs as soon as I arrived at the Smoky Mountain Brewery. Lauren, the manager on duty, smiled and said she had given Kim one of the same buzzers used to tell patrons their table was ready. When I gave my name at the hostess stand, Lauren activated the buzzer.
I’ve known Kim for years. We worked at different Washington radio stations but had mutual friends. She is now on the air in Nashville. When I read on Facebook that her family was on their way to a vacation in Gatlinburg, I suggested that they have dinner at the Brewery. I had plans to be there for a live video feed on SMOMOtv.com with Taz Cable.
My blogfather, Rich Hailey, and his wife Lissa were also in attendance. I mentioned them as well as a Twitter message I received from Travis Quick, a fan of the Brewery’s Turkey Creek location. Taz and I were on just as the Champs Sports Bowl ended. I was rooting for Knoxville Catholic High School alumnus Harrison Smith, who was playing his last game for Notre Dame. Unfortunately, the Fighting Irish lost but Smith is likely to play again next year in the NFL.
Christmas Rush
Now that I’ve completed my quest to visit all fifty states, I suppose I won’t be buying many more souvenir Christmas ornaments. There isn’t room on our tree for all the ones I’ve collected so far.
One of the last turns out to be one of the best. The Christmas ornament from Mount Rushmore is of the same high quality as the White House ornaments that my wife loves. There were a few other designs in the gift shop, but I remember being thrilled when I first saw the one I purchased. It looked almost exactly as I had hoped it would.
Holmes for the Holidays
Before going to see “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” I wanted to see the previous Robert Downey, Jr. film in the series. My family saw “Sherlock Holmes” in the theatre without me. I hadn’t gotten around to seeing it, even though it had aired on some of the movie channels we get.
I assumed the movie would still be available via the cable system’s OnDemand menu but it was not. My daughter tried using the Wii to access her Netflix account but they were having some sort of maintenance issues on Monday. Eventually my wife rented “Sherlock Holmes” from Amazon.com for 99¢ and used a VGA cable to put the movie on our TV. For audio, we used some speakers from an old desktop computer.
I’m glad we made the extra effort because I actually liked the first movie better. “Game of Shadows” had more action, especially with people jumping on and off trains and with fight scenes. Sherlock’s fighting skills reminded me of Chuck Bartowski accessing the Intersect. I would have preferred more scenes of Holmes looking at clues and deducing what they meant, like in the first film.
The character played by Rachel McAdams inspired me to look on my Kindle for a Sherlock Holmes story featuring Irene Adler. When I got my Kindle, one of the first books I downloaded was a free copy of “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.” It wasn’t difficult. “A Scandal in Bohemia” was the first story in the book.
According to my newly-arrived program guide from East Tennessee PBS, they are planning to repeat the BBC’s excellent modern-adaptation of “Sherlock” on January 15 and 29. New episodes of the mini-series are due to air in May.
This Bud’s for You
One of the best free things to do in St. Louis is to take the Budweiser Brewery Tour. My family and I finally took the tour last week. It is infinitely better than the Ben & Jerry’s factory tour in Vermont and not just because you get two free beers at the end. You get to see actual beer being made, not a movie and a replica of the equipment. The tour starts with an up-close look at the Clydesdales.
One of the more interesting stops is the beechwood aging cellar. The beechwood chips, some of which come from Tennessee, help in the carbonation process. I stuck my camera in one of the empty tanks to see what it looked like inside.
Elsewhere along the tour we saw huge brew kettles. The green barrels next to them contain hops that will be added to the wort for flavor. We also saw two production lines, one for bottles and one for cans.
During Prohibition, Anheuser-Busch brewed a “near beer” called Bevo. The Bevo mascot, Renard the Fox, is represented in stone on one building’s corners. I wonder if the sly fox knew some secret way to convert near beer into a full-strength drink.
The Second Day of Christmas
One of the churches we visited in St. Louis last week has a work of art that grabbed my attention. It’s a paper-cut Nativity scene in a reverse silhouette by artist Paul Lodes. The representation of the manger was great, however it was the artist’s signature that caused me to pause.
Lodes signed his name and wrote the date April 19, 2006. I was a little surprised it wasn’t a December date. It made me start wracking my brain to remember the date that Jesus was actually born. An astronomer determined that that Star of Bethlehem would have been visible in the sky on April 17 in the year 6 B.C. The picture I saw was made 2011 years and 2 days after the birth of Christ.
Incarnation Conversation
Christmas is for giving. Christianity is for forgiving. I brought up the topic of forgiveness with Cardinal Justin Rigali during a radio interview that we recorded last month for broadcast today. Rigali worked for Pope John Paul II and was present when the pope was shot in St. Peter’s Square in 1981. John Paul II was critically wounded but recovered and famously forgave his assassin.
Although we talked about a few Catholic things, most of the interview was geared for Christians of all denominations. We also mentioned Judaism, Islam and other faiths. It was almost as if Cardinal Rigali was delivering a homily about the true meaning of Christmas. He also talked about the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, even mentioning the injustice of the Dred Scott decision.
You can listen to the interview via the podcasting link below:
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