Keywords by David Yonke

Woody Allen has made some of the greatest movies, from slapstick like "Bananas" and "Sleeper" to urbane comedies like "Manhattan Murder Mystery" and "Small Time Crooks" to provocative dramas like "Crimes and Misdemeanors" and "Annie Hall."

Nevermind his personal life, which has gotten enough negative publicity -- probably some of it accurate and some just wild misstatements. His worst movie, the repulsive "Deconstructing Harry," was made during the depths of his troubles (1997) and for me is unwatchable.
Allen's films are so intriguing to me because of his intelligent humor, his hilarious expressions, great casts, and his propensity to explore eternal issues. I've seen them all and some of them many times.
But a new Newsweek interview shows how heavily his atheism is weighing on his mind.
"At 72, he says he still lies awake at night, terrified of the void," the article says.
And this: "... he knows why he makes movies: not because he has any grand statement to offer, but simply to take his mind off the existential horror of being alive. Movies are a great diversion, he says, 'because it's much more pleasant to be obsessed over how the hero gets out of his predicament than it is over how I get out of mine.'"
This is a man who is not at peace, who has no faith and ultimately no hope.
He says he enjoys life, and I believe it, with his clarinet and his love of New York and Paris and his wife of 11 years Soon-Yi Previn and their 2 adopted children.
I feel sorry for Woody Allen after reading this article. You want people to reconcile their spiritual and physical lives, their eternal and mortal existence. I think this brilliant artist is trying to rationalize the big issues, bring then down to human level and understand them through his intelligence.
That's not how faith works. It takes the faith of a little child.
I once heard a good explanation of faith by Lester Sumrall, an evangelist who is now deceased. He said that to understand faith, think of child standing atop a ledge looking down at his or her parent. Faith is not standing on the edge, it's leaping into a parent's arms, trusting they will catch you.
Woody Allen is standing on the ledge, and, in his view there's nobody there to catch him. Without faith in God, he has nowhere to jump. Sooner or later, however, he's going to get knocked off whether he's ready or not.
Here's hoping -- and praying -- that Woody finds his way to faith. And consequently a peaceful night's sleep without an abject fear of "the void."
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Sylvania, Ohio
Aug. 20, 2008

I watched Flight 93 last night, the movie about one of the airliners that was hijacked on 9/11. I've avoided the movie until now because it's so disturbing, but it was on TNT (in high-def) and I just happened to be channel surfing when it started.

When the movie first came out in 2006, I remember talking to a critic about it. A lot of people were upset and said it was too soon after the event. Some cried in the theater, some walked out. Many expressed renewed anger at the terrorists. Movies have such strong emotional impact that they are unlike books or magazine articles, or even TV shows.
I really don't think I could have watched the movie even a year ago, and was surprised I could view it even now. But time has dulled some of the pain and once I started watching it, I could not turn it off.
It was a powerful film, well-made and realistic. Who knows exactly what happened on that plane, we just have isolated incidents mostly through cell phone and air phone conversations with passengers. There's the heroic line from Todd Beamer, "Let's roll."
These were just ordinary citizens on a typical trip -- old ladies, young men, all of the strangers you see in the airport. The movie did not show any children passengers, which was probably not accurate but understandable.
When they got word from loved ones that two planes had hit the Twin Towers and a third may have hit the Pentagon, they realized the hijackers were on a suicide mission. They fought the terrorists and hoped to take over the cockpit and fly to safety. But the jet was too low and they crashed in a field.
Incidentally, a high school friend of mine, Joanne Hanley, is an official with the National Parks Service and is one of the people in charge of the Flight 93 memorial.
The movie brought the horror of that flight to life in a powerful way. Although it's not overly violent or bloody, it is definitely not for the faint of heart.
The opening scene shows four Muslim men in their hotel room, deep in prayer, preparing for their deeds. It's probably the most haunting image of all, knowing that these attacks were perpetrated by religious people.
Every religion has its zealots but this was such a dastardly attack that shook our nation to the core, and the terrorists supposedly were doing this to glorify Allah.
It's a day that will live in infamy, and one that will have repercussions for many generations.
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Sylvania, Ohio
Sept. 8, 2008

Did you sleep better this weekend knowing the government is going to try to bail out the teetering financial institutions? 60 Minutes had a segment last night about how Wall Street created this disaster and some of the execs who were earning $50 million to $100 million a year are now turning to taxpayers to pay their corporate tabs.
Nice deal for them.
Update: The stock market took a major dive today, dropping below 10,000 for the first time since 2004. There doesn't seem to be much confidence among investors in the government's $700,000,000,000 bailout plan.
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I wrote another item about the movie Fireproof being a surprise hit in the box office and producing a best-selling book. You can read it here.
I see it earned $4.1 million last weekend, which pushes the total grossed in two weekends at $12.4 million. Not bad for a $500,000 investment.
By comparison, Bill Maher's Religulous earned $3.5 million in its opening weekend. The movie blasts all religions and militantly promotes atheism. Even most mainstream critics don't like the film because of its insulting, condescending tone. One critic said Maher did what few people could do: Make Michael Moore look like a nice guy.
The book from Fireproof, called The Love Dare, was created after the movie. It had been a plot device in the film, and the Kendricks Brothers decided to make it a real book and maybe help some people trying to save their marriage. It already has sold 300,000 copies. You need to sell 40,000 to make the best-seller list.
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My book club is meeting to discuss "Blue Like Jazz" by Donald Miller. Have you read it? It's been out a while. It's a sincere biographical look at institutional religion and God written by a disillusioned 30-something who was raised in the church.
I like Miller's personable, unpretentious writing and his eye for nailing hypocrites and charlatans, but he does tend to whine a bit. This book touched a lot of people in his generation, however, and it became a best-seller and opened the door for a successful writing career for Miller.
Update: I just got a note today that Miller is speaking at the University of Toledo on Friday.
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I'm having lunch with The Exorcist today -- Bob Larson, a man who has cast out more than 6,000 demons in 90 countries. I watched him perform an exorcism nearly three years ago and wrote about it, and the story generated a lot of attention both good and bad.
I'm not sure what I'm going to write this time but I didn't want to pass up the opportunity to meet with this controversial, interesting man.
I think people discount him because they don't believe demons exist. I believe they are real, although it's something that is hard to verify, quantify, and/or write about. Unless you're a fiction writer like Dan Brown or William Peter Blatty.
I did a quick Bible search and found 104 references to the word "demon". Jesus certainly talked about them a lot and cast them out of people.
What do you think about demons, possession and exorcism in the 21st century?
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Sylvania, Ohio
Oct. 6, 2008

This would be funny if it weren't so sad... Here's a guy who is living the good life because he happened to hook up with three of the greatest musical talents in rock history -- certainly not because of his adequate but unremarkable drumming skills.
You'd think he'd be grateful that people are still asking for his autograph -- and buying his music and paying to see him in concert. But nooooo... Ringo is quite put out by the burden of being asked to sign things.
Maybe the stock market is ruining his mood. But a friend of mine who writes about music for a living told me a few years ago that Ringo was turning into "a grouchy old man."
This Reuters story that was published today is proof my friend was right:
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Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr has told fans to stop sending letters and requests for autographs, saying mail will be thrown away after October 20 because he has too much to do.

Starr, 68, made the announcement in a video message titled "Sorry, No More Signing Stuff" posted on his official web site www.ringostarr.com.
Wearing sunglasses and flashing a peace sign, he says;

"I want to tell you after the 20th of October please do not send fan mail to any address you have. Nothing will be signed after the 20th of October. If that is the date on the envelope, it's gonna be tossed.

"I'm warning you with peace and love I have too much to do. So no more fan mail. Thank you, thank you. And no objects to be signed. Nothing."

He said; "This is a serious message to everybody watching my update right now. Peace and love. Peace and love."

Starr, who with fellow Beatles Paul McCartney and the late John Lennon and George Harrison, comes from Liverpool, England now has homes in Los Angeles and France.

Starr has released more than 12 albums since The Beatles broke up in 1970, the most recent of which was "Liverpool 8" in January 2008.

Here are a few notable quotes on religion from that great theologian, Homer Simpson, which I found while cleaning out a file cabinet:

I'm normally not a praying man, but if you're up there, please save me Superman!

I'm not a bad guy! I work hard, and I love my kids. So why should I spend half my Sunday hearing about how I'm going to hell?

Dear Lord, the gods have been good to me and for the first time in my life, everything is absolutely perfect just the way it is. So here’s the deal: you freeze everything as it is, and I won’t ask for anything more. If that is OK, please give me absolutely no sign. [no response] OK, deal. In gratitude, I present you this offering of cookies and milk. If you want me to eat them for you, please give me no sign. [no response] Thy will be done.

But Marge, what if we chose the wrong religion? Each week we just make God madder and madder.

Dear God of England, please get me out of this. If you do, I promise to spell the word 'color' with a U, and use the metric system with every cubic milliliter of blood in my... oh, I can't do it! It's so stupid!

Don't worry, son. I'm sure he's up in heaven right now, laughing it up with all the other celebrities. John Dillinger. Ty Cobb. Joseph Stalin. (sighing) I wish I were dead.

Homer: Your mother had this crazy idea that gambling is wrong. Even though they say it's okay in the Bible.
Lisa: Really? Where?
Homer: Eh, somewhere in the back.

The lesson is: Our God is vengeful! O spiteful one, show me who to smite and they shall be smoten.

And one from neighbor Ned Flanders: Bless the grocer for this wonderful meat, the middlemen who jacked up the price, and let's not forget the humane but determined guys over at the slaughterhouse.

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Toledo, Ohio
Oct. 17, 2008

My brother John, who lives in Tampa, was in Ohio last week for a brief visit. I drove to Canton to meet him and his friend Keith at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, where we spent much of the day on Friday -- Halloween.
I had never been to that hall of fame before and it was an interesting place to visit, even for a non-hardcore football fan like myself.

Here are a few photos from the visit.

The hall of fame with the football-shaped dome.

John and I outside the hall of fame.

An early football "helmet" with nose guard, from the late 1800s.

The Hall of Fame Gallery, where bronze busts of all the inductees are displayed.

A bust of one of my all-time favorite players, having grown up on Long Island: Joe Namath.

A sculpture of a football player on display.

Me, John and Keith holding helmets during a presentation on the evolution of football helmets.

"Crazy Legs' Hirsch, a great football player and apparently also quite a dandy. Look at that hair!

John under the football dome.

Soaking up the rays of an overhead "Hall of Fame" light.

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Sylvania, Ohio
Nov. 3, 2004

It's been a rough time for Michigan fans. Sure it's a rebuilding year but that doesn't necessarily mean you have to be humiliated! Losing to Toledo was bad enough, but to get blown out by Ohio State yesterday just added insult to injury.
Real fans stick through their team through thick and thin, but this "thin" stuff has been going on for too long.
I can't wait for the basketball season to start. At least my precious Dukies always give us a good show, and most of the time a great show.
I couldn't believe Rich Rodriguez, Michigan's new head coach, said the Ohio State game was just another game.
It's just a game in the way the Super Bowl is just a game, or the World Series is just a game. All sports are just a game but some are more important than others, Richie my friend. Wake up and learn how to coach!
It just shows how out of touch Rodriguez is with the history and drama and intensity of this unparalleled rivalry.
I missed this but my daughter Dana said when Rodriguez was interviewed by ESPN shortly before the game he compared it to the Lion King movie. What a joke.
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Nov. 23, 2008
Sylvania, Ohio