Uncool History - Team of Rivals

Jeff's Uncool history series continues with a look back Abraham Lincoln's early presidential history.

"Team of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

There has been about a bizillion books written about Abraham Lincoln but I kind of feel like this one is a very appropriate one for today's times. In all off these modern political wranglings about partisanship and non-partisanship most of what you see today is all a bunch of bunk. It's all talk. What's cool about 'Team of Rivals' is that Abraham Lincoln actually did it...

The gist: When Lincoln was elected, that was pretty much the final straw that started the Civil War. Nobody thought the dude was all that. But he did something that few have done before or since: He brought in the smartest, best people at their jobs, even if they were his enemies. He brought into his cabinet THREE guys he had run against and beaten in the presidential election. Imagine if Barack Obama had brought in not only Hilary Clinton but also John McCain and Sarah Palin. It was a gutsy move and it took all of his efforts to coral it and make it work.

Fun book to read that gives a very nice picture of presidential politics back in the day...

Uncool Music Playlist - Styx "Lady"

The Uncool hits keep on rolling.. Live, from Jeff's iPod it is #2 on his most played list "Lady" by Styx. I like the song, but #2? I think there must be a technical glitch in the counting software. Or I'm a goober.

Super Bowl XLIV Prediction - Choices, Choices

I am not pleased that my beloved Ravens lost to Indy in the NFL playoffs so I am not pleased that they are in the Super Bowl. Generally, at this point I give some whacky prediction about how I predict I will not watch the Super Bowl but will watch some other Uncool thing. But the more I thought about (with the rain and all) the more I realized I was probably going to watch the Super Bowl.

Then my wife informed me we have a home Bible fellowship meeting on that night. So now the conflict really starts. Do I ignore the fact that I really don't want to watch the game and whine about missing the Super Bowl for home Bible fellowship? Or do I take my lumps and have a pretty funny blog entry?

I'm not sure the other husbands in the home Bible fellowship have thought through the fact that Super Bowl is on that night because I'm sure there is interest there as well. I'm wondering if we are going to do one of those "Every Sunday is a Super Sunday" or perhaps postpone. I win either way!

TV is Superior to Movies - Mad Men

TV is superior to movies example of the month... Mad Men.

When I first broke into television oh those many years ago, there was a pretty strict philosophy that television shows were to be 'episodic' as opposed to 'serial'. This meant that each episode of a television show was to be somewhat standalone and if you started watching somewhere in the middle then you wouldn't miss all that much. This is one of the reasons that genre's like police shows and hospital shows always showed up because you could have a different case every week and maintain rules of the show without having an ongoing story.

Think about it... comedies like FRIENDS or CHEERS are all basically standalone. Cop shows like HAWAII FIVE-O and LAW AND ORDER are standalone. The reason was simple: you could build an audience and syndicate a show without a new viewer having to have much pre-knowledge of a show. In my opinion, most all television was still a second class artistic venue. Movies were superior. It was not until episodic television really took hold that TV started to fulfill its artistic promise. This month...

Program: Mad Men
Episodes: 3 seasons, 39 episodes
Status: Season 4 begins in 2010

This is the kind of show that would have very little hope of being any kind of movie. Capturing the tone and feel of USA in the early 60's, it plays on a world that few of us have any idea about. The cool thing about it is how by looking at America through the prism of the 1960's, you learn more about today. Multi-layered, character driven, funny, and fascinating. Like reading a book...

One of Jeff's favorite scenes: the Draper family out for a picnic. Time to go so Betty shakes the blanket off, throwing all of the food wrappers and garbage on the ground - Don crunches up beer can and tosses it in the grass. As the family leaves the park, they pull back to show litter everywhere! For those younger tykes out there, I remember a time when you just tossed trash out the window of the car... that's just what everybody did!

Twinkie: Deep Fried Twinkie Covered with Chocolate & Powdered Sugar

Legos - Yet Another Uncool Hobby

So how have I been amusing myself lately? Legos. Like most kids, mine get these Lego kits for birthdays and holidays, build them, then eventually throw them into the pile. Of course being the packrat that I am, I saved all of the instructions. So now, me and the boys (mostly me), go through the old instructions and try to rebuild the old kits. The big problem is finding the exact piece as pictured in the instructions. What should take an hour or so to build takes a week of digging through boxes all over the house trying to find that one perfect piece in the correct color.

Well... it beats going to the club I suppose!

Uncool Business Card Flashback - Mr. Independent

There was a time when I was strictly my own man. It was pretty cool telling everybody I was my own man but extremely terrifying when it came to paying bills to people who didn't care what kind of man I was. As things changed, I tried to keep the card up to date but it just started looking real... cobbled together.

I love this business card because not one thing (other than my name) is really the same. Different email, cell phone, home phone and company name.

As hard as those times were, there's something to say for being Mr. Independent. Here's to being your own man (at least once in your life).