Dick Allen: Sights and Sounds

This post is a supplement to a post in my sports blog, Crazy Uncle Dave's Sports Blog. Video about Allen and the 1972 White Sox.

1967 All Star Game: Allen homers for National League

Allen was a front man for a do-wop band in the 60's

Holy Hill Batman! The work of Christian Prohaska of Mainlight Photo.

 I have known Christian Prohaska for going on 40 years. We went to different high schools but met through a parachurch organization called Campus Life. We spent a lot of time on bicycling trips and other adventures. Christian is a very talented photographer, videographer and also takes video footage using drones. His You Tube channel Mainlight Photo is amazing.  Of his many videos, I decided to share this one about Holy Hill, as cycling up to this site was one of the many adventures we shared together.

 

Innaugural Holiday Poetry Reading

 A Poem - Joseph McCarthy

I Took a Poet to Lunch Today

Reluctant Winter

Do Bunnies Have Christmas - Aileen Fisher

All Poems written by Dave Roller  unless otherwise indicated. 

Judy Garland Christmas Special (1963)

While researching a post at HSD I came across this Judy Garland Christmas special from December 1963, the year before I was born.   

If you saw the 2019 film Judy starring Renee Zellweger, it may be difficult to watch the Christmas special without remembering Zellweger's Oscar winning tour de force performance of the troubled icon.  

If you haven't seen it, This trailer may whet your appetite for the amazing yet tumultuous biopic.

Dave Out Loud: New Computer

Dave Out Loud Addition Edition

OPV: What's In The Bible: Judges

I have shared this video here before. It was back in April 2016 when I was doing Y is for You Tube as my theme for the A to Z Challenge.

Instead of rehashing my intro from then here, I will just add this.  

My older daughter hates this song.  Because a) many family members use to sing the song excessively and b) many of the same family members sang it even more regularly upon receiving that information.  My part in that fiasco can not be elaborated on any greater than that due to a plea-bargaining agreement.  However, I am not breaking my parole, by sharing it here.  

I just realized that that particular clip cuts the song off after one chorus and leaves out many of my favorite parts.  Since I believe this song is best when listened to multiple times.  I am including the full video here.  But be careful, multiple listening is part of what led to my legal problems.  Can you and your family handle it? You be the judge!

I Am Depressed | Dianna Paige | TEDxAllendaleColumbiaSchool

This Fall my daughter Lucy joined the speech club at school. This surprised no-one as she is a natural performer and attends a  performance arts academy at her High School. At the speech club each student chooses one or more events to perform at weekly meets. Lucy is doing Humorous Interpretation. Because of Co-vid all the performances are virtual. 

 Amy and I both volunteered to help judge the events. We had done similar volunteering when Lucy was in speech tournaments in grade school. Again, the judging is virtual. I am extremely impressed with the talent these kids have. One event that I judged at the last tournament was where students perform other peoples speeches. The 6 I judged were all Ted Talks. While I am certain that I could not share these performances on my blog and would not even think to do so, the source material of theses speeches were so compelling that I plan on sharing some of them here.

 I have to say, that with all the other videos, I have shared here over the years I am surprised I never thought to share a Ted Talk before. 

 I am starting with I am Depressed by Diana Page as Mental Illness is a pretty big part of our family and I think this speaker (and the student who performed it in the tournament) both do a great job of bringing a topic many people still feel uncomfortable discussing and making it a safe topic. 

 As Fred Rogers so elegantly put it ... 

“Anything that's human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary. The people we trust with that important talk can help us know that we are not alone.” 

I Am Depressed 

By Dianna Page

Ben Cross & Jackson Scholz 1984 American Express commercial

There were no olympic games this year. I missed them this summer and became nostalgic about all things olympics. This was compounded when I heard that actor Ben Cross passed away on August 18th of this year.  He was best known for portraying Olympic runner Harold Abrahams in the 1981 movie Chariots of Fire.  

I came upon this commercial for American Express that ran during the 1984 Olympic games. It featured Cross and Jackson Scholz. Scholz like Abrahams ran in the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, France. 

20 | The History Behind Kerry Wood's 20 Strikeout Game

Baseball season starts tomorrow. I hope you enjoy this video about Kerry Wood's 20 strikeout game.

Quick Random Takes 7/19/20

Before the videos  commence let’s review the concept of quick random takes.

1. Quick 

Some of my videos can be rather lengthy. These videos will be me speaking on a topic for about 90 seconds to 2 minutes.

2. Random

When I begin filming, I have no idea what the topic will be. I have a number of topic idea written down that I choose from, sometimes out of a hat. Some of these suggestions are my own, others are from family members. If you like you can make a suggestion by writing it in the comments section. On some pieces of paper I have written wild card. If I pick a wild card I pick the topic on the spot.

3. Takes 

A little double meaning on this one. Primarily I am giving my “take” on what ever topic I pick. That,s pretty straight forward. The second is that I have a tendency to film a Dave out loud and make a mistake, or get interrupted and film it again, and again, and , well you get the point. This can be time consuming and frustrating. So I decided at the outset of quick random takes that I would film two takes and then choose the one to post. So far for the first two episodes , it’s been the second one. I don’t know about this one as I have not filmed it yet. I’m going to go do that now.

1. Picking the topic.

And now Dave’s Quick Random Take

This was also take 2 as the past episodes have been. Maybe one day I’ll share the first takes here. I wanted to also share a link to a Mr. Rogers episode but instead I’ll share this link to him testifying before Congress in 1969 for funding for what eventually became PBS. 

In the video he talks about how feelings are mentionable and manageable. I think that is a profound concept.  I hope you enjoyed today’s edition of Quick Random Takes.  

Quick Random Takes Zoom Chat

Zoom 70's ending                                                           Zoom Revival Ending

                                Quick Random Takes Archive

Dave Out Loud- Try New Things

Phil Vischer Race in America

Phil Vischer one of the creators of Veggie Tales.  Veggie Tales started as a children's video series and did not only contain sound Biblical teaching for children.  It also was quite hillarious for the whole family. 

 Vischer has worked on other projects since Veggie Tales such as Jelly Telly and What's In the Bible.  He also has a podcast called Holy Post which this video comes from.  In the video Vischer gives a 17 minute history lesson about racia inequality in this country.  It is both harrowing and fascinating.  If you are a big Veggie Tale fan, it may be a little disconcerting as at points it sounds like Bob the Tomato is giving a history lesson.  (Vischer provide's Bob's voice for Veggie Tales.) Once you get past that, I hope you are as challenged by this as I was.  

Quick Random Takes

Welcome back to Dave Out Loud  and the innaugural episode  of Quick  Random Takes.  Here is a quick intro and the picking of the first topic.  

Here is our first topic, Chronicles of Narnia.

Meaningful (and civilized) dialogue between adherents of different worldviews

In  researching a piece for another one of my blogs I came upon this gem of a dialogue between Billy Graham and Woody Allen.



A little background, Woody Allen was for a long time one of my favorite playwrights, actors, writers and directors.  I love his intellectual yet self depreacating humor.  I still think that Crimes and Misdemeanors is  a modern masterpiece telling the story of the power of sin and the need for redemption.



Billy Graham became a hero of mine as my Christian faith emerged and grew.  His love for otChrist, his family and others has had adeep impact on my life and ministry.



When I was in college I got this crazy idea of hosting a talk show.  It was the late eighties and David Letterman with his viewr mail, stupid pet tricks and other goofiness was my inspiration.  I planned the show to be a hybrid between letterman and a faith based talk show like the 700 club.  I imagined  that my first gueat would be Billy Graham. On my show  I planned to intersperse regular questions with unusual ones.  So with Billy, I'd be like tell me about your crusades, then I'd follow it up with Do you fish?  How often do you fish?  That sort of thing.  This interview between Allen and Graham  has some of that spirit to it that I would have liked to bring to my own talk show.









I really enjoy the good humor they both bring to this conversation without abandoning their own  positions.  It's hard to think of the late 60's as a simpler time, however I think as far as public discourse goes this is so much better than the soundbites, barbs and gotchas that predominate these days.

Dave in Print

Hello. This is Dave and i'm not currently out loud. This may be first (and hopefully the last) installment of Dave Out Loud without a video.

Recently I revamped my blog Home School Dad.

I am now in the process of revamping Dave out Loud.  The last time I posted here was 1 year 3 months 1 week and 2 days ago.  The time before that I was gone 2 years 8 months 3 week and 2 days.  So I'm getting better.

I figured I needed a plan if I want this new reboot to work.  I think I came up with one.  I am going to start a new feature called quick random takes.  If you've ever watched Whose Line is it anyway? it will be like scenes from a hat,  but instead of scenes it will be me talking.  Every week I'll ask my family members and my viewers to give me suggestions on something to talk about for a minute or two.  I will then take all those suggestions and put them all in a hat.  I will also write random on one of the sheets.  If I pick the piece of paper that says random I just have to come up with a topic on the spot.  After I pick the topic I'll just speak for 1 -2 minutes and then post the video.

The next time I'll keep the previous suggestions and get some more.  Each week I'll make one suggestion of my own and add one more wild card.  I may do other types of videos as well and begin sharing other peoples videos as I have in the past.  I think one of the reasons I stopped posting here was the coming up with ideas part and then also the filming  the idea part.  I hope this will jump start the creative process.

So next time I hope to come back with an inaugural video for the segment. Until then

No, I can't handle it.  I must include a video.  Dave Out Loud without a video is like minor league baseball without kids running the bases at the end. You can do it, it's just not as fun.

With that in mind here's a video of some of my family members running bases after a minor league baseball game.

This is Dave out Loud, going out typing.