Once upon a time, a junkman had a dream...

With the passing of both Andy Griffith and Neil Armstrong this summer, this film has been at the top of my mind lately. I just rewatched it (along with several episodes of the mediocre spin-off TV series) during my vacation last week. Here's the whole thing:



I remember watching "Salvage" when it aired on TV, my best friend and I spread out in our sleeping bags on the living room floor with popcorn and cheap-o candy, being fascinated with the special effects and the thought that, darn it, this was possible.

Y'know, the 1970s get a bad rap for being a time of malaise and diffidence for America, but that's not how I remember them. In 1979, we were three years past the rah-rah of the bicentennial and still confident with the feeling that America could do anything it wanted to. The Cold War was a background fact of life, but the nihilism that would shape the 1980s hadn't affected us pre-teens yet. In that world, a junkman could still use his know-how and moxie and go to the moon. And if anyone could do it, it would be Andy Griffith. Everybody else remembers him as Sheriff Taylor or Matlock, but to me, he'll always be Harry.

Didn't you suspect as much?

He's hanging out with Elvis.

Hey Ryan-haters!

Amish population increasing

Let's see... they have sex that isn't sterile, raise their children with a strong faith structure, and live out what they believe under the surface as well as on it. And they're flourishing. Could there be a connection there?

Nah.

Akubra tip to Tim Challies.

Comments should be working now

But I still haven't figured out how to import the old ones from Echo. Let me know if the new system gives you grief.

Prayers for a shepherd

Cardinal George, the brilliant former bishop of Yakima who went on to some obscure place called Chicago, has had his second cancer diagnosis. We need more leaders like him.

So where's the problem?

Our elders are perfectly copacetic with sucking up all the resources and leaving us to clean up the mess and pay the bills. After all, isn't that why they let some of us live to be born?

Not dead yet!

Although it probably looks that way. Bit by bit I'm resurrecting my blog. I lost my sidebar in the changeover to the new template (thank you, Blogger!), so I'm plugging links back in as I remember them. If you used to be there, or just ought to be, leave me a comment and I'll rectify the situation. Which reminds me: I need to reopen comments as well. If anyone is still reading this (besides Graveyard Dog - thanks for the holler!), I'd love to know. Boost an old blogger's ego a bit, why don't you?