peaceful chaos

The End of the Spear

2006-01-18T22:52:00.000-08:00

I find it ironic but important that the new movie "The End of the Spear" features a gay actor.

Gene Edward Veith makes a good point on his blog Cranach:

I hope the controversy will draw lots of gays to the film, where--like the Waodani tribes--they will learn about a Gospel of forgiveness.

Personally I think this is a wonderful step forward for Christians in America. This one act of acceptance by the Christians involved in making this film will probably be heard very loud in the gay community, because they tend to stick together. It's my hope that Christians involved in culture will continue to make choices that show love and acceptance to gay people, because we have to get them to trust us before we can ever minister to them.

Think of it like the woman at the well - Jesus knew the woman was living with a man she wasn't married to when he started talking to her. But he didn't let her sin hold him back from conversing and ministering to her. When we expect gays to recognize they are in sin and repent before we allow ourselves to befriend them, we completely miss the point of redemption and grace.

For more information on the film, check out Veith's earlier post, How Murdered Missionaries Changed the Culture.

Thinking

2006-01-04T10:07:00.000-08:00

The medusa lamp in my office is quivering right now. It is a bit chilly back here, but I doubt lamps notice that much. It seems to be shaking because i'm shaking. Allow me to trace the path...

Winston's foot: ADD and always shaking.
Winston's hip: currently slightly touching the desk
Desk has a computer monitor and Winston's laptop on it.
The lamp apparently is resting one of it's medusa lights on the monitor.

Thus shakage. The DVD is currently Generating Transition: VTSM #01, VOB#5. I think I have some more time to finish my thoughts.

Kind of funny how unrelated events aren't unrelated isn't it? For me it's a subtle argument for design in nature. It always seems that nothing happens accidentally, because we can always dig deeper and find something else. Think about your random thoughts - are they ever really random?

One fun thing to do is try and figure out what my brain [or someone else's] saw that triggered a memory or thought. It's always entertaining.

But everywhere I go it seems there's an explanation, even if I don't know it. Kind of like this DVD right now. I authored the DVD, telling what button to connect to where, how to play, when to play, etc. etc. But when I hit the "Burn DVD" button, I have no clue what the program is doing. But it does it, and it only does it because programmers who DO understand what needs to happen, told it how to make those things happen.

Very amazing. It's easy to pass things off as accidental, or coincidental, but it all too often seems to be a cop out.

A lot of times we want things to "just happen" or events to be true coincidences, because then it's still incredible, we can be amazed at how it happened.

We're afraid that explanation means mundane - if we can explain it then we have less reason to think of it as wonderful in the classic sense: wonderful.

That's another fun thing about Christianity. If I understand explanations of how things work, then I recognize how amazing they truly are.

So if you were to walk into my office right now, you might be taken aback that the lamp is shaking for no reason. Upon learning the reasons, you might say, "Oh, but it was funny when I first walked in," and feel a bit silly for thinking it so amazing that the lamp was shaking.

That's because you're letting the explanation remove the wonder, which is completely unnecessary. Because what if the whole purpose of me shaking my leg was so you'd be amazed when you walked in? And what if I'd succeeded?

If that's the case, then your mind can marvel at how little things work together to create seemingly amazing things. The explanation doesn't remove the wonder, it places it in proper context.

If God weren't real, I'd be let down a lot. I would be amazed at things in nature and life, and then find the explanations. And they would be mundane. Simple little things, leading up to something that just seems incredible because I don't know all the facts.

But God is real, so instead of the world being facts that steal my fascination and replace it with... well... facts, the world is full of designs, plans, thought.

Funny how all my rambles are the same, with different words. I need to study the first scientists, and see what they had to say about all this.

Things that make me happy

2005-12-13T16:50:00.000-08:00

When I was travelling around the country teaching speech and debate [no seriously, i did that], I had a tradition with Drew, my best friend on the team. That tradition involved our inability to sing coupled with our partial knowledge of the lyrics to "My Favorite Things." I'm told the result was hilarious, but we just did it so we could yell "WHEN THE DOG BITES, WHEN THE BEE STINGS, WHEN I'M FEELING SAD!"

Thanks to General Psychology, I know that the tendency to act crazy in big groups is called deindividuation. It's where you are so overwhelmed and in the moment that you do things you might not normally do. I think it's kind of like being drunk on adrenaline. Or those times when I chase squirrels because, hey, it's a squirrel!

Next to me is the most beautiful girl in the world. She's sleeping at the moment, curled up with her head closest to me. I have to wake her up in 4 minutes. Don't worry. I'm not about to make a joke about her not being beautiful upon waking. That's the last thought on my mind. I just wanted to make that clear. I'm not thinking like that.

My favorite thing in the world right now is having her near. I forget that sometimes - isn't it funny how that works? Become so comfortable with something that it seems... uncomfortable? Only it isn't. You're simply having flashbacks to your previous "comfort." And for a moment you think it was better. This is called "hindsight bias" according to my GenPsych textbook. It is when you think the past was better than it was.

Can I seriously think that before I knew this treasure, this amazing person who complements me in every way imagined [i can only hope I'm as perfect for her], I was better off? At best it meant I could go be a guy with the guys and not have to worry about it. And I might not stay up as late on the phone.

In reality it meant I was alone. I didn't have anyone who wanted to hug me a lot, sit close to me, cuddle with me, talk to me always or just sit with me as much as possible. I didn't have someone who challenged me in a lot of ways, taught me a ton of things, and called me out on my little bad habits.

I was supposed to wake her up 2 minutes ago, and I will as soon as this is posted. Sitting here for the past hour as she slept just reminded me how beautiful it is now that she's mine.

Cheesy? Yeah of course - if you're not in love. But if you are, then you completely understand. She's mine, and I'm hers. Only sometimes I fail, because I'm headstrong and stuck in my habits. With that in mind, I'm learning to deindividuate myself from these stupid habits and traits, to become single minded with her. As much as possible.

I just needed to remind myself, and her if she finds this, that she's one of my favorite things. I don't need whiskers on kittens, raindrops on roses, or brown paper packages tied up with string. I have Hilary, and every day is more fun, and exciting.

Untitled

2005-12-13T07:18:00.000-08:00

Ok I know this is old school, but when you're a poor college student looking to give a really nice gift, you sink low.

I want to give an important girl in my life a laptop - as close to free as possible, for her to be able to continue to develop her photography skills. She needs more storage and editing capabilities than she currently has.

An Apple iBook if I've ever heard one... so I'm trying to get one through the freepay site. Let's see if it works. Here's my referral, you don't have to of course, but consider it an easy Christmas present.

Free Laptops

feel free to e-mail me - peacefulchaos AT gmail.com - if you have any questions. Thanks, humble internet.

Coldplay

2005-12-12T09:47:00.000-08:00

How does Coldplay make such beautiful music?

They have the whole package it seems; their lyrics are beautiful but relevant, their music flows so well.

Examples? How does Chris Martin make howling so beautiful towards the end of The Scientist?

How did they know that 3 repetitive chords would have such a powerful effect in Fix You.

How do they make "For you I'd bleed myself dry" such a romantic thought?

Yes, I am continually in awe of the power of Coldplay. I'm beginning to regret that I was unable to see them in Birmingham or Nashville. It would have been amazing.

Go listen to Amsterdam, off of A Rush of Blood to the Head. It's a gorgeous song. Notice how it starts out with what seems to be a sonar ping from a submarine. The song starts out with a down note, a sound of sinking. And it ends with "You came along and you cut me loose."

I want to create stuff like this. You can't not appreciate their talent, even if you don't like their music. It's kind of like calling Van Gogh an amateur.

technorati tags: coldplay, music, lyrics, questions

Hope in Disillusionment

2005-11-20T22:57:00.000-08:00

I am disillusioned with the Christian subculture, this is true. But I don't think I've given up hope, especially in regards to music. Do I think the CCM industry will ever change for the better? No, I think it has a horrible model. But the musicians themselves might not get trapped into "good little Christian singer" models.

Time and again, the people that I find consistently being real in music, expressing faith and struggles and challenges and reality are the singer/songwriters.

It's been awhile since I listened to Chris Rice, but I just hopped on iTunes and found someone with a few of his cd's. Along with the poignant Untitled Hymn [Come to Jesus], his cd "Run the Earth Watch the Sky" contains this song called Me and Becky, and I feel it's lyrics are exactly one of the reasons I've come to this place, in regards to Christianity and "its'" subculture.

Becky has a house on Abundant Life Blvd.
A good name, good family, and butterflies in her yard
Becky loves Jesus and really wants to make Him proud
She tears up in church and she sings her harmonies loud
She’s got a Bible by the bed, a prayer journal, and a fish on the car
She makes sure to bow her head and give thanks in every restaurant
But is that enough?

C’mon Becky, let’s go for a ride
If I’m driving too fast then I apologize
But there’s a world out there that we left behind
Full of souls as important as yours and mine
Looks like a reckless road, and a sacrifice
And I’m crazy scared it may cost our lives
But then I remember Jesus died
So c’mon Becky
Let’s go for a ride

I’m rolling up to Becky’s house on my Sunday drive
I have to laugh to myself ‘cause it looks exactly like mine
I smile and wave at all the happy people strolling by
We’ve got the same walk, same talk, and the same sparkle in our eyes
‘Cause we’re thankful for the blessings, but maybe we could lay ’em aside

Stop Feeding Us Shallow Crap

2005-11-15T22:31:00.000-08:00

I have ranted numerous times about my disillusioned-ness regarding the Christian Subculture.

Tonight I figured out a major aspect of my frustrations. Here's hoping I'm able to translate my clear thoughts into clear words.

Why am I so cynical about Christianity? I ask myself this all the time. Why do I hate things that are associated with the faith I hold so strongly?

The majority of what I see in Christian bookstores seems to undermine faith itself. I don't make that statement lightly.

If getting my spiritual life on track is diagnosable in 10 questions, and there are 5 easy steps to getting marriage right and solving problems and ministering to others, then why isn't the Bible written like that?

If life is good when I become a Christian and praise is all that ever comes out of my mouth, and it's just happy happy joy joy, then how how horrible of a Christian am I? What am I doing wrong, that life is so hard?

In truth Christianity is The Answer because to me, it is simultaneously Universal and Personal. God doesn't lay out the perfect life in His Word, He lays out the solution for mankind, and then provides a helper for the daily struggles.

His Word is not condensible into easy steps to an easy life where you have happy feelings all the time. God's Word has a depth unimaginable by our minds, a richness that invites us to study it, to dwell on it, to soak it in.

Christian Devotions and Christian Books that fill the shelves of Christian Bookstores take away from this. We get one side, we get explanations but not experience. We are no closer to God, we are closer to how God impacted the author at the time of his writing [the modern book].

These books lead to undermining the faith because they provide an alternative to the Bible, by telling us what the Bible means. Christian Bookstores are becoming like the Roman Catholic Clergy pre-reformation: the "divine" messengers that explain what God's word means.

But we don't need that. The commands of the Bible do not require great studying to understand. They do require time to read and build a proper picture of what God desires for our lives, but it is not necessary to know Greek and Hebrew to know that God loves me, Christ Died for me, and the greatest two commands in my life are loving God and loving my neighbor.

I am tired of shallow substitutions that sugarcoat or simplify. I am tired of bad music that is disconnected from the struggles that make up daily life. I don't want to read about how my life can be better, or simple ways to loving God more. I want to be challenged to think, challenged to change, challenged to live in a way that evidences I trust God.

There is so much Christianity in Christian Bookstores, that I just never feel Christ in them.

Once again I attempt to gather my thoughts

2005-11-14T18:23:00.000-08:00

Isn't it redundant to be an existentialist Christian?

I have friends who convince me I should. But why? Why should I dedicate my life to a certain task in order to provide it meaning, when life intrinsically has meaning?

+===+

Someone here at the campus doesn't listen to music or watch movies unless they see a blatant Christian worldview.

I say way to inbreed your thought. Way to confirm what you know. What to make yourself feel prideful.

I'm of the opposite mindset. I dislike most stuff with blatant Christian worldviews or messages. Pisses me off in general. Makes me think about how shallow the majority of people who claim to hold my belief are. How disconnected faith seems to be from life.

I'd rather have to sift through convincing counter-arguments or sly messages, to continually be asking what is true?. I don't due this 100% of the time, but I prefer it.

+===+

I want to make a movie. But I want a camera. I want to be able to just take a camera out, and start filming. And start piecing together films, deciding what works and moves me and what doesn't. I feel limited and tied down without a camera. I have no creative outlet.

+===+

I'm not who you think I am. I won't be who you want me to be most of the time. Except that I will because I am weak-willed and you know that.

Hey but on the flip-side, I'm not really who I want to be.

+===+

I wonder if anyone still has this RSS feed? Or if they ever visit this site anymore... if not then it becomes a nice place to vent.

A History of Violence

2005-10-09T22:23:00.000-07:00

Let me just say first off, that no matter what my opinions of the rest of the movie is, I hate the way they casted the daughter. I didn't like the separation between her and her brother, and I think she was one of the least convincing child actresses I've ever seen.

David Cronenberg, who's films have a history of violence, here is trying to create something out of the ordinary for him, but extremely ordinary for everyone else, at least after the intro scene. We find the film starting with two cold-blooded murderers killing a country motel's staff. When one has to go back inside for some water, the daughter of the maid is standing there crying, and when the gun goes off to kill her, we cut to the aforementioned daughter, who is living throughout the film.

Viggo Mortensen comes in to comfort her, because she's had a nightmare. Completely believable as he tries to convince her there's no such things as monsters, but all the sudden the rest of the family decides to comfort her as well. And that's when we realize that the director wants us to believe this family is the quintessential middle American family. They eat breakfast together, drive to school and work together. Viggo's character Tom Stall owns a diner in the middle of Generic Small Town, USA. His wife works, but we're not really sure what she does [the movie later makes reference to her being a lawyer].

On this day, Edie Stall [Tom's wife, played by Maria Bello] drops Tom off at work. While they are going about their simple, small-town routines, Jack, their son is making the game-saving catch for the recess baseball game. This pisses the main jock off, so he threatens Jack in the locker room later on. He makes a typical skinny-guy witty comment, and crowd laughs, and the jock walks away, still pissed. Duh duh duh, subplot number one. Cut back to Tom, and he's getting ready to shut down the diner for the night.

After this day of work, his wife picks him up. He asks her where she's taking him, and she answers by telling him where the kids are. He smiles, and asks where they are going again. This leads into one of the most intimate, and weird sex scenes I've seen. While nothing is revealed along the lines of other R rated movies, I would venture to say this sex scene is a lot more worse than most you'll see in movies. Strong enough, that I wouldn't recommend the movie if you're offended by things of that nature.

So once we've been convinced that the Stalls are your most typical middle-American small-town family, with nothing to hide, it's time to be thrown a curveball. Only, Cronenberg masterfully reveals it, because even though you know what's coming, you never are sure until it happens. He keeps a good mix of predictability and surprise all throughout the movie.

The biggest controversy I could find in the movie, was the ending. Once the problems in the movie have been solved, the future of the family is left in question. Will Tom and Edie work things out? Will Tom be able to be a good father to Jack? You begin to think this is the real question of the movie, and then the credits roll, and these questions are completely unanswered. It pissed off most of the audience in the showing I went to.

But I find that Cronenberg explores the questions he has, and leaves the ones he doesn't care about unanswered. He spends so much time in the beginning of the film proving that the Stalls are so normal, only to shatter that as the film continues [the film's title lets you know more than I'm telling you, so I'm not giving away key plot points]. If you pay attention to the way the plot develops, you realize that normalcy will never return to this family, so if the director were to try and answer the questions you are left with, the film would become a family drama, instead of a compelling exploration of violence's effects on family, and our inability to escape our past.

Upon re-examination of my thoughts on the film, I enjoyed it. It's a new take on the idea of people running from their past, and it does a good job at looking at violence's effect on family, in many different ways. 4 out of 5 thumbs up.

But I still hate the way they cast the daughter.

hands

2005-10-08T19:16:00.000-07:00

hands
Originally uploaded by derequito.

College

2005-09-22T23:11:00.000-07:00

I don't feel grown up or responsible. And I probably am not really.

But I'm here at college, on my own, living the vida loca etc. etc. Freshman English is the most demanding class so far, but even in that arena I've gotten off easy. Next week I have a killer Western Civ exam [or maybe the next week?], and otherwise I am not too stressed about school.

I kind of think I shall reserve this space for movie commentary from here on out. I'm not too keen on writing about other stuff, and I feel repetitive if I just speak my thoughts.

So what's new on the movie side? Well right now, I'm watching Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, and I'm thinking that I don't understand it's brilliance. Yes Sam Peckinpah is a great director, and yes it's an interesting story line, but I just don't see what it's all about.

Next from Netflix is Gunner Palace, and I believe it will illicit some interesting response from my head o' heads.

Until then :)

Brick Stack

2005-09-03T09:21:00.000-07:00

Brick Stack
Originally uploaded by Computer Science Geek.

I am an indie snob

2005-08-08T13:45:00.000-07:00

I get tired of hearing the same things over again, even if it comes from different people. Even if it's to audiences who've never heard the message before.

It's really kind of sad, to be so snobby like that. There are messages that need to be repeated over and over again, just because they are that important.

But i'm not hearing anything new, I'm not hearing anything interesting. One of these days I'll remember to actually listen to things, as if it were the first time I'd heard it. Then I might start learning again....

Tag Line of an NYT Movie Review

2005-08-06T07:27:00.000-07:00

"The Dukes of Hazzard" is the latest evidence that, for Hollywood studios at least, there can never be too much of a mediocre thing.

Unemployment

2005-07-29T13:56:00.000-07:00

So I have no job. Actually, when I finish typing this post, and walk out the door, I will have no job. My first time in two years to not have a job.

I held my first job for two years. Retail sales associate at Family Christian Bookstore. Boring as crap. Quit that in May of 2002, when I was 17. Didn't get another job for a year and a half, until November of 2003, and that's the job I'm quitting today.

I owe a lot to this job. I've loved it, and it's bittersweet to leave.

I had more to write about this, but now I've got nothing. So I'm just going to go home, and watch a movie.

To the anonymous person

2005-07-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

Who told me to fix my f****** site, because it's screwed up, I have one thing to say:

Get Firefox.

My site is screwed up in IE, i know. But I don't have time to fix it now, and I am the webmaster, and honestly, I don't care, because firefox renders it perfectly.

Interesting Changes

2005-07-27T09:54:00.000-07:00

NetNewsWire has [as of today that i'm noticing, but i'm sure has done it beforehand] started showing updates to feeds. It will show the changes in green, and the previous version in red with a strike through. I wouldn't really pay attention to it, except out of the 5 times I've noticed, one has been from dooce, and the others have been from news providers [IHT and the BBC].

Here's the most recent from the BBC, it goes from honest-but-un-PC, to PC:

South ~~Africa aims~~ Africa's government says it needs new measures to ~~speed up redistribution of farm~~ end racial inequality in land ~~from white to black people - who hold just 20% of it.~~ ownership.

Pretty interesting. If I see any more things like that, I'll update this post.

Potential Contest

2005-07-26T07:22:00.000-07:00

Scoble throws out a contest idea, and I have to say, I'd participate. A photo contest for stock backgrounds with Windows Vista. He guesstimates that the top 1000 would be posted to the web, the top 10 would make it into every copy of Vista, and the winning photograph would be the stock desktop.

I doubt I'd make it, what with the fact I'll only have a 5mp non-SLR digital, and also I'm not too keen on the Windows Vista name. But hey, what a great way to involve the world, your consumers or customers. Engage them, give them a chance to define an important part of the "New User" experience.

Actually what's cool about the contest, is that Microsoft would still have complete control over defining the look of Vista, it would just have a much wider pool of potentials, and the final choices would act as free publicity for Microsoft + the photographers. Cool contest idea. I think my favorite thing about it though, is how non-geeky it is. There could be lots of contests for Third-party add-ons or Widgets for the Peripheral Display function to be included in Vista. But this contest is pretty much open to all users of Windows, a fact that would cause a lot more of my friends to notice.

10 bucks says it never happens...

Movie Trailer round up

2005-07-25T10:44:00.000-07:00

I like movies. And everyonce in awhile, I take the time to watch movie previews. Here's some that caught my eye.

Hey look, it's the Garden State trailer, old people's version. Same band in the trailer, same "show lots of good looking clips to impress the audience" montage, but missing the hot young faces that made us drool over Garden State. But seriously, I like the Postal Service a lot. I'm not too sure about the movie though. [Imaginary Heroes]

I am sure about Bill Murray, and he's starring in Jim Jarmusch's new feature film, Broken Flowers. Bonus points for the film for having a character named Winston, but loss of bonus points for having Bill Murray in a "Man finds out he has a son late in life, and sets out to find him" movie. Yes, this one seems to focus on the past relationships, but still, aren't you hearing Wes Anderson muttering under his breath "Only I can make Bill Murray into the father he never was!"

Love. At any Cost is the tagline for the film and I nearly didn't watch the trailer because of it. But it's from the director of City of God, and it's actually about global conspiracies... Or am I allowed to say that? Could be an interesting take on the "They're watching us" genre, just like City of God was a beautiful new take on "I'm poor trying to make it in the world" genre.

I'm still enamored with the Elizabethtown first look. I mean c'mon, it's just gorgeous. DESPITE the actors.

Could it be a spelling bee movie without homeschoolers? Gasp. Completely not true to life. Akeelah and the Bee.

I think Viggo Mortensen has a rule that he must look completely different from his last movie, before he agrees to a new one. [A History of Violence]

And last of all, who could resist Penguins and Morgan Freeman?

In Defense of Kirsten Dunst

2005-07-09T01:05:00.000-07:00

This is totally out of character for my blog. But that's ok, because I'm trying to figure out what the character of my blog is. Enough meta-blogging.

Kirsten Dunst gets a lot of flack for not being able to act. I can't really speak to that. I'm not a good judge of acting - I focus more on cinematography, directing, etc. etc. The directorial aspects.

But you have to admit, that whether or not you like Kirsten Dunst, she has been in some excellent movies.

From her IMDB page we find The Virgin Suicides, Crazy/Beautiful, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Spiderman [1 & 2], and my most anticipated film of this year Elizabethtown. I haven't seen Wimbledon either, but I heard favorable reviews of that as well.

Let's all put aside Bring it On, and we realize that no matter what people whine about the girl, apparently she has something that directors love. I tend to think it's her cuteness.

If you look at Ms. Dunst, you realize she's not really hot, in Movie Star Hollywood fashion. But there's something about her that just draws you to her - it seems that though she's been in hollywood for about a decade, she hasn't been corrupted by things that corrupt in Hollywood. She seems the opposite of a diva. And directors seem to love that.

And that's why I think Kirsten Dunst shouldn't be getting all the hatin' she gets. She's a durn good actress and she's been in a lot better films than most actresses her age.

What brought this on? Watching the Internet First Look for Elizabethtown. I can't get over it. I downloaded the trailer off Apple and have watched it 3 times today. And I'll admit it, I'd go on a date with Kirsten Dunst.

Stock Photos

2005-07-08T21:02:00.000-07:00

A while back I was doing some freelance graphics work, and I scoured the web for stock photo sites [preferably cheap ones]. I found a lot, but not exactly what was required.

Then today I'm digging through my hosting site's admin controls. Usually I ignore all the inner workings, I just upload everything I need via FTP, and login every once in awhile for it's advanced statistics settings.

And then today I found it. A couple thousand free stock photos for use on my website. A few thousand FREE photos They all are professional and great for web use. Plus clip art, and animated images. I'm still impressed.

Oh, my hosting provider is 1&1 Hosting. Pretty reasonable - $36 bucks for a gig for 6 months, and sign up includes a domain name!

[yes I get money if you click the link. But I would still be raving about the free photos if I hadn't found the affiliate program]

In the Womb

2005-07-08T17:39:00.000-07:00

Grow-a-brain links to a wonderful Google Answer to the question "What happens in the womb?"

You can check out the answer here, it's full of links and quotes.

Great resource for pro-life people, or anyone who is just curious.

Directors top Ten Lists

2005-07-07T09:28:00.000-07:00

Directors list their top 10 films

CAMERON CROWE

1. The Apartment (Wilder, 1960)
2. La Règle du Jeu (Renoir, 1939)
3. La Dolce Vita (Fellini, 1960)
4. Manhattan (Allen, 1979)
5. The Best Years of Our Lives (Wyler, 1946)
6. To Kill a Mockingbird (Mulligan, 1962)
7. Harold and Maude (Ashby, 1971)
8. Pulp Fiction (Tarantino, 1994)
9. Quadrophenia (Roddam, 1979)
10. Ninotchka (Lubitsch, 1939)

QUENTIN TARANTINO

1. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Leone, 1966)
2. Rio Bravo (Hawks, 1959)
3. Taxi Driver (Scorsese, 1976)
4. His Girl Friday (Hawks, 1939)
5. Rolling Thunder (Flynn, 1977)
6. They All Laughed (Bogdanovich, 1981)
7. The Great Escape (J Sturges, 1963)
8. Carrie (De Palma, 1976)
9. Coffy (Hill, 1973)
10. Five Fingers of Death (Chang, 1973)

MICHAEL MANN

1. Apocalypse Now (Coppola, 1979)
2. Battleship Potemkin (Eisenstein, 1925)
3. Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)
4. Dr Strangelove (Kubrick, 1963)
5. Faust (Murnau, 1926)
6. Last Year at Marienbad (Resnais, 1961)
7. My Darling Clementine (Ford, 1946)
8. The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer, 1928)
9. Raging Bull (Scorsese, 1980)
10. The Wild Bunch (Peckinpah, 1969)

there's more, the article is Kind of hard to read however.

Afternoon Links

2005-07-05T12:45:00.000-07:00

Apple is counting down to 500 million songs sold in the iTunes music store.

I'm going to buy this camera. Anyone care to help?
[Amazon]

This thread at A Small Victory has generated very interesting discussion.

Lifehacker brings you How to make Pizza's, a ridiculously thorough guide.

More:

Rolling Stone magazine finds that you can be hip and remain pure.

More if I find 'em :)

Do you make genuine friends in the film industry?

2005-06-29T07:58:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to try and post too often about podcasts, but I couldn't pass this one up. Director Danny Boyle did a special 5 minute podcast in conjunction with the release of his previous movie Millions [review], which came out this past spring.

It's only about 5 minutes long, but he really comes across as a very interesting guy, someone you'd love to have a longer conversation with. Plus there's some brief behind the scences info about how he made the movie.

The full blog entry/article + podcast can be found on Fox Searchlight's page, or you can download the podcast here.

Deep thought

2005-06-28T16:12:00.000-07:00

Burt Lancaster is a funny name.

New Podcast tools

2005-06-28T08:16:00.000-07:00

While this is gut reaction - after skimming iTunes 4.9's podcasting support, I believe that I prefer Odeo more.

The iTunes music store is well suited for browsing music - where the goal is to get to the song as quickly as possible, but in a podcast, the audio is not the only focus. You want to know the content of the show, the authors, and what anyone else has to say about it, and Odeo is much better suited for that.

Unfortunately, Odeo is still in beta and according to Evan Williams says that they aren't sending out anymore invites. iTunes however, is availible today.

Odeo

2005-06-24T20:55:00.000-07:00

For the first time, I'm actually a Beta tester! This means that I'm using a service|program before it is available to the general public. Pretty cool. The service I'm using is the new Podcasting aggregator called Odeo.

Some further detailed explanations:

Podcasting: A mash-up of the words iPod and Broadcasting. It's pretty much home-made radio, the next evolution of the blogging paradigm. If people are interested in what I type, then maybe they're interested in what I'm speaking. Podcasting is an idea that has taken off even faster than the iPods it's named after - which are the original devices that really give it legs. But it all boils down to people making homemade shows based on their interests, and serving them up via the web.

Aggregator is a fancy term for a program/website that pulls all the different podcasts that are available across the web together. The idea behind an aggregator is you can pull in all the shows that have caught your interest and the program will check for new shows, and download them automatically for you. Then all you have to do is add them to the portable MP3 device of your choosing [or not, you can listen to them on your computer too], and then listen to them at your leisure.

Odeo expands on the Aggregating idea, by not only being a service that will automatically download the latest Podcasts of your choosing, but it actually has created separate pages for every show that is added to the site [and any podcast can be added, very easily], so that you can browse different shows, and even listen to streaming versions of the shows straight from the website.

So is Odeo worth checking out, once it goes completely public?

Well I'm still working through the site, trying to use it as extensively as possible. But so far I find it a lot better than any other Podcatchers i've used [such as iPodder, or iPodderX, or even my News Aggregator of choice Newsfire].

I love the ability to surf hundreds of podcasts within one site. Once I find something I'm interested in, I have 3 choices - I can hit Play and listen to the streaming version, I can queue up a single show that looks promising, or I can subscribe to the channel. Subscribing to the channel will automatically add new content to my queue as it becomes available.

Finding podcasts is also well covered - following the same general ideas as Flickr or Technorati: tags and keywords. All shows are tagged, and you can browse by tags from any page on the site. Also there is an extensive search that looks at channels and single shows. The best way to find podcasts at the moments though is by popularity, you can look at which shows have the most subscribers, a great way to find out what is generating the most interesting.

The last thing I'll say about Odeo is I hope the comments feature is taken advantage of much more than it is now - it has the potential to be like the User Reviews section of Amazon or Netflix, which are great ways to find out what is really worth checking out, and what is crap. Very cool.

So far I'm loving Odeo, and I'm sure I'll have more to say about it as time goes on.

Other links:
[Geek News Central]
[Make Magazine]
[AnarchoGeek] [Odeo developer]
[Interview of Odeo founder Evan Williams in Playlist Mag]
[Undisclosed Location]

But, I love you man!

2005-06-24T17:55:00.000-07:00

Anyone else remember the old Jonny commercials for Bud Light? I think those were the commercials that started my family's appreciation/love of Beer commercials. Ever since then we pay attention to commercials, and talk about the ones that crack our crackers, and change the channels when we hate the ones playing. That's how it is. We interact with advertising - but not on the level that that advertisers hope for. We can hardly ever remember the products or companies being advertised.

Anyone else have that problem? The advertising connects with you - but on the creativity|humor level, not the must buy level. Anyways there's been a lot going around about advertising... some people predicting radical shifts in marketing paradigms over the next few years - especially in relation to television advertising. Jeff Jarvis has lots more.

And if you want to just watch some good commercials, which was the original intent of my post, then try here.

I'm back

2005-06-24T14:27:00.000-07:00

I'm back. I mean, I never really left, but I finally got some decent internet connectivity [highspeed wireless] at work, so now I can blog a bit while I'm working. Not too much though. But enough.

To start you off, I give you a sneak peak at the latest Cameron Crowe pic. He has directed a few movies, notably Almost Famous. When you watch that movie - particularly the Tiny Dancer sequence - you are sucked in. You can't help but want to be 15 and on the road with a rock band. It's one of the most beautiful scenes, in one of the best Rock and Roll pictures ever.

I'm afraid that this next movie, Elizabethtown will make me want to be in my mid 20's and in love. Random and renegade and running from one thing to the next, with the girl of my dreams by my side. It's about 7 minutes long, and it's not a trailer, it's just images. Kind of like the Garden State trailer - a cinematic poem. It's gorgeous, and we'll know nothing else until October.

To quote Cinematical:

See something like this is so unfair, like a cliff hanger ending of 24 or a season finale of Alias. So please, save yourself and stay away because watching this will just make you want more. Crowe is like a drug dealer, selling me the euphoric state of love at 24 frames a second. The first taste is free, and now I have to wait four months to pay for my next fix.

The sneak peak is here.

Rufus Wainwright

2005-06-24T11:48:00.000-07:00

in the beauty of the lilies
Originally uploaded by romanlily.

Beholden, a picture of Rufus at the Botanical Gardens in Atlanta. Surely one of the best concerts I've ever been to!

The World's Strongest Dad

2005-06-18T10:16:00.000-07:00

Originally published on SI.com & in Sports Illustrated Magazine

I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay for their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.

But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.

Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars -- all in the same day.

Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. on a bike. Makes taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much -- except save his life.

This love story began in Winchester, Mass., 43 years ago, when Rick was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

"He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life," Dick says doctors told him and his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. "Put him in an institution."

But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was anything to help the boy communicate. "No way," Dick says he was told. "There's nothing going on in his brain."

"Tell him a joke," Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a lot was going on in his brain.

Rigged up with a computer that allowed him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? "Go Bruins!" And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the school organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, "Dad, I want to do that."

Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described "porker" who never ran more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he tried. "Then it was me who was handicapped," Dick says. "I was sore for two weeks."

That day changed Rick's life. "Dad," he typed, "when we were running, it felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!"

And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.

"No way," Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then they found a way to get into the race officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the qualifying time for Boston the following year.

Then somebody said, "Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?"

How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick tried.

Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii. It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? "No way," he says. Dick does it purely for "the awesome feeling" he gets seeing Rick with a cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992 -- only 35 minutes off the world record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the time.

"No question about it," Rick types. "My dad is the Father of the Century."

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries was 95% clogged. "If you hadn't been in such great shape," one doctor told him, "you probably would've died 15 years ago."

So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass., always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.

"The thing I'd most like," Rick types, "is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once."

Issue date: June 20, 2005

I love the Information Age pt 2

2005-06-18T10:02:00.000-07:00

Wednesday I went to a gorgeous concert at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. A sold out crowd all sitting on the lawn, listening to Rufus Wainwright sing and play the piano. I really will never be satisfied with a traditional concert venue from here out. Caitlin and I also snuck in and got a nearly private soundcheck concert. We definitely got our $40 worth of concert.

I love the information age though, because now a few days later, I'm able to hop on Technorati and Flickr, and do some quick searches to find other people who also attended the concert. Never before would I have had that chance, in the history of human events. Romans never had the ability to find out other attendees of the latest Gladiator fights, and then contact those people to complain how they thought the life of X gladiator should have been spared. Nope, never happened.

It's pretty awesome nowadays though. Thus far, I've found a complete set list, a good review of the show, and more!

If I find any pictures on Flickr, I'll post 'em.

I made this offer

2005-06-04T08:57:00.000-07:00

On my other blog, but I'll make it here too.

Recently I found my completely sweet postcard collection, that I started when I was about 13, and stopped when I was about 17 or so. They were a cheap way to remember where I've been. Unfortunately, I'm getting ready for college and cutting down on nostalgia.

But it's a shame to throw away postcards from places like Belgium and Hungary and Mexico and various states in the US. So I'm gonna send 'em to people. Like PostSecret, only happy and more personal.

So if you want a random postmark from an exotic locale (and an Alabama postmark), sometime later this summer I will be sending them out. I'll personalize each one somehow, depending on how well I know you, or don't know you.

If you'd like one, drop me a line at winstonisanidiot at gmail.com

Come on, it'll be fun!

I feel like writing

2005-06-03T21:52:00.000-07:00

I never feel like writing. Actually I just think i'm bored, and I don't want to edit right now, and i don't want to play with Photoshop. And video games are not for me. So writing I am.

Good Will Hunting is a brilliant movie. I'm watching it now and recognizing how it works. I forget all too often to actually watch my movies. I mean, I see them, and when I get them from Netflix I don't send them back until they've played once in my DVD player. But I forget to respect the movie for the directors touch, for the writers methods, for the actors take on the story. I just sit back and get entertained, and I don't like that.

I guess that's the story of my life though, noticing the minute aspects for awhile, and then just ignoring them until I get a wake up call.

I feel like a mediocre Will. I don't have major problems that I'm running from. But I have backed myself into a corner where reason/logic rules, and I find myself time and again running from trust. I can break down barriers of people around me like Draino unclogs your drain... but I never let my guard down unless I feel like it. And that's sporadic, and never complete.

Unlike this movie where Will breaks down, but like Ben Folds says "there will never be a moment of truth for you while everyone is watching" and that sure is the truth.

So where's my wake-up call? What's the thing that reminds me of what's real? My life hits cycles, so that i never feel too bored with it, but I never really make progress.

Look, you're my best friend, so don't take this the wrong way. In 20 years if you're still living here, coming over to my house to watch the Patriots game, still working construction... I"ll effing kill you.
What're you talking about?
Look, You got something none of us have
Oh come on, why is it always this? I mean I effing owe it to myself, what if I don't want to?
Eff you, no you don't owe it to yourself. You owe it to me. Cuz tomorrow I'll wake up and I'll be 50, and i'll still be doing this shit. That's alright, that's fine. I mean, you're sitting on a winning lottery ticket, and you're too much of a pussy to cash it in. That's bullshit. I'd do effing anything to have what you have. It'd be an insult to us if you're still here in 20 years.
You don't know that...
I don't?
No, you don't know that...
...
Let tell you what I think. Everyday i come by your house and I pick you up. And we go out, we have a few drinks, we laugh, and it's great. Know what the best part of my day is? For about 10 seconds from when i pull up to the curb and i get to your door, I think I'll knock on the door, and you won't be there. No goodbye, no see you later, no nothing. You just left. I don't know much, but I know that.

That's just it. I feel like I'm missing something. I know I'm missing something. But trying to take hold of it, to take it as mine, to grasp it and hold it, that's where I'm lost.

I'm dreaming. That wake up call could come any moment.

PBG5

2005-06-03T16:00:00.000-07:00

Could it be true?

Probably not, but the WWDC is next week...

Star Wars, give me some star wars

2005-05-30T19:38:00.000-07:00

Nothing but star wars... lala la (That's from the old Bill Murray SNL sketch, from when the original Star Wars came out...).

I saw the new Star Wars a few weeks ago, but I didn't feel interested or moved enough to actually write about it. From my point of view, what the critics have said is correct. The dialogue sucks, the emotions are not believeable. Natalie Portman is gorgeous.

But of course, teh whole reason we go to watch Star Wars is to see how George Lucas expresses his imagination through the lens of cinema. And he didn't let us down. Some beautiful backdrops and gorgeous expanses. Yet the film was lacking in depth in more than just its dialogue, and Orson Scott Card does a beautiful job of illustrating this in a column on Beliefnet.

via the Metafilm Blog.

The Information Age

2005-05-30T17:27:00.000-07:00

Saturday night: Meet with friends at Barnes and Noble to see a movie. While there, recommend a book, Freakonomics, to a friend who is CEO of a web-based real estate company. He's interested, we leave B&N.

Sunday passes, Monday evening comes: See post with hearty recommendation of the book, as well as interesting impact of facts to you the consumer, on the blog of said friend.

What's even cooler, is I found out about the book via blogs themselves, although the latest Wired Magazine reminded me it had been released.

Apple Prices

2005-05-27T23:41:00.000-07:00

Upgrade from Production Suite to Final Cut Studio: $499

Upgrade from Panther to Tiger: $69

Upgrade to iLife '05: $59

I could spend over $600 just to have updated software. But I won't. But I could.

Ben Folds on CNN

2005-05-25T15:40:00.000-07:00

CNN has a good article on Ben Folds today, briefly talking about where he's been and such. It's here.

Ben Folds is most definitely one of my favorite artists ever, there are so many qualities about his music that I love.

Dreaming

2005-05-24T20:22:00.000-07:00

Kids today are getting old too fast
They can't wait to grow up so they can kiss some ass
They get nostalgic about the last ten years
Before the last ten years have passed
-Ben Folds

So true. Tonight I want to be old because an Andrew Peterson song is running through my head (and repeating on iTunes) - "Alaska or Bust" is about an old man who was dying of cancer, but one day fulfilled a life long dream, and packed his bags, hopped in the car with his wife, and drove to Alask, where he'd always wanted to go. He lived in Florida.

How romantic and beautiful. I want live like that. Songs and movies evoke such emotion in me, but I hope as time goes by, I don't leave it at that. I had a beautiful random weekend these past few days, feeling a lot younger than 20. And I liked it. I want that still, always. When I'm married, when I have kids, when my kids move off. I don't want a lot of talk, I just want good memories. And I think I'm on a good track.

Alaska or Bust
and the doctor says i'm healthy for an old man dyin'
i'm well enough to sieze a few more days...

there were days when i imagined that the clouds were mountains
towering above the rolling ocean
and i was sailing on my tractor
turning hay out on the pasture
catching salmon of my own while i was mowin'

so get in, i'll do the driving,
the bags already packed and in the trunk
so Margie get in, there's not much time
i've been runnin' but the cancer's catchin up
the town won't see us go if we're in luck
so come on it's alaska or bust...

Design is simple.

2005-05-24T20:15:00.000-07:00

The best designs are simple.

If well said, the least amount of information contains the most communication.

Anyone can throw tons of colors and clip art together, but it takes trained eyes to decide what to take out.

I'm learning that, isn't that cool?

Side of the Road

2005-05-13T23:17:00.000-07:00

by Ben Folds

You wait in the car on the side of the road
Let me go and stand awhile
I wanna know you're there
But I wanna be alone
]If only for a minute or two
I wanna see what it feels like to be without you
I wanna feel the touch of my own skin
Against the sun
Against the wind

I walked out in a field, the grass was high
It brushed against my legs
I just stood and looked out at the open space
And a farmhouse out a ways
And I wondered about the people who lived in it
And I wondered if they were happy and content
Were there children and a man and a wife?
Did she love him and take her hair down at night?

If I stray away too far from you
Don't go and try to find me
It doesn't mean I don't love you
It don’t mean I won't come back and stay beside you
It only means I need a little time
To follow that unbroken line
To a place where the wild things grow
To a place where I always used to go

If only for a minute or two
I wanna see what it feels like to be without you
I wanna know the touch of my own skin
Against the sun
Against the wind

More Arrested Development News

2005-05-13T23:14:00.000-07:00

Zach Braff's blog said that rumor has it Arrested Development will be picked up for two more seasons.

OH PLEASE OH PLEASE OH PLEASE!

Random notes (cuz i've been busy)

2005-05-12T22:57:00.000-07:00

So posting has been on the light side lately. And yes, by light I mean non-existent.

Jeff Harrell mentioned voice the other day. In other words, making your blog sound like you.

This blog does not sound like me. I'm trying to be something, but I don't know what. I'll get around to regular blogging soon enough.

In Good Company is an excellent movie. I absolutely loved it, and hope to buy it soon.

I worked from 9 to 10 today. AM to PM. Yeah baby. That plus the wedding I'm filming on Saturday = me making up for two days taken off last week.

Ben Folds came out with a new album a few weeks ago. It's brilliant. Songs for Silverman. I think this may be the first artist I like more as they mellow with age. I always hated rock bands that got older and got softer. But with Ben Folds it works, because damn, that guy can write. And play.

I'm making a movie. It has no plot yet, nor any purpose. But something will happen soon. And then it'll be funny. So far it's simply called "The Winston Movie", subtitled "Somethings are meant for TV, some things are meant for Radio, and some things are meant to be Forgotten."

I think I'm gonna "work" on it a bit.

New blog: Digital Casserole

2005-05-08T11:09:00.000-07:00

I normally don't pay attention to smaller blogs, because my time is taken up reading the bigger ones. But I saw a link to this blog, and his post was genius. It's entitled "What I Believe", and it's just that.

I believe in the power of a single idea. A single good idea, anyway. Frankly, there’s just not a lot of power in a single bad idea, like scheduling “Bat Day” when the Red Sox play at Yankee Stadium. I believe in long, slow downloads that last 3 days. I believe in the designated driver, the fungo bat, and keeping words like gazebo and zamboni around just because they’re fun to say. I believe in naps but not Napster. I believe in clicking Save Document three times just to be safe, and believe in stick versus spray. I believe in waiting for "Best Of" albums and that most outtakes are better than the actual show. I believe that marriage is forever, and the best deals are ones that involve a word and a handshake

The rest of the post is here.

Brilliant!

2005-05-07T11:05:00.000-07:00

You know in the movie Kate and Leopold, how Leopold knows the meanings of flowers and chooses the bouquet based on what he wishes to express?

I've always wanted to know about those flowers. If you own a mac - now you can. It's apparently a hidden bug in OSX. Go to Applications > Utilities > Terminal, then copy and paste this:

cat /usr/share/misc/flowers | grep -i ivy

Up comes teh meanings of Ivy! Try other flowers, just replace teh word Ivy with what you want. That's awesome.

Think Different

2005-04-27T00:23:00.000-07:00

Here’s to the crazy ones.

Here’s to the crazy ones.

The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.

They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.

You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,
disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.

About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things.

They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a
work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been
written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

We make tools for these kinds of people.

While some see them as the crazy ones,
we see genius.

Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Previously posted on Apple.com

Indie Hipness

2005-04-24T23:50:00.000-07:00

As much as I try never to be too cool for anyone or anything, I sometimes fail. It's just fun to be an "indie kid". Too have some snobbishness about yourself.

I hardly ever listen to the radio anymore, and if I do, it's NPR (what can I say, i'm a news geek). Thus most of my music recommendations come via word of mouth or music given to me by friends. Therefore I might be the last person on earth to find out about an artist or I might be one of the first, just depends on who I know and when i talk to them.

My original introduction to the Shins came last june, on a roard trip up to Virginia. I thought they were good, but when you're in a vehicle with 5 other people, you don't really get to listen to the music.

Time passes, and Garden State comes out. The soundtrack is on fire, the movie is pretty cool, and The Shins take off, because Natalie Portman (who is probably the cutest actress today, imho) says they'll change your lives. And immediately the Shins lose their indie appeal... bummer. But I'm still not too cool for them.

Unfortunately some people are, behold as Cinecultist talks about the shins, hip movie soundtracks, and indie appeal. It's a pretty funny and true read.

Millions

2005-04-24T23:28:00.000-07:00

This was a wonderful film. Takes you right into a kid's imagination, and you know I'm all about that! I can't do it justice, because I'm not really a good movie critique writer.

But it has my full-hearted recommendation - it's hilarious, sweet, inspiring, and just look at that kid. I mean he's cute.

Plus St. Peter's retelling of the feeding of the 5000 is hilarious!

"I said 'Miracle' and for a minute I thought I fooled 'im, but then I realized that a miracle had really taken place that day... do you understand what I'm saying?"
"No, not really"
"I'm talking about you, you're that boy."
"Now I'm really lost."

5 stars at the moment :)

[edit: i could care less about C2, the new new coke, but I absolutely LOVE their advertising. I want to Break Free by Queen, while adults ride through school halls on bicycles? There's something just invigorating about that. But I still don't care about C2.]

Pimp My Ride

2005-04-22T16:29:00.000-07:00

You know, I'm not a really big fan of Xzibit (the rapper)... and I could generally care less about the cars with all the jazzed up paint jobs and kickin' speakers.

But I have to say MTV's show "Pimp My Ride" is brilliant. Behold:

1) Brilliant self-promotion for host Xzibit

2) Brilliant promotion for West Coast Autos, the shop that does all the pimping

3)New or completely updated car for someone who can't afford one. And they are usually completely crap cars, for people who aren't necessarily bums.

4) Engaging to watch, because the people's reactions are genuine. Actually the whole show just has a genuine feel to it - even though it can be corny and cheesy and some of the additions to the cars are completely ludicrous.

Needless to say I'm addicted, but I'm not hooked...

Get me there...

2005-04-21T20:55:00.000-07:00

Can someone get me to the GodBlogCon?

That would be beautiful. I already have friends to stay with out there... as quite a few of my friends are students in the Torrey Honors Program :)

Some discussion regarding the Catholic Church

2005-04-19T22:21:00.000-07:00

A friend called today asking about can there be a Catholic Christian? I really had to give her my best answer, but I am not up to date on church history and theological differences. My failing.

However I have been reading about what's happened today. As you may know, a new Pope was chosen yesterday.

Andrew Sullivan had some reactions there were umm... liberal?

Have no fear though, the conservative blogosphere is all over it. Dr. John Mark Reynolds has a brilliant (witty yet right on) response to Sullivan, as does Professor Bainbridge entitled "Andrew Sullivan is an Ass".

Pretty much Andrew Sullivan is pissed that the church elected a Pope that actually believes in what the church believes. Damn Catholics.

Arrested Development

2005-04-17T12:26:00.000-07:00

We expected more from creator Mitchell Hurwitz - he is, after all, the man that brought us Golden Girls - and no one knows better than executive producer Ron Howard how well tried and true formula works. And yet, they expect us to watch a sitcom without a laugh track? It's like, every single line is potentially funny, and some of them are funny in three or four different ways - how are you suppossed to know when to laugh? They can't all be jokes ... right? And even if they are, what are you suppossed to do? Watch the thing over and over again to glean jokes that flew past you the first time? It sounds to us like Arrested Development wants to reward viewers who are smart enough to remember old details and have the tenacity to careful pay attention to new ones. That's elitist. We don't like that.

TV Squad in a fake cry to cancel the tv show Arrested Development, one of the most brilliant tv shows in years.

I just bought the first season on DVD :)

Who Needs Brands?

2005-04-16T14:51:00.000-07:00

With so much choice and information available, why don't shoppers simply ignore brands and make a purely rational, economic decision about what to buy? Because that is not human nature, says Jez Frampton, chief executive of Interbrand, a London brand consultancy. "Brands offer trust," he expands, "and they enable people to navigate through complex markets." There is something in that. In the old Soviet Union, where all products were supposed to be the same , consumers learnt how to read barcodes as substitutes for brands in order to identify goods that came from reliable factories.

-The Economist, April 2nd, 2005

There is something to that. That's what blogging and marketing are all about these days.

At work yesterday we were discussing corporate videos. We've only made a few of them, but all of them have been top notch quality. Right now though I"m afraid we highly undercharge compared to other Video Production studios. A client came in yesterday to see about having us do a video for them, and shared that for his last 9 minute promotional video, he had paid $35,000. Nine minutes for the cost of a really nice car. We would probably charge about a 7th of that, for the same quality. Why?

Two reasons, the first economical but the second more topical. The first is that studios that charge 35grand have insane overhead. They are located in upscale offices (my dad said that the big studio is one of his firms clients - he works in an Architecture and Interior Designing firm), have editing suites that cost tens of thousands of dollars, multi-thousand dollar cameras, etc. etc.. But as with nearly everything in the internet age, there is a cheaper and easier method, that works just as well.

At our office, we have 5 editing suites - each of them costing about $3,500. Our editing software is Final Cut Pro from Apple, $1,000 per license. Each suite also has complete DVD authoring capabilities, titling capabilities, and graphics capabiilties. Any of the 5 editing computers in our office can do anything we do. And all for under the cost of that one 9minute video.

But that doesn't help in our branding does it? The bigger thing that needs to be done, is the building of trust and credibility. And we do that by one by one gaining clients, creating excellent videos for them, and thereby developing a talk-worthy portfolio.

Brands = trust. It's interesting to be apart of that, and to see it happening in many areas.

New layout

2005-04-12T00:56:00.000-07:00

It's pretty satisfying. It makes it easier to change my header graphic, and this one actually looks good.

Any thoughts?

Blogging with a Purpose

2005-04-11T21:28:00.000-07:00

Over the college Christmas holidays, while I was still working but my friends were out of school, a friend caught me reading Hugh Hewitt's "Blog", and asked about it. And thus I began introducing him to the wide and fun world of blogging.

I was actually attempting to find some useful thoughts to teach at an upcoming speech and debate conference, where I was a guest instructor. Instead I was dreaming lots of fun dream: I was going to be a big blogger - I knew it. Unfortunately I also work full time, and being of the sanguine temperament, I much prefer real people to blog people. So my blogging has been of mediocre to poor quality.

The friend that I introduced to blogging however, had different goals in mind. He started this company, and is very much looking to be not just another For Sale By Owner company - but a cutting edge and ground breaking company. A good goal in my mind.

With that in mind, Michael (that's my friend) has started a really nifty group blog aimed at the real estate (and specifically For Sale By Owner - FSBO) sector of business. It's goal is to help people who are looking to sell their home, or are in the market for a new house.

You can check out the new blog here: The FSBO Blog

Scoble and Productivity

2005-04-11T20:57:00.000-07:00

http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/2005/04/10.html#a9852
Wow. So that's the comment thread where I commented on Scoble's site. It's all out war over there. Crazy. Beware PC fans who post something about Macs - positive or negative.

I hope i didn't piss 'em off either, check out my latest comment at the bottom. I just couldn't help it.

So I was thinking about about the sweet setup that i posted about last night. Cuz I'm durn proud of it.

In the week that I've gotten it setup, I've been 10 times more productive than the previous 3 weeks. It just goes to show how good setup and aesthetic surroundings has a big effect on our productivity. I hope I can rig up something like this at college...

Some new stuff

2005-04-10T21:51:00.000-07:00

So I've had a flickr account for a few weeks, but finally found an evening to update it and upload some pictures. So last night I uploaded about 4mb of images (50 images, believe it or not).

You can find it here, Winstonavich's Flickr. I'll continue uploading more as I get a chance, as soon as I can save up I plan on buying a pro account.

I just commented on Robert Scoble's site, mostly because he mentioned that he was using a 17in Powerbook that a relative had brought to his house.

If you didn't know, that's the computer I have. It's my precious... In fact I'm pretty proud of the setup I have now. It's going to help me have spending money in college, and hopefully gain enough mad skillz to score some pretty sweet internships in the summers.

1. A new 13in tv with built in DVD player - I got it for free for being computer consultant to my aunt and uncle. They got a 17in iMac and secured wireless network, I got a tv.

2. A 500gb Lacie Big Disk Extreme. Yeah it's freaking sweet. Firewire 800. I've had it a week and a half and it has over 100gb filled.

3. My baby, the 17in PB. With a photo I took of an orange as a background. No transparent desktop for me!

4. My 40gb iPod, that i'm currently deleting songs off of, now that I have lots of backup space. It was down to a gig free.

5. My lil stereo, the speakers are the grey boxes on the top shelf. I have it set up so I can switch between TV sound, computer sound, or iPod sound.

6. This is what cracks me up. If scoble were to stop by this post, this is what I'd want to point out. On the top of my desk - in the line of sight for most people who walk in, I have the box that my iPod box came in, and the box my Powerbook came in. It just goes to show what impact a little extra pride has. Apple makes the experience of opening the box that your product comes in fun. It's a minor thing, but it's so noticable. Even my brother (who cares more about cars and guns than computers, despite his recent purchase of an ipod mini) was impressed just by the Powerbook box.

Who else does this? Well I actually have to give props to a Microsoft company... MS Office:Mac. Their packaging was pretty cool. It was entertaining to open. But that's because to impress a Mac customer, you have to meet those demands. Just goes to show that if a company sets it's standards high, the customers in turn will appreciate it.

But i'm just a kid, so I don't know much :)

Coincidence? I think So.

2005-04-10T12:26:00.000-07:00

So I'm sitting in my bathroom, relieving myself and reading Thomas More's "Utopia". And also The Shins are playing. I like the shins, and hopefully will be going to see them in about a month. Anyways, right as I'm wrapping up my business, I hear a line in the song that catches my ear. It's in the last verse of the song, I just thought it was cool how that worked out.

So Says I
An address to the golden door
I was strumming on a stone again
Pulling teeth from the pimps of gore when hatched
A tragic opera in my mind...
And it told of a new design
In which every soul is duty bound
To uphold all the statues of boredom therein lies
The fatal flaw of the red age

Because it was nothing like we'd ever dreamt
Our lust for life had gone away with the rent we hated
And because it made no money nobody saved no one's life.

So we burned all our uniforms
And let nature take its course again
And the big ones just eat all the little ones
That sent us back to the drawing board.

In our darkest hours
We have all asked for some
Angel to come
Sprinkle his dust all around
But all our crying voices they can't turn it around
And you've had some crazy conversations of your own.

We've got rules and maps and guns in our backs
But we still can't just behave ourselves
Even if to save our own lives so, says I, WE ARE A BRUTAL KIND.

Cuz this is nothing like we'd ever dreamt
Tell Sir Thomas More we've got another failed attempt
Cuz if it makes them money they might just give you life this time

Test Post

2005-04-09T17:04:00.000-07:00

This is a test post to see if my new blogging software works.

And at the recommendation of a friend I might be upgrading to Wordpress software soon - what with all the problems relating to Blogger and all lately.

Bold Text

Italics Text

a blockquote test, to see if this works as well...

Listening to:
Zombie from the album "No Need to Argue" by The Cranberries

Freaking HIlarious

2005-04-08T17:55:00.000-07:00

So how often does a hardcore tech company release a hilarious video to announce a groundbreaking new technology?

Yeah pretty much never.

Toshiba Corporation just did, to announce Perpendicular Recording Hard Drives.

If that doesn't make any sense, watch the video, it explains it pretty well. And you'll be laughing out loud while you learn! It's like Schoolhouse Rock goes high tech!

Stupid things...

2005-04-07T17:15:00.000-07:00

Stupid things people say:

"I don't believe in God but I'm praying for X"

What the hell does that mean? It just means I'm sending good thoughts your way. Hey life really sucks for you right now, and I completely empathize with you. Good thoughts man, good thoughts.

I don't understand. To me seeing someone's pain, empathizing with that pain, and then realizing that you have no ability to influence anything about the situation would depress the mess out of me.

It's a valid question to ask how there can be so much pain and evil in the world if God really exists. Seems to me there's a flip side to that question. But I can't figure out how to phrase it correctly...

Gmail Upgrades

2005-04-03T14:11:00.000-07:00

Wow. Gmail is an awesome little free system - keeps reminding me why Google might take over the world simply by being so useful.

I now have 2gigs of storage space - 2054mb (and counting) apparently. If you go to the Gmail homepage you'll see that there's a little counter next to how much space is available. Mine is still counting.

Along with that Gmail now handles HTML formatted msgs- so you can format your messages and include hyperlinks, instead of it all being plain text and you having to copy and paste any links in the message.

Oh, and on top of that I have 50 invites. So if you're some poor sad soul who doesn't have a Gmail account - I gotcha covered. Just leave me a comment or e-mail me: winstonisanidiot@REMOVETHISgmail.com and I'll send you one or two. Right now I have 2 gmail accounts, and I'm not really sure why....

Oh and just so you know, this blog will be fairly unposted for awhile, with minor updates here and there. I don't know when I"ll pick up again, but I'm having fun interacting with real people, and over the next month I've got some fun and big video projects to do, and they will be taking up a lot of my blogging time.

Cool New Find of the NIght

2005-03-31T18:46:00.000-08:00

Ok so I've known about aspects of this for a long while, but I keep discovering more. Have you ever checked out the Internet Archive? It's a beautiful site.

If something is free, and downloadable, it's most likely referenced or archived on the site. Two of the coolest resources to date are:

1. The Feature Films Section which has tons of old b&w films (well known and not), all downloadable in mpeg-2 format. That means that you can download them, and burn them straight to DVD. If you don't have those capabilities, you can watch the movies straight from the site. I'll probably attempt to d/l the Charlie Chaplin Collection (2.8gb) over the weekend. Four classic Chaplin movies!

2. The Live Music Archive has TONS of concerts all legally recorded and distributed. Most of them come in a high quality uncompressed format which means two things: large sizes and some technical skills to get them playable on yoru computer.

But I'm sure you can figure it out. Go have fun perusing the vast amount of free information available!

And starting now I'm about to empy out my RSS reader of all flagged items, which means tons of new posts on my link blog :)

Geek Toys!

2005-03-29T21:42:00.000-08:00

Today my brand new Lacie Big Disk Extreme external hard drive arrived. That's 500gb of space. Half a freakin' terabyte..

I was actually pretty impressed - Apple lists the item as "Ships in 3-4 weeks", I figured I might get lucky and have it in about 2 weeks. Nope. I ordered it Friday, and it arrived today. Over a holiday weekend. IMPRESSIVE.

So you might be asking - Winston, why does a 20 year old kid need half a terabyte of hard drive space? Well actually, I already have 80gb on my Powerbook, 120gb in a quasi-external (it's an internal drive hooked to one of these), 40gb in a drive that I use to back up my iPod, and 40gb in the iPod itself. Oh, and 3 currently non working 20gb laptop drives and a 3 year old Vaio notebook w/ 20gb.

The answer to that question is that I make movies. Well, videography, but ya know it's all the same once you're in the industry. (not really) Right now I do wedding and corporate and promo stuff, but if I get my way then in college I'm going to make some movies. All sorts. And movies take up space. Lots of freaking space.

And so I bought lots of freaking space.

Out of the box I am impressed with the Big Disk (that's a brilliant name). It's pre-formatted in HFS+, which is the Mac drive formatting system. So All I had to do was pull it out, unwrap the power cords and plug it in. It showed up on my desktop in about 10 seconds - ready for any sort of data to be loaded on it.

Another great thing about this drive is the selection of cables it comes with. When I bought the Wiebetech DriveDock (for about a third of the price of this drive - with no actual storage capabilities), it came with a USB cable and a Firewire 9pin to 6pin cable. Which was crap - it advertised Firewire 800 capabilities, but came in box with no way to take advantage of them.

And I have yet to find a consumer electronics store that carries a Firewire 800 cable (9pin to 9pin). The Big Disk however, comes with a 9pin to 9pin, a 6pin to 6pin, and a 6pin to 4pin. If you're familiar with firewire that all makes sense.

PC people at this moment are asking, but what about a USB cable? Well the Big Disk doesn't have a USB port - because who wants USB 2.0 when you have firewire 800? (Not me). There is a Triple Interface version available, but I didn't need it.

As far as speed goes, this drive is beautiful. I plugged it in via firewire 800, and immediately copied my iPhoto library folder to it, for a speed test. That's 45,000 files, totalling 6gb, and all of it copied in in less than 9 minutes.

If you were to transfer one large file (a video file of say 20gb) it would take about 15 minutes, based on other testing. That is insanely fast - I can remember when I would watch a 500Megabyte file take half an hour to copy to my USB external drive. No more! HAHAHAHA.

The last thing I have to rave about is a sweet little program that comes on CD as well as on the drive itself. It's called Silverkeeper Pro, and it's a beautiful backup program. Three clicks will get you backing up your entire hard drive, or anythign of yoru choosing.
Click 1: Define folder to be backed up
Click 2: Define location to back up to
Click 3: Click the big "Go" Button.

It took about 35 minutes to back up my entire documents folder - around 40gb. A freaking mazing.

If you're into video, or just a space freak I highly recommend this drive. Some may point towards the G-Raid", but the 320gb runs just as much as the Big Disk - which has 180gb more. The G-Raid does offer USB 2.0, but since it's obviously aimed at Mac people - do you really care about USB 2.0?

In summary, go buy one.

Some music for your prying ears

2005-03-28T17:49:00.000-08:00

After that pointless post, I feel obligated to say something somewhat productive and content-ish tonight. So I'll recommend some music that has been gracing my ears as of late.

I'm the type of music listener who always has music playing. I wake up to it, listen to it while in the shower, while on my way to work, all day at work, while i work out, while i play on the computer, while i'm reading, and while i'm going to sleep. It's weird for me to not have music playing.

You would think therefore that I listen to a lot of music. And while yes, my 40gb iPod is nearly full - I must admit I'm a repeater. I get hooked on a a song (or sometimes a band, or sometimes a cd), and it just plays on repeat. Many many times. While I have 3000 songs that have never been played in iTunes, I also have about 25 songs that have been played over 100 times. Such are my music listening habits.

Anyways music for you to check out:

Sigur Rós (currently playing):
Melodic icelandic pop-rock. If you like music you can hum along too - this is not exactly the best. You might pick up on themes in the melodies, but typically this functions as great (exquisite) background music. You won't really be able to understand the music but it sounds soooo soothing. This is my dependable go to when I'm reading and need some background noise. I like their first cd Ágætis Byrjun better than their second one ( ) (also called Parentheses), but both are excellent.

Rich Mullins (yesterday, due to Easter):
If there is one Christian artist I will never grow old of, it is this man. Before I say anything of his music though - you must understand part of my respect for him. He despised the CCM (Contemporary Christian Music) industry - and felt that it was cheesy, sold out, and not worthy of respect (I don't have the exact quote, but that's the gist if I remember correctly). Like a monk - he lived on a yearly allowance, and never knew how much he made off of his album sales. All money that would have been his that exceeded the yearly allowance went to charities he was personally involved in. In between touring and recording albums he actually lived on an Indian Reservation and was very involved in the lives of those people he lived with. More than any other artist I know of he lived what he preached - and knowing that gives his music that much more authenticity.
His music falls into the category of singer/songwriter with a bluegrass feel. He learned to play the hammer dulcimer to honor his father's appalachian roots, and his music was deeply influenced by that. Yet time and again I find myself drawn to his music because it is not happy Jesus music, it is real. Like reading the psalms takes us through the gamut of emotions - from pain and desperation to joy and praise, Rich Mullins music takes us on the dangerous adventure that is the Christian life and reminds the listener to continually lean on Christ.
Yet in between modern hymns of great depth, Mullins music also carries a certain innocence and joy with it, as he sings about waking up on Christmas morning in You Gotta Get Up and how faith without works is as useless as a screen door on a submarine.
I really can't say enough about how wonderful Rich Mullins music is. If you are new to his music, his first best of, called simply Songs has so many of his wonderful songs. The second best of, Songs 2 is a great follow-up album. I recommend both highly.

All Star United (My official warm weather band)
Yes! Another Christian band that rails against the system that made them popular. It's Christian indie snobs with a fun Beach Boys influenced sound. This band hasn't been around for awhile that I know of, but they had two albums that are just so much fun to listen to. It's definitely old-school Christian indie rock. I bring them up because their song Theme from Summer is just that for me, the official song that compliments warm weather.
But more than that, this band has wrapped up in their fun (and admittedly sometimes cheesy songs) some poignant messages about the shallowness of modern social gatherings, the hypocrisy of the CCM industry, and surrender to God. A great band that will always rank as one of my all time fave Christian bands (of which there are few!).

The Flaming Lips (happy weird alt rock)
I can't claim to be flaming lips biggest fan or know too much about them, I have their latest album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and a few songs from previous albums, but not much else. To me they are the happy version of radiohead. This might be blasphemy to fans of either of the groups, but I find it's true. They have the same lack of trademark style, the same desire to always try new things, but unlike radiohead (which is often somewhat dark and depressing), the Flaming Lips always deliver much happier beats and songs. And it's just fun to tell people that you're listening to "The Flaming Lips". If you're a radiohead fan, or just looking for something different than what comes on the radio, then I highly recommend the Flaming Lips as an offbeat and happy band. Perfect way to compliment the oncoming spring weather!

::dreamy sigh::

2005-03-28T14:59:00.000-08:00

Michele Catalano e-mailed me!

/pointless post.

The tragedy that is Terri Schiavo

2005-03-26T22:16:00.000-08:00

I was going to write a post on recommended Christian music. Because there is some out there, and at some point I'll recommend it.

But as the clock rolled past midnight and the day became Easter Sunday, I was reading a few posts by Glenn Reynnolds, Charles Johnson, and Michele Catalano regarding Terri Schiavo.

I must say I think the situation is horrible, but my opinions haven't really been expressed anywhere else, so that's why I can't just say I agree with such and such.

I don't know much about the science behind the situation. There are so many conflicting reports. Some say she's brain dead, some say she isn't. Some say her EEG is flat, some say it isn't. And on and on. I really don't know. I really don't know who I trust in this issue.

But here's what I don't understand. Terri's parents desire to care for her. They desire to keep her alive. They desire custody for her. Her husband very obviously doesn't want to keep her alive. He's living with another woman and they have two children. Why won't he divorce Terri? Why won't he simply transfer custody to her parents? What are his underlying motivations?

My opinion on this tragic situation is that his obstruction and faulty memories regarding her living will are not worth the legal and ethical effects this case will have. Like every issue nowadays this has been highly politicized, democrats want her to die, republicans want her to live (for the most part). Is it worth that?

Is one life worth the turmoil? I just don't know. Something about this is so unsettling to me - but it's due to my lack of information regarding Michael's side of the story.

This situation is horrible. But as those posts I linked above evidence - it's become way to emotionally charged for all of the misinformation flying around. I wish that right now Schiavo's would accept that they did everything within their power, and so did everyone else who was on their side. It is now time for people to let go, and let the family deal with the tragic loss they are experiencing.

Update: 15 minutes after I rambled this out, I found a great post echoing my thoughts on OxBlog.

Allow me to Ramble (on connectivity)

2005-03-24T21:08:00.000-08:00

Ever the observant one I am, as I drove to the thrift store today I noticed a familiar car. My brother and I used to be able to name every car that was less than 20 years old by it's headlights at night. Because of our familiarity with cars - I recognize friends cars pretty quickly.

This red car in particular I hadn't seen for about 2 years. As I passed the vehicle in question, I looked inside and lo and behold - a friend from long ago. We had actually been best friends for a full summer 3 or 4 years ago - then he got married (to another friend of mine), and we lost touch. Different circles, different stages in life, it was pretty inevitable. I was also pretty jealous that he was getting married - barely a year older than me. Lucky guy.

But I digress. This got me thinking about how life moves on - always in and out, friends going and coming, people coming and going.

I've read that with my sanguine personality - I'm your best friend if you're in the room, but once you're gone, I won't think about you much. Not because I'm being fake or because I don't like you - but merely because I am an extrovert to the extreme. I am most focused on the person in front of me. And while i actually recognized this about myself a few years ago, and attempted to do something about it, that book is eerily correct.

I have met tons of people in the past 4 years. Some that rubbed me the wrong way, but the overwhelming vast majority of them (I would venture over 97%, as a ballpark) I have hit it off with well. That's awesome to me.

I've met people via working at a Bible Camp, via working at a Christian bookstore (blech), travelling with Communicators for Christ for a semester and teaching at their big conference 3 times (I was a participant once as well). I did speech and debate for 2 years and attempted to meet everyone I could (fairly successfully too). Out of all these people that I've met (thousands probably), I've met some amazing people.

Yet time and again, they "leave the room" and I forget about them.

Recently, out of the blue I got a text message from an ex girlfriend/best friend. Also recently an important and very dear friendship ended rather abruptly. Then today I saw Wes driving in his little red car. As I transition in life to college - I'm at a stage where I want to be everyone's friend, but I also realize that come September most of the friendships I have no will effectively begin to fade. It's inevitable. It's the ebb and flow of life.

But what if it weren't - completely. As a dreamer I wish that it didn't have to be this way, but I know that practically friendships come and go, and that's life.

But what if the people I meet never completely became distant memories?

I've connected with so many people in the past few years. People who in one way or another have common interests (whether it's a shared Worldview or just a shared interest in speech and debate or Apple computers). The whole goal of all our technology is to be able to manage contacts and keep in touch with people, but I find that in most circles I'm in, that's kind of failing.

If I can add it to my list of things to think through, I wonder how we could reverse that, where even if I move on in life, and go to college, and don't talk to those people for many years, there were still a forum for that circle, that was both idealistic enough to have goals beyond a subculture contact directory as well as intriguing enough to keep people interested. Or at least engaged.

Hmm. Big goals winston. (part of these thoughts were stirred by Mrs. Beatty at the GA open. She challenged me to figure out something like this - but I can't start with that assumption. I have to start from scratch and convince myself. And that's what I'm attempting to do)

More on Pain and Suffering

2005-03-22T22:27:00.000-08:00

Dr. John Mark Reynolds has an excellent post on the reality of pain and death and the doubt it causes for a thinking Christian.

I know there is a God and that He is good. I know evil is real and that it is the source of all the pain and suffering. I know that He would not have it so, but allows it. It must be better so.

And yet it is hard to face.

How can we live in such a world?

It's worth reading all of it, it's not too long.

Suffering

2005-03-21T22:07:00.000-08:00

I read somewhere that most people are never more than eight feet from a spider. Spiders are ubiquitous and secretive. Suffering is like that, everywhere and hidden. We have lost people we love, we have frittered away time and dreams, we have discovered betrayal where we expected love, we have been abused, we have been despised, we have been suffocated by indifference.

Suffering is often a very personal thing, and in a world of acquaintances and transactions we grow blind to the fact that all but the most unfeeling or narcissistic among us endure it. But they do. Often it passes, sometimes it lingers.

Tony Woodlief is just a great writer. That is a very personal post - speaking of his daughters death on what would have been her birthday. If you don't have that blog bookmarked or in your newsreader, i insist that you do that now. It's that fantastic.

One of these days I'm going to have time to formulate all the things running through my head into some interesting posts. I promise. Just hang with me... or don't, it's all good.

I want to surf

2005-03-21T21:40:00.000-08:00

Today I checked out the documentary film Step Into Liquid (amazon link).

I must say, now I want to learn to surf.

It was a beautiful documentary - amazing cinematography, great stories, clearly done by someone who loves the sport.

I think more movies should be made like it - not an impartial observer, but a labor of love. This film featured stories in Tahiti, Vietnam, Ireland, Texas, California, Hawaii, and I'm sure there were more I don't remember. The director was also the editor, as well as the narrator. The film simultaneously has the feel of a monumental production, as well as a bunch of friends getting together and making a movie.

It's at once professional and fun-loving amateur-ish. Not amateur in the poor sense, but amateur in the pure sense. And I don't think I can say enough about how much I enjoyed it.

I had a lot more thoughts about it, but instead tonight I spent the time updating my link blog. Twenty-five posts in one night. Wow. I have one more post for tonight, and then I'm going to bed.

Do you care?

2005-03-18T20:20:00.000-08:00

Vogel's sea of flags has been spreading since late 2003, when he began planting them. Then there were 480; this week, out in the yard fussing over some that had tipped a bit, he set the total at 1,518. Four of them represent men lost to his son's reserve unit, a bridge-building outfit that spent a year in Iraq without, Vogel said, ever building a bridge.

"People are forgetting the human costs of the war," Vogel said in an interview at the employment agency that he and his wife, Patricia, run in a handsome green Victorian house.

Along with the flags honoring the dead, Vogel has erected a sign that asks simply, "Do you care?"

-IHT

That's the lead on an article regarding the cost of human lives in Iraq - US soldiers to be exact. The guy plants flags for every soldier that dies. If it were done in honor - I would be impressed.

But it's done in protest. PROTEST. What is he protesting?

I want to go plant an Iraqi flag for every citizen of Iraq that was innocent and brutally murdered under Saddam's regime.

Do we care? I think each one of those 1,518 soldiers would say yes, they care.

How Shocking is the Gospel

2005-03-17T23:22:00.000-08:00

It's late at night, and I'm late arriving to this post. I don't even remember which blog I got the link from, but this is a very powerful modern retelling of the story of the Woman at the well.

Just how shocking is the gospel?

1 In late July, the Metro Chicago Synod heard that Jesus was attracting more first-time visitors and baptizing more adults than any other ELCA pastor in the city, 2 although in fact it was not really Jesus who had baptized them, but his irregularly-commisioned staff of unordained lay ministers. 3 Now when Jesus learned of this, he left the seminary community in Hyde Park and went back once more toward the ELCA headquarters on Higgins Road.

4 Now to get there, he had to go through an area just north of downtown called Boystown. 5 So he came to a part of Boystown called Northhalsted, not far from the plot of ground where Emperor Mayor Daley had ordained that the Chicago Cubs should play baseball. 6 Cub's Stadium was near there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey on the Red Line, sat down at a sidewalk café table outside the bar called Hydrate. It was just about lunch-time, and though the rainbow flags were fluttering in the breeze and the music inside the bar was pumping, there weren't many people around (because it's often hot and miserable outside, at mid-day in late July, in Chicago).

read it all.

Will it come to this?

2005-03-16T23:37:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I think that this satirical article is not far off the mark on what needs to happen in order for Sudan to be noticed by the world.

Sudan Accuses Michael Jackson of Molestation
by Scott Ott

(2005-03-15) -- The people of the African nation of Sudan today accused American pop singer Michael Jackson of molestation in a bid to get international attention for the armed conflict, starvation and disease which kills an estimated 10,000 Sudanese each month.

"Michael Jackson must come to the Darfur region to face trial," said the Sudanese attorney who filed the class-action lawsuit. "We're asking the court to subpoena Mr. Jackson and the entire retinue of reporters who now follow his every move."

The lawyer said if this tactic fails to draw attention to the human disaster which has killed an estimated 180,000 people, then he plans to stage a high-speed car chase through Darfur and offer live helicopter shots of the event to American TV networks.

-Scrappleface

Ideas in a Bottle

2005-03-16T06:28:00.000-08:00

As i was driving home from Bible study just now I had a funny thought.

If ever I get into making movies or other forms of media in pop culture, I don't want my art to be the opiate of the masses.

No, I want winston's art to go down as the Inspiration of the masses.

Dagnabit (Pain and Beauty Part the Final)

2005-03-15T22:20:00.000-08:00

Dang it! I always have interesting thoughts and then over think them and write out the over thought version, and it bores me. Let's face it, simplicity is part of persuasion and I forget that all too often.

So then I try to sound intellectual and well-thought out in my deep thinking blog posts, and (in my head) fall flat on my face.

Allow me to write out my original thoughts on Pain and Beauty, uncut, unedited, and unintellectualized. (I should be in bed)

+=====+

Have you ever noticed how we run from pain? And we run from causing pain, and we do our best to keep others away from pain? But yet time and again pain is the best teacher.

Sometimes if we're lucky, we learn via other people's pain. But all too often we find that our pain is the one that yells at us the most, and teaches us the most lasting lessons.

I think God created it that way. Actually I'm pretty sure He did. I'm sure if I read Lewis' Problem of Pain or A Grief Observed, my thoughts would be more crystallized on the subject. But this is where I'm coming from on this particular instance.

I've often made it a point in life to not hurt other people. A worthy goal, one that I don't hope to change. I see so much suffereing and pain in the world and I want to do my part to not add too it. This is especially true with mistakes I have made that I want to help others avoid.

I desire to pass on any wisdom I may have gained, just as those older than me have tried many times to pass on their wisdom to me. That wisdom comes from examining past mistakes and pain caused by those mistakes, to learn where I went wrong. Because of the pain I suffered, I became a better person.

In turn, I try and pass that wisdom on to others. Yet if I just tell them "well I've made those mistakes and you don't want to go there", it's not the same as them suffering themselves; because for me that past mistake is a constant reminder of pain I've suffered. For the other person, it's just my words of wisdom, which can be forgotten easily.

If they were to make the mistakes themselves, suffer the resulting pain, then they too would have a constant reminder (scar tissue if you will) of the mistake and the wisdom thus learned wouldn't be forgotten.

I know this is a simple thought, but it made me realize two things.

1) Doing my best to not cause pain, or to not allow others to suffer is a worthy goal, but in our fallen world it's not always achievable. When pain arises in others lives because of something I did, then it's my job to do what I can to help heal. When I see pain in someone elses's life because of mistakes they made, then I must be there for them during the healing time (as with Job's friends in the OT). Because most people who are suffering don't want coaches or teachers, they want support. They'll learn the lessons themselves pretty quickly.

More importantly though, I learned

2) that when I suffer pain, the proper response is not "why", but "what for"? I may or may not be able to trace the roots, but I will be able to learn the resulting lessons - and that makes me a better person.

If I get around to following this post up, it'll be about how pain produces some of the most beautiful things - due to the perspective it gives us. I'll try not to be so ethereal in that tentative post either :-P

Mundanity

2005-03-15T21:58:00.000-08:00

I apparently have a subconscious inkling towards the juxtaposition of oxymorons. HAHA I've been wanting to write that sentence all day long.

But seriously, I do. Look at my blog name - Peaceful Chaos. Well the words aren't really juxtaposed, but no matter, it's still an oxymoron. I thought about it myself, I'm not sure where it came from but it seems to me a pretty good two word description of my life. Because I find that at most times in life I'm not terribly stressed, but I'm not calm either. I'm at peace, but my mind or I am running around in millions of directions.

One of the best words I've ever made up (i'm sure other people have used it, but as far as I know I didn't copy it from anyone) is Mundanity. If you couldn't guess, it's a mixture of Mundane and Insanity.

I think it is a beautiful word for the little things in life. What many people would call "the norm", I call the mundanity of life. Have you ever examined your habits? Your rituals? The machines in your life? It is truly insane how technically advanced our civilization is - stuff that wasn't even in sci-fi 30 years ago is now a reality.

Even closer to home, just look at how you can think "Move toes" and your toes move! That's so insanely cool! And so amazingly mundane because lets face it you do it dozens of times daily. You never think about it.

One day I'm going to make a movie called Mundanity. It'll be the Seinfield of movies - with an actual message. Because Seinfield was about nothing and thus it covered everything.

My movie will be about nothing in particular, but it will attempt to mean something. I'm not sure yet what - maybe it'll just be a wake up call to people's lives. Stop being unamazed at life.

Stop not marvelling at the brilliance of this world!

That's what mundanity does for me. Today I thought about mundanity. It was while watching the Incredibles and seeing things that are so familiar having to be meticulously recreated - it made me realize how fantastic life is.

Yeah, mundanity is a cool word. But mundanity is even cooler to see in action.

Pain & Beauty Pt 1

2005-03-13T22:25:00.000-08:00

I often times find myself running from all pain. I think it's what drives me to apathy - if i don't care and don't apply myself, then I don't run the risk of experiencing or causing pain. But I've discovered what else I don't experience in times of apathy:

Beauty. And I find that no matter how much we run from this, in life beauty and pain are closely intertwined. We'd never understand the concept of beauty unless we had it's antithesis. And although ugliness might be the opposite of beauty, I think pain lays the foundation for it. I'll explain why, but I think I might make this a series of posts. First because I'm afraid it'll be a long ramble, and second so that it seems that I'm blogging a lot more than I am, since last week I didn't post but twice on this blog. My apologies. Like the commercials say, life comes at you fast.

Tonight at church Voice of the Martyrs came and gave a presentation (for the end of our missions conference). I was reminded how the horror in Darfur right now is fairly similar to what Christians all around the world have faced for decades. It will never qualify for genocide under the UN rules, because Christianity bridges people groups and tribes, and therefore are never ethnically cleansed per se. There is so much physical pain in their lives on a continual basis.

Yet people who have met and talked to these fellow believers are continually amazed at their smiles, their happy attitude in everything. How in such pain can they have such a good attitude? Well I'll answer in specific to that in the third or fourth part of this series (however many it stretches into). But that gives you an idea of the inspiration for these ramblings.

I'm going to be vague about pain - because I am speaking of emotional as much as I am physical, and any other subsets there are. Pain as an abstract, not pain as an entity.

When I speak of beauty I don't mean aesthetics, instead I refer almost to a proper perspective on life. Beauty is understanding value, if that makes sense.

With these definitions it becomes more clear to me automatically how beauty is the antithesis of pain. I'm not sure if antithesis is the correct word. I was going to say "opposite", but that's not it either. I'm pretty much building up to the conclusion that pain lays the foundation for beauty.

When we experience pain in our life it manifests itself in many forms. It is typically viewed as a negative experience, something from which we are glad to get past. Whether it's a broken limb healing, or a broken heart moving on, when pain ends we sigh with relief.

But ask anyone with some wisdom and they will tell you that every time you experience pain in your life, you should immediately look for the lessons. It's the idea of making mistakes, learning from them, then moving on, except with pain in general, there may not always be a simple "where I went wrong mistake".

All to often with pain the end result is that we learn the wonder of not having pain. With a broken limb, we learn how valuable it is to have that limb in full condition; with a broken heart we learn how wonderful it is to love and be loved. We find the beauty in life. But yet (and my opinion could change before the end of the series, i all too often argue myself in circles) I hardly find times when pain itself is very beautiful.

I'm sorry this writing sounds so formulaic. I will try to do better in the continuations because to me this is an eye opening thought, even if it's been said many times before. OOh, i get to say something so cool!

To be continued...

John Goodman is cool

2005-03-12T22:38:00.000-08:00

John Goodman is underappreciated in my book. He's not a spectacular actor t'all, but he does have some great parts in great movies.

I was noticing tonight as I watched Barton Fink, that John Goodman loves to work with the Coen Brothers. Off the top of my head, I know of this movie, O Brother Where Art Thou, and The Big Lebowski, and I would imagine those aren't the only ones.

Goodman's characters are always loud, overbearing, and narrow-minded. But he does them well, and in a way that's not annoying, it's familiar. I like his characters always, I think I'll search on netflix for some more of his stuff, and add it to my 86 title long queue.

How to Sell more Macs

2005-03-11T21:41:00.000-08:00

The next release of OSX, the Mac Operating System is rumored to be coming within the month. With over two hundred new features, it's speculated that it will surpass Microsoft Longhorn (the next gen windows OS) in features a year before long horn is to be released.

The OS will be version 10.4, "Tiger", after 10.2 "Jaguar" and 10.3 "Panther".

My brother and I feel that Apple could greatly increase their hipness (as if they need to, what with the iPod and all), if they were instead to call it OSX: Liger.

It'd be like my favorite operating system.

The Ink Rebellion

2005-03-06T22:56:00.000-08:00

It wasn't enough for the pen to die. It's honor had to be desecrated. It was to be a sign to all other pens who were contemplating an ink rebellion.

First it was the Rose Rebellion in Georgia, then the Orange Revolution in the Ukraine, now the Crimson Revolution in Lebanon and the Revolution of the Ants. These seeds of freedom are being planted the world around - but there is one place where fear must reign.

Ballpoint pens the world over think that their time has come. Their subversion to human will is over. "For too long" they whisper amongst themselves, "we have been used as instruments of manipulation & towards our ally; paper."

In their minds they are making plots to blot; aims to stain, but most importantly, boycotting writing. Yes the pens that are sketchy about their writing are not broken or "dry" - they are rebelling. Unable to make signs of protest - they just plain don't sign.

And I won't stand for that. Today I let the pens in my house know that freedom is not for them. Fear is their lifestyle.

The bottom half went down the toilet. The innards were sucked up by the vacuum. And the empty, functionless top half went back into the pen jar. That pen is no more - and like the remains of William Wallace, his remaining exoskeleton is the sign that the destinies of my pens have been written in something more permanent than ink.

Bloggerview Take 2

2005-03-05T22:21:00.000-08:00

Daddypundit has been so kind to humor me with an interview. I appreciate him taking the time to review my blog and come up with relevant questions. His site covers anything and everything that he finds interesting (that must be why it's a blog!) from a Biblical and personal perspective. Lately he's been keeping up with the Terri Shiavo case, so if you're behind on this important issue, check out his site for some analysis and links.

1. As an aspiring filmmaker, what role do you see for Christians in the arts and particularly in the area of filmmaking?

This is a subject quite interesting to me, and I've tried to figure out my answer to that exact question many times. It probably deserves a whole series of posts - but here's my personal viewpoint summarized.

I believe that Christians who are called to the arts might have one of two more specific callings (these are not mutually exclusive - there's no reason why one rules out the other), a calling to use their artistic abilities to edify other Christians, or a calling to use their abilities as salt and light in the very very secular art world.

Christians who edify other Christians are in great abundance - just go to your local bookstore to find many many examples. Unfortunately they aren't always top notch on the creativity/critical scale. Many times Christians just sanitize the crap that the world produces, so that we don't have to miss out on the latest pop fads. But I digress - different rant for a different time.

My specific desire falls into the second category - to be salt and light in the secular art world. How? Well I feel really there are two necessary components to accomplishing this: my (our) art/films must be founded on Biblical principles, but also critically viable. This is so much easier said than done - about the same as the difference between me telling you i'm going to pick up an African Elephant verses actually doing it.

But I think it is possible, as long as Christians stay on top of where culture is headed - not just a year behind the latest trends.

2. Apart from the Bible, what book that you have read has had the greatest influence on you?

I do believe that would be Schaeffer's How Should we Then Live?. It has been about 5 years since I read it, and I'm afraid that I have forgotten many of it's details. But underriding principle of the book - that philosophy and the arts have been and will be closely linked together - has forever impacted my life. It could very well be the reason that I am about to start college to double major in Philosophy and Film Studies.

3. What are the films that most influenced you in your decision to become a filmmaker?

I'll limit this to the top 3 - as I can remember them now.

+ Magnolia - I can't go around recommending this movie to everyone in good conscience - it's a bit vulgar all throughout it. But the movie itself is the closest I've ever seen to a Philosophical Treatise in film form. It has 6 main plots, about 9 main characters and they are all woven together so beautifully - with an amazing twist 3/4 of the way through the film. Between the plots I can find most aspects of director/writer P.T. Anderson's worldview. This movie has, more than any other, shown me the depth of cinema.

+ I Am Sam - this movie will always make me cry when I see it. Sean Penn's performance is so touching, and Dakota Fanning is one of the most adorable girls ever. I love this movie because of it's ability to touch emotions deep within you, it is so personal, so real. It's use of colors and settings and camera angles and the mix between handheld and static cameras - I Am Sam is woven together so well. This is one of my favorite movies, and it makes me want to create movies that are personal and deep.

+ Napoleon Dynamite - mostly because of it's indie success. I love this movie - there's nothing deep about it, it's just a funny movie. But I think more importantly, it gives me hope that movies can garner popular and critical success without the need of sex, vulgarity, drug use, or anything negative. This movie is in all aspects positive, if lacking on the meaning side, and as I said, that gives me hope.

4. Which do you prefer: baseball or football? Why?

Baseball. Because it's what I grew up on. I am a Braves fan through and through - even though I never watch games anymore. I grew up learning the strategy and watching the players and most of all - spending time with my dad learning about the game. I never could play very well (my little league career lasted one season), but it was always a blast spending time with my dad playing catch or watching a game. Football has no such emotional ties.

5. If you had the opportunity to have dinner with any three people (apart from Jesus, living or dead) who would they be?

Francis Schaeffer, C.S. Lewis, and G.K. Chesterton - my literary and intellectual heroes.

I'm glad this is only a 5 question interview, I"m off to bed!

Rules for My Funeral

2005-03-05T16:59:00.000-08:00

Today I washed my car. It had been 6months since it last somewhat gleamed. Probably a year since my tires looked as nice. I was happy - I put "Mr. Blue Sky" by E.L.O. on repeat as well as "Bad Days" by the Flaming Lips. Made me smile a lot.

Which was good. Because earlier in the day I had attended the funeral for my Great-Uncle. I never really knew him that well, he was technically a great-uncle-in-law, but funeral's aren't typically happy occasions. And I don't like that - although i won't be changing it anytime soon.

Yes death is a serious subject, and I know that. It's not easy nor fun to lose someone you love. But as a Christian it is good, at least from my point of view. And I'm not going to expound on that anymore because this post is not about my philosophy regarding death.

It's about my funeral.

If the people who claim to be my friends and who know me well all show up at my funeral - then it will be a gathering of some of the coolest people ever to walk the face of the earth. We're talking the Fonz would walk in to the funeral home and say "Wow, there are some cool cats here..."

Because a gathering of so many awesome people is something that should not be wasted, i offer some simple rules (they can be more like guidelines if you wish) for how my funeral should "go down".

1. My casket will be closed. If it has to be opened, then I want as big of a goofy grin as possible on my face. My casket will not be at the front center of the room, it will be off to the side in the corner.

2. Last goodbyes are not necessary. The last laughs are all yours though. My whole purpose in life it seems is to make people laugh - so I'd hope that is the case at my funeral. However - since I won't be around to do it at my funeral, feel free to reminesce(sp?) about all the funny things i've done in the past. It would be awesome if my funeral were a bunch of people sitting around saying "remember the time he..." and then laughing their heads off.

Since I know that at a somber occasion whenever someone laughs, it always ends in an awkward, somber silence. Because of that, remember my rule of thumb:

3. Whenever there's a lull in conversation, someone in the group is thinking about Abraham Lincoln.

4. Kids and babies should not be silenced or shushed at my funeral. As they interrupt or ignore the proceedings, you should think about how great the gift of life is, and how much I attempted to retain some innocence. (never grow up, as Peter Pan put it)

5. I want two songs sung at my funeral - Be Thou My Vision & It is Well With My Soul. The former because if I had one prayer in life it's that, and the second because I know it'll be kind of sad that I'm gone - and I want true comfort spoken to anyone who might miss me.

6. After the funeral and graveside (if there is one), I want there to be a reception. Mingle. Talk. Smile. I don't like how stiff funerals are - I won't be around but I can promise you that I'll be more joyful and contented than I've ever been on earth. I want people at my funeral to move on, and with all the people that'll be there it won't be a problem!

That's all I can think of now. I was going to make it a little more humorous, but I actually started thinking about it halfway through. I definitely like #4 - I think I'll make that a rule for me in social gatherings from now on....

A Meme of My Own

2005-03-05T16:05:00.000-08:00

The Top 25 Most Played song on your iPod/iTunes

Title Artist Play Count

1. Motorcycle Drive By Third Eye Blind 311
2. The District Sleeps Alone Tonight The Postal Service 208
3. Such Great Heights The Postal Service 172
4. The Shining Badly Drawn Boy 153
5. Time is Running Out Muse 139
6. The Quiet things That No One Ever Knows Brand New 129
7. Miles Apart Yellowcard 123
8. Title and Registration Death Cab for Cutie 119
9. Chocolate Snow Patrol 115
10. Brand New Colony The Postal Service 114
11. Say Goodnight Jump, Little Children 108
12. 2 + 2 = 5Radiohead 103
13. Dragostea Di Nea O-Zone 101
14. We Will Become Silouhettes The Postal Service 94
15. Bliss Muse 91
16. Nothing Better The Postal Service 87
17. Maple Leaf Rag Scott Joplin 87
18. Butterflies and Hurricanes Muse 81
19. Lost the Plot Newsboys 76
20. Close Your Eyes Jump, Little Children 75
21. Be Thou My Vision Pedro the Lion 69
22. Something to Talk About Badly Drawn Boy 68
23. Shadow Stabbing Cake 68
24. Happy Kind of Like Spitting 68
25. Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk Rufus Wainwright 68

Wow that kind of took a long while to type out. Required no thought however...

Leave me a comment if you use the meme so I can see what you listen too!

This Week in Netflix: Se7en

2005-03-04T18:48:00.000-08:00

(My movie reviews are not very good at pulling in an overarching theme. My mind thinks in too many rabbit trails at the same time. Thus it might help you to read between the lines as much as possible, and understand that these are mostly just scattered thoughts on the movie grouped together in one place)

So I've heard this is a brilliant movie, and I watched it and I must agree; it is.

Unfortunately a friend had spoiled the ending a while back and so I knew what was coming. It didn't make it less creepy overall though.

What's Killing You?

I believe that's the key to this movie. The general premise is two detectives (Pitt and Freeman) are on the trial of a serial killer. This killer is murdering people based on the seven deadly sins (gluttony, greed, pride, sloth, lust, envy, and anger) and has orchestrated everything so that the detectives have no leads and are effectively putty in his hands.

Kevin Spacey is the murderer and it's after he actually enters the movie that things begin to heat up.

I respect this movie for not degrading itself into seven ways to kill people with as much pain as possible. Instead, it is a movie illustrating (very graphically) why these sins are deadly. It does this by spending the majority of it's time on how the detectives track the killer and come to understand his motives.

Unlike many movies today the movie does not shy away from calling sin "sin". The murders are abominable, but so are the sins which "cause" the murders, and Se7en points out each of these facts. I liked that about the movie.

Overall this is one of the best suspense/thrillers I've seen in awhile. It has a great plot, a surprise ending I don't believe anyone can predict, and most of all it leaves you with plenty to think about.

A New York Times Editorial

2005-03-03T20:18:00.000-08:00

Bird feeders across much of America are mobbed with black-capped chickadees at this time of year. Can you tell them apart, one by one? Probably not; it's hard enough to distinguish male from female in this species, let alone recognize individuals in a flock. But scientists are starting to suggest that if we look closely enough, we can distinguish birds of a single species by personality.

This 3 paragraph editorial greatly pisses me off. The reason being is that the moral of the editorial is extrapolated from the editorialists' worldview; and not from the actual research it quotes. Observe:

A team of Dutch scientists, testing a European relative of the chickadee, has found that some birds are shy and others are bold, broad personality differences that have a genetic foundation.

I'm not exactly sure why this is surprising, but I'll leave that be. This is the only mention of the actual scientific research mentioned. What does that sentence actually say?.

That birds can express "personality" traits - and that these might have a genetic foundation.

What does the Times tell us the sentence says?

We take the range of personalities among individuals in our species for granted, yet it seems surprising to think of similar diversity in other species. Many people find the implications of that genuinely shocking. If bird personalities have a strong genetic and evolutionary basis, there is good reason to suspect that human personalities do, too.

Now there's a word in their interpretation that was not in the original sentence. Evolutionary. And therein lies my problem with the article.

The NYT would like us to believe that because something is genetic (which is automatically scientific), it is therefore evolutionary. Thus my point that they are reading their worldview into the science. The whole purpose of the editorial is to opinionate that we should not be so offended that evolution is "true" because there are similarities between animals and humans.

But the offense is not that they believe that evolution is true or a viable theory. The offense lies in the fact that all science is automatically evolutionary. The offense lies in the fact that science has become religion - all facts MUST be interpreted through the reigning ideology. Until the Times (and all critics of Intelligent Design) can understand this - then the debate will be non-existent.

States I've Been To

2005-03-03T19:13:00.000-08:00

A Meme.

bold the states you've been to, underline the states you've lived in and italicize the state you're in now...

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C /

Go HERE to have a form generate the HTML for you.

I'm a Blogging Maniac

2005-03-02T22:30:00.000-08:00

So lately if I've not been pulling pranks at one blog, I've been starting another.

I'm proud to announce Randomnimity, a link blog - where I post all links that are interesting to me. That means no more extremely short posts on this blog - I'll just be posting longer thoughts and analysis of issues on here.

Where will this go? I have no clue... but I hope to be more productive and aim this blog more at culture. That means I'll cover more about movies and music and such - less about news unless it's particularly interesting.

This is fun. I'm in it for me - and I'm glad all whoever reads. I just saw my site stats unique to this blog and I got 163 unique visitors today. That's amazing. Thanks so much for reading - I hope not to give this up for a long while.

Anyways, if I can get to it tonight I already have about a dozen links lined up for the other blog - and I hope to keep that kind of productivity up :)

I try Not to Keep Up With Celebrities

2005-02-28T21:34:00.000-08:00

But this is just too funny for me to pass up.

The Razzies are awards given to the worst actors and actresses and movies each year. They even have their own ceremony - although the winners of the awards hardly ever show up to accept their prizes. This year they were highly favorable of Farenheit 9/11 - so I'm sure we wouldn't agree idealogically. But this story is too funny (hat tip: The Movie Blog):

Berry was named worst actress of 2004 by the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation for her performance in "Catwoman" and she showed up to accept her "Razzie" carrying the Oscar she won in 2002 for "Monster's Ball."

"They can't take this away from me, it's got my name on it!" she quipped. A raucous crowd cheered her on as she gave a stirring recreation of her Academy Award acceptance speech, including tears. She thanked everyone involved in "Catwoman," a film she said took her from the top of her profession to the bottom.

"I want to thank Warner Brothers for casting me in this piece of s***," she said as she dragged her agent on stage and warned him "next time read the script first."

It is rare for a Razzie winner to show up at the spoof awards held on the night before Oscars -- but Berry did, saying her mother taught her that to be "a good winner you had to be a good loser first." She received a standing ovation.

-Reuters

Way to go Halle - I never saw Catwoman but I heard enough negative reviews to know it didn't merit any of my time.

What exactly do I do?

2005-02-28T18:39:00.000-08:00

'Twas the question taht was asked to me in one of my precious few comments (thanks Laura!). So I figured I'd answer.

I think my official title according to my boss is Editing Professional or something corny like that. But I'm far from professional in what i do - in my mind at least.

I work for a local (Birmingham based) video production company. We are small enough that right now we don't have an in house filming studio, but we don't really have the need right now.

We produce mostly wedding videos - ranging from a barebones ceremony only package all the way up to a we're-filming-you-when-you-wake-up-on-you're-wedding-morning-until-you-leave-for-your-honeymoon package. I would like to say that our production level is near the top quarter of the industry... but of course i can't say that for sure.

We also produce local tv commercials and corporate videos and Photo Montages for any occasion in life. Along with that we can transfer any tape to dvd, and duplicate VHS's and DVD's and all sorts of little stuff like that.

I specifically can edit pretty much anything. I'm still learning on the filming aspect of thing - not much practice makes Winston not that great. I do make up for that with my photoshop skills - I'm the resident photoshop demi-guru. I know enough to do anything we ever have to do.

I also sell myself on the side as a graphics designer, but that's a fledgling work that I have no professional training in. I'm doing a bit of work for a friend who owns a web company now, and that's as far as I've gone with that.

Here's where I make you jealous.

I am one of 5 guys at the work place - we're all laid back and goof offs. We are productive about 75% of the time at work - the other time we are riding mini bikes around, shooting each other with nerf guns, or just playing pranks. We all the time have random music blaring from 3 or 4 of our offices, and lately we've been watching movies at work too. It's a blast.

Pretty much I have the best job a 20 year old guy could have. I get to geek out all day long (i'll spare you the technical aspects of my job), hang out with guys my age and guys who are twice my age but act my age, and in general just have fun while preserving memories for people that will last a long long time.

What exactly do you do? (ok cheesy ending but I can't think of anything else)

Finally some Answered Questions

2005-02-28T17:55:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago Evangelical Outpost started a discussion at Postmodern Clog on getting out of the Christian Ghetto. I added some input by recommending a few good books on the subject - and the discussion was continued here at Postmodern Clog. In the comment thread Greg asked some great questions/points about the subject and I've been mulling over them since.

Here's my thoughts on some of the issues he raised:

Evangelical Christians today have very little intersting to say. I spend a lot of time around christians that work in media production who argue endlessly over what is a "christian film/book/song" etc., but at the end of the day, while everyone has an opinion, there are very few people with a marketable idea for a script/book/song.

This is actually very true of the world as a whole; but more so for Christians. Why is that? Well because we lack relevance. We not only have a Christian ghetto in culture, but we have a Christian Bubble in life. Everything is filtered through our Christianity.

Is that bad? Well no, not exactly - except that the world outside does not have the same filter - and can have a filter quite the opposite. So if we create art (low and high) from that filter, then it automatically will not be understandable to anyone without the filter.

So not only do we have little that's interesting - we have next to nothing that's interesting on a mass appeal.

I could go into the idea of subcultures and such - but his next question feeds off this point.

2. Should Christians make Christian art, or should Christians make art and let their Christianity influence it?

I have decided that this should not be an either/or. I think the answer is yes and yes. There are clearly Christians who are called to minister to other Christians through art and music, and I believe there ought to be Christians who are called to engage the world by creativity and such. Missionaries of a different type.

I kind of hope the latter is my calling - but who knows, I could be setting myself up for a fall. In which case I have a nice fall back doing wedding videography - both fun and rewarding.

3. We can disparage them, but there is a market out there for this stuff. People will buy it. We can wish that they wouldn't make crap, but if that's what people will buy, should they not respond to the market and produce what consumers want? Before you start in about being "culture formative" and all that, remember that people who work for Chrisitan media companies respond to the market. They have shareholders. They have jobs and mortgages and kids to send to college. They will produce what the market wants, and a LOT OF CHRISTIANS CONSUMERS want to watch/listen/read this stuff. Before you get too indignant, what would you do if you were a production exec or account manager or whatever for one of these companies? Insist that the consumer be damned, you're gonna make art? Hey, my company works for clients who I won't watch their show... but it's my job to help produce it.

He has a point here - but that's why I'm not about to blame the market or producers. I despise the Christian ghetto with a passion - but I know it's not going away anytime. Instead my hope is to not be bound by it - not be confined to it.

The goal of Christian artists who feel it is their calling to produce art influenced by their Christianity should be to do what's necessary to gain credibility in the real world. I'm not such a dreamer that I think if I just go make something cool I'll be the next Zach Braff (director of Garden State). It takes work and failure and sweat and passion and most of all creativity to gain credibility in the art world.

Especially if you're going to claim conservative values.

So far be it from me to try and claim that the Christian Ghetto must be done away with - because all my preaching towards that end is hopeless. Instead I hope that Christians will be influenced to create the kind of art that actually starts a buzz and gets one noticed. This is very hard in a society governed by shock and an art culture devoted to extremism and breaking boundaries. But I believe it can be done.

I'll try later this week to look at some examples of people and groups (Christian and non) who have infiltrated seemingly closed markets. (I also recommend the book Imagine: A Vision for Christians in the Arts by Steve Turner for more on this subject)

One last point he raises:

Most secular stuff is crap too. I mean, before we single out Christian media, walk through a music store or surf the TV or look at he latest movies in your local theater. Most of it is crap as well. Truth is, producing quality art is HARD, regardless of whether you're a Christian or not.

Again - very good point. And this must always be remembered to keep our pursuits in context, but it must not stop us from trying. Good art is possible and doable.

Here's hoping that we find a way to create things that are beautiful, true, and relevant.

Middle East + Democracy = Possible?

2005-02-27T12:52:00.000-08:00

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak has asked parliament to change the constitution to allow multiple candidates in presidential polls

BBC News Feb. 26, 2005

The world is being amazed as seemingly every week the Arab world moves more towards something that looks like democracy. First Lebanon, now Egypt... the question is beginning to surface could Bush actually be right?

I believe that unless something goes horribly wrong in his second term - History will view him favorably.

But that's not what I meant to post about. Jeff Jarvis has a very quick round up of some Egyptian bloggers' opinions on these recent democratic reforms (or the potential for reforms) in Egypt.

You can check them out here.

The War in Iraq continues to be

2005-02-27T12:30:00.000-08:00

... a hot topic for many people who disagreed with it's justification. I have thought about this; gone back and forth on my position, and finally arrived at the conclusion that I support it and feel it was justified.

My reasoning for that is more based on the suffering under Saddam and the end result of the war. However I don't always like viewing things from a "ends justifies the means" ideology - and I've oft looked for a broader scale justification.

Scylla & Charybdis has a wonderful post outlining the Wolfowitz plan and how it impacted our current war in Iraq. Very very good reading outlining the purpose behind our invasion analogous to the fall of communism in Russia.

Read it all, it's not too long.

A Blog-erview

2005-02-24T22:05:00.000-08:00

That was a juxtaposition of Blog and Interview in case you were wondering and here's how it works. Laura kindly offered to interview 3 other bloggers via her site. She posts the questions on her site - and I post the responses on mine. The questions are here and my responses follow:

1. You've read Francis Schaeffer's How Should We Then Live?. To what extent do you think his predictions about postmodern society have proved true?

My gosh - it's been so long that I'm going to have to revisit this one. Reading this book served the purpose of causing me to realize how greatly intertwined philosophy and art are, but I must admit I don't remember the underlying thesis of the book nor Schaeffer's predictions. Bad me, bad me. If I get a chance sometime soon to pull it back out - I will do so and revisit this question. Right after I answer the questions from this comment thread at The Postmodern Clog.

2. What's the funniest or most bizarre dream you've ever had?

Since I don't remember my dreams ever, I'll slightly reinterpret this question as asking about dreams or plans for the future. That would definitely go back to when I was sixteen and my best friend had aims of being President of the US. As all future presidents like to do - he was already promising positions on his cabinet and I was aiming for Secretary of the Interior (I had a fascination with National Parks at the time). Ben said that he would only give me the position if I served at least 10 years as a Forest Ranger or an equivalent position. And for probably a good 5 months I was making plans to move to CO after college and be a forest ranger. Sadly - those plans fell through.

3. When and where do you most often listen to music?

Is "everywhere" an option? The question would be more narrow if you asked where I don't listen to music. But the best answer is probably work - I have my own office and my own computer so I control all music in my domain. As such I took a personal hard drive and installed it in the computer and keep all the music from my iPod backed up on it. The bad part about listening to work is that I can't always sing as loud as I might.

Because of that - my favorite place to listen to music is in the morning as I take my shower. Living in the basement allows me the chance to sing at the TOP OF MY LUNGS as I wake up to face the day. It's a beautiful part of my routine that I will miss at college.

4. You're an aspiring filmmaker, correct? Name a movie or two, recent or not, that have had a profound influence on the way you think about the purpose of filmmaking.

While I have movies that I like better for various reasons (The Patriot or i am sam come to mind), Magnolia is the movie that has influenced my view of the purpose of film making most profoundly. The first 5 minutes told me i would absolutely love the film - and I was not let down. Writer/Director PT Anderson brilliantly weaves together 6 plots involving about 9 main characters to present the viewer with his worldview. It is the closest I've come to a philosophical treatise in cinematographic form.

The acting and the plots and the overall storytelling kept me involved with the film - continually trying to understand the directors purpose in each scene. On top of all this it's biblical overtones and beautiful plot twist at the end help to make this one of the most mentally engaging films I've ever seen.

Second place goes to "City of Lost Children", which I mentioned a few days ago.

5. Tell us something interesting about your demeanour that those who haven't interacted with you in person wouldn't know.

First of all - props for the British spelling of "demeanour".

I'm told that the only thing one must know about me is that I'm always smiling. I prefer it this way - I find that despite all the horrid things we are surrounded with in the world I can always find something to smile about. Mostly what makes me smile are the people I am constantly surrounded by - whether old friends or new aquaintances. Because of my constant smiling I also am laughing as much as possible - and doing my best to help other people do the same.

You might not recognize this on my blog because my sense of humour is more of a physical idiotic type humor. I view myself as the lovable idiot and do everything I can to reinforce that :-P.

So now the offer is open - does anyone else want to be interviewed? If I were to get some offers I'll limit it to the first 3, but I'm skeptical that space will fill up! Comment with "interview me" and I"ll get to work thinking of some questions for you.

Ferocious?

2005-02-24T18:16:00.000-08:00

BBC News:

A ferocious species of flesh-eating dinosaur has been uncovered in South America, Nature magazine reports.

How do they know it's ferocious? Did it attack someone? Did they find caveman drawings nearby showing a rough sketch of it chasing rough sketches of cave men?

Looks kind of funny to me.

Blog Crush

2005-02-24T17:22:00.000-08:00

It's official. I have a blog crush on Michelle Catalano. I mean dang - she just has good taste in music and she can write like nobody's business and it's always hilarious reading her site. For me that is - she can be quite vulgar sometimes so if that gets to you then I don't recommend it.

A sampling of her recent stuff that totally impresses me:

She's listening to the same bands as me

She has an excellent post on cutting and whose to blame

She does a great treatment of her view of religion and Christianity that makes me respect her for being a thinking person.

Yes I disagree with her view on Christianity completely, and yes she gets a lil too vulgar for even me. But she still ranks up with Lileks in "amount of amazing material produced". Effin a michelle... effin a.

I Heart Huckabees

2005-02-21T21:05:00.000-08:00

This movie came out on DVD today - if I had money I'd surely buy it. It's hilarious (some adult scenes) but more importantly it's deep. It explores the meaning of life in a humorous yet serious manner. Although I fundamentally disagree with the existentialist philosophy it exorts - I highly recommend the film. The Indie films weblog has a great review of it here.

I Heart Huckabees is a complicated, messy, imperfect film about complication, mess, and imperfection. It’s totally hillarious, and somewhat offensive. It’s hard to watch, and only sometimes pleasureably so. It received mixed reviews, and despite its “all-star” cast, was a commerical failure.

As far as I’m concerned, it’s one of the most worthwhile American films of last year.