A Few Words About A Few Things

I was looking through people's lists of "100 Greatest Movies of All Time" and "Top 10 Films Ever" to see if maybe I've missed some good ones in all my movie watching over the years. One that I saw pop up several times was Ghost World. It's a really strange movie apparently adapted from a comic book.

I did really enjoy it, especially the sarcasm towards modern art. It also took on the issue of how people who try so hard to be outcasts end up alienating themselves even from their fellow outcasts. Anyway, good one...check it out.


Also, on a completely unrelated topic I really like the business model Facebook has going for them. People say it's too boring and not customized enough, but they've acquired quite an impressive audience of very active members. The stats are truly fascinating (I have read the whole article) including more photo uploads than Flickr and 85% of all college students with a profile*, 60% of which log in daily! I consider the not as customized look a good thing. For anyone who has ever browsed MySpace (which I do not recommend), Facebook is a nice clean alternative to keep track of friends and share memories. Their ads are also quite cleverly integrated and not nearly as annoying as most site's flash banners with scantly clad women adorning them.

But I know this sounds completely like an ad for Facebook right now though so I digress and leave you with the fact that Facebook is much less annoying than MySpace...

*This number only counts students at colleges currently available in the Facebook world

Life Actually

The fate of my Writing for Electronic Media hangs on how well the Bears do from week to week (luckily "da Bears" are having a good season at 9-1)...I always eat 3 M&M's at a time...I think it's time that we all meet Stu (he's really a quality guy)...remember Lemmings? you can play it here or download it here...the coolest optical illusion on the internet ever!...remember Tunak Tunak Tan? never gets old, oh Daler Mehndi...I tried a new search service called ChaCha that has someone chat with you to assist with your search, at first try not so good...Meebo is a really awesome online chat client for all your accounts all free...THE END

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Put Back the Stars

There are few song out there that really hit me in the chest. But there's even fewer that almost bring me to tears. I've heard this song dozens of times, but it wasn't until I played it the other day with the lyrics in front of me that it hit me on a level of myself that I need to remodel after some serious damage.

Blindside - Put Back the Stars

Put back the stars
I'm out of shape tonight
Pinhole black velvet navigation-skills got lost
with the fading light
It was there not more then a second ago
Now what do you know, what I do know
Is just not good enough to make things right
So put back the stars
I'm out of place tonight

Ain’t it something to know you’re lost
Ain't it something to know you’re lost
Ain't it something to know you’ve lost

I hoist my sail
Though there is no wind in sight
And I close my eyes to feel the fresh breeze
Paint the inside of my eyelids bright
Fill the sky with your breath
Cause you know I’m out of mine
Let the sky burn and I will inhale
Without a fight
So I hoist my sail
And I'll just wait for you tonight

Ain't it something to know you’ve lost
Ain't it something to know you’ve lost
Ain't it something to know you’ve lost

Black tar surround me now
But life is the next door neighbor
On the outside there is just absence
But when I close my eyes
All I see is your face

Ain't it something to know you're lost
Ain't it something to know you're lost
Ain't it something to know you're lost
Ain't it something to know you're lost

Ain’t it something to know you’ve lost
Ain’t it something to know you’ve lost
Ain’t it something I know I’ve lost

Although I question the legality of the site you can download this song or album here pretty cheap at high quality and DRM free.

All the Cool Kids Are Doing It

Well, all the bloggers I admire have made such a list so it must be cool...right? I will also include a short comment on each one because I believe the meaning often goes deeper than just the title of the song.

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?

So, here’s how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that’s playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button

Opening Credits: The River is Wild - The Killers
I take this as foreshadowing for the rest of the movie.

Waking Up: Calm Like a Bomb - Rage Against the Machine
I would certainly never consider my morning explosive by any means but there it is.

First Day At School: Wonder What's Next – Chevelle
Considering my thrust into public school after being home schooled, this is more than an apt description of that experience.

Falling In Love: Superfriend - Audio Adrenaline
This song is of course not originally about a girl...but it works.

Fight Song: Day By Day - DC Talk
Every day is a fight for some of us.

Breaking Up: God Put a Smile Upon Your Face (Live) – Coldplay
Make them wonder why you're still smiling...in the bad times.

Prom: Without Love - Johnny Cash
I wish they played Johnny Cash at my prom(s)...way better than Notorious Big.

Life’s Ok: You are the One - Lincoln Brewster
When life's just “OK” it's always good to hit a nice worship song and remember what it's all about.

Mental Breakdown: Blossom, The Witch - Still Remains
The album title for this song happens to be Of Love and Lunacy...true story.

Driving: Sleepwalking - Blindside
When I drive, I tend to drift off no matter what time of the day.

Flashback: Rest for the Weary - Cool Hand Luke
Good chill song, if I was having flash backs, I'd want to listen to Cool Hand Luke. Also the album is called The Fires of Life.

Getting Back Together: What's My Age Again - Richard Cheese
If you know what this song is about it makes sense, plus it's redone in the classy voice of Mr. Cheese.

Birth of Child: The Soldier's Song - Demon Hunter
Because it takes a soldier to raise a child...not a village.

Wedding: Bend the Bracket - Chevelle
On the album This Type of Thinking Could Do Us In ...hmmm...

Final Battle: Give - Faded Me
“And I will give my life a living sacrifice, and I give everything, every piece of me.” Battling to some good 'ol Faded Me.

Death Scene: God Shaped Hole - Audio Adrenaline
Maybe that “hole” is not a figure of speech...that's a pretty big hole.

Funeral Song: A Last Illusion - Trans Siberian Orchestra
I hope they play this at my funeral.

End Credits: Wiplash – Beanbag
With the lyrics, “Jesus will never let you go!”

Deal or No Deal

This week, Pastor Jim decided to have a message themed off NBC's Deal or No Deal. As always, finding logos for these shows that are of decent quality is fairly difficult. Fortunately, however, they used a pretty standard font in their logo for anyone interested in making a more realistic recreation of the logo, Eurostyle Extended #2 (in bold). The logo above is my attempt at making the logo Saturday night before the sermon.

Above is a comparison of the original (top) and my version (bottom). I think a did a decent job since I only had Photoshop to use. Obviously I could not make it in 3D and ended with a much more well polished and shiny version, but the re-creation was necessary in order to make the "DEAL" and "NO DEAL" individual slides below.


I used Indigo Production's action "Chrome and Gold" and some color adjusting to made all these slides. Let me know what you think...

El Futuro de la Iglesia

This weekend, the staff of Word of Faith Family Church (myself included) will be heading for a retreat in near Columbus to discuss the future vision and plan of the church. I am excited since I've never really been a part of anything like this before plus I can really see a lot of things developing that will be changing us a lot:

The Youth Group
Alternative Edge is about to be completely revamped. This includes changes such as small groups, more emphasis on Wednesday nights, removing the Sunday night service as it is now, and splitting the High School and Junior High into basically separate ministries. This is all preliminary brainstorming, nothing is set in stone, but this is generally what we're looking at.

Outreach Committee
We saw a lot of work and volunteering go into the NightLight and we now have an Outreach Committee. I think we're going to be seeing a shift toward more outreach events hosted by us and hopefully even in cooperation with other churches. I think we'll be doing another similar event as soon as the Spring.

The Media Team
Actually going through a rough patch right now as far as volunteers, but I have actually seen a lot of interest lately from the congregation. We're looking at a lot of video editing right now and maybe even video announcements as soon as the beginning of next year. This would require two things, about 3 people to shoot and edit that and a new Mac for editing. The 5-6 year old G4 is showing it's age a lot lately.

So all in all, looks like a lot of stuff is happening....we may even be breaking ground for a new wing pretty soon. But we'll see what God has for us this weekend...pray for us!