I added a new addition to my blog roll tonight: Galactic Slacker. It is where Jody thinks carefully about issues and allows us to think with him. Check it out.
This is my first addition to the blog roll in a long time. I think the last blog I added to it was Heath’s blog: Tides And Turning
Check both of them out and give me a full report in the morning.
I watched The Amazing Spider-Man tonight on DVD. There were two over-arching thoughts the entire time I watched. The first thought: Spider Man would never survive in a town like Roswell, NM. We only have two buildings over five stories and he wouldn’t be able to get around to save anyone.
He would have to use a bicycle or a skateboard or even a mule. But his webs would be completely useless until he arrived on the scene of the crime, only to find that the crime had already been committed and the criminals had dashed off in a 1978 Chevrolet Monte Carlo with original rims and added ground lighting. Not only that, he would have to learn Spanish. In all these cases, he would have to change his name to the Amazing Mule Man, or something like that. He wouldn’t be all that impressive.
I didn’t realize that Dave Brubeck died on Wednesday, just a few days short of his 92nd birthday. Here is a bit of his bio:
Born Dec. 6, 1920, to a California ranching family, Brubeck’s religious sensibilities awakened during World War II when he served in Gen. George Patton’s famed 3rd Army. In an interview with Hedrick Smith for the PBS program Rediscovering Dave Brubeck, he said, “So many of my friends got killed in World War II. On the parachute landing on D-Day, one of my friends got shot in the air in his harness of his parachute.” Brubeck said he started asking himself, “Why am I here? Why did they get killed?” Initially, though, he said he turned not to God but to hard work. Brubeck resolved, “I’m alive and I’m gonna do as much as I can.”
And he did. His post-war productivity was remarkable. Not only did the poly-rhythms of such songs as “Take Six” and “Blue Rondo” capture America’s post-war energies, Brubeck’s output—as many as 250 concerts and four albums a year—turned him into a jazz superstar in the 1950s and ’60s.
Some musicians and critics resented Brubeck’s success, saying he capitalized on an audience that black musicians had built. Others dismissed Brubeck’s music as “West Coast Jazz” or “Cool Jazz” or even “White Man’s Jazz.” But the criticism faded after Brubeck canceled 23 of 25 concerts—many of them on college campuses in the South—when he discovered that his black bass player Eugene Wright would not be welcome. After that, Brubeck, Wright, and the rest of the band were welcomed at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, N.Y., and at both black and white colleges throughout the country.
Read the rest here.
And here is one of his most famous numbers:
Last week, we learned that Disney bought Star Wars and we can look forward to years of coming Star Wars movies. I am grateful for the purchase, especially given that I know the controlling power behind Star Wars, George Lucas, will no longer be responsible for the scripts behind the movies.
We all know the story of how Lucas took his scripts to Hollywood, time and time again, trying to get help in making his films and it wasn’t until he to episode 4 there that he found success there. There was a reason for that. The movies are poorly written. The dialog is inane and the characters like C3po are really quite irritating. I know the R2D2 is there for the children, so that the movie qualifies as a family movie, but the poor writing makes these characters really irritating.
It takes great writers to make such characters palatable to both children and adults. Just watch a few Veggie Tales episodes and you will see what I mean. The show is written for children, but adults will find plenty to laugh about as well. That is good writing.
Also, watch any of the Tinker Bell movies that Disney has produced. Yes, there are things that appeal only to the 10-year-old girl. But the movies are well written enough to keep an adults interest as well. Again, that is the result of good writing.
The Star Wars franchise has lacked good writing. They didn’t need it. After all, the appeal was the science fiction and the special effects. Yes, there were a few plot twists, like Luke, Leia and Darth Vader being related surprised me when I was younger. But Jar-Jar Binks sealed my views of the Star Wars franchise: adolescent at best. The last one I saw was just wicked. Enough already. I don’t own any of the franchise and will not unless the writing improves. Hopefully Disney can take the series to a new and respectable level again.
I got this idea for this Top-10 List from from Comedian Tim Hawkins who posted on his Facebook page that the NAPA Knowhow song just broke into Hell’s Top 10 playlist. He has a point. That song is about as irritating as it can get. Most songs from radio commercials are irritating on one level or another. I believe that is because there is a course in advertising school that teaches people that if you cannot come up with a catchy, good tune or song for your commercial, then you should make it as irritating as possible. Since that is so much easier, it happens all the time.
For instance I can sing the song for Heritage for the Blind. It’s about donating your old junked up car so they can sell it and help the blind. The song is so terrible, so off key, so through the nose of the guy singing, that it’s unforgettable. You know it’s bad when I can discern that the song is flat, off-key and through the vocalist’s nose.
But I digress. This is about pop-culture songs that are straight from hell or about hell, or both. A song qualifies if it gets stuck in your head and… you hate it. A song also qualifies if it is about hell, or the devil or it’s so bad, it makes you want to go there to get away from the song. Therefore…
10. Bat Out of Hell — Meatloaf. Come on, it’s by a guy named Meatloaf! It has to make the list! Plus, I was introduced to this over-dramatic song by a teacher in high school while we were on a One-Act play trip to some place in central Texas. She kept playing it over and over again and I really wanted to send that bat right back to hell.
9. Call Me Maybe — This one qualifies because I’ve only heard it maybe five times, but it’s played inside the recesses of my brain at least a billion times. It went from being a cute song, to… a hellish song. I’ve only seen the artist who sings it in a video once. The other times had the US Olympic Swim team singing it and a bunch of Republicans from Chicago singing it (should we not consider the phrase Chicago Republicans a contradiction in terms?)
8. Sympathy for the Devil — by the Rolling Stones. This song has always given me the creeps and I can only attribute that to the fact that the Rolling Stones capture one aspect of Satan so well. Some writers have even suggested that this song inspired many other entertainers to try and entertain us about hell/Satan, etc. I just have one question for Mick Jaegger and the boys: “with a song like this, exactly where do you plan on spending eternity?”
7. Stairway to Heaven — I know, this seems like it should appear in the Top-Ten Songs for Heaven, but it actually is about a woman trying to buy a stairway to heaven all the while wearing a bustle in her hedgerow. Or something like that. I never have been able to discern much of what Robert Plant is actually saying in the songs he sings. Since this song actually opposes the gospel, it’s actually about getting into hell, in the sense that someone thinks they can buy their way into heaven. But that is probably far too deep for the average listener of Led Zepplin, even though many believe that Led Zepplin is actually really deep. How could one possibly know? You can’t understand half of what Robert Plant is actually saying.
BTW, I don’t believe that if you play Led Zepplin songs backwards, that you can hear Satan’s voice chanting some dirge to delude the people. I do believe you can hear Tiny Tim’s voice as he sings Tiptoe Through the Tulips… our number six enter.
6. Tiptoe Through the Tulips — by Tiny Tim. O what an abuse of the name Tim! Someone please hide the ukuleles.
5. Highway to Hell — AC/DC’s contribution to the list. Given that the lead singer of the band that sang this song died from choking on his own vomit, makes one wonder if he made his destination.
4. Running With the Devil — Van Halen’s contribution to the list.
3. Hotel California — this one rates at number three because it has caused countless millions to sing along without realizing they are singing about hell. The song comes from the apostate Don Henly. It is not really about hell, but about the “high-life” of LA… wait, isn’t that the same thing?
2. House of the Rising Sun — listen to this one too much and you get put on suicide watch. This folk song was popularized by the Animals back in 1964. It’s not just that the song is so utterly depressing, as Blues tends to be, but misguided Christians keep trying to co-opt the tune and put the words of Amazing Grace to it. This shows the unheavenly nature of the song and causes it to rise to such a high level of disdain.
1. Red Solo Cup — Straight from the Department of Monotony, this one is not only mind numblingly repetitive, but there is so little substance to it that it has become the national anthem for every frat boy in the country. Musically this song only rises to the level of the gutter vomit that it leads to in countless frat houses. May it depart from the recesses of my brain as quickly as the word “moderation” does at a keg party.
OK, you probably have your own list. Let me know in the comments section.
Obama Stands For Islam — but then, are we surprised about this? He is anti-First Amendment in his stance. People slander Jesus Christ all the time and yet, you don’t see Christians rioting and killing people over it. Only the religion of peace does that.
Divorce Rate Among Devoted Christians Much Lower Than National Average — For years we have been hearing that the divorce rate among Christians was just as bad as that among non-Christians… at 50 percent. That stat is erroneous and misleading in nature as well. But there is a new study out showing that those who are devoted Christians actually have a lower divorce rate than those non-believers. Here the key poing:
People who seriously practice a traditional religious faith—whether Christian or other—have a divorce rate markedly lower than the general population.
What the study shows is that the more a couple is committed to their beliefs, the less likely they are to become divorced.
Gloria Jackson Show — I like the following video from the Gloria Jackson Show. She interviews Comedian Brad Stine about freedom of speech. The more I listened to it the more I like Brad Stine. Not only does he discuss the problem of Marxism and political correctness, but he goes on to talk about the true equality we have because of Christ and Christianity.
BTW, I actually started paying more attention to Gloria Jackson when I was listening to a debate between a Calvinist and Armenian recently and she was one of the people who asked a question during the Q&A.
Paganini Humor — Another video that I have found very humorous, and entertaining are those put out by PAgagNINI, a couple of violinist who put humor to playing music. The following is one of my favorites in which they cover U2′s With or Without You. It’s beautiful. (Hattip Andrew M.)
And there is this rendition of Pachelbel’s Canon in D
We watched the 1969 version of True Grit last night, starring John Wayne and Glenn Campbell. After watching the Jeff Bridges version earlier in the year, and then going back to watch the original, I have to ask: why did Jeff Bridges & Company even bother? The John Wayne version, even though it lacked our modern-day intensity, was still the better film. In fact it was one of Wayne’s best films, which is why he won the Oscar for Best Actor.
Given the other options that year, he was the absolute best actor in the best film as well. The only movie most will recognize is Midnight Cowboy in which Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight were both nominated for best actors.
This film still stands today as one that you should own, or at least watch. The lines are classic, well written, and memorable, unlike the tripe that is put forth in so many of our movies today. So much of the movies today are just spin offs of older films and lack any originality. Not so for the 1969 True Grit. Both Wayne and Kim Darby do excellent jobs in playing their characters, with Wayne rising to the occasion just for this movie. He shows why he was that actor that and movie star he was.
He plays the one-eyed fatman to a tee. He is grumpy when he needs to be, drunk when he needs to be, and a man of true grit when push comes to shove. Who can forget the scene when he takes the reins of the horse in his teeth, a rifle in one hand and a revolver in the other and heads off toward Ned Pepper’s Gang (Robert Duvall), guns a-blazing. Wayne was able to pull it off because the actor actually had true grit.
I also appreciate the performances of Robert Duvall and Dennis Hopper. While they played the parts of the bad-men, they were not one-dimensional bad men like so many these days. I hate movies where those who portray the wicked, never have doubts about their wickedness, or regrets. Both Duvall and Hopper’s characters show regret even though they are the men who are evil. That adds to the depth of the film.
I don’t wish to detract from Jeff Bridges. Had the film not been made in 1969, he would have been the perfect Rooster Cogburn. But since the movie was so well done in 1969, there was really nothing for Bridges and company to add to the story.
After we watched the movie, we watched the special features which included a portion about John Wayne. One of the commentators mentioned that we need more men with true grit like John Wayne. I couldn’t agree more.
I just found out about 30 minutes ago that the filmakers of the movie Camp, are filming a scene for the movie in our church, Redeemer Christian Fellowship. Jacob Roebuck, the director and writer for the movie, is the son in-law of one of my elders. They needed to shoot a scene in the waiting area of a jail… and… well, seems like one of our classrooms fits the bill. I’m not sure if I’m excited about that, but I will get over it.
I hope to go down and take some pictures of them while they are filming. I just got to meet Teresa and Kate who are responsible for turning the classroom into the jail holding area. It will be interesting to see how that takes place.
Watch this video for the some back ground to the movie. It is a Christian movie about summer camps that take in troubled children for two weeks at a time and the difference they make in the lives of those children.
One more point: I got to see a screening of part of the movie several weeks ago, and it looks like it’s going to be a great movie.
Also, if you want to help support the movie, go to their website. They are taking donations to help produce it and finish it out. Also, it will be a great movie for churches to rally around when it comes out in February or March. Here is the link to their web site.
In an interview with Fox411, Morgan Freeman came out and admitted that he is God. I’m not surprised by this. If we do not believe in the living and true God of the Bible then it is no great leap to conclude that we are gods as well. Here is the interview:
Fox411: Do you think there is a God?
MF: Do I think there’s a God? Um (pause) yeah.
Fox411: You paused.
MF: I paused because I am God.
Fox411: Because every man is created in God’s image.
MF: Yes or God’s created in my image.
This is the major problem with all mankind, both saved and unsaved a like. We want to make God out into our image, as opposed to the God who actually has revealed Himself in the 66 books of the Bible. This is the heart of man’s problem. It is why the first four commandments of the moral Law are so vital in understanding who God is, and who we are.
God simply states: You shall have no other gods before Me. He states this in the context of idolatrous nations that were in the habit of worshipping false gods, but the problem rested in Israel just as much as it rests in our hearts as well. We want so badly to be gods, that we must die to ourselves and our desires daily, taking up our cross as a matter of habit. Every conflict we face, ever sin we jump into is our declaration with Adam that we are god.
Yet Christ calls His followers to be different because He was different. His entire life was in submission to the Father’s will, and this is what He calls His children to do. The only way we can do so is to be in His word, allowing the Spirit to conform us to His image. It is a life-long calling for the believer.
Is Morgan Freeman truly God? Nope. Not in the least. What Freeman is saying is what everyone single man, woman and child has said since Adam’s fall: ”I want to be god, and I hope the living and true God doesn’t mind.” The problem is that the living and true God does mind, hence the Ten Commandments and the Cross. Let’s hope God shows Freeman grace to repent of his own idolatry, and grace to us in order to do the same.
I have to hand it to Texas Tech. They are standing strong against ESPN and the now failing network lhn. For those of you who do not know, lhn is the “longhorn network,” a television network started by ESPN that was to cover the texas longhorns exclusively. In other words, 24 hours of longhorn coverage 7 days a week. (Sounds like purgatory to me!) The idea was to market this o so wonderful brand of t.u. to the nation, sort of like NBC did with Notre Dame.
The problem for ESPN is that they didn’t realize the resolve of other schools in the great state of Texas. The resolve is so great that the alumni for those schools called up their local cable networks and told them that if they carried lhn at all, they would go and find another provider. To this date, only two cable networks are providing lhn, and the network is dying a quick death (not quick enough as far as I’m concerned).
The lhn was the straw the broke the camel’s back concerning Texas A&M, and the reason they left the Big 12 conference for the SEC. The problem was that Dan Beebe, then chairman of the Big 12, would bend over backwards to do what was necessary to make t.u. happy. This was why Colorado, Missouri, and Nebraska all left the Big 12 as well. The rest of the schools were simply pawns in t.u.’s quest to exalt itself.
Until recently at least. In an attempt to keep the lhn alive, ESPN is trying to designate the network as a regular ESPN platform sort of like ESPN2, or ESPNU in order to expand coverage. They have added football games from the Western Athletic Conference in order to do this because there just isn’t enough t.u. to fill 24 hours of programming for even the most avid t.u. fan.
It seems that one of the games that the lhn wants to broadcast is the Texas Tech game with Texas State University, which is a member of the WAC. When Texas Tech learned of the possibility of it being aired on the lhn, they stated that they would cancel the game and pay the buyout costs rather than appear on the lhn. Red Raider Sports reports:
ESPN announced earlier this month that the game would be carried on one of its platforms, but did not specify which.
Tech learned of this possibility several days ago, and according to the source, is “adamantly opposed to playing on the Longhorn Network” and is “putting serious consideration into canceling the game and playing an 11 game schedule” this fall.
“We are extremely disappointed,” the source told RRS. “Our hope is that the Texas State game will be played on a primary ESPN platform.”
Can you see some of the passion that is dooming the lhn? Tech would rather pay the buyout costs than do anything that would aid and abet the lhn in it’s survival. What do you bet that there were quite a few Red Raiders calling their cable companies, along with Aggies, Sooners, Cowboys, Bears, Cougars, Horned Frogs, Mustangs, and others telling them “no lhn!”
That is because we know the diseased underbelly known as t.u. We know how their recruiters will badmouth other schools to prospective recruits. We know the giant-sized egos down at that junior college in Austin who think the entire Big 12 exists for the purpose of exalting t.u. We know how they believe we should just bow down in humble compliance with the demands of their athletic department. We also know we are not going to. Nothing would say this more than the failure of the lhn.
I’m glad Texas Tech is standing strong against the lhn, just as I rejoice that A&M bolted the Big 12 for the SEC. Hopefully, the Big 12 will become a thing of the past in the future and t.u. can have their ultimate desire, to become independent like Notre Dame, and end up with the same record. It is sad that schools like TCU and OU are nothing more than canon fodder for the egos in Austin. May the canon fodder humble those involved with t.u. and the ill-advised lhn.
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