Here’s something just those of you who read here… well, by that i mean, i’m not cross-posting it anywhere… anyone can take advantage of it… fine… you get the idea…
Anyway… Phil Wickham just released a live CD available as a FREE DOWNLOAD on his website… it’s called SingAlong and i’ve downloaded it but i haven’t listened to it yet…
The catch, of course is that they want your email to add you to their mailing list… so, if you cry about that sort of thing, you may not want to check it out… for the brave, though, the ones who understand the delete button… check it out at http://philwickham.com/singalong/… and have a super duper weekend…
Well, it’s been a weird week so far… i’m currently watching/burning to DVD the last game of the NBA Finals to free up what is apparently unneeded space on my DVR since there’s nothing on television anymore… i can’t wait for the return of Psych, Monk, The Closer and Burn Notice… maybe even more, but those four come to mind right now… until then, we’ll have to settle for whatever we can scrape up from good old netflix… dang, another three-pointer from Ray Allen…
I’ve also been reliving the days when i watched the NBA regularly by moving my old video tapes of the 1996 NBA Finals onto DVD as well… how great would it be to see Jordan, Pippen, Harper, Rodman and Longley square up against Garnett, Pierce, Allen, Rondo, and Perkins… oooooh… that’s the ticket… i can’t hardly BELIEVE that it was TWELVE YEARS AGO… crazy…
Of course, i’ve also been doing a lot of reading as well and my updates are below… it looks i’ll be able to go in for the kill and finish at least one of those books this week… possibly two, but at least one… and as they get checked off, you can expect brief little reviews in keeping with my agreement with the reading club thingamabob…
Okay, let’s move on shall we… this game is wrapped up and i’m ready to get this blog party started…
Okay, so i’ve mentioned before, probably several times that i enjoy playing the games online… particularly word games, but i’ve been known to delve off into puzzle games and other nonsensical flash-based games as well… and when it comes to word games, i like to win… and i do win a lot, but not always… i’m okay with losing and whenever it happens, i try my best to take it with grace…
And so it was that after handily defeating someone at a particular word game and then losing the rematch as they improved their score significantly it was a logical next step for me rematch again and dig in for the “rubber match”… Well, my scores remained pretty consistent, but their score, again, improved significantly on the back of a string of perfect rounds… chalking it up to good luck on their part and still wanting to win, i opted for another rematch…
However, as i watched them kick off the opening rounds with more perfect scores, my suspicions got the better of me… i researched the possibility of cheating in such a game as this… previously it hadn’t even occurred to me, but the suspicion holds me tight as they say and as it turns out, it is possible and there is no doubt in my mind that this individual was juicing up their scores… that last game - and it’s the last i’ll ever engage in with this particular person - unfolded with perfect round after perfect round… not only was the fun evacuated from the situation, but my concern for this individual grew as well… i mean, come on, how messed up and insecure do you have to be to cheat in a friendly game to make yourself look better?…. man, that’s insecurity at it’s apex… what a shame…
So i woke up Tuesday morning after an interrupted night of sleep and the room is spinning… it seems that i got up during a bad sleep cycle or something, but my equillibrium was all messed up… i tried my darndest to fight through it as if it were a passing feeling, but this vertigo had set in for the day… i ended up calling in sick and going back to bed… by the afternoon, i was able to be on the couch, eat lunch and do a little bit on the computer and such, but every time i turned my head, the images seemed to be proccessing in slow motion… i felt like i was in the matrix…
Little boy made my day by coming over, wrapping his arms around me and informing me that he had prayed for me three times and then, for good measure, prayed again right then and there… such a sweetie… clearly, i’m back on my feet again, but that was a wild day and i didn’t particularly like the way i felt…
New on the music front this week is a band called Seabird… i know what you’re probably thinking… you’re thinking that if it came out this week, i should be writing a regular full-on album review for it instead of putzing around here in this blog with just a brief mention, right?… well, it’s here or nowhere for this week… i’m backed up beyond belief and as hard as i try, it’s gonna be a while before i’m back on track… besides, you wouldn’t have the enjoyment of this handy little album player here to my left if this were an actual review…
Anyway, Seabird hit the scen a little bit ago with an EP that turned some heads and with the pedigree of being on Credential Recordings, you know it’s gotta at least be interesting music, right?… indeed it is chock full of pleasant melodies and artsy hooks… the sound may not be entirely unique anymore with the recent insurgence of indie rockers on the mainstream scene, but Seabird seems to hold their own on that front and i think that songs like “Rescue” and “Stronger” are certainly worth giving ear to…
So, i finally caved and signed up to join Twitter… it’s nothing all that special, but see, what sold me is that there’s a growing number of artists using it and if you follow them, you can find out about upcoming projects and tour stuff… that’s what i was convinced of when i peeked in and saw the Bart Millard was recording for Hymned Vol 2…
other spectacular things i’ve learned since signing up? Vicky Beeching doesn’t own a vaccuum cleaner, but she borrows one from her neighbor… Cindy Morgan has fed a camel… Brock Gill likes chocolate…. Aaron Shust likes to make bad puns about his friend’s names… the guys from downhere like to run… someone from Dizmas doesn’t watch where they’re walking…
clearly this is an invaluable tool… though, i’ll admit, it is how i discovered Mark Lee’s book club…
So, despite Tuesday being all but a complete loss… i was able to give the boys a treat since they were pretty well-behaved… after they had gotten into their jammies and were ready for bed, i gathered them up, one on each side, and we planted ourselves on the couch to screen the upcoming Veggietales release, Tomato Sawyer and Huckleberry Larry’s Big River Rescue…
My first thought was how daring it was to choose Huck Finn as the inspiration for a Veggietales film simply because i remember clearly that it’s been the subject of banishment, censorship and whatnot throughout the years, but of course, it is a classic and it’s a very memorable story of two pals and their adventures… and it translates very well to the capers of Bob and Larry… The sink scene was clever and really set the tone for the rest of the film…
It’s a hair-raising tale of friendship, sacrifice, and doing what you know is right… it’s also a fun tale of bluegrass, babies with signal flares and fried chicken… the boys enjoyed it, i liked it and it’s a winner… due out July 12th… check it out…
- It All Goes Back in the Box (Ortberg)
- Deadly Viper Character Assassins (Foster & Wilhite) [audiobook]
- The Word of Mouth Manual (Balter) [about 15 pages left]
- Character Makes a Difference (Huckabee) [about 50 pages left]
- Simplicity (Salomon) [about 75 pages left]
- The Parent You Want to Be (Parrott) [about 150 pages left]
- New Way to Be Human (Peacock) [about 200 pages left]
- Boys Should Be Boys (Meeker)
- Wide Awake (McManus)
- At the Crossroads (Peacock)
- Deliver Us from Evelyn (Wells)
- The Two Towers (Tolkien)
- Quiet Strength (Dungy)
- UnChristian (Kinnaman & Lyons)
- Prince Caspian (Lewis)
- Searching for God Knows What (Miller)
i’m getting so bad at this… it’s like i never know what’s happening because i’m too busy doing stuff all the time… sometimes i don’t even know what i’m doing… that’s when it gets nice and crazy… anyway… had a nice little breather at work, but things have kind of swollen back up and i’m far more than knee deep again… it’s going to be a trying time the next few months at least and i’m sure it’ll be a while before everything is aright… and i’m sure that i’m gonna be extremely tired when it’s all said and done… i’m already at least halfway there…
Anyway, how about some TV talk, music chatter, and a little bit of other stuff…
we’ve been going back through and watching FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS on DVD… we had watched Season One while it was happening, but by the time Season Two came on, i’m not sure what happened… i guess our DVR was overbooked or on the fritz or something and we ended up missing a bunch of the episodes and that coupled with the far-reaching murder subplot really turned me off to the show… Now that season two is out on DVD, i thought it was a good time to give it a second chance… and, thanks to good old netflix… it’s pretty much risk free…
Anyway, i’m very glad we did because the writing (other than the whole murder thing) is just phenomenal… and it’s reminded me of the most fascinating character on television… Tim Riggins… yeah that’s right… and by fascinating, i mean that whenever he’s on the screen, it’s worth watching… he’s easily the most complex character… and his reactions to life’s problems, which tend to be numerous in his case, are always memorable… as easy as it would’ve been to make him a stock character with stereotypical reactions, i’m so glad they put more thought into him than that…
Anyway, since i’ve gone and declared Riggs as the most fascinating character on television, i thought i’d go ahead and list a few others that always grab my attention when they’re on screen… Despite being numbered, this is my official, unordered list of last year’s most fascinating characters on television…
Jack Donaghy (30 Rock)
Michael Westen (Burn Notice)
Chuck Bartowski (Chuck)
Brenda Johnson (The Closer)
Barney Stinson (How I Met Your Mother)
Robert Hawkins (Jericho)
Peter Petrelli (Heroes)
Sylar (Heroes)
Robert Goren (Law & Order: Criminal Intent)
Adrian Monk (Monk)
Benjamin Linus (Lost)
Daniel Faraday (Lost)
Michael Scofield (Prison Break)
I’m sure that i’ve missed plenty… i don’t watch every show obviously and, in some instances, i don’t even watch the cool ones… You may also notice that there’s no one from The Office on the list… trust me, that’s still my favorite comedy by far, but i think as far as characters go, each character draws far too much strengh from how the entire ensemble acts and reacts… though, if forced into a corner, i’d probably be deciding between Toby and Creed since they have two of the smaller roles, but can, with a single line completely define the scene that they’re in…
Downhere has partnered with MusiChristian.com (who i used to use as my primary affiliate partnership) and they’re giving away Wide Eyed and Mystified for the price of an email address… the album has amazingly been out for two years and the group has apparently mined it completely of all it’s monetary value (what with a B-Sides and an acostic remix version among other things) and they really want you to remember their name when the release their next album, reportedly titled Ending is Beginning and may be released in late September… (currently, they’re planning for the 23rd)…
So, you go to the page, enter your email address, and download a nice zip file with the full album in mp3 format complete with a 10-page that contains the liner notes and a cutout to make your CD insert and pretend that you bought a real copy of the album… and i jest, but it’s really a good album and i think the vocal work on the album is some of the best that the past few years has to offer…
And, now on a more serious note… actually, an extremely serious note… Nicol Sponberg (Selah) and her husband, Greg, recently had their life tragically interrupted with the death of their son, Luke who was, i beleve about three months old… It’s my understanding that they also lost a nephew recently in the third hour of his life… clearly this is a difficult time for the family and prayers will be greatly appreciated… I’m told that they’ll be establishing a Luke Sponberg Foundation and I’m sure that more details about that will be available in the near future…
AND WITH THAT…
Well, i had some other things to talk about, but it hardly seems like the best time to do that, so i’ll close this out right now with a few links and a fond farewell for now…
well, it’s Friday and you may be thinking that, hey, i guess the new schedule means that he blows off Wednesday and Thursday… well… you’d be wrong… sure, i did blow off the last two days kind of, but it wasn’t entirely intentional, it was just life… Wednesday i was in a fog most of the day and yesterday, among other things, i had to do an interview that i had pretty much forgotten about… and then amidst all the preparations for GMA Week which is now officially less than a month away… it’s just been pretty crazy around here… so i’ll try to make up for it with a fantastic post today, but be forewarned… i’m listening to talk radio and it’s kind of difficult to write while doing that… but let’s give it a go…
So, they’ve announced the first batch of performers for this year’s Dove Awards and we care because i’ll be there and i’ll have to watch them… Anyway, it looks like an alright mix… we’ve got Casting Crowns, The Clark Sisters, Michael W Smith, Amy Grant, Marvin Sapp, Switchfoot, Steven Curtis Chapman, Chris Tomlin, Trin-i-tee 5:7, David Crowder*Band, Israel Houghton and Charlie Daniels with Mac Powell… i’ve bolded the ones i’m particularly interested in seeing… but, i think it’s a pretty nice variety so that most people will enjoy at least, i don’t know, maybe 5 minutes of the telecast…
oh, yeah, they’re going to be telecasting the Dove Awards live on Gospel Music Channel
So i kind of laughed out loud when i read this story about flattened bus tires… not because i think it’s a good idea, but because i clearly remember a time when some guys i knew did something similar during my high school days… i don’t think they were successful, and they certainly didn’t keep a secret well, because everyone knew about it by the day’s end… this case, however included other vandalism to the busses including graffiti… i’ve also, in looking for a better article about this, learned that this has become quite an epidemic across the country, with recent occurrences in Boston, Chicago, Colorado, New Jersey and probably a lot more… that’s the power of the internet, kids…
one side note… i remember when graffiti was about giving a voice to the voiceless… now it’s just about degredation of society and it really irritates me…
Third Day is planning a new album and by golly it actually sounds pretty exciting… given that i haven’t heard a note of it, i’m basing this solely on the press release that i received not too long ago… here’s the gist… they’re bringing in Howard Benson (Daughtry, POOD, Flyleaf) for production and they guest list includes Chris Daughtry, Lacey Mosely (Flyleaf) and Robert Randolph…
I’m not saying this is going to be the best rock album of the year, but REVELATION may just be the best Third Day album in many, many years…
consider me a somewhat late whistle-blower, but if you dig hip hop and you do the whole podcast thing, you’ve got to check out The Syncast… i guess it’s once a month, but it’s generally packed with good tunes a brief interview or other feature and it really rolls along well… They’re on #37 and i’ve listened to the last three (they’re about a half hour each) and i’m definitely recommending it right now…
Check it out in iTunes now or figure out how to subscribe other ways at TheSyncast.com
So Ben Stein has gotten behind and in front, center stage of a documentary about evolution, creationism and the suppression of free thought in the scientific world… the trailer, despite the loud, blaring music and the silly outfit, makes the movie look pretty interesting… i got a leaders packet a couple weeks ago about it, but unfortunately not a screener, so i can’t tell you if it actually is as good as it looks or if it’s just the magic of creating a captivating 3 minute trailer… either way, it’s an interesting concept and maybe, just maybe, it will get some people realizing that everyone who believes in the Creation isn’t a complete imbecile…
i was all set to begin this entry with the amazing and intriguing story of the disappearing Christmas tree… i was going to talk about how we took our tree down last night and how i dragged it around the house and left it at the curb and how, four hours later, it was gone… mysteriously and inexplicably gone… i was certain that someone, for some unknown reason, had come upon the tree and stolen off into the night with our felled and discarded tree…
and then, this morning i found it… it had simply blown across the front yard and was nestled into the space between my house and my neighbor’s… no conspiracy or anything, but it still must have been something to see the wind catch hold of that nine-footer and carry it from there to where i found it… anyway…
HAWKEYES FOR HUCKABEE?
today is/was the Iowa Caucus and it appears that Mike Huckabee won… in the other corner weighing in at… oh, i don’t know… Barack Obama stole the hearts of the democrat hawkeyes… being as i’m rarely involved in any political discussions, i’m not entirely sure of the weight of this vote either… it sure seems like a good win for Mr. Huckabee though… Romney has apparently stated that Huckabee doesn’t have enough money or organization to make it through the whole nation… it seems to me that Huckabee is quickly becoming the “people’s candidate,” progressing state by state, surviving contribution to contribution like many of us survive from paycheck to paycheck…
FOR THE LOVE…
… of the Game, the new album from Pillar, is due out in late February, but is currently streaming in its entirety at pillarmusic.com/hm… i’m withholding any official statement or judgement for now, but if you’re into Pillar and/or rock music, then check it out… and while you’re at it, thank the good folks at HM Magazine for sponsoring such an event…
GOING OUT WITH A DANG!!!
Colt Brennan, who was supposed to be a Heisman contender this year - and actually was a finalist, led the 12-0 Rainbow Warriors from Hawaii, a team that many argued should play in the National Title Game, against the Georgia Bulldogs in this year’s Sugar Bowl… i was really excited to see Hawaii show their stuff, but instead, i saw Brennan hit the turf eight times, throw 3 interceptions and lead the Warriors to 3 points before exiting the game with an injury… Georgia was amazing, but the game was unfortunately disappointing… clearly Hawaii was in way over their heads…
LET’S GET, LET’S Get WIIIIIIIIILD….
It’s Wild Card weekend and i’m excited except for the dread of knowing that the season is all but over… i’ve already told you who’s going to win the whole thing, but here are your wild card winners for this weekend…
Jaguars over Steelers
Chargers over Titans
Redskins over Seahawks
Bucs over Giants
i can hardly wait to watch the games this weekend…
WORD OF THE DAY
Eph. 1:15-16
well, we’re back for a bit in Ephesians… hopefully that’s alright with you… but these two verses seem to fit in line with what i was talking about in the last little bit from Joshua… of course, that was about God’s faithfulness, and this is about the faithfulness of the saints… but Joshua was faithful in following God’s directives and leading Israel across the Jordan… for that, he is an example, just like the church at Ephesus is in these two verses… faithfulness works both ways…
we bought our boys a little basketball hoop for them to play with in the basement… so far they love it… in fact, little boy told me the other day that he was going down to “win some points”… he meant of course to shoot some baskets… and it’s great to watch him play… he really lights up whenever he makes a basket, but really he and his brother both just enjoy the fact that they’re inside and they’re able to get away with throwing around a ball and running like crazy trying to get the rebounds… in that sense, they win regardless of where their shots land…
this chapter is about scorekeeping and it promises to be a good one… pardon my indulgence.. i’ll talk about what Ortberg says next time…
AND WITH THAT…
i’m on my way… tomorrow i’ll talk a little bit about the past year and soon, i’ll have some more content posted somewhere i’m sure… i’ll be doing some planning for this month maybe this weekend, maybe sooner…
iPop 2008 features a couple new tracks from inPop’s latest signee, NewWorldSon as well as tracks from the usual suspects: Superchic[k], newsboys, tree63, Shane & Shane, etc…
Drop in your email, say you heard it from TRudATmusic.com and download…
i’m somewhat ashamed of myself for not promoting the heck out of this already… i’ve meant to post this video and show my support of the project and all that it stands for, but as i’m sure you’ve figured out by now, i am not always punctual with the updates… better late than never…
i humbly submit to you, Constance, by Mr. J Medeiros, the video for one of the most potent songs released this past year… the video that was too risque for MTV, probably because it hit too close to home… the song that exposes and discusses the ever-growing problem of porn and the exploitation of women and girls… here’s the video…
now, a few more related links:
- IAmConstance.org - the website of Mr. J’s organization that hosts countless anonymous accounts from victims of trafficking, kidnapping and abuse
- of gods and girls at: iTunes, Amazon or Sphere of Hip-Hop
Currently, this week or however long it lasts, iTunes, BEC Recordings, and Mainstay are offering a FREE Discovery Download of “Become Who You Are,” the title track to Mainstay’s upcoming sophomore release…
Earlier this month, some of you stumbled upon FreeRSB.com and were thrilled to find two free songs from the new album.
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!
if you head over to RelevantMagazine.com/RobbieSeayBand you can get the ENTIRE ALBUM for free! The catch, despite the “no strings attached promise” is that you have to sign up for the Relevant Newsletter and the Robbie Seay Band Newsletter, but it’s not like your inbox isn’t already cluttered, what’s 2 more newsletters gonna do?
For the record, i highly recommend this record… young and old, rockers and worshippers… this one’s a keeper… i listened to it the entire day earlier this week because it was that good…
So, despite Tuesday being all but a complete loss… i was able to give the boys a treat since they were pretty well-behaved… after they had gotten into their jammies and were ready for bed, i gathered them up, one on each side, and we planted ourselves on the couch to screen the upcoming Veggietales release, 
