i just finished reading another book yesterday and one particular quote that really stuck with me from it follows:

“That was when I experienced a moment of stunning understanding. Popularity had nothing to do with the truth. If these kids took a minute to ask themselves where Cap got off writing thousand-dollar checks, they’d be rioting, not applauding. But what really mattered was image. The eighth grade president was a star now. Nobody questioned it when he did something wonderful because that’s what was expected of him.”

Now, the book is called Schooled, by Gordon Korman and it’s about a group of eight-grade students, probably intended for a much younger audience than i gave it, but i think the point of that quote is downright chilling, considering the current presidental campaign that ends in four days… Karl Rove touched on it recently as well, in a brief article titled, Obama: Polls over Policy? (may not be the top article)…

Another chilling quote comes from across the pond…

You have to pinch yourself – a Marxisant radical who all his life has been mentored by, sat at the feet of, worshipped with, befriended, endorsed the philosophy of, funded and been in turn funded, politically promoted and supported by a nexus comprising black power anti-white racists, Jew-haters, revolutionary Marxists, unrepentant former terrorists and Chicago mobsters, is on the verge of becoming President of the United States. And apparently it’s considered impolite to say so.

Ouch. Well, let’s get to the quick and finish up this political chatter i left hanging last time…

POLITICS: CHARACTER

A lot of folks don’t think that character really needs to come into play when it comes to picking the President or other leaders… they may cite the need for seperation of church and state or something silly like that, but they’re wrong… a leader must be a person of character… why do you think the Bible is so particular about who can lead in the church? it’s important… we have a choice between two men, one man has taken stands for his beliefs, his country, and for others… one man has become very popular, but hasn’t exactly taken any stands on anything… in fact, all he’s really taken is money from questionable sources, including the mortgage companies that where instrumental to triggering this economic crisis…

it seems to me that if you refuse to take a stand on anything then you really don’t subscribe to any real system of beliefs… of course, that’s exactly what Obama has argued on his own behalf, ironically… Think back to the whole Rev. Wright incident… Obama attended that church for a long time and looked to Wright as a mentor, but then, once it became a hinderance, he abandoned the whole relationship, stating that he never really heard anything hateful spoken from the pulpit there and that, of course, he didn’t believe in all that was presented… basically, he had spent his entire churched career giving lip-service to the church… it’s hard not to think that he’d do the same as preisdent…

POLITICS: VOTER FRAUD

well, this certainly falls inline with the whole question of character, but this is an issue that’s really sprung up in the last few weeks with the ACORN scandal and what not… i get kind of angry, though, by how it was brushed aside and swept under the rug for the most part… one case involved 1800 registrations of which only SIX were valid… now, these individulas involved were charged, but it’s been pushed aside largely because it’s “voter registration” fraud and not actual voter fraud… the problem though, and why none of these reporters would be very good chess players, is that if you were planning to commit voter fraud, the first step would have to be voter registration fraud… this is clearly step one of a process that could easily result in actual voter fraud and it should be treated as such…

HANGING CHAD

there’s more that i can talk about – i’ve been so absorbed by the atmosphere of this election push, but i don’t know that it has to do with the actual election so, i’ll just leave it at that before i get completely swept away in politics… later today, i’ll do a post about football and after that sometime soon, i have a couple books to review… and after that… who knows…

but before i go, here’s my plug for the front page… two new items up for peeping… a new Left to Write that actually talks a bit about elections and such… and a new 25 Words or Less that covers ten albums that released in February as i continue to try and dig out of the reviews hole that i put myself in… as always… more later…

peace… love… bdg…

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Well, this is a last minute, mad dash entry because i was working on something and it took a lot longer than i expected it to and it’s Saturday and i don’t like to work on Saturday, but i’m checking in with my weekly football picks and whatnot… i’ll try again to get on some sort of schedule next week… anyway, off we go…

GRIDIRON MADNESS

to the tune of All Star – Smash Mouth

So, i was a fair 8-6 last week bringing my totals up to 42-32… not too bad… and, i managed to win out in both fantasy leagues… and, i expect to do the same this week as well… i’ve definitely hit a number of snags along the way, but it’s been a steady course… now on to the picks for this week…

Bears, Dolphins, Colts, Vikings

Saints, Jets, Panthers, Redskins

Jags, Cards, Eagles, Packers

Chargers and Giants

I’m actually glad that the Bills have the week off as it will give Trent Edwards some time to keep the cobwebs from reforming in his head… i’m looking forward to watching both the Skins game and the Colts game, but i think that the dramatic early games will be the Panthers/Bucs and the Bears/Falcons games and the late afternoon games go to Cowboys/Cards and Packers/Seahawks… once again, Sunday Night trumps Monday Night and to be honest, i haven’t watched a single Monday Night game this year, mainly because the schedule doesn’t work out, but also because the matchups have been so very poor…

hopefully next week, i’ll get a chance to share my updated hierarchy of teams for which i will root…

ON OUR WAY

oh yeah, so what i was working on is a splendid little inTRuview with Matt Bronleewe… check it out, yo…

peace… love… bdg…

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Well, somehow, it’s Friday again… i’ve got to figure out how to make the week last… wait, what am i saying?… i need to figure out how to make the weekEND last a little longer… yeah, that’s more like it…

i also managed to make it through the week without buying the special edition DVD version of Iron Man from Target so as to acquire the nifty little Iron Man mask casing… that was a bit of a struggle for me actually… and i worked from home yesterday and today because the office was getting cleared out and recarpeted… hopefully it won’t stink on Monday… what else.. oh, yeah…

so i guess i was a little vague in the new Left to Write … if you were concerned that i may be depressed or anything, no need to fear… it’s more about the struggles i’ve faced over the last year and a half regarding my writing “career” and how absolutely odd it feels to be where i am right now in that regard…

see, we normally have this general assumption that when we buckle down and strive to achieve our goals, that once we get there, we’ll just keep going… that we’ll move on to better and bigger things… (see also, one of the causes of the mortgage crisis)… we never assume that we’ll achieve our goals and then end up back at the beginning… like climbing a ladder to find that the world has all the while been spinning and by the time you reach the top rung, it’s really the bottom rung…

so, when that happens, what do you do? turn around? go back? go up again? find a new ladder? and that’s more where that piece comes from…

but there are new things to discuss as well, such as the VP debate, football and television… and away we go…

MY RUNNING MATE CAN BEAT UP YOUR RUNNING MATE
- to the tune of Debate Exposes Doubt – Death Cab for Cutie

So who won the VP Debate last night?… well, it depends who you ask… i’ve heard both VP candidates declared the winner by various media outlets… and of course, it seemed like most people came out of the debate supporting whoever they supported before the debate… a classic case of hearing what you wanted to hear… seeing what you wanted to see… believing what you wanted to believe…

what i saw was that both sides made their mistakes and made their points… Gov. Palin was charming, disarming, fiesty and well put together, but she did have some moments when she stumbled, avoided certain questions and looked a little uncomfortable… overall, i thought she was great, however… Sen. Biden also did a great job overall, but he did make a few blunders and mistakes himself… one big difference, which actually scores points in a debate, is that Gov. Palin called Sen. Biden on his missteps, but the opposite wasn’t the case… Sen. Biden was on the defensive for a lot of the debate, but he battled well with his back to the ropes…

So who won the debate?… technically, if each side retained the support that it had before the debate, then it was a draw… however, in one sense, the Democratic ticket was looking for this to be a big win and since it wasn’t, that’s almost like a loss… anyway… my support was and still is with McCain and Palin…

LEATHERHEADS
- to the tune of All Star – Smash Mouth

I’m actually watching this movie as i type up this entry, so that’s one more way that my mind is on football tonight… anyway, it seems as if my teeter-totter theory has extended to my picks as well… i lost on all fronts this last week, though… lost both leagues and went 6-7 with my picks which brings me to 34-26 over the first 4 weeks… at least i’m not in the negative… and i’m certain to bounce back big time this week, especially in fantasy since i have an extraordinarily EASY matchup against sir Janke… and my picks… i’ve got a good feeling about them…

Ravens, Panthers, Bears, Falcons
Colts, Chargers, Giants, Redskins
Bucs, Bills, Cowboys, Patriots
Jaguars and Saints…

i haven’t checked to see which games i’ll get in my area, but the best games to watch will be Colts/Texans and the Redskins/Eagles for the early game, and the Bills/Cardinals, of course, for the late game… Sunday Night looks better than Monday Night yet again, but if the Vikings actually show up, it might prove otherwise… however it works out… it’s going to be another great week of football matchups…

BOXED UP
- to the tune of Welcome Back (Theme from Welcome Back, Kotter) – John Sebastian

So, i’ll try to get into some of the TV Shows that i’m watching this fall… i’ll start with Sunday… that’s right, Sunday…
MAD MEN: the duo at the Steelehouse Podcast (which i listen to and recommend) talked me into giving this show a trial… and it turns out that it’s a darn good show… there is a bit of mature content, but the characters are developed better than most every other show on television…

and on to Monday…
CHUCK… i think this was on the verge of being cancelled last year, but i’m very happy that it’s back in what appears to be full force… it’s a pretty absurd premise and all, but it’s a fun one to watch…
HEROES… also back in full force with an entirely new premise that makes more sense than any of the other seasons as far as i’m concerned… the first three episodes have aired and there’s already so many questions that have been raised and so many new plotlines that have great potential…
HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER… the new Friends… episode one started out a bit slow, but episode two finds the group back in stride with some nice lines…
BIG BANG THEORY… eh… kind of a throwaway show at times, but there’s plenty of decent jokes thrown in to make it worth watching…
PRISON BREAK… so, i’ve already talked about this one, but i will say that if i didn’t already feel invested in the show, it would’ve lost me… i mean, they’ve painted themselves into a corner because the crew has to succeed, no one can die, so the real suspense is completely gone…

Tuesday brings two new shows that have some potential…
FRINGE… JJ Abrams brings us another elaborate conspiracy-based show that has started out slowly, but has a lot of potential to become a must see… it’s kind of like X-Files on crack… though, i never really watched X-Files…
THE MENTALIST… yeah, it’s kind of a blah show, since it’s basically a rip-off of Psych, but it may be alright…

and more… another day… that is the bulk of my shows, however… next time i’ll talk about Wed-Friday, which is about five shows and then the next time after that i’ll talk about new shows that are still to come or that i haven’t decided on yet, which is also about five shows…

ON OUR WAY

well, time isn’t on my side, but if you’ve still got some to spare, check out the brand spanking new Walk TRu on Switchfoot’s Best Yet and/or the first of a series of 25 Words or Less looking back on the album releases of 2008… (this one’s January)…

peace… love… bdg…

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Another day another bankrupcy… that seems to be the way things go these days… and now there’s this whole debate about what needs to be done… well, in this entry, i’ll talk a little bit about what should’ve been done, what could still be done and who’s to blame… i’ll also jump into this week’s football games and some more of the fall season television shows… i should be watching the debate, but who watches things in real time anymore?

off we go…

THE BAIL OUT

to the tune of Collapse – Mute Math

So we’re in some real trouble now, right?… i’m no expert on economy, but i did stay awake in enough macro and micro classes to have a decent opinion… a while back i mentioned the possibility of an ’08 Depression and it looks like Wall Street is trying to get there… gas, houses, banks, everything is out of control and now the powers that be remind me of Dwight in the video above (by the way, hulu is awesome)… 700 Billion Dollars… Say yes… do it… do it now… 5…. 4… now… now … NOW!… i say back up for a second…

haste makes waste… it’s pretty obvious that decisions made under duress are rarely the wisest decisions made… in fact, it’s probably safe to say that if so may people hadn’t have made decisions overnight – decisions to make big investments, including homes – that we’d be in much better shape overall… so regardless of whether or not this bailout plan will work, the haste that it’s being thrown together and pushed on us gives me reason to wonder…

in America, there is the famous “separation of church and state”… contrary to popular opinion though, it was designed to protect the church from being run by the government and thereby tainting the religion… similarly, the free market needs to be able to work with as little government intervention as possible… this plan, while perhaps necessary at this point, breaches that divide… and it takes what has become one of the firmest foundations of the American Dream in the last few decades… rewarding bad behavior…

what should have happened… back when the housing market started collapsing and the lenders started to realize that they were racking up foreclosures left and right, they should have acted of their own volition to resolve this issue… at least six months ago, i pondered out loud that the lenders needed to reassess the values of all the properties involved and, based on the declining values and the rising inability of their clients to make payments, they should have written down the loans…

now, i know, this sounds like we’re rewarding the people who bought houses that they shouldn’t have – that they couldn’t afford, but, while i would propose that the loan amount be written down, i would also propose, as a penalty, that the loan would garner a higher interest rate, a flag would be placed on the owner’s credit report, and, perhaps, the term would be extended to adjust the monthly payment down to something that is affordable… with the higher interest rate, the banks would recoup a lot of the cost of the write down in the long run and neither owner nor banker would be filing chapter 11…

i got scoffed at by some people when i mentioned this back then, but now it seems like that’s what the government is trying to do… except now that they’re involved, the banks are bankrupt, the owners are already in a world of hurt and both are getting rewarded for their bad behavior… and, since the government is involved, banks that are still hanging on have little motivation (other than establishing a reputation of a business with fair and reasonable practices, on the off chance that they care about that) to try and work with their clients because big brother is going to step in and “save the day”…

i’m running short on time, so i’ll move on, but in case that plan sounds at all familiar to you, perhaps it’s because it’s somewhat based on Luke 16…

THE BALL OUT

to the tune of Quiet Storm – Smokey Robinson

So i know you’re all wondering if i did better with my picks this week than last week… but first i’ll mention that my fantasy league teeter-totter has officially begun… similar to last year, i’m alternating between leagues winning in one and losing in the other… so, i’m now 1-2 in both leagues… as far as picks, 10-6, 8-7, and this week… 10-6… i still feel pretty good about my chances though, since there were quite a few last minute wins and surprises…

this week, the winners are as follows…

Falcons, Bengals, Jaguars, Broncos
49ers, Jets, Packers, Vikings
Chargers, Bills, Redskins, Eagles and… Steelers

three less games this week as the bye weeks officially begin… if you get to choose from all the games to watch, Flacons and Panthers should be a hot one for the early game, with the Jets/Cards matchup a strong runner up and the Skins vs Cowboys is always one to watch… Sunday night’s game (Bears/Eagles) could be entertaining, but the Steelers and Ravens on MNF just doesn’t look at all interesting…

ALL OUT

my time has evaporated and i’ve got to keep moving… i’ll get to more of the fall television schedule later… for now, there’s a new Left to Write up on the front page as well as a long overdue album review of Chris Sligh’s debut

peace… love… bdg…

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i’m still coughing a lot and i don’t much like that… and i’m not sure about everything that i was going to write about… and i don’t have all that much time left (about half an episode of The Office before it’s bedtime), but i certainly wanted to get something written up here since i’ve neglected it so much… i’d like to apologize in advance for all the typos that i’m sure will be here… the j and p keys tend to be a little sticky at the moment… it tried some nice canned air, but sometimes it ends up slipping by anyway… anyway… off we go…

DOWN, SET…

to the tune of Heavy Action (MNF Theme) – Johnny Pearson

well, i only got to watch four games this week as opposed to seven the first week, but it was still a pretty good week and i actually split my leagues, making me 0-2 and 1-1… have no fear though folks… i will prevail…

as far as picks… let’s see if i beat week one’s record of 10-6… The Ravens and the Texans both ended up getting an unexpected bye week, so that’s one wrench in the mix… and, after starting out 6-2, i bombed on the late games and wound up at just 8-7… UNACCEPTABLE… must… do… better… this… week… here we go… winners below…

Falcons, Bills, Bucs, Vikings
Pats, Giants, Titans, Cards
Saints, Lions, Hawks, Browns
Colts, Eagles, Cowboys, Chargers

that should work out better assuming that i looked at the right week’s schedule…

THE READING ROOM

to the tune of This Is Who I Am – Third Day

technically, the summer doesn’t end until Monday, so i’m still in the game for a little while longer… these current books are taking a while, but they’re both worth it…

Completed…

Working through…
– The Writing Life (Dillard) [about 25 pages left]
- Quiet Strength (Dungy) [about 50 pages left]
- My Name Is Russell Fink (Snyder) [about 120 pages left]

it’s been a busy week and a birthday week… not my birthday, but half oh my household officially ages tomorrow and littler boy is turning 4 in about a week and a half… So this weekend is chock full of plans including Sunday’s trip to see Third Day, Switchfoot, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, and Jjars of Clay for the Music Builds Tour… maybe i’ll get to thank Mark Lee for the whole book club thingamabob… or at least congratulate him for the birth of his daughter… we’ll see…

However, given the time, the fact that i’m tired and that my a/c is on the fritz, i’m getting this fire-breathing laptop dragon off of me ASAP… football, books, and that’s about it… let’s go…

WEEK TWO
- to the tune of Heavy Action (MNF Theme) – Johnny Pearson

so, apparently NFL Quarterback is no longer the most desirable position… Tom Brady is out for the season and Vince Young is out of his head… and the game rolls on… i lost my first week of fantasy football… in both leagues… but i’m fine with that… i lay in wait and will eventually take over… and really, the most important thing about week one was the emergence of the dominant force destined to crush all those who stand in their way… the BUFFALO BILLS!… well, of course, time will tell, but they apparently looked good… i can’t wait until i will get the chance to watch them this season…

anyway, let’s see how i did with my picks last week and who i’m picking this week…

i started off really strong picking the first 6 right, but then it caught up with me and i ended up with 10 right and 6 wrong… still good, but i’d like to do better… this week, i’m doing away with the scores because they don’t really make much sense anyway… so here goes…this week’s winners are as follows…

Bears, Titans, Packers, Bills
Chiefs, Colts, Giants, Redskins
Hawks, Falcons, Cards, Chargers
Jets, Steelers, Eagles, Texans

so that’s how it’s going to go… hope i didn’t ruin any surprises…

THE READING ROOM
- to the tune of This Is Who I Am – Third Day

well, i wanted to talk about the Donald, but i left the book at work… sometime soon… i promise… here’s how the rest break down…

Completed…

Working through…

- The Writing Life (Dillard) [about 25 pages left]
- The Parent You Want to Be (Parrott) [about 150 pages left]
- Quiet Strength (Dungy) [about 175 pages left]
- My Name Is Russell Fink (Snyder) [about 190 pages left]
- New Way to Be Human (Peacock) [about 200 pages left]
- At the Crossroads (Peacock)
- Deliver Us from Evelyn (Wells)
- The Two Towers (Tolkien)
- UnChristian (Kinnaman & Lyons)
- FlashBang (Steele)
- Sinner (Dekker)

FULL LIST HERE…

THE FINISH LINE

hey, this time around i’ve got some goodies up at the main site… first off, there’s a new iTRu-nes playlist and an interview with Warren Barfield… besides all THAT goodness, i branched out and tried something new… IN RE:TRuSPECT, which finds me grabbing a couple of older CDs and revisiting them… i think it’s kind of cool since i get to listen to some CDs that i’ve almost forgotten… let me know what you think…

peace… love… bdg….

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It’s Friday already?… well, here’s the headline of the week for me… “Bernanke: Financial crisis taking toll on economy”… you think? that guy is just BRILLIANT… i wonder how he came to that comclusion…

anyway… it’s been a busy week and i’ve frittered away way too much of my time, but alas, i’m here and i have a few minutes to talk about a few things… today, i’m going to talk about the recent presidential showdown at the Saddleback Corral, the emergency hunger crisis, and two books that i’ve finished, but not yet reviewed… i’m told that summer is almost over and thus, the Mark Lee hosted summer reading club is on its last legs… i’ll also tell you about some new stuff from the front page… let’s get it on…

HIGH NOON

to the tune of Rodeo – Manafest

Rick Warren invited both presidential candidates into his church for a faith forum… two discussions of policies and faith followed, each about an hour in length with the candidates taking turns on the “hotseat”… i didn’t get to see it live, but it’s currently available to watch on CNN.com… i can’t obviously comment on each point that was brought up, but i will talk about a little bit that stood out…

First off, i thought both Obama and McCain started off shaky, Obama fumbling for his words (which actually lasted the entire interview) and misinterpreting the first question (“I wouldn’t limit myself to three” – no one asked you to) and McCain falling into stump mode, but they both also relaxed a bit, McCain, in my opinion proving to be more comfortable on the stage, in the church and within his own identity…. in fact, identity came up as an issue for me as well, and i think that will be obvious as we go along…

The second question, “What is your greatest moral failure?” really hit the mark and, for me, exposed something important about the character of these two men… i’ll take them out of order and praise McCain for his response… “I’m not a perfect man, but the failure of my first marriage was my greatest moral failure”… this response was met with silence and really struck my own heart’s chord, stirring within me empathy for McCain… Obama’s response on the other hand, seemed to be fine, but the more i let it sink in, the more i found myself a little bit disgusted by it…

“I had a difficult youth.”… “My father wasn’t in the house.”… “I experimented with drugs and I drank”… “[there's] a certain selfishness on my part”… fine… here’s the thing that bothers me… selfishness is fine as an answer at face value… selfishness is common to us all and certainly qualifies as a moral condition… however, i had two problems with this response… first, he prefaces it with excuses… three excuses that pass the blame on to people (or substances) other than himself… it’s as if he’s saying, because i was preconditioned to fail morally, i became selfish and made selfish choices…

the second thing that bothered me was that it’s a very genaric answer… it’s like saying “i have ten fingers… and because of that i had to learn how to use them all”… well, we all have ten fingers (well, ideally) and we all had to learn to use them… it doesn’t tell me anything specifically about you… it seems rather disingenuous and more of a tactic to avoid revealing anything personal than an actual answer… it’s the equivalent of “my greatest weakness is that I try too hard” answer at a job interview…

Next up is a biggie… and even though it’s a question about a specific issue – in this case abortion – but the responses again reveal far more about character and identity… again, i’ll do this in out of order… Question: “At what point does a baby get human rights, in your view?”… McCain, without hesistation responses, “From the moment of conception.”… simple as that… he then states that he’s always been pro-life and he’ll always be pro-life… very clear cut and straight forward…

Obama’s answer, on the other hand, was full of stammering and revealed yet again, a lack of character and substance within this presidential hopeful… “To answer this question theologically or scientifically with any specificity is something that’s above my pay grade”… excuse me? above your pay grade? are you not running for the position of the most powerful person in the country and at times, the world?… nothing is above your pay grade…

but more generally speaking… “One thing that I’m conviced of is that there is a moral and an ethical question to this issue”… um, thanks, Captain Obvious… “I am pro-choice… not because I’m pro-abortion, but because I don’t think that women make these decisions casually”… i’m sorry, but… SO WHAT?… if i choose to rob a bank, it’s a decision that i’m sure to wrestle with and struggle with and not something that i would do “casually” but it’s STILL WRONG OF ME TO DO…

He then goes on to explain that the real concern is how to reduce the number of abortions, which makes sense and i agree with him on that, there do need to be programs in place to help expectant mothers and parents who don’t know how they’ll raise their children once they arrive… support systems and all that… but education? i think everybody knows that having sex may result in pregnancy even if you’re not married or not out of high school… we don’t need more education, we need less escape clauses…

More brief things that stood out to me throughout the interview, besides the constant struggling to put words together, was what seems like an inconsistancy between preventative actions for abortions and later for orphans (“We need to reduce the number of orphans in the world”)… but a hesitation for preventative actions in defense of the nation militarily…

Also, it seems inconsistent to me that Obama keeps driving home “Whatever you do to the least of these”… as an important concept for America to embrace… providing for the least of these… but ignoring the unborn children… and another minor thing that i caught that raised my eyebrow is that Obama mentioned that his faith in God meant that “hopefully” his sins will be washed away…

McCain dabbled a little in the stump speeches, but he also told a lot of stories which resonate very well and, i think he further defined himself as a man and a candidate which is something that Obama continually shifts away from… in trying to be all things for everyone, i think he’s making himself a tin man with no heart or substance…

MY TIME IS UP

so that took longer than i expected and now i must go… you can check out the Brandon Heath Interview and this week’s album reviews in 25 Words or Less on the main page and i’ll be back with more later…

peace… love… bdg….

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What’s up world… what is up?… well, i’m trying to get the ball rolling here and over on the front page andit’s no small task… i’ve been thinking through a lot of how i do things and what things i should focus on and what dreams and goals i should pursue and which should be left flopping on the floorboards of the fishing boat or tossed back into the lake…

today, though, there’s some new content on the front page, a conversation in the making, some movie thoughts, book thoughts, and… are you ready for some football?… and more… so let’s get going…

FAVRE AND AWAY
to the tune of Trade Winds – Frank Sinatra

Stop me if you’ve heard this before… an athelete retires after one of his best seasons ever and then… wait a minute nope… heeeeee’s BACK…. okay, this time it’s football and this time it’s Brett Favre… after much speculation immediately following his retirement at the end of last season, Favre is back, ready to suit up in the familiar green jersey… as excited teammate Donald Driver said, “He’s back in business”

but wait… something’s different… there’s more to the story… in fact, that green looks like it’s a different shade… oh… Favre’s a Jet… didn’t see that coming…

THE FATE OF THE DANCEFLOOR
to the tune of Dance or Die – Family Force 5)

i meant to do a quick look at this album earlier, but now that it’s only a couple weeks away from releasing, time is even more of the essence… well, i’ve been listening to this one for a while now and the most obvious thing to say about it is that it’s totally different from their last album… different label, different style, different everything…

Well, that’s the easy button… and i’ll pass on that… remember that time that Family Force 5 kept saying over and over how they wanted to bring the party back into the music scene?… well, their last album really rocked out and gave plenty of people fits as they tried to categorize the group and this time around… well, it’s just a non-stop party… you’ve got much less classic, southern rock, much more synth, much more euro-pop, much more volume and they’ve cranked the crunk way past eleven… it’s certainly a fun ride, but i’m sure that it’s not for everyone…

THE PEARL
to the tune of Love’s Done Something – Casting Pearls

So we watched a rather odd movie last night called Girl With a Pearl Earring… i did not pick the movie, it picked me… well, enough of that… but here’s the thing… Colin Firth of Pride and Prejudice fame stars as Johannes Vermeer, the famous Dutch artist and Scarlett Johansson stars as one of his house maids, Griet… as the story unfolds, it was interesting to see how the two interacted with each other… Scarlett is obviously an attractive gal and has gained the notice of some nefarious characters in the film and Vermeer takes her in and allows her to assist him with painting… it seems that he’s actually protected her from rape by agreeing to paint her and then, by the end, Vermeer’s wife who has a rather creepy countenance about her finds out about the painting and throws Griet out of the house…

Afterwards, we were talking about the movie, because it wasn’t perhaps the best film we’d seen, but a question about the relationship between Vermeer and Griet came up… whether or not he liked her inappropriately or not… and there’s a scene when the wife is yelling at Vermeer, asking why he would paint Griet and not her which is pivotal to the movie… his response was that she understood… and in that moment, i got a picture of Jesus responding to the guests at a certain banquet who were pretty ticked off about Mary washing His feet with expensive perfume…

“Why would you let her do this Master? It’s seems like such a waste!”

“She gets it. She understands what’s going on while the rest of you – even my closest companions – are clueless.”

i don’t know, it was just an interesting picture of an artist preserving beauty and innocence and rewarding someone who honestly tried to follow and understand art… i don’t know that i’d recommend the movie, but it was interesting in that way at least…

PRINCE CHARMING
to the tune of The Kings and Queens of Old – Harry Gregson-Williams (from Prince Caspian)

Prince Caspian
by CS Lewis

Okay, it’s about time that i start catching up on these reviews, right?… first up is Prince Caspian, which continues the Narnian saga… and it’s easy to see why they chose this book to continue the big screen adventures of these zany kids and their wild escapades… seriously though, it was better than i remember from the days of my youth and it’s got all kinds of intrigue and adventure… tweaks the farthest reaches of your imagination and finds the right moments to poke you back to reality…

The standout jab for me came from Lucy, i believe, as she was talking with Susan as they trudged through the thick woods… she asks a rather poignant question about what might happen if humankind resolved themselves to the basest of existence over time as the animals of Narnia had given up talking and acting appropriately… it’s a stark glimpse at what the world might look like as our collective conscience continues to erode… great book though… i wish i had gone to see the film while it was in theaters, but now i can’t wait for the DVD to come out…

THE READING ROOM
to the tune of Wolves (Song of the Shepherd’s Dog) – Iron & Wine

Updated list for Mark Lee’s Summer Reading Club…

Okay, so i still have two more reviews to go to catch up… well, scratch that… i just finished another book today… that’s right… i’m on FIRE… Searching for God Knows What has officially been added to the completed pile… i have so many thoughts about that book that i’m going to let it stew for a bit before i offer any formalized thoughts on it… anyway, this is the updated list… i fully expect to be finished with House of Wolves this weekend as i can’t hardly bear to put it down…

On a somewhat related note… Mark Lee recently celebrated the birth of his new daughter, Katherine Marlow Lee, so between that and touring the new Third Day album, he’s been a bit tied up… Congrats to him and his family…

Completed…

Working through…
- Jesus Wants to Save Christians (Bell / Golden) [about 130 pages left]
- The Parent You Want to Be (Parrott) [about 150 pages left]
- House of Wolves (Bronleewe) [about 150 pages left]
- New Way to Be Human (Peacock) [about 200 pages left]
- At the Crossroads (Peacock)
- Deliver Us from Evelyn (Wells)
- The Two Towers (Tolkien)
- Quiet Strength (Dungy)
- UnChristian (Kinnaman & Lyons)
- My Name Is Russell Fink (Snyder)

FULL LIST HERE…

DON’T GO AWAY MAD
to the tune of Moving On – Needtobreathe

Oh, jeepers… i just realized i forgot something… one second… ah, never mind, i’ll do it here… on the front page… we have a pretty interesting interview with Erwin McManus, pastor of Mosaic and author of such books as, Wide Awake, which is on my completed pile… we talked largely about the book and dreams and things of such nature, but we also had a few laughs and veered off topic now and again… i felt like it was one of my better interviews though, so, you can say yay or nay after you’ve read it…

Also littering the front page is a brand new Walk TRu… but it’s unlike any other walk TRu i’ve ever done… i think… it’s based on this new album that Starsong put out this week that names what they considered to be the thirteen CCM songs that most changed the church… now, i know “change” is vague and “church” is vague and “CCM” is kind of vague, for that matter… but i’m asking you to get involved… tell me what 13 CCM songs YOU think have had the biggest impact on the Church… hopefully that rewording has made it clearer… but, yeah, tell me why you agree or disagree with their choices and tell me what should’ve made it… you can leave your thoughts here in the comments or email them to TRuMoments [at] GMail.com…

my thoughts are coming soon… let the discussion begin…

peace… love… bdg….

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i do so love the weekend… normally i wouldn’t necessarily be on the computer on a Saturday for more than maybe an hour or so, but today’s a little different… actually, this weekend’s a little different… i’ve got some things i want to and need to get accomplished for my own emotional well-being… haven’t quite gotten there yet, but hopefully tomorrow…

anyway, i’m watching The Italian Job (love those minis)… since i’ve already burned through this week’s Burn Notice, Monk, and Psych (so glad they’re all back)… and my neighbors seem to be having quite the shindig… i should do a post about my neighborhood drama… not today though… today, we’ll be quick… i’ve just about finished the fourth book for the week, but i’m only going to talk about two, because it may take me a while to finish more and i don’t want to appear unproductive next week… on we go with the program…

THE PIED PIPER

to the tune of Lead Me On – Amy Grant

You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader
by Mark Sanborn

So, this little book about leadership pretty much states the obvious, but in an interesting way… it seems like a boiled-down version of a bonafide book about leadership that perhaps lacks the details i was hoping for… as someone who’s never really had a title worth mentioning, the title of the book grabbed my attention right away… and the six steps of leadership that the book discusses are certainly appropriate, but, again, it’s just common sense… it’s perhaps not so much a guide to leadership as it is a guide to taking control of your own life in a sense… but hey, sometimes we all need to have things stated and re-stated to us in the simplest ways and, at just over 120 pages, it’s not like it’s a huge investment…

DIP DE DIP DE DIP

to the tune of Who Put the Bomp? – Jan & Dean

The Dip
by Seth Godin

i’m really torn by this book… i’m wrestling with it as they say… having heard good things about it and noticing it on my boss’s bookshelf, i thought i’d take a shot at it… what happened from there was an 80 page assault on my job and alarms ringing over and over telling me that i should’ve quit years ago… i get that… but what i really struggle with is this concept of “Best in the World”… it’s the whole basis of the book… if you can’t be the best in the world at what you’re doing right now, then you need to quit and find something you can be the best in the world at… well, what if i can only be the best in the world at things that don’t pay the bills? what if really, i can only be the best dad in the world to my boys? the best husband in the world to my wife?

i write code, but i’ll never be the best coder in the world… i fix technical bugs, but i’ll never be the best at that… i write blogs and run a website, but clearly, based on the responses i get, i’m not the best in the world at any of that… i don’t know… i think i could go on for hours about that, but it wouldn’t be the best rant in the world so i think i’ll stop it here… if nothing else, the book gave me some mental cud to chew on…

THE READING ROOM

to the tune of Fun Fun Fun – The Beach Boys

Updated list for Mark Lee’s Summer Reading Club…

running out of time here, but this is my latest updates…

- It All Goes Back in the Box (Ortberg)
- Deadly Viper Character Assassins (Foster & Wilhite) [audiobook]
- The Word of Mouth Manual (Balter)
- Character Makes a Difference (Huckabee)
- Simplicity (Salomon)
- You Don’t Need a Title to Be a Leader (Sanborn)
- Boys Should Be Boys (Meeker)
- The Dip (Godin)
- Prince Caspian (Lewis) [about 10 pages left]
- The Parent You Want to Be (Parrott) [about 150 pages left]
- New Way to Be Human (Peacock) [about 200 pages left]
- Wide Awake (McManus) [about 210 pages left]
- At the Crossroads (Peacock)
- Deliver Us from Evelyn (Wells)
- The Two Towers (Tolkien)
- Quiet Strength (Dungy)
- UnChristian (Kinnaman & Lyons)
- Searching for God Knows What (Miller)

FULL LIST HERE…

BEFORE YOU SAY GOODBYE

to the tune of Na Na Hey Hey – The Hit Crew

hey… there’s actually new stuff over on the main page… specifically a feature called I Know What TRu Read [last summer] which gives a rundown of eleven books i read last year… and a new iTRu-nes Playlist… check them out and keep it locked…

peace… love… bdg….

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okay, so i was wrong… the Celtics really showed the Lakers who was boss… more about that a little later… it’s been a busy week and a half or so… i’d like to say that i was on vacation like some people, but that’s not the case… we did call that thing last week a retreat, but it wasn’t exactly restful… i ended up sleeping in spurts of maybe 30-45 minutes at a time and getting worn out during the day…

Anyway, i’ve been back since Wednesday night… last Wednesday night, working a lot, went to the lake and got some primo sunburn… did church… headed back to work and yadda yadda yadda… it’s already late on Thursday evening and i don’t have much to show for the week… so here’s a few somethings and we’ll see if i can’t do better tomorrow…

IN OTHER WORDS

to the tune of You Make It Look So Easy – Stavesacre

Simplicity by Mark Salomon…

have you ever started reading a book and wondered why you hadn’t read it before?… as i’m reading through these pages, i can’t help but think of all the time it spent on that silly bookshelf over in the corner waiting to be read… and i think to myself, man, this could’ve been the second or third time i’ve read this instead of just now being my first time through… i’m resonating with a lot of the questions raised, nodding along to the lessons learned and anticipating the next chapter… i’m currently about halfway through and there are no signs of me slowing down…

also worth noting, this is apparently the LAST WEEK that it will be available at the Relevant Book Store for FOUR DOLLARS… i’ll probably end up changing the link the next time i update depending on where it ends up being cheapest…

THE READING ROOM

to the tune of If You Could Read My Mind – Johnny Cash

so i think i need to keep track of the books that i’m reading for the sake of Mark Lee’s Summer Reading Club… i have a feeling i’m going to get smoked in this thing, but who knows… anyway, here’s a list of what i’m currently reading and what i’ll hopefully be reading soon…

- It All Goes Back in the Box (Ortberg)
- Simplicity (Salomon) [about 120 pages left]
- Character Makes a Difference (Huckabee) [about 200 pages left]
- Searching for God Knows What (Miller)
- New Way to Be Human (Peacock) [about 200 pages left]
- At the Crossroads (Peacock)
- Deliver Us from Evelyn (Wells)
- The Two Towers (Tolkien)
- Quiet Strength (Dungy)
- UnChristian (Kinnaman & Lyons)
- Prince Caspian (Lewis)
- The Word of Mouth Manual (Balter) [about 110 pages left]

and the list goes on, but if we’re rational and reasonable, i think we all realize that i’ll be fortunate to finish two or three of these in the next three months… FULL LIST HERE…

AND WITH THAT…

it’s time to go… you can head over to the main page and check out the Boomin’ Beyond Measure concert review… thanks for peeping that…

peace… love… bdg…

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