Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride

Empire 20th Birthday Portfolio

2009-12-03T10:08:00.004-06:00

Here is an amazing set of photos of some of the more iconic actors of our time. I thoroughly enjoyed it I hope you do to. Photo Collection

It looks as though we are being replaced.

2009-10-23T12:25:00.001-05:00

Crack the Skye

2009-08-04T19:36:00.004-05:00

Here is yet another one of my music reviews.

Crack the Skye by Mastodon was released in March of 2009. The First time I heard of Mastodon was on a video game review for the most recent Guitar Hero. At the time I thought nothing of it. As I started working this summer I happened to hear a song on a local radio station. The music was nothing terribly new, at first I just passed it off as another Black Sabbath type metal band. As the song continued I was completely sucked into the story and I had to know who this band was. After a few minutes of searching the web, I found that the song was Oblivion.

I quickly acquired the album and have listened to it at least once every couple of days since. ITS AMAZING!

As a drummer I appreciated the percussion in this album because the guy never stops. Even though the drumming isn't really flashy, it's very interesting to listen to. I am also a person who is very emotionally connected to music, for example: some music can make me cry.* Along that vein of thought, this cd has an amazing urgency to it, even though it sounds/feels very ethereal it is always forward moving.

The real hitter on this album is its lyrical content. This was very different from the band's 3 previous ones. All seven tracks fit together to tell a three tired story. The use of metaphor is hugely important, the album it self is dedicated to the lead singer's sister Skye, who committed suicide a few years ago. The 7 tracks demonstrate the seven stages of grief that people go through after the loss of a loved one.

The most obvious plot line in the album is a story of a paraplegic boy who travels around in a state disconnected from his body. He accidentally looses his connection to his body and gets sucked into a wormhole. He ends up meeting Rasputin and together they attempt to get the boy back to his body along the way they run into various obstacles. I'm not going to spoil the story and say if they are successful at this or not.

The final plot aspect in this CD is a artistic look at the fall of the last Czar of Russia and the rise of Communism. All of these metaphors run through the entire album making it a very interesting listening experience.

Pick it up, enjoy it!

*If you can find out one of the songs that makes me cry I'll give you something. (might be money, might be a hug, might be a punch in the stomach depends on my mood) It's not a song from this cd or band by the way. If it was that would be strange

2009-07-25T03:23:00.001-05:00

I will post something of my own soon i promise.

the effect of advertising on our children

2009-07-17T20:08:00.003-05:00

A thought on culture.

2009-05-30T11:48:00.002-05:00

SOOOOOO It's summer and the job search continues, even though it could be argued that I have one. With the economy being in such a silly place people are either hiring like mad or they won't hire anyone. That isn't what I wanted to talk about today though.

A few Sundays back the pastor at the church my parents attend gave a few interesting stats on population growth and culture spread. Essentially what he was trying to point out is that in roughly 40 years Europe will be a Muslim continent. This is due to the fact that the ratio between Muslim and non Muslim children born, is 8 to 1.

The pastor wasn't trying to scare the congregation with these stats. He was merely trying to point out that this world will be very different in the next little while and our children with have to live in that world etc...

The way that he described it was specifically in terms of a loss of western culture in our country and Europe. Again it wasn't intended to strike fear but by the reactions of many in the congregation would be what I consider to be fearful ones. This made me think: Is the loss of western culture such a bad thing? I will admit that the portrayal of history in Europe may change which I think is sad that they may loose their heritage but that happens for example: any of the great conqueror races of the past.

Really, do we want to be holding onto this terribly materialistic and anti religious society? Most Muslims are more accepting of Christians than most westerners are. I am talking about the non-extremist ones; most of them share values that are similar to a Christian style of value system. The Muslim culture is suffering the same problem that the Christian culture is, many are in name only. In Turkey the giant mosques that used to be full all the time are nearly empty.

I do not think this spread of culture is necessarily a bad thing. It may in fact open even more avenues for the Christian message to be spread.

Anyways that was just something I have been pondering over a week or two. Here is a link to the stats I was talking about.

Muslim Demographics

I guess instead of saying have a good day it will soon be safety and peace be with you.

YES!

2009-05-01T13:00:00.000-05:00

We the people have had enough.

2009-04-25T22:57:00.006-05:00

Wow I'm surprised and yet not to surprised about this new documentary in the works. It covers an interesting issue. Can someone be such a hyped up fan of something that it causes them to hate what they love?

The filmmakers of The People vs. George think so.

Created by devoted Star Wars fans and using a new-ish style of directing this will prove to be a slightly interesting film. Not only are the close associates of Lucas being interviewed but the directors are giving the fan's a voice allowing them to send in video submissions to defend or oppose Lucas' film, writing, directing and marketing choices.

This movie is latching onto the new Youtube wave and so it has many different clips and animated shorts I think even if it is a total nerd fest it will be interesting to watch from a new media standpoint.

http://peoplevsgeorge.com/

Grrrrr.

2009-04-09T11:24:00.002-05:00

I can't believe this little piece of advertising I saw yesterday that my school just put out. It's terrible! I was appalled when I saw it. The lighting is so-so and the camera movement! The camera movement its terrible has the maker of this clip not heard of cutting? Those are just some of the issues I have, an advertisement should not be more than 2 minutes in length. This feels more like unsolved mysteries than an ad for the school. OH AND LETS NOT FORGET THE COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENTS! The song at the end is on a CD that has not even been released yet. I doubt they asked the artist for the use of the song. DENNIS! You like your reading the whole time, DO A VOICE OVER!

I'm not going to go into what I think the Sociology course at this school does to the students enrolled in it but from the ones that I have witnessed I don't believe there will be any 'better helping' coming from them. These systems that they want to be fixed generally can't be fix by us 'western folk' unless we go and invade the country, and well we all know what happens then. Honestly it saddens me to know that the guy who made this thing is one of the senior film buffs in the communications program here. But that's what we get for not specializing I guess.

2009-04-01T10:09:00.001-05:00

I still plan on writing the previous blog, It's coming don't worry.

Assasionation team or spill crew.

2009-03-12T16:29:00.002-05:00

I'm going to write this when I have a moment. check out this link while you wait.

http://www.minnpost.com/ericblackblog/2009/03/11/7310/investigative_reporter_seymour_hersh_describes_executive_assassination_ring

SoooOOoooooOooOOoo

2009-03-07T12:42:00.003-06:00

So I'm looking at getting a new lens for my camera either the EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM or the EF 17-40 f/4L USM. I think they are both pretty sweet lenses. I'm also deciding as to weather or not I want to acquire a flash. If I get the 17-40 I don't think I will need a new one because it gathers light a lot better than a stock lens.

Right now I'm writing this blog as something to distract me from homework. This is because I seem to have lost all motivation for work of any kind. This is an unfortunate problem as I believe it will eventually effect my marks. Ah well back to work it is.

Drewford out.

Tiny Pictures

2009-02-17T13:42:00.004-06:00

Its about time. Ian Thornley has come out with a new album from his self titled band. The album is called Tiny Pictures as you would have guessed from the title of this entry. This album consists of 12 tracks with 1 extra if you acquired the special version.

This album in some cases, reverts back to the sound of Big Wreck. Ian has seemed to abandoned the sound that Tornley initially used in their first album, Come again. It has been traded for a combination of softer Big Wreck-esque songs along with a few pieces that sound a little to much like Nickle Back. I guess that it was doomed to happen seeing as Chad Kroeger is their producer and most of the gigs Kroeger has his fingers in sound like... his own.

Overall Tiny Pictures is a decent album. It is an easy listen compared to Come Again, but considering its been six years since their first release their original enthusiasm seems to have dissipated.

hmm...

2009-02-10T10:13:00.003-06:00

Is it bad that I only like four of the bands that were on the entire Grammy list?

A funny rendition of one of my favorite songs.

2009-02-02T14:41:00.002-06:00

It's terrible I know but I laughed so hard when I saw this.

Famous people geez. (WARNING RANDOM)

2009-02-01T14:57:00.008-06:00

Now it has been said by a few that I enjoy Tool every now and then. This would include Maynard Keenan's solo work Puscifer. It just came to my attention a few days ago that one of his back up singers would include the likes of model/actress and now singer Milla Jovovich. Now I don't claim to know much about the Hollywood circle but why do actors/actresses seem to think that, because they are in one form of media they then are compatible with all forms? This is by no means a new trend as actors of the past were almost required to be able to dance and sing and do a plethora of things. But we are in a different time when the political views of the uninformed seem to to be what is most important to us. Should we keep to the same standards of the past when training and brains seem to be rather lacking? I am not in anyway trying to insult Ms. Jovovich's intelligence, I'm just using her as an example for the industry as a whole.

Videogames in the Mainstream Media

2009-01-31T11:39:00.004-06:00

Her Morning Elegance

2009-01-30T00:25:00.003-06:00

Check this out its a fantastic use of stop motion by Oren Lavie.

The Force: Science, Religion, and Philosophy of Star Wars

2009-01-29T15:31:00.003-06:00

Wow some people have no lives, this is a very long paper on Star Wars and Zen Buddhism. It is written by Jeffery Gurpp a Philosophy professor at the Grand Valley State University. If you are into Star Wars or philosophy its wroth a skim.

The Force: Science, Religion, and Philosophy of Star Wars

Because the Music Do

2009-01-26T15:31:00.002-06:00

Interesting Take on The Internet

2009-01-23T15:03:00.003-06:00

"We have a perfect example of hatred of the good for being good with the internet. Anyone familiar with it knows that the internet is infested with those consumed by a burning hatred of anything good. Instead of finding what they enjoy in life and enjoying it, they haunt the internet, devoting their lives to hate. Hiding under their cloak of anonymity, these cowards rant against anything and everything. What they hate most are values because values promote life. If you choose to think for yourself rather than submit to their dogmatic beliefs and dictatorial vents, they invariably turn to insults, abusive language, and threats. The style of a writer, even a writer on the internet, reveals that writer's soul. Their own words betray their inner corruption. They seek not to discover and enjoy the good in life, but to make your life miserable. They hate that you enjoy anything in life. They hate the good for being good. When you come across the venom from these zeros, I hope you will remember this quote and know them for what they are." - Terry Goodkind

Is this true? Though it is well known that the internet has a large group of uninformed individuals rampaging through its spaces but are the majority of them down right evil to the core? What does this say of our generation?

Today in History

2009-01-22T15:32:00.005-06:00

Today in history an interesting event took place. This event was known as the battle of Isandlwana. This battle was a major part of the Zulu war in 1879. 20 000 Zulu warriors took on and killed, 850 British solders and 450 African servicemen. This is the worst military defeat the British army has suffered since its creation.

Later that day the battle of Rorke's Drift took place. The same Zulu warriors marched 5 000 of their men over to the local mission and were staved off by 139 British soldiers and engineers. 30 of these men were hospitalized before the battle began. Only 14 British soldiers died, 11 men were given the Victoria's Cross. This was one of the most famous defenses in British history.

This battle spawned the movie Zulu which was Sir Micheal Caine's first movie.

Depression? Not really.

2008-12-28T00:19:00.002-06:00

I am unsure what this is that I seem to be going through, it could be just crazy laziness. I have been given some grace on some papers that I missed during the year. No matter how hard I try, I just cannot gather the willpower and motivation to write them. It's frustrating me out of my mind because now I have to write an apology for wasting my professor's time with my slacking. I don't know what is wrong but I have to shake this before next semester. It just feels like I'm wasting my school money which in turn not only lets down my parents but my grandparents.

I apologize for this emo stint, Christmas went really well for my family and I. I was given many books and chapters gift cards so I plan on doing a fair bit of recreational reading. That's what I was doing today instead of writing my paper. I haven't been able to read through half a book in a day, not fall asleep and enjoy it for a long time.

And yet those papers hang there. I don't even know if it's worth any mark's anymore.

The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning - The Smashing Pumpkins

2008-12-21T19:54:00.003-06:00

If you have seen the new watchmen trailer you probably have heard this song. It was originally written for Batman and Robin but was remixed.

Send a heartbeat to
The void that cries through you
Relive the pictures that have come to pass
For now we stand alone
The world is lost and blown
And we are flesh and blood disintegrate
With no more to hate

Is it bright where you are
And Have the people changed
Does it make you happy you're so strange
And in your darkest hour
Now all secrets fade
We can watch the world devoured in its pain

Delivered from the blast
The last of a line of lasts
The pale princess of a palace cracked
And now the kingdom comes
Crashing down undone
And I am a master of a nothing place
Of recoil and grace

Is it bright where you are
And Have the people changed
Does it make you happy you're so strange
And in your darkest hour
Now all secrets fade
We can watch the world devoured in its pain

Time has stopped before us
The sky cannot ignore us
No one can separate us
For we are all that is left
The echo bounces off me
The shadow lost beside me
There's no more need to pretend
Cause now I can begin again

Is it bright where you are
And Have the people changed
Does it make you happy you're so strange
And in your darkest hour
Now all secrets fade
We can watch the world devoured in its pain
Strange
Strange
Strange

Re: Bigger's Not Better

2008-12-20T21:30:00.002-06:00

While participating in the New Media class last semester I discovered along with this blog, pod casting. Not that I would be creating these pod casts mind you but I have started watching/listening to them.

I have discovered the G4 cast, which is nice because it was one of the few channels that I watched on tv back home. This now enables me to keep up with the gaming industry some what. Along with their main pod casts are a plethora of smaller ones. One of which is called Sessler's Soapbox. I'm writing this part assuming most of you haven't watched G4 being that its not on basic cable. Anyways Adam Sessler is one of the hosts on the show X-Play which is on G4. He has this podcast where he rants or praises various aspects or events that are going on in the gaming industry.

In his most recent cast, he discussed the original Banjo Kazooie for the Nintendo 64. He, I, and many other gamers thoroughly enjoyed this game. And though I never played it, Sessler was disappointed by the sequel. Though I have heard both good and bad things about it.

Anyways let me get to the point Sessler's qualm with the game was that the Dev team claimed that it was so much bigger than the original and that's what made it better, when in his opinion it did not. This same marketing tactic was used for the newest addition to the series Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. Along with a larger world came the ability and focus on using and building vehicles. To Sessler this was again using a game gimmick to try and improve marketing and move away from the original game.

In my opinion this is a completely different game with a focus completely different from the original. I cannot count the hours I and many friends have spent watching this game and laughing our brains out at the sheer craziness of the thing. Creating and customizing various machines that look like rolling armored pyramids or death stars that are held up with balloons. Just because a game plays differently than the original, it doesn't mean its bad.

Look at the Legend of Zelda series, that in many ways has stayed faithful to the original game. People are getting bored of it. With the meager profits and media coverage of the second installment of Banjo Kazooie I don't see how a step back to the original game would have helped the developers at all.

Anyways I'm going to stop ranting now and write my papers that I need to hand in late.

Let it snow?

2008-12-12T18:18:00.003-06:00

So I'm stuck here at YYC Calgary Airport as my second flight was canceled due to snow. I came to appreciate the on board computers and the skills of the pilots using them, because once we took off I didn't see the ground again until 2 seconds before hitting the landing strip. There is so much snow here you can't see more than 200 feet out of the windows of the building. I will eventually make it home but what I really wanted to talk about was.....

People hawking credit cards. I understand that in other cultures having a shop keeper yelling out to potential customers is quite normal. I can accept that and even enjoy it at times in other cultures. But in western society people just don't do a good job of it. As I walked down the hallway to my boarding gate I past three small kiosks each one of them hailed me to see what they were trying to get me to sign up for.

The first one I went to due to sheer boredom and then declined politely. The second kiosk I just waved off as well as the third which was for some RBC credit card of some kind. This kiosk was operated by two men as apposed to one person. Now being that I have been here for a considerable amount of time and I have had to use the washroom several times this kiosk is in between my gate and the washroom. I have also sauntered by in boredom. Each of these times I have been hailed by these two men and eventually I walked up and explained to them as to why I didn't want their piece of plastic.

He acted as if he understood my well formed argument and I walked on. But as I returned to my gate they summoned me as if they had never seen me before. COME ON PEOPLE! That's just bad business, try and remember people. If I were to forget patrons while working at my previous job I would have gotten chewed out not only by the patron but by several different managers.

I cannot tolerate laziness on the job you can slow down but come on use your brain don't just sit in your kiosk and spew words. Acknowledge people properly and respect them.

In other news I tried Glenfiddich scotch tonight. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I Got That Feeling Again

2008-12-11T13:54:00.002-06:00

The feeling of having your nose hairs freeze is probabbly the worst feeling on the planet.

That's all I have to say.

We don't need your democracy. Execute them kindly for me.

2008-12-08T15:22:00.006-06:00

We don't need your hypocrisy,

Execute real democracy.

Post-industrial society,

The unthinking majority.

- Serj Tankian

I'm growing tired of this thing we call democracy, western democracy is fundamentally borked. This can be see especially in the current events that took place in Parliament a week or so back.

Rex Murphy's take on the situation can be seen here.

I agree with what he has to say about the situation, over recent years the people in Parliament have been acting like children and this has to end. I think an overhaul of the whole system is needed: fire all the officials in the government and hire/elect new ones, keeping some on as advisers until the transition is complete. I know this would never work but I can't see any other way of keeping the current system. Not that its the greatest system out there.

I would ally my self with more of a socialist type style of government, not that I would ever vote for the NDP. Something like what some of the Scandinavian socialist countries have is what I think could work for this country. But for the time being, grow up you fools. You weren't elected so suck it up and do your job with out trying to break the system more than it already is.

End Game

2008-12-07T22:19:00.003-06:00

The semester draws to an end and I am very far behind. I have been sick with a plethora of viruses. Why not list them all off: The flu, a stomach flu, a sinus infection, an ear infection, strep throat, eye infection, and bronchitis.

Due to all of these things I am severely behind and have 2 books, 4 papers, and three exams due by Thursday. This semester has not been a good one to me and I may fail several classes.

I would like to explain what I meant a while back about Evangelicalism being a cult. What I was referring to was/is the American Evangelical denomination. What I have seen more and more, this can be represented by the article the post It's always gonna be sour grapes with you boy, until you get right with Jesus. Amen!

The representation that has been portrayed by them in the media has been very negative and harmful to the rest of the Christian public. It saddens me greatly.

There's more I'd like to say but I'm tired so I am going to retire for the evening.

Online Religion

2008-11-27T16:14:00.003-06:00

This is a blog I was supposed to do while I was sick.

The article of the day is called Online Religion and Finding Faith on the Web: An Examination of Beliefnet.org by Cheryl Anne Casey.

This was about as you can guess, the move of religion into cyberspace. Now I have never really had an opinion on this as I don't know to what extent things are happening. All I know is that with the transition of anything to the internet it can allow for some "dissolving" to happen to content or truth. This can be worrisome of course.

Wikipedia is always a good example of how things can be changed and not many people will notice. What happens when a group of Christian's get together in a video chat room to have 'church' and the person who is being the pastor turns out to be a farce?

The whole idea of religion moving online irks me slightly, not that I think its a terrible idea. I just can see so many things going wrong with it. Though this won't stop emergent groups from jumping online and I say go for it. Just, use caution I guess.

Moving something that has traditionally involved a whole person into a realm that is completely non-physical seems like a huge leap to me. I don't think I could ever get used to it. But I know the move has allowed for some great online material for Christians and so I'm interested to see what will come of it.

Woa guys! Just hang on a second!

2008-11-25T10:34:00.004-06:00

Do people go out and do studies on whether or not yo-yo's create social groups and cause people to be anti social? Wait let me look.

...........

Phew! After searching the first three pages of a google search on the social effects of yo-yo's I couldn't find anything. Thankfully there's one thing that has been unadulterated by sociologists.

This was a very long winded article. It should not be read right after waking up with a cold as it will give you a headache. It is about online games as third places (ie. comparing them to pubs or swimming pools I guess). Here's the link if you want to read it:
http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue4/steinkuehler.html

Ok so to start off we should have some things defined. When I refer to people as gamers, I do not refer to what a lot of people view as the current gaming demographic today. That is the x-box community. This is because Microsoft initially and still markets to a very narrow audience. This audience is the bear drinking frat boy crowd and the 13 year old male demographic. This can be clearly seen/heard by going into any of the console community chat rooms or in game chats. You can just feel the lack of intelligence.

What I view a gamer as is, basically everyone else. Either a relatively young age group or the 21-35 year old demographic that started playing games in the 80s. This latter group, mostly, knows a thing or two about about etiquette when it comes to all things done on the Internet.

Now what I am trying to do mostly is, explain the gamer. I thought this article was interesting but it's not something that roughly 95% of the gaming community would think of. And then the authors go and say something like,

"Like sports, MMOs appeal to people in part because they represent meritocracies otherwise unavailable in a world often filled with unfairness (Huizenga, 1949)."

They have just lumped thousands of people into a small small group. The gamer is a much simpler creature. The MMO player is some one who likes to explore a large in-game world, and work with a small or large group of people to improve their personal gaming experience.

Gamers don't play games to feel acceptance. They play games to kill things and get fat lootz.

The article does an exhaustive job of explaining why each and every social aspect of Asheron's Call and Lineage I & II cause gamers to feel like they are in a place where they can fit in.
But really if a player does not feel they can fit into a game world why would they play the game?

Mr. Carmody, you are an uneducated bafoon that supports the stereotypes of christian media being sucky.

2008-11-17T20:27:00.006-06:00

This whole blog is just abound with frustration. I had almost completed writing this very long entry my google account decided to log it self out. Thus when I pressed the publish button I found that my blog no longer existed and had not been saved. I apologize if this is not quite as good as I originally intended it to be.

I am not happy with the 14th chapter. It's called Converting Comic Books into Graphic Novels and Digital Cartoons by Thomas Carmody. If any of you know anything about my high school career; you will probably know that I spent a large portion of my free time viewing comics, manga, graphic novels, and the like. This was because growing up I always wanted to be an artist but one day it hit me that I couldn't draw. So I moved onto art appreciation and comics was the first genre I started with. This lead me to become the student of media that I am today. All this to say that I know a bit about the comic industry.

I might stray some times into a general rant about the book so I apologize if it breaks up the rant a bit. But I guess this disclaimer is doing just that.

Firstly, I'd like to point out the starting sentence of this piece. "Mark became an evangelical through the ministry of a local church and got excited about sharing his faith with classmates." Why can't people just become Christians any more Tom? Why do you have to immediately lump your potentially fictional characters into the cult you are currently part of.

Next, Carmody jumps into the apparent view of some random critic. Comics are, "crude, poorly-drawn, semiliterate, cheap, disposable kiddie fare." Are you stuck in the 50s Tom? The reason older comics were 'poorly drawn' is because like most other media, comic artists had to keep to a tight schedule. You try painting the Mona Lisa in 500 little panels jumping from building to building fighting crime Tom. It's hard work! With the advent of computers and digital technology it has made pumping out 'better art' quicker and easier, thus raising the total quality of the final product that is known as the modern comic. This would also account for the price increase from 5 cents to around 4 or 5 dollars in some places. Lastly you try reading V for Vendetta and tell me that, that hulk is Semi-literate.

Next, I would like to say something about these 'tribes' that keep getting mentioned in this book. ENOUGH ALREADY! Seriously, the definition given for why the term is used in this book is terrible. It isn't even used by anyone else in the world other than this selection of writers. Why can't Christian groups just be denominations or even just Christians? Why do we have to be linked to the Evangelical cult--I mean 'tribe'?

Tom likes to think that comics are low cost and low tech. The reason they are low cost Tom, the writers and artists are being almost exploited by the big companies like DC and Marvel. The only other reason that I can think of is that Tom has lumped evangelical comics into that fun little place where all christian media seems to fall. That place being low-budget, low value crap that many people keep pumping out. The reason it keeps coming out is because as long as it has that little 'christian' label it has to be sold at christian stores. Oh no! We can't hurt Rupert Murdoch and Zondervan's feelings, they might stop selling us bibles.

I also am growing tired of these little side pieces that Schultze keeps throwing in. Its not that some of them are not interesting. It is that they often ask a question like, Why We Love and Hate Cartoonists. The little section never even answers the question. It just goes into a little spiel about how John Lawing gets offended when people don't find his job an interesting conversasion piece. After he goes on for a little bit Lawing finishes his 200 word section with the same question!

I'd like to rant even more about how Carmody promotes piracy of comics but I just realized that this is getting a little long. So I'll leave the piracy talk for another day.

CURSE YOU INTERNETS!

2008-11-17T19:30:00.001-06:00

This is yet one more general rant.

The first thing I'm going to mention is that I despise the Internet and people trying to hawk their product to those who are in a hurry. While trying to edit a video file for the social concerns committee at my school I ran into an interesting problem to do with file conversion. I needed a file to convert said file, so I set out on a quest through the jungle that is called the world wide web. I eventually stumbled upon a site that could provide me with a program that would go above and beyond what I needed. Not only that but all over the website this program was advertised as 'FREE FREE FREE!' I got excited as I found this program on even more reputable sites saying that, yes indeed this program is a freeware program. Well it turns out that this company's view of a freeware program happens to be a $39 dollar program with a free version that will do an incomplete file conversion with a massive water mark on the finished product. grr.

It's always gonna be sour grapes with you boy, until you get right with Jesus. Amen!

2008-11-13T23:12:00.006-06:00

wow. I really don't know what to say. I am enraged and saddened at the same time. I don't even know where to start so I'll just introduce the article and see where this thing takes us.

Here is the article to begin with. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/20278737/jesus_made_me_puke/

This week I have been presented with an alternative viewpoint to our lovely text book. This comes out of the pages of Rolling Stone and the article is called, Jesus Made Me Puke by Matt Taibbi. Initially I figured this would be another article bashing the 'christian right'. Long story short: it was, but this bashing was fully deserved.

Taibbi's mission for this issue was to infiltrate a church and join in with a week end 'encounter' event. Initially as he describes the typical church characters getting on the bus to head off to the unknown my stomach sunk a little as I could see where this was going. Taibbi goes through the events of the week end and at first they seem to be a typical Evangelical event. I was first dumbfounded when it came time for people to split into small groups and share an issue from their past. Taibbi's is second in the circle and so he is forced to quickly think something up.
"'Hello,' I said, taking a deep breath. 'My name is Matt. My father was an alcoholic circus clown who used to beat me with his oversize shoes.'"

The fools fall for his story. I don't understand how people can be so blinded that someone making up such an obvious lie. I am saddened for the image that is portrayed of the poor misguided people who have attended these events.

As the weekend progressed things seem to be the typical strange and shallow TV and political jargon that can be expected from the 'christian right'. Then it happens, an exorcism. That's right, the 'pastor' proceeds to tell the group that all of the sin in their lives is not actually their fault but the fault of demons that are with in them.

"He had cast out the demons of every ailment, crime, domestic problem and intellectual discipline on the face of the Earth. He cast out horoscopes, false gods, witches, intellectual pride, nearsightedness, everything, it seemed to me, except maybe E. coli and John Updike novels."
Some of these notable ones being: the demons of Philosophy and Handwriting Analysis. Since when is my degree minor a demon?

I am angered because this is the view that many people are getting of the church today. What this truly is, is a perversion of the original order, a cult. It is also the most outspoken American group of 'Christians'. How are we as Christians supposed to act when we see this kind of thing? I would find it hard to muster the strength to go up to a preacher and tell the man, 'HEY! YOU! YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG!' This almost seems to be a potential media crisis that Christians need to dealing with because I get the impression that its leading most of the western world to believe we are crazies.

oh perceptions of privacy haha soooo funny

2008-10-28T14:16:00.007-05:00

So today the article was called Sound scans of the urban body. I'm not going to finish this title because from the blogs that I have read so far all of them start with it. By now it has been read 3 or 4 times. The article is written by John Shiga if you still don't know yet.

The article talks about Dj Robin Rimbaud aka Scanner. The controversy with this guy is that he uses a scanner to pick up people's cellphone conversations and then uses their voices in his techno. The article goes on about how we perceive sound and how we have been socialized to use phones in a specific way. To us it seems like the cellphone user is having an up close and intimate conversation with the person on the other end of the line, thus adding to this modern view of personal space and privacy.

This view of the singular human by his or her self in an impenetrable bubble is starting to bother me, I am glad that Scanner is doing this. This may sound strange coming from me considering I am an Introvert that likes his privacy. But I know this is not a normal functioning state of humanity. Humans have lived in close quarters with out any need to rely on this state that we call privacy for hundreds of years. Now its almost the staple of the post-modern generation. My own ideas, My own truth, My own toys, My own music, My own personal bubble, My own cage. Yet there has never been such a huge cry out for community!

If people are so desperate to have a community of people, the online ones or your cellphone friends list will not make the cut. I hate to use this quote but I thought it worked well, "Introduce some Anarchy," and break some personal bubbles. Show people they aren't as isolated as they think. Changing peoples perspective on how they live and the things they are addicted to is fun. Try it! Do some scanning! Make some music! Burst some bubbles!
Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride.

PS. I liked Scanner's music though I guess if you're not a techno fan I could see it being slightly hard to listen to.

2008-10-21T14:26:00.003-05:00

*WARNING* THIS IS A RANDOM POST */WARNING*

As I sit here with my newly acquired 44 cent freezer mug full of Mountain Dew, I will ponder over chapter 12 of this fine novel that I have been reading.

While reading through this chapter about Christian theme parks (which I think are the silliest things ever) I came upon something I found to be wholly disturbing. There was a little excerpt called "Should Churches Host Hell Houses?" by Annalee Ward. Unfortunately Annalee didn't answer this question.

So I will..... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOooOOooOooOOOOoooOOOOOoooooOOOOOOOoOOOOoOo they should not.

I'd like to point out before I continue on, that I think the whole idea of Hell houses and 'trick-or-treating' is rather stupid.

I knew that some churches did little Halloween events to get kids off the streets where they are potentially in 'danger'. I'd also like to mention that most of the deaths on Halloween are not related to people putting arsenic or cyanide in candy or razor blades in apples. They are from motorists not paying attention to children running across the street. I don't think it is a bad idea for churches to create a safe place for children. Not only can this allow parents to monitor the intake of sugar that their children are inducing them selves with; but it gives parents a good place to network with Christians that they might not have run into on the streets.

But where is it ever a good thing for the church to scare kids 'poopless' with disturbing images like fake botched abortions. Abortion is not something that should be used to scare children. Not only does it give people a terrible view of the church but Abortion is not a trivial issue. If Christians want to be taken seriously on the abortion issue this is not the way to do it. Next on the list Ward says that there are fake school shootings. Isn't this insulting to the people who lost relatives in school shootings? It makes their deaths nothing more than a thrill ride for 'candy-tourists'.

The organized church needs to wake up and realize that fear, though occasionally good for creating superficial and problematic believers, does not work for creating good Christians. People that live in fear are not productive to a group that is bent on loving and reaching out to others, that's what we should be doing. Not just trying to frantically push their faces from the shadows into gold pavement.

Don't sit on cathedral spires...

2008-10-06T18:56:00.004-05:00

Michael Bull has a lot to say about the current IPod craze. He even goes as far to compare them to the sacred spaces of the Catholic Church. IPods are places where we can worship, find solitude, safety and connect with society? The main function of the church in the days of Cathedrals was to meet up with the people in the town and connect with people. IPods are not allowing this in our "global community". They are doing exactly the opposite, turning man into his own island. Or her own island if you want me to be gender specific.

Another way Bull likes to compare IPods to church buildings is by saying that they are the epitome of architecture in the 21st century. Bull obviously hasn't been in the tower 101. IPods are large brick like objects that take up more pocket space than a good sized hip flask and cause far more frustration. They tend to be dust magnets so when ever you pull them out of your pocket an asthma attack ensues. Though there are smaller sizes these tend to break easily when sat on the wrong way. Churches don't break when sat upon.

As people go about their daily routine, avoiding all human contact and interaction with the outside world, they begin to notice things: "My ears are hurting, oh well." Bull seems to think that allowing people to listen to music wherever they go gives them back power over their lives. I don't understand how this empowers people in anyway. The traffic will still take as long as it always does. Why not look for an alternate route instead of zoning out and ignoring potential traffic hazards. Having your senses completely closed off while walking through the city is in no way empowering, not only that you will miss the music that is the world around you.

You might get mugged to.

What Makes Music Christian?

2008-10-02T21:25:00.004-05:00

A question asked by many a listener. Terry Mattingly seems to think it sure isn't rock. How dare music show some semblance of talent or a back beat of any kind? Would this then rule out artists like Toby Mac? Strangely the Rock/Nu-Metal group Chevelle was considered to be a Christian band for many years. They were sold under the Squint Entertainment label for their first three albums. Squint is most famously known for the band Six Pence None the Richer. The lyrics of Chevelle sounded Christian, though strangely the never mentioned a deity other than El Diablo.

A sample from The Clincher:
Could we have known,
Never would I, Helped to nail down,
With nothing to gain
Here's the clincher, This should be you!
Now saturate.

Sounds like it could be Christian. SURPRISE! When asked in an interview, the drummer, Sam Loeffler said, "It's something that's probably going to follow us around forever and that's fine. It's pretty simple. We originally signed with a record company that was backed by Word (known for artists such as Amy grant), so the record was in Christian bookstores. It was really an accidental thing. The Band promptly changed labels and lyrical quality the swearing abounded with titles like, Antisaint.

This is just one example. Another would be the band Evanescence. One of their first big hits Bring Me to Life was accompanied by the lead vocalist from the Christian band 12 stones. Stories shot through the roof that there was this hot new "christian" band called Evanescence. Those voices were silenced quickly.

Now we turn to the band Paramore, I have yet to actually listen to them. But they claim be Christians. WAIT! Pause for a second, these guys are signed under Fueled by Ramen. The same company that signed Panic at the Disco and Fall Out Boy. You don't see these guys being sold at your local Christian book store.

So really what makes music Christian? I'm going to agree with Bono on this one and say that, Christian music doesn't exist.

Chapter 4

2008-09-30T13:54:00.004-05:00

As I travel back to chapter four in my readings of U.E.M. I can't find anything I particularly disagree with in this chapter. The chapter was called Moving from Film to Digital Movies and it basically gave a brief overview of some major Christian movies released over the years. It then moves to the rise of Internet phenomena such as Youtube.

Being an Aspiring film maker my self, seeing Christians being successful in the film industry excites me. Though there will always be the "tribe" oriented content over quality films like Left Behind, I am amazed to see films like Chronicles of Narnia hitting the mainstream theaters and doing quite well. My main concern with these films though is that they may be loosing part of their message. Many people will go to see a film like Narnia and go out of the theater saying, "wow that was a great movie," and miss the messages of Redemption and faith that run through these stories.

I believe film makers are noticing this trend too and may be using it for money. This can be demonstrated by the second Narnia installment, Prince Caspian. The Plot starts somewhere around the fifth chapter of the book and takes large deviations from the original story. These changes cause many of the key elements of the book to be missed. In both films many of the dialogue from the character Aslan is removed, thus rendering the movie into nothing more than a fantasy war film.

This I believe is something that Christians in the entertainment industry have to watch out for. I do think that, many times producers miss the mark and focus on persuading more than entertaining. The opposite seems to be happening more and more frequently, a focus on entertaining at the expense of the narrative and the message.

MOM! THERE'S A FUNDIMENTALIST STUCK IN OUR FAX MACHINE!

2008-09-25T15:15:00.008-05:00

Let us start this entry by looking at some statistics from the wonderful book we have been following. If you would turn with me in your "U.E.M. Bibles" to page 138, chapter 10, Verse 1. "How Americans Use Internet For Religion."

1. The first stat is that 38% of 128 million users send and receive email with spiritual content. "If you don't reply to this email in 10 minutes you will have bad LUCK."
2. 35% send or receive E-cards related to religious holidays. "HAPPY X-MAS, from the Bay! Don't forget to check out our X-MAS SALE! You will find prices up to 10% off."
3. 32% go online for news accounts of religious events and affairs. "Today Islamic fanatics blew up a coffee shop in the Gaza strip."
4. 21% seek info about how to celebrate religious holidays. "Mom! I lost the instructions for our fake tree! Can you look them up on the Internet for me?"

Don't you just love stats?

Schultze sticks to his guns with his whole teaching, persuading, and delighting schema. In the teaching section he writes about how evangelical churches post their sermons on their own personal church website...viewed only by their congregation... or may be some pastor friends. He also mentions book databases full of "Christian" works and password-protected websites. "Wow look at all of these new Christians we are converting with out brand-spanking-new password protected website!"

Next comes delighting, where evangelicals can go online and spew out their "well informed opinions" to who ever happens to be trolling their particular forum. Thus being teamed up with the whole persuasion aspect and we have a great thing going.

Here are some replies to a comment on Catholic acceptance of evolution:
- "Shut up"
- "What's wrong with monkeys?"
- "The problem is that most of the crazy nutball evangelicals that are fighting evolution in our schools don't even see catholics as being real christians."
- "Also christians are mad stupid. That's a problem too."
- "angels and demons was a pretty good book"
- "Oh my. This is disturbing. Come Jesus. Come Lord. Come take your world from the grip of satan."

Comments found on: www.tribalwar.com

Evangelical Porn for Girls....

2008-09-23T13:46:00.003-05:00

Evangelical Romance novels have become vastly popular over recent years. This is because they are considered to be much more "tame" than their Harlequin Romance counterparts. Many claim to have a "Christian" message and focus on the main character's relationship with their god. But being that it is a romance novel what are the characters doing after they pray? The main characters might not be running out to bed the nearest shirtless muscle master, or scantily clad damsel in distress. These books usually show the main couple in ways that could not be described in any words other than "lusty". Christian romance novels do what all other romance novels do: give a false view of human love and intimacy.

This brings me to my main question, what makes a novel "Christian"? In Schultze's book Micheal A. Longinow points out that books written by gay Christians, books with swearing, or books that may be a bit edgier than normal, don't get published. Yet one of the authors of Left Behind isn't even a Christian and his books can be published and sold in all Christian avenues. Does the fact that a non-Christian author can write one of the biggest selling evangelical series not worry anyone? Might I add that many people think that what this story talks about is exactly the way future events are going to take place.

Then there are books like, Saint by Tedd Dekker, where there are but minor mentions of little biblical stories. Hood by Stephen Lawhead is another example the only Christian references in these books are the fact that the characters believe in God and Friar Tuck prays. Yet these are praised as being great Christian fantasy novels. It would seem that this aspect of Evangelical media is focused too much on delighting the reader more than sending a message. Is this even something that Evangelical books can do? Considering the minimal Christian content of these books, could they not be considered secular with Christian influences? They have as much Christian content as some lyrics from Limp Bizkit, but you don't see him being signed to Dove Records.

Save Me From My Self

2008-09-19T14:36:00.006-05:00

In 2005 Brian "Head" Welch left his position of guitarist for the band KoЯn and pursued a new life as a Christian. He has since gone solo under his psudoname Head. His album was released a few weeks ago called: Save Me From My self.

This album is AMAZING! It has all the great aspects of the Nu-Metal genre and a very edgy, thought provoking message. Many of the songs on this CD show Welch dealing with his personal problems of drugs and abuse and his turn to God.

"I always loved that Korn's music helped kids let out aggression. But with my new music, I want kids to know that there's more out there. I want to show them there's a light at the end of the pain tunnel. That there's more out there than just aggression. I want to say to them, 'Hey kids, come over here. Let's bounce back and forth and have fun.'"
— Brian Welch

I recommend checking this album out. GO BUY IT!

(I'll post some lyrics when I have time to type them out. I can't find any on the net)

Buy my frickin prayer cloth or no healing for you!!

2008-09-18T20:03:00.005-05:00

As I was reading through the third article in Schultze's collection I got caught on a sentence about a certain television evangelist. "The late TV preacher Jerry Falwell said that 'there's no need for the church of Jesus Christ to be wasting its time gullibly falling for all of this global warming hocus-pocus.'"

First off I would like to point out that "gullibly" is not a word. Secondly I would like to state that I think that global warming is a natural cycle of the earth due to changes in the planet's orbit and axis. But when did it occur to Christians, that just because we might have some conspiracy theory that the world is going to end soon so we don't have to take care of it. Are we not told to be good stewards of everything we have been given? Even if global warming may be a hoax it does not mean that we shouldn't care about the amount of pollution that is being poured into the atmosphere.

The amount of politics that is in Christian media today frustrates me to no end. Not only does it lead to the conclusion that most Evangelicals are as crazy as other religious extremists, but it just seems to be not very Christ-like. Whether a person votes conservative or for those "crazy hippies" from the NDP, this should not have any say on if a person can stay in their church or get ostracized over it. I was under the impression that we were past the days of killing each other over who should lead the church, let alone our "democratic nation".

In closing I will remind you to go out and vote on the 14th of next month.

I'm Tired of Mr. Smith and His Alleluias.

2008-09-15T20:36:00.007-05:00

As I delve into "Evangelical Media" I will first comment on the second chapter of the book. This is because I was so utterly confused and frazzled by the assumptions the first chapter brought forth that I couldn't think of words to describe it. Oh I think I'm going to enjoy this one.

*
Thankfully, as I looked through the second chapter of Schultze's book, I found less strange comments on what makes up American Evangelicalism and more about actual media. This fine chapter was about Evangelical radio. Now Christian radio and I have an interesting relationship. That is, we stay as far away from each other as we can as to not start an interstellar war.

I agreed with most of what Paul Creasman said in that Christians have not been using radio properly in the recent decades. In my opinion Christian radio has quite a narrow audience so the apparent failure of stations going, "mainstream" does not surprise me. As I have studied media and listened to "secular" radio I have come to realize that mainstream is also a failed use of the medium. Some could argue that it is as repetitive in its content as Christian propaganda. Unfortunately Creasman offered us no alternatives.

So how can radio be changed? Should we revert to formats used in the 30's-60's? Though some of that might liven up mainstream radio I do not believe it will work for Christian radio. A whole new format is necessary to attract the generation that no-longer wants the revival teachings spewed at them all day. I don't really have any Ideas as of yet on what this format could be but I'll be thinking on it.

*(Word Count Starts Here)

Greetings and Salutations

2008-09-15T19:48:00.003-05:00

Welcome to my new little corner of the internet. For my first post on this very limited website, I'm going to share an article I discovered on the web comic Apple Geeks. The article is called, How I Learned to Love Game Pirates. It is written by a game Dev. who actually used his brain for once and asked, "Why do people pirate and share video games?"

Now that you have had a chance to read the article, I will explain why it excites and angers me. I'm glad that someone has finally taken their head out of the sand and realized that gamers are tired of wasting their money on poorly made games. Now why haven't other gaming companies realized this fact before? It seems that they value their profit margins and their "artistic license" more than their customers. What is the point of trying to protect your "art", when it is so poorly put together that people don't want to spend money on it in the first place? It's like Anne Rice expecting to make money off of her Sleeping Beauty trilogy. Just because you think you have a good marketable idea it doesn't mean your target audience will share that sentiment.

Though John Keats may say, "Don't be discouraged by a failure" I believe that the gaming industry needs to step back and take a look at what they are doing wrong. If they don't their Canadian gamers will be jailed for not being able to pay off their fines. Five hundred dollars a download will build up quickly for your average pirate.