Boogerface

It's finally happened.

2009-11-12T15:00:00.008-06:00

That's right, boys and girls. Jennifer Knapp has finally broken her long silence. She is in the process of writing and recording a new record and I couldn't be more excited. The record will be out in the first quarter of 2010. It'll be interesting to see how the long absence has changed her. She's got some new songs up on her Myspace page as well as a a letter to her fans on her homepage.

So I was a little late on the news. The letter went up on her website in September. Oh, well. She played an acoustic show in New York on October 28th. She's got a couple of videos on YouTube from that show. You can see them here. There's one old song and one new one.

I was sure I'd posted about Jennifer Knapp here before but I can't find it now. The long and short of it is that she released her third album in 2001 and, after the tour, announce she was taking a break. Then she disappeared. The studio continued to release demos and live albums to get all the money they could from her music. It should be noted here that she never sought that money and resisted fame in many ways. I can't wait to hear about what she's been up to while on hiatus.

That's all for now. I just wanted to share.

The Stranger

2009-09-26T13:44:00.005-05:00

Last night I went out to eat with some friends and afterward a few of us went around town doing many silly things that all seemed like good ideas at the time. We went to Barnes and Noble where I read Where The Wild Things Are to them while they sat on the floor (except Bekah who was wearing a skirt). We ate ice cream. We searched Walmart until we found the last pack of Crazy Straws they had and bought them along with 'snazzy drinks' as Jordan called them (I had pomegranate lemonade). We took our new purchases to LSU and drank them while sitting on the steps of the bell tower.

Just before midnight a guy on a bike rode by singing Queen. We began talking. He sang an italian opera song for us. Jordan demonstrated a workout routine for us. We talked for over two hours to this stranger. We talked about many things. What kind of super power would you want to have? If we lived in a world in which you could choose your own skin color, what color would your skin be? What are your views on politics? What are your views on the current state of the church?

It's interesting how you can end up exactly where you should be at just the right moment. None of us were called there for any reason. We weren't called at all. Still, four friends spoke with one stranger for hours as if he were a friend. An odd meeting that came out of no where. We had small and important conversations and then went on our way. It was a good night.

I have decided (part 2)

2009-08-05T02:28:00.008-05:00

I spoke in this post about the importance of honesty in relationships. In that post I shared four poems that I had written that I'd struggled with making public. I ultimately decided that to stay in honest relationship with those I love I needed to share them.

Well, I've got some news. Those four poems, as well as 29 others are now available in a book of poetry that I have compiled, laid out, designed, and self-published on lulu.com. There's a hardback version:

as well as a paperback version:

Both are available here.

The title of the book is please and other words of weakness and since I've found no better way to describe the purpose of making this book available to all, here is the introduction:

Freedom Doesn’t Lurk in Shadows:
An Introduction

This book is not for you. It isn’t for those closest to me. It isn’t even for myself. This book is an offering to the altar of honest relationship. Being in real relationships with people requires full disclosure and trumps any notion of “personal stuff.”

What’s coming in these next several pages is a series of snapshots of my life at various stages. I’ve titled this collection please and other words of weakness because almost all of these poems were written at what I’ve come to call Moments of Weakness. Everyone has weak moments and everyone handles them differently. The way I’ve come to handle them is to write them down.

If these poems were to be all that survive of my life, then anyone who reads them would think they come from a weak and depressed mind. In fact, they do, but the weakness and depression doesn’t last too long. It may come after the death of an uncle or during a bout with unrequited love or in the middle of the night when I can’t sleep. After I write those moments down, I can usually get past them. Sometimes it takes a little longer.

These weak moments are hard to share with people, especially with those closest to me. In many instances they reveal the darkest parts of my heart. Putting this collection down in print is like taking my heart out of my chest and dissecting it for all to see. I have learned this one thing, however: that relationships have to mean something or they aren’t worth anything. To have those real, raw relationships it becomes necessary to reach into uncomfortable places. You have to be completely honest no matter where that honesty leads. It’s a rare thing to have a friend of that sort, but it’s important to strive for it.

I have written these poems over the course of many years. Some of the earliest ones come from my angsty teenage years, and they range all the way up to my last semester earning a degree in graphic design. This is who I am at my best, and often my worst. These poems reveal all my doubt, my insecurity, my most intense depression, and everything one normally keeps to oneself. This is as honest as I can be.

So, go buy it and I think this coupon code is still good: BOBBYJHILLJRLZ14.

New Online Portfolio

2009-07-28T18:00:00.002-05:00

I've added this link to the sidebar:

It goes to my brand spankin' new online portfolio.

That is all. Thank you.

Are you ready boys and girls? It's time.

2009-07-15T14:56:00.000-05:00

Okay, this is a post that has been sitting around for a while. I was going to rank things from my big trip. I got this far:

RANKINGS:

Favorite stop: Chattanooga, TN

Best Hotel Overall: Comfort Inn in Bloomington, MN

Best Shower: Comfort Inn in Bloomington, MN

Best Shower Head: Microtel in Kansas City, MO

Best Meal: Mojo Burrito in Chattanooga, TN

So, other than that, I'm looking for a job. I put in an application at Bethany World Prayer Center and dropped off a resume at Stun Design and Louisiana Lottery. So we'll see what happens. If anyone hears about a graphic design job please send it my way. I'd much prefer to do print design than web design.

Okay, now the real reason I'm posting now. A couple months ago a book came out entitled Pride and Prejudice and Zombies:

I wanted to read but never got around to it. Now there is another book coming out called Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters:

I wonder if this classic literature remix thing is gonna really catch on or not. . .

Days 5 and 6: Chicago and Milwaukee

2009-06-13T23:18:00.011-05:00

I visited Chicago last saturday. I spent most of the day wandering around half-lost. It was great (really). I drove into town around 11:30 and found a parking lot to park in. Then I started walking (taking my GPS with me) towards the Art Institute of Chicago. It should be noted here that it was freezing to me having come from Louisiana. It was only like 58, but still, I didn't even think to pack a jacket or long-sleeve anything so I was keeping my eyes peeled for a place to buy a jacket. Anyway. I went to the museum in the Art Institute and it was really nice. A lot of good art. I have pictures up on Facebook if you haven't already seen them.

After leaving the museum I went to Millennium Park which is right across the street from the Art Institute. In fact, there's a foot bridge from the second level of the museum to the park, but I couldn't find it while in the museum so I didn't walk across it. I did walk under it, though. Anyway, in Millennium Park there are some large great sculptures. I don't know if they change them out a lot or ever but I know this one has been there since 2006. It was created by Anish Kapoor and is titled Cloud Gate:

This is a concept drawing that is on display near the piece:

After wandering around Millennium Park a bit I wandered upon a Gospel Music and Art Festival. They were selling things in booths but what I went into the tent for was the open mic spectacular they were having on a stage in the middle. It was excellent. It was all I could do to not get up there and sing His Eye is on the Sparrow. At one point, however, this 5 or 6 year old white kid got up there and started singing. Now, understand me when I say he was white. I mean he was 100% white. And the audience was . . . um. . . not. But the host guy was all like "Show some love, show some love." And they did.

At this point I decided to not go to the Museum of Modern Art that I was going to go to. My reason was that I didn't want to walk that far but I probably did walk as much and more than I would have. No, instead, I decided to find a theater and see Land of the Lost. Before I did that, though, I happened upon another art festival where artists were selling their own work. I got to talk to a couple of them about their work and it was all very interesting. So, go on from there, still don't have a jacket. I stop in to a Starbucks and eat some luch and have some NASTY "sweet" tea. I find a mall. Not really a mall, more like a collection of expensive stores all centered around Nordstrom. I find nothing I can afford but now it's raining and I stay in out of the rain looking at clothes I cannot afford. When it lets up a little I wander out and I'm talking to Jacob on the phone and I'm looking for a store still. Then I look across the street and say, "Oh, look, a Gap." So I went to the Gap and found three sweaters and buy them.

I'm still looking for a theater. I've got my GPS with me, but it isn't as good with walking. Or maybe there was interference in the city. I walk countless blocks and get pretty far from the Gap, yet I somehow end up at the same intersection on the opposite corner from the Gap and the theater I was looking for is a block away. I go see Land of the Lost. I found it to be kinda funny but not really worth it. If you have to watch it then watch it when it comes on tv and you can't find the remote. It won't disappoint you but you shouldn't go out of your way to see it.

Then I went back to my car and drove to the hotel. Chicago is big. Here are some obligatory big building shots. This first one is looking towards Millennium Park and you can see the big face on the fountain. That's a video screen and it changes; blinks and stuff:

I went from Chicago to Milwaukee. Milwaukee is nice I guess. I ate at a greek place there. Greek food is different up north. They have gyros but not chicken shawarma. Instead they have chicken souvlaki which is basically chicken kabobs because it's cooked on a stick like that. It was good but my favorite part of my meal at Apollo Cafe was that they give you a bottle of grecian sauce (which they call cucumber sauce).

What I went to Milwaukee for was to go to the Milwaukee Museum of Art. Again I've posted pictures on Facebook from the museum of the artwork if you want to see it. What I want to share here is that the museum drinks Red Bull:

. . . because it gives you wiings . . .

I'd also like to share that I ran into one of my old teachers at the museum. I had this summer oil painting class with him. Apparently he grew up in Milwaukee and was back home to take care of some family stuff. After a minute or two he remembered me and I told him that I loved his class but I hated oil painting, which is true. I thought it was neat to run into someone like that in a completely different place.

I was also very thoroughly impressed and satisfied with the museum. If you haven't seen the pictures on Facebook that I took of the things there then I suggest you look at them because this museum has a very fine collection of great work both old and new.

After Milwaukee I went to Bloomington Minnesota where I stayed for 4 nights. The Mall of America is huge but I've already really covered that part of my journey. I didn't really do much except go to the mall. I did go spend a day in Minneapolis which is only about 20 minutes north of Bloomington. I went to some museums there and I will cover that in another post.

Right now I want to say that I have never been a follower of sports. This is evidenced by the fact that I scheduled an overnight stay in Omaha on the first day of the College World Series without any knowledge of it being the first day of the College World Series in Omaha. My plan was to go the the Henry-Doorly Zoo. Well, friday when I got there it was rainy and the zoo was closing at 5 anyway. Next morning I get up to go (a few minutes later than I'd planned) and try to go and sit in traffic only to find the zoo's parking lot is full of baseball fans. The stadium is right next to the zoo. I needed gas so I found a gas station. After filling up I decided to come on to Kansas City instead of finding a place to park and walking.

I'm in Kansas City now. I went to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art earlier today and I've posted those pictures on Facebook already as well as some from Minneapolis and Bloomington. I will post more about these and other things later. I'll be home on monday.

UPDATE: You can now go to my Facebook page without a Facebook sign in by going to facebook.com/boogerface57. Go there to see more pictures from my trip under my albums.

Back in Time: Day 2, Ruby Falls and Rock City

2009-06-12T17:52:00.004-05:00

When I was in Chattanooga I went to Ruby Falls and Rock city. I have pictures up on Facebook but if you haven't already seen them I'll put some of the highlights here.

These are from Ruby Falls in no particular order. We went down into Lookout Mountain in an elevator to the caverns that lead to Ruby Falls. They had different types of lighting to display certain rock formations:

This is called the Chandelier:

This is a very natural formation known as the Outlet:

When we reached the large chamber where the actual waterfall is the only thing that was lit was the entryway we'd come through. The waterfall was at the opposite end in complete darkness. There were speakers in the chamber which were playing very dramatic music and then the waterfall was revealed:

The waterfall is lit from beneath:

The opening where the water comes out is only about two to three feet wide:

And proof that I was there:

This is from the top of Lookout Mountain where you can supposedly see seven states. I don't know. . .

The rest of these are from Rock City (. . . we built this city . . .) which is basically a large collection of huge boulders. And I mean HUGE. Here are two:

This is a magical music-emitting rock. It should be noted here that the theme of Rock City is magic fairyland and gnomes and stuff like that. There is a Fairyland caverns portion of the park that has large dioramas of Hansel and Gretel and Jack and the beanstalk and stuff like that. In fact, after I snapped this picture a unicorn galloped by:

Fat Man Squeeze is the best name for anything ever:

Here's me going through Fat Man Squeeze:

Lover's Leap:

I also went to the Tennessee aquarium while in Chattanooga. It's really nice But it's also still an aquarium so if you want to see a more complete collection of pictures from there then check on Facebook as they are all posted there. But to make mention of a few things. . .

First is that the setup of the aquarium is interesting because it's split into two buildings, one for ocean and one for river. On top of that the landscaping (Is it landscaping if it's all concrete? Whatever.) is very interesting. You can see the wave form foot bridges in this picture with the aquarium buildings behind them:

On the other side of the foot bridges is this fountain:

which starts this river that runs between the two aquarium buildings, interrupting the cityscape in various ways as it goes:

I also took this picture of jellyfish which I love a lot. I usually cant get good jellyfish pictures:

Near the jellyfish in the aquarium were displays of jellyfish art by different artists. Some of my favorites:

I really want to post about things

2009-06-10T21:58:00.000-05:00

but the internet here is flakey and I need to upload photos to be able to talk about stuff. I can say that I'm in Bloomington, MN where the Mall of America is. I can also say that the Mall of America is HUGE. I'm going to some museums in Minneapolis (about 20 minutes away) tomorrow. So Far I've been to Chattanooga, Mammoth Cave, Kalamazoo, Chicago, Milwaukee, and now Bloomington. I'll have a lot to report when I get dependable internet.

Day 3 - Cave City, Kentucky is a hole

2009-06-06T00:32:00.003-05:00

I'll backtrack later and cover Day 2 in Chattanooga, in which I visited Ruby Falls and Rock City, because it was awesome. For now you can see pictures on Facebook, but I will eventually walk you through it. Right now I'd like to share with you the blogpost I wrote in a Word document while in Cave City, where the Mammoth Caves are:

Cave City, Kentucky is a hole.

There is nothing here except Mammoth Cave. I mean NOTHING. There’s not even any wi-fi anywhere. I’m writing this on Microsoft Word. I’m glad I’m only here for one night. The only thing worth it about staying the night here is that I’m sleeping in a wigwam.

My first tour of Mammoth Cave was less than spectacular after experiencing Ruby Falls and Rock City yesterday. For one thing, it’s way more touristy (who was expecting it not to be?). For another thing, I missed the 11:30 tour I wanted to go on by about 2 seconds. I arrived at 11:31 and they had already closed ticket sales for that tour. The difference between that one and the one I went on was probably a lot. I don’t know though. The one I missed was a 4 hour tour that encompassed 2 of the other tours. The one I went on was 2 hours. I don’t know what else I missed but I know I missed Fat Mans Misery. Oh well.

I did manage to salvage the day when I went back to the cave after checking in to my wigwam. I went on the Star Chamber tour, which happens at night. The Star Chamber is simply a chamber of the cave where gypsum, which was stained black by soot, has been chipped away in place to reveal the white gypsum underneath. It looks like stars kinda. But what was so cool about this tour was that it was a lantern tour, meaning that the only light source was from six oil lanterns.

What that also means is that there was no flash photography allowed. It’s a real shame, too because in the last leg of the tour we went to the Gothic . . . something, I don’t remember. The special thing about the Gothic Whatever is that, back in the day, tour guides would allow patrons to sign their names on the cave walls with candle wax in return for a tip. What was so amazing to me about this was that most of the lettering had serifs. This was the 1800’s and the people were mimicking printed type or signage lettering when they wrote their names and the type of the day had serifs.

Our tour guide was also very good and we had a small group so he took us a bit further down that passage than the “tour” permitted and we got to see other awesome things that I don’t have any pictures of. It was fun and now I’m going to sleep in my wigwam.

I do have a picture of the wigwam. It is still on my camera.

I also can't wait to tell you about the Ellery concert. It was so good. It's the only thing I've done in Kalamazoo, which is where I am now. It was a small intimate show. There were people coming and going and there were, at most, 30-40 people at the peak. Ellery is a husband and wife duo from Cincinnati. About an hour into the set they took a break and I was able to talk to them individually. Tasha was back by the table where they had cd's and other things for sale and she and I were talking and somehow it came up that I was in town from Baton Rouge and she was so happy that I'd planned it into my trip to go see them. After that, she told her husband, Justin, that I was here from Baton Rouge and he came and introduced himself to me and we spoke a little about travel and different things. They were both very nice and I was able to get a picture with them before I left. It was a very good night.

Those pictures and others will be comin atcha later. For now, I'm going to sleep. I'm driving to Chicago in the morning.

Chattanooga Day 1

2009-06-02T20:50:00.006-05:00

I arrived in Chattanooga today. I was here for an hour before I realized that the time had changed and it's an hour later here. Anyway, here are some crappy pictures I took while I was driving in.

This really doesn't do justice to the beauty of this area. There are layers upon layers of hills covered in green and misty blue.

About 80 miles outside of Chattanooga I started seeing these signs for Ruby Falls and Rock City every couple of miles. I'm going to both tomorrow. As well as the Tennessee Aquarium probably.

I didn't really do anything tonight except check in to the hotel and go eat some supper. And I found the most artsy place to eat: Mojo Burrito. It's kinda like Izzos where you can build your own burrito but it was, I think, better. I got a burrito with their key lime chicken. So good.

They also display artwork by local artists. That's their thing.

I ate on their outdoor patio which looked like this:

More coming at you tomorrow.

U be trippin'

2009-06-01T23:13:00.003-05:00

I'm leaving in the morning. First stop Chattanooga, a 9 hour drive according to my GPS, Jane (that's what I call her; she's british). My route can be seen here:

View Where I Am when I'm not with you in a larger map

At my second stop, Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, I'm staying in a wigwam.

After that, I'm going to Kalamazoo solely to see Ellery in concert during the Kalamazoo Art Festival.

My longest stay anyplace will be in Bloomington, Minnesota where the Mall of America is. It's also just outside of Minneapolis. I'll be there from the 8th to the 12th.

I'm headed home after that, making stops in Omaha, Kansas City, and Memphis. I'll be updating while I'm on the road, so check back.

Graduation Stuff

2009-05-15T00:42:00.003-05:00

I bought this:

as a graduation present for myself.

I'm picking up my degree tomorrow from the art office. I'm not walking.

I'm gathering artwork and design work to be displayed at my graduation party saturday. I'm also making a playlist for the party garnered towards "travel music," but not really.

I still plan on trippin' this summer. I still have not made concrete plans.

My last day of work at BR Press is sunday.

That's all for now.

I'm done!

2009-05-08T20:19:00.005-05:00

I turned in my last final today and that is the only grade I'm waiting on. I got a C in art history. I was worried about that one. So I'm practically already graduated.

I think the biggest news is that I made SuperClue. Only, officially, it's called "The Butler Did It! a whodunit game." These are the cards of the people:

Bekah and Jordan just got here and we're going to play it. So that's all for now.

SuperClue has changed names

2009-04-08T23:50:00.003-05:00

It will now be called "The Butler Did it! a Whodunit game". I made a logo. There are six versions for the six characters and subsequent six versions of the game box.

The characters (I'm still working on them) are:

Ruby Rouge, a femme fatale and politicians wife who can walk through walls

Forrest Green, an enviro-hippie and lobbyist for environmental concerns who can teleport

Dr. Lillian White, a black chicago woman with a Ph.D in criminology who has x-ray vision

Prof. Perry Winkle, an eskimo (or inuit if we're being politically correct) who has the ability to freeze people and objects in place

Carla Canary, a journalist (accused yellow journalist) who has psychic abilities

and Jeffery the Black Ninja, a lawyer with a mysterious past who has superspeed

I've gone off-track

2009-04-02T01:59:00.001-05:00

My sleeping schedule is all messed up. I wish I could just be like a normal person.

I'm making SuperClue for my book arts class.

That's all.

Halfway

2009-03-10T15:26:00.005-05:00

The semester is half over. I'm ready to finish. I'm planning a trip. I'm going to go all over the place this summer. I've never been out of the south. THe farthest north I've been is Memphis, Tennessee (I sang "Walking in Memphis" the whole time). I have some destinations picked out and I'm trying to save money.

I want to go to Atlanta. I want to go to the mammoth caves in Kentucky. I want to go to the start of the Mississippi River in Minnesota. I want to go to the Mall of America also in Minnesota. I want to go to Chicago. I want to go to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. I want to go to Mount Rushmore. I want to go to Denver. I want to go to the Grand Canyon. I want to go to the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. I want to go to the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. I want to go to Crater Lake in Oregon. I want to go to the redwood national parks in California. I want to go to San Diego and visit the zoo there. I want to go to San Fransisco. I want to go to Disneyland.

Part of the reason I want to go on this trip is simply to see places I have never seen before I get a job and can't. The other part is that I don't know where I want to live and start a career. I don't want to be one of those go nowhere, do nothing type of people. Just because I've always lived here doesn't mean I always should. I've never hated living here but I've never been anywhere else to know if there's some other place I'd like to live.

My latest project in my book arts class is an accordion book with the theme of time and/or movement. It has to have at least one pop-up. I'm making an itinerary for this summer.

I tasted the rainbow and it was good

2009-02-16T21:54:00.008-06:00

This is a rainbow cake. Making it is not complicated at all.

Basically you mix the batter for a white cake mix and divide it into 6 even amounts. Then you use gel food coloring (found in the cake decorating part of the store) to color each portion one of the six colors of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple):

Then you layer it in rainbow order (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple). I did mine in a bundt pan:

Then you bake it according to the directions on the box:

And it's done!

The icing I put on it is just a basic glaze.

Slice and enjoy!

This is great

2009-02-11T01:32:00.001-06:00

Save the Words

2009-01-31T22:41:00.007-06:00

Save the Words is a website dedicated to keeping underused English language words in the dictionary. Pick an underused word and pledge to save it from extinction.

Lexicographers are constantly looking at words used in media and pop culture to decide what new words to put in the dictionary. In the process, other less-used words are removed from the dictionary. At Save the Words you can adopt a word and pledge to use it more often in general conversation or in correspondence.

These are some words that I have adopted:

Look them up while you can!

Update

2009-01-26T21:13:00.004-06:00

School started. It's my last semester. I did the check out for graduation where the person checks to make sure I've met or am meeting all of my requirements. I checked out. What I'm taking this semester:

Book Arts

Issues in Contemporary Art

Appreciating Poetry (or English 5)

Ceramics 2 (throwing)

Now that it feels real (because of the check out), I've been inwardly freaking out about my future. I've decided to go traveling around the US this summer after I graduate. Reasons: to see places I've never seen before I get a job and can't, to see where I would like to live when beginning my post college life.

I should be at LSU right now working on ceramics. I have to throw 6 good, straight cylinders. It's hard. I've had a long day.

I have to go to court tomorrow. I got a speeding ticket. I didn't mail out a check in time.

HouseChurchesUSA.com is up and I've added a link on the right. Just click the house. My parents are starting a blog for our house church. There's nothing on it right now but keep checking it. I think more house churches will be doing the same sort of thing pretty soon.

That's all for now. Goodbye.

I haven't felt like posting

2008-12-13T19:57:00.005-06:00

But I am now. I need to put a few pictures on here but first I need to let you know what's been going on. First of all, my cousin Lindsey has a new baby girl, Elaina Paige McCoy. Jacob asked me who I thought was cuter when they were first born, Elaina or Casey. I told him that they are pretty much girl and boy versions of the same baby:

See what I mean?

Also, IT SNOWED. The news here called it Sneaux Day 2008, which is both clever and retarded. I think it's funny that in Louisiana you can talk about the day it snowed and not get it confused with some other day it snowed. There is only one every couple of decades. There were snowmen all over. I regret that I didn't get out and get tons of pictures while I could. I was off of work and everything. I was supposed to meets a friend for lunch and we canceled because neither of us know how to drive in snow. I was going to upload the pictures I did get of the snow but Blogger is being a jerk. Maybe I'll get to it later.

I also finished my last final for the semester today. It was actually my only final. My other classes were final projects. I'd put some pictures up but, you know. . .

So anyway, I am alive.

Sonic Commercials

2008-11-18T12:29:00.004-06:00

I've been wanting to find a bunch of these and put them on here for a while because I think they are so funny. I haven't seen a lot of these before:

Watches I would not mind having: A Christmas List

2008-11-14T14:38:00.010-06:00

So if you know me, you know that I'm a watch fiend. I think I could never have enough watches. And I like very interesting watches. I'm now going to list some watches (all from Fossil) that I would not mind receiving as a present come Christmas morning:

Analog White Dial

I only really have two watches right now and they are both black. It's not like I wear a lot of brown but I'd probably wear more if I had this watch. I love it. It looks like a watch you'd wear to go spelunking.

Multifunction Champagne Dial

This could also be designated as my "brown watch". I really like the blue accents.

Multifunction Black Dial

A watch for Going Green.

Ana-Digi Black Dial

I like the analog/digital combination here, although the times are different in the picture. . .

Ana-Digi White Dial

Another ana-digi watch and, again, two different times but I'm sure that's a typo, a miscommunication somewhere. . .

Ana-Digi Wood Dial

This is probably my favorite of the ana-digi watches. Still two different times but whatev.

So now it's up to you dear readers. Will this Christmas be a Merry Christmas?

Starbucks Church

2008-11-07T15:41:00.003-06:00

This video that I'm posting is from beyondrelevance.com. I am not posting this video to promote their website or their book, ChurchMarketing 101. It's quite the opposite. I support neither. You can read about the guy behind all this on the website. I don't know the real motivation for this video or what he's saying church should be like but I think it perfectly illustrates the way the american church is:

The american church has treated christianity like a business for too long and I think it's coming to a head pretty soon. I think in the coming years we will see a great clash of real christianity and hypocrisy. I think christians in america are about to face persecution like we've never seen here.

Can I have a pygmy hippo?

2008-11-07T13:52:00.000-06:00

Especially if it's named Monifa.

A horse is a false hope for victory

2008-11-05T00:17:00.005-06:00

So it looks as if Obama is our next president. While I lay here trying to sleep, I just keep thinking about the presidential race that we've all been hearing so much about for the past year. I agree with what Derek Webb says, that getting the "right man" in the White House is not going to solve our problems. I also think about all the people speaking out against Obama, using words like Marxist, terrorist, antichrist while Obama himself uses words like hope, unity, progress. I'm not here to explain because i don't know what's true and what isn't regarding Obama. And I can't say whether or not having John McCain in the White House would be good either. But I would like to share this Psalm that God brought me to while thinking about Hope. Obama has used the idea of hope throughout his campaign and reading this Psalm was a great reminder of who my hope is in. (It's not Obama. Or McCain. Or Palin.)

Psalm 33

1. Sing for joy in the LORD, O you righteous ones ; Praise is becoming to the upright.
2. Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre ; Sing praises to Him with a harp of ten strings.
3. Sing to Him a new song ; Play skillfully with a shout of joy.
4. For the word of the LORD is upright, And all His work is done in faithfulness.
5. He loves righteousness and justice ; The earth is full of the lovingkindness of the LORD.
6. By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host.
7. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap ; He lays up the deeps in storehouses.
8. Let all the earth fear the LORD ; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
9. For He spoke, and it was done ; He commanded, and it stood fast.
10. The LORD nullifies the counsel of the nations ; He frustrates the plans of the peoples.
11. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart from generation to generation.
12. Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, The people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance.
13. The LORD looks from heaven ; He sees all the sons of men ;
14. From His dwelling place He looks out On all the inhabitants of the earth,
15. He who fashions the hearts of them all, He who understands all their works.
16. The king is not saved by a mighty army ; A warrior is not delivered by great strength.
17. A horse is a false hope for victory ; Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength.
18. Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His lovingkindness,
19. To deliver their soul from death And to keep them alive in famine.
20. Our soul waits for the LORD ; He is our help and our shield.
21. For our heart rejoices in Him, Because we trust in His holy name.
22. Let Your lovingkindness, O LORD, be upon us, According as we have hoped in You.

I had no horse in this race because my hope isn't in that. I know that no matter who is in power that my hope is in Jesus and what he did on the cross.

Remember Polaroids?

2008-10-27T16:21:00.010-05:00

So I found this new program called Poladroid (for Mac only right now, Windows is coming later). It's super great. You drag and drop pictures and it spits out a Polaroid which then processes itself and saves to a folder you specify. So to show you how it looks here are some photos of our jack-o-lantern crime spree:

And it looks good on photos like these from the aquarium and insectarium, too:

And these that I "borrowed" from other blogs:

And these of Casey:

And this one of Derek Webb performing last thursday:

Art Music Justice Tour

2008-10-25T00:38:00.009-05:00

So, thursday night I traveled to Monroe to see the Art Music Justice Tour. It was made up of five artist, three of which are some of my favorite: Derek Webb and Sandra McCracken (husband and wife) and Sara Groves. Charlie Peacock was there as well as some other guy I never heard of and wasn't much impressed with.

The tour is about raising awareness and funding for issues of poverty and hunger in countries like Rwanda. The International Justice Mission is a group that seeks to save victims of human trafficking and seeks to shut down brothels and free slaves from abusive masters. So the five artists each presented songs from their own catalog and all the songs were geared toward this idea of hope and freedom.

I was able to capture some songs on video and have adjusted the sound as best I can with my freebie software. I'd like to apologize in advance for my poor videographer skills.

This first video is Sandra McCracken singing a song from her newest album Red Balloon. The song is called "Lock and Key" and it is probably one of the most beautiful, well-written songs I've heard in a while:

This next song is Derek Webb singing "A New Law" which speaks very clearly about what religion is and what it does and what it really wants:

Here is Derek Webb again with one of his newer songs, "Savior on Capital Hill". After he speaks a bit about the election I beg you to listen to the words to this song. It's just so appropriate for where we are right now in America:

This last song is "When the Saints" by Sara Groves. I was really interested to see how this song would happen in a live setting because in the recorded version there is a gospel choir in the background. I think it turned out pretty well:

Probably the best part of the night was when Charlie Peacock played "In the Light". It was the only time I felt was more improvised. You could see Sara Groves watching him to see where to come in for the harmony in the chorus and even the backing band was kind of watching to see where he was going next. At one point I watched the bassist ask the drummer "should I go in now?" and the drummer say "no, wait a second." And then Charlie Peacock proceeded to slaughter his keyboard with sheer face melting talent. I was hoping for more improvised stuff. The whole concert was very good, it just felt a little to rigid a times. There were videos playing behind most of the songs so they obviously had to time it all out a certain way and stick to it. But still, I like watching musicians go off the itinerary. It's a shame they didn't because it really could have been something. They all played very well together and with such diverse styles and voices they could really have done something very special.

Other than the music, everything they spoke about seemed to me to be on point and relevant. Sandra and Derek both spoke about the importance of living in relationship with one another and that really excited me. All in all it was a very good night and I'm glad I took the three and a half hour drive to see it.

Old Google

2008-10-01T13:21:00.002-05:00

For it's 10th birthday Google has released the oldest version of itself that they have. And it doesn't just look old, it is old. It's their index from January 2001. A lot of the links are old and don't work. There is no video or image search. It's the best of the internet from 2001 and it's pretty interesting to see how the internet has changed. It think the best part is what comes up when you search for Paris Hilton:

Green Letter Bible

2008-09-23T17:22:00.003-05:00

So I predicted before that this year would be all about going green. Well this is a bit much isn't it?

Ceramics Project #2

2008-09-18T22:06:00.003-05:00

The second project in my ceramics class is to make a dinnerware set based around a specific meal. The required pieces are a large dish (plate or bowl, depending on meal), a small dish (again plate or bowl), a drinking vessel, and another dish specific to the meal. My idea is based on soup and salad and uses what I've been calling a Salad Bar Bowl. Here are renderings of what each dish will look like:

The first row is two views of my salad bar bowl. The design is based on bubbles that fuse together. Lettuce would obviously go in the largest part. The pods or pockets or whatever on the side can hold whatever you want in your salad; cheese, onions, bell pepper, cucumbers, tomatoes, whatever.

The second row is my salad plate. The spiral will be a groove in the plate so that you can pour your dressing into the spout or notch or whatever and let the dressing run under the lettuce so that you can get dressing all over your salad.

The third row is two views of the soup bowl. The pocket on the side is for crackers or bread.

The last row is a cup. The pocket at the top is for lemon so that it is separated from your iced tea.

So theoretically this would streamline my salad eating process and solve all lemon-in-tea related problems.

The color should be pretty close to what you see here, white on the outside and light blue on the inside, both for contract and to call back to the inspiration for the design (BUBBLES!).

ANOUNCEMENT

2008-09-08T16:14:00.002-05:00

Micah has created a blog so everyone who likes him (or pretends to) should put a link on theirs:

Keep up with THIS Jones

Still no power.

2008-09-07T20:45:00.002-05:00

I'm staying at the Jones' house until our power is back on at home. There are power lines down in our backyard. You know, all the destruction caused by this hurricane wouldn't bother me so bad if I didn't have to refer to the hurricane as "Gustav". What kind of name is that for a hurricane? I bet he gets picked on by Hannah and Ike.

IT WAS SO HOT TODAY!

2008-08-28T22:31:00.003-05:00

At one point I stopped at the bookstore to get some iced tea and while I was in line I sort of leaned on part of the counter. The countertop was a lot cooler than I was and all I kept thinking was "I want to put my face on it."

So, I had my second day of class today. All my classes this semester are on tuesday and thursday. They don't start until 12:00 but they go to 9:00 with no breaks. My schedule is thus:

12:00-1:30 Geography 2050
1:30-3:00 Art History (gothic art)
3:00-6:00 Intaglio
6:00-9:00 Ceramics

We started working in both my studio classes today. Intaglio is a form of printing from metal plates. Today we began preparing our plates. In ceramics we started our first project which is to make a shoe, based on a shoe which we were asked to bring in on our own. I worked in my socks today. My shoe is very far along. A lot further along than anyone else's. I need to figure out how to simulate laces. Anyway, I really enjoyed working with the clay.

Well, that's it for now.

So I've been putting off posting anything

2008-08-20T23:30:00.007-05:00

because I kept telling myself I needed to take a picture of my other painting before I do. But I'm not gonna do that. I'll show you my favorite one only and that will just have to be good enough.

I took this watercolor class over the summer. It was really fun and I enjoyed it a lot. As a graphic design major I have had to take a variety of different types of art classes. That being the case you end up liking a few and not liking a lot (for me anyway). See, I'm a graphic designer and though I see how at least a general knowledge of other art forms is necessary, I really just wanna get back to my computer and design something that is of use in the real world. Having said that, there are some classes I have really enjoyed simply for the sake of the art form and watercolor was one of them.

The reason I like it so much is that it is a medium that not only allows but thrives on spontaneity and serendipitous 'accidents'. You are pretty much expected to let the paint do it's own work and all you really do is sort of guide the process to your desired result. I was terrible at oil painting because I could never get the paint to do what I wanted it to. Watercolor is pretty much the opposite.

So the teacher I had for this class is one I had before for a drawing class and he likes to get his students to to "master studies" every now and then. It's basically that you find a famous painting or a painting by a famous artist or some sort of painting that can be considered a master work and then you duplicate it. I don't really agree with this approach to learning because I think art is something that has to come from who you are and to paint someone else's work is not helping you grow as an artist but teaching you to paint in the style of someone else. Now, what I have to say next is going to completely refute my previous statement. For my master study I talked the teacher into letting me recreate a Calvin and Hobbes watercolor that Bill Watterson painted for one of his Calvin and Hobbes collections. To do this I had to put ink outlines on the painting as in the original.

I really liked the combination of ink and watercolor so when our last three assignments were open assignments I took it as an opportunity to experiment with this idea some more. I did one self portrait (that was terrible) and two recreations of old childhood photographs of myself. One of the photographs was me playing in a box at 1 year old. The second was a composite of two shots of me playing Nintendo. I took the two figures out of their original background and placed them in a gray sort of metaphysical space. My reason was to focus on the figures and to create a somewhat surreal atmosphere to lend to the theme of playing a video game and being zoned in to it. This is the result:

I was really proud of this one and I think this is something I'll continue to do on the side. I went the other night to my grandmother's house and got a bunch of old photographs to continue this series. My first painting series!

In other news, I got a C in my intersession geography class which was really exciting for me. I was just hoping for a D to get the credit.

Jesus Camp

2008-07-28T10:24:00.011-05:00

So, I watched this documentary called Jesus Camp a couple weeks ago. I borrowed it from my cousin Megan Noland. I've been trying to process how I feel about it so I could post it here. From Wikipedia:

Jesus Camp is a 2006 documentary directed by Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing about a Pentecostal/charismatic summer camp for children who spend their summers learning and practicing their "prophetic gifts" and being taught that they can "take back America for Christ." According to the distributor, it "doesn't come with any prepackaged point of view" and tries to be "an honest and impartial depiction of one faction of the evangelical Christian community”.

Here is the trailer:

I think the whole movie is actually on Youtube in pieces as well.

Now, I've been to bible camps (run by baptists) and I've seen my fair share of charismania. None of that really prepared me for what I saw in this documentary. The real issue in this film is whether or not these children are being indoctrinated for political means.

First I need to say that none of the "christianity" shown in this film is real christianity. There is so much false doctrine being thrown around I felt like I was watching a movie version of ALittleLeaven.com. The religious people in this film are just that: religious. There is no salvation in religion. Christ was never about learning a religion. Paul, at Mars Hill called the greeks "very religious" with their many gods and used an alter devoted to an "unknown god" as a chance to share Christ with them. I think this film really shows exactly what religion is. It's an institute set up by man. It's a second form of government. It strives to rule a people or even (as evidenced by this film) a country.

I guess I should list a few things that happen at this summer camp:

In preparation for the first meeting in the hall, Becky Fischer and other adults at the camp pray over each seat in the room and then proceed to cast devils out of the sound system, mics, and powerpoint presentation.

The children pray over a cardboard cutout of George W. Bush.

The children learn about abortion by being shown very realistic figurines of a baby fetus at several stages of development.

The children are asked to join the Army of God and red tape with the word LIFE written on it is placed over their mouths.

During a worship service the children cry and scream and lift their hands and speak in tongues and convulse on the floor and are asked to repent and are "purified" by having water poured on their hands.

I don't have a problem with children being moved in the spirit or worshipping or proclaiming what they believe. In fact, I think children can and should be just as spiritual as adults. I was very young when I came to Christ. I know children can be saved. But the brand of religon that these children are sold is wrong and they fall for it because they are too young to know the difference. The brand of religion offered in this film is one tied directly to polictics.

At the beginning of the film a mother is shown homeschooling her son. She's explaining to him that global warming is a very political issue (it is, but she is insinuating that global warming is not real - I have no hard proof either for or against it). The rest of the film, all the people involved in the camp are denying that they are indoctrinating children for political means while everything they do is obviously doing just that. I believe in the separation of church and state. Now, let me make a distiction. When I say church I mean the Body of Christ, not the American church. The saints of God who are really striving to be like Christ through a relationship with him and his people.

At the end of the film Becky, who runs the camp calls into a radio show where the host says that there is a difference between teaching someone your beliefs and indoctrinating them. Becky then says that if the Iraqis can indoctrinate children to hate americans and blow themselves up for the sake of Allah then we should be able to indoctrinate them for our own means (paraphrased). This really makes it all clear. The summer camp in this movie is born directly out of the megachurch movement, a movement that defaces christianity by compromising the name and integrity of Christ to be friends with the world. They are concerned with numbers, not the salvation of man. The megachurches in America are so entangled with the politics in America that what results are the corruptions seen in this movie.

What is shown by this movie is the use of Jesus name to gain political ground. No one in the film makes any mention of a more eternal kingdom than the one seen here in the physical. Even the makers of the film are only concerned with the social and political issues of our time.

This will just have to suffice for the official birthday post.

2008-07-16T13:05:00.011-05:00

So, I'm 22 now. It happened last friday. I only caught the end of the parade, though.

All I really did was go see Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D. It was a sucky movie but was instantly forgiven for it by being in 3D. Actually, I can say I really did like it. I like Brendan Fraser. I think he's funny. I'm pretty sure I'll see the third Mummy movie too because Brendan Fraser is funny and it's a summer action movie. And Josh Hutchinson is a really good child actor. AND IT WAS IN 3D!

I only got a few things for my birthday. As you grow older you get less and less. I got season 2 of Psych and a shadow box for the Macbeth poster I made for the Macbeth book cover I redesigned.

I also got an unexpected gift from iTunes (I knew it cared!). See, about a month ago I was looking at this book, The Alchemist, at the book store and almost bought it but I changed my mind at the last minute. Well, thursday night I logged onto the iTunes store and went immediately down to the bottom to see what was "Free on iTunes" (like always) and there was a link that said Happy Birthday Bobby James Hill Jr. (it actually said The Alchemist audiobook). So I clicked with excitement and downloaded the GIFT that iTunes KNEW I wanted.

So, I'm getting Bekah's waterbed since she moved and needs to get rid of it. I ordered sheets for it over the weekend. Did you know that 48 x 84 is a standard waterbed mattress size? Yeah, and apparently stores that exist in a physical space such as Sears, JCPenny, Macy's, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Linens and Things don't sell that size of sheets. No, you have to buy them online. Anyway, they're just plain white.

Oh, and here's something that someone can get for me as a late birthday present if you have an extra $5,000 that you don't need. It's a kayak that folds down into a pack!

Now for a link to a blog post from february of 2006 concerning a topic very close to my heart. As far as I can tell it's a dead blog. The last post was january 2007. The author speaks my exact feelings on the matter and I really do think I can say it better. So go HERE and read it.

How to Confuse an Idiot

2008-07-03T13:00:00.005-05:00

I know this is a really lame first-post-in-almost-a-month, but WATCH THIS VIDEO. It's called How to Confuse an Idiot:

VIDEO!! of the slip 'n' slid extravaganza!

2008-06-09T23:37:00.000-05:00

This is really late but whatev!

2008-06-09T20:22:00.009-05:00

Okay, a few people have already posted about this but a few weeks ago we made a slip and slip at our house after church. Wanna See?

These are in no particular order:

There was surprisingly only one casualty:

I have video coming soon!

Open Letter to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls

2008-05-29T00:22:00.006-05:00

Dear Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls,

I'd like to extend a personal Thank You. Not for being a great movie or anything. I mean, as far as that goes you were only alright and certainly not up to par with the original trilogy. Don't get me wrong, I did still enjoy watching you. It didn't even bother me when The Beef began swinging through trees like a monkey. I just think the alien idea wasn't carried out to full potential. Indiana Jones + Cold War era soviets using psychic powers to take over the world + aliens and UFOs could have equaled the best Indy movie ever. But it didn't.

Ah, well; that's neither here nor there. What I want to thank you for is the bringing into existence of these Mint Crisp M&M's:

It's like when Crispy M&M's disappeared it was to find and marry Ande's and have a beautiful minty crispy baby.

So thank you Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls. You've brought a sadly discontinued product full circle and made my life complete.

Sincerely,
Bobby J. Hill Jr.

P.S.
If your plan is to continue the franchise with Shia LaBeouf filling in for Harrison Ford then I'd be forced to consider the franchise officially dead and the cause would be Death by Beef.

Happy Mother's Day Penny

2008-05-13T00:26:00.003-05:00

So, for mother's day this year we (me, Bekah, Jordan, and Holly) made a card for Penny which had this on the front:

and this on the back:

Thank you. That is all.

And. . . a BRAND NEW CAR!

2008-05-08T11:45:00.037-05:00

First of all let me say, I got a new car:

It's a 2006 Toyota Corolla.

Now that that is out of the way, on to what I've been working on all semester. The last part of the semester was spent working on portfolio pieces, or projects that can be included to enhance your portfolio. One of mine was to redesign book covers. I chose 4 books to design book covers for. First was Generations, which presents a theory that the generations in America follow a cyclical pattern of generational types. The original cover looked like this:

So it needed some help. My redesign of it began with a timeline which you see turned on it's side in the background of the cover. It lists events that shaped the way a given generation in America turned out.

You can click on any of these pictures to see them bigger.

The next book I worked on was The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. It's story about a dysfunctional family and the father is dying of Parkinson's disease. I used the image of a blue chair because it has a bit of significance to the story. The image can also be seen as a tombstone, with the long shadow and the raised lettering lending to this idea as well. Almost everything is hand rendered with a cartoonish look to bring a little lightness to the book. So often when you read an "important book" by an "important author" you forget to enjoy it. That is what this book cover is about.

I also added flaps for the synopsis and author information so that the playfulness of the front and back covers remains uninterrupted.

The next book I redesigned is The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. The book is a journey from Hell into Heaven. When the people in the book came from Hell into Heaven they were transparent. There is a part where a woman is hiding among trees and bushes and an man is trying to get her to come out but she won't. She says she is embarrassed because people can see through her. She says it's worse than being naked. The man says "but you'll never make it to the mountains." The whole book is a journey and that's what I tried to capture with this book cover along with a sense of separation between Heaven and Hell.

(Thanks to my friend Courtney who let me use her face for the front cover.)

I made the text on the back justified to the center to further show a separation.

The last book cover I redesigned is Macbeth by William Shakespeare. I started this design by first designing a poster for a showing of the play Macbeth. I then printed that poster actual size (11 X 15) and aged/distressed it by tea staining it and using sand paper to make it worn. I sanded out all the unimportant information as regards a book cover so that all you can clearly read is "William Shakespeare's Macbeth). That was scanned in and used as the cover. The intention is to show that, not only is this a play, it's a play that has been around for a long time.

The back cover uses the same grid as the front and some of the texture from the front is carried over to unify the entire cover.

I completed my portfolio but I already have a plan to change it. I don't think the current theme really represents me as a designer. But I have another year before I graduate so I have time.

Speaking of graduation, I'm taking a spring intersession which starts next thursday. It'll be 12:30-7 mon.-sat. for 2 weeks. Then I have a summer class which starts on the 9th of June. Then I have a summer intersession which starts about a week after the summer class ends. Then the fall semester starts after that one is over. So I won't have any breaks between now and graduation. I may be neglecting this blog a lot.

So that's all for now. Thanks for being a part of the Bobby J Hill Jr experience.

It's been just over a month and this isn't even a real post

2008-05-08T01:05:00.002-05:00

But will be posting very soon about all the wonderful things in my life right now. The post will include a lot of pictures and some exciting developments.

Awareness Test—Take it, fool!

2008-04-04T23:36:00.000-05:00

I made a prediction and so far I'm right

2008-03-29T10:43:00.004-05:00

Earlier this year I made a prediction to my close friends and family that pretty much all you're going to hear about this year is "going green." A few days after I mentioned this to my mom she received one of her home and garden magazines. It was a "going green" issue (I should mention here that it was not printed on recycled paper or with soy based inks like a real environmentalist would have done). Since then it's been inescapable. All it takes is a stroll through the book store to know I'm right. In fact, taking a look at Google Trends, we see a sharp increase in searches for the term "going green" right at the end of last year:

Here's a closer shot of the chart. You see a significant dip right there at christmas but then it goes right back up where it was:

The latest thing is when I opened Google this morning I was presented with this:

Yes, Google has turned their lights out for Earth Hour. Now, while I'm already sick of hearing about "going green," I was pretty pleased with Googles Earth Hour promotion. And I like the idea of Earth Hour, entire cities turning out their lights, if for nothing more than to be able to see the stars. But I don't want to pretend that I'm environmentally conscious just because I turned my lights out for an hour one day. That's the same as saying I'm a christian because I go to a church for an hour or two one day a week.

Anyway, Earth Hour is tonight from 8-9 pm. It won't be very big around here I don't think but I'll still see if I can see the stars. GO GREEN!

OMG, I want some twinkies!

2008-03-21T10:51:00.004-05:00

Maybe I shouldn't look at stuff like this so close to lunch time. I, of course, am referring to this twinkie bake set.

I'm going to Subway.

Why do you let me stay here?

2008-03-19T19:51:00.005-05:00

So, saturday we went out to LSU and took down my sculpture:

After that we rode our bikes down the street to the PMAC. Shortly after we got there my bike broke. It's fixable I think. Anyway, here's a video:

The song in that video is by She & Him which is a team up of Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward. Zooey Deschanel is an actress who has been in a slew of indie films and some mainstream films like Elf and Bridge to Terabithia M. Ward is some indie band guy I never heard of. The CD just came out yesterday. It's full of wonderful songs, some love songs and some covers of classic songs. Many of the songs sound a lot older than they are, like they belong to another era. A lot of it sounds like older country music. Think Linda Ronstadt and Dusty Springfield. Like Jacob said, "It's not talking 'bout my pick-up truck country." I absolutely love the CD.

And the cover of the CD is super-cool:

That 'sun' thing looks like the same sun from one of my past designs.

On an unrelated note, I'm excited about lunch with my cousin Megan tomorrow. (shout-out: check!)

The new design, if anyone was wondering

2008-03-12T23:34:00.004-05:00

is based on the 4 colors used in printing: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (or CMYK—K stands for black). I know the "magenta" on the right is a bit stark, but it gives a nice balance to the lightness of top banner and the main content. Basically, the design is a design for graphic designers by a graphic designer. The blue dots on the banner is actually a screened back cyan that I scanned in from a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon.

Speaking of cartoons, you should all check out Garfield Minus Garfield. It's hilarious.

So, if anyone has comments about the new design, leave them in the comments. But please make them intelligent comments. I don't care about whether you like it or not. I care about the reasons why you like it or don't like it.

In the spirit of the election season

2008-03-11T00:31:00.002-05:00

Here is Derek Webb performing his awesome song "A Savior on Capital Hill." The song starts about a minute and a half into the video:

I don't think I wanna think about it

2008-03-10T22:23:00.006-05:00

I've been very busy for the last couple of weeks. so many of my days have run together. I never knew a day could last 72 hours. But it's done, at last.

So, our assignment for my sculpture class was to make a sculpture in the medium of plaster based on a sound or a song. The sculpture I made is based on the music from a song called "So Much Trouble" by Matt Pond PA. The music made me think of birds flying around. So that is what I made. There are 41 birds suspended in one of the halls in the sculpture building. Underneath the birds are 6 trees of differing heights which help ground the sculpture and indicate that it is meant to be interactive. Trees are spaced so that you can walk through it all. Here is a video that walks you through the sculpture. The music playing is the music that inspired the sculpture:

And here are a couple of pictures, one from either side:

It's rather difficult to see what's going on so if you have a chance you should go to the sculpture building and see it in person.

The critique went very well. Not just for my piece but for everybody's. The teacher was very impressed with my use of space. There were things pointed out that could have been different or better but, overall it was a success.

I also have something to share from a few weeks ago. I had to design a poster about "going green" in the print industry. What I decided to do is presented below. It's a one color print job to conserve ink and it is printed on recycled paper:

The tree form is made of an essay of sorts about why the print industry should "go green." If you're interested in what it says, I have it posted below. If you're interested in sustainability in design (the theme of the poster competition) you can visit the AIGA website.

The history of paper: the making of paper—paper as opposed to papyrus made from dried reeds in Egypt for thousands of years—is a craft that began in china around the year 105 A.D. Paper is made of pulped cellulose fibers like cotton or wood. Production of paper became industrialized in the nineteenth century. All that used to be done by hand was then mechanized. Further strides were made in the paper making industry with the development of preserving chemicals and the advancement of technology, which increased the speed at which paper could be produced. Moving into the twenty-first century many people have asked if the use of paper is still necessary since so much information is transferred and stored digitally. But the print industry still thrives and will most likely continue to do so. People still like to curl up with a good book on a rainy day and read the Sunday paper while they drink their coffee and eat their scrambled eggs. And though technology is quite reliable these days some people still believe the best form of storage is physical not digital.

A stock room full of paper: twenty pound white copy paper, twenty-four pound bright white bond, twenty-four pound ivory, sixty pound cream, eighty pound ivory vellum, ninety pound white semi-gloss cardstock, one-hundred-ten pound white matte cardstock. There’s some parchment and some goldenrod on the higher shelves. You may find some marbled or speckled paper up there as well. Further in the back you’ll see the stacks of rolls: twenty-five inch, thirty inch, thirty-five inch, thirty-six inch, forty inch, thirty pound, fifty pound, sixty pound, enamel, vellum, bond. Maybe behind that, behind all those rolls, you’ll find some recycled paper stuffed into a corner with several layers of dust on top of it. There is a great need for reform in how the print industry affects the environment. The print industry just isn’t known for being environmentally friendly. Those preserving chemicals are often harmful to the environment and the inks used are petroleum based. It would be easy to make printing a greener industry. There are plenty of more eco-friendly paper choices out there. You can just as easily get recycled or PCW paper as any other kind and there is the option of soy-based ink rather than petroleum-based ink. So why should we go through the trouble?

The dilemma: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the world population is expanding at a mind-boggling rate. The world reached one billion people in 1800; two billion by 1922; and over six billion by 2000. It is estimated that the population will swell to over nine billion by 2050. That means that if the world’s natural resources were evenly distributed, people in 2050 will only have 25% of the resources per capita that people in 1950 had. The world has a fixed amount of natural resources—some of which are already depleted. So as population growth greatly strains our finite resources, there are fewer resources available. If we intend to leave our children and grandchildren with the same standard of living we have enjoyed, we must preserve the foundation of that standard of living. We save for college educations, orthodontia, and weddings, but what about saving clean air, water, fuel sources and soil for future generations?

Creative Salvage

2008-02-14T14:10:00.005-06:00

So yesterday we had a critique of our first project in my portfolio class. the project in called creative salvage and we had to include the words "creative salvage" somewhere and it had to be hand rendered lettering. So I wrote an article about my car and did a layout for it.

Before I get to the article let me just say that I spent all of tuesday night working on this. I started rewriting the article at work because it needed a lot of help. I decided to change it into an interview. I then redid the entire layout. Suffice it to say I was up until 5 AM, slept for an hour and a half then got up and went to Kinko's before class. Then we didn't get to mine during the critique because we ran out of time.

Anyway, here is the 3-page layout beginning with a 2-page spread (note, you can read the full text of the article posted below the images):

And here is the article:

Creative Salvage: The second life of a 1994 Honda Civic
Or more appropriately, It’s 2008! If I’m in college it’s because I earned it!

Confronted by the growing gap between the newest Millennial Generation and their predecessors, Generation X and the Baby Boomers, I’ve conducted an interview with Bobby J. Hill Jr., a student at Louisiana State University about what it means to live in a world with old prejudices toward the young and how the simple act of attending college can be misconstrued as an inevitability in the life of the ‘privileged elite’. But mostly we talked about his car.

I’ve heard people say that college students today are somewhat privileged. What do you say to that?

I think that it’s a preconception that comes from earlier generations. My generation, the Millennial Generation, is the generation currently in college, on their way to college or just getting out of college. This generation is one that is really driven and many students are able to go to college because of scholarships or programs like what we have here [in Louisiana] with the TOPS program. In this way, there are many students today that do not come from a life of privilege. Many of them grew up in poor or middle class families. Many of them are the first in their family to attend any sort of higher education.

You mean as opposed to people who are third and fourth generation graduates?

Yes. Today you’re seeing a lot more first generation graduates. The Millennial Generation is the most diverse generation in America to go to college and much of that is due to the fact that race minorities and women have gained more opportunity in the way of education.

So, putting aside our preconceptions leftover from previous generations, can we say whether college students today are privileged?

Well, I’ve really already answered that. Was I not clear?

Right, sure, okay, so, what proof can you give to support your claim?

Well, I’ve actually heard someone say something about college students being privileged and in his defense he said, “just look at the cars they drive.” He didn’t really know what he was talking about. If you really look at the cars students are driving these days you’ll see that man was wrong. So there’s your proof. My car, for example is a 1994 Honda civic. A fine car for its day but it’s way past its prime. I bought it used the weekend before I started at LSU four years ago. When the engine went out on me in 2005 I bought a new engine on EBay to replace it because I couldn’t afford to get another car.

Wow, EBay? Really?

Yes really. And the engine is really loud. I don’t think the original engine was that loud. It sounds like it’s trying to escape from under my hood. Or like the worlds most violent roller derby. And my odometer just recently flipped over to 260,000 miles but because of the new engine it’s about 100,000 miles less than that. Even still, a car with that many miles is prone to having a lot of problems. I’m really glad it’s lasted as long as it has.

What kind of problems does it have?

Oh, it’s got plenty of problems. It’s been known to run hot for no real reason. Random parts will go out. Like, right now I’ve got a vacuum leak of some sort that I need to fix. Car parts just wear out.

Then there are the smaller things. Half the buttons on the inside don’t work: the cruise control, the passenger side window controls on the driver’s side door, the rear defrost doesn’t work. I’ve got a Subway straw shoved up under the windshield wiper controls so that my windshield wipers don’t go off at random times. I’m lucky my air is working right now but I think it’s about to go out.

I’m guessing it’s not aesthetically pleasing either?

No, not . . . well it isn’t horrible. Maybe I’m just used to it. It’s toothpaste green. It’s got tinting on the driver side window, um, only. The back window had tinting that was too dark so I had to scrape it off for it to pass inspection. That isn’t fun. So, and now it looks like, I don’t know, dandruff or something ‘cause I couldn’t get it all off. The clear coat on my hood is coming off which makes it look like my car has leprosy. There are multiple scratches, most of which I didn’t put there. I did knock the cover off the right blinker. But when you have a car like that (one that you bought used and it was already in poorer condition when you got it) then you don’t care so much if it gets dinged and dented.

That’s true. Now about whether or not college students are privileged . . .

Oh, yeah. My point is that a generalized statement about how privileged college students are these days is not acceptable. When it came time for me to think about going to college my first thought was, “if I don’t get TOPS there is no way I can go.” The same thing is true for many other students at LSU. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with the TOPS program and without it, students like me—from a middle class family with little expendable income—wouldn’t have a shot at higher education. That gives me an opportunity to see how false the idea of college students being privileged is.

Now, let me clarify. I’m not saying a higher education is not a privilege. In that sense of the word college students are certainly privileged. I’m just saying that, though a good deal of college students come from a life of privilege, not all of them do. In fact, I dare say, it’s mostly those who were born with a silver spoon in their mouths that don’t take advantage of the higher education they are allotted. It’s us who get into college by a hope and a prayer that know how much it’s really worth. And it’s driving clunkers to school everyday that reminds us to stay grateful.

Blair Wingo

2008-02-03T23:54:00.000-06:00

These videos were linked to on another blog but they are just too good for me not to post. This girl is absolutely amazing.

Warning: Each of these videos are about 10 minutes but they are well worth it. you can leave them playing in the background without having to watch them, just listen to them.

Please leave comments.

2008-01-20T22:33:00.000-06:00

I've got 2 new versions of the house web. If you can guess which one I like best you get a prize.*

* I do not actually have a prize for you.

I've also got a version with the houses tilted. What do y'all think?

Should I dispense with this idea altogether?

Here is another version with the phrase "Quit going to church" instead of "Community Christian Center." It's a possible "official logo" unless someone else can come up with another phrase/name.

This is an example of how each house church could have their own, which on the website could link to another page for each house church.

I'm using orange as the example color, but each of these can change to any one of the colors shown in the previous post. One idea that has been mentioned is to use Blogger or some other blog site to make the website. It makes sense to make a website about home church be a blog network. It's an idea I intend to work on over the next week or so.

Please leave comments so I have a better idea what works and what doesn't.

Some people have said they aren't sure about the orange.

2008-01-15T23:53:00.000-06:00

How about these:

You can click the image to view it larger. I haven't changed the name. That's something I need suggestions on. Some people have also said they weren't sure about the second image in the previous post with the houses all connected. I haven't done it yet but I thought it could be improved by using some of these color variations and varying the sizes of the houses. If anyone can think of a better idea for a home page let me know.

Please leave your opinions in the comments. If I don't get any feedback there is no way I can get any further on this. If I don't know what anyone else thinks then I can't know if anyone else likes what I'm doing. Both positive and negative feedback is welcome.

Nothing like zombies for Christmas

2008-01-07T22:36:00.000-06:00

So I just finished up this english class titled Zombies in Fiction. It was an intersession class which lasted 2 weeks with a break in the middle for christmas and new years. But I did have to spend that break reading a couple novels. But now I'm done and am just waiting for the final grade. 3 credit hours in 2 weeks, how could you go wrong?!

Anyway, I'm sure none of you care about that. The spring semester begins next monday, the 14th. I will have 3 studio art classes, an art history, and a geology class. I've dropped geology once before so I have to pay extra special attention to that one this semester.

Now a couple of things you, whoever you are, may or may not care about. First, Bro. Teryl wants to make a website for our body. I'm not a web design expert by any means. I do have a few ideas that I'd like feedback on. First is this logo I designed:

It's completely subject to change. I know for one thing that the name will be different at some point. What do y'all think of the colors and the idea of the house? BE HONEST! you can't hurt my feelings.

The second thing is how the house could be used on the website. It would be laid out something like this:

Then, at each house there would be a rollover tag that comes up saying "The church the meets at Bobby and Sharon's house" or "The house that meets at Danny and Sara's house" for each house church. I'm not sure beyond that. Maybe each house church could have their own page or something. I don't know. What do y'all think?

Last, this is a small paper I wrote for this class that you may or may not care about. I just drew some parallels between the use of zombies to represent slavery and being a slave to sin:

In Salt is not for Slaves the story of Marie, an old former slave, is told. In the story, Marie, along with the other slaves, is told not to eat any salt and they will grow strong and never die. The slaves obey until the day comes when the slaves all over the island of Haiti rise up against their masters and are thus freed. It’s then that Tresaint, Marie’s love and a very powerful slave, encourages the slaves to eat the salt that the master has kept locked up. The act of eating the salt represents the rebellion that has already taken place. Marie is the only slave who doesn’t eat the salt.

The slaves who do eat the salt become suddenly dead and run screaming to their graves. The interesting thing is that the slaves are not really physically dead before they eat the salt, only after. In other stories, like Dead Men Working in the Cane Fields, zombies are awoken to their condition and run screaming to their graves, but they are dead first. So the question is, were they dead in slavery? Is living as a slave really just the same as being a living dead, or a zombie?

At the end of the story you find out that Marie has tasted the salt that was spilled at the beginning of the story. She believes that because of this she will die and at the very end you find out she does. So the tasting of the salt must represent something. Is it the same thing it’s always represented in Haitian folklore: the awakening of the zombie to its condition? Most likely, because even though Marie was technically not a slave anymore she still acted very much like a slave. She still had a slave mentality. She sat and did her work silently, preparing food she would never eat and staring at the mountain. In fact, it wasn’t until after she tasted salt again that she ever said a word. It was after she tasted salt that she came to a realization of her condition. She became aware of how slave-like, how zombie-like her life was.

The bible says this about salt in Matthew 5:13:

You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men (New American Standard Bible Matt. 5:13).

Jesus was talking to his disciples. In the vein of our current discussion, it gives a great analogy that to be awakened to your condition of slavery, being a slave to sin, you must taste salt. Not only that, but salt that has not lost it’s flavor. You must taste real Christianity, not religion, but the real truth that the bible teaches and that Jesus personified. In Salt is not for Slaves, Marie woke up and saw that she was a slave and it killed her. This is what has to happen in the life of a Christian. The bible says over and over again that you have to die to yourself to be alive in Christ.

Mac Christmas ad

2007-12-19T18:19:00.000-06:00

This is my final for my religion class:

2007-12-15T21:27:00.000-06:00

There were 3 questions of which we had to answer 2.

Why, according to C.S. Lewis, might any act of free will be thought of as a “little miracle”? In what sense are such little miracles supernatural? How do they differ from the “big” miracles claimed by Christianity?

I shall begin by quoting C.S. Lewis:

All the essentials of Hinduism would, I think, be unimpaired if you subtracted the miraculous, and the same is almost true of Mohammedanism. But you cannot do that with Christianity. It is precisely the story of a great Miracle.

Now we need to define what “little miracles” and “big miracles” are. But first we need to determine if a miracle is at all possible. Which is precisely how Lewis began Miracles. He set up two main schools or argument: Naturalism and Supernaturalism. Naturalism is an argument that defines nature as the ‘whole show’ and excludes miracles. Supernaturalism looks at nature and sees something beyond or outside of it.

Lewis opts for supernaturalism, which then produces another problem. Does the supernatural interfere with nature, causing miracles? First let me define ‘nature’ according to what Mr. Lewis says about it:

In all examples Nature means what happens ‘of itself’ or ‘of its own accord’: what you do not need to labour for; what you will get if you take no measures to stop it. The Greek word for Nature (Physis) is connected with the Greek verb for ‘to grow’; Latin Natura, with the verb ‘to be born’. The Natural is what springs up, or comes forth, or arrives, or goes on, of its own accord: the given, what is there already: the spontaneous, the unintended, the unsolicited.

By Lewis’ argument, when the human mind reasons and uses rational thought, seeing as how it isn’t a naturally occurring thing, it is a miracle of sorts. The ‘little miracles’ occur when we humans use our natural brain matter to make thought. Because, really, where does thought come from? It has to be a small miracle.

The rational and moral element in each human mind is a point of force from the supernatural working it’s way into Nature, exploiting at each point those conditions which Nature offers, repulsed where the conditions are hopeless and impeded where they are unfavorable.

He also later says:

I have advanced reasons for believing that a supernatural element is present in every rational man. The presence of human rationality in the world is therefore a Miracle. . .

The reason for believing rational thought to be supernatural is simple. Looking at nature there are no animals with rational thought. Even a smart dog is stupid. For a rational thought to occur in a natural brain (a brain made of the same matter present in the rest of nature) is a supernatural occurrence. But how is this small miracle different from the big ones? The big miracles still have the supernatural occurring in the natural realm. It’s reconcilable; once something comes from supernature into nature, nature adapts and does with it whatever would normally happen according to the rules of nature. If God impregnates a virgin then in 9 months a child is born.

To look at the big miracles we must first look at The Miracle:

The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation. They say that God became Man. Every other miracle prepares for this, or exhibits this, or results from this.

The main difference between a Grand Miracle as above stated or a big miracle like the splitting of the red sea and the small miracle of reasoning is that the latter happens within oneself and the former to the outer world, Nature. Another difference that can be construed from Miracles is that the small miracle of thought happens for everybody with a working mind but the big miracles of Christianity are so ingrained in the beliefs if Christianity itself that do discredit them would be to kill Christianity. Or as C.S. Lewis said:

The mind which asks for a non-miraculous Christianity is a mind in process of relapsing from Christianity into mere ‘religion’.

Lewis talks about pantheism being the natural bent of the human mind. Pantheism creates gods out of the characteristics of nature. At first they are like men but eventually they lose all their man-likeness until they are more of an abstraction than anything to be prayed to or trusted. Lewis says that pantheism, given it’s history, can almost be called religion itself. To take the miracles, the big miracles, out of Christianity returns the human mind to religion. Without miracles there is no triune God. No redemption because there was no incarnation. No chosen people because there were no Egyptian plagues and splitting of the red sea.

The answer to the question ‘what is the difference between big an small miracles’ is wrapped up in the answer to the question ‘what is the difference between Christian and non-Christian miracles’. The answer is that the big miracles matter so much to the Christian faith that to remove them would be to remove Christianity altogether.

According to Freud, religious ideals are actually illusions. What does this belief rest on? Where does it come from? Does the answer that he gives logically imply that religious beliefs are untrue? What does it imply?

I recently went to my younger brother’s choir performance. At the performance they sang America the Beautiful and when it was over everyone stood up and clapped. I did not. I can’t give a standing ovation for a song I don’t agree with. It’s that one line, “God shed his grace on thee” that, while somewhat true, is not entirely accurate. You see God shed his grace on the whole world, not just America, when he became a man and died for humanity. This is a belief I hold to whole-heartedly and that Freud calls an illusion.

An illusion, according to Freud, is not necessarily an error. An illusion is derived from human wishes. The illusion of religion comes from the child’s need for a father. The child will fear and long for a strong father for protection against nature and, after realizing that he is still not protected in adulthood, will look for another stronger father. In primal man, this has resulted in the creation of the idea of God and this idea has been passed down through generations. Before I go any further allow me to introduce a quote from The Future of an Illusion in which Freud explains what is meant by ‘illusion’:

Thus we call a belief an illusion when a wish-fulfilment is prominent in its motivation, and in doing so we disregard its relations to reality, just as the illusion itself sets no store by verification.

Having thus taken our bearings, let us return once more to the question of religious doctrines. We can now repeat that all of them are illusions and insusceptible of proof. No one can be compelled to think them true, to believe in them. Some of them are so improbable, so incompatible with everything we have laboriously discovered about the reality of the world, that we may compare them—if we pay proper regard to the psychological differences—to delusions.

What Freud is saying is that a belief can be called an illusion when your main motivation for believing it is that you wish it were true. On this point, I agree with him. If all you have is wishes, what do you really have? All you have is an illusion. It seems to be a problem with religious people today that they don’t know what they really believe. They just hope to believe in something. It must be nice to hope for the thing you wish to want.

On the second point, that religious doctrines are illusions that cannot be proven, I’m finding difficulty in reconciling it in my mind. On the one hand I agree because most religious doctrine adds up to nothing more than conjecture and wishful thinking. I mean to say that the doctrines which the Catholic Church holds or that the Baptists cling to are interpretations (many times wide interpretations) of the Bible but are not actually biblical doctrines. On the other hand, doctrine based in biblical truth can be proven. There is more archeological evidence today in support of the Bible. There is more research going into the fields of creationism and intelligent design, both of which use science to prove the truths of the bible. Though I don’t believe there is any mainstream religion out there that holds a real bible-based doctrine there is an underground movement beginning to come to light of believers, Christians, who are getting back to doing church the way it was done in the New Testament. These Christians are basing their beliefs on the Bible and the Bible only.

Freud goes on to talk about civilization and how much a part of it religion is. It’s mentioned that civilization is built on religion and to tear religion away would do nothing but cave in civilization. He then says, basically, that religion has had its chance. That it is time for science and psychology to prove what they can do for civilization. Since Freud died in 1939 psychology and humanism has become a lot more prominent in our culture. In fact, some (myself included) might even say that psychology has become the mainstream religion of today. Churches have opted to teach psychology rather than Jesus and him crucified. But that’s a topic for another paper.

The reason Freud gives for religious beliefs, is that origin of religion is the helplessness of childhood. He says that children reach out for protection, first from the mother, then the strong father and, when finally they reach adulthood, to the even stronger God-father. According to Freud, it is primitive and passed down from times when the characteristics of nature where given godlikeness and men tried to please these gods by whatever means their simple minds could fathom. The way I see it, this argument relies on you believing in an evolutionary beginning to man. To agree with this argument is to say that man, coming out of his animal nature, looks to the mother for comfort then to the father for protection from nature, which is alive, and angry around him. The cycle continues and simplifies only to be built back up in complexity.

Is this argument sufficient? Does Freud succeed in proving that religious ideas are not true? He argues against mainstream religion not the bible just like in this passage here:

The priests, whose duty it was to ensure the obedience to religion, met them half-way in this. God’s kindness must lay a restraining hand on his justice. One sinned, and then one made a sacrifice or did penance and then one was free to sin once more. Russian introspectiveness has reached the pitch of concluding that sin is indispensable for the enjoyment of all the blessings of divine grace, so that, at bottom, sin is pleasing to God. It is no secret that the priests could only keep the masses submissive to religion by making such large concessions as these to the instinctual nature of man.

The actions of these priests are obviously wrong. And yes, mainstream religion today is wrong. But that doesn’t mean there is no God and that morality didn’t come from God. So the question ‘does Freud logically imply that religious beliefs are untrue?’ can only be answered when you define religion. Religion is natural man’s attempt to reach the supernatural. There is a difference between religion and really serving God. It may be best described in this passage from Acts chapter 17:

17:22
So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects.
17:23
“For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.
17:24
“The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;
17:25
nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;
17:26
and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,
17:27
that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;
17:28
for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’
17:29
“Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.
17:30
“Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent,
17:31
because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

Freud doesn’t delve into the Bible at all. He doesn’t look at the resurrection of Christ or anything else in the Bible. He dismisses them outright. Any argument about religion that doesn’t mention the Bible is one that I can’t put much stock in. So does Freud make a compelling case against religious doctrine? Certainly. But against Biblical truth? No.

No breaks for me.

2007-12-04T23:34:00.000-06:00

I haven't posted in a while. I've been busy. One of my graphic design classes is split into groups and each group has a separate client for whom we do whatever they need done. My group's client is the psychology department at LSU. It's been a semester long project. You can see a teaser that we have on the website right now here. We've been working on a portion of their website that they want to change into a donations page.

The psychology department is building a garden at some point in the future. It will be called the Centennial Garden because it will be in commemoration of their centennial year which is this year. I don't want to post any pictures on here because it's work for a client. I can say that we are designing that part of the website, an order form for donations (mainly a buy-a-brick campaign), a door design for their main office door, a poster announcing a speaker coming in March, a backdrop poster for the lecture in March, invitations, both formal and informal, for the event in March, and a bookmark. We have to make a formal presentation next thursday to our clients.

This thursday I have my final website for my web design class due. Next week I have 2 essays due in one class on wednesday, the presentation on thursday, and a math final on friday. Then class is over for the fall semester. But then the next week wintersession classes begin. I'm taking a class called Zombies in Fiction. We'll have class for a week the have a break for christmas and new years and start back on the 2nd. Then finals are the next tuesday. That's the 8th. Then the spring semester starts on the 14th.

I found an awesome new website.

2007-11-23T19:47:00.000-06:00

Etsy.com: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade.

It's really exactly what it says. It's kind of a network of sellers who sell all kinds of products. You can buy paintings or jewelry or this supercool laptop sleeve that I bought for my Mac:

But the reason this website is so great is because of the ways you can look for things to buy. Under the buy section you can search by colors or location (that laptop sleeve is coming from Austria) or connections where you see what other people who like products you like are into. Or by categories like normal. You'll see some of my "favorite" items below which you can use to get to the website:

New Mac ads

2007-11-14T15:19:00.000-06:00

Tell Me What You Know

2007-11-06T20:39:00.000-06:00

I bought the new Sara Groves cd this morning on iTunes. It's aight. Before I get to the new cd, let me mention a few past songs. First, her best song ever and probably one of the best songs I've ever heard, Awakening. I'm posting all of the lyrics because it's just that good:

Dress down your pretty faith, give me something real
Leave out the Thee and Thou and speak to me now
Speak to my pain and confusion
Speak through my fears and my pride
Speak to the part of me that knows I'm something deep down inside

I know that I'm not perfect, but compare me to most
In a world of hurt in a world of anger I think I'm holding my own
And I know that you've said there is more to life
No I am not satisfied
But there are mornings I wake up and I'm just thankful to be alive

I've known now for quite a while that I am not whole
I've remembered the body and the mind, but dissected my soul
Now something inside is awakening
Like a dream I once had and forgot
And it's something I'm scared of and something I don't want to stop

I woke up this morning and realized
Jesus is not a portrait
Or stained glass windows
Or hymns
Or all the tradition that surrounds us

I thought it would be hard to believe in, but it's not hard at all
To believe I've sinned
And fallen short
Of the glory of God

He's not asking me to change in my joy for martyrdom
He's asking to take my place
To stand in the gap that I have formed
With His real amazing grace

And it's not just a sign or a sacrament
It's not just a metaphor for love
The blood is real and it's not just a symbol of our faith

That was on her first album along with other great songs like Help Me Be New and Glory Come Down.

Her second album had the song Painting Pictures of Egypt on it. Here's a few of the lyrics:

I’ve been painting pictures of Egypt
Leaving out what it lacked
The future feels so hard
And I want to go back
But the places that used to fit me
Cannot hold the things I've learned
And those roads closed off to me
While my back was turned

The past is so tangible
I know it by heart
Familiar things are never easy to discard
I was dying for some freedom
But now I hesitate to go
I am caught between the promise
And the things I know

It also had songs like The Word and He's Always Been Faithful. Her first two albums were wonderful. Very stripped down and intimate. Mostly piano. Her third album was pretty excellent but you could tell she was changing directions slightly. My personal favorite song from that cd was Tornado which is about people who always seem to cause chaos ("You live your life like a tornado; Destruction follows everywhere you go").

Then The Other Side of Something came out which was wonderful. She included songs about marriage on it but they seemed to fit. And if you were to compare it to Past the Wishing or Conversations, her first two albums, you'd see a big difference in the way they sound. This is the sound she's pretty much stuck with. It works for her.

Add to the Beauty was her last album and I was so disappointed by it. I didn't even upload all the songs to my computer. In fact I only upload two songs from that cd. Why it Matters and To the Moon, a satirical look at the way christians typically react to persecution:

It was there in the bulletin
We're leaving soon
After the bake sale to raise funds for fuel
The rocket is ready and we're going to
Take our church to the moon

There'll be no one there to tell us we're odd
No one to change our opinions of God
Just lots of rocks and this dusty sod
Here at our church on the moon

We know our liberties we know our rights
We know how to fight a very good fight
Just get that last bag there and turn out the light
We're taking our church to the moon
We're taking our church to the moon
We'll be leaving soon

So, because of her last cd, I didn't expect a lot from this new album. And because I didn't expect a lot, it really delivered. What I mean is it's kinda half-good. It is certainly chock-full of scripture, which is a relief after her last album. Sara Groves actually recently took a trip to Rwanda and it seems to have really impacted her and it shows in this album. Not on every song, mind you. But check out her "thank yous":

Anyway, the best songs on the album by far are the ones I mentioned in my last post, When the Saints and I Saw What I Saw. I can't decide which I like better. Here are some really good lyrics from When the Saints:

and when i'm weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought

i think of paul and silas in the prison yard
i hear their song of freedom rising to the stars
i see the shepherd moses in the pharaohs court
i hear his call for freedom for the people of the Lord

and when the saints go marching in
i want to be one of them

i see the long quiet walk along the underground railroad
i see the slave awakening to the value of her soul
i see the young missionary and the angry spear
i see his family returning with no trace of fear
i see the long hard shadows of calcutta nights
i see the sister standing by the dying man’s side
i see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor
i see the man with a passion come kicking down that door

i see the man of sorrow and his long troubled road
i see the world on his shoulders and my easy load

and when the saints go marching in
i want to be one of them

It's a really good song. I especially love the choir. If you missed it on my last post and didn't get it on iTunes when it was free then shame on you. It's still worth 99 cents, though. So is I Saw What I Saw:

i saw what i saw and i can't forget it
i heard what i heard and i can't go back
i know what i know and i can't deny it

something on the road, cut me to the soul

your pain has changed me
your dream inspires
your face a memory
your hope a fire
your courage asks me what i'm afraid of
and what i know of love

we've done what we've done and we can't erase it
we are what we are and it's more than enough
we have what we have but it's no substitution

something on the road, cut me to the soul

chorus

i say what i say with no hesitation
i have what i have but i'm giving it up
i do what i do with deep conviction

something on the road, cut me to the soul

chorus 2x

your courage asks me what i’m afraid of
your courage asks me what i am made of
your courage asks me what i’m afraid of
and what i know of love
and what i know of god

I almost bought only I Saw What I Saw ('cause I already had When the Saints for free) because the 30 second clips of the other songs didn't sound that good. But then I saw that a good deal of the songs were over 4:30 minutes and thought that the 30 second clips may not have represented the songs well enough. The full songs are a lot better but there are only a few of the other songs I really like. And they are thus: Say a Prayer, It Might be Hope, The Long Defeat, and You are Wonderful. The rest I could do without ever having heard. Especially In the Girl There's a Room where the title of the album comes from. Though there is a line in Song for My Sons that I really like that says "I can't say your life will always go like it should but I can say that God is always good."

Another thing that really irked me about this album is that the songs seem to reeeaaalllllyyy drraaaggg. It seems to be something she enjoys doing to fake-end a song and then adlib for another 2 minutes. It works for some songs. It works for When the Saints. It works for Tornado. It works for Small Piece of You from Station Wagon: Songs for Parents which was released exclusively on her website. But it doesn't work for most of these songs.

In short, don't buy the whole album. It isn't worth it. Buy When the Saints and I Saw What I Saw and a few of the others I mentioned if you want.

When the Saints

2007-11-01T20:35:00.000-05:00

Sara Groves has a new album coming out on November 6th. The first single is already out and is called When the Saints (this link will open iTunes where the song is available for free at the moment but probably only for about a week).

The song sounds pretty good. The album coming out is called Tell Me What You Know. I plan on buying it. I'll let y'all know if it's any good. Her last one, as far as I'm concerned was not. I really hope she's gone back to writing about gospel truth. So far, it's seemed that with each new album, she's gotten further and further away from the gospel. Maybe it's the growing popularity. I don't know. I just know that her first two albums, before anyone knew who she was, had some of her best songs on them. Like this one called Painting Pictures of Egypt, the first song I ever heard by her:

Anyway, this new song does sound like it's returning to her roots. Let's hope the rest of the album does too. I also found this video for another song on the new album on her myspace page. The song is I Saw What I Saw:

Post #330

2007-10-31T17:20:00.000-05:00

I have a math test at 6:00. It's going to be really easy. I just went through the review for it and got all the questions right. So now I'm bored and have nothing to do. I've scheduled classes for next semester. I have 3 art studio classes, an art history, and geology 1001 scheduled. I've also scheduled an art class for the summer and an english class but I'm also on the waitlist for an eglish class for the wintersession so if I get into that one I'll drop the one in the summer. The one in the wintersession is called "Zombies in Fiction". I've never taken a class during any intersession but it seems crazy. You'd go the entire week before christmas, including saturday, then you're off for christmas and new years and you go back on the 2nd and you have finals a week later.

If I've done my calculations correctly (and there's absolutely no gaurantee I did) I could be able to graduate in 2009. I'm ready to be done. Although I don't know what I'm going to do when I do graduate. But I'll burn that bridge when I get to it.

Also, I found this new poetry webzine, Diode, that pretty nice.

UPDATE: I passed my test with a 100% A.

I bought another Chris Rice album.

2007-10-24T17:14:00.000-05:00

That's right, the same Chris Rice who's last album was a big disappointment. This album is called Peace Like a River: The Hymns Project. Yes, a hymns album. It's actually pretty superb. I said in my review of What a Heart is Beating for that Rice's sound is excellent. He has really perfected his style over the years. Combine that with classic hymns and you've got a wonderful album.

But why is it that every contemporary christian artist feels the need to put out a hymns album? I don't mean to complain. I love hymns and when it's a very talented artist singing them the product can be quite amazing. But they always end up singing a handful of the same songs with a few others thrown in. Here's the song listings of some hymns albums I own including this Chris Rice one:

Chris Rice, Peace Like a River: The Hymns Project

1. It is Well with my Soul
2. Rock of Ages
3. O Freedom
4. A Mighty Fortress is our God
5. Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
6. O Love that will not Let Me Go
7. Great is Thy Faithfulness
8. The Old Rugged Cross
9. How Great Thou Art
10. Before the Throne of God Above

Jars of Clay, Redemption Songs

1. God be Merciful to Me (Psalm 51)
2. I Need Thee Every Hour
3. God will Lift Your Head
4. I'll Fly Away
5. Nothing but the Blood
6. Let us Love and Sing and Wonder
7. O Come and Mourn with Me a While
8. Hiding Place
9. Jesus, I Lift my Eyes
10. It is Well with My Soul
11. On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand
12. Thou Lovely Source of True Delight
13. They'll Know We are Christians by Our Love
14. What Wondrous Love

Ashley Cleveland, Men and Angels Say

1. Come ye Sinners
2. Surely Goodness and Mercy
3. Nothing but the Blood
4. Power in the Blood
5. Christ the Lord is Risen Today
6. I Need Thee Every Hour
7. All Creatures of Our God and King
8. It is Well with My Soul
9. Precious Lord, Take my Hand
10. Holy, Holy, Holy
11. Come Thou Fount
12. What a Friend We have in Jesus

Jill Phillips, Kingdom Come

1. Praise to the Lord
2. Have Thine Own Way
3. Hosanna —an original song that is beautiful
4. Christ the Lord is Risen Today
5. Fairest Lord Jesus
6. Man of Sorrows
7. God of Love
8. All Hail the Power of Jesus Name
9. What Wondrous Love is this
10. Lamb of God —another original song that is also wonderful

Passion Worship Band, Hymns Ancient & Modern

1. O Worship the Lord
2. Doxology
3. Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee
4. Praise to the Lord, th Almighty
5. Father Let Me Dedicate
6. How Great Thou Art
7. Raise Up the Crown
8. All Creatures of Our God and King
9. The Solid Rock
10. Phos Hilaron (Hail Gladdening Light)
11. Joyous Light
12. Here is Love
13. Fairest Lord Jesus
14. Take my Life

See What I mean? Maybe not. They are kinda varied. Don't get me wrong. I would recommend these albums to anyone.

Okay, you know what, I take it all back. I love all these albums and they all sound different and I recommend you all buy them. I really do love a good hymns cd.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2007-10-23T11:56:00.000-05:00

I know it's still only October, but the last couple of weeks to me have, now and then, felt like Christmas. Maybe it's the change in the weather, maybe I'm just nuts. I even listened to Christmas music last week. I don't know, it's just like something will smell like Christmas or sound like Christmas or just remind me of Christmas. But I think it's getting ridiculous. I swear when I brushed my teeth this morning, the toothpaste tasted like Christmas.

My new camera

2007-10-20T00:47:00.001-05:00

So I'm getting a new camera. A Canon Powershot A640. It's basically just like the one I have now only better. It's 10 megapixel (the one I have now is 5), it has 4x optical zoom and 4x digital zoom (the one I have now is 3x and 3x), smokey black casing (the one I have now is silver - boring), and some other technical stuff I didn't really understand. Anyway, the point is, it should be here tuesday.

I'm really excited. Moreso because I got a really good deal. See, my grandmother is going to Isreal in december and wants a camera to bring with her, so she got me to help her look for one. When I got to looking I found an 8 megapixel I liked for about the same price I paid for my 5 megapixel 2 years ago ($213 plus shipping and handling) and was like, "hmm. . I wouldn't mind having that one." And then my grandmother said that she would buy whatever one I wanted and then trade with me and keep the 5 megapixel one for herself. So then I started looking again and found this one on a website for $235. That's good, right? For a 10 megapixel camera, I think it's great. But I'm only letting my grandmother give me $200. She wants to pay the full price of the new one no matter how much it is but I don't think it's fair for her to buy a brand new camera and never use it. Basically, she's buying my 2 year old camera for $200, which is still too much but she's hard headed and generous.

Bottom line: I get a new 10 megapixel camera for $35 and it'll be here tuesday!

NOTE: The two pictures of the cameras are intentionally cheesy looking. You know, just as a matter of professional pride.

This is an essay I turned in today for my religion class:

2007-10-18T15:07:00.000-05:00

Thomas Paine says that many of the biblical books were not written by those whose names they bear, or that the church tradition assigns to them. Moses did not write the “five books of Moses,” Mark did not write Mark, ect. First, explain why he says this, using some of his examples to explain his argument. Then, explain what the issue of authorship matters, especially to those who wish to defend the bible’s historical accuracy.

Thomas Paine claims that many biblical books were not written by the people they are attributed to. One of the evidences he gives is that, if Moses is the author of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, then he refers to himself in the third person. Permissible, but Paine goes on to point out that the city of Dan mentioned in Genesis was called Laish until many years after the death of Moses. He offers proof of this in the book of Judges where the Danites overtake the city of Laish after the death Samson. He states:

. . . no such a place as Dan existed in the time of Moses; and therefore the writer of Genesis must have been some person who lived after the town of Laish had the name of Dan; and who that person was nobody knows, and consequently the book of Genesis is anonymous, and without authority.

Paine also references a passage in Genesis 36 where there is a list of all the kings of Edom and it says in verse 31, “And these are the kings that reigned in Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel.” Paine says this implies that Genesis was written after there were kings that reigned over the children of Israel, dating the book to have been written at least by the time of Saul, but probably later.

Likewise, Paine says Joshua couldn’t have written the book of Joshua both because the book is written in third person and it references events and occurrences from after Joshua’s death. The other problem with the book of Joshua comes up with the story of Joshua commanding the sun to stand still. The problem is that the story isn’t validated anywhere else in the world. An event like that would bare witness all across the world, so then it must be a fantastical story, a fable.

He continues in this manner, discounting book after book in the bible on accounts of events taking place after the supposed author’s death. As for the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Paine only states that there is no way of really proving whether or not they were written by the people whose names they bare. The “New Testament” was formed, by vote as to which books to include, more than 300 years after the time of Jesus. Thomas Paine even says there is no point in proving whether or not the epistles of Paul were written by Paul or not, showing that he doesn’t think they were. The epistles of Paul state explicitly, “I, Paul, write to you,” in so many words, over and again. What more do you need?

So, what does authorship really mean? Does the absence of a known author diminish a work’s authority? I say no. Granted, the bible may not be historically accurate, but it is full of truth. Not knowing the author shouldn’t take away the sting of the truth contained within. The traditions of the church are what Paine has problems with. I also have problems with the traditions of the church. Jesus told the Pharisees in Mark chapter 7:

7:6
And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.
7:7
‘BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.’
7:8
“Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.”
7:9
He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.

Every person must look at the bible objectively, outside of the tradition they’ve been taught, and decide whether or not to live their lives the way it says you should. You have to apply the bible to your own life or else it is just another dead book. It doesn’t mess with my theology to think that Moses didn’t write the books attributed to him by tradition. It doesn’t hurt my beliefs to say that there are historical facts in the bible that are not accurate. The bible, for the most part, is not intended to be a historical book. It’s a book of truth and salvation as long as you look at it as such. I wouldn’t cite the bible as historical evidence of any event.

They are wonderful stories that the bible presents. I may or may not choose to believe them as having actually happened but that doesn’t extinguish the authority that the stories have in my life. If I want to think that God would stop the earth on it’s axis and spin it backwards by ten degrees just to prove to one man that he, God, would do what he said he’d do (2 Kings 20), then I’m allowed to take it as a sign of God’s goodness. I don’t need to know who jotted that story down to make it powerful in my own life. It’s my choice whether or not to believe Jesus was immaculately conceived, lived a sinless life, died in place of all humans by taking the sins of all onto himself, was buried, rose from the grave, and ascended into heaven. The story has been presented to me, it matters not by whom, and now I have to decide on my own whether or not to believe it. The authority the story holds is not from the author, but from the story itself.

The bottom line is this: any text, whether it be Plato, Aristotle, Marx, Tolstoy, E.E. Cummings, C.S. Lewis, Thomas Paine, the bible, or a text by some anonymous author, will have as much authority in your life as you allow it to.

But I don't want to be like Popeye. . .

2007-10-12T17:03:00.000-05:00

This is the fortune I got from my fortune cookie today at lunch:

Strange right?

Wonton Food, one of the country's largest producers of fortune cookies, has gotten some attention lately for their new fortunes.

I've tried my best, Mars Snackfood/Coca Cola!!

2007-10-07T21:55:00.000-05:00

What happened to Crispy M&M's?!? I LOVED Crispy M&M's and now they are gone. What have I, as an american, done to offend Mars Snackfood Company? What do they want from me? I've been faithful to M&M's. I ate M&M Mini's out of a tube and have tried those chocolate bars with M&M's in them and eaten the frozen M&M's cookie ice cream sandwich and I always love a good, warm M&M cookie. I made my own M&M character. I followed M&M's to the dark side when they cut a deal with the Star Wars marketing people for Episode III (which was obviously a critique on the Bush administration) and made dark chocolate M&M's (which are delicious). I'll probably even try the new RaZZberry M&M's which don't sound very promising, but we'll see. So why don't you trust me, Mars Snackfood, as a consumer to consume your Crispy M&M's.

Ditto to Coca Cola for Barq's Floatz. Or do they still make it? Has anyone seen these anywhere? I haven't really looked for them but they taste amazing and I'd like to drink one.

I think this is probably Photoshopped but it still freaks me out.

2007-10-05T10:32:00.000-05:00

That's an A with a plus behind it!

2007-10-04T12:10:00.000-05:00

I got a 100% A on my first math test. That would be my first 100% A on a math test in a WHILE. I was sooo happy. I hate to leave it at that but there's nothing else exciting going on right now.

Oh, I did hear a new song that I think I like. I'm not REALLY sure what it means. I'm pretty sure about what it's TRYING to mean. It's called Expectations and it's from Caedmon's Call's newest cd:

That boy had the highest of expectations
And he heard that Jesus would fill him up
Maybe something got lost in the language
If this was full, then why bother?

This was not the way it looked on the billboard
Smiling family beaming down on the interstate

You know that we all try to blame someone
But our dreams won’t rise up from their sleep
And the reaching of the steeple felt like one more
Expensive ad for something cheap

This was not the way it looked on the billboard
Smiling family beaming down on the interstate

Dressed up nice for the congregation
Scared somebody’s gonna find him out
Through the din and the clatter of the hallelujahs
A stained glass Jesus sings

This was not the way it looked on the billboard
Smiling family beaming down on the interstate

I mean it's obviously talking about the current American church and how it doesn't satisfy what people are really looking for. It could state it better though. I don't know. What do y'all think?

UPDATE: I just reminded myself of something from when I was taking a short story writing class a couple of semesters ago. This girl was talking about how stories can be allegories of what's happening currently in the world. And then she said, "I mean, Star Wars: Episode 3 was obviously a critique on the Bush administration."

Riiiiight. . . .

The ox is slow but the earth is patient. Lucky Numbers: 23, 6, 57, 48, 5, 39

2007-09-28T03:16:00.000-05:00

Have you ever gone to an all you can eat chinese buffet, eaten one plate, gone back for a second, gotten a little bit of everything, started eating and then about halfway through, realized you're really full, but then you look down and see that most of your food is still on your plate? I mean, most of the meat is gone except for that shang hai style meatball and the spicy pork, but there are still a lot of vegetables and a large-ish pile of lo mien, maybe half an egg roll and a few pieces of chicken teriyaki still on the stick, but you're thinking, "I really would throw up if I ate another bite." It's aggravating isn't it? You just paid for all you can eat only to realize you can't eat all that much.

Yeah, that's how I feel about school right now.

Strange Strangers

2007-09-26T17:50:00.001-05:00

Today I went to the mall after my first class because I had a $10 off card for Express Men that expired today and I wanted to use it. While I was there I got the best chicken teriyaki from the chinese place on the right side of the food court. They really have the best chicken teriyaki I've ever had. I don't know what it is about it. Anyway, it was about 2:45 by this time so there were a lot of empty tables. I got a nice seat under an umbrella and started eating. At some point I looked up and kind of noticed 2 guys walking toward my table. I didn't think anything of it and just kept eating. Next thing I know, they've walked right up to my table, pulled out the other 2 chairs and sat down.

It was so weird. I was about to ask them if they realized there were like 60 empty tables around us when one of them said, "a man should never have to eat alone." So I was like, "umm. . . okay?" So they sat there and ate, none of us talked to each other and when they were done they got up, told me to have a good day, and left. Truly my strangest mall experience. There was probably a hidden camera somewhere.

This week's edition of Dude! Are you serious?

2007-09-20T10:26:00.000-05:00

Dude! Are you serious?!?! I get bonus points for just GOING to class? Sweet.

Dude. Are you serious? I have to sit through a boring lecture about how my brain works?

Dude! Are you serious? You're talking about COFFEE? And how much of it you have? And how it's "way too much"? And you have "like, an espresso machine and a grinder"? Boooo-rriiiiing. . .

Dude! Are you serious? Shia LaBeouf is my friend on Facebook? That's awesome!

Dude. Are you serious? Are you really passing notes in a college class? FRESHMAN!!

Dude! Are you serious? You'll buy my lunch for me? K thx, bye!!1!

This has been Dude! Are you serious? with Bobby J. Hill Jr. Tune in next week when Bobby asks, "Dude! Are you serious? A mullet?"

It's the only way!

2007-09-19T16:55:00.000-05:00

This is something I ran across last night that I wrote down during "youth camp" 4 years ago. Remember camp? Anyway, here it is:

We spend all of our time trying to change the cross to be agreeable to our nature. That is completely opposite of what it should be. It should be the cross changing us to fit into it's nature. But 'changing' is really the wrong word. The right word is probably in fact 'killing'. The cross must kill us for us to fit into it's nature for the nature of the cross is death. So for us to fit into the nature of the cross we must be dead.

John 14:1
"Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.
14:2
"In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
14:3
"If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
14:4
"And you know the way where I am going."
14:5
Thomas *said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way ?"
14:6
Jesus *said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

There are plenty of ways around the cross. None of them are straight or narrow. None of them lead to the Father. Jesus is the only way to the Father. "No one comes to the Father but through Me." Through him means through the cross, the straight and narrow path.

We were commanded to be perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48) but the more we say we want this part of his holiness but not that part or these things to happen but not for too long or to this extent, the less perfect we will be. Have no doubt, perfection is a process. A very painful process in which you are chewed up and swallowed by God and by the cross. A process in which your desires are turned around to yearn for goodness. A process in which every part of you is not changed to agree with the cross, but killed because it can't agree with it.

:-) turns 25

2007-09-18T12:06:00.000-05:00

CNN reports that the emoticon :-) turned 25 today.

Warning: The article is really boring.

We are free to roam; we will no longer come to you

2007-09-17T01:28:00.000-05:00

This was in our reading yesterday in Jeremiah. It really strikes something in me. It challenges me.

Jeremiah 2:11-31

2:11
"Has a nation changed gods When they were not gods? But My people have changed their glory For that which does not profit.
2:12
"Be appalled, O heavens, at this, And shudder, be very desolate," declares the LORD.
2:13
"For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.
2:14
"Is Israel a slave ? Or is he a homeborn servant? Why has he become a prey?
2:15
"The young lions have roared at him, They have roared loudly. And they have made his land a waste; His cities have been destroyed, without inhabitant.
2:16
"Also the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes Have shaved the crown of your head.
2:17
"Have you not done this to yourself By your forsaking the LORD your God When He led you in the way?
2:18
"But now what are you doing on the road to Egypt, To drink the waters of the Nile? Or what are you doing on the road to Assyria , To drink the waters of the Euphrates?
2:19
"Your own wickedness will correct you, And your apostasies will reprove you; Know therefore and see that it is evil and bitter For you to forsake the LORD your God, And the dread of Me is not in you," declares the Lord GOD of hosts.
2:20
"For long ago I broke your yoke And tore off your bonds; But you said, 'I will not serve!' For on every high hill And under every green tree You have lain down as a harlot.
2:21
"Yet I planted you a choice vine, A completely faithful seed. How then have you turned yourself before Me Into the degenerate shoots of a foreign vine?
2:22
"Although you wash yourself with lye And use much soap, The stain of your iniquity is before Me," declares the Lord GOD.
2:23
"How can you say, 'I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baals'? Look at your way in the valley! Know what you have done! You are a swift young camel entangling her ways,
2:24
A wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness, That sniffs the wind in her passion. In the time of her heat who can turn her away? All who seek her will not become weary; In her month they will find her.
2:25
"Keep your feet from being unshod And your throat from thirst; But you said, 'It is hopeless! No! For I have loved strangers, And after them I will walk.'
2:26
"As the thief is shamed when he is discovered, So the house of Israel is shamed; They, their kings, their princes And their priests and their prophets,
2:27
Who say to a tree, 'You are my father,' And to a stone, 'You gave me birth.' For they have turned their back to Me, And not their face; But in the time of their trouble they will say, 'Arise and save us.'
2:28
"But where are your gods Which you made for yourself? Let them arise, if they can save you In the time of your trouble; For according to the number of your cities Are your gods, O Judah.
2:29
"Why do you contend with Me? You have all transgressed against Me," declares the LORD.
2:30
"In vain I have struck your sons; They accepted no chastening. Your sword has devoured your prophets Like a destroying lion.
2:31
"O generation, heed the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, Or a land of thick darkness? Why do My people say, 'We are free to roam; We will no longer come to You'?

Verse 24 says "know what you have done!" Do we really know what we have done? Do we really take it to the cross and say, this is what I've done.

I've really been examining my heart in accordance with this scripture so I wanted to share it with you. I don't have a great meaning or anything. It's just the same thing Amber and Jamie posted on their blogs. It's making sure that you are in Christ and that you STAY in Christ. That we don't resist and kick against the pricks.

I love the story of Paul's conversion in Acts 9:

9:3
And as he journeyed *, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
9:4
And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
9:5
And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

That word "pricks" means:

1. a sting, as that of bees, scorpions, locusts. Since animals wound by their sting and even cause death, Paul attributes death, personified as a sting, i.e. a deadly weapon

2. an iron goad, for urging on oxen, horses and other beasts of burden

3. hence the proverb, "to kick against the goad", i.e. to offer vain and perilous or ruinous resistance

Resisting God is always ruinous.

2 Corinthians: 13:5
Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?

My continuing rampage against contemporary christian music

2007-09-12T15:33:00.000-05:00

I talked about Chris Rice's newest cd here. I talked about David Crowder's music video here. Today I'd like to talk about a band that I've liked for a long time. Jars of Clay.

First, let's look at some lyrics from a song called Worlds Apart from their first cd:

I look beyond the empty cross
Forgetting what my life has cost
And wipe away the crimson stains
And dull the nail that still remains
More and more I need you now,
I owe you more each passing hour
Battle between grace and pride
I gave up not so long ago
So steal my heart and take the pain,
And wash my feet and cleanse my pride
Take the selfish, take the weak,
And all the things I cannot hide
Take the beauty, take my tears
My sin-soaked heart and make it yours
Take my world all apart,
Take it now, take it now
And serve the ones that I despise
Speak the words I can't deny
Watch the world I used to love
Fall to dust and blow away
I look beyond the empty cross
Forgetting what my life has cost
And wipe away the crimson stains
And dull the nail that still remains
Steal my heart and take the pain
Take the selfish, take the weak
And all the things I cannot hide
Take the beauty, take my tears
Take my world apart
Take my world apart

How powerful, right? Raw, honest. A true cry to God of, "I am helpless and hopeless without you."

Now some snippets from their newest cd Good Monsters:

Dead Man

January One, I got a lot of things on my mind
I'm looking at my body through a new spy satellite
I try to lift a finger but I don't think I can make the call
So tell me if I move 'cause I don't feel anything at all

So carry me
I'm just a dead man
Lying on the carpet
Can't find a heartbeat
Make me breathe
I wanna be a new man
Tired of the old one
Out with the old plan

Okay, a little vague, but I get it. It doesn't exactly follow this passage from Romans because it focuses on the death rather than the newness of life, but I get it. It could be something he still struggles with:

6:4
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
6:5
For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,
6:6
knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
6:7
for he who has died is freed from sin.
6:8
Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
6:9
knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.
6:10
For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
6:11
Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Another song:

Even Angels Cry

Oh Sister, if you wake up in the night,
Walls have fallen letting in the light,
No need to worry
Baby, even angels cry.

I'm pretty sure this can be found in the book of First Opinions after the verse "God helps those who help themselves."

There is a River

There is a river that washes you clean
There is a tree that marks the places you've been
Blood that was spilled, although not your own
For all of your tears, love will atone

This one was sounding good until the last line there. Wasn't it for SINS that the BLOOD of Jesus was an atonement for? They make it sound like the soundtrack to Your Best Life Now. Like it was for our hurts and human emotions that Jesus was hung on a cross and killed.

Good Monsters

All the good monsters open their eyes,
To see the wasteland where the home fires rise,
And the people shouting why, why, why...
Do you know what you are?
Do you know what you are?

All of the giants wake from their sleep,
And roll outside of safety's keep,
And the pain makes them feel so alive

Do you know what you are?
Do you know what you are?

And we are bored of all the things we know
Do you know what you are?
Do you know what you are?

Not all monsters are bad, but the ones who are good
Never do what they could, never do what they could

I'm not sure what they're trying to say here but I'm pretty sure I'm offended by it. They did sort of hit the nail on the head with the line "and we are bored with all the things we know." It makes it clear that it's things they know and not the person of Jesus Christ.

Oh My God

Oh my God, why are we so afraid?
We make it worse when we don't bleed,
There is no cure for our disease.
Turn a phrase and rise again,
Or fake your death and only tell your closest friends,
Oh My God.

Oh my God, can I complain?
You take away my firm belief and graft my soul upon your grief.
Weddings, boats, and alibis,
All drift away, and a mother cries...

Not only is this song super-vague it's also super-long at 6 minutes and 5 seconds. This song aproaches some depth and truth but fails to really take the plunge. Look at the last part of the song and see what I mean:

Sometimes I can not forgive
and these days mercy cuts so deep,
If the world was how it should be, maybe I could get some sleep.
While I lay, I'd dream we're better, scales were gone and faces lighter,
When we wake we hate our brother, we still move to hurt each other,
Sometimes I can close my eyes and all the fear the keeps me silent,
Falls below my heavy breathing, what makes me so badly bent?
We all have a chance to murder, we all feel the need for wonder.
We still want to be reminded that the pain is worth the plunder.

Sometimes when I lose my grip, I wonder what to make of heaven,
All the times I thought to reach up, all the times I had to give up.
Babies underneath their beds, in hospitals that cannot treat them.
All the wounds that money causes, all the comforts of cathedrals,
All the cries of thirsty children, this is our inheritance,
All the rage of watching mothers, this is our greatest offense
Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God.

See, a lot of big thoughts and questions, but what does it mean. When you add up the sum of it, it's nothing you wouldn't hear Oprah or Angelina Jolie and her 17 adopted kids talking about. It's humanitarianism at its best.

And here is one of the, I want to say love? songs:

Water Under the Bridge

I do not love you the way I did when we met.
There are secrets and arguments I haven't finished yet.
But it's only that grace has outlived our regret that we're still here.

So maybe we can stay, till the last drop of water flows under the bridge,
We can stay, till the last drop of water flows under the bridge.

There are times meant for breaking, and words to ignore,
And a bent to our souls when our skin is at war.
And if leaving were freedom, well, we'd both walk right out of that door.

I'm not married or anything, but I don't want to just "stick it out" so to say. That sounds like a marriage without Jesus.

Which brings me to my next point. Did you notice anything about all these songs? Jesus name isn't there. In fact the only mention of Jesus name is in a song called All My Tears and it's a cover. The song was written and originally recorded my Julie Miller. It's a very beautiful song. In fact, here it is in it's entirety:

All My Tears

When I go don't cry for me,
In my Father's arms I'll be
The wounds this world left on my soul
Will all be healed and I'll be whole.
Sun and moon will be replaced
With the light of Jesus' face
And I will not be ashamed,
For my Savior knows my name

It don't matter where you bury me,
I'll be home and I'll be free
It don't matter where I lay,
All my tears be washed away.

Gold and silver blind the eye,
Temporary riches lie
Come and eat from heaven's store,
Come and drink and thirst no more

It don't matter where you bury me,
I'l be home and I'll be free
It don't matter where I lay,
All my tears be washed away

So weep not for me my friends,
When my time below does end
For my life belongs to Him,
Who will raise the dead again.

It don't matter where you bury me,
'Cause I'll be home and I'll be free.
It don't matter where I lay,
All my tears be washed away

Isn't that good? Looking forward into eternity and saying that nothing in this life matters. All the wealth you could aquire on this earth is nothing. My life isn't even mine, it belongs to the one who raises the dead. And when I die, it's not over. I'll be with my Jesus forever. Amen! Isn't that good? Too bad it isn't actually Jars of Clay's song. And even worse that nothing else on this cd even measures up to this.

But that's the thing. Jars of Clay, as a band, has always been sort of vague, but they've gotten more and more vague with every cd they put out.

Or, as Dan Hastletine says:

"There's more urgency in these songs. There's more honesty," Haseltine says. "In a way, we're weighing in on the bigger conversations we've kept ourselves out of for a long time. The conversations about relationships or social justice, but recognizing we don't have to be the voice of the church."

Sorry, I don't see the honesty. I see mirrors and smoke and I see humanitarianism and I see longing for social justice but I don't see honesty. I don't see the Jesus you used to portray. He isn't there and, unless you don't believe in him anymore, that's not being honest.

MyMathLab hates Apple, also is stupid

2007-09-07T09:37:00.000-05:00

I'm using MyMathLab, or as I like to call it, MyMethLab again this semester. The math I'm taking is a lot easier (no, YOU'RE stupid! I'm an art major. I'm allowed to take easy math!) but MyMethLab is so dumb. It won't work on a Mac. In spite of having Macs listed on the website under System Requirments.

What this really means is that I can't do my homework on my laptop. I have to find a Windows machine somewhere. Which means that when I'm at home and need to do my math homework, I can't go in my room and shut the door to concentrate on it. I have to use my parents stupid, slow computer (sorry, mumsy) right out in the open. Okay, I didn't mean to imply that my parents computer is, like, in the middle of a field or something. It's just open to the rest of the house which means that I hear my dad laughing loudly at the television or my brother playing on the Playstation while singing along to his iPod or my mom. . . breathing. Well my mom doesn't do anything loud.

The point is MyMethLab is stupid.

I got a flat tire in the Taco Bell drive-through.

2007-09-07T08:40:00.000-05:00

I ordered my food and drove around to go to the window. There were two cars in front of me and as I pulled in behind them I heard this loud pop. It was my front right tire deflating itself for no reason. And now I'd like to give you an approximation of my conversation with the manager at the drive-through window:

Me: Hey, sorry, I've got a flat tire. . .

Her: You're gonna have to move that.

Me: No, there's room for people to drive around. I don't wanna—

Her: You can't be blocking up my line. I'ma get someone to come help you—

Me: No, the tire is completely flat. There's no way I'm moving it and wrecking up my rim.

Her: Okay. Your order's $6.23.

[Note before I move on: Yeah, I ordered $6 worth of food from Taco Bell. Yes, it was all for me. What of it?]

So then I had to change my tire out for the donut in the drive-through lane. And now I need a new tire.

When I finished I went inside and washed my hands and then went and apologized to the manager for blocking up her lane. Here's how the conversation went (pretty much):

Me: I just wanted to apologize for blocking up your drive-through.

Her: Oh, that's okay, baby. You gotta do whatcha gotta do. You want a free drink?

Me: Okay!

The end.

There is so much to announce today.

2007-09-05T14:11:00.000-05:00

First of all, the last season of Seinfeld will be available november 6th. So that's exciting, right? They will also be releasing a box set of all nine seasons for 200 something dollars.

And more exciting, Apple announced new iPods today. You can take a look at all the new models below. Click on the picture to see a rundown of all the features and whatnot. Or just read my rundown below.

So the new line of iPods is as follows:

iPod Shuffle is available as 1GB of memory for $79 and looks the same as it did only in different colors. See:

iPod Nano is now short and fat and can play video. It's available in 4GB or 8GB for $149 and $199 respectively. It also has new colors. Pretty much like the Shuffle only with black instead of purple. So it seems they're going with pastel this go 'round.

The regular iPod, previously known as iPod Video, is now called iPod Classic. It is also now all metal with a front of either black or silver. It is available with either 80GB or 160GB of memory for either $249 or $349. I think that is insane. Who needs that much space on an iPod. Who has that much music/ video/ photos?

Now the most coolest/baffling: the iPod Touch. It's basically just like the iPhone only without the phone. So it's all touch screen. It still has wireless internet which allows you to buy songs from the iTunes store directly onto your iPod. It has a 3.5 inch screen and cover flow and all this cool stuff. It looks supercool BUT it only is available in 8GB or 16GB. I have a 30GB iPod Video and it's almost full, mostly with video. With a beautiful 3.5 inch screen I'd go at least 30GB or 60GB because video fills up an iPod quickly. Anyway, you can preorder it now for a shipping date of September 28th at the cost of either $299 or $399.

So in conclusion, the new iPod line is kind of a let down of sorts. I mean 160GB or even 80GB in the Classic would be great but it doesn't have any new features just glossed over looks and interface. The Touch is so cool looking and has new features like internet and the iTunes store but the most you can get is 16GB? Come on. None of these new iPods are really what I'm looking for; Apple went and spread the features I want across multiple devices.

Of course, the iPhone is now $200 cheaper. . .

Isaac Tobin

2007-09-04T16:31:00.000-05:00

This is the type of thing I think I'd like to do when I'm done with this "college thing". I'm talking mostly about the book designs. I think I'd enjoy designing book covers and possibly even laying out book interiors.

I wonder if he gets to read the books before they're published. . .

PRODUCT PLACEMENT

2007-09-04T13:09:00.001-05:00

I'd like to endorse something delicious. Lipton White Tea with Bluberry and Pomegranate. Try it. It's wonderful.

You can be like the library!

2007-08-28T13:48:00.000-05:00

I just got out of my religion class (Faith and Doubt) and I'm going to need these books if anyone has a copy of one that they want to let me borrow for a semester:

The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine

When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold Kushner

The Future of an Illusion by Sigmund Freud

Honest to God by John A.T. Robinson

We're also reading Miracles by C.S. Lewis, but I already have that. It seems the class will be more of a presentation of ideas than teaching of what you should believe. It'll be set up to let you decide for yourself what you believe. Yeah, we'll see.

In other news, lithography, translated from it's original latin as stone writing is a method of printing that uses large, flat stones to print an image onto paper. So it's these big stones that you have to draw an image onto using a wax that has a lot of oil in it and then the whole surface of the stone is treated with acid to make the image area hydrophobic (repels water) and the non image area receptive to water. It's using the principle that oil and water don't mix. So the oil based ink will stick to the image area and will wash off of the non-image area. It's the same thing we do at work, just a more primitive version of it.

In other other news, I'm pretty sure this math class will be a LOT easier. Yeah, I need stupid math, what of it?

In other other other news, I think 6 classes is too much. Because remember my equation from yesterday about 18 credit hours actually equaling 30 hours, Yeah, add to that 6 hours a week of outside-of-class work for my lithography class and 6 hours of outside-of-class work for that sculpture class and you have 42 hours of school a week PLUS 12-16 hours at my job and the chance of sleep goes rapidly down while the chance of constant migraine and high blood pressure goes rapidly up. I would possibly kill someone. Okay, I probably wouldn't (but watch your back). I think it just may be too much. But it may would be better than I think. The only thing is that the last day to drop without getting a 'W' (and I can't get anymore W's for a little bit) is next tuesday. What do y'all think I should do?

p.s. Don't forget about the books I'd lke to not buy. KTHXBAI!!

UPDATE: I dropped art 1762 (sculpture). It was just too much. It was mathematically reasonable to drop it. Plus, the teacher is crazy.

Jordan is more excited than I am.

2007-08-26T18:59:00.000-05:00

Okay, so school starts tomorrow and my schedule is thus:

Monday and Wednesday: Advanced Graphic Design (art 4555) 12:30-3:30; Intro to Lithography (art 1371) 3:30-6:30; ~~Beginning Sculpture (art 1762) 6:30-9:30~~

Tuesday and Thursday: Intro to Contemporary Math (math 1029), 9:00-10:30; Faith and Doubt (rel 2001) 12:00-1:30; Interactive Multimedia Design (art 4567) 3:00-6:00

A few things that I should probably make a statement on: I failed the math I was taking this summer. Failed, failed, failed. That's right, I failed! I HATE math. So I'm taking a different math that would fulfill that math requirement and is supposed to be easier. It's even recommended for art majors. How appropriate is that? So why didn't I take that one before, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. I was trying to take Math 1021 because it's a prerequisite for Physical Science 1001 which my cousin wanted me to take with her. OH, WELL!!

Second, I'm not quite sure what lithography is. I know it has to do with printing from plates and I think it's more about making the plates than printing from them, but I'll just have to let you know.

I'm taking Religion 2001, or Faith and Doubt, to fulfill a few hours of my humanities requirements. You see, I started off my humanities (which, most offerings for humanities are foriegn language) by taking Hebrew. It was very interesting because it was Biblical hebrew and we had to get a hebrew version of the Old Testament and that's what we learned from. I need 9 hours total for humanities. I took 2 semesters of hebrew at four credits a semester. But the first class (the intro class, a prereq for the second class) counted as an elective so I only got 4 hours of my humanities done. Other offerings for humanities include some history courses, which I'm not a fan of and some religion courses. So I'm taking Faith and Doubt, even though I'm pretty sure the ratio of faith to doubt will probably lean more towards doubt. I think me and Jordan are going to try and take New Testament together wich would give me the last two credits I need for my humanities. [NOTE: I don't know any hebrew, don't ask.]

Last, I'm taking 6 classes which is 18 hours and 4 of the classes are studio classes which means that, while I'm getting credit for 18 hours a week, I actually have class for 30 hours every week because studio class are 3 hours twice a week even though you're only credited with 3 hours a week. Got all that? Am I insane? Probably. Will I actually keep all 6 classes? Who knows. Will I sleep at all? There's no guarantee. Will I be able to work (at an actual job where they pay me) more than 16 hours a week? Definitely not. That's right. This semester I'm working friday all day because I have no classes, and sunday night. That's it.

I also found this wonderful collection of kids being thrown in the air.

Coming soon: Christ-lates, MorningStarbucks, McSavior's, and Prince of Peace Apple Pie

2007-08-20T16:35:00.000-05:00

There really is a "christian" alternative for everything. Exhibit A:

Actress Janine Turner joins forces with fitness expert Mary Cunningham to create a routine that combines hatha yoga and Christian meditation for a workout that exercises both body and soul. Using biblical Scripture, Turner and Cunningham give Christian names to traditional yoga poses. As you perform Christ Exalted, Mighty Disciple and Salvation Rotation, you'll feel your spirit stretching along with your muscles.

I don't even know what to say. This may be an extreme example but it really is everywhere. It's in "christian" music, "christian" fiction, "christian" mints. Why can't a peppermint just be a peppermint. It has to be a "spirit mint" or something. It's sickening. The "christian" alternatives are just like the worldly ones. The only difference is that instead of using Jesus name as a curse word they use it for profit.

I THINK THIS IS HILARIOUS!!

2007-08-17T09:23:00.000-05:00

A couple things

2007-08-14T18:12:00.001-05:00

First, this new ad for Skittles:

Second, this ad running in a magazine we print at work:

Allow me to first say that this ad is 100 times better designed than most of the ads I look at in a full days work. It caught my eye with the huge glasses on the dork string. And then I saw the tilted text "Lose 'em with Lasik" and was somewhat impressed. And then I noticed the mid-90s style of the guys clothes—the plaid shirt tied around the waist, the boots and the socks that come halfway up the calf.

So, given the centered type, the choice of typeface, the color scheme, and the state of the guys clothes, I'd say this is a great ad for 1996.

The big glasses are funny.

This is supercool

2007-08-12T18:51:00.001-05:00

I say "coke"

2007-08-12T01:01:00.000-05:00

Pop vs. Soda is a website that is sifting through the apparent debate over what to call the fizzy stuff that everyone drinks even though it's bad for you (I had a vanilla root beer from Sonic earlier). The options are 'pop', 'soda', 'coke', or 'other'. The demographic map on the website is only up to date as of October 2002. This one, however, is from March 2003 which is not really much better but it seems more complete. You can also see responses by county/parish if you click on the state.

It seems "coke" as a general term for any kind of soft drink really is a southern thing. I just don't think I'd ever be able to bring myself to say "pop" in reference to something I drink (or "soda" for that matter).

It's a LEGO INVASION!!!

2007-08-08T19:13:00.000-05:00

An eight foot lego-man has come ashore on the beach of a dutch resort. Nothing cool like that ever happened on my vacations.

The article:

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A giant, smiling Lego man was fished out of the sea in the Dutch resort of Zandvoort on Tuesday.

Workers at a drinks stall rescued the 2.5-meter (8-foot) tall model with a yellow head and blue torso.

"We saw something bobbing about in the sea and we decided to take it out of the water," said a stall worker. "It was a life-sized Lego toy."

A woman nearby added: "I saw the Lego toy floating toward the beach from the direction of England."

The toy was later placed in front of the drinks stall.

That reminds me of something else I read not too long ago about rubber duckies. Oh, look! I found the article (by doing a google news search):

Fifteen years ago, 29,000 bathtub toys—ducks, frogs, turtles, and beavers made of plastic, actually—fell off a container ship in the central Pacific Ocean.

Oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer has been tracking the toys' movement around the world and has found that about a hundred of them drifted on oceanic currents to Alaska, north to the Bering Sea, across the North Pole, alongside Greeland, and into the North Atlantic. As recently as 2003, one of the ducks washed up on the shore in Maine and one of the frogs landed in Scotland. The container of toys aren't the only ocean flotsam that Ebbesmeyer has tracked. He's also tracked 80,000 Nike shoes that were also lost in the Pacific, 34,000 hockey gloves, five million Legos lost off the coast of England, and survey stakes that have drifted in the ocean from Japan.

That Ebbesmeyer guy has a mildly interesting website about stuff in the ocean that shouldn't be there.

And that's your offbeat news for today. Back to you, Jim!

Butterfly kisses and sonic powered keytars

2007-08-08T00:21:00.000-05:00

Okay, somehow I ended up in the Christian & Gospel Music Videos section of the iTunes store. At the top of the page was, of course, Butterfly Kisses by Bob Carlisle which, by the way, is the number one song for father-of-the-bride dances at weddings. A guy I knew who did sound for weddings told me that.

But that isn't what this post is about. I saw a clip for a David Crowder Band video and just had to find the whole thing on YouTube. What intrigued me, besides the completely unexpected japanese cartoon-like animation, was the angry squirrels. I just knew it had to get better. I was right. I thought my favorite part was going to be the keytar shooting sonic basts at the squirrels until I saw the guitar trap the squirrels Bubble Bobble-style. Needlless to say, it's an interesting video. It makes no sense and doesn't go along with the song at all. Anyway, here ya go:

Now a question: does anybody else not see the point in a suposedly christian artist making a video for a song? I don't know. I just see 'music videos' as something that the world does. In fact, that may be much of what's wrong with popular music today, that songs are made for the video. But that's a sidenote. I just think that 'christian artists' should be separate from the world. And, lets admit it, videos for "Christian & Gospel" songs are usually pretty stupid (Exhibit A can be seen above).

Okay, I didn't plan on getting into this, but, Exhibit B, Steven Curtis Chapman, Dive. Yes, I did try to think of the worst and most overplayed on christian radio song of circa 1999:

Pretty dumb and pointless, right?

Still not conviced? Exhibit C, Does Anybody Hear Her by Casting Crowns who, I don't care what anybody says, has successfully released as a single the same exact song with a different title about 6 times (all their songs sound the same). The thing that bugs me most about this video is that it's acted out like a bad youth group skit set to music:

Now, I'm not trying to down christian artists. . . okay, I am a little bit, but not out of hate or vindictiveness. I'm just trying to get a clear picture of 'christian music' today. I guess this can be a follow-up on my review of Chris Rice's new cd. And the point I'm trying to make is that music with gospel truth at it's center is never going to be popular. And no amount of publicity will make it so. If it speaks the truth then just let it. The gimick of a music video or the audacity of dulling the message are only ploys to get a bigger audience (read: more money).

Consider this passage from Isaiah:

55:6
Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near.
55:7
Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the LORD, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.
55:8
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD.
55:9
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.
55:10
"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without * watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
55:11
So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without * accomplishing what I desire , And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

When you simply speak the TRUTH, the very person of Jesus Christ, it will not return void. Those who seek the Lord find him. Jesus is the Word made flesh and Jesus already accomplished what he was sent to do. He died on the cross so that we would have an opportunity to be redeemed to the father through the cleansing work of the his blood. We are all wretched sinners and God is angry with the sinner everyday.

John 3:16

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Aww, what a nice verse. . . Everyone loves that verse, becuase according to America's interpretation of it, everyone gets in! But, he continues:

3:17
"For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
3:18
"He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
3:19
"This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
3:20
"For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear * that his deeds will be exposed.
3:21
"But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God."

See, not everyone gets in.

There is christian music out there that speaks the truth (without the cliches and fluff). But you most likely won't find it on 'christian radio' and you most definitely won't find a music video for it.

I miss Florida. . .

2007-08-03T18:56:00.000-05:00

This post has nothing to do with Florida.

To the right you see my final three paintings from my painting class this summer. I think I don't like painting very much. I guess I could probably get used to it. Probably I just need more practice.

Anyway, I'm not extremely happy with these.

I got a B in the class.

That last one is on a canvas that I made from scratch. So I am proud of that.

Well, I've made it to Florida. . .

2007-07-31T11:24:00.000-05:00

I've Actually been here a couple days now. I haven't taken very many pictures at all, though. So I'll give you the best of what I've got. This is our view from the balcony:

I didn't get a picture of it but there was a wedding on that part of the beach the night we first got here.

And here's each of us on the balcony:

Note the shirt on this one:

The wind was blowing.

This is the sun setting across the way:

This is on the beach at night. My dad kicking over a sand castle:

And Jacob hiding in a hole:

I was just now suddenly really disgusted by my eyes.

2007-07-27T13:26:00.000-05:00

I didn't sleep well last night so my eyes are the tiniest bit bloodshot. Just a little but it really makes a difference. I looked in a mirror just now and my eyes really grossed me out. I don't know why. Something about seeing those veins I think. Anyway, I just thought I'd share that story with you.

Something else I'd like to share with you. A poem I wrote a while back:

Dissatisfaction

I will sit here
until someone
apologizes.
I will wait
because I know
I'm right.

I will not
forgive them
if they take
any longer.

I will sit here
until I rot
if that's what it takes.
They'll be sorry
when they see
I'm right.

I will not
forgive them.
They've taken
too long.

I will sit here.
I will sit here.
I will sit here still.
No forgiveness
though they concede
I'm right.

I will not
forgive them.
It's a pattern,
a sickness.

I will not
forgive them.
They'll just do
it again.

I will not
forgive them
any longer,
any longer.

I will not
forgive
any longer.

I'm right.

I wrote that based on someone else's, what I precieved as stubbornness and pride. But I still have to look at my own heart and make sure that there is no area of pride or unforgiveness. I have to make sure there is no pride in me because God resist the proud and gives grace to the humble. I have to make sure I forgive my brothers and sisters in Christ for even the smallest thing because a root of bitterness can grow quickly. Jesus said this in Matthew:

5:20
"For I say to you that unless * your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
5:21
"You have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER ' and 'Whoever * commits murder shall be liable to the court.'
5:22
"But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever * says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever * says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.
5:23
"Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,
5:24
leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.

If we don't forgive each other immediately we need to question how righteous we are. Our righteousness must surpass that of the scribes and pharisee's. If we don't forgive each other, no matter how small it is, we are just religious. And then God won't take anything you have to give.

I don't know why I'm sharing this. It's not something I struggle with. When people wrong me it's pretty much forgotten immediately. So I guess it's for someone else. I don't know who but I pray your heart would be softened to recieve the word and to repent however you need to. Forgiveness doesn't come easily to some people. But to be christian you HAVE to learn how to forgive.

What a heart is beating for

2007-07-24T16:07:00.000-05:00

That would be the title of Chris Rice's new cd. And it sounded promising. I even marked it's release date on my Google calendar. You see, about ten years ago when Chris Rice first started putting out cds, he had two consecutive releases that were excellent. Both musically and lyrically. The songs on those two albums had a lot of depth and spoke of the things of God in a way that built faith and made you ponder things in your own heart.

Then he released Smell the Color 9. Since then nothing he's put out has been worth anything. But when I listened to the clips of What a Heart is Beating for I thought it sounded like he probably was back in form. I was wrong. He certainly has perfected his sound over the years. The album is musically wonderful. But lyrically it's nothing more than cliche's and fluff. Take, for example, this snippet of lyrics from Lemonade, his first single from this cd:

Life gave me lemonade and I can't imagine why
Born on a sunny day, beneath a tangerine sky
I live life without pretending
I'm a sucker for happy endings
Thanks for the lemonade
Thanks for the lemonade!

I've got it made
Rest in the shade
And hold my love
While God above
Stirs with a spoon
We share the moon
Smile at the bees
More sugar please
He really loves us after all
We're gonna need another straw!
We're gonna need another straw!

Okay, I have a question for you, Chris. Umm. . . WHAT? What does that mean? What does that have to do with christianity? In fact, it flies in the face of verses such as this passage from John:

15:18
"If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.
15:19
"If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this * the world hates you.
15:20
"Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.
15:21
"But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.

Or this passage from 2 Corinthians:

4:7
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves;
4:8
we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing;
4:9
persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
4:10
always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
4:11
For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
4:12
So death works in us, but life in you.

That doesn't sound like lemonade. In fact, if you aren't suffering for the sake of Jesus you should question your very salvation. Which brings me to my next point about this album: Jesus' name isn't mentioned once. In fact, according to this review from Christianity Today, Rice has purposely toned down the "God talk" to take a more seeker-sensitive approach and to get a wider audience for his music. This makes me angry on so many levels. The cross is an instrument of death. Not allowing the cross to do it's work is cruelty not sensitivity! Jesus said the WORLD will hate you because it hated HIM! To try to get a wider audience by dulling the message of the gospel is not only a disservice to the cross of Christ, it's a sin.

In short, Chris Rice has turned from the truth of the gospel to the comforts of religion and I wish I had my $10 back.

It all started with that stupid cartoon song, I swear.

Also, here is a homemade and admittedly stupid video for the title track, What a Heart is Beating for, that isn't accociated with Chris Rice in any way. But you can listen to the song. It's about as much depth as you'll find on the whole album, which isn't much. WARNING: the video is REALLY stupid. No, really, don't even watch the video, just listen to the song. Okay, fine, do whatever you want:

His next album should be called Your Best Life Now.

UPDATE: I've noticed a lot of visitors from google searching for lyrics. If you've gotten this far, please leave your thoughts in the coments. Even anonymously. I'd like to know what others think.

Something really exciting

2007-07-23T19:16:00.000-05:00

Things I'm excited about right now:

1. I got season 1 of Bones on dvd. I haven't watch any yet, but I'm still excited.

2. I bought a new iPod case. It should be here tomorrow.

3. I'm going to Florida!!! I didn't think I'd be able to go because the last day of my painting class is monday and we're leaving saturday. But I talked to my teacher and he said it's fine as long as I'm there for every class up to then. I haven't been able to go since I started at LSU. See, my mom's work has a conference there every year and families can go if they want. But I haven't been able to either because of school or whatever but I'm going this year and it'll be the BEST VACATION EVER! I hope.

Actually, I know it sounds silly, but I'm hoping this trip will provide some sort of rejuvination. It's been a really long time since I've had a real break. As of late I've felt a little stuck. It'll be a nice break before the fall semester.

4. Prayer this friday night. It's been a long time since the "youth" have gotten together to pray so I'm really excited about it.

5. Going to Florida!!

Me and Jordan want to go skydiving before the fall semester starts on August 27th. I think Holly wanted to go to so we need to figure out some weekend to go.

I know I've been kind of ignoring this thing. . .

2007-07-22T23:23:00.000-05:00

I'll try and have something really exciting on here real soon, I promise.

Wii Fit

2007-07-18T22:54:00.000-05:00

Here is a video about Wii Fit from SarcasticGamer.com: