Category Archives: Interests

The Man And His Shadow

I ran across the below poem by Paulo Coelho today and was overwhelmed by its message. May it bless you all as much as it blessed me.

“The Man And His Shadow” by Paulo Coelho

Illustration by Ken Crane

Many years ago, there lived a man who was capable of loving and forgiving everyone he came across. Because of this, God sent an angel to talk to him.

‘God asked me to come and visit you and tell you that he wishes to reward you for your goodness,’ said the angel. ‘You may have any gift you wish for. Would you like the gift of healing?’

‘Certainly not,’ said the man. ‘I would prefer God to choose those who should be healed.’

‘And what about leading sinners back to the path of Truth?’

‘That’s a job for angels like you. I don’t want to be venerated by anyone or to serve as a permanent example.’

‘Look, I can’t go back to Heaven without having given you a miracle. If you don’t choose, I’ll have to choose one for you.’

The man thought for a moment and then said:

‘All right, I would like good to be done through me, but without anyone noticing, not even me, in case I should commit the sin of vanity.’

So the angel arranged for the man’s shadow to have the power of healing, but only when the sun was shining on the man’s face. In this way, wherever he went, the sick were healed, the earth grew fertile again, and sad people rediscovered happiness.

The man traveled the Earth for many years, oblivious of the miracles he was working because when he was facing the sun, his shadow was always behind him. In this way, he was able to live and die unaware of his own holiness.

Flyleaf: Memento Mori

I was jamming out to Pandora a few months ago when I noticed a certain band that continued to pop up with some great songs packed with powerful, heartfelt lyrics. As I typically do with new artists I’ve like, I looked up their bios and discover that they, Flyleaf, was comprised of five Jesus followers. Originally threw me for a loop as I was listening to a grudge-alternative music station, which isn’t always known for including Christian bands…

Yet, as I dug deeper I discovered that Flyleaf did things right (well, “right” in my mind) – as in, instead of labeling themselves as a ‘Christian rock band’, which I’m sorry to say is become a fairly water downed genre, they went full bore and signed with a mainstream label and rock the country. Lead singer Lacey Sturm put it this way in May 2010 when asked about being a “Christian rock band” playing in Las Vegas:

“Well, you know what? I don’t know what you mean by a “Christian rock band.” It’s hard to say that because people all have a different definition of what that means. If it means that we’re Christians, then yeah, we’re Christians, but if a plumber’s a Christian, does that make him a “Christian plumber?” I mean we’re not playing for Christians. We’re just playing honestly and that’s going to come out”

Their first album, “Flyleaf”, went platinum in 2005 and their second, “Memento Mori, debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200 in 2009 (it also topped the US Billboard Alternative and Hard Rock Album list not to mention the US Billboard Christian Album).

Yeah, they are that good!

And, as things worked out, I just so happened to be browsing a local book store yesterday when their “Memento Mori” album cover caught my eye. So I bought it (sadly there are times when I’m not online and am in need of some good alternative rock music). =D

Below are some music videos of the album to give you all a taste of the band. Enjoy. =)

Continue reading Flyleaf: Memento Mori

So Long Earl…

Legendary banjo player Earl Scruggs died last night at the age of 88.

Born and raised in North Carolina, Earl developed a unique style of banjo picking at has become known as the Scruggs Style (i.e. a three-finger picking style vs the comment two-finger or strumming styles).

In the mid-1940s Earl joined Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys before starting his own band in 1948 with Lester Flatt. For the next twenty years Earl and Lester played all over the place and changed the face of mountain bluegrass music.

He will be missed…but luckily his music will continue to play thanks to recording studios and the like. 🙂

Below are a few of my favorite Earl and Lester’s songs:

“Foggy Mountain Breakdown”

Continue reading So Long Earl…

Squealing-Like-A-Fan-Boy

Seven? Four boys, two girls and a piano tuner!

Despite being sick and fatigued (grrr…flu bugs…grrr), today was a phenomenal day as I received a long awaited package. (Ok…perhaps “long awaited” is a tad too melodramatic…but, in an-effort-to-save-face, I did have to wait a full SEVEN days for delivery not to mention the years of reading and penny saving…) 😛

Now, where were we…oh yes, the package…

This before-mentioned package contained the necessary ingredients to completed my collection of Schlock Mercenary comic books!!! (cue the fan-boy screams!)

For those poor souls sadly out of the loop Schlock Mercenary is THE pioneer sci-fi webcomic out there – not to mention the funniest! Drawn by Howard Tayler, the webcomic has been published online seven-days a week since June 12, 2000 and has racked up an arm full of awards and nominations.

I discovered Schlock Mercenary through my brother in early 2004 (about the time Tayler quite his day-job to become a full-time webcomist) and have faithfully followed it every day for the last eight years (hey, don’t judge me – some people read the newspaper every morning, I just choose to read Schlock…and a few hand full dozen plethora of other webcomics).

Continue reading Squealing-Like-A-Fan-Boy

Rock and Worship Roadshow Recap

Last night a bunch of us from PRV went to the Rock and Worship Roadshow in the Boise. For those of you not in the know, the Roadshow is a collection of eight bands from a variety of musical genres:

  • Mercy Me
  • Tenth Avenue North
  • Lecrae
  • Hawk Nelson
  • Disciple
  • Sidewalk Prophets
  • Rend Collective Experiment
  • Moriah Peters

While the headliners of the show were Mercy Me and Tenth Avenue North (both contemporary rock bands), it was Lacrae (hip hop) and Disciple (metal) who really bought down the house! Disciple was exceptional with an energetic front man, Kevin Young, and a guitar player who did a back flip off a six or eight foot tall box while playing his guitar…  yeah, they were fun to watch!

The Hawk Nelson band had a rough night of it as their front man, Jason Dunn, as wasn’t feeling good with a sore throat and an injured hip. Not to mention that their bass player got delayed by US customs while trying to fly in from Canada…accordingly their bus driver filled in last night on the bass and did a great job (talk about a shift in duties!).

Continue reading Rock and Worship Roadshow Recap

Narbonic Controlled Hyperthermia

I was in a controlled hyperthermia state for the past few weeks.

A Narbonic induced pyrexia.

And it was deadly – absorbing all my energy and brainpower until my mind was full of mad science, zombies, taking gerbils, world dominating evil hamsters, crazy computer genius and a gun-crazy intern.

Yes, I was trapped in Shaenon Garrity’s evil universe as my eyes read all six years of Narbonic one after the other…..

And the crazy thing is that I enjoyed every minute!  🙂