Category Archives: Interests

Interests

A High School Musical Marathon

The problem with living with two ladies is the romantic movies or “chick flicks” they watch. The great depression has hit the Ardell Household.  

This weekend we had a High School Musical Marathon – luckily without the bouncing sing-a-long ball. Of course, this didn’t really stop the sign-a-long, it just stopped the subtitles. Undecided

High School Musical: A Review

Ok. I will confess. I did enjoy watching this flick. Yelp – it is one of the best comedies out there!

What do you mean it’s not a comedy? Have you SEEN it?  It’s a comedy.

Well…sure there was this couple who got together…but man, it was funny. =)  Oh – and the songs were pretty cool as well.  I especially liked the basketball song (“Keep your head in the game” – or something like that).  [@more@]

High School Musical 2: A Second Review

Being a marathon, we had to watch the sequel. Unfortunately, this movie wasn’t as good as the first (very few sequels are).  

Personally, I did not like the fact that the whole movie was based upon the break up of Troy and Gabriella.   It’s like – dude, we just watched them get together! Why do we want to watch them break up?!  Sigh.

The kitchen scene was pretty cool, though.  Oh – and the baseball song. That one rocked!!

Interests, Theology Thoughts

Prayer of the Refugee by Rise Against

We had a place that we could call home,
And a life no one could touch…

We are the angry and the desperate,
The hungry, and the cold,
We are the ones who kept quiet,
And always did what we were told….

But we’ve been sweating while you slept so calm,
In the safety of your home….

–Prayer of the Refugee by Rise Against

Can you hear the cry? The emotions? The pain in these lyrics?  

I could!!!![@more@]

And as I listened, my spirit recalled the words spoken long ago:

Why, O LORD, do you stand far off?
       Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak,
       who are caught in the schemes he devises.
He lies in wait near the villages;
       from ambush he murders the innocent,
       watching in secret for his victims.
 He lies in wait like a lion in cover;
       he lies in wait to catch the helpless;
       he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.
 His victims are crushed, they collapse;
       they fall under his strength.

-Psalms 10:1-2,8-10,12

Rise Against end their song with proclamation that they will no longer stand idlly by, but they will stand up and fight:

So open your eyes child…

Keep quiet no longer,
We’ll sing through the day,
Of the lives that we’ve lost,
And the lives we’ve reclaimed.

Don’t hold me up now,
I can stand my own ground,
I don’t need your help now,
You will let me down, down, down!

In a similar vein, Psalms 10 ends with a proclamation – the difference is that the Psalmist proclaims that God is King:

The LORD is King for ever and ever;
       the nations will perish from his land.
You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted;
       you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
       in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.

Let the Church rise up and proclaim the reign and rule of the Lord Almighty!!

May we no longer sit on the sidelines of the greatest battle of all times!! 

Interests

The Offspring

A co-worker loaned me The Offspring’s latest album “Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace” – and it is very good. Smile  I might have to pick up a copy myself…or at the very least, download a few songs.

For those you who don’t know who The Offspring are, they are a puck rock band from California. They have been around since 1984 – mostly as an independent rock group. They had their biggest hit in 1998 with the album “Americana”.

But I digress – “Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace”… that is the album I’m talking about. Tongue out

There are some sweet songs on it. My favorite are:

  • “Stuff Is Messed Up”
  • “Fix You”
  • “Kristy, Are You Doing Okay?”
  • "Nothingtown"

As you might of guessed from the song titles, these are not songs-from-a-can like 95% of the songs on the radio are. These are songs about real life, real people in real situations. It's not EMO stuff. It's just real people singing real songs. 

And then there's the great bass and the smooth electric guitar coming through like a knife through butter. Life is good. Cool

Interests

Schlock Mercenary: Under New Management

Rule 1:  "Pillage, THEN Burn"

Welcome to the world of Schlock Mercenary. Written by Howard Tayler, Schlock Mercenary is an awesome webcomic about a group of mercenaries traveling the galaxy, meeting fascinating life-forms and killing them!

[click here for basic training] Wink

Most of you have heard about Schlock Mercenary before as I've been reading the comic for about 4 years now… so why am I writing about it?  Because I just received my very own copy of " Schlock Mercenary: Under New Management"!!!! Cool

"Schlock Mercenary: Under New Management" is the first book released by Tayler based upon the webcomic ["based upon" isn't quite factually correct as the book is just a printed version of the online strip… BUT it does have a cool bonus story about how Schlock (hmm… how do you describe Schlock… how about "Schlock, a plasma toting, action crazy blob"?) got his first plasma gun].[@more@]

Note: Schlock is the green blob at the bottom of the picture holding the wicked looking gun. Before you make fun of him, please note that he can devour, eat, kill or otherwise harm all the other sapient being pictured – including the thing in the podium. 

Needless to say, I was very, very surprised and very, very happy!  Surprised (oh – did I mention that it was a late BD present? As such, it was very unexpected – which of course, makes opening the box that much more fun!)  Tongue out

I spend the weekend devouring the comic book in all it's glory. Reliving the days when plasma guns, sapient eating plants and teleporting missiles ruled.  Ah.. the good old days. Laughing

Interests, Outdoors

Blue Grass & Green Skies

When I peaked the top of Horseshoe Pass this morning, I couldn’t help but be amazed at view before me: Glorious green mountains rolling downward towards the earth with dark blue/gray clouds providing a perfect covering for the peaking sun.

As I drove along the winding road through the mountains, I started to get a little home sick for the Ozarks and their wooded hills. Adding to the scene was the folky music of Nor’Wester singing Sixteen Tons and Fishn’ Blues.

Then, as I entered a small valley at near the base of the mountains, my thoughts turned to Ireland. All of a sudden, the grass on the hills turned blue and skies when green.[@more@]

For the last few months (hmm… half a year now?), I have been going to a small Irish themed coffee shop to relax and read during my lunch breaks. I’ve also found a great online Irish music station (LiveIreland.com) that has been helping me through my work day.

In some ways, it’s been odd to have this focus on Celtic music… yeah, I’ve always liked Celtic music, but recently it’s been a bigger focus. You see, in the past, I’ve usually turned to bluegrass music (or old school country) when I wanted to relax.

Why the change?

I’m not sure. But what I do know is that while I was driving this morning along the blue grasses and under the green skies, I remembered that the Bluegrass music of the hills originated from the Celtic music of Irish, Welsh, & Scottish immigrants.

So in a way I was going home – home back to the moors of England & Wales from where’s my blood runs.

Interests

Prince Caspian: A Movie Review

It was a random act – an unplanned movement – a situation with no pre-planning. Saturday evening at 9:40 pm and we were walking home after a long day downtown… it was at that time in space that we noticed Prince Caspian was playing at 9:45 pm…. end of story.

Now for the flick

It was great! We both really enjoyed it!  =)

If you have been reading anything on the web about Prince Caspian you will know that they didn't follow the book as close as they did with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The reason for this deviation was legitimate – ie. the book doesn't lend itself to a movie in the sequences that it was written. [@more@]

For example, after we are reintroduced to the Pevensie kids in the book, Lewis goes into a huge back flash telling the story of Caspian. Since this is a little tough to do on the big screen (not counting those really weird flicks that are all back-flashes and leave you wondering what the heck happened).  

Anyway, I digress.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian does a great job in convening the truth of the book. Mainly that God does not deliver His people the same way twice. In fact, Lewis show that God will use the most unlikely person in the world to save His people.

Prince Caspian is a Telmarine prince whose people have ruled Naria for hundreds of years. The Telmarines are a brutal people bend on killing all true Narians – a genocide of massive proportion.

It is this boy that Aslan chooses to deliver the Narians. Kinda reminds you of Moses… raised by an evil king, taught to lead in the best schools, and secretly trained in the ways of the Lord.  

High King Peter

With out spoiling the movie, I really like the way the film deals with pride and self reliance. The flick has High King Peter trying to save the Narians on his own without the help of Aslan. While not in the book, it is perfect as I can see him trying to do this.  In fact, I see myself trying to do this all the time… Undecided

Queen Susan

She is one kick-ass gueen!  That's right, instead of sitting on the side lines and fainting at sight of blood – Queen Susan gets in there and lets the arrows fly!  

Kind Edmond and Queen Lucy

The film didn't really spend much time on these two characters…which I thought was very sad. Yet, the producers where limited by time and a plot line. Tongue out

The Real Hero

It's a sad, sad world when people do not recognize the real hero of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. This is the one character who bravely tackles foes of all types, regardless of size or experience. He serves his people well – so much so that they hold only the greatest love and respect for him.

It is a sign of the decay of the age when the real hero doesn't get much screen time. Instead the movie focuses on the minor characters. sigh. This is another example of Hollywood gone a stray.  There should be a law again this!!!!

What?!!! You don't know who this is this hero is? The one true hero of Narina!? He is ONE who saves all of Naria from the graps of the evil Telmarines!!!  

The entire movie is about him!! That's right – Reepicheep!!!!

 

Book Reviews, Current Events, Interests

'Aliens Are My Brother'

The Vatican has announced that it’s ok to believe in aliens. In fact, Father Funes, director of the Vatican Observatory, said that there may be “some aliens could even be free from original sin.”

Interesting statement.

This reminds me of a book I read a few years ago called Alone in the Universe? Aliens, the X-Files & God by David Wilkinson.

It was a great book that looked at everything from the possibility for extraterrestrial life, government conspiracy theories, scientific arguments for space travel, and claims that the Bible describes alien encounters. Wilkinson also talks about what would happen to the Bible and the Christian belief if aliens are discovered.[@more@]

The end result: it doesn’t really matter. If there are aliens out there, God made them and he has a plan for them.

Comic by ironychan of Get Medieval

Interests

Tetris by Midtown Dickens

I found a new band. Specifically, I have a new song.  

Here's the deal: I was minding my own business, rocking out to "Whiskey From A Wire" – a cool Indie-rock online radio station [tune in via iTunes] – when this really sweet, down-home, bouncy and raw song came across the copper.

As my foot tapped to the beat, my head realized that the song was about 'tetris'. That's right etris – the old Nintendo game that was highly addictive.

I recall (hang on, it's FLASHBACK time!) when my Grandpa came to visit – I was about 8 or 9… Anyway, he got to playing Tetris on our original Nintendo station (that's right – old school baby!) and didn't stop for three days straight!!!!!!

Well, it seemed that way to me!!! I mean, he was playing it when I went to bed at night and when I woke up the next morning, he was still playing it. That could ONLY mean that he had played it straight through the night.  [@more@]

Come on – give me a break – I WAS ONLY EIGHT YEARS OLD!!!!  At that age, eight pm was late!!!!  Staying up to ten playing Tetris was unheard of!! 

Sigh

Ok – enough of flashbacks to Ardell's warped childhood (does anyone know a good counselor?).  

You really have to listen to this song – it's great!!  Digging around online, I found a place where you can listen to it for free. If you like the song, check out the Midtown Dickens MySpace page. You can listen to some of their other songs there – and if you are a MySpace member, you can also download some of their songs for free.

Or you can support these three ladies by purchasing their songs for 99 cents – that is $0.99 (notice the dollar sign and decimal point).

Enjoy Cool