I know, the London Games of 2012 ended about five months ago, and the Sochi Winter Games of 2014 won't be held until, well, over a year from now, and then we gotta wait until 2016(!!!) for the Rio Games....but, you just gotta love the Olympics, right? All those wacky sports, and the things-that-look-like-they-would-be-incredible-to-do-if-you-knew-you-wouldn't-get-hurt-attempting-them...and besides, in four years, we'll be wondering, "Now, what events are in the Olympics again...?"
So, here's a refresher course on each event. Enjoy!
Archery - The act of launching a sharp stick like a missile at a target, easy to see progress if you practice semi-regularly. The way people have gotten food for thousands of years, and the reason so many men pretended to be Robin Hood or William Tell when they were little boys. Can be dangerous for nearby animals. Received a large spike in popularity from a series of superpopular, ultrairritating and poorly-written books, as well as a movie.
Badminton - That game that's sort of like tennis but wimpier, which no one really knows how to play, but it's always set up at picnics, and the little kids chase each other all around with the rackets while wondering why the ball-thing is called a "birdie", and what kind of bird it was made from.
Basketball - The best game in the world that was invented out of desperation by a preacher teaching a phys ed class using two old peach baskets. This led to the Harlem Globetrotters, "Hoosiers", Michael Jordan, ESPN becoming a dominant force in television, and the state of Oklahoma actually banding together for a common cause for six months of the year.
Beach Volleyball - All the cool factors of volleyball, but played barefoot in sand, which could, if one was scientifically-minded, lead to interesting experiments on how sand particles trap heat. Can lead to friendships being made or frantic prayer. Occasionally played in swimsuits.
Boxing - Where two guys beat each other up only by punching the other guy above the waist, and nobody else really cares or has any idea how the winner is decided.
Canoeing/Kayaking - Paddling a small boat as fast as possible without falling in the water. Sometimes used in sappy love scenes in romantic movies.
Cycling - Riding a bike really fast without falling over. Very hard and not much fun to do.
Diving - Something done only by insane people, leaping off a very high object head-first into very deep water. Boring to watch, the FCC should outlaw the televising of men's competitions.
Equestrian, aka "Riding Horses" - The only Olympic event involving animals, so that's kinda neat. But the dressing up in funny outfits and prancing around looks silly. Not practical at all, but the leaping-over-objects part looks fun.
Fencing, aka "Swordfighting" - They announce the combatants, who then stare at each other and say the immortal words: "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father, prepare to die." Except they can't actually hack each other to pieces, which would be bloody and gruesome and not make very good ratings at all...and they wear beekeeper suits. It would be much more interesting if they were allowed to wear costumes, or there was a mandatory exchange of witty dialogue, or if they could use lightsabers.
Field Hockey - Uh....hockey without ice? Sounds easy enough. But, wait...how do you play hockey?
Gymnastics - The always-entertaining showcase of skills that would hardly ever be practical in everyday life. Except for the balance beam. But really, how often are we required to know how to dance and do cartwheels, or hang perfectly still suspended in midair, or leap over random objects?
Handball - Another sport no one in the US or Canada knows what is. Although from what little I've heard of it, it sounds like Calvinball.
Judo - Kind of like boxing. Except instead of punching each other, you kick the other guy. And it sounds so much more impressive and scary if somebody says, "Oh, yeah, I know judo."
Modern Pentathalon - Five events of something or other. Not too large a following.
Rhythmic Gymnastics - Ballet dancing with sticks, little balls and streamers. Makes no sense at all.
Rowing - A great upper-body workout, used to move across water. Only used in ordinary life on floats along the river, which if taken in middle of summer are basically waterlogged hiking trips.
Sailing - Using outdated slow methods of sustainable green energy to see who can be the first to a certain point. Sort of like racing snails or turtles. Only rich people near the ocean can do this in normal times, thus 98.7% of the country has no interest whatsoever.
Shooting - Using a gun to hit a target. Much harder than archery, much more expensive, and more dangerous.
Soccer - The world's most popular sport, most people have played this as kids. Awesome to play, not as great to watch. Often used in sports movies.
Swimming - Seeing who can stay above the water and get out of it the fastest, only should be done in times of dire emergency.
Synchronized Swimming - Cloned dancing inside a swimming pool? Why?
Table Tennis, aka "Ping Pong" - One of the events played often by normal humans, although at a lot slower, less cool fashion. Good for catching up on news or solving problems, and when passionate enough about it, a fantastic cardio workout.
Tae-kwon-do - Some type of martial arts, can kill people. Interesting if demonstrated in talent shows.
Tennis - An awesome game that looks much easier than it actually is. Teaches you subtlety, that gentleness is more effective than forcing your way through to get things done. You can get a good tan playing it, terrific stress reliever.
Track(aka "Running") and Field - The Olympic discipline most in use by college students, getting from one place to another in as efficient a manner as possible. And running just makes you feel good! The other events, the "Field" part, focus on random things like leaping the farthest, throwing long spears or chunks of metal the longest distance, or using a flexible stick to leap over gigantic buildings in a single bound.
Trampolining - Yes, somehow this is an Olympic sport. What the thrill-seekers who terrify their moms with backflips do when they grow up. Very cool to watch.
Triathalon - The ultimate test of one's athleticism: Swimming a mile(!), then biking for a long ways, then running a marathon(!!). Few try it, which is why anyone who does automatically has their respect level go up about eight notches.
Volleyball - is awesome. Definitely teaches perseverance, is a great stress reliever, and a good way to meet new people. Played on many surfaces, including wood, concrete, linoleum, sand, gravel, and kitty litter. For some reason viewed as a girl's game.
Water Polo - The worst parts of nearly every ball game thrown together in a act of torture surely devised by Count Tyrone Rugen. Football or hockey without any sort of padding, where you can pummel people MMA-style without penalty, in the middle of a freaking pool?! Why not add sharks and pirahnas into the mix and have snipers shooting while they're at it? Seems horrendous to play, awful to watch.
Weightlifting - Large drug-users lifting impossibly heavy objects. Yawn.
Wrestling - The only event left from the Greek Olympics, but thankfully the participants wear clothes now, they try to trap ("pin") the other person to where they can't move. Doesn't involve a ball, so most people stay home instead of watching wrestling matches.
Friday, December 28, 2012
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Music Review; Brad Paisley - 5th Gear
Okay, after this one, I promise I won't post any more reviews of Brad's CDs until the new year(thankful there's just two left). But, this one might be my favorite. I'm not sure. But this was the first album of his that I got, from Target on the way to Oklahoma City.
You see, one of the local radio stations I listen to was having this contest on the morning show, with the prize being tickets to Brad Paisley's show in OKC Friday night. And so I enter, since I enjoy contests, and that'd be an awesome prize. And somehow, maybe because I started dialing the number before I even heard what type of contest it would be, I got through, and I just happened to be the tenth caller, or whatever the number was that day. So the contest was this: In less than ten seconds, I had to answer all four of these questions wrong: 1) How many months are in a year? (Four.) 2) What is the opposite of "big"? (Giant.) 3) What planet do we live on? (Mars.) 4) What river runs through Tulsa? (The Missouri.)
So I won the tickets, which was awesome. So Mom and I head to Tulsa to pick them up, then get a few things we needed at Target(including a CD of his, since we figured we ought to be a little more familiar with his music than just the singles on the radio), and then off we went down the interstate, stopping at Subway for dinner. It was an awesome concert. Incredibly loud, but cool, so neat to see everything. Justin Moore was opening, which was cool, Trevor loved his music, mainly due to the fact that since we had cable in Tahlequah, we got CMT, and so I would watch that often in the mornings, he'd watch too. And Justin's song "Small Town USA" was played on there nearly every day. Anyway, he did a good job. Miranda Lambert came next, she was all right, neither of us enjoyed her as much. I like listening to her now better than I did then. Then it was time for Brad - It was awesome. Opened up with him sitting on a stool picking through "Start a Band", and picked up from there into one huge run of hits.
And a couple days later at church, that neat girl from the ice skating, what did she say her name was? Anyway, she stopped me and asked "Were you on the radio a couple days ago, like, Monday?" "Yeah, I won tickets to the Brad Paisley concert in Oklahoma City." "Cool! Was it neat?" "It was awesome." "I bet! Anyway, I was just curious cause I was listening to the morning show when they had that contest, tried to enter. I thought, 'Wait....I know that voice! It's that guy from the ice skating!' And so I just had to see if it was really you or not." "Huh...well, that's really neat." This was how, at least as far as we can figure, part of why Sam got my name stuck as Brad for about the first month.
Anyway, this album was (no way!) his fifth CD, released June 19, 2007 by Arista Nashville, it has one of the coolest covers I've ever seen.
Track One - All I Wanted Was A Car - A man remembers how as a teenager he dreamed of getting a real car, and the sense of freedom and power that would give him. Every guy feels this way, probably, but I'll never get to find out what it's like to get behind the wheel on the road. Oh well, there's always pastures. And Courtney will be driving pretty soon, she can be the one who can give Mom and Dad fits. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT54h2fsC4Y
Track Two - Ticks - Classic country tale of the hot girl at the bar, given that Paisley twist to give it a different look at things. Great writing, not that great of a song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tiPndMqxLQ (Concert video, thank goodness.)
Track Three - Online - What can I say? Sheer. Brillance. And also the first fast song I tried to learn to play. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE6iAjEv9dQ (Video could be much better, but overall it's pretty good.)
Track Four - Letter To Me - A man writes a letter to himself at seventeen, and he's reading it. Amazing concept, sort of "Back To The Future" like, that I've never tired of pondering and reexamining. What would it be like to read a letter to yourself, sent back in time? Would you take your own advice, and if so, how would that change the world you live in later? If you blew everything off, would things turn out the same way? What if you just followed some of the suggestions? Such a great story, with room for so many more... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ3bn7V0zdU (Not how I would have made this video, but it works.)
Track Five - I'm Still A Guy - His humorous take on the feminization of males in our society, and the differences between male and female thinking. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wum5oI65OGA
Track Six - Some Mistakes - We can't learn unless we make a few mistakes...it's incredibly irritating, but it's a part of life. Some are worse than others, some are kind of fun. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv6M_06ypFY
Track Seven - It Did - A song abaout the good moments in life. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUQCvek0Y-M
Track Eight - Mr. Policeman - Oh my gosh. This is HYSTERICAL. One of his best. And basically a musical version of every Dukes of Hazzard episode ever filmed. LIttle hard to play, though. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5hFnal_Jug (Naturally I'd pick this video, whoever spliced this together was awesome.)
Track Nine - If Love Was A Plane - The cliche "Love is blind" reworked into a very nice tune. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rmjy4kI_xq8
Track Ten - Oh Love - Duet with Carrie Underwood, the melody of which sounds oddly like "Whiskey Lullaby". It's all right, kinda dull, but they work well together. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GX7x_IdnVQ
Track Eleven - Better Than This - The conversations aroud a campfire... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNclXvP8qo8
Track Twelve - With You, Without You - Another in the "Yeah, I'm having trouble letting go here" vein. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCpN1hcMJ3s
Track Thirteen - Bigger Fish To Fry - Shaking my head... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7VdWq6Oh8E
Track Fourteen - When We All Get To Heaven - The classic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft4R93LTX3M
Track Fifteen - Throttleneck - His best instrumental, which is saying something. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uuui6WJfd0k
Track Sixteen - Waitin' On A Woman - Everybody loved it so much(for good reason) that it was re-released on this album, too; and then it became a single. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-C-IbkuNWs
Covers pretty much every facet of country music, the great, the good, the sappy, the rough-edged, the dull. My rankings:
16 - Bigger Fish To Fry
15 - Better Than This
14 - WIth You, Without You
13 - Oh Love
12 - It Did
11 - If Love Was A Plane
10 - Ticks
9 - Some Mistakes
8 - All I Wanted Was A Car
7 - I'm Still A Guy
6 - When We All Get To Heaven
5 - Throttleneck
4 - Online
3 - Mr. Policeman
2 - Waitin' On A Woman
1 - Letter To Me.
You see, one of the local radio stations I listen to was having this contest on the morning show, with the prize being tickets to Brad Paisley's show in OKC Friday night. And so I enter, since I enjoy contests, and that'd be an awesome prize. And somehow, maybe because I started dialing the number before I even heard what type of contest it would be, I got through, and I just happened to be the tenth caller, or whatever the number was that day. So the contest was this: In less than ten seconds, I had to answer all four of these questions wrong: 1) How many months are in a year? (Four.) 2) What is the opposite of "big"? (Giant.) 3) What planet do we live on? (Mars.) 4) What river runs through Tulsa? (The Missouri.)
So I won the tickets, which was awesome. So Mom and I head to Tulsa to pick them up, then get a few things we needed at Target(including a CD of his, since we figured we ought to be a little more familiar with his music than just the singles on the radio), and then off we went down the interstate, stopping at Subway for dinner. It was an awesome concert. Incredibly loud, but cool, so neat to see everything. Justin Moore was opening, which was cool, Trevor loved his music, mainly due to the fact that since we had cable in Tahlequah, we got CMT, and so I would watch that often in the mornings, he'd watch too. And Justin's song "Small Town USA" was played on there nearly every day. Anyway, he did a good job. Miranda Lambert came next, she was all right, neither of us enjoyed her as much. I like listening to her now better than I did then. Then it was time for Brad - It was awesome. Opened up with him sitting on a stool picking through "Start a Band", and picked up from there into one huge run of hits.
And a couple days later at church, that neat girl from the ice skating, what did she say her name was? Anyway, she stopped me and asked "Were you on the radio a couple days ago, like, Monday?" "Yeah, I won tickets to the Brad Paisley concert in Oklahoma City." "Cool! Was it neat?" "It was awesome." "I bet! Anyway, I was just curious cause I was listening to the morning show when they had that contest, tried to enter. I thought, 'Wait....I know that voice! It's that guy from the ice skating!' And so I just had to see if it was really you or not." "Huh...well, that's really neat." This was how, at least as far as we can figure, part of why Sam got my name stuck as Brad for about the first month.
Anyway, this album was (no way!) his fifth CD, released June 19, 2007 by Arista Nashville, it has one of the coolest covers I've ever seen.
Track One - All I Wanted Was A Car - A man remembers how as a teenager he dreamed of getting a real car, and the sense of freedom and power that would give him. Every guy feels this way, probably, but I'll never get to find out what it's like to get behind the wheel on the road. Oh well, there's always pastures. And Courtney will be driving pretty soon, she can be the one who can give Mom and Dad fits. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT54h2fsC4Y
Track Two - Ticks - Classic country tale of the hot girl at the bar, given that Paisley twist to give it a different look at things. Great writing, not that great of a song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tiPndMqxLQ (Concert video, thank goodness.)
Track Three - Online - What can I say? Sheer. Brillance. And also the first fast song I tried to learn to play. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE6iAjEv9dQ (Video could be much better, but overall it's pretty good.)
Track Four - Letter To Me - A man writes a letter to himself at seventeen, and he's reading it. Amazing concept, sort of "Back To The Future" like, that I've never tired of pondering and reexamining. What would it be like to read a letter to yourself, sent back in time? Would you take your own advice, and if so, how would that change the world you live in later? If you blew everything off, would things turn out the same way? What if you just followed some of the suggestions? Such a great story, with room for so many more... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ3bn7V0zdU (Not how I would have made this video, but it works.)
Track Five - I'm Still A Guy - His humorous take on the feminization of males in our society, and the differences between male and female thinking. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wum5oI65OGA
Track Six - Some Mistakes - We can't learn unless we make a few mistakes...it's incredibly irritating, but it's a part of life. Some are worse than others, some are kind of fun. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv6M_06ypFY
Track Seven - It Did - A song abaout the good moments in life. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUQCvek0Y-M
Track Eight - Mr. Policeman - Oh my gosh. This is HYSTERICAL. One of his best. And basically a musical version of every Dukes of Hazzard episode ever filmed. LIttle hard to play, though. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5hFnal_Jug (Naturally I'd pick this video, whoever spliced this together was awesome.)
Track Nine - If Love Was A Plane - The cliche "Love is blind" reworked into a very nice tune. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rmjy4kI_xq8
Track Ten - Oh Love - Duet with Carrie Underwood, the melody of which sounds oddly like "Whiskey Lullaby". It's all right, kinda dull, but they work well together. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GX7x_IdnVQ
Track Eleven - Better Than This - The conversations aroud a campfire... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNclXvP8qo8
Track Twelve - With You, Without You - Another in the "Yeah, I'm having trouble letting go here" vein. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCpN1hcMJ3s
Track Thirteen - Bigger Fish To Fry - Shaking my head... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7VdWq6Oh8E
Track Fourteen - When We All Get To Heaven - The classic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft4R93LTX3M
Track Fifteen - Throttleneck - His best instrumental, which is saying something. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uuui6WJfd0k
Track Sixteen - Waitin' On A Woman - Everybody loved it so much(for good reason) that it was re-released on this album, too; and then it became a single. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-C-IbkuNWs
Covers pretty much every facet of country music, the great, the good, the sappy, the rough-edged, the dull. My rankings:
16 - Bigger Fish To Fry
15 - Better Than This
14 - WIth You, Without You
13 - Oh Love
12 - It Did
11 - If Love Was A Plane
10 - Ticks
9 - Some Mistakes
8 - All I Wanted Was A Car
7 - I'm Still A Guy
6 - When We All Get To Heaven
5 - Throttleneck
4 - Online
3 - Mr. Policeman
2 - Waitin' On A Woman
1 - Letter To Me.
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
A Holiday Post
Here it is, December 25. The presents have been opened, the siblings playing with thier gifts, the Thunder game will start in a couple hours, and my phone's been lighting up with "Merry Christmas!" texts.
I'm not materialistic enough for a modern holiday, I guess. Everyone kept asking "Is there anything you want this year?" "Um....no, not really, I can't think of anything." "..Oh. Hmm. It's just really hard to think of something." "Things" are nice, but...it's more important to have family and friends around to spend time with.
Went to church Sunday for the first time in over a month, it was great to be back at GBC. Everbody said something like "You're back!" "We're so proud of you, Wes!" or "Welcome home!". Good friendly people and good teaching.
It's a little odd to be home again, but it's a welcome change from life on campus. Though it does feel extremely strange to not be going to class and everything...got an A in every class(yes, even Comp I), so that's good, 4.0 GPA through one semester. I wasn't expecting that, but I'm glad. 14 credits down, 110 to go...
This has been a very hard four months. Learned a lot, about school subjects, about myself, about life, about God. Extremely thankful for the friends and other people the Lord placed along my path to help me through, not sure I could've made it without the encouragement(sometimes daily), advice and prayers of Amanda, Jessica, Josh, Sam and Steven, then Ash, Daniel, Dylan, Jon and Maddie all played key smaller roles.
I'm only taking 12 hours this semester, but that's offset by a math course. I figured I'd better knock it out as fast as I could, and just try as best I can to understand it. And also computer science, but my tech-genius cousin Logan offered to help me get through that. Then there's Comp II(with a different teacher, thank goodness), and Basic Writing for the Media, those sound challenging but fun. I like challenges.
Adventures aren't usually very pleasant while you're living them. They only become that way when they're retold, after the fact. While you're there in the middle of the action, they're generally awful and horrible, and nothing is clear at all. But they shape us, grow us. Most of the time, it seemed like my faith was somewhat weak, I was just trying desperately to stay afloat. But, maybe...maybe those are the times it gets stronger? Anyway, God never said that this life would be easy. But he did say that he would give us what we needed at the moment, that He'd see us through. And He does.
Just some things I've been thinking about. Now, I've got some basketball to watch.
I'm not materialistic enough for a modern holiday, I guess. Everyone kept asking "Is there anything you want this year?" "Um....no, not really, I can't think of anything." "..Oh. Hmm. It's just really hard to think of something." "Things" are nice, but...it's more important to have family and friends around to spend time with.
Went to church Sunday for the first time in over a month, it was great to be back at GBC. Everbody said something like "You're back!" "We're so proud of you, Wes!" or "Welcome home!". Good friendly people and good teaching.
It's a little odd to be home again, but it's a welcome change from life on campus. Though it does feel extremely strange to not be going to class and everything...got an A in every class(yes, even Comp I), so that's good, 4.0 GPA through one semester. I wasn't expecting that, but I'm glad. 14 credits down, 110 to go...
This has been a very hard four months. Learned a lot, about school subjects, about myself, about life, about God. Extremely thankful for the friends and other people the Lord placed along my path to help me through, not sure I could've made it without the encouragement(sometimes daily), advice and prayers of Amanda, Jessica, Josh, Sam and Steven, then Ash, Daniel, Dylan, Jon and Maddie all played key smaller roles.
I'm only taking 12 hours this semester, but that's offset by a math course. I figured I'd better knock it out as fast as I could, and just try as best I can to understand it. And also computer science, but my tech-genius cousin Logan offered to help me get through that. Then there's Comp II(with a different teacher, thank goodness), and Basic Writing for the Media, those sound challenging but fun. I like challenges.
Adventures aren't usually very pleasant while you're living them. They only become that way when they're retold, after the fact. While you're there in the middle of the action, they're generally awful and horrible, and nothing is clear at all. But they shape us, grow us. Most of the time, it seemed like my faith was somewhat weak, I was just trying desperately to stay afloat. But, maybe...maybe those are the times it gets stronger? Anyway, God never said that this life would be easy. But he did say that he would give us what we needed at the moment, that He'd see us through. And He does.
Just some things I've been thinking about. Now, I've got some basketball to watch.
Friday, December 14, 2012
The Best of 2012
I am all packed up and ready to move out (yay!). Welll....okay, not exactly. More like go on a three-week vacation, kind of. Except people don't usually have vacations during Christmastime...hmm. Well, the point is, this semester is nearly over, and I can leave this place for a while!!!
So, since I have everything all packed, and there's no way to study for an essay final in the morning, I'm sitting here bored, like always. So, I decided to compile a list of the best things of the past year, and a few of the stranger or worst, too, while I'm at it.
Best Blog - www.itjustgetsstranger.blogspot.com. Or www.eligetstobeamommy.blogspot.com. These are both run by a Mormon lawyer who lives on an island somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Seriously. And he is a fantastic writer, they're absolutely hysterical.
Best Movie Seen in Theaters - This is easy, there's only one candidate. So, for that reason, this category goes to "The Amazing Spider-Man". (There's two posts written about in, in July and November.)
Most Bizarre, Confusing and Violent Movie Seen - "Inception", I still have no idea what was going on, it's a nightmare for people like me, trying to dissect it.
Best Pro Sports Team - The Oklahoma City Thunder. We got to the NBA Finals, people!!! SO incredibly awesome. (Although points are deducted for trading James Harden in October, but....that's another post.) The Denver Broncos would come second, but they traded Tim Tebow, and then signed Peyton Manning, and started using those awful orange jerseys...St Louis Cardinals are in third.
Most Loathed Pro Sports Team - Hmm. All the usual candidates are still in the mix, so it's a tough call beween the Miami Heat, LA Lakers, New York Yankees, New York Giants or New England Patriots.
Best Non-Country Song of the Year - "Home" by Phillip Phillips would be a good choice, except that I never really liked it all that well in the first place, and then they started playing it EVERY.SINGLE.PLACE.ON.THE.PLANET, so that's out. That horrible Gotye tune "Somebody I Used To Know" is annoying, never understood the whole fuss over "Gangnam Style" or whatever that's called. This is easy. "Call Me Maybe", Carly Rae Jepsen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWNaR-rxAic (It's catchy, lyrics are stupid but clean, easy to play, great for making parodies of.)
Best Parody of Best Non-Country Song of the Year - Even easier than the above category, these guys are awesome. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QibG6gTTa38 Although the President (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX1YVzdnpEc) and the US Olympic Swim Team (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPIA7mpm1wU) come close to giving those college guys a run for their money.
Best Country Song of the Year - Hmm. This is tough, but I guess it would be a tie between Keith Urban's "For You" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWK1sG3spiE) or Miranda Lambert's "Over You" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y2icHOgC5U). Jason Aldean's "Tattoos On This Town" would be right there, but it came out in September 2011, so it's doesn't count.
Strangest Experience from January-June - Senior pictures in March, or graduating high school in May. Or maybe not paying any attention to the Super Bowl.
Strangest Experience from July-December - College.
Favorite Unexpected Happening of the Year - Well, going to the Bible conference in Louisville in April was a very neat experience. (There's a post about that, too.)
Favorite Semiexpected Happening of the Year - Alton and JB's wedding, or Buttermilk having twins.
Least Favorite Unexpected Happening of the Year - Rookie Bridge Camp.
Favorite Time Spent With Friends - Helping with the newsletters at the Fergusons' in March, or the last time at SGYC in July.
Best Sporting Event on Television - The Olympics, duh. And the Daytona 500, once it finally started, was pretty noteworthy, too.
Best Time to Walk Around the NSU Campus - Early morning, around 7-8 a.m, the place is sleeping, it's peaceful and quiet, and good lighting for photography.
Worst Time to Walk Around the NSU Campus - Weekends. It's dead. Nothing happening. And you always feel like somebody's watching you, you're about to get attacked....Or nighttime, because it's really dark.
Best Place to Play Guitar on Campus - Uh, well...nowhere, really. But the front porch of Ross is okay, and over by the fountain, or sitting on the memorial in front of Seminary Hall, those are all acceptable.
Favorite American Idol Contestants of Season 11 - Hollie Cavanagh, Colton Dixon, Heejun Han and Skylar Laine.
Least Favorite American Idol Contestants of Season 11 - Jessica Sanchez, DeAndre Brackensick, Joshua Ledet and Jermaine Jones. (Ugh....)
Predictions for Season 12 of American Idol - It will be a mess. Another season of lame themes, dull song choices, freaky antics by judges who don't actually critque anything, and the wrong people getting voted off every week.
Strangest Temporary Job - Being a marketer for a Nintendo DS video game based off the Nickelodeon show iCarly.
Hardest Item to Write This Year - Either scholarship essays, my graduation speech, or any of the three essays I've had to write in Comp I so far. I just don't know how to write essays yet! Haven't done enough of them to get good at it.
Strangest Argument of the Year - A several-hour debate over whether Ferdinand the bull was gay...Jon and Sam said he was, Amanda and I said he wasn't.
Weirdest Quote I Can Remember Saying - "I wonder what people would do if I started howling at the moon...?"
Best Quote of the Year - "Hey, um....we're awesome, so can you come check us out?!" Sam, very loudly, in the middle of the pharmacy...
So, since I have everything all packed, and there's no way to study for an essay final in the morning, I'm sitting here bored, like always. So, I decided to compile a list of the best things of the past year, and a few of the stranger or worst, too, while I'm at it.
Best Blog - www.itjustgetsstranger.blogspot.com. Or www.eligetstobeamommy.blogspot.com. These are both run by a Mormon lawyer who lives on an island somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Seriously. And he is a fantastic writer, they're absolutely hysterical.
Best Movie Seen in Theaters - This is easy, there's only one candidate. So, for that reason, this category goes to "The Amazing Spider-Man". (There's two posts written about in, in July and November.)
Most Bizarre, Confusing and Violent Movie Seen - "Inception", I still have no idea what was going on, it's a nightmare for people like me, trying to dissect it.
Best Pro Sports Team - The Oklahoma City Thunder. We got to the NBA Finals, people!!! SO incredibly awesome. (Although points are deducted for trading James Harden in October, but....that's another post.) The Denver Broncos would come second, but they traded Tim Tebow, and then signed Peyton Manning, and started using those awful orange jerseys...St Louis Cardinals are in third.
Most Loathed Pro Sports Team - Hmm. All the usual candidates are still in the mix, so it's a tough call beween the Miami Heat, LA Lakers, New York Yankees, New York Giants or New England Patriots.
Best Non-Country Song of the Year - "Home" by Phillip Phillips would be a good choice, except that I never really liked it all that well in the first place, and then they started playing it EVERY.SINGLE.PLACE.ON.THE.PLANET, so that's out. That horrible Gotye tune "Somebody I Used To Know" is annoying, never understood the whole fuss over "Gangnam Style" or whatever that's called. This is easy. "Call Me Maybe", Carly Rae Jepsen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWNaR-rxAic (It's catchy, lyrics are stupid but clean, easy to play, great for making parodies of.)
Best Parody of Best Non-Country Song of the Year - Even easier than the above category, these guys are awesome. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QibG6gTTa38 Although the President (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX1YVzdnpEc) and the US Olympic Swim Team (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPIA7mpm1wU) come close to giving those college guys a run for their money.
Best Country Song of the Year - Hmm. This is tough, but I guess it would be a tie between Keith Urban's "For You" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWK1sG3spiE) or Miranda Lambert's "Over You" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y2icHOgC5U). Jason Aldean's "Tattoos On This Town" would be right there, but it came out in September 2011, so it's doesn't count.
Strangest Experience from January-June - Senior pictures in March, or graduating high school in May. Or maybe not paying any attention to the Super Bowl.
Strangest Experience from July-December - College.
Favorite Unexpected Happening of the Year - Well, going to the Bible conference in Louisville in April was a very neat experience. (There's a post about that, too.)
Favorite Semiexpected Happening of the Year - Alton and JB's wedding, or Buttermilk having twins.
Least Favorite Unexpected Happening of the Year - Rookie Bridge Camp.
Favorite Time Spent With Friends - Helping with the newsletters at the Fergusons' in March, or the last time at SGYC in July.
Best Sporting Event on Television - The Olympics, duh. And the Daytona 500, once it finally started, was pretty noteworthy, too.
Best Time to Walk Around the NSU Campus - Early morning, around 7-8 a.m, the place is sleeping, it's peaceful and quiet, and good lighting for photography.
Worst Time to Walk Around the NSU Campus - Weekends. It's dead. Nothing happening. And you always feel like somebody's watching you, you're about to get attacked....Or nighttime, because it's really dark.
Best Place to Play Guitar on Campus - Uh, well...nowhere, really. But the front porch of Ross is okay, and over by the fountain, or sitting on the memorial in front of Seminary Hall, those are all acceptable.
Favorite American Idol Contestants of Season 11 - Hollie Cavanagh, Colton Dixon, Heejun Han and Skylar Laine.
Least Favorite American Idol Contestants of Season 11 - Jessica Sanchez, DeAndre Brackensick, Joshua Ledet and Jermaine Jones. (Ugh....)
Predictions for Season 12 of American Idol - It will be a mess. Another season of lame themes, dull song choices, freaky antics by judges who don't actually critque anything, and the wrong people getting voted off every week.
Strangest Temporary Job - Being a marketer for a Nintendo DS video game based off the Nickelodeon show iCarly.
Hardest Item to Write This Year - Either scholarship essays, my graduation speech, or any of the three essays I've had to write in Comp I so far. I just don't know how to write essays yet! Haven't done enough of them to get good at it.
Strangest Argument of the Year - A several-hour debate over whether Ferdinand the bull was gay...Jon and Sam said he was, Amanda and I said he wasn't.
Weirdest Quote I Can Remember Saying - "I wonder what people would do if I started howling at the moon...?"
Best Quote of the Year - "Hey, um....we're awesome, so can you come check us out?!" Sam, very loudly, in the middle of the pharmacy...
Monday, December 10, 2012
Music Review; DC Talk
I think I might have been born in the wrong time period, lol. At least as far as entertainment and things like that go, anyway. I love watching "MacGyver", enjoy "The Cosby Show" and "Full House", one of my all-time favorite movies is "The Princess Bride", I like listening to the hair bands like Bon Jovi, and DC Talk always puts me in a good mood. I know, it's weird; a small-town white kid raised on country listens to rap when stressed?
Well, yeah....with Mom and Dad being youth pastors, I was always around the cool teenagers, and there was always cool music being played in the CD or cassette players: DC Talk, Eli, Audio Adrenaline, Steven Curtis Chapman, Michael W. Smith...
Toby McKeehan, Michael Tait and Kevin Max met in college at Liberty University, which is located somewhere in Virginia. they started making music together and realized the impact for ministry that could be found in thier shared interest in the emerging world of hip-hop. So they began to preach around the area, spitting out rhymes that were just plain and simple Decent Christian Talk. And, well, the rest is history...Toby was the rapper, Kevin and Michael did the singing. After they split up, TobyMac went solo, Michael formed a band called Tait and then joined the renewed Newsboys, and Kevin joined the rebooted Audio Adrenaline.
The first album was self-titled and distributed by ForeFront Records in 1989. Mom used to rock out to this cassette in her car while in college, I think she introduced Dad to their music once they met.
Track One - Heavenbound - We're on a mission, y'all: To spread the Word, and we're heavenbound. You wanna listen? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ClRxHBtI6Y
Track Two - Gah Ta Be - You gotta be saved to make this life count. Just sayin'..cause without Christ, this life is nothin'. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oti2_wpYhU4
Track Three - Final Days - Jesus is coming back sometime soon. Are you ready? If not, you better change... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBLmPDoV5Uc
Track Four - The King(Allelujah) - The Gospel story meets the city streets. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G_9gT1sPIM
Track Five - Spinnin' Round - Unsaved souls are just spinning in circles with no clear direction, falling deeper into sin, unless you change your ways. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuVGR6A38XI
Track Six - Voices Praise Him - Praise the Lord, you guys! He's just so wonderful! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgIt7YDfkOM
Track Seven - Time Ta Jam - We're gonna preach all the time, we can't help it. It's part of who we are, keep pressing on, serving the Lord! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znDCZonGX3g
Track Eight - He Loves Me - Jesus' love is wonderful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU6yhqcqPvs
There, I feel better already. Now to tackle the rest of these finals....
Well, yeah....with Mom and Dad being youth pastors, I was always around the cool teenagers, and there was always cool music being played in the CD or cassette players: DC Talk, Eli, Audio Adrenaline, Steven Curtis Chapman, Michael W. Smith...
Toby McKeehan, Michael Tait and Kevin Max met in college at Liberty University, which is located somewhere in Virginia. they started making music together and realized the impact for ministry that could be found in thier shared interest in the emerging world of hip-hop. So they began to preach around the area, spitting out rhymes that were just plain and simple Decent Christian Talk. And, well, the rest is history...Toby was the rapper, Kevin and Michael did the singing. After they split up, TobyMac went solo, Michael formed a band called Tait and then joined the renewed Newsboys, and Kevin joined the rebooted Audio Adrenaline.
The first album was self-titled and distributed by ForeFront Records in 1989. Mom used to rock out to this cassette in her car while in college, I think she introduced Dad to their music once they met.
Track One - Heavenbound - We're on a mission, y'all: To spread the Word, and we're heavenbound. You wanna listen? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ClRxHBtI6Y
Track Two - Gah Ta Be - You gotta be saved to make this life count. Just sayin'..cause without Christ, this life is nothin'. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oti2_wpYhU4
Track Three - Final Days - Jesus is coming back sometime soon. Are you ready? If not, you better change... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBLmPDoV5Uc
Track Four - The King(Allelujah) - The Gospel story meets the city streets. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G_9gT1sPIM
Track Five - Spinnin' Round - Unsaved souls are just spinning in circles with no clear direction, falling deeper into sin, unless you change your ways. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuVGR6A38XI
Track Six - Voices Praise Him - Praise the Lord, you guys! He's just so wonderful! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgIt7YDfkOM
Track Seven - Time Ta Jam - We're gonna preach all the time, we can't help it. It's part of who we are, keep pressing on, serving the Lord! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znDCZonGX3g
Track Eight - He Loves Me - Jesus' love is wonderful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU6yhqcqPvs
There, I feel better already. Now to tackle the rest of these finals....
Music Review; Brad Paisley - Time Well Wasted
The fourth of Brad Paisley's seven(to date) albums, "Time Well Wasted" was released on August 23, 2005, by Arista Nashville. Despite being named the 2006 CMA Album of the Year, I would rate this as his worst CD. It has some good singles, though.
Track One - The World - This girl is having a really rough day, so a guy she knows tries to cheer her up. Whether it actually would or not, I haven't been able to figure out yet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93niv-kijAY (Concert video...but with a neat twist, so that kinda makes up for it.)
Track Two - Alcohol - There's scores of dirnking songs out there...but how many of them have the alcohol narrating the story? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3zkkLckeyM
Track Three - Waitin' On A Woman - This guy is stuck at the mall, waiting for his girlfriend to get done shopping....and still waiting....and STILL WAITING....and getting really irritated. Then he meets this friendly old guy who gives him some wonderful advice. One of my favorite songs, and the video's got Andy Griffith in it! Interestingly, Brad didn't write this one, and neither of his main songwriting pals did, either. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-C-IbkuNWs (Great video.)
Track Four - I'll Take You Back - Bet you thought this was gonna be a romantic comeback song? WRONG! A sarcastic mean-spirited avalanche of rejection. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lmawa-qIkuY
Track Five - She's Everything - Ack! The whiplash from hating-to-loving continues.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCjXaEbrLdw (Dull video, and that's one of the ugliest guitars I have ever seen.)
Track Six - You Need A Man Around Here - Helping a female friend move into a new place, a guy decides to hint that maybe a man needs to hang around more often. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH5zm4zlF5c
Track Seven - Out In The Parking Lot - Duet with Alan Jackson, people-watching in the parking lot of a bar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chnX2a24WhI
Track Eight - Rainin' You - "Well, she's gone...I thought I'd forgotten her, but no...." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaoOWa_3VH0
Track Nine - Flowers - "Look, I'm sorry!! There, now I apologized. For, like, the ninth time. Can we get back together now?" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJuJ7N7ckys
Track Ten - Love Is Never-Ending - Twangy mellow tune, kind of nice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlE2NoOyYZg
Track Eleven, "The Uncloudy Day", isn't on YouTube. But it's a gospel spiritual with plenty of banjo and fiddle.
Track Twelve - When I Get Where I'm Going - If I remember right, the guy who'd taught him how to play guitar really well, a sort of mentor, had just died, near the time of year that his grandpa, who taught him how to play, passed away. He was really missing both of them, when he heard this demo, and decided to put it on his next CD. Duet with Dolly Parton. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYHT-TF4KO4 (Not really much you could do with this video lyrically...)
Track Thirteen - Easy Money - Maybe written for his tour band members? Definitely an inside joke of some kind. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyIS0oLRUqE
Track Fourteen - Time Warp - Instrumental, crazy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHlmYlwUKHU (And that is a really loud guitar...gosh that keyboardist can play fast....)
Track Fifteen - Time Well Wasted - Sometimes it's okay to slow down and relax, spend some time with people we enjoy being aroudn around, making memories. I kinda forget this most of the time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr4As__lerY
Too much whiplash from one emotion to the next, it's just a weird collection on here. But, anyway, my rankings:
15 - Flowers
14 - Easy Money
13 - I'll Take You Back
12 - Rainin' You
11 - You Need A Man Around Here
10 - Out In The Parking Lot
9 - Alcohol
8 - When I Get Where I'm Going
7 - Time Well Wasted
6 - Time Warp
5 - The Uncloudy Day
4 - Love Is Never-Ending
3 - She's Everything
2 - The World
1 - Waitin' On A Woman.
Track One - The World - This girl is having a really rough day, so a guy she knows tries to cheer her up. Whether it actually would or not, I haven't been able to figure out yet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93niv-kijAY (Concert video...but with a neat twist, so that kinda makes up for it.)
Track Two - Alcohol - There's scores of dirnking songs out there...but how many of them have the alcohol narrating the story? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3zkkLckeyM
Track Three - Waitin' On A Woman - This guy is stuck at the mall, waiting for his girlfriend to get done shopping....and still waiting....and STILL WAITING....and getting really irritated. Then he meets this friendly old guy who gives him some wonderful advice. One of my favorite songs, and the video's got Andy Griffith in it! Interestingly, Brad didn't write this one, and neither of his main songwriting pals did, either. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-C-IbkuNWs (Great video.)
Track Four - I'll Take You Back - Bet you thought this was gonna be a romantic comeback song? WRONG! A sarcastic mean-spirited avalanche of rejection. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lmawa-qIkuY
Track Five - She's Everything - Ack! The whiplash from hating-to-loving continues.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCjXaEbrLdw (Dull video, and that's one of the ugliest guitars I have ever seen.)
Track Six - You Need A Man Around Here - Helping a female friend move into a new place, a guy decides to hint that maybe a man needs to hang around more often. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH5zm4zlF5c
Track Seven - Out In The Parking Lot - Duet with Alan Jackson, people-watching in the parking lot of a bar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chnX2a24WhI
Track Eight - Rainin' You - "Well, she's gone...I thought I'd forgotten her, but no...." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaoOWa_3VH0
Track Nine - Flowers - "Look, I'm sorry!! There, now I apologized. For, like, the ninth time. Can we get back together now?" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJuJ7N7ckys
Track Ten - Love Is Never-Ending - Twangy mellow tune, kind of nice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlE2NoOyYZg
Track Eleven, "The Uncloudy Day", isn't on YouTube. But it's a gospel spiritual with plenty of banjo and fiddle.
Track Twelve - When I Get Where I'm Going - If I remember right, the guy who'd taught him how to play guitar really well, a sort of mentor, had just died, near the time of year that his grandpa, who taught him how to play, passed away. He was really missing both of them, when he heard this demo, and decided to put it on his next CD. Duet with Dolly Parton. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYHT-TF4KO4 (Not really much you could do with this video lyrically...)
Track Thirteen - Easy Money - Maybe written for his tour band members? Definitely an inside joke of some kind. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyIS0oLRUqE
Track Fourteen - Time Warp - Instrumental, crazy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHlmYlwUKHU (And that is a really loud guitar...gosh that keyboardist can play fast....)
Track Fifteen - Time Well Wasted - Sometimes it's okay to slow down and relax, spend some time with people we enjoy being aroudn around, making memories. I kinda forget this most of the time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr4As__lerY
Too much whiplash from one emotion to the next, it's just a weird collection on here. But, anyway, my rankings:
15 - Flowers
14 - Easy Money
13 - I'll Take You Back
12 - Rainin' You
11 - You Need A Man Around Here
10 - Out In The Parking Lot
9 - Alcohol
8 - When I Get Where I'm Going
7 - Time Well Wasted
6 - Time Warp
5 - The Uncloudy Day
4 - Love Is Never-Ending
3 - She's Everything
2 - The World
1 - Waitin' On A Woman.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Music Review; Brad Paisley - Mud On The Tires
The third of Brad Paisley's albums, "Mud On The Tires" was released by Arista Nashville on July 22, 2003, most of the songs were written while he was dating Kim Williams, the actress from "Father of the Bride". This was where he first started to experiment with songs about non-country topics, or just songs from a different perspective. I don't really like it quite as much as either of his first two.
Track One - Mud On The Tires - New truck, wide outdoors calling...it's time for a camping trip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6nxHNrIwJA (Average video.)
Track Two - Celebrity - His lampooning of the whole concept of celebrities. Pretty funny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9mpDAJOPac (Video is okay.)
Track Three - Ain't Nothin' Like - Kind of bland, along the lines of Lonestar's "My Front Porch Lookin' In", except not anywhere as good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6UCgh8MGvk
Track Four - Little Moments - He wrote this for Kim. It's a little oversappy, but still pretty good. Very down-to-earth. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBErCVNP6rM (Boring video. I like the old couple, though.)
Track Five - That's Love - Okay, well, if "Little Moments" is the courtship phase, "That's Love" is marriage. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBErCVNP6rM
Track Six - Somebody Knows You Now - A less-than-captivating tale of regret. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iP-dZS5zWU
Track Seven - Famous People - Brilliant songwriting. A famous movie star stops in at a southern Ohio/northern Kentucky gas station, i's a great use of double meanings. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWLUdrfaPSw
Track Eight - Hold Me In Your Arms(And Let Me Fall) - Just....really typical. Kind of filler, not really anytihng special. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SDqIsXgmgA
Track Nine - Whiskey Lullaby - Duet with Allison Krauss, it's a pathetic song, not really that good content, either, but...wow, is it ever well-told. Very gripping. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZbN_nmxAGk (Long video...)
Track Ten - The Best Thing I Had Goin' - Twangier version of "I've Been Better" from his first CD, and for that reason, better. A guy realizes in his quest for 'stuff' to make his life successful, he lost what really matters. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE1yRqYhHsA
Track Eleven - The Cigar Song - He heard this story somewhere, and decided it might make a good song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cor7Kk6FESc
Track Twelve - Make A Mistake - Hmm. Cloudy skies on this message. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs0VMty7pic
Track Thirteen - Is It Raining At Your House - I guess this is a cover of a 1988 song by somebody, pretty self-explanatory lyrically. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yn09uoE-9Q
Track Fourteen is an instrumental called "Spaghetti Western Swing", I couldn't find any videos of it on YouTube.
Track Fifteen - Farther Along - Good song. Either an old hymn from somewhere, or an old gospel tune. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ9JW41Lv8s
There's a couple great songs on here, but mostly clunkers. I guess my rankings would be:
15 - Hold Me In Your Arms(And Let Me Fall)
14 - Ain't Nothin' Like
13 - Is It Raining At Your House
12 - Make A Mistake
11 - Spaghetti Western Swing
10 - Somebody Knows You Now
9 - The Best Thing I Had Goin'
8 - Mud On The Tires
7 - The Cigar Song
6 - Celebrity
5 - Whiskey Lullaby
4 - Little Moments
3 - Farther Along
2 - That's Love
1 - Famous People.
Track One - Mud On The Tires - New truck, wide outdoors calling...it's time for a camping trip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6nxHNrIwJA (Average video.)
Track Two - Celebrity - His lampooning of the whole concept of celebrities. Pretty funny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9mpDAJOPac (Video is okay.)
Track Three - Ain't Nothin' Like - Kind of bland, along the lines of Lonestar's "My Front Porch Lookin' In", except not anywhere as good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6UCgh8MGvk
Track Four - Little Moments - He wrote this for Kim. It's a little oversappy, but still pretty good. Very down-to-earth. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBErCVNP6rM (Boring video. I like the old couple, though.)
Track Five - That's Love - Okay, well, if "Little Moments" is the courtship phase, "That's Love" is marriage. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBErCVNP6rM
Track Six - Somebody Knows You Now - A less-than-captivating tale of regret. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iP-dZS5zWU
Track Seven - Famous People - Brilliant songwriting. A famous movie star stops in at a southern Ohio/northern Kentucky gas station, i's a great use of double meanings. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWLUdrfaPSw
Track Eight - Hold Me In Your Arms(And Let Me Fall) - Just....really typical. Kind of filler, not really anytihng special. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SDqIsXgmgA
Track Nine - Whiskey Lullaby - Duet with Allison Krauss, it's a pathetic song, not really that good content, either, but...wow, is it ever well-told. Very gripping. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZbN_nmxAGk (Long video...)
Track Ten - The Best Thing I Had Goin' - Twangier version of "I've Been Better" from his first CD, and for that reason, better. A guy realizes in his quest for 'stuff' to make his life successful, he lost what really matters. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE1yRqYhHsA
Track Eleven - The Cigar Song - He heard this story somewhere, and decided it might make a good song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cor7Kk6FESc
Track Twelve - Make A Mistake - Hmm. Cloudy skies on this message. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs0VMty7pic
Track Thirteen - Is It Raining At Your House - I guess this is a cover of a 1988 song by somebody, pretty self-explanatory lyrically. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yn09uoE-9Q
Track Fourteen is an instrumental called "Spaghetti Western Swing", I couldn't find any videos of it on YouTube.
Track Fifteen - Farther Along - Good song. Either an old hymn from somewhere, or an old gospel tune. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ9JW41Lv8s
There's a couple great songs on here, but mostly clunkers. I guess my rankings would be:
15 - Hold Me In Your Arms(And Let Me Fall)
14 - Ain't Nothin' Like
13 - Is It Raining At Your House
12 - Make A Mistake
11 - Spaghetti Western Swing
10 - Somebody Knows You Now
9 - The Best Thing I Had Goin'
8 - Mud On The Tires
7 - The Cigar Song
6 - Celebrity
5 - Whiskey Lullaby
4 - Little Moments
3 - Farther Along
2 - That's Love
1 - Famous People.
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Christmas Trees
There are a few things in this world so wonderful, so mesmerizing, that you have to stop whatever you're doing and just admire the beauty. A well-made classic movie(say,"It's a Wonderful Life", "The Princess Bride" or "The Sound of Music"), a sunset, the rolling scenery of Missouri, animals playing or sleeping or eating, the lyrics of hymns, the sound of a piano being played by an expert pianist, leaves as they change color, new-fallen snow before it gets trampled on.
Another of these things, for me, at least, would be Christmas trees.
Why is this? I have no idea, but I've always loved them. They're so pretty, and the shiny ornaments look so nice, the lights shine with that gentle warm glow, the little plastic bristles are green...good grief, it's hard to explain! Somehow, they're just...really peaceful.
I guess, in a way, that they show hope. That you might get that present you were wanting, that there will be another Christmas next year, that every once in a while this crazy life we're living in can slow down and fade into the background. I used to sleep underneath the tree, actually, when I was little(Mom probably has pictures), and I could just sit and stare at it for hours, just thinking. I still can, to be honest.
Something about the whole scene is so wonderful, so happy, yet so sad. I guess I get to thinking about what happened when Jesus came down to us in that Bethelem stable, what a marvelous mystery that is, why it would be in God's plan. But so amazing that it was - you just are dumbfounded thinking about it, the magnitude of the fact. And then knowing what coming to earth meant; the looming death in the future of the only righteous man who ever lived, in the most brutal way possible; and by His death, we received life. There isn't a better definition of love than that. (Sure, we create different definitions for the classroom or TV, but we know those are lacking, somehow.)
And then there's your family around, knowing that you're part of a group like that, knowing your role, and that bond can grow tighter this time of year. The yummy baked treats in the kitchen filled the house with good smells and tastes, the TV commercials are simpler and more straight-to-the-point. Even though they infiltrate everything with consumerism, they're more restrained this time of year, locked into the old familiar patterns of a different generation. There's the TV specials, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman, which must be quoted all through and loved to pieces. The Peanuts gang makes their trek from the comics page to the small screen, and there's so, so much good music.
I've always had this scene inside my head, since I was little, set somewhere in the future, of myself probably in my early twenties or so, and there's this girl there with me, my wife, I guess. She's pretty. Where we live isn't much, almost "Gift of the Magi" like, but we've decorated for Christmas and now for a little while there aren't that many problems to deal with.
Another variation of this scene, which follows nearly always after the first, picks it up about five years ahead of that, and there's little kids playing with the train and watching he tree and thinking, they're my sons.
I don't know exactly why these pictures exist, but they do, for some reason. Sort of like our memories of dreams we've had, the especially memorable ones that we recall long after we've been awake.
On the morning of Friday, December 12, 2008, our house caught on fire, we were all able to get out quickly, though, and no one was hurt. The fire department put it out after about three hours, we could only watch helplessly as the flames and smoke warred with the water inside, not knowing how far it might eat into the house. That was terrifying. We were able to re-enter to get a few things about noon, I was barefoot and only had my phone in my pocket. The walls were blackened with soot everywhere, the acrid stench of scorched plastic was overwhelming. The couches were toasted, pictures blistered beyond reognition, the TV and VCR/DVD player fused together into a shapeless mass, the blinds on the windows had melted. So had our Christmas tree. There was no way the house would be livable for a while.
So we checked into a hotel for the weekend while figuring out what to do next. Friends called from everywhere checking on us, we went to Wal-Mart to get some new clothes that weren't smoke-stained and wore those to church the next morning. We moved into my grandpa's trailer, family had fixed it all up and donated furniture and everything, that was amazing. The crowning touch, though, was the tree in the corner. It was one of those color-changing fiberoptic ones, which pretty well fit the situation, things were changing every day, it seemed. But really, it was that someone had given us a tree, that was just so amazing. The first example of many that would follow over the next year, that even though life might seem upside-down most of the time, God was still there, working things out in just the way they needed to be, and teaching and growing us into who we were supposed to become.
When I moved in here in August, it was pretty cold. And extremely bare. I needed some decorations, something everyone kept reminding me of. I put it off for a while, because how exactly do you search for decorations? And besides, it wasn't really necessary...I just was staring at blank white cement blocks, was all. Well, in October they put up the Christmas section in Wal-Mart, so I went exploring through there one night. "Hey...decorations!!!" So I found a nice red stocking with Rudolph on it, and a desktop Christmas tree, which brightened the place up a bit, which was needed. Made it feel a little more homelike, a reminder that there are certain things that won't change, no matter where you might find yourself.
There will always be Christmas trees, God will always be there to help us, to guide us, and we should always be praising Him for His gifts to us.
Another of these things, for me, at least, would be Christmas trees.
Why is this? I have no idea, but I've always loved them. They're so pretty, and the shiny ornaments look so nice, the lights shine with that gentle warm glow, the little plastic bristles are green...good grief, it's hard to explain! Somehow, they're just...really peaceful.
I guess, in a way, that they show hope. That you might get that present you were wanting, that there will be another Christmas next year, that every once in a while this crazy life we're living in can slow down and fade into the background. I used to sleep underneath the tree, actually, when I was little(Mom probably has pictures), and I could just sit and stare at it for hours, just thinking. I still can, to be honest.
Something about the whole scene is so wonderful, so happy, yet so sad. I guess I get to thinking about what happened when Jesus came down to us in that Bethelem stable, what a marvelous mystery that is, why it would be in God's plan. But so amazing that it was - you just are dumbfounded thinking about it, the magnitude of the fact. And then knowing what coming to earth meant; the looming death in the future of the only righteous man who ever lived, in the most brutal way possible; and by His death, we received life. There isn't a better definition of love than that. (Sure, we create different definitions for the classroom or TV, but we know those are lacking, somehow.)
And then there's your family around, knowing that you're part of a group like that, knowing your role, and that bond can grow tighter this time of year. The yummy baked treats in the kitchen filled the house with good smells and tastes, the TV commercials are simpler and more straight-to-the-point. Even though they infiltrate everything with consumerism, they're more restrained this time of year, locked into the old familiar patterns of a different generation. There's the TV specials, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman, which must be quoted all through and loved to pieces. The Peanuts gang makes their trek from the comics page to the small screen, and there's so, so much good music.
I've always had this scene inside my head, since I was little, set somewhere in the future, of myself probably in my early twenties or so, and there's this girl there with me, my wife, I guess. She's pretty. Where we live isn't much, almost "Gift of the Magi" like, but we've decorated for Christmas and now for a little while there aren't that many problems to deal with.
Another variation of this scene, which follows nearly always after the first, picks it up about five years ahead of that, and there's little kids playing with the train and watching he tree and thinking, they're my sons.
I don't know exactly why these pictures exist, but they do, for some reason. Sort of like our memories of dreams we've had, the especially memorable ones that we recall long after we've been awake.
On the morning of Friday, December 12, 2008, our house caught on fire, we were all able to get out quickly, though, and no one was hurt. The fire department put it out after about three hours, we could only watch helplessly as the flames and smoke warred with the water inside, not knowing how far it might eat into the house. That was terrifying. We were able to re-enter to get a few things about noon, I was barefoot and only had my phone in my pocket. The walls were blackened with soot everywhere, the acrid stench of scorched plastic was overwhelming. The couches were toasted, pictures blistered beyond reognition, the TV and VCR/DVD player fused together into a shapeless mass, the blinds on the windows had melted. So had our Christmas tree. There was no way the house would be livable for a while.
So we checked into a hotel for the weekend while figuring out what to do next. Friends called from everywhere checking on us, we went to Wal-Mart to get some new clothes that weren't smoke-stained and wore those to church the next morning. We moved into my grandpa's trailer, family had fixed it all up and donated furniture and everything, that was amazing. The crowning touch, though, was the tree in the corner. It was one of those color-changing fiberoptic ones, which pretty well fit the situation, things were changing every day, it seemed. But really, it was that someone had given us a tree, that was just so amazing. The first example of many that would follow over the next year, that even though life might seem upside-down most of the time, God was still there, working things out in just the way they needed to be, and teaching and growing us into who we were supposed to become.
When I moved in here in August, it was pretty cold. And extremely bare. I needed some decorations, something everyone kept reminding me of. I put it off for a while, because how exactly do you search for decorations? And besides, it wasn't really necessary...I just was staring at blank white cement blocks, was all. Well, in October they put up the Christmas section in Wal-Mart, so I went exploring through there one night. "Hey...decorations!!!" So I found a nice red stocking with Rudolph on it, and a desktop Christmas tree, which brightened the place up a bit, which was needed. Made it feel a little more homelike, a reminder that there are certain things that won't change, no matter where you might find yourself.
There will always be Christmas trees, God will always be there to help us, to guide us, and we should always be praising Him for His gifts to us.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)