so this is supposed to be my day off from the old blog, but i didn't write yesterday and i've been so inconsistant that i figured, hey, why not?... in fact, this is going to be a SUPER entry (hopefully not in length, but in quality and topically)... i actually just got finished watching the Superbowl again... i'm sure that i'll end up watching it at least once or twice more this week because that's the kind of guy i am... and it was one of the greatest Superbowls of all time (within the realm of my memory)... i haven't decided quite yet where it ranks, but i'll talk a bit about some of the others in a bit... i also plan to talk about what most people care most about when it comes to the Superbowl... the commercials...

Of course, i'd be remiss if i ignored the fact that this is SUPER TUESDAY or, as i've heard it called elsewhere SUPER DUPER TUESDAY... i don't know, that just seems a little much... if it's not SUPA DUPA FLY, it's just excess... so, i'll continue my political talk as well... as well as continuing with the Book and the other book and drudging up some peeps for theTRu...

and now, in between darts and rounds of Zuma, let's dig in...

SUPER BOWL XLII (THAT'S 42)...

What a great game... a truly GREAT game... i watched some of the pregame stuff while i was doing a little bit of work and the littles were doing a little bit of resting... we then headed over to our home fellowship group party at about 4, settled in, ate wings and played some Wii before the kickoff... this was my first time playing Wii and i managed to win once at baseball, and go 1-1 on bowling... pretty fun, but i don't see myself clamoring all over people trying to track down my own Wii anytime soon... i'm just not that kind of guy...

Then the players tromped out onto the field and Jordin Sparks, with whom i was largely unimpressed with in the past, belted out an absolutely beautiful version of the National Anthem... a version that may have been up for sale on iTunes before the game actually... (it was featured on the front page DURING the game)... and the kickoff ensued...

The Giants opened up with a spectacular TEN MINUTE DRIVE that only put three points on the board, but totally set the tone for the game... The Pats drive back calmly as the teams feel each other out and, with the help of a pass interference call in the end zone, the Pats open the 2nd quarter with a touchdown... 7-3 and it stays that way for a while as both teams zero down on their opponent...

Spectacular defense marks the bulk of the remaining minutes capped at the end of the half with a sack, fumble and turnover from Brady... 12 men on the field, a crucial decision to go for it on 4th and 13 instead of attempting a field goal and defense remains the big story through the third quarter... why did they go for it on 4th and 13? well, they have a huge ego and because three plays before that, facing 3rd and 13, they got 14 on a pretty simple little screen play... also, the field goal would've been about 49 yards, matching the longest that their kicker had made all year...

And then there was the FOURTH... amazing quarter that generated three touchdowns and all the nail-biting drama of an epic gridiron chessmatch.. all the way down to the wire and, in the end, we learned again that it is defense that wins championships, a fact that should be no surprise to the Patriots, who in 2002, marched into the Superdome with the task of shutting down "The Greatest Show on Turf"...

AND NOW A WORD FROM SOME SUPER SPONSORS

Lots of commercials from the game and many of them were quite forgettable... some of them, we all wish that we could forget, but here's my short list of favorites...

CHANGE CHANGE CHANGE

okay, i'm going to have to come back to ranking the games another time... i'm running out of time and space... and i want to touch on Super Tuesday... first, i want to roll back the clocks and take a look at what i posted in the old blog back on November 13th, 2006...

05. Change
Change seems to be the vehicle that all the democrats campaigned on... that and some very bitter acts of name calling and mud slinging... and this approach to campaigning clearly worked as the government has changed hands... but here's the thing about change... it's great in theory and it's a perfect platform on which to run... hey, no one is really content in life today, so why not promise change? . . .
[however] the "change" that was promise is unlikely to flesh out into anything substantial... "

And what do we hear touted left and right in the campaigns and debates so far? Change!

MORE CHANGE?... when the 110th Congress took office, it was the first time in 12 years that the Democrats (a.k.a. the Change touters) controlled both branches... at that time, a poll showed that 68% of Americans were optimistic about the changes and about 50% were confident that Congress would accomplish a lot of those changes... right now, well, at the time of last week's State of the Union Address, the approval rating for the 110th Congress was 18%... that's almost half of the President's 32% rating... how's that change working out for you? i'd guess not so well...

VOTE VOTE VOTE...

21 states are up for grabs today and that's enough to make or break a campaign... i'm kind of sitting on the sidelines right now waiting and hoping that Huckabee is still on the ballot and in good shape come next week when i get to vote... but this morning, as i was praying, i had impressed upon my heart the reminder that no kings or authority is given except that which is within God's will... and part of His plan... UPDATE: Mike Huckabee has won West Virginia, Romney cries foul play (of course)...

WORD OF THE DAY

Joshua 6: 1-2

Fear, Trembling and a Reminder...

Jericho was so terrified of the Israelites that they sealed themselves off from the world altogether... verse one says that no one was allowed to come in or go out... that's pretty extreme... and apparently not the best defense mechanism... i don't want to stray too far from the main point, but this strategy seems to be the on adopted by many Christians... many of us seem so terrified of the world around us that we try our darndest to shut everything else out... but we're not given a spirit of fear...

Anyway, then God points to the status of Jericho as a reminder of His promise to deliver Jericho to Joshua... but how?...

IN OTHER WORDS

When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box by John Ortberg...

Chapter 5: Untie Your Ropes (continued)...

The rest of the chapter talks about some of the things that some of our Bible Heroes had to untie and let go of in order to fulfill their calling... Moses had to shed his need for security, David had to overcome the nay-sayers (including his own brothers)... Ortberg also talks about the concept of detachment, which simply means living like there is nothing more important than our relationship with God and shedding all encumbrances that would hinder the development of that relationship and he reminds us that sometimes we have to untie these "ropes" every day...

AND WITH THAT, YOU GET EGGROLL?

here's a few new things from theTRu... An interview with Foolish Things and a new Left to Write... plenty more coming...

peace... love... bdg...

seriously? it's Thursday? it's been some week... it's been kind of rough mustering up the energy to keep things rolling... energy, motivation, i don't know... anyway...

Here i am, working the blog while my mind is wandering around thinking of all the other things i could be, should be, or would like to be doing... in the background is last night's debate courtesy of YouDecide2008's YouTube account... what a great backdrop for the debate... does anyone know if you're allowed to walk through the airplane if you visit the Reagan Library? i'd suspect that's probably not the case, but that would be pretty sweet... anyway, it's about time they start cracking down on Romney's "fees" vs. "taxes" nonsense, but i'm not too happy about... well, i guess i'll just dive in with that...

DING DING DING (IN THIS CORNER)

i'm pretty unhappy that this has clearly, in the media's eyes, become a two-horse race... while Huckabee was introduced first and managed to get the face time and company of former First Lady Nancy Reagan, he quickly got pushed off to the far left of the table and ignored for most of the debate which is a HUGE step back, reminiscent of some of the earlier debates where he got maybe three questions - one about the Bible, one about evolution and maybe one about policy... it's pretty disturbing, though, perhaps the writing is on the wall...

with a lack of funds and a lack of coverage, i suppose it is entirely possible that the Huckabee run for the presidency is on its last legs... some are actually speculating that he's only staying in the race to take away some of Romney's votes, clearing the way for McCain to storm through and win the nomination... actually, i'm okay with that if it's true... i'm still hoping that Huckabee can pull it out and have a strong showing, but my second choice from the Republicans has always been McCain... McCain's strengths are in foreign policy and military, both of which are extremely important at this point in history and i don't honestly believe that any candidate will enact any significant economical policies that will be in the best interest of everyone...

Regardless, the debate zeroed into the feud between McCain and Romney with each other... Romney whining that the bees are chasing him after he smacked the crap out of the hive and McCain, calmly chuckling to himself and standing by his statements... other than that, nothing was really said that hadn't been said several times over and based on the two of them, the debate was entirely unnecessary...

Ron Paul chimed in a few times telling them to stop bickering about he said/she said arguments, plugging the importance of, surprise, improving the economy and his apparent desire to pull all the American troops everywhere in the world back to the homefront... i'm starting to think that Ron Paul would like to build a giant dome over America shutting us off from the rest of the world entirely - so long as we don't borrow money from China to build the dome, of course... Actually, a side note about Ron Paul... i saw that Ralph Nader was looking to make a run at president again and immediately thought of a Nader/Paul ticket...

And then there was Huckabee... sitting in the corner, unfairly marginalized while the apparent top two traded insignificant blows... he complained a few times about not getting any questions, but responded rather eloquently to the ones he did get... his answers even had the other candidates listening and nodding in agreement at times... McCain had expressions that said, "Why didn't I think of that?" while Romney's said, "I need to put together some more smear ads"... i think they both thought twice about Huckabee again and America should've, too...

The last question was about Ronald Reagan and it summed up the entire debate...

Cooper: Would Ronald Reagan endorse you as president and why?

Romney: Ronald Reagan? Of Course! Ronald Reagan would. Ronald Reagan agrees with me. Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan. Besides, McCain's too liberal and I have my lips firmly attached to the seat of Ronald Reagan's pants... this is the house that Ronald Reagan built! Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan...

McCain: Ronald Reagan likes me. I was Ronald Reagan's footsoldier! We defeated the Cobra Kai together! Besides, Romney is such a weak, flip-flopper that it's laughable. Ronald Reagan would never endorse that guy! He's got no spine! Ronald Reagan had a spine. I have a spine. I might actually BE Ronald Reagan by the end of this election cycle. Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan...

Paul: What did you say? Oh right. I don't know but Ronald Reagan campaigned for me in the 70s and he told me personally to mind the economy. ECONOMY!

Huckabee (for the win): It would be presumptuous to answer that. I can't say that Ronald Reagan would endorse me, but I wish that he would. Ronald Reagan was a great president, not because of his policies, but because he believed in this country and he rallied the great people of this nation to believe in America again. If we can recapture that, that's when we can recapture the Reagan spirit and only then can we bring this divided nation back together again.

Cooper: Thank you gentlemen and with three votes, Ron Paul, we believe you to be the mole, you are dismissed from the race.

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR (BUT, WE DON'T HAVE ONE)

So, i've got a lot more to say about politics and the State of the Union Address that was earlier this week and more in general, but i think that's enough for today... right now, i'm stepping back and opening up and being a little vulnerable... i mentioned in a previous blog entry how one of my dreams have died this year... and it seems that i'm in that season of life again where everything that has to do with my writing "career" is falling apart...

i booked my flight and room for GMA Week this year, sent in my registration papers and, looking at the numbers, i've come to realize that it may have to be my last GMA Week... it's just getting harder and harder to justify the expenses of pursuing this when it's increasingly becoming a drain on my finances... i used to make some money doing this writing thing... i used to be something of a journalist... when i was with CMC, i was doing alright and despite the increasing demand on my time, there was enough compensation to make it pretty much worth my time... (the stress and aggravation wasn't really worth any amount of money, however)... and with HM and more recently with CCM, it was worth it, not for the pay necessarily, but for the enjoyment of it writing and the excitement of seeing my name in print and "accomplishing" something...

Now, CCM is done in print... HM is uncertain about keeping hip-hop in their coverage (which is fine, if that's the decision that needs to be made)... and even the slight inroads i made into the Salem world during the aftermath of CMC's upheaval seem to have been crushed with the recent reorganization over there... i just don't know which end is up really...

Part of me would love to keep fighting the good fight and try to push theTRu over the top, shaping it into a mainstream force, but i realize that it's a goal i may never reach... despite the increased traffic as of late, i'm still nowhere near a place where i've been advised is viable to solicit advertisers... and it seems by the difficulty i have booking interviews and getting connected with publicists, that i don't quite carry much weight...

i don't want to be a whiner or anything - in fact, i recently got a paypal request from someone who i would characterize as such and i was appalled, not so much by the request for support, but by the mention and comparison of this request to the amount that i tithe, when the two have absolutely nothing to do with each other and as such, they have no business being in the same breath...

anyway, i don't want to be a whiner, i'm just being honest... i think that i do good things with these interviews and features and, when i write them, reviews and such... i'm just starting to wonder, as i'm no longer covering costs, if it's what i should be doing with my time... i guess time will tell...

FOOTBALL (WHO TO ROOT FOR)

moving on... i'm not entirely certain who i'll be rooting for while watching the Superbowl this year... on the one hand, The Patriots are in my top tier of teams (Bills, Packers, Patriots, & Redskins) and they should, by default, be who i favor... HOWEVER, i love seeing an underdog pull off the upset... and i hate how imbalanced the two conferences have become... the AFC has the "best" five teams in the league, probably... and it would be great to see Eli Manning, who get so trashed by the papers week in and week out, come in and knock out Tom Brady, the golden boy, the guy who everybody praises unabashedly... so, i'll talk more about the game later, but that's where i am right now... undecided...

WORD OF THE DAY

Joshua 5: 13-15

This is one of my FAVORITE passages of Scripture... it's one of those slap you in the face, pour a bucket of ice water over your head, grab you by the ears and scream in your face type of passages to me... it's a wake up call for all the times when i get ahead of myself, when i think too highly of myself and when i elevate myself to a level of righteousness that i don't deserve... and i wrote a Left to Write on this a while back, so i won't go too crazy here today, but i just love the reality check of a response that Joshua gets here...

He looks off in the distance and sees this warrior... sword drawn and probably quite intimidating... Joshua's gotta be pretty scared right about now as he questions this mysterious soldier's loyalty... "Are you for us or for our enemies?"... logical question, right? But that's because we see things in limited dimensions... in our eyes, there can be only 2 sides... you have to be on my side or on their side.... it's always you vs. me, us vs. them, Roe vs. Wade, McCain vs. Romney, spy vs. spy, etc... and i love this response... "Neither"... boom! just blows your mind and redefines your entire sense of reality... i love it...

IN OTHER WORDS

When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box by John Ortberg...

Chapter 5: Untie Your Ropes...

how about that... this chapter just totally speaks to where i'm at right now... Ortberg is talking about things that keep us from achieving our goals, flying in an airplane in his example here, and i'm just going to quote him here today because this sentence deserves a bit of rumination...

Ortberg says: "If I am not yet living according to what I believe matters most, it is no accident. There are forces or habits that have a deep hold on me that I will have to get rid of."... this is very true...

DON'T GO AWAY MAD (JUST GO AWAY)

Well, this week has pretty much gotten away from me, but i did manage to post a Walk TRu of the first two Jon Foreman EPs

COMING SOON

at theTRu you'll see a new Left to Write, the start of the Year in Re:TRu and much more... and i'll probably ask you some questions about what i do....

OH, ONE MORE THING...

i mentioned a while back that Skillet has a new drummer now and i noticed that there's a lot of Skillet fans...er, panheads out there looking for Skillet news... so here's one for you... it seems to me that there will not be a new album from the group until John Cooper is done moonlighting as Titan, the captain of the new American Gladiators. . .

am i right?

peace... love... bdg...

Have you missed me?... i've been pretty tied up with work and errands... and i'll tell you what, i love holidays and all, but it really screws up your sense of schedule... anyway, with all the illness going around, it's added to it all to of that and made me perform at like half speed... in fact, it looks like i have a writer's strike beard going on and i think i'm going to have to get shaving soon because it's all itchy and stuff... eh, don't mind me, it's the congestion talking...

So the big news during my absence has been that Fred Thompson dropped out of the presidential race and i guess some people are now reporting that he was only really testing out the waters so that he might be picked as a running mate... sounds like a career underachiever to me... why would you brag about that?... anyway, the other big news is that Heath Ledger is dead... no joke, or recurring joker character in the new Batman movies... the questions surrounding his death include whether or not it was a drug overdose and how Mary-Kate Olson ties into the whole thing...

yeah, i'm doing no good here, so why don't we move on...where did i leave off last time... that's right disillusionment...

RON-PAUL-UTION...?

so it seems like everywhere i go these days, there are Ron Paul banners strewn about on the side of the road or banner ads everywhere or even worse, the moronic online militia posting negative comments about every other candidate, talking conspiracy theories and basically being a nuisance... now, keep in mind, i don't think that everyone who supports Mr. Paul is a moron, it's just those who refuse to accept the strengths of other candidates and the weaknesses of their own...

In fact, Ron Paul has a lot of good things to say and it's no wonder that he's been able to amass such a following... when it comes to the economy, he certainly seems to know his stuff... and with the recent shift in focus at the debates to key in on economic matters, it looks to favor Paul for as long as they let him talk...

However, Paul seems to be one-dimensional in that regard and is more like Bill "It's the economy, stupid" Clinton than the Ronald Reagan persona he tries so hard to embrace... if it is just about the economy, then Ron Paul is probably a great choice... but it's not just the economy... people listen to you when you talk about the economy and people like it when you promise to fix the economy because the average person becomes short-sighted when it comes to money... we, as a nation, are so willing to sacrifice ethics, safety, moral responsibilities, our family, and just about anything on the promise of prosperity...

Look back at Bill Clinton's time as president and you can see what happens when you just focus on the economy... by the end of his term, we as a nation had experienced the most publicized and morally bankrupt trial of a man's infidelity... our military was depleated and, despite rolling with the good times throughout his presidency, the country was in a recession... the point is not that we shouldn't focus on the economy - because i think that we've overlooked basic, common sense business practices as a nation for far too long - but the tunnel vision can only last for so long before everything collapses...

Ron Paul's statements about foreign policies and other practical issues really show a lack of depth and understanding that's necessary to be in such a high position of authority which outweighs his positive statements about the economy... bottom line, it's more than just the economy, stupid...

FOOTBALL

Another set of good to great games last weekend... the Patriots managed to shut down the Chargers pretty well... even with Darth Vader trying to manipulate the force from the sidelines... and the rootin' tootin' Green Bay Packers, led by Yosemite Brett Favre couldn't overcome the elements and knock off the Giants, who are apparently sponsored by Franks Red Hot, hot sauce... of course i'm disappointed that the Pack didn't pull it off, but they were totally outplayed for the whole game and it's only fair that they win...

this means of course that the Patriots and the Giants will be in the Superbowl down in Arizona and it's going to be.... eh, an okay game at least... i'll talk more about it later on...

MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY

Monday was Martin Luther King Day and i have a few things to say about it... first is that there was apparently an MLK patio sale at a local store... i know this because The Tony Kornheiser Show is back on the air and Tony was ranting about how inappropriate it was to advertise a patio furniture sale and attach the name of someone who assassinated to it... His argument was that of all the things that Martin Luther King Jr stood for in his life, patio furniture sales shouldn't be his legacy in pop culture... which is fine, except he continued to say that it would be okay to have President's Day sales, Christmas sales, etc... if i'm not mistaken, Lincoln was assassinated and that guy they named Christmas after, too...

Anyway, little boy, who is in Kindergarten, learned about Martin Luther King, Jr. in school... now, i'm not sure all that was said during the lesson or lessons, but he told me that King was a good man, who told people to love everyone and that he had a dream before he was "killed by the bad white man"... interesting to say the least...

i guess my problem overall is that he's in Kindergarten... he doesn't have any concept of race... and he shouldn't... he's innocent in that regard... as he should be... i see this as a subtle attack on innocence and maybe i'm just being a little overprotective - again, i don't know what the lesson was about - but i have a dream where kids aren't taught from an early age that race is an issue only to be taught later on that race isn't supposed to be an issue... it's already not an issue... just let us all be neighbors... i'm probably rambling...

GHOST IN THE MACHINE (part eleven)

Long time readers will appreciate this... this time, it's my laptop... my trusty, faithful, german shepherd of a laptop... except that it's been acting up in most every way imaginable... first it started acting slow... i figured that it was because i hadn't shut down in quite a while... well then i got it all rebooted and such and my browser kept freezing... and freezing... and freezing... so i ended up having to uninstall, reinstall, shop around and now i'm splitting time between different browsers... in the meantime, i've gotten my email migrated and lost my filters and address book... so i'm still in the process or rebuilding all that... my other computer is actually acting worse, but i'll save that for another day...

WORD OF THE DAY

Joshua 5: 1-12

This is a difficult subject to talk about... but it's part of the covenant... they're across the Jordan, God's been faithful and they're all in good spirits, preparing to start battle against all the countries that lay ahead... and at the big pep rally, Joshua says, it's time to get circumcised... then it explains that this was the next generation and that they hadn't been circumcised in the desert because of all the disorganization and disobedience... now they're all caught up with their end of the bargain, recovering from the surgery during the time that is afforded by the fear of the Amorite kings... and, having been cleansed, they can celebrate passover and enjoy the food of the land...

IN OTHER WORDS

When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box by John Ortberg...

Chapter 4: Master the Inner Game...

This chapter talks about the two distinct games that we are playing... an inner game and an outer game... the outer game is what we get credit for, but it is simply an outpouring of the inner game... Ortberg says that the possibility of mastering the inner game is the biggest reason that we even play the outer game... everything external is wasting away despite our efforts to stave off the effects of aging, but i think we need to recognize and embrace the relationship between external and internal, physical and spiritual, temporal and eternal... doing that isn't easy, especially in a world that likes to compartmentalize everything... props to Ortberg for the Dorian Gray reference... great book there...

BEFORE YOU BREAK MY HEART

Here's the stuff from last time... a concert review, an interview with Chris Rice and aWalk TRu for Night Owls 4...

Newer postings include an interview with Ronnie Freeman and a new iTRu-nes Playlist...

COMING SOON

the weekend... man, writing in the blog really winds the clock down... but yeah... i'll shave, i'll get better and i'll talk about more stuff... on theTRu, i've got a WalkTRu, Left to Write, and more in the works...

peace... love... bdg...

well, this is going to be a quick one because it's been a long week filled with ups and downs... pretty draining and hard to keep the right end up... but since the football games are now tomorrow... i wanted to weigh in on that and a couple other things... i will say that this three-day weekend has some great timing... amen and amen...

GOING GOING GONE (PART TWO)

Also while i was gone... (i got so carried away that i forgot)... the Procussions have decided to call it a day... Mr. J and Stro will continue to do some solo projects and what not, but, having cited a number of reasons in a MySpace Bulletin, Mr. J said that the group was pretty much through... i'm trying to set up an interview with Mr. J, but nothing's come of it yet... i'll let you know...

IT'S PLAYOFFS, BABY

Four teams remain... two BIG games tomorrow... here's how it will play out... SPOILER ALERT...

Patriots host the Chargers... Randy Moss is in a world of anxiety and confusion because of all these allegations... but it doesn't matter... Moss doesn't even matter, really... there are so many weapons on the field that it's just too easy for the Patriots... i think the Chargers will actually put up something of a fight, but will end up losing by 20 points or so...

Off to the tundra... where the red hot streaking Giants march in to face the calm and amazingly veteran Packers... expect snow, wind, freezing temperatures and a Packers win, baby... yeee ha!

AND I'M OUT

i posted up a concert review, an interview and a new Walk TRu and boy am i tired... more details later, but for now, peep theTRu.

COMING SOON

interviews, walkTRus, Ron Paul... more...

peace... love... bdg...

Yesterday was non-stop motion, so i didn't really get a chance to do a full blog entry, so here's a special Tuesday update... we'll join yesterday's blog already in progress...

Well, that was a busy weekend.. i feel like i'm a bit behind on everything and maybe a part of that is because i'm starting this so late... but we'll see where it goes and how it all turns out... i ended up seeing a couple movies, booking a few interviews, enjoying a special breakfast with little boy, checking out a comedy improv show and, of course, watching some serious football...

And now, it's back to the grindstone and back to the ole blog...

THERE'S NO NEED TO FEAR...

...the underdogs are here... well Sunday the 13th lived up to all the eerie superstitions that can be expect- what? oh, why does that only work for Fridays?... anyway... what a crazy bunch of games this weekendl... i honestly can't remember a year when the playoffs were so very compelling... i've been on the edge of my seat for most of these games so far and i can't wait for the next round... with the exception (maybe) of the Giants and Buccaneers game from Wild Card weekend, all of these games have been classic matchups... and this weekend is shaping up to be a snow-bowl in Green Bay and a snow-bowl in New England...

i'll address each of these games later this week, but man, is this excitement or what?

THANK DOGS YOU'RE HERE...

our church brought in a comedy team known as Mad Dogs and Englishmen this past weekend... having no idea what type of comedy this would be, we decided to go because there was free child care and i like to laugh... turned out that they are an improv team in the vein of Whose Line Is It? and Thank God You're Here... and i guess that's about where i would put them... not nearly as good as Whose Line, but not as agonizingly bad as You're Here... the biggest problem, i think was that they dragged the sketches on too long... 5-6 shorter sketches would've played better than 3-4 longer ones... i'm just saying... that and the fact that i'm funnier... but anyway..

YO HO HERO...

YES... as promised i went to see Veggietales extravaganza known as The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. We packed up the littles and headed to the "movie puterer" on Friday afternoon for opening day. It wasn't quite as crowded as one might expect, but that's probably because we didn't go to the midnight showing or anything like that... actually, the movie did fairly well in the theaters, placing 9th in total sales with just under $4.5 million and maybe 6th or so based on the average per theater...

All that aside, the movie itself was very entertaining... i liked it from the very beginning and as always, it's great fun picking out all the random pop culture references... leading up to the release, i'd heard complaints that it doesn't blatently spell out the Gospel message... but there are so many good lessons and messages tucked away in there that i think those folks are crazy... i liked it, the little liked it, it was a hit all around... and the littles currently spend as much time as they can blasting the soundtrack in their headphones... go see this movie...

MUSIC NEWS

Skillet recently announced that they've got a new drummer now... Apparently Lori "Coolest Chick Drummer Ever" Peters has moved on to pursue other interests and she's replaced by youngster, Jen Ledger... Ledger has been training with Lori for the last few months and is excited to join the group...

the big news today though is that EMI has announced plans to cut about 2000 jobs (a third of their current workforce) over the next six months... the cuts will save an estimated $400 million a year and, "allow [their] labels to spot and sign new artists and better handle existing ones," according to a press release. sure, less people doing more work for fear of getting fired... that's the way to go...

and the really big news is that American Idol begins again tonight... okay, not that big of a deal... never mind.. move along...

WORD OF THE DAY

Joshua 4: 1-9

What do these stones mean?... i remember hearing a sermon specifically about this question... actually, it wasn't a sermon so much as, hmm... what was it? i wanna say that it had something to do with a mission statement of some sort... regardless... this is an interesting passage for me... clearly this is a common practice for their culture, stacking up some rocks, building a memorial and remembering from whence you came...

whenever i go into the Capital, which isn't very often, i love looking at the architecture of the buildings - houses, museums and whatnot... and most people who come to DC spend the bulk of their time walking around "The Mall" and staring at all the memorials that have been erected to honor past leaders and influential times... i guess we all have different ways of preserving memories, but it seems that we could do better... i don't know, giving God credit for all that He's done... perhaps we're so far removed from deliverance... i don't know... just thinking out loud...

IN OTHER WORDS

When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box by John Ortberg...

Ortberg states that there are three main ways that we keep score in life... comparison, competition and climbing... they're all quite interconnected actually and as, he states, they all have downfalls... there are healthy ways to work within each of these scoring systems, but more often than not, we'll get caught up in them, and fall into their respective trappings... before closing out the chapter, Ortberg talks about the contrast between these three systems and the one that Jesus models... it's almost like he's read my mind...

GONE BABY GONE

well... little boy actually has a fever today and i'm going to go take care of him... like only daddy can... this is where i would put links to all the updates that i've had pop up around the web, but there's nothing to link to today... perhaps tomorrow... i do have a number of irons in the fire... be safe and enjoy American Idol tonight... bdg... out!

peace... love... bdg...

today is a very special day... not just because it's Friday, but that's nice... not even because it's 1-11 which rarely ever happens... what? oh, it happens every year?... okay... not because of that... but today is special nonetheless... today, Monk and Psych return to air as planned... regardless of the strike... i'm happy...but what's really special about this day is The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything... yeah... Veggietales in the theater again...

ON HUCKABEE, ON THOMPSON, ON MCCAIN, ON CLINTON, ON OBAMA, ETC...

so i was supposed to talk about the debates from last weekend and i blew it... i watched all the Republican segments and enjoyed it a lot... again, prior to this year, i never got much into the whole political scene... and while the charm of these ridiculous amounts of coverage should wear me even thinner than normal, i'm actually intrigued by it all... i was reminded why i don't like politics a few weeks ago witnessing angry arguing and abrupt assumptions, but it wasn't until the other day that i realized that i'm more a fan of debating than i am of politics...

i really enjoy watching these debates... i love the banter and the back and forth civil arguments... it's entertaining and educating... anyway, i'm still backing Huckabee and i'm excited to see how the next few states turn out... one thing i do really enjoy is that Romney is getting put in his place in every debate... the televangelist android has been spending millions on negative attack ads and everyone is calling him on it... they're nailing him for his inconsistencies and then he has the nerve to cry foul...

The funniest things i've seen this week have been Jon Stewart nailing both Mitt and Rudy on Wednesday's "A" Daily Show... anyway... enough politics...

WIN OR GO HOME (PT. 4)

Last on the docket... The NEW YORK Giants head down to Dallas to face the Cowboys... after getting manhandled during the previous two meetings this year, the Giants are looking for revenge... and they're looking to the suddenly strong arm of Eli Manning... this should shape up interestingly as Romo will surely have some jitters and Eli has the confidence of having led his team to victory last week... the problem is that he's still facing the Cowboys, who have dialed him up twice already this year... Terrell Owens promises to be back and this promises to be a really good game... all week, i've been thinking that the Cowboys will win easily, but i'm actually changing my vote and calling this one for the Giants...

NEW YEAR, NEW MUSIC, NEW OUTLOOK

i've spent a lot of time thus far this year getting organized... i'm trying to make this year a great year for writing... i know, i've said that many times before and i still have a long way to go... but i'm happy to be listening to the new Leeland album and have a few other promising prospects coming down the pike...

AND WITH THAT...

everybody's working for the weekend... no, actually, i'm just chilling out all weekend... with some work thrown in, i'm sure... in honor of the Veggietales Pirates movie, you can "peep" my walk TRu of the movie soundtrack... happy weekend everybody... i've got some, emails to write...

peace... love... bdg...

i spent a good deal of time on the floor today... we didn't have a couch in the family room because we had a new one scheduled for delivery today... i worked from home... yadda yadda yadda... this new couch is way more comfortable than the floor... i guess there's not much point to that story...

ROCKET... YEAH-AH...

well, i forgot to talk about Roger Clemens yesterday... i forgot a lot of things actually, but i meant to talk about Roger and, at the risk of being sports-heavy, we're starting there... Roger Clemens was named in the infamous Mitchell Report a week or so ago... He was the biggest name on the list of baseball players named as having used steroids and/or other performance enhancing drugs while competing in the Major Leagues... much like many other players, Clemens vehemently denies these allegations even though they've been brought to light by his trainer...

i grew up watching Roger Clemens dominating the pitcher's mound... i clearly remember when The Rocket and Doc (Gooden) were the best pitchers in the world... and watching all these mighty heroes of my youth get picked off one by one to this steroids hunt has been slightly disheartening... i want to believe all of them when they say that it's not true... but the reality is that many of these cases are in fact true...

having said that, i believe Roger Clemens when he denies having used steroids... i do not believe Barry Bonds, but i do believe Roger Clemens... first, Barry Bonds monstered up over one off-season and his stats really took off for a short period of time before he began regularly falling prey to nagging injuries... Clemens was pretty consistent throughout his entire career, both in body type and performance...

Second, all hitters decline with age, while pitchers who stay healthy can remain dominant late into their careers... Nolan Ryan anyone?

Finally, and perhaps most convincing for me, when you listen to Clemens argue with reporters and such, he's repeatedly said things like, "my accomplishments on the diamond are not who I am"... he's achieved many milestones during his career, but he seems to understand that they don't measure up to the worth or value of his life... they don't define him... Bonds on the other hand seems very much defined by his accomplishments... i'm just saying that someone with that perspective, who is more concerned about his reputation as a man than his trophies as a player seems more believable...

WIN OR GO HOME (PT. 3)

On to the Sunday games... and the first contenders are the Chargers and the Colts... i know what you're thinking... you're thinking this will be a close game... you're thinking that the Chargers beat the Colts this year and that they have a good chance to win this weekend... well, you're thinking some crazy thoughts, because they're TOAST... come on... the Chargers almost lost to the Titans last week... the Titans have NO offense and their defense managed to shut the Chargers down, keeping them scoreless in the first half... if you give the Colts the first half as a headstart, they'll be up by 3-4 touchdowns... Colts win big here...

WORD OF THE DAY

Eph. 1:19b-22

More Power... this power is the power that God used to raise Jesus from the dead... and raised all the way to His rightful position of authority... This authority that extends from the beginning of time throughout all of eternity... This power puts everything under His feet and appoints Him as the head of the church... here's why we need to understand this power: as the church, we're supposed to be the fullness of Christ... His resurrected body...

AND WITH THAT...

we're moving on... i left my book at work and since i worked from home today, i don't have it with me... you can check out the latest of my interviews at CCMMagazine.com... this one is with The Scribbling Idiots...

peace... love... bdg...

so, is it oddly warm where you are? it's been in the 60s and 70s here so far this week and everyone else seems pretty happy about it... i'm a bit indifferent, because i'm really still wishing there was some snow on the ground... it's January for goodness sakes... let's cool off a little bit... well... there's a lot to cover today, so let's dig in...

NO ROOM FOR GREY

i'm in the midst of watching Blood Diamond... and i've seen a few other movies with similar themes... as portrayed in the movies at least, the situation in some of these third-world countries seems as close to hopeless as possible outside of Hell... the main character even says in this movie, "God's left this place a long time ago"... it can certainly seem that way...

One thing that really bothers me about these movies though, is that there's always several sets of "bad guys"... and you're never quite sure who to "root" for... well... that's not entirely true, there are the innocent victims... it's just that they're never the real focus of the film... here's how the characters break down usually:

there are usually the rebel troops.. these are the bad guys... they use excessive force and terror to gain power... they slaughter the innocents mercilessly as they wage war against the next group... the govenrment army... initially, these may seem like the good guys until you realize that the rebels rose up because the government army mercilessly oppressed its people to gain and maintain power... that's the first conundrum

Sometimes there's a third army... an outside army... initially they seem like the good guys until you realize that they are present in the country not to instill peace or restore order... they aren't there to rescue the innocents like you might expect... no, they are there because they want control and power in their own way... whether it's some sort of resource that they crave or just a chance to exert their own strength and prove their own power... there always seems to be an ulterior motive...

with all these shades of evil, who do you root for, indeed?... well, this ties in with my last post about the Ortberg book that i'm reading... and it goes along with something that we're getting to in Joshua... we don't need to root for any of these options... we are presented with these options and we can reject their offer... we need to "root" for love... a love that overcome all evil...

i know, it's hard... it was much easier when we only watched Disney movies... movies where good and evil are clearly labeled... movies unlike life...

WIN OR GO HOME

Well, that was a bit heavier than i intended, but let's talk some football now, shall we?... the Saturday night game will once again be the biggest game of the weekend... The Jaguars march into New England to face the undefeated Patriots... fresh off their hard-fought victory in Pittsburgh, the Jags hope to upset the team that everyone expects to win the Super Bowl... They'll certainly give the Pats a run for it... but after the two-headed run attack and the level-headed play from defense and the rest of the team, it'll come down to the fact that the Patriots have more weapons at their disposal and they'll get one step closer to that trophey...

LAST YEAR (PT. 3)

the final list from Last.FM is the 25 most played artists of 2007...not sure how this works because it doesn't necessarily line up with either of the other lists, but here it is...

1. Mute Math
2. Relient K
3. The Rocket Summer
4. The Showdown
5. K-Os
6. TobyMac
7. Group 1 Crew
8. Listener
9. Scribbling Idiots
10. Needtobreathe
11. Ohmega Watts
12. Matt Wertz
13. Jackson Waters
14. Neon Horse
15. John Reuben
16. The Roots
17. Robbie Seay Band
18. Family Force 5
19. Mars Ill
20. Switchfoot
21. 4th Avenue Jones
22. Jon McLaughlin
23. Caedmon's Call
24. Daughtry
25. The Procussions

and that's a wrap for those, i guess... no more stalling... i suppose i need to start working on the official lists now, don't i?

AND WITH THAT...

my time is up... bummer... hopefully, i'll plan better tomorrow and hit all my intended topics...

peace... love... bdg...

Perhaps this is the week that i'll get back on schedule... perhaps, perhaps not... it was a good weekend overall and i enjoyed the football games quite a bit (more on that later)... i'm currently watching the New Hampshire debates and i expect that i'll be done with those sometime tomorrow... still have a number of emails hanging over my head, but i'm plugging along with those and with all the other items i have planned... in an effort to get to all that sooner, lets first get to this...

YOU ARE ONE WILD AND CRAZY CARD

What a GREAT bunch of games this weekend... sure, i only picked 2 of the 4 right, but all the games were pretty much up in the air until the very end... the Saturday games seemed better matched, but the Sunday games were quite good as well... and now, even though it's only Monday, i'll start making next week's picks...

Saturday afternoon: Seattle in Green Bay... this game has all the makings of a classic playoff matchup... Favre, the gunslinger, faces a secondary ripe for the burning... Hasselback, Favre's pupil looks to show up his teacher... the running game for both teams will likely be moot points... add in Mike Holmgren, his knowledge of Favre's play and his desire to show up the Pack and wow... it's gonna be great!... in the end, my Packers will have won by about 10 points...

LAST YEAR (PT. 2)

the next list from Last.FM is the 25 most played tracks of 2007... i went ahead and edited this one down so that no artist was repeated... the numbers in parentheses indicates how many times the artist appeared in the actual top 25... as you can tell, the list would've included about 7 artists... i think this way it's more interesting...

1. "Typical" by Mute Math (5)
2. "Carry on Wayward Son" by The Showdown (11)
3. "Made to Love" by TobyMac
4. "Can't Go On" by Group 1 Crew (6)
5. "The Rain" by K-Os (2)
6. "The Storm" by The Procussions
7. "So Much Love" by The Rocket Summer (4)
8. "Don't Feel Right" by The Roots
9. "Identity" by John Waller
10 "The Best Thing" by Relient K
11. "" by Amazing Because It Is
12. "Beautiful Disaster" by Jon McLaughlin
13. "Hang Me Up to Dry" by Cold War Kids
14. "The Heat" by Needtobreathe
15. "Your Life Will Never Dull or Your Money Back" by Listener
16. "Come Undone" by Jackson Waters
17. "Rise" by Robbie Seay Band
18. "I Love You to Death" by Family Force 5
19 "Make Money Money" by John Reuben
20 "American Dream" by Switchfoot
21. "Horsey" by Neon Horse
22. "Love & Radiation" by All Star United
23. "When the Stars Go Blue" by Blake Lewis
24. "Feels Like Tonight" by Daughtry
25. "Undercover Belief" by Nate Sallie

if you'd prefer to see the full list without my consolidation, then you can feel free to do that as well...

AMERICAN IDOL

the popular show is rolling the die and coming back for another season soon... and while there's recently been a surge of Christian singers trying out and making it through the competition, i never expected to hear Robbie Seay Band's song, "Rise" on the promos for the new season... however, i did... and i got chills...

WORD OF THE DAY

Eph. 1:17-19a

This is a nice blessing... a nice prayer to pray over those whom you love... Paul asks for some wonderful things on behalf of the church and it's a sincere prayer... the first thing he asks for is the Spirit of wisdom and revelation... hey, that's what Solomon asked for back in the day... wisdom is good and all, but why?... so that you may know him, God, better.... that's even better... but that's not all...

Next, Paul asks God to... okay sing it with me... open the eyes of [their] hearts... but it's not so much to see Him... it's to see what He's given to us... the hope to which we're called.... the riches of our inheritance and the power of His presence... and we'll look at that power more tomorrow when i finish this verse and this chapter...

IN OTHER WORDS

When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box by John Ortberg...

What's the Score?

this next bit is about scoring... how we keep score and how we should keep score and i absolutely love the example that he uses... he talks about how two groups of kids were presented with the same game but they decided to keep score differently... i believe that's what we're called to do as Christians too... When Jesus walked the earth, He turned the conventional scoring systems completely upside down... He taught us that to die is to live... to serve is to become powerful... to follow is to lead...

We don't need to conform to this world's standards... we don't have to keep score the same way... this is a real challenge...

THE LAST WORD

speaking of words... merriam webster's website, m-w.com names an official word of the year each year... it's apparently voted on by people who use the site a lot and paid attention to the front page ads... previous winners have been "democracy", "blog", "integrity", and "truthiness" (thank you Colbert)... and this year there were some great words up for the vote including "quixotic" and "conundrum" and "apathetic"... but apparently there were no words with the importance or overall likeability as the winner... which was... (drumroll)... "w00t"... that's right, w00t...and that, my friends, is the world in which we live...

AND WITH THAT...

i posted a new Walk TRu featuring The Alchemy Index Vol: 1 & 2 by Thrice... check it out...

DON'T BE A STRANGER

i'll be back later this week with more football game predictions... debate reactions and commentary... my thoughts on Roger Clemens... and more... trust me... everytime i start writing i start thinking of new things to write about...

peace... love... bdg...