The Moth

One of my favorite podcasts is This American Life, a radio show with "a hard-to-describe sound". They to to sum it up this way on their web site: There's a theme to each episode, and a variety of stories on that theme. It's mostly true stories of everyday people, though not always. There's lots more to the show, but, like we said, it's sort of hard to describe.

The other week, in their episode Fear of Sleep, they featured Mike Birbiglia telling a story of a time he accidentally, nearly killed himself while he was sleeping. His segment was recorded live at The Moth.

The Moth is a club in New York City, where people tell stories, live, on stage, with no notes. He is what they say about themselves on their web site: Moth is dedicated to promoting the art of storytelling. We celebrate the ability of stories to honor the diversity and commonality of human experience, and to satisfy a vital human need for connection.

The Moth puts out a weekly podcast, which is the point of this post. After hearing Mike's story on This American Life, I went to check out the podcast for The Moth. It's great. I have loved listening to the stories people share. It's a small glimpse into their lives. They come across so authentic... so honest... so real.

Each podcast is around twenty minutes and the stories are great. So, if you are looking for something new to put on your iPod, this is it.

Check out The Moth.

North Carolina Hip-Hop

On July 4, my brother-in-law and two of his cohorts released a hip-hop album. Their self titled album, 154, is an EP with six tracks. It is currently available in the iTunes Store, on Amazon.com and in a few independent music outlets. You can check out their myspace page to hear a few tracks and to see the list of stores selling the album.

In the past few weeks since their album dropped, they have been getting some air play on WKNC 88.1. DJ Nominal even had them in the studio for an on-air interview during his time slot. He podcasts his shows. So, you can check it out here.

I asked Joel, aka JP Flowz, for an exclusive quote for my blog, but he was being modest. He's still working on his PR skills. I did get this out of him, "We've got some old school, some new school, and some tracks that will make you bob your head." Personally, I like North Cak and Work It Out does make me bob my head.

So everyone go check him out and show him some love. If you end up buying a track or the entire album, he has asked me to ask you to leave a review.

Do any of you even listen to hip-hop?

My 'This American Life' Game

Recently, upon the urging of several friends, I started listening to This American Life. It is great, but it's kind of hard to explain why it's so great. They take ordinary topics and find a few stories that deal with that topic and present them over an hour.

If you've never listened to it, you should give it a try. You may love it. You may hate it. But, at least you will know what I am talking about when I reference it, which I am sure to do.

The show has a few quirky idiosyncrasies. I particularly enjoy one found in the credits. At the end of the show, Ira Glass, the host, rattles off some credits and usually a Saab plug. One of the credits is for their boss, Tony someone. Every week he, Ira, says something like, "This show was overseen by our boss, who describes his job this way..." and then they will play a clip from the show. It's usually something pretty humorous.

Today I started playing a game with myself. Each time I listen to the podcast, I'm going to try to guess which clip they will use in the credits. I didn't get it right on my first attempt, but I think I can do it.

Do you listen to This American Life?

Get a poor city on the board.

Monopoly is coming out with a 'World Version' and they are letting people vote for their favorite cities online. A post on the ONE blog pointed out that "of all the possible cities, none are in countries classified as low-income."

So, what can you do? You can submit a write-in ballot in the form of a wildcard city. I have chosen to submit 'Nairobi, Nairobi, KE' as my wildcard city. You can only submit a wildcard ballot once a day. So, I plan to submit Nairobi every day through the end of the contest.

The goal would be to get Nairobi into the top 20 wildcard cities by February 28. Then, there is a voting period for just the wildcard cities to determine which two of the top 20 make it onto board.

So, why don't you go to the site and vote for Nairobi, too.

Jesus Camp

I saw an add for a movie called Jesus Camp on A&E over the weekend. So, I recorded it, and I watched it today.

The film was a documentary about a pastor named Becky Fisher and her summer camp, Kids on Fire. You can use google to find plenty of articles on the movie and the camp, which has been shut down by Fisher after she experienced some backlash from the film.

Fisher seems to believe that it is not just okay for Evangelicals to indoctrinate their children into Christianity, but that it is necessary. She gives the argument more than once that "other world religions are indoctrinating their children." So, Christians should as well.

We have a seven month old son and will most likely have a few more kids, and this is something that I struggle with. I feel that my wife and I have a duty to consistently model our believes to our children and that we should "bring them up in a Christian home", but I don't want to force my religion down their throats.

Do I want my kids to come to know and follow Jesus? Yes. However, I don't want it to be the case that, "Dad says we should do this. So, we better do it."

I want them to come to know that there is a God that loves them and cares for them despite their faults. I want them to know that this God desires for them to love him in return. That he desires that love from them so much that he came to this earth in the form of a man named Jesus. I want them to know that this Jesus lived a life that we should use as an example. And, that eventually this Jesus gave up is life and sacrificed more than we can imagine to make it possible for us to connect with God, now and forever. I want them to recognize the importance of this sacrifice, and I want them to see this as the reason that they should follow the example of Jesus' life. I want them to know that it will not always be easy, but that they are not alone. That in some way that is not easy to understand or explain, that this God is right there with them giving them promptings on how they should live.

I'm not sure how I get my child to see and believe all of that without force feeding him. I guess the first step is making sure that I stay on track and follow those promptings. Check back with me in twenty-five years and I'll let you know how it went.

The Great Debaters

Kim and I saw The Great Debaters yesterday. It was a good story. It was typical Hollywood. So, you knew how it was going to end, but the journey to get to the end made it worth watching.

Super Powers

Recently, I started watching Heroes on NBC. They have a contest going on right now where you can submit a super power that you think a character should have and if you win, they will put your character on the show.

This got me to thinking, not necessarily about what power I would like to see on the show, but more about what power I would like to have if I could have one. I came up with this one... I would like to have the ability not to need to sleep.

I don't want the curse of not being able to sleep. I just want it to be a power I can turn off and on. I love napping on the couch on Sunday afternoons whilst watching golf or football, but I am often annoyed by the need to sleep during the week when I have things that I want/need to get done. I don't think my super power would make for good TV, but it could come in handy.

So, my question to you is... What power would you choose?


NOTES:
* I realize that I only want this power because I am over committed and I have not set healthy limits for myself. Maybe I need someone to repeatedly tell me, "You don't have to live this way."

* I'm assuming you don't already have any super powers. If I am mistaken, you can just tell us which you already possess, but you can't take any more. That would just be greedy. Maybe you could trade with someone like a White Elephant gift exchange.

Say it ain't so...

Early Victim of Strike: ‘Office’ Originals End Next Week

This is how much I keep up with the news, I didn't even know that there was a writer's strike.

I think that when they come back, the first episode should include Dunder-Mifflin employees going on strike and make it the episode some sort of satire about the writer's strike.

If NBC is listening, I can start writing scripts in the meantime.

What's the word for that... a carpetbagger? No, maybe I would be considered a scab.

Anyway, I think it would be a bad idea. First, half the actors are also writers, which would leave me with a episode where half the Dunder-Mifflin employees would have to be out sick for the day. I guess I could come up with something though.

Maybe Phylis and Angela get into an argument about something. Let's say Angela finds out that Phylis and Bob Vance (Vance Refrigeration)are getting a dog, which leads to Angela finding out that Phylis hates cats (and those pictures of babies dressed up in costumes). This leads to the heated argument, which leads to the planning of a fight in the warehouse at lunch time. (I know this is similar to the scene where Dwight and Michael fight at the Karate dojo, but people like violence.)

The fight scene would include a ring made out of boxes of paper. Stanley would be the referee. There would be special appearances by: Randy Couture as a friend of Bob Vance, who comes in to coach Phylis, Halle Berry, who comes to let Angela borrow her Catwoman suit for the fight, and Micheal Vick because he can't stay away from a good fight.

Like I said, me writing scripts would be a bad idea. So, can the WGA and the TV big-wigs work this thing out, please.

Interesting Video...

...and a decent song.

In other music news...

Do you have a Facebook account? Do you like free music? If yes, and yes, then I have a deal for you.

If you join the Ticketmaster Facebook group (See this blog post.), you get five free songs from the iTunes music store. Better yet, you get to pick your five free songs. Previous Facebook promotions have given you songs that they choose, but not this one. Now, you get to choose.

For all the latest free stuff from the iTunes music store, subscribe to the Free iTunes Songs blog.

Enjoy.

Journey

I was born in February of the year of our lord nineteen hundred eighty. I am a child of the 80's. However, I have never considered myself an 80's music fan. During the 80's, I was outside. I was busy riding bikes, running through the woods, and playing sports. I was not listening to the radio.

I can't remember what we listened to in the car. The only song I can remember my parents listening to in the 80's is Mountain Music from Alabama.

In the nineties, I listened to just about everything other than 80's music. The names that come to mind are Vanilla Ice1, MC Hammer, Poison, and Garth Brooks.

I listen to my headphones nearly the entire day at work. Usually, I am either listening to one of the many podcasts I download, or to music on shuffle. Today, the shuffle hit a Journey song, and I did something unheard of. I turned off shuffle and listened to an entire album.

Journey's Greatest Hits has just moved way up on my all time list of best albums. Maybe I should check out some more 80's music.

Does anyone have any favorites?

1. back To the Extreme was the first CD I ever owned.

Beyond the Gates

Kim and I watched Beyond the Gates the other night. It was a based on some events that took place at a school in Kigali, Rwanda in April 1994.

It was a good movie, but not for the faint at heart. There are some awful things that happen in the world. We talked about it afterward and Kim said something like, "Stuff like this makes me mad at humanity. Sometimes I think I might prefer to remain ignorant about somethings."

One cool thing about the movie is that right before the credits rolled, they took time to point out all the people who were a part of the original events that took part in the making of the movie.

The Scarn Ultimatum

We saw The Bourne Ultimatum yesterday afternoon. It was a good one.

Thanks to Dan for posting this video.

Beginning

Tonight, I saw something that brought a sense of joy to my heart.

It was an eight yard run up the middle by a Seattle running-back against the San Deigo defense. There was nothing special about the play. It was an insignifigant play in an insignifigant preseason NFL game, but it was the first play I had seen of the 2007 football season.

It has begun.

The Deathly Hallows

When the fifth book in the Harry Potter series was released in the summer of 2003, I hadn't read any of the subsequent books. I'm not even sure how I got started reading the books1.

However I started reading them, I got hooked real quick. I read the first one after another, and then when the fifth book came out, which was about the same time that I finished the I fourth, I read that one. Then, I was left like millions of other people, wondering what was going to happen to Harry and his friends.

When the sixth book came out, it had been a couple of years, so I re-read the first five before diving into the sixth. Again, after finishing the sixth book, I was left wondering.

This past weekend, the final installment in the series was released. I didn't go out at mid-night and pick it up, though I know some people that did. I happened to be at Target the next day, and picked my copy. I'm looking forward to finding out how the series will end. I haven't decided if I will re-read the other books first. I have read two chapters and I feel like there are a lot of references being made, and I can't recall them all.

Is anyone else reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows?

1. back I think I may have borrowed the first few from someone. Did I borrow them from you?

Nooma 017 | Today

Nooma is releasing their seventeenth video, Today, today.

Here's the blurb about it from the Nooma site:

How much time and energy do we spend wishing things were how they used to be? We often think about times in our past when things were different and want our lives to be like that again. Some of us have even come to believe that our best days may actually be behind us. But if we’re in some way hung up on the past, what does that mean for our lives now? How are we and those around us affected if we’re not fully present? If we’re longing for the way things used to be, what does that really say about our understanding and appreciation of our lives today? Maybe we need to learn to embrace our past for what it is, in order to live our lives to the fullest, right here, right now.

But wait there's more... For two days only, you can view the film in its entirety at the Nooma mySpace page.

Exclusive Online Premiere
Join us for the first-ever NOOMA online premiere. We'll be streaming NOOMA 017 | Today from the NOOMA player on our MySpace page from Monday, July 23 at 12 noon EST to Wednesday, July 25 at 12 noon EST.

So, go check it out. Thanks, Jasen, for the heads up.

ESPNU

Per the cable bill,

On August 31, ESPNU will be added to Digital Cable Channel 140.

Just in time for football season. Nice.

Transformers

I saw the Transformers movie this afternoon with some friends1. When I saw the first trailer for the movie on Nothing but Trailers2, I was pumped. I was a little disappointed in the timing of the release, since our baby was due two days prior to the movie coming out.

I hadn't thought much about seeing the movie recently. I have been preoccupied with Palmer. So, I had not built any expectations for the movie. So, what's i think?

I thought they did an excellent job with the movie. The CGI was cool. The story was decent. And, it was a lot funnier than I would have expected it to be. If you are going to go see a movie, I'd suggest this one.

1. back Jonathan, Daniel, Jeramie, and Patrick


2. back I've mentioned this before, but in case you missed it, this is a show I watch regularly that is nothing but trailers; thirty minutes of back-to-back movie trailers.

Fielder's Indifference

I have played and watched baseball since I was five. The other day, I saw something that I had never seen before.

This season, I joined a fantasy baseball league with a few guys I know. This has led to me keeping track of MLB more than I ever have. Nightly, I start the ESPN Game Tracker and monitor the happenings in all the games.

Game tracker is awesome. It allows you to keep up with all the games at once. For a given game, it will show you who's pitching and which player is batting. Pitch-by-pitch, it shows the balls, strikes, and outs. It also shows you in text format, every play that takes place, e.g. "Ken Griffey, Jr. homers to right.", "David Wright steals second.", etc..

Well, like I said, the other night I saw something that I had never before seen. At some point, late in a game, team A was up big. Team B was batting and had runners on the corners, Joe on first and Schmoe on third. The next play says, "Joe advances to second on fielder's indifference."

Fielder's Indifference what the heck is that?!? Come to find out, when you take an extra base1, and the defense does not try to get you out, it is scored as a fielder's indifference. It's a form of fielder's choice. Who knew?

1. back This also applies when a throw comes in from the outfield and the defense allows a runner to score without trying to get them out at the plate.

Roll Call

Who bought tickets to see Rabbi Rob speak?

I got four on the third row.

Commercial Break #2

So, it turns out that my buddy, Rob, is coming to town in November. I got my four tickets. You can get your's here.

Blood Diamond

I watched Blood Diamond with some friends1 on Friday night.

Wow.

If you haven't seen it, you should. You may find the first thirty minutes a bit disturbing2, but that's probably not a bad thing.

If you've seen it, please, share your thoughts.

1. ↩Jonathan, Patrick, Traci, and other people without blogs, namely, Kim, Mandy, Daniel, Meredith, and Matt.


2. ↩...or, you may find the entire thing disturbing.

"We are all environmentalists."

I just finished watching the season premier for a new show on the Sundance Channel. The show is Big Ideas for a Small Planet. The first episode is called Fuel, and discusses three alternative fuels, vegetable oil, bio-diesel, and ethanol.

I found it very interesting. I would love to hear what other people have to say about it. Currently, you can download the season premier for free from the iTunes store.

If you have time, check it out and come back and post your thoughts.

The Deuce

I don't know when it happened, but Time Warner added ESPN2HD to our local programming. Check out channel 289.

Sweet!

And don't forget that this is the weekend when you get free HBO. You have to go to channel 490 to activate it. Then, channels 400-412 will be available for your viewing pleasure.

Double Sweet!

Maxed Out

I saw a preview for this movie the other night. I am really intrigued by it, but I'm not sure I should spend eight bucks to go watch a movie about America's debt. Something about that just doesn't seem right.

Free Home Box Office

According to my latest cable bill time warner cable customers in Raleigh will recieve a free week of HBO and HBO OnDemand from April 6 - April 13. Mark your calendars. Set Your DVRs.

ONE Band on American Idol

Did anyone else notice that Chris Sligh was wearing a ONE band last night on American Idol?

Chris said last night that he works for a Marketing Blah Blah Company. I do not remember exactly what he said, but he is also on the worship team at a church plant in Greenville, SC.

Here is the pastor's blog from the church community where he rocks out.

They got me

Only two weeks in and they already have me wanting more.

I had low expectations coming into this most recent series of Lost episodes. After the first new show since the Fall, I was not all that impressed. However, after watching this week's episode, I want to see more. I was a bit disappointed to see the preview. I think I am more annoyed than interested in the Jack on teh other island plot line.

What did you think?

And by the way, I have continued to keep up with 24, but it has been more of a waste of my time than anything else.

This past weekend...

Looking back, this past weekend was, for lack of a better term, rad.

Let's see, starting with leaving work on Friday...
I talked to Corey for about half an hour about the non-profit he is starting. We talked about his short term goals, long term goals, plans, and dreams. I am excited to see what the future holds for Hope Athletics - Raleigh, and I am pumped to be a part of it. I have already started to see God at work for the success of it.

Kim and I hung out on Friday night. It was fun to just hang out at the house. We had dinner and caught up on our TV from the week, just the two of us. We watched Earl, the Office, Grey's, and a few Nothing But Trailers. I really enjoyed our night.

Saturday was eventful.

I played basketball in the morning, but not until ten. It was nice to be able to sleep until I woke up, and still be able to make it to the gym. Afterward, Matt came over and we cleaned up some leftovers for lunch. We made it over to the Ramsey/Gore house (I need to come up with a better way to reference this dwelling.) just in time to unload the last five items from the truck.

We did actually do a little work. Matt and I went with Jeff in "the original U-haul truck" back to his house to get all the stuff from around the yard. Jeff had a lot of fun driving the huge U-Haul. I think he is already planning a sabbatical where he plans to take a job driving a truck across the country delivering various freight for a month.

We got back to the new house just in time to see the Wolfpack do the unthinkable. Way to go guys. Great Win. I guess we bought the wrong mini-pack. I saw this article linked on the Mitchell's blog. It is somewhat humorous.

Saturday night we had people over. The boys played football on the xbox and the girls watched TV and talked about what ever it is that girls talk about.

Jeff's talk on Sunday morning was great. It was about defining who in your neighbor. He used the story of the good Samaritan. Something he mentioned that stuck with me was how we have gone from a big front porch society to a big back deck society. If you get the chance you should listen to the podcast, but first someone needs to work on getting the recent ones up on the site.

Sunday afternoon I took a nap at the Smith's house while watching some DiscoveryHD. Did you know that it takes years to build a Destroyer? There is a lot of welding involved. I guess it takes a long time to get 200 tons of metal to float.

Sunday night we went to the house for a Super Bowl party. The pig was excellent, the game was great, the commercials did not disappoint, but the best part was the people. There were over fifty people hanging out eating together, laughing together, and staring at a box made of plastic that magically displays moving pictures together, if that is possible.

It was a really good weekend.

Found?

Well, it is a plot twist that we knew would come sooner or later. The producers of ABC's Lost have began planning the end of the series. Speculation is that the series will run about 100 episodes, which means about five seasons total, or two more following this year, but they say it will run as long as it is on top.

I have a lot of friends that have been Lost fans, but the continual addition of new plot lines, combined with the lack of resolution, and the breaks in the seasons have rendered many of them (us), annoyed and disinterested. They seem to be trying to remedy the fragmented season issue by showing 16 straight new episodes to finish this season. There are also reports that they will be taking a page from 24's confidential anti-terror "how to" guide and fourth season will be aired consecutively.

This was ineresting to me. I found this quote from a producer in one article, it gives a little insight into what the show is really about:

"This show is about people who are metaphorically lost in their lives, who get on an airplane and crash on an island and become physically lost on the planet Earth. And once they are able to metaphorically find themselves again, they will be able to physically find themselves in the world again. When you look at the entire show, that's what it's always been about."

I look forward to the show coming back on. I hope the coming second half of this season is worth the wait, but right now my expectations are low.

For those who think I have sold out, I promise the next post will not be about TV.

Viente Quatro

Tonight, I decided to watch 24. After hearing over the past few seasons how great a show it was, I thought I would take in my first episode. Fox is doing this two day, four hour season premier event. The way I see it, if there is ever a time to get hooked, now is it.

So, at the risk of being berated by the loyal 24 junkies, I have to say that I was not impressed. I found the acting bad, and the dialog cheesey. Maybe one is the product of the other. I also thought they overused stereotypes. Aside from the obvious Muslim Arab equals terrorist suicide bomber, they threw a few more in there just for fun. The most blatant one was the racist (Dauber?) that wanted to whack Ahmed (Raj?), pronounced Ahh-medh, just happened to the "contractor from down the street." So, blue collar guy equals ignorant racist that thinks all Arabs are terrorists.

The show wasn't bad. It just wasn't great. Chloe kind of annoyed me. Jack Bauer lived up to his hype as being the only guy to have a shot at beating Chuck Norris. I mean, he went all vampire and killed a dude by biting him.

So, I'm sure I will watch the two hours tomorrow. Maybe it will grow on me.

Just in case...
Dear Mr. Bauer Sir, please do not kill me because I am not addicted to your show.

Foy Vance... Check him out.

I am by no means a music connoisseur on the bleeding edge, discovering new artists before they go mainstream, but I came across this guy and I really dig his stuff. It makes me sit back, close my eyes, and soak it in.

I came across Foy Vance while perusing the iTunes store. You may have heard a couple of his songs. I found him on an iMix containing all the songs featured on ABC's Grey's Anatomy. Unfortunately, you can currently only get one of his songs on the US iTunes store. You can hear more of his stuff on his myspace. You can also learn more about him on his official web site.

I wish I were in the UK because I think this would be a terrific concert.

I can't believe this coincidence...

So, I finally did it. I bought an iPod. I have been wanting one for a long time but could never seem to bring myself to spend the money on one. So, with another ten-hour commute to and from Central Florida quickly approaching, I could wait no longer.

See, the main purpose for my purchase was listening to audiobooks while in transit. I find that on long drives, the time and miles seem to pass a bit faster when I am listening to a book and, given that my wife does not prefer to read aloud for hours on end, I have found that audiobooks prove to be an adequate substitute. However, the different voices Kim uses for each character make the experience quite enjoyable. She does a mean muggle. Ask her to do it sometime.

Needless to say, I am excited about the opportunity I have to read more books. I already have a few audiobooks that I haven't listened to, yet. A good site that a co-worker introduced me to is Audible. Currently, they give you one free book just for signing up for an account. However, they used to give you three free books for signing up, kind of like how Wendy's used to give you the Biggie fry for 99¢. Well, consider this an early Christmas present. You can go here and get the three free books deal.

So, about the title. I can't believe that on the day that I get my iPod, specifically for listening to audiobooks, Apple puts an entire book up in the iTunes Store for free. The best part is that we are not talking about some crappy book. They put up an awesome book by one of the funniest people out there.

They put up an abridged version of The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman. If you do not know who John Hodgman is, he is a PC. He has also been on the daily show. He is hilarious. So, go get his book, now!