Whining ensues...

I'm gonna get whiny. I've had a cold for two weeks, going on three. I feel like crap. And now this:

4"-10" of snow on the way.

I love spring in Maine...

Ghost Rider

I went to the cheap seats last night and saw Ghost Rider. Now, let me start by saying, most critics panned this movie. Nicolas Cage did a horrible job acting. The story was fluff and not deep enough. The critiques just keep on coming. Well, I disagree with them completely.

Of course, everyone has an opinion, and apparently some get paid for their opinion, so here is mine.

Back in the day, my family took a trip to Nova Scotia. Unfortunately, we had an unplanned stay over. But because of this, I bought my first comic, which was The Hulk. When I got back home, I bought my second comic, which was Ghost Rider.

I really dislike Nicolas Cage. He plays the same character in every movie he is in. But I liked him in GR. He fit the part perfectly. Plus it helped his head was on fire.

The story had its own charm, giving a great background on how Johnny Blaze signs over his soul to Mephistopheles and becomes the "Spirit of Vengeance". The effects were amazing. The first ride by GR was awesome as he melted the asphalt on the street and lit everything in sight on fire. The scene where GR comes riding down the building and creates a crater when he lands was totally awesome. Another favorite scene is when Carter Slade, aka The Caretaker, takes his final ride as a Ghost Rider and both he and Blaze are riding side by side, JB on his bike and CS on his horse. Amazing. Sam Elliot was perfectly cast as Slade.

This was well worth seeing on the big screen, and I'll definitely add this DVD to the collection when it is released.

Added bonus: GR art by Marc Silvestri!

Random Rules

My buddy Peter over at Slublog set the ol' iPod to shuffle, hit play, and hoped for the best. Well, seeing that the weather is extremely nasty here in our beloved Bangor right now (Snow, sleet, rain), I've done the same. I'm slightly shocked at what came up on my pod. A complete dichotomy:

"Meaning In Tradgedy"- As I Lay Dying- Buzzsaw guitars, rapid fire drums and plenty of screaming. From what I have read, these guys are Christians. How you would know from listening to them I don't know, but if they get people to come to Christ, go for it.

"Falling Upon Deaf Ears"- As I Lay Dying- More buzzsaw and growl.

"The Everlasting"- Third Day- C'mon, 1o years of rockin' for Christ. An essential. So many great songs.

"My Hope is in You"- Third Day


"Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck"- Demon Hunter- Awesome band. Great combo of buzzsaw/scream, but the newest album (The Triptych) is a very diverse album with a lot of awesome guitar, some scream, but some great harmonies and vocals. This song is a cover of a song by the Industial/Groove/Thrash metal band Prong.

"Mighty is the Power of the Cross"- Chris Tomlin- One of the greatest lyricists and worship leaders the church has going right now.

"Self-Inflicted"- Crowbar- The real heathens of this pack. Nothing but pure Doom/Grunge/Wall 'o' Sound metal here. Not for the faint of heart.

"Your Grace is Enough"- Chris Tomlin

"Made to Worship"- Chris Tomlin

"The Way I Was Made"- Chris Tomlin

Wow, I do have a really weird mix. The best of both worlds, so to speak. For fun, we got Jessica's iPod out as well. Here are her first ten:

"Smile"- Madeleine Peyroux

"All My Tears"- Jars of Clay

"Quando, Quando, Quando"- Michael Buble and Nelly Furtado- From the "Natalie Wants Friends!" album.

"Grey"- Barlow Girl

"I Can't Take it In"- Imogen Heap- From the "Chronicles of Narnia" soundtrack.

"Angel"- George Winston

"I've Got to See You Again"- Norah Jones

"Wunderkind"- Alanis Morissette- Another one from the "Chronicles" soundtrack. And also the only reason something from Alanis Morissette would end up on either of our pods.

"Touch Me, Feel Me"- Darude- Got to have some Eltronica/Techno.

"Anywhere"- Evanescence- The Mrs. can rock out...

There we have it. Random living at its best!

300

I am in awe of the spectacle that I watched this weekend. 300 was an amazing film. Visually stunning and definitely ground breaking. I was exhausted after the film because I felt I was one of the Spartans taking on the Persians. Yes, it was bloody, and there was a little skin, but that doesn't change how amazing this film was.

When I walked out of the theater I could only utter three words: amazing, awesome, stunning.

Worth the full price of admission multiple times. I can't wait to go see it again. I'll buy the super-duper, deluxe, super deluxe DVD when it comes out.

Weekend Worship Set

Here is the Sunday morning set list for this week:

Adonai
Be Unto Your Name
Empty Me
Kindness
Give Us Clean Hands
Offering- Good to Me
Draw Me Close
Blessed Be Your Name

We do "Kindness" and "Give Us Clean Hands" as a medley, which works extremely well. I think I heard Chris Tomlin or someone like that do the two songs that way.

I tried a little experiment this morning with a little dramatic "buzzsaw" guitar on "Draw Me Close". I put a little distortion on the Les Paul for the second chorus. Nobody dropped dead and lightning didn't strike, and it wasn't like I was playing like Dimebag Darrell, so it went okay. The idea was to add some dynamics to the song, not draw attention to myself, because we do this for God and not ourselves. It seemed to work.

We are going to be missing some people next week, so it will be a nice little acoustic set Sunday morning, not a Les Paul driven wall of sound.

It was just a matter of time...

I knew it would come. It was just a matter of time. It actually has been happening for centuries, but it now just comes to light.

Cat goes berserk and send woman to the hospital:

HAILEY, Idaho - A house cat attacked its owner, sending her to the hospital by ambulance with more than 20 bite wounds.

The cat, a black and white domestic male, went on the rampage Wednesday when a neighbor showed up at the door with a different cat, mistakenly thinking it belonged to the woman.

“She went to the door, and her cat went berserk,” Jeff Nevins, assistant fire chief for Wood River Fire and Rescue, told the Idaho Mountain Express.

The woman in her 60s was taken to St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center with what Nevins described as “pretty serious puncture wounds.” Neither the hospital nor the fire department would provide any details to The Associated Press on Saturday, or say whether she has been released.

“I think the owner said she was going to take it to the shelter because that’s not the first time she’s been attacked,” Nevins said.

Cats are evil.

Are you kidding me?

While Captain America is by no means a favorite comic character of mine, I can't believe that Marvel has killed him off. And struck down by a lowly sniper. What is wrong with them?

Rest in peace, Cap, you were a tremendous hero, and the goofballs at Marvel will realize their mistake eventually, killing off an American icon...

A little photo resto

Here is my latest work of art (so to speak). My aunt was gracious enough to let me borrow a picture of my grandfather who fought in World War I with the 303rd Field Artillery. The picture was taken in either 1917 or 1918.

Here is the before:




And here is after:



Not a real challenging restoration, but meaningful because it is my grandfather, whom I never got to meet because he died when I was an infant. The picture had been cut by someone (that always irritates me) and was yellowing. I have a few more touch ups to due, but as you can see, a vast improvement.

Peculiar Posts

Here are the oddities of the day, which you have admit, are kinda funny.

The first, Tranquilized Moose Downs Helicopter:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A helicopter is not necessarily a match for an angry moose.

Instead of lying down after being shot with a tranquilizer dart, a moose charged a hovering helicopter used by a wildlife biologist, damaging the aircraft's tail rotor and forcing it to the ground.

They may be docile and dumb looking, but don't mess with 'em.

The today's second peculiarity was nearly a international incident: Switzerland Inadvertently Invades Liechtenstein.

ZURICH, Switzerland - What began as a routine training exercise almost ended in an embarrassing diplomatic incident after a company of Swiss soldiers got lost at night and marched into neighboring Liechtenstein.

According to Swiss daily Blick, the 170 infantry soldiers from the neutral country wandered 2 kilometers (more than a mile) across an unmarked border into the tiny principality early Thursday before realizing their mistake and turning back.

Oops. Good thing the Liechtensteiners are so easy going. Oh, and of course, they have no army so it's not like they could make a fuss...

Musical Sunday

Very musical and very long day on Sunday. We did our regular Sunday morning music set and on top of that did a special night of music because there was a break in our Sunday night small group schedule. So here is the morning list:

Come, Now is the Time to Worship
Open the Eyes of our Heart Lord
Amazing Love (You are my King)
Holy is the Lord
Enough
Lord, You have my Heart
How Great is our God/Then Sings my Soul
Blest be the Tie that Binds (A cappella after Communion)

This was the Sunday night set:

Adonai
Be Unto Your Name
Jesus Lead On
Awesome is the Lord Most High
Better is One Day
Draw Me Close
From the Inside Out
Give Us Clean Hands
Kindness
Unashamed Love
You Alone
Forever
You're Worthy of My Praise
I Can Only Imagine

Yes, that was a lot of songs. The set clocked in at around one hour and fifteen minutes. The night went very well considering the practice the day before was nearly a train wreck. I wish that there had been a few more people, but if only one in the crowd got something out of it, then it was worth it. Remember, God is in control.

How far could they be?

This week's much anticipated installment of Tastes Like Chicken!

The crappy weekly paper, aptly called "The Weekly" (I usually change the spelling to "Weakly") chinsed out and printed this week's toon in black and white.

Well, here it is in color!

Josh, I look forward to TLC every week! Keep it up!

The joys of living in Maine

40º on Thursday.

Blizzard on Friday with 6" to 20" inches of snow forecast with everything canceled except my wife's workplace.

40º on Saturday.

As the old Maine saying goes: If you don't like the weather, just wait a minute and it will change...

Ayuh, deah.

Worship Set

So, a couple of weeks ago I was all motivated to post our Sunday morning worship set, and I've already missed a Sunday.

If any of you are involved in church ministry of any kind, and particularly music, don't be surprised when not only something goes wrong, but all kinds of stuff (some of you know exactly what I'm talking about).

Last week was like that. We had a great presentation by our Pioneer Club kids, which changed up the order of service, which is not a big deal, but we had all kinds of technical problems with our sound system to really start the morning out right. I usually show up about an hour before the service starts (my wife hates that because I drag her with me) and get warmed up and ready. I spent 40 minutes running around with my head cut off trying to figure out why the guitars weren't coming through the system. Consequently not the smoothest morning ever.

I guess the reason that I am writing this is just to prepare you to be ready to roll with the punches. It can be hard sometimes to get by the small stuff (I speak from experience here), but God is still good and in control of the show. Let's all try to lean on Him.

Here is the list from last week:

Indescribable
God of Wonders
My All in All
I Love You Lord
Christ in Me (offering)
You Alone
My Savior's Love (I Stand Amazed)- Chris Tomlin's version

Hmm... An Odd Couple

"If I keep still, maybe the nice tiger won't eat me..."

"An Incoveniet Truth" about Al Gore's Energy Use

While former VP Al Gore was out rubbing shoulders with Hollywood's elite and celebrating his documentary on global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth", apparently he was doing his part to contribute to the demise of our planet:

[F]ormer Vice President Al Gore was called a hypocrite by a Tennessee group that said his Belle Meade home is consuming too much energy.

The home’s average monthly electric bill last year was just under $1,200, according to bills that The Tennessean acquired from Nashville Electric Service.

“As the spokesman of choice for the global warming movement, Al Gore has to be willing to walk (the) walk, not just talk the talk, when it comes to home energy use,” said Drew Johnson, president of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, identified as a free-market think tank.

Gore’s power bill shows, however, that the former vice president may be doing just that.

Gore purchased 108 blocks of “green power” for each of the past three months, according to a summary of the bills.

That’s a total of $432 a month Gore paid extra for solar or other renewable energy sources.

The green power Gore purchased in those three months is equivalent to recycling 2.48 million aluminum cans or 286,092 pounds of newspaper, according to comparison figures on NES’ Web site.

NES joined the TVA program in 2000 to give power customers a way to support environmentally sound sources of electricity. The Tennessean could not determine when Gore signed up for green power.

NES gets its electricity from TVA. Most is produced from coal, which emits carbon, a greenhouse gas. A lesser amount comes from nuclear power and a small amount from hydroelectric.

Okay, they threw in something about "Green Power" and all that, but c'mon, $1200 is quite a hefty bill to pay to the power company.

I mean, I pay that for a year of power, not just a month, and I live in the highest taxed state in the Union.

Maybe I'll put up a windmill in my backyard. I bet the neighbors will love that...

And you thought mapping the human genome was tough...

Try analyzing the 39 ingredients that make up the components of a Twinkie.

A new book due out deconstructs all the tasty chemicals that go into making one of America's favorite snack cakes:

At the heart of the book is the fundamental question: why is it you can bake a cake at home with as few as six ingredients, but Twinkies require 39? And why do many of them seem to bear so little resemblance to actual food? The answer: To stay fresh on a grocery-store shelf, Twinkies can't contain anything that might spoil, like milk, cream or butter. Once you remove such real ingredients, something has to take their place—and cellulose gum, lecithin and sodium stearoyl lactylate are a good start. Add the fact that industrial quantities of batter have to pump easily through automated tubes into cake molds, and you begin to get the idea.

How utterly scrumptious!!! Now I remember why I haven't had a Twinkie in at least a decade. I'm probably still processing the one I ate back in 1997.

When the human race has long left this earth, and the only things left are the cockroaches and spiders, there will be a Twinkie sitting there in the midst of all the carnage, ready to eat...

C'mon now

I've been listening to the saga of Anna Nicole Smith's death and dead body for a least a couple of weeks now, and after this horribly cheesy attempt to delay the process even further this is my decree: just bury the poor girl's remains in the Bahamas next to her son, whom she deeply loved, and let us all move on with our lives as well as for all those actually have a vested interest in this affair.

I don't agree with the life that she lived, but this is just horrible to have such a media circus and all these arguments after she is dead. Especially as her body decays in the morgue. No open casket funeral for Ms. Smith...

Her example makes a real good case for a current, up to date will with exact details and wishes outlined.

Steamboy

Whereas I wasn't real impressed with "The Departed", Steamboy filled the good movie void this week. From the official site:

From the leader in animé Katsuhiro Otomo (Osamu Tezuka’s Metropolis, Memories), comes his first feature- length directorial project since his breakthrough film (Akira). A retro science-fiction epic set in Victorian England, Steamboy features an inventor prodigy named Ray Steam, who receives a mysterious metal ball containing a new form of energy capable of powering an entire nation, the Steam Ball. Young Ray Steam must use the Steam Ball to fight evil, redeem his family, and save London from destruction. Ten years in the making, a total budget of $22 Million and with more than 180,000 drawings and 400 CG cuts, Steamboy is one of the most elaborate animated features ever created. Steamboy will be brought to life with an outstanding ensemble voiceover cast including Academy Award® Winner Best Actress in a Supporting Role 1994 Anna Paquin (X-Men), Patrick Stewart (X-Men), and Alfred Molina (Spider-man 2).

Who knew Anna Paquin would do such an amazing job playing the voice of a 13 year old boy! Patrick Stewart always impresses. Alfred Molina was amazing as well. But here is the really interesting thing: all three played in Marvel movies. Hmm...

This movie was visually stunning and actually had a plot that was very understandable. Sometimes I find Anime movies hard to follow. A lot of Eastern (not Maine that is) themes that don't always connect with my Western way of thinking.

A great movie overall. Worth the full price of admission if anyone around here had the wherewithal to actually bring it to our local theater...

This stupid thing itches...

TLC for the masses. That is Tastes Like Chicken.

This is how I feel when I haven't shaved for a couple of days...

Holy Squid, Bat Man...

990 pound squid caught off the coast of New Zealand, perhaps the biggest squid ever caught.

If calamari rings were made, expert says, they'd be size of tractor tires.

It'd probably taste like tractor tires as well.

Currently playing in iTunes...

Demon Hunter- The Triptych

Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace, the story of William Wilberforce and his fight to abolish the slave trade in Britain, is opening tomorrow, February 23rd, and looks totally amazing. Not only is it a story of huge historical significance, but a story driven by Wilberforce's faith in God.

Here is the link to the movie site. You'll find there information about the movie, an educational resource and a study guide.

I found a link on John Piper's website that has a PDF version of a book that Piper's ministry has written to go along with the movie. Here is the link for the book and the free PDF download.

Enjoy and go see this amazing story!

The Departed

I just watched The Departed, and that is 2 1/2 hours of my life I can't get back. I hated it. I've had a ton of people I know recommend it because they thought it was awesome. I am so disappointed.

But, I think I now why I hated it. It wasn't Scorsese, even though I think he is overrated. It definitely wasn't Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg or Matt Damon. It might have been DiCaprio (or as I call him "De"Crap"rio), but I doubt it.

It was the script. The story was actually very good. It kept you guessing to the very end. But it was very disjointed. There was no sense of time, except when they told you how much time had passed. One minute Leo's starting his undercover thing, and then suddenly a year passed.

But my biggest complaint was the language. Now, those who know me know I'm no prude and have been known to throw around a colorful word here or there, but this was just nonstop vulgarness. There was some very nasty references to other races and about women as well, which I feel were unnecessary because they certainly didn't enhance or move the story along. This is definitely a film for adults and mature teens.

I won't pan the thing entirely, but I am only gonna give it a two out of four stars. Not worth admission, but a rental, especially if you can get it for free.

Sunday Morning Music Set

After having a discussion with my friend Reese this morning at church, I've decided that I am going to try and post our Sunday morning worship sets here on the blog. I know that I am always looking for new songs to do on a Sunday morning, so hopefully this will help someone somewhere in worshiping our God and King.

A little background to start. We are a small church in Hampden, Maine, with about 250 attendees. We have two worship groups, of which I am the "leader" of one. Our first service group, the one I play in, has a twin Les Paul powered attack with a full compliment of drums, piano, bass and several singers. We can be a huge wall of sound. But, while our goal is always to sound good and play the best we can for God, we always strive to not be the focal point. We strive for invisibility, so the focus and goal is worshiping the Lord Most High, not us as musicians.

Here is the worship set for this Sunday:

1. Adonai- (Paul Wilbur)
2. Be Unto Your Name
3. Your Love, Your Mercy
4. Lead Me to Calvary
5. Light the Fire
6. From My Heart to Yours (offering)
7. Your Love O Lord
8. Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)/Doxology

A couple people in our group had the idea to do the "Doxology" a cappella at the end of "My Chains are Gone" and it turned out to be amazing. God really did an amazing work with this song combination. Now, the doxology is not a song we have ever done, and in my ignorance, didn't even know what it was not growing up in a church that ever sang it, but it was perfect to end the service on.

Okay, I've rambled on long enough to now. More to come later.

This would make me really happy

Oh to be having an ice cream sundae with the Master Chief...

Thanks to my buddy Scott and Pat for the pic!

Nature themed blogging ensues...

Animal Kingdom 1, Humans 0

The stupid things people do when they are drunk...

If your a drinkin' buddy with this guy, you might want to rethink that:

CANBERRA - A fisherman fueled by vodka caught a 4-foot shark and wrestled it onto a jetty on Australia’s south coast, suffering only small tear marks in his trousers, media reports said on Friday.

Phillip Kerkhof, 41, caught the bronze whaler shark by hand on Monday after he spotted it chasing squid lures near the jetty at the tiny seaside town of Louth Bay in the South Australia state.

“I just snuck up behind him and eventually I went for the big grab and I fluked it and got him,” Kerkhof told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Animal Kingdom 1, Humans 1

What's that you say?

New Mexico is hoping to keep drunks off the road by lecturing them at the last place they usually stop before getting behind the wheel: the urinal.

The state recently paid $21 each for about 500 talking urinal deodorizer cakes and has put them in men's rooms in bars and restaurants across the state.

When a man steps up, the motion-sensitive plastic device says, in a woman's voice that is flirty, then stern: "Hey, big guy. Having a few drinks? Think you had one too many? Then it's time to call a cab or call a sober friend for a ride home."

Are you serious? A talking urinal? Well, if it gets some drunkard off the roads because he just had a religious experience because he heard a voice from the urinal, so be it.

I just hope nobody finds a shark to wrestle...

"Is your marriage in trouble?"

The question asked by my beloved high school students when I said I was going on a marriage retreat. And often if you say "marriage retreat" to the public at large, this is also their question.

And my response is, "Heck no!" There are ways to improve an already stellar marriage, and that is what the Mrs. and I did this weekend, with our friends Scott and Esther. We headed down country a ways to Camden, Maine, to stay at the Country Inn and attend the 2007 marriage retreat headed up the Russ and Lorie. And what a great time is was.

At the risk of plagiarizing Esther's post, here we go. We left after work on Friday and drove down to Camden and ate at this great restaurant at the Cedar Crest Hotel (aptly named the "Restaurant at the Cedar Crest") and had the most amazing burger and got to watch live jazz, as well as drool over the Gibson Les Paul one of the old gents was playing. Please wipe the drool now...

Then back to the hotel for the first session of the weekend, which dealt with living in the N.O.W. or Nourishment, Observation and Work, which are the big three in having a great relationship with your spouse. Also being able to hit the "reset" button when things get a bit dicey helps as well, because as most of you know now, most fights are about the stupidest things.

Saturday night brought about date night, and while we were tempted to double date with someone despite instructions not to, we ended up at Su Casa, a Mexican restaurant near the inn, almost by ourselves, but a couple we had just met this weekend decided to eat there as well and I resisted the urge to go sit with them and have some Nachos and a Corona. The food was amazing and the owner was even visiting each of the tables to see how peoples' meals were. Incredible! If you are in Camden and want some authentic Mexican, this is the place.

The weekend also featured some videos by Mark Gungor. He has a great insight into marriage and is an absolute riot. He takes the edge of potentially serious topics by adding very timely and appropriate humor. Check out his website here. I would recommend his seminars to anyone. He had too much info to really post here, but if you check out his stuff, I have to say my "Nothing Box" is about the size of the Grand Canyon...

A great weekend!!!

The Dead of Winter in Maine

It took awhile to get here, but winter has finally arrived in our beloved state of Maine. December saw us having 40's and 50's, but during that last week we have often woken up to negative temps. And much to our chagrin, not much snow. Tomorrow's forecast is for a couple inches of snow, which will me nice for my buddy J.R. Mitchell and the Pine Tree Camp's Egg Ride.

The Mrs. is currently playing her new game in attempt to pass a cold winter's night. While being a complete button-masher, the voice talents of Elijah Wood, David Spade and Gary Oldman keep this one entertaining.

Norah Jones' new album, Not Too Late, is playing on the laptop as I write this. She could be singing jibberish and she would still be so amazingly talented. My favorite so far is "Sinkin' Soon". Interesting sound for this one.

School is going well. I survived the first semester with only a moderate amount of stress, anger and frustration. Me and the boys have made some great changes for this semester to reduce our stress as well as give the kids a better chance of success. Out of our class of 36 we have 20 seniors, and right now we hope to see most of them graduate. I'm very glad to be done with teaching Earth Science and Psy/Soc. I'm now on the Health, Pre-Algebra and Guitar. Never a dull moment.

Alright, I'm about to go pass some time reading this incredible novel. I am amazed so far and can't wait for the rest of the story to unfold.