WEBSITE. catapultmagazine.com

this is a very cool site. its kind of an online magazine, and its a big forum for discussion. the site is created and run by a couple of people who i got to know in college. i got to know them a little bit, but after freshman year (i think) they left, so its been a while...
the 'magazine' is called catapult and features alot of great articles on that months theme. most of the articles are well written and thought provolking. another aspect of the website is the forum called 'culture is not optional' which is a phrase lifted from the advertising we used for a play i was in at college (called 'nobody move, and nobody gets hurt'). the forum is great. it is quite extensive and covers any topic you can imagine. the posts are usually insightful and interesting. many of the people who post are people i knew back from college, so its especially fun to catch up with them and read their thoughts.

GAMES. new name?

ive had my eye on the next generation nintendo console since it was first announced a while ago. this whole time it has always been called the 'revolution', but that has only been its code name. today there has been some buzz on the internet that there is now a new official name for the system: Nintendo Go
its interesting. im still not sure what to think of it, if its actually the legit name. i think i like it though. the one problem is that you would always have to call it the 'nintendo go', because just calling it 'go' sounds really wierd!
im a little hesitant though because there have been so many false rumors going around about this system that im not going to assume that this one is true. yet.

TV. how i met your mother

its always nice when a show you root for turns out to be worth it.
last year my friend and i rented the dvds from the show 'freaks and geeks'. i had never seen it, but she had told me, from what she remembered, it was good. so we thought we would give it a try. we both fell in love with it and immediately started looking to see what the cast was up to now. as it turned out two of the cast members had been cast in two new comedies this season. once i realized that i was all over it. i started getting really excited about seeing these shows. the first one was 'kitchen confindential' and it had the little brother geek from the 'freaks and geeks' in it. it was a bit of fun, but we all know what happened to that show...
the other one is 'how i met your mother' and has the character marshal, played by the druggie guy in 'freaks and geeks' who liked the main character. its nice to see that one of the two turned out to be something really special. although i think 'mother' is popular more for neil patrick harris' barney character. i totally love the show, its so witty and silly, and barney is just so outragously corporate america that it is great fun to watch. the dumb litttle phrases he uses are the perfect examples of frat boy mentality: 'suit up!' 'the lemon law' 'steaksauce'!
this show is quickly turning into one of my favorites.

BOOKS. paul, a novel

Paul: A Novel, by walter wangerin jr. this is an amzing book. it took me a while to get into it (roughly 8 years...) but once i got the premise it totally clicked! i recieved this book from my aunt for my high school graduation. i gave it a try, but the first chapter is kind of oddly written, so i gave up and put it away. all these years ive kept it, but never gave it another look. well, last year i decided to try again- and boy what a reward! ive never had a book move me to laughter and then tears before.
heres the set up: the book is a novelization of the book of Acts. it is the story of pauls conversion and three missionary journeys. but here is what makes it so unique: we dont really ever get inside pauls head, instead the book is writen from the perspective of all those around paul. some chapters are written from the point of view of barnabas, or james, or timothy, or titus, etc. all of these people give their side of what they think of paul and his actions. i teach the book of acts to middle schoolers, so this book has really come in handy for making the stories come alive. there are a few days where i read sections straight out of the book. the kids love it because its alot more personal than the straight narrative of acts.
the author of the book has done this with other books as well, he did a novelization of the old testament called 'the book of God'. i picked that one up, but it fails at exactly what made the paul book so great- it is very cold and just a basic narrative. he recently released a novelization of the gospels and recounts the life of Jesus. i havent read it, but i probably will.

TV. vw commercials

the first time i saw one of these crazy 'unpimp my volkswagen' commercials i thought it was totally stupid. but ive seen them a few more times now, and i have totally changed my mind- these commercials are great! ive only seen 2 or 3, but i think they are crazy and funny. i cant remember the name of the main actor, but he always plays the stranges of peole (the highlight certainly being in constantine when he played satan) and i like the idea of destrying all those stupid cars with the huge spoilers and spinner wheels and every other crappy car mods like in the fast and furious movies.

BOOKS. state of fear

ive written about this book before, but that was when i first picked it up, im a few hundred pages in now, so i figured id update my thoughts.
once again i am reminded how much i love michael crichtons writting style- its just so fluid and engaging. i just start reading, and before i know it an hour has passed!
anyway, im getting a better feel for the plot of the book. it has a lot to do with environmental stuff. one of the subplots has to do with a low land island wanting to sue amarica for causing so much pollution that the sea level is raising and the island will soon be under water. kind of an interesting plot point, but the majority of the book is all about pollution and environmental issues. but it actually tries to prove that all the environmenalists are wrong- the world is not warming at all, and in fact, the polar ice caps are actually getting bigger! the information is presented with such authority and with so much real world research behind it that i am actually wondering if the ideas in the book are true. the info is explained as accurate, and the writing is quite persuasive.
i think im going to have to look up some of the sources listed in the prefix of the book... that michael crichton, he sure can grab my interest!

TV. 24

ive really been getting into this show this season. ive never really been interested in the show before, but i deceided to give it a try this year. ive always liked kieffer sutherland (which is kind of wierd- i like him but i dont think ive ever seen him in a movie i liked. go figure...) and i think foxs promise of a continuous season with no repeats was what finally made me give it a try.
i have been enjoying it quite a bit. still not sure how these people can last a whole 24 hours with out having to use the bathroom, but i guess that wouldnt really make good television. one thing that has been cool is seeing some of the guest stars that show up. first we got to see sean astin, the guy who played sam on the lord of the rings movies, and just lately there has been a character played by peter weller- the one and only robocop! totally rad!!!
the best part is that the story has been continually filled with interesting twists and turns. they dont really have any fear of totally messing stuff up, or even killing off one of the main characters, as was shown this week.
the show is about half way through, and i am looking forward to what jack will do next!

WEBSITE. thinkwonder

back in college a friend of mine, mic, created this website called 'thinkwonder.com' and it was awesome. it had this whole non sequitur radiohead vibe to it. one of the best parts about it was the discussion board. it was always lively and the posts were always interesting.
recently another friend of mine, reuben, has resurrected the discussion board. it has been cool talking with those guys again and doing the discussion board again. i commend reuben on hosting the site and getting it started again, but heres the big problem: no one seems to have anything to say! discussion boards are only cool if people are actually having discussions! so, i am writting this post to invite you to sign up at the discussion board so that we can have more people involved who might actually post something... the link is here.

TV. attack of the show

dear attack of the show,

i really love your show and i watch it when ever i can. i enjoy the different segments that you have, and i really love the hosts kevin, brendan, sarah, and will. they are very entertaining to watch and fun to listen to.
the best part of your show each week is the tuesday episodes with the 'dvduesday' segment with chris gore. may i humbly make a suggestion? please expand this segment. actually, i think you should pull it out into a complete half hour show hosted by chris gore and shown every tuesday.
hey, it would be better than that 'cinematech' crap you put on now...

thank you.

ps- are you ever going to announce who won the cohost job? i assume it was will, but he wasnt really one of the choices...

BOOKS. max lucado

you know what ticks me off? whores. i dont mean the prostitute kind (although i not a fan of them either...), i mean people who take advantage of their success by producing crap just so they can get more money.
the biggest culprit i can think of is max lucado. many people will be mad at me for saying this about him, but he is truly a book whore. if you dont know who he is then you obviously havent been anywhere near a christian bookstore. ever. let me tell you about him: he writes spirituality books that are at about a 4th grade reading level. the spirituality in them is very very shallow. he rarely tries to dig deep below the surface, he would rather just explain everything with 'warm fuzzies'. his style is all story based, no matter what he is talking about he always seems to have a story about someone who is down on their luck or just lost their child, and that person is miraculously made better and all their problems are solved because they said 'jesus'. seriously, thats about as deep as he gets. i have read a few of his books and i have found very little substance, rather, its filled with manipulative emotional garbage.
im sure the guy is nice and all, but you can tell he is writing for an audience of 60 year old women who collect 'precious moments' figurines.
but the thing that bugs me the most about him is the way he takes advantage of the 'christian scene'. (its actually sick that there has to bee a 'scene' at all. christ tells us to make an impact in this world and make disciples of all nations, but how are we going to do that if we live in our own 'christian' bubble and never participate in the real wold? sorry, a bit of a rant, let me get back on topic...) the crowd he is writing for are people who think buying a christian book and supporting the christian industry will somehow turn others to jesus. lucado takes advantage of this by flooding the market with product so people will think its their christian duty to buy it all.
have you seen the sheer amount of books this guy has published? i would dare say that he has a book, journal, study guide, or reissue released every single month of the year. and that goes double around christmas. every time he writes a book they release the book, a response journal, a study guide, a version for kids, a version for men, a version for women, a version for college kids, etc.
im not sure why i bring this up, i guess i was just walking through a christian book store this week and was really disgusted.

TV. an unexpected heart

tuesday i found myself moved by the most unexpected thing. i was catching up on my tivo watching and i spotted a new episode from monday of the late late show. i always love that show, craig ferguson makes me laugh hard.
i start it up expecting some of his trademark scottish humor, but things are a bit different tonight (i could tell right away- he was wearing a tie!) it turns out that over the weekend craigs father passed away. i guess it was reruns last week because craig said that he got to spend the week with his family and father in the hospital.
he spent the monologue talking about his fathers life and some of the things he remembered about him. it was really moving, actually. the rest of the show was devoted to his father. dr. drew was on to talk about grief and how we can heal and learn from it. then a traditional scottish band, called "wicked tinkers" played a song for his father. it was a bagpipe and a couple drums. the last guest was amy something-or-other... i dont remeber her last name, but she was the wife of john ritter before he died.
it struck me as really moving and cool that someone would want to go through the grieving process in such a public way. im sure many people found it helpful in understanding their own grief.
yet another reason why i love that show...

TV. lost (actually, not the one you are thinking...)

i have a tivo and periodically it will record shows as suggestions that it thinks i might like based on my recording history. usually i erase the suggestions right away because its for stupid shows, but every once in a while it will record something i didnt know about, but that i actually would like to watch. one example of this is a show on G4 called brainiac- its really great, but i had no idea about it until tivo introduced me.
yesterday, during the lazy sunday afternoon, i was checking out the suggestions and i saw the entry 'lost'. i thought this strange because it wasnt the abc show. actually, it was an old reality show that was on nbc back in 2001. the premise is that six people, three teams of two, are dropped in the middle of nowhere, blindfolded, and told they will win 100,000 dollars if they are the first team to make it to the statue of liberty. they are given basic suplies, and about 300 bucks, then sent off on their way to fend for themselves.
a really interesting premise and the show itself was actually really good! they had a marathon of the first season on sunday, so i got to see the whole trip in one afternoon and was really drawn in by the journey and people. they ended up being put in the middle of bolivia and struggled at every turn to afford transportation and food. as far as reality tv goes, it was really solid because they didnt try and streach the story out, it was only three episodes.
anyway, i was impressed.

GAMES. ssx on tour

i dont usually like sports games, but i do kind of dig 'extreme' sports games. my old roommate in utah turned me on to tony hawk and we had a great old time playing that for hours and hours. after i moved i was informed by him that i must buy a game called 'ssx tricky'. i wasnt quite sure what to expect. but i came across it new for only 8.99, so i figured i couldnt go wrong. what a surpise! that game rocked! then 'ssx3' came out and it was even better than 'tricky'!!! when i got it i would play an hour or two every night- i was obsessed! it is still one of my favorite games of all time. if i were stuck on a desert island and only had one video game i would take 'ssx3' because i could still sit and play that one for 3 or 4 hours at a time.
over christmas my parents got me the latest version- 'ssx on tour'. i havent had much of a chance to play it until last night. it is quite different than the last two, but that addictive fun of the series is still in full swing! some of the additions are fun like hand railing and other contests, but i miss a few of the aspects from 'ssx3' like being able to go down the hill in one fast run. an amusing little addition is the ability to play as mario or luigi- they even have the voices and coin noises. quite cool.
i think i will reserve my judgement on it until i have played a few more hours. i am hoping the new style and structure will grow on me as it has in the series before.

BOOKS. pop up books

last night i went to borders bookstore with a friend of mine. i had read a review about this new crazy pop up book that was super detailed. i remembered it while we were there, so we went on a quest throughout the store looking for pop up books. (we had to search because, oddly enough, they arent the most popular type of book) when we finally found them we pulled them out and were amazed! these things were mind-bogglingly intricate and totally incredible. the best ones were by a guy named robert sabuda. he had alot of them. each page of his books had a huge pop up picture and also a few extra little ones on the sides to help tell the story. his best were the retellings of 'the wizard of oz,' and 'alice in wonderland'. if you get the chance, check them out, they are totally cool.

GAMES. the revolution continues

i happened across another interesting article about the nintendo revolution. this is a first hand account of someone who has actually played with the controller. the more i read, the more excited i get... read it here.