Sweet Chicken

Tree

Here's a print I just finished working on. It's not the best I've done, but I like it none the less...it's a tree

Come on Feel the Illinoise! Bringing Back a Classic!

The other day I was talking to someone about a great artist, Sufjan Stevens. As I talked with him about the album that made him famous, 'Come On Feel the Illinoise!,' I was reminded of how excellent the music is and what a testimony it is of God's creative gifts given to us! Yes, Sufjan is a Christian, and yes, he writes with words that could only be inspired in a creative writing class, and with beautiful composition. This is a follower of Christ that is putting out something original and new...not a carbon copy of what's been done before, (see Point of Grace, Plus One, etc., etc.)! I thank God for a believer who writes from the heart with an authenticity that is felt in the heart, albeit painfully at times, and which spurs a feeling of joy at other times.

I remember reading the review in Rollingstone, which referred to his album as "hippie-Christian-folk," and hailed the album with 4 stars, an excellent rating. Paste Magazine wrote, "Despite a predilection for the chilling ("And in my best behavior / I am really just like him," Stevens sings on serial-killer ballad "John Wayne Gacy, Jr."), the mode of Illinois--as it reads simply on the spine--is playful." Even the New York Times fell for the singer/songwriter, calling his poetry "breathtaking", and going on to say, "His meditative, lo-fi albums are speckled with small, surreal outbursts of sophisticated musicianship." All that to say, it is rare that a Christian would receive such rave reviews...I therefore, went to Borders to pick up a copy, but it was sold out...I then went to Vintage Vynal, again, sold out...I finally found it at Best Buy. I blasted the introduction of piano chords and flutes on Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illanois, and went on a musical journey across the state of Illinois. See, Stevens is on a quest to produce an album honoring all of our fifty states, which started with 'Michigan, the Great Lakes State.' 'Illinois' goes in and out of joyful bliss, in songs such as Come On! Feel the Illinois! and then takes you to the songs of heartbreak that life hands us all eventually, in Casimir Pulaski Day.

I mentioned the authenticity of his words chosen...I haven't heard anything as honest as the chilling account about John Wayne Gacy Jr.. We hear his self-reflection of the sinful state that indwells us all in the final line, "in my best behavior, I'm really just like him, look beneath the floorboards for the secrets I have hid." Another writer that reflects these hards truths is the apostle Paul, "We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." We have to accept this to see our desperate need for a Savior who can cleanse us, pull us to Him, and live a life devoted to Jesus. Sufjan speaks this same truth without openly directly saying, "All the glory when He took our place, but He took my shoulders and shook my face, and He takes, and He takes, and He takes."
If you're looking for some great music, regardless of whether you're a Christian or not, go buy this album, download it, do what you need to do...it's one of the greatest I've ever heard!

The Disk: Code Zero

Some of you know that I've been a part of a movie called The Disk, welp, here's a new trailer, followed by the older one made a few months ago. The premiere will be held at the Tivoli Theater on Delmar on December 28th...get your tickets now, I'm sure it will sell out like The Dark Knight did.

New HEROES Coming Soon!

Threadless.com

While in Chicago we went to a great store called Threadless! They have a great array of shirts...go check out the website: threadless.com

They even have a shirt my mom would like!

Chicago Trip 2008!

Hey everybody!
I went to Chicago this past weekend with one of my roommates and a couple of our friends! We had a great time. If you're bored with the pictures, you can at least enjoy the funny banter below, which you should find funny; I'm pretty hilarious...

We left St. Louis on Saturday morning around 5:15 a.m., which made for a beautiful sunrise!

We were barely out of St. Louis when we had to make our first stop. Of course, Neil saw a blade of grass that he hadn't taken a picture of yet, which caused us to stop on our way back onto the interstate after first stopping for our first stop. Get it?

Once we had reached Chicago Land, we stopped by IKEA to pick up some pots, rugs, lamps, cookies, and cheese for our Swedish roommate. Sorry Jonathan, no straw goats here. We experienced our first sign of windy-ness that makes Chicago the "Windy City"!

Our first stop once in the city was Clark Street, which is like St. Louis' Loop on steroids...it's like a mile and a half, and full of hip thrift stores and other stores that charge $80 for t-shirts...

We had to stop for a Chicago Dog, pickles, tomatoes, peppers, and all...

We arrived at Wrigley Field during the 9th inning with the Red Birds stomping the Cubs 12-3. It was awesome!

The Cubbies will never be the Cards...

We went for a walk on the rough side of the lake and I got a little aingsty...

The boats and the lake was beautiful, but my friends were more excited about the raccoon they found in the dumpster...not sure why they were looking in the dumpster in the first place?

Chicago Continues...

I wanted to pass by Intelligensia, home of the winner of the Great Lakes Regional Barista Competition, who actually made my drink. It was excellent! We had a few laughs there as we were slowly moving to a state of dillirium. (Is that a word?)

Tanya was way more excited to get the deep dish pizza than Heidi was...

We finished our first night with a view of the city from the lake, which oddly enough inspired us to sing songs inspired by modern Disney Songs...how can you be by a big body of water and not think of the little mermaid?

A gigantic steal bean in Millinium Park...not sure what the significance is, but it was way cool

A stage at Millinium Park, the shape and design reminded me of the Guggenheim in L.A. and Bilbou. I'll probably sing on this stage some time in the future...

We walked down Michigan Ave. on our way to the Hancock Building...Chicago's architecture is incredible!

We went to the top of the Hancock Building for a drink, which never happened because our server never came to hook us up. Oh well, we got to see the top for free! These pictures are taken from the 95th floor...what can I say? It was an uplifting experience!

Our final stop was in Greek Town! We enjoyed gyros, greek coffee, and saw lots of Greek columns, of course. It reminded me of my fraternity days. Ha!

Calle Cherokee

I went for a torta on Cherokee street in South City today. If you haven't been, you should go...it's a lot of fun, and there's great food to be had by all! It's the street that many in the St. Louis Latino community consider the best for Mexican food. Here's some pictures I took with my new camera that I got for my birthday...

Modern Day Culture!

Have you seen the McCain ad where it shows Britney Spears and Paris Hilton and then places Obama in the same context as your favorite US Magaine Cover celebrities? I hate the race of any election where the candidates talk as much about the other candidate as they do their own policies. I'm sure Obama's side will have a response...none the less, Paris recorded an answer to the Obama-bashing campaign herself. Hope you enjoy...

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/64ad536a6d

Have you heard about Joss Weadon's new creation? It's Dr. Horrible, featuring Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion. A musical in three acts where Dr. Horrible and his nemesis, Captain Hammer face-off to the beautiful sounds written by Weadon himself.
If you have not experienced this beautiful, hilarious creation, you must go now during your lunch break and enjoy! It's free on hulu.com...just search, that's right, Dr. Horrible!

Is anyone as annoyed by these shmoes as I am?

If you haven't seen The Dark Knight, you must right away. It's the best "popcorn movie" I've seen since Spider-Man 2, and, well, Batman Begins. Never have I experienced a comic-book movie with so much grit, authenticity, and messages that apply to our lives in the States today. The movie will leave you asking questions, with a need to sit down with a fellow viewer to process the overlapping stories. Oh ya, and in case you haven't heard, Heath Ledger gives an amazing performance worthy of one of those golden statues!

Have you been to boxofficemojo.com? It's a very interesting site that gives the daily and weekend totals of movies at the box office, (could it get any more obvious?). Right now they have adjusted totals of the all-time highest grossing movies considering inflation. Do you know if Gone With the Wind were to be released today it would make $1.4 billion in the States alone? And just so you know...the famous boat movie that made Leonardo DiCaprio famous and left us all hating James Cameron is not #2!

Opening Pandora's (music) Box

If you haven't heard, there's a great site to go to for all your music needs. Just sign up for a free account, then place in the box who you want to hear...and they'll design a station for you! That's right, if you want one with Sufjan Stevens, they'll not only play Sufjan songs, but songs like his music. If you don't like what you hear just drag the arrow up to the picture of who's playing and you can give a "thumbs down;" that will help them know how to define what you're looking for even more! It's awesome! It's amazing what they have on there...I've listened to Bach when studying, but, I can pull up Kings of Convenience while at work. Just go to pandora.com!

Urban Garden!

Hey everybody!
Here's the "garden" that I planted about 6 weeks ago!

McCain or Obama Ya'll?

As the election starts to heat up I wonder who my small, almost insignificant vote should go for. I know as an evangelical Christian I, by defalt, lean towards the right-wing side of things. However, in the past few years, after studying the Bible more than ever before in my life, I have come to acknowledge that the right-wing ways may not be so much more Biblical than the left-wingers afterall. I say this realizing that there are "life-issues" to take into account. However, is it not Biblical to feel that everyone deserves healthcare, and is it not Biblical to support a strong educational system for all children, and furthermore, is it not Biblical to care for the environment? I would give a resounding YES!!! That being said, I do believe that as human beings created with dignity from God's hand we were given the ability to work and provide for ourselves and families, we were given the means to live off the land without destroying, but we are to live off the land none-the-less, and finally, we were given the means to instill the skills and motivation for our children so that education is enhanced as much at home as in school. While this is true, all human beings have been made by God...it's hard to ignore the obvious truth that comes from Genesis 1:26-28. It seems to me that both sides of the coin is a vote for pro-life...kind of. Anyway, I'll save that debate for another blog post...stay tuned.
I guess my trouble is that there will never be the perfect candidate. I can't believe that there is a possible way to have a successful government that lives according to how the Bible calls us to live. We're all sinners (Genesis 8:2), and God is over all the earth, (Psalms 83:18), and is therefore the lawgiver for the world, (Isaiah 32:22) therefore, it seems next to impossible to have a candidate who really desires the call of God.
I look at what many democrats think is good for our country and I think of a community-based country where we share and live together, such as Acts 2:42-47, (OK, except for the whole "praising God" and people being saved part). So, I can't say that the Blue-bies are so wrong. I would dare say that those ideals seem to make them more passionate about helping ALL people more so than Republicans.

With all that to say, I have a lot of thinking and exploring to do. I've just heard Barack Obama say the word , "Change," at least a thousand times without hearing any of his policies, and I've seen and heard so many references to John McCain's POW experience and how he's a "moderate" Republican, again, without hearing much about his ideals.

I want to explore, think through the issues and the answers to the problems...according to the candidates, and make a decision that's right. I plan to do this in a somewhat organized way on the blog. There are obviously a lot of items to sort through and get to the bottom of. Anything I've said above are thoughts and not official opinions at this point. Feel free to comment, but be respectful, OK!

Arrested Development - The Movie!!!

There has been much hype about the Bluth family coming to the silver screen, they even have a post on imdb.com with details about the upcoming movie! If you haven't seen the wonders of Arrested Development, just youtube the show, there are plenty of videos to keep you busy for a really long time. Here's a plea for the movie to be made:

Heroes - Season 3

Dude, have you seen the trailer for one of the best shows on TV today? After a stellar first season, Heroes had quite the slump last year. Given that the writers' strike allowed no time to make for redemption, us Heroes fans are ready for a new beginning! It looks like this year is going to be great...it all begins September 22!
Oh, P.S., if you're sitting at home thinking to yourself, "I've never even seen an episode!" Welp, you can go to NBC.com and watch both seasons beforehand, there were only 11 episodes in the second season, add it up...that's 33 altogether. That's not even one for each day leading up to the season premiere. In other words, GET TO WORK!!! If that will require too much from you, then you can read the graphic novels online at NBC.com as well! Here's a preview of what's to come:

The Dark Knight

I am too excited about this movie...I will find a way to see it opening night! On Fandango they're calling it the Godfather of Super Hero Movies, and the words, "epic" and "best Batman movie ever made" are repeated throughout the 3,400+ reviews. I heard a representative from the website say that The Dark Knight is not a children's film by any means, that even the cinematography is gruesome, and that while the acting, script, and everything else about the film is incredible, this is Heath Ledger's movie...he takes the show. Oscar buzz is all about the late actor's performance in this new installment of the Batman franchise. They're even saying that Jack Nicholson's portrayal of the clown-gone-crazy has nothing on the new version. The Dark Knight will be the movie of the year! Almost here...5 more days!!!