church for the masses :: here it comes :: thursday

church for the masses :: drive-thru nation :: wednesday

OPERATION TERMINATION: 81 days and counting

http://www.helpmybabylive.com/

I'm curious. If this was proven legit, would you donate?
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-thanks to shelia west for pointing this out.

church for the masses :: me worship :: tuesday

Rushmore (1998)

"Hey, I'm sorry."

And so begins one of the most satisfying third acts to a movie ever.

Loved it.
Schwartzman.
Murray.
Williams.
Cox.
Music.
Heaven & Hell.
Everything.

A

"I wish
that
I knew what I know now
when I was younger."

church for the masses :: me church :: monday

trivia for you

Without CHEATING, does anyone know what classical piece this is?



It has been my favorite piece of classical music for many, many years, ever since I was a wee geeky little lad.

So, what is it? Guess, guess, guess! Please.

theives, squirrels, fathers, and transvestites

"A 16-year-old Berlin student was so worried he would have to repeat a year at school because of poor marks he convinced two friends to storm his class and steal the report cards with his bad grades." - Reuters.com

Ya, steal the report cards. That'll do it.

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"An aggressive squirrel attacked and injured three people in a German town before a 72-year-old pensioner dispatched the rampaging animal with his crutch." - Reuters.com

Excellent. Go grandpa!

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The best Father's Day blog post I read last weekend.

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That's Christopher Walken on the left strutting his stuff in the remake of Hairspray. Pretty weird huh? Well that's nothing. Check out Madame Travolta on the right.

Don't believe me? Try this angle...



Still not seeing it? Here, try this one...



Yaaa, you see it noow, don't you?

Sleep well.

yep.

are you lucky?

About a month ago I wrote a post about living effectively and how things do not "just happen." I had gotten to a point in my life where I decided that the fastest way out of guilt or responsibility was to shrug my shoulders and say "eh, things happen." But oh sweet contraire, that was not the case and it never has it been. My life is my responsibility, not the responsibility of some superstitious notion of luck. If I want something (at the time I was speaking of righteousness) I have to actually go out and get it. It won't just happen to me.

Anyhoo, the reason I bring this up again is because on friday night ABC's "20/20" ran a broadcast about luck and how some people just seem to have more of it than others. Very interesting stuff. The conclusion at the end of the broadcast: we all create our own luck.

They did numerous studies and observations and realized that the "lucky" people are the most persistent for and the most open to new opportunities. By lucky people, they mean financially and relationally successful. In short: those who are envied most often.

An example of one of their observations involved six people (three of which you'd consider lucky people, and the other three not-so-lucky). They placed money on the ground in each of their paths. The money was put in the same spot every time and therefore equally visible to the lucky and not-so-lucky individuals. All three of the lucky people saw the money and picked it up. The other three, the not so lucky ones...walked right on by, oblivious to what lay on the ground.

In another observation, they studied a few lucky people and a few not-so-lucky people in a small, cramped donut shop (or something similar, I can't remember). When a separate individual would come into the restaurant, they were more likely to sit near one of the lucky people as opposed to one of the not-so-lucky people. Why? Because the not-so-lucky person looked uninviting and detached. They were either frowning, had their arms crossed, or were so engrossed in their newspaper the outside world meant absolutely nothing to them. Who wants to sit by that? Nobody, including other not-so-lucky people (they just find their own corner to individualize and wallow in.) Who wants to invest their time (or money) into someone who appears apathetic to outside encounters? Nobody. So instead, the new customers gravitate towards the lucky guy. The guy with the smile (or at least not a frown), uncrossed arms, and an over all optimistic demeanor, both in dress and attitude.

This opens a huge door for this lucky guy. So what does his do? He starts talking to the person who sat next to him. Is he actually thinking "I wonder what this guy can do for me"? Probably not. It only comes natural for lucky people to see an opportunity and take it. This opportunity: a conversation with another human being. This instigation of converse could lead to something more than a simple ten minutes of stress relieving conversation. It could lead to a business deal, another person (even more possibilities there), or even a life long relationship.

You never know.

So you can see that the lucky people weren't lucky in the superstitious sense, but were given more chances of being lucky because they were always in search of a new opportunity. Even the small amount of opportunity of a few dollars on the ground or a short exchange of words with a stranger can change some of your decisions for that day, the week, or your life. In other words, the lucky people increase their chances of being lucky by taking more of the opportunities that might create that luck for them. They go and get the luck, it doesn't come to them. They go and get the success, it doesn't come to them. They go and they get what they want because they know it isn't going to come to them. They go. And they get.

Meanwhile, the not-so-lucky people are so busying watching and complaining about others getting lucky that they (dis)miss their own opportunities to be lucky. Instead of being proactive, they are reactive.

The only reason I bring this up is because it has been on my mind alot lately and the 20/20 show only sparked more thoughts for me to chew on. I don't think I would be where I am now if I had taken a more proactive role in my own life. Don't get me wrong, I am not in a terrible position. But I am still living at home when I would much rather be out on my own. It is only one of the annoying problems at the moment that would not otherwise have arisen if I had taken a more proactive role a long time ago.

Anyway, if you are reading this and find yourself often blaming other people, objects, and ideas (luck) for your own shortcomings...stop it. Eventually you'll run out of ideas, you'll run out of objects, and worst of all, you'll run out of people.

Your financial, physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual success all depend on your willingness to depend on others and the "luck" that they may be willing to offer you. Open your eyes, see an opportunity, and go after it. Don't listen to the naysayers...they are just bitterly unlucky. Ask them, they'll tell you.

there will be blood, a film by Paul Thomas Anderson

Yep. Heeeeerre's Paul-y!



Can you handle it?

--Thanks to Jeffrey Overstreet for posting about this.--

wowzers!

This clip embodies the reason I watch "So You Think You Can Dance" whenever I have time. I have not stopped thinking about this routine since I saw it on television last night.

Jaw-dropping. (and extra BIG, just for you!)



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And just for the record...the lady judge in the middle...she irks.

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I promise, this will be the last youtube video...this week. (Now that its almost over...)

"Boom(!)"

Just when you think
technology is peaking
and verily soon will plateau,
the boosters ignite
and we're zooming in flight(!)
and its off to "who-knows-where" we go...

-raymond

click here.

(don't you just hate it when they say "click here". As if we need more bosses in our lives...)

Seriously though...go click it.

youtubeshot:has the secret of "lost" been revealed?

Watch the trees closely for an unexpected but familiar face. I don't know, could it be?

youtubeshot:banned xbox commercial

"Put that finger away before somebody gets hurt!"

Lots of sensitive souls out there, I guess. I'm sensitive to women rubbing the bare bodies all over soapy cars, but that never stopped Carl's Jr. or the FCC...

I promote the violent game of finger shooting. Finger shooters unite!

so.

I started cleaning my room about ten minutes ago (ya, this late/early) and what should I stumble upon but a bag of four glorious books that I splurged and bought at a Barnes and Noble in San Diego three weeks go. How very, very lame I feel at the moment for buying them and then tossing them in my closet with the refreshing socks and sparkling clean underwear. Lame, lame, lame.

The four:

Suffering and the Soverignty of God by John Piper
To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

...and last, but definitely not least (this book would make tree-huggers wail)

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

I'm not half as smart as any of these books seem to suggest. I'd almost call them "ego-purchases" except I actually do want to read them and don't want them looking pretty on my shelf (or in my closet in a bag with the sparkling clean underwear). But seeing as I am nearly if not slightly more busy now than I was during the semester, it may be a while before I finish one.

Here's some good news though! I am abandoning my room cleaning expedition right now and putting on my sophisticated spectacles and spontaneously hopping into bed with Mr. Piper! (his book, that is...)

Wish me luck.

a humble billionaire.

Bill Gates.

Thanks to Jeffrey Overstreet for sharing his short, paradoxical experience.

Gates makes cheap, crappy venues and rich men look good. Both of which/whom should be thanking him at the moment. The crappy venues seem inviting all of a sudden and rich men don't seem quite a stereotypically snobbish and hog-like. Actually, I guess I should be thanking Gates, shouldn't I? Huh.

Dear Billy,

Thank you. You are the man!

-raymond, a humbled peasant.

quack-quack, knock-knock, ring-ring

I went to the Stanley Cup celebration at the Honda Center tonight for the Anaheim Ducks' victory. It was fun. More so than I was anticipating.

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Saw Knocked Up afterwards. Can't say enough good things about it. Hilarious and touching.

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Lord of the Rings (yes, I know, more Lord of the Rings stuff. Get used to it.): The Musical! So when I heard about this a few years ago, I started laughing uncontrollably. Then when it started touring last year it got amazing reviews. So I asked Tolkien and God for forgiveness and have been anticipating it coming to the states ever since. The "trailer" for the musical is a bit choppy...but the production looks very promising. Its not the films or the books, that's for sure. But if you have seen anything on a Broadway-like stage (or Broadway, for that matter), then you know how memorable and transporting an experience productions like these can be.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Dead World's End (2003, 2006, 2007)

So I am too lazy to write much of anything on Pirates.

I liked the first one. I liked the second one. But the anticipated finale, At World's End, ends its own world (forgive me). It's nothing like the other two. I fell asleep the first time. I fell asleep the second time. I don't like paying ten bucks to sleep.

It wasn't all a snooze-fest, though. The boat tipping was fun, the music was beautiful, and the demise of the British "villian" is fascinating to look at.

But I say stay home. Your bed is more comfortable and DVD's can be fast-forwarded.

Curse of the Black Pearl [2003] :: B+
Dead Man's Chest [2006] :: B
At World's End [2007] :: C-

rat - a - too - ee

Mark my words: besides The Incredibles, Ratatouille will be the best Pixar movie to date.

ice water in hell

So the commercials are wonderful. The old and outdated "PC" in his hospital robe showing his undesirables to a young, hip, and fresh "Apple" is funny stuff. They speak volumes about the creative force that has thrusted Apple Inc. into the gleaming limelight the past few years. But none of them comes close to seeing the actual big daddies of each tribe smirk, taunt, and bombast in front the entire world. Like the commercials, "Apple" is more charming, is wearing tennis shoes, and steals the show without even trying that hard. The "PC"--in a shirt, dress shoes and slacks--is at a bumbling loss for words more often than not.

But they are both incredibly intelligent. Watching these great minds cogitate and theorize is invigorating, and it puts the commercials (as great as they are) to shame. Enjoy.

Digital Conference 2007 Prologue:


Steve Jobs Interview (watch 'til the end, its worth it, trust me):


Bill Gates and Steve Jobs Interview (1 of 10):


You can get the rest of them here.