Link City

It has been a while since I went on a link spree so here you go.

If you have been looking for the best videos on the web go here.
If you need to have some music to jig to go here.
If you are looking for insightful music reviews and thoughts from the heart go here.
And to add your vote the Knight's poll of 25 favorite movies go here.

That's all folks.

Arcade Fire

Listen to the new Arcade Fire single Intervention here.

25 things to do with my life.

Number One: Know what I am doing with my life.
2. Get to stay for at least a month in all seven continents. (That's right: Antarctica.)
3. Draw something really, really amazing. Like gallery good.
4. Have Spider-Man powers. The thing with this one is then I have to use them right. Oh well, at least then I would have an answer to number one.
5. Get married.
6. Have kids.
7. Be a fantastic father and husband.
8. Learn Korean. The Korean language has a really cool alphabet.
9. FIND A LIVING DINOSAUR AND NOT BE KILLED BY IT. Seriously. Think how cool it would be to find one.
10. Own the Millennium Falcon or Serenity or both. (The real ones)
11. To be really good on some instrument, I don't really care that much just one.
12. To be a part of a gold medal winning Slovak hockey team.
13. Ride in a bobsled.
14. Have a horse in my possession (that I didn't steal) with some wide open space to ride really fast.
15. Ride in an F-4 Phantom jet.
16. Spend extended periods of time with my friends from Slovakia; in Slovakia; in the Tatras. 17. Own a functioning light saber. (Once again, the real kind. That does all the cool things)
18. Have a thriving relationship with God.
19. Drive a really fast car on a straightaway.
20. Be a part of a Mere Image movie. Preferably the Sword movie. Just with a budget this time. Maybe even with actors. I didn't say the MI people had to act.
21. Resolve Middle-Eastern conflict with a non-violent solution.
22. Get enough hours for my license.
23. Have free, non-expiring, always working-wherever-I-go, insurance for that license.
24. Be in a boat and see a whole big pod of Killer-Whales go swimming by breaching like crazy. 25. Destroy banner/pop-up ads.

There you have it. Once again I will break the ruthless cycle of tagging and tag no one

Oi!

While roaming the artificial world known as the internet I came upon a very scary thing.
Something like 40% of the people I know have MyS-----. It is a very scary realization seeing how much I hate it. You know what was really weird? i was looking at one persons "friends" list I saw one person that I knew and while looking at their "friends" list I saw a camp person. It was very strange. Now if you'll excuse me I think I need to read some Dostoevsky or something.

Snow

It's on nights like this that I really hate concrete and cars. You know, when it's snowing and you think "what fun" and then it hits the concrete and melts completely. And cars only make it worse, just think of all the pollution they are putting into the air, heating the air temperature and slowing down snow fall. If there were no cars there would be no concrete then the first problem would be taken care of, unfortunately-and fortunately- there are automobile in existence so I guess I will just have to come to terms with my fate and deal with it.
Although this doesn't mean that I still won't hope that it snows so much that all the roads close and the only way to get around is to walk or sled. That would be fun times. Alas that I live in a temperate rain forest. In any case my sentiment remains the same: Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Driving

As you know I got my permit a few months back. And I would have to say that, aside from nearly wrecking the car two times tonight, things are going rather well.


Seriously now, everything is okay it's just part of the experience needed to drive well. I suppose it's like what somebody once said concerning horseback riding "If you haven't fallen off yet, you haven't been riding very long."
Time will tell how this whole driving thing works out in the meantime a word of advice: Don't shift into neutral when you're about to go at an intersection. It doesn't work out very well.

With that I bid you "Good night."

The need for proof-readers made known again.

While browsing this site I followed one of the links taking me to this Amazon movie page. I read who directed the movie and was amazed to see it wasn't who I thought it was.

P.S. It shouldn't be how it is.

Clothing

Last night I made a statement and was then told rather sarcastically to put it on my bloc. Being the obedient person I am I have decided to what that person told me to do.


Khaki shorts are the most wonderful clothing item in the world.
Think about it, you can do nearly everything in them and they don't look dirty. You can wear them to church, an Ultimate Frisbee game, or a small state function. Through rain, or snow, or sleet, or hail through the thunder; through the gale, they will get through.

Star Wars Lego Symphany

If you like (A)Star Wars, (B)Legos, or (C)all of the above; this is the video for you.

Music Rising

Watch the video (or more like stills from the video) of U2 and Green Day performing at the Superdome for Music Rising and the re-opening of the stadium here. (RealOne player required).
There's definitely a reason both these bands are so popular, so with them together the sound is spectacular.

An Announcement

I despise MyS---e with a fiery burning passion that the world has never dreamed of. Why? I'm not totally sure, but I do.

Apparently I got tagged so...

Four Jobs I've had in my life:
1. Crew
2. Janitor
3. Raking leaves by the thousand
4. Various jobs

Four movies I would watch over and over
1. Serenity (This movie is really that good)
2. Monty Python and The Holy Grail
3. The Lord of The Rings: The Return of The King
4. The Incredibles

Four places I have lived
1. Portland, Oregon
2. Budapest, Hungary
3. Palmer Lake, CO
4. Atlanta, GA

Four TV shows I love to watch
1. Get Smart
2. Monk
3. Firefly
4. Jeopardy


Four places I have been on vacation
1. Poland
2. Venice
3. The Czech Republic
4. Hannibal, Missouri


Four of my favorite foods
1. Chinese
2. Pizza (Of the good variety
3. My Mumsie's Chili
4. That Salad with the Top Raman that my Mother used to make in Hungary


Four places I would rather be right now
1. Slovakia
2. Antarctica (No particular reason, just because it would be cool to be there.)
3. Prague (Perhaps Krakow)
4. A really BIG section of Russia with a video camera in hand

Four things I always carry with me
1. My visual boosters
2. My Leatherman® Micra™
3. My watch (every summer I have a tan line where my watch lies)
4. My Spleen

Four friends that I think will respond (not really relevant; unless you decide to make it so, I guess)
1. Well guess what. I'm not going to make anyone feel responsible to respond to this and leave this spot blank


Four albums I could listen to until those darn cows come home
1. Funeral
2. Pop
3. New Way to be Human
4. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

Four writers that have changed my life (or at least caused me to jump up and say AMEN quite loudly)
1. Matthew
2. Fyodor Dostoevsky
3. Paul
4. J. R. R. Tolkien (Maybe not Tolkien but all the same I love The Lord of The Rings)


Four dead people who are also my heroes
1. I don't really have anyhero'ss, so I think this spot will remain blankuntill further notice.
2.
3.
4

Four things I'd grab from a fire
1. My glasses
2. My wallet
3. The blanket
4. My Bible.

Four books I've read twice, or more:
1. The Lord of The Rings
2. The Bellmaker
3. Clifford the Big Red Dog (No shame)
4. The Man Who Was Thursday

Four Musicians I'd like to see Live:
1. U2
2. The Arcade Fire
3. Switchfoot
4. Another U2 concert

Four Favorite Video/computer Games
1. Age Of Empires II: The Age of Kings, Expansion
2. Battlefront 2
3. Command HQ
4. Gizmos and Gadgets/Halo 2

And now since I am quite the nerd:
Four Favorite Super Hereos
1. Spider-Man
2. Jack-Jack (So he's not one yet but when he is one he will be really cool)
3. Nightcrawler (I know almost nothing about him but hey, he was really cool in the movie)
4. Batman (Same state as Nightcrawler)

That's all folks now you are all un-tagged.

U2 single

Keeping with the tradition of putting up lots of links I have found a new U2 single/music video. Watch it here.

Post

Yes I am alive and yes there is a post coming, just let me catch my thoughts.

Firefly

So I'm always talking about how great a movie Serenity is. Now, hear the theme song for the TV show that started all this.

Watch out.

Beware. I might not have a ticket to ride but I've got a permit to drive.

Best and worst tech inventions of all time.

The people at PC World apparently got together to give us a list of the best and worst tech inventions of all time. Being a Mac guy myself and living in the time of the iPod a lot of these were before my time but they are still a neat history of what has happened since that first 8-track player in the car. So first we have the 25 worst here, then the 50 best here. Read all it is quite interesting.
And here is an article I found while looking for the 50 best.

June is coming.

Yes June is coming and we all know what that means, that's right, it's a World Cup year! I know you thought I was going to talk about camp but there are more important things right, like football (and not the weak sauce American kind either) no this is the real thing here in all unrefined glory. There are a couple cool links I would like to show you but due to the computer I am using I can't. So I'll just give you the URL and you can work from there.
First: U2 does football here. http://www.u2.com/news/index.php?mode=full&news_id=1941

Next read the words of a writer at National Geographic here: http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0606/feature1/index.html

Finally, Nike and the Brazilian Football team get together for the sake of football and shoes here: http://nikefootball.nike.com/nikefootball/siteshell/global_assets/update/index.jsp?check=flash

Pop

I guess since I have been raving about Pop I should post something of a review though it is more like a story, sort of. For starters I will be basing this review on the alternate title of this work of art: The Prodigal Son Wakes Up in The Pig's Stall Wondering What in The World Happened. So without further introduction I present to you U2's Pop.

Pop opens in the thick of the Prodigal son's life of pleasure enjoying himself at the Discotheque but now something is different, he has now encountered something different, something he cannot buy and cannot direct. This begins the Prodigal's discomfort but is not enough to drive him home for we see in the next track that he is right back at it.
In Do You Feel Loved we find the Prodigal back to his old tricks this time in the arms of a lady friend but in the back of his mind the question keeps coming "Do you feel loved? Do you feel loved?” The Prodigal tries to drown it out but the question keeps coming.
Mofo opens with the Son looking around wondering if there is something more to the world he lives in than wine, women and fun. And with more inspection he sees the uglier sides of life and this realization sends him looking for security but in his poor world the only thing that he can even think is his mother but even the comforting love he seeks he has separated from himself.
In his mixed up state the Prodigal looks at the church for hope but only sees the ceremony and tradition and the things wrong with it. He asks If God Will Send His Angels would everything be alright and decides not, that it will be up to the blind to lead the blond and no hope can be found there.
Going out in search of a real experience the Prodigal tries nearly everything to find something real including Staring At The Sun just to feel something, anything. Like a hero from a dystopian novel he feels that what he has been doing is not real so he looks to everything just to find truth, not the only one staring at the sun happy to go blind.
In Last Night On Earth the Prodigal, perhaps disappointed at the failure of his quest (implied, not stated), goes back to his life of pleasure just to find that the whole thing is a sham. The girls are living lies and are racking up debt that they can never pay back. Even though he exposed himself for just a little while to the outside world he can't go back to the illusions of grander that the world offered him.
Immediately following this song is Gone the Prodigal's "See you later world" as he breaks out of the world and makes a run for it. And at the end of the song he makes one last plea for his friend to come with him and escape, but seeing that she is not coming he breaks lose not to be seen again.
Miami begins with the Son's entry of that little town on his way home and here he experiences his biggest temptation to just stop, give it all up and just hang out in Miami, and live a life of leisure and pleasure that is just waiting for him to snatch up.
But the call of Miami isn't enough when the Son thinks about what it all really is and what he would have to be. The two-faced life he would have to live is something he can't do. The entrance into The Playboy Mansion, which might have once been a sick dream come true mere weeks earlier, he can no longer aspire to. He now sees that he doesn't have (or want) what it takes to enter. Instead he hopes for the house where there will be time of sorrow, no time of shame.
In If You Wear That Velvet Dress the Prodigal is plugging his way along the hard trail home, late at night the he starts to remember his old love from back home. The true love that he could never feel with the way he was living while away from home. He considers the exclusive love he was a part of with that beau. Thinking to their close times together under the moon when all was quiet and peaceful.
Please has the son along the road running into somebody, perhaps an old mentor, and getting the kick in the pants that he has been begging for since the beginning. The mentor frying him for all his stupid mistakes and blunders he has been making since school with all his Sunday-school rebellion and elitist attitude.
The blow delivered in the last song drives the Son to the dirt not knowing which way is up but hoping that if he finds it God will be there reaching out a hand in love or at least acceptance. Like the Prodigal in the Bible asking his father for a position as a servant not even considering himself worthy of love from his father. Beaten and broken and questioning if home will be there for him, asking for the stories of what will come, pleading with desperation of a family member at the deathbed of a loved one "WAKE UP! Wake Up Dead Man.”

The album ends there on that sad note of pain but if you look further on into the archives of U2 the next album begins with the chorus " It's a beautiful day", it's almost as though you can see the Father of our poor Prodigal dancing around with joy at the return of his son-though the world falls apart outside-the Son has come home and now it is time to dance.

Well that is it for my take on this album. I will add that though I have put the songs into a story form each individual song can also stand on its own.

A new kind of Philosopher.

Via Andy Whitman from Razing the Bar I would like to present to you the newest kind of Philosopher. Behold them here.

Shame, Shame.

Well joyous Easter everybody (one week and a couple days later) I hope all your various shindigs were shiny (see that two Firefly refrences in one sentence). I would have to say that my Easter was a good time. Also isn't this weird: Queen Mum went to a Passover Seder the same week the youth group did one. Yeah, weird.
In other news: I finished The Lord of The Rings (finally) and ordered U2's Pop last night. I know what your thinking "Pop? Isn't that the weird U2 album?" and know what, it is. But that is one of the many cool things about this album; another cool thing is that the album could also be called The Prodigal Son Wakes Up in The Pig's Stall Wondering What in The World Happend. Enough about U2, I also just finished Emma for school and am not sure if I loved it or hated it.
Well that's it for now except one thing: Camp is in 44 days.

Random musings of the blogger "why".

The Arcade Fire is a really good band.

Serenity is a great movie.

Ever feel that you are in a Krzysztof Kieslowski movie?

I have been thinking lately that a life built around possessions is totally wasted; for in just a couple of seconds a tornado can take it all out or a hurricane can wipe everything away like it was a sand castle.

Random isn't it.

And the camp name will be...

Dobbins.
Definition: A work horse. A nickname for Robert (a popular family name). And, if you think about it, a workhorse is a good description of what I will be doing.
So that is all the exciting news here so good night!

Wow.

Boy time sure does fly. I never knew that when I said April Fools day for finding a name I never knew it would come so fast. And guess what? I still don't know what my camp nick-name will be. The field seems to have been narrowed down to "Dobbins"(my favorite) and "Sarge" or "Sgt. Pepper" (my brother, sister, and dads favorite).
All the same no idea. We'll see in the next few weeks how things pan out but it is no huge biggey, it would just be something I would like to know.
Time will tell though and so will I as soon as I find out. For now this is "Why" signing off!

Hallelujah (Update)

Praise the Lord, I have now been accepted into camp and will be doing my camp things all summer. Now the need for the camp name is much more serious. Anyway, now we just should dance around and cheer and all that fun stuff.

I must be crazy. Good crazy but crazy nonetheless. I just signed on to work all summer in a volunteer position. But this is meaningless speculation for I know the experience will be awesome (even if I do almost die a couple of times). So anyway aside from the camp saga other things going on have been: Moving into WV in January (never did get to post that experience) and taking part in a sound class at my church. You know, where you get to learn the finer points of turning knobs and moving sliders (actually there is much more than that I was just feeling a little cynical at that moment). And the thing is the class has already paid off when I got to run sound for a local ballet troupe last week. That was a lot of fun and I have decided that for my mid-life crisis instead of doing boring o'l ballroom dancing I'm going to do ballet. (What are those looks supposed to mean?). A-hem! Anyway me and the fam (ily) went up to Biblical Seminary falls today and had much fun. So that is all for now folks, I shall see you on the other side.

Happy Birthday to me.

Little did I know it but 3 days ago I joined this "blog thing" and since then you have been listening to my meaningless rambles. I have to go now because it's dinner time (I love WV). So since I have no time for a link and I can't see any pictures on any computer coming out of here I want you to imagine balloons and streamers and lots of party hats.... (dinner)

Choices, choices.

All right me comrades, if all goes well I will be working at camp this summer (I have an interview on the 14th) but I need a camp name. So I think we should all put our heads together and choose a camp name for Why! Why is out of the running for potential camp name so don't try that one. Already suggested suggestions: Dobbins (another name for a work horse) and Sgt. Pepper. Now it is time to let the creative juices flow and think of a name between now and let's say April Fools day. Ready, set, go!

Slovak hockey supremacy confirmed against the US

WOOT! WOOT! Slovakia knocks the US for a loop in a 2-1 victory this afternoon! From Sports Illustrated:
Slovakia (3-0) strengthened its first-place hold in the Olympics Group B, moving two points ahead of Russia and Sweden and three in front of the Americans (1-1-1). The top four in the six-team group move on to the quarterfinals...(Highlights from the first goal)...

Hossa got away from Craig Conroy along the right-wing boards and cut into the right circle. Once he had space and a good angle, he let a shot fly that got between DiPietro's pads.

That sent the chanting, horn-blowing and music-playing fans dressed in red, white and blue -- the Slovakian kind -- into a roaring frenzy.

I am excited about this. It really looks like this Slovak team could be a gold meadal contender this year. Also here is the link to the full story about the Slovakia-Russia game.

I'm feeling the Olympic spirit now.

In your face USA. Slovakia beat Latvia 6-3 in men's hockey a couple days ago. US tied Latvia. Slovakia is therefore better than the US of A. Also Slovakia beat Russia 5-3 in an up-set one Russian compared to the loss at the 1980 Miracle on ice. Read this:
Numerous coaches in the Olympic tournament talked about how dangerous Slovakia could be. Russia quickly found out why. (Read the whole story here.)
Saturday is USA vs. Slovakia.

Sorry for the unpatriotic spirit but I'm a sucker for small, eastern European countries that I used to live in. Also, in snowboard cross last night, the US won gold with a Slovak just half a board behind winning the silver medal (good news for JD).

On the move.

I don't usually post stuff here about my faith and such but lately-actually the past couple days- something has been happening in my church and in the people in my youth group and it has been amazing! It seems that a desire for Yahweh has over taken the church. (Which if you think about that statement that seems sad; God returning to church.) And it is really exciting thinking about what God could be doing in my life and in the lives of people around me. For an example of what I am talking about: Every Monday night the guys in the youth group get together and talk, do a Bible study and what not. Well tonight I was leading and I did fairly well considering I lost my notes. But anyway it was all leading up to a prayer time anyway so we all gathered together in a circle and prayed for about 15 minutes which was pretty cool but then one of the guys brought up an idea about a witnessing tool that he had been thinking and praying about. Well the idea went over really well and we all talked about it for about half an hour on what we should do and everything pertaining to the suggestion. Then we prayed some more and it felt that God was moving. So now I'm all excited and just wondering "what next?".
The thing is this isn't the only "God sighting" lately check out this post. To quote Kevin Max "God is on the move-forget Aslan".

Fun links

Zrharc! The Comment Word Verification Dictionary
Come here. Learn things you never knew. Live better than you have before.
Update:
Learn to drive; get an ulcer with this fun game.

Almost a month in the life.

There has been so much stuff in the past month or so that has just been wanting to come out and I just haven't had the time to post it all. So now I am just going to let it come out in force.
25-31 of December: Christmas time and resting up from that vacation. Also, I watched the movie Serenity and dude was that movie awesome! Played bunko at the church New Years Eve party; just the thing is that due to the age of most of the contestants the party would be held on Eastern Standard time (not my time zone currently). But before that (I had almost forgotten) I went up with my family to Seattle to see my cousins that live there. That was great fun, I got to go to a sort of science museum there and it was a lot of fun.

1-7 of January (pauses to play iTunes on the super cool Mac): Scrambled to get a movie done for a youth group event that was on the 11th (more about that later on). Watched Serenity again, loved it even more and also got hooked on the TV show Firefly which is sort of a prequel to Serenity. Had a sound class on Saturday and after that played a little laser-tag in the church as part of a college event.

8-14 of January: Scrambled/panicked trying to get that movie done for the event on time. The event was on Wednesday at 7 P.M. and the final edit of the movie was done at about 6. Talk about cutting it close but the event went fairly well I'd say, so that was good. Oh, did I mention that it was a surprise and we (the guys) did it all under the nose of my sister? So that added to the stress level a bit err… A LOT. Later that week I started re-reading one of the greatest books ever in my opinion. I am so excited about this book, I don't think I've had this much fun reading since maybe when I read The White Company early last year. What say you? You wish to know the title of the book? Very well, the book is drum-rolll pleaseease) THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING. (Some times I really hate Blogger) Friday Watched To End All Wars a really good movie I would say just my brain wasn't ready for the thinking required to optimize viewing pleasure.

15-21 of January: Haven't done much this week except read Lord of The Rings and do math. Also got to do some good listening to the band The Arcade Fire. Boy do they have good music. I can't same for their lyrics (no cussing mind you just sort of mixed up feelings) but all around a good album. If they seem a little gloomy it would be because 9 friends and family members died during the recording of the album. That could make anybody gloomy I think.

Now I feel there should be a picture montage of some of the stuff I have spoken of but before I do I feel I should link to a little known Xanga (horrors) blog that is really good, look in the archives and there is even more stuff. Now for those pictures:
Gimli son of Gloin. The Crew of Serenity.

















For more about what I have done lately visit this recent post.
PP: The thing about my excitment concerning Lord of The Rings is that I Love to read, just I haven't had a book I really enjoyed since maybe Crime and Punishment in September but this is all out great reading, I highly recommend it for all people. Enough said by me now so for all people here (and there) this is Why, signing out.

And to think I got to live there.

Budapest, Hungary.
Here's an exerpt:
The city is often referred to as the Paris of the east, and deserves this name. It bears some resemblance to Prague, but is larger and friendlier. The picturesque setting on two sides of the Danube, the nine connecting bridges and the villas and public buildings from the fin-de-siècle era really make Budapest one of the most enjoyable cities in Europe.

Provide air-fair and I could take you on a tour of the city.
Plus Steve Taylor likes the city too. (Post brought about by this, over at Paintball Warriors Xanga site.)

In your face PC users. (posted from a Dell laptop)

Mac supremacy is eminent, prepare yourselves. Behold the MacBook!
This is one sweet piece of machinery.

If I had been invited to the ball.

If I was at the ball over at My Old Sketchbook.