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.