Empty Heart

for the past 2 new years eve, i have listened to Josh Ritter's "Empty Heart" off his album "The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter". it's main line is "don't let me into this year with an empty heart" and this is something i strive for every year. i hope to have a heart full of love to carry over into a new year; having an empty heart is just really sad. so i hope for this new year that you have a heart full of love to carry over into 2010; don't be afraid to share it with others. take a listen and if you want to follow along,  here are the lyrics. (sorry i couldn't find a better video with good audio)



if you haven't heard of josh ritter or listened to this album, please, please, please go out and buy it. he is amazing. one of my favorites. he's from moscow, idaho so that's pretty neat too.

happy new year. hope this next year is full of love, peace, and patience.

Thee Silver Mt. Zion and the Tra la la la Band

my friend evan introduced me to Thee Silver Mt. Zion Orchestra and the Tra la la la Band who are associated with another favorite band of mine, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, which is an instrumental band that incorporates various recordings into their songs i.e. speeches and train sounds. Silver Mt. Zion came about because Efrim Menuck, guitarist for Godspeed, wanted to learn music theory and how to score music. its a very similar sound to Godspeed but has its own unique flavor too; there is singing involved and the lyrics are very great. just some very different songs but i thoroughly enjoy them all off of their album, "Horses in the Sky".

my favorite song is "God bless our dead marines" especially two parts, halfway through and the very end. very catchy tunes and lyrics that i just really enjoy. the lyrics that i really love are:

"Lost a friend to cocaine
Couple friends to smack
Troubled hearts map deserts
And they rarely do come back
Lost a friend to oceans
Lost a friend to hills
Lost a friend to suicide
Lost a friend to pills
Lost a friend to monsters
Lost a friend to shame
Lost a friend to marriage
Lost a friend to blame
Lost a friend to worry and
Lost a friend to wealth
Lost a friend to stubborn pride
And then i lost myself "

the lyrics are so true. a lot of old friends of mine fit into those categories and some are in the military. i think this song speaks a lot about how messed up our world is with greed, corruption, war, dependence on oil, drugs, hate; basically sin. luckily there is hope in Jesus to save this crazy world. the round at the end is just beautiful. take a listen to this song and check out their albums. enjoy.

Who Killed the Electric Car?

today everyone seems to be thinking green but in the mid 90's there was already an electric car that could go a good distance in a day, run off battery power, produce no emissions, and still look like a fun car to drive so what happened to them...? in the documentary, "who killed the electric car?", they go through the events of the creation, test trials, and then destruction of these energy efficient cars. it was a very informative movie and done very well. its sad to see a great product get striped off the market because of big oil and the lack of actual power from the government.

(this is a tangent) of course there is oil left in the middle east, northern alaska, probably the dakotas, canada, and south america, but does that mean we need to use it like we've been doing for a hundred or so years? now we have all this talk on green technology, eco-friendly this, and environmentally sound that, and now the products are rolling out; don't be deceived by the advertisements because now everybody and their dog wants to be on this bandwagon. ok back to the movie, sorry.

its a good flick and i recommend it to all. check out the trailer and see what we could've been driving 15-20 years ago.

Aesop's Fables

over this christmas time, i got the opportunity to finally read a book that i've been wanting to read for a long time and finally got around to it. Aesop's Fables is something i think everyone needs to read; the lessons are applicable now, way back when, and will be into the future. these short short stories anthropomorphize animals, trees, the sun, the moon to reveal the life lessons we all need to be reminded of and/or learn about. i actually found this book online for free at the Gutenberg Project and put it on my iphone and am going to keep trying to find short stories to put on their so i can read without bringing a book, but not planning on reading anything long on the phone. i recommend you check out that site, i think it might have audio books too for free; people record themselves reading books and put it up for free download, help with commuting or if you like to exercise and can't run reading a book! moving on....

here are some lessons from Aesop's that i really liked:
- Self-conceit may lead to self-destruction.
- Outside show is a poor substitute for inner worth.
- It is easy to be brave from a safe distance.
- Destroy the seed of evil, or it will grow up to your ruin.
- Gratitude and greed go not together.
- Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.
- Nothing escapes the master’s eye.
- Men often applaud an imitation and hiss the real thing.

The Road

Cormac McCarthy's newest book adapted to movie is "The Road"; a post-apacolyptic journey of a father and son to the coast. i read the book sometime last year and have been very anxious to see the movie. just a great and unique way of portraying a relationship between a father and son. this was director, john hillcoat's, first big movie in my eyes and i thought he did a good job. the look of the movie was well done with just a couple of CG shots of destruction/abandonment but it was tastefully done. viggo mortensen did a great job physically and actorally (if that's even a word); his body was skinny and haggard. the little boy on the other hand could have been better, but he wasn't terrible. its hard for little kids to act in a serious role, especially if its a more main role. the movie stayed fairly close to the book, but this book was written in such a way that it couldn't have captured  the same feeling in the movie; that was one of the main reasons why i wanted to watch it. the story is very vague in every aspect about what has happened to earth or america and who are these people and where they are actually going but i like the vagueness of it all. our minds are very powerful things and leaving ideas to float through our minds is better than telling us something to just fulfill our want of knowing. kinda confusing but most scary parts in movies are due to the unknowing because our minds can think of and give us a feeling that is more scary than what hollywood can conjure up; take m. night shyamalan's "signs" for example, it was a decently scary movie right up until they showed the alien and then it just got ridiculously lame. shouldn't have shown us that alien m. night. hopefully you learned your lesson. so if you're reading the book, go see the movie and if you haven't read the book, go read it.

Food Inc.

i have been watching a lot of documentaries lately, not sure exactly why, but i am enjoying it. probably because they are about real events or issues that we need to know about. one that has been an issue for me lately is food; we need food to live and the food industry seems to be changing lately due to the fact that they want to portray being organic or homegrown. Food Inc. is an awesome doc about the meat industry; where our beef, chicken, and pork come from and how we are being deceived as consumers. there is also some interesting information about crop growing as well. the issues that this movie talks about mainly is factory farming; not the good ol fashioned farming we see on packaging and labels or what farming used to be like but massive factories that allow animals to wallow in their own waste and in unhealthy conditions to wait to be slaughtered. chickens are housed in a huge building where they are never allowed to see the sun and these enhanced chickens are pumped with so much growth hormones their bodies can't work properly; they can only take a few steps because their legs can't support themselves. foodborne illnesses are also a big concern in this movie, because of these factory farming practices and lots of people are getting sick and dying from these meats. it scares me to think that we are eating and drinking food from cloned animals too! i don't think we know the full scope on cloned animals and why in the world are we eating/drinking from them? just plain scary. these are some of the main issues talked about in Food Inc.

its hard to eat healthy; its expensive; society doesn't want us to eat healthy, they want us to eat processed foods and fast foods because they can make more of a profit from it. i want to eat healthy and i know lots of other people do to but its just so hard financially. its so easy to go to mcdonalds and order off the dollar menu instead of buying fruits and vegetables and organic foods from the store; that all adds up! this is something that has been on my mind a lot and have been trying to figure out how i can change my eating habits to more healthy alternatives. i highly recommend this film and i hope that companies hear the consumers that we want healthy and cheap food; we control the food industries, if we don't buy foods, they won't make them, if we buy certain foods, they'll produce more of it. check out the trailer here:

  

The Cove

watched a very interesting and well done documentary called "The Cove" which is about this private cove in Japan that herds dolphins in and they select the "good" ones and they sell them to attractions such as Sea World, zoos, and other tourist opportunities then they take the rest of the dolphins and kill them. i never heard about this and didn't think that it sounded real bad until i watched this film. first off i will say that this is really well done, they definitely put some money into it. it was so crazy to see how secretive, rude, crazy this cove and the fisherman/etc. are. the area where they select the "good" dolphins is a public area but you are not allowed to take pictures or videos, there are police/fisherman people there at all times dressed as civilians to get in front of your cameras, to tell you to turn them off, and who blatantly yell in your face to not document it. then they take the bad dolphins to this secluded cove and just murder them. they say they sell the dolphin meat in Japan since it is a cultural food, but its not! and dolphin meat has high amounts of mercury in it, way more than health regulations allow! its something ridiculous like 5,000 times the safety amount of mercury, so they label the dolphin meat as whale meat which is something the Japanese eat. they are being lied to. its just sad to see these animals exploited and killed in such an inhumane way and how Japan doesn't see a problem with it. this isn't just about dolphins but about whales too, Japan has been paying off small economically hurting countries to have them help support their whaling and dolphin agendas.

i am real concerned because we need to treat our animals and resources wisely and Japan isn't doing that, heck America isn't doing that, China isn't doing that, India isn't doing that. i am no activist or real green person but i know what is right and wrong and we need to start taking care of our resources. also, i don't like it that countries, political people, or people of authority lying and deceiving the general public to help their own selves. its sad to see people look after themselves rather than looking to help others. if you're interested in knowing more about the movie, check out their site: The Cove

Songs of Christmas

tis the season for Christmas music. we all love the classics like Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Adam Sandler, and that guy who sings Feliz Navidad. but seriously, Sufjan Stevens came out with 5 Christmas albums entitled "Songs of Christmas". they are very delightful. Sufjan is a very talented young man and he has such a unique sound that will have you wanting more. i truly believe every family needs these albums and i already consider them Christmas classics. some favorite songs of mine are: "it's Christmas! let's be glad!", "come thou fount", "that was the worst Christmas ever", and "put the lights on the tree". all the other regular Christmas songs are on there too so don't you fret. give them a listen and please get them to complete this holiday season.

Helvetica

today i watched a documentary on typefaces, in particular, Helvetica. it is used everywhere. we see it more so than we actually know. they talked about how the font came about, the Swiss, and compared it to other fonts. i don't know much about typefaces but its something i've always been interested in. at work choosing a good looking font is important in website designs and titles for videos. i am trying to further understand the usage and what to look for in a font. this doc was a little dry but what would you expect when its dealing with a font but it was still good to watch. if you are interested in graphic design, layout, typfaces, etc. you should check this out.

if you are also interested in looking at other fonts we use two sites at work to look for fonts to use for projects: DaFont and UrbanFonts

It Might Get Loud

last night phil and joey came over and we were hanging out and phil was talking about this documentary called "It Might Get Loud". the doc gets together jimmy page from led zepplin, the edge from u2, and jack white from the white stripes and they talk about the guitar and their influences, how they got started, their technique and ideas about playing music. it is so awesome! i can't stress this enough; watching all three of these great musicians play together and share in their lives was truly enjoyable. the opening titles are very cool as well, that is one thing that caught my attention. to be honest i can't stand u2, i just don't enjoy their music and mainly i can't stand bono, but even if you are not into their music you have to recognize talent and the edge is very talented in getting the sound he has in his head to come out the way he wants. the edge focuses mainly on effects and pedals for his guitar playing while in contrast, jack white likes to keep the sound true. i am going to start listening to the white stripes after watching this because of how talented and gifted jack white is. he shared his favorite song ever which was on a vinyl of a blues musician clapping and singing, that's it. no guitar. no bass. no drums. was so simple and basic and that is something that jack has been striving to get across in his music. jimmy page is just great. there's not much i can say about him because his talent is just fantastic. he is kind of in the middle ground with effects and simple music in his playing. if you love music, enjoy any of these bands, play guitar, want to play the guitar, or just want to watch a sweet documentary then you should look it up on Netflix of on Youtube; Youtube has the movie broken down into 10 parts to watch. it won't let me embed the first part but follow the link if you are interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9gVfCQTQg8

*favorite part of the movie was the first time jimmy page played for jack and the edge. the smiles on both their faces were just classic; this was someone they grew up listening to and admiring and they were finally getting to see/hear him play. they looked like little kids seeing a childhood hero. so great!

Lars and the Real Girl

one evening this week i finally got to watch "Lars and the Real Girl" which i have been wanting to watch for sometime now. the main thing i walked away feeling was how uncomfortable i was during the whole movie. made me cringe a lot of times because of how weird or ridiculous some of the situations Lars put people in with his doll, Bianca. i will say that Ryan Gosling did a great job acting in this; so hard for even actors/actresses to play off of other people, but carrying whole dramatic scenes with a doll is impressive. it had some funny parts too and it just reminded me more and more of a documentary that my friend, nate, showed me a couple years ago called "Guys and Dolls" which talks about people who have these dolls and how they treat them like real people. its a very interesting documentary with some real funny parts and just some plain sad parts too. crazy to see people who have gotten to the point where real people are hard to come in contact with so they have multiple dolls in their lives. if you are interested to watch the documentary, i have attached it here free from Google Videos.

Avatar

on friday for my company christmas party we went to a place called Tucanos, which is a brazillian all you can eat grill, its pretty awesome and then we went to go see James Cameron's new film, Avatar. people have asked me how it was and the only way i can describe it is by saying this, "its like watching george lucas recreate Star Wars Return of the Jedi in a Star Wars Episode II fashion. terrible dialogue, saturated with CG (some good but most was lame), and a story that just seemed to drag on." we watched it in 3D and the one thing i will say about that is that the use of depth and space was used very well. it certainly gave you that perception which i enjoyed. its sad to see a movie with such a large budget to have have a story that lacks anything interesting and then gets completely ridiculous in the end; also when sigourney weaver is your biggest name in that movie, you know you're in trouble. this movie will probably do well anyway because the majority of moviegoers are idiots, sad to say that, but its true. i will applaud Cameron of thinking up this story, because my mind doesn't think that crazily.

Life of Pi

i am currently reading "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel; i am only 60 some pages into it but i am really enjoying it. this little boy named Pi, Piscine, is very interested in Muslim, Hindu, and Christianity and he is the son of a zookeeper. that is the gist of it right now, but i know he will be shipwrecked with some animals in the ocean. its very cool to hear Pi learn about these new religions. but this is what i am currently reading. here's a pic of the cover:

Armed With A Mind - Have Heart

i have been listening to a lot of Have Heart lately, thanks to my dear brother, Phil who shared this band with me about a year ago and have finally gotten around to listening to them. i cant say i am an avid fan like phil, nate, joey, evan, etc. but i sure do like em. they are a positive hardcore/straight edge band who sing about love, self-image, respect, nonviolence, etc. they dont claim to be a christian band but they sing about great things. this song is one that i really like because it talks about how we need to use our mind instead of using our fists, guns, weapons, etc. our mind is a great gift and we dont use it enough. here is their song:

"Gomorrah"

last night i watched "Gomorrah" a crazy independent movie about the mafia in Italy. andrew read the book and we wanted to watch the movie to see how crazy it would actually be and man is it nuts! just really interesting to see how other people are living just across the pond, so to speak, from us. and this is all recent stuff, not like 10 or 15 years ago, but NOW. it somewhat interweaves a bunch of stories together that are all related to the mafia. just sad to see whole groups of people killing each other, dealing with drugs, and mistreating employees. its a very interesting movie and i would recommend it to anyone who is interested in Italy, the mafia, foreign films, and who are looking for a good sad story. here's the trailer:

this blog

the purpose of this blog is to inform the reader of what films i am currently watching, what books i am reading, and what music i am listening to. i plan on giving my two cents and hopefully this will enlighten some lost soul to find something of value. may it begin...