Putting IT into Words

2010-02-09

Kenya Recap #1

I haven't been very disciplined with my blogging lately. But I know I need to do some recapping of my recent Kenya trip. So I am going to over the next few days post some photos and thoughts about the trip.
Here's a very brief outline of our trip which I'll share more about over the next few days.

Feb. 19th
Leave Raleigh in the afternoon.
Fly to Newark and then Amsterdam.
Feb. 20th
Arrive in Amsterdam and depart for Nairobi.
Pick up at the airport by our host missionary Chatty Daniels.
Stay the night in Nairobi at a youth hostel.
Feb. 21st
Relaxed morning in Nairobi.
Travel to Eldoret.
Feb. 22nd
Spend morning in Eldoret purchasing supplies and arranging transportation.
Visit the Imani Workship were some with AIDS are taught craft skills.
Travel to Tot in the Kerio Valley.
Feb. 23rd
Exploring the area around Tot, am the first white man some Pokot goat herders have ever seen.
Visit the future home and compound where Chatty will live.
Meeting with pastors and elders from the valley.
Feb. 24th
Church in a neighboring village. Some worshippers walk up to 3 miles to join us for church.
Leave Tot and return to Eldoret.
Feb. 25th
Leave Eldoret and return to Nairobi.
Stay the night at the youth hostel.
Feb 26th.
Visit a market for souvenirs.
Visit the Walking Safari Park in Nairobi.
Drive to and around Kibera, a large slum in Nairobi.
Dinner at Carnivore.
Head to airport for flight to London
Feb 27th
London to Washington D.C.
D.C. to Raleigh.

2010-02-06

AFI Top 100 Movies

It's time to update my list of the American Film Institue's Top 100 Movies of all time. I've been making some head way on seeing all 100 movies, but still have some work to do.
As a reminder: there is actually two different list. AFI originally made their list in 1998 and then updated their list in 2007. I am working through both list at the same time.
The titles in red text are the movies I have seen.
A few of these films I have on DVD and just haven't watched yet. And with the TCM 31 Days of Oscars having started for this year I expect to see several more over the next month.

1998 List
1. Citizen Kane
2. Casablanca
3. The Godfather
4. Gone with the Wind
5. Lawrence of Arabia
6. The Wizard of Oz
7. The Graduate
8. On the Waterfront
9. Schindler’s List
10. Singin’ in the Rain
11. It’s a Wonderful Life
12. Sunset Boulevard
13. The Bridge on the River Kwai
14. Some Like it Hot
15. Star Wars
16. All About Eve
17. The African Queen
18. Psycho
19. Chinatown
20. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
21. The Grapes of Wrath
22. 2001: A Space Odyssey
23. The Maltese Falcon
24. Raging Bull
25. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
26. Dr. Strangelove
27. Bonnie and Clyde
28. Apocalypse Now
29. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
30. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
31. Annie Hall
32. The Godfather Part II
33. High Noon
34. To Kill a Mockingbird
35. It Happened One Night
36. Midnight Cowboy
37. The Best Years of Our Lives
38. Double Indemnity
39. Doctor Zhivago
40. North by Northwest
41. West Side Story
42. Rear Window
43. King Kong
44. The Birth of a Nation
45. A Street Car Named Desire
46. A Clockwork Orange
47. Taxi Driver
48. Jaws
49. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
50. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
51. The Philadelphia Story
52. From Here to Eternity
53. Amadeus
54. All Quiet on the Western Front
55. The Sound of Music
56. MASH
57. The Third Man
58. Fantasia
59. Rebel Without a Cause
60. Raiders of the Lost Ark
61. Vertigo
62. Tootsie
63. Stagecoach
64. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
65. The Silence of the Lambs
66. Network
67. The Manchurian Candidate
68. An American in Paris
69. Shane
70. The French Connection
71. Forrest Gump
72. Ben-Hur
73. Wuthering Heights
74. The Gold Rush
75. Dances with Wolves
76. City Lights
77. American Graffiti
78. Rocky
79. The Deer Hunter
80. The Wild Bunch
81. Modern Times
82. Giant
83. Platoon
84. Fargo
85. Duck Soup
86. Mutiny on the Bounty
87. Frankenstein
88. Easy Rider
89. Patton
90. The Jazz Singer
91. My Fair Lady
92. A Place in the Sun
93. The Apartment
94. Goodfellas
95. Pulp Fiction
96. The Searchers
97. Bringing Up Baby
98. Unforgiven
99. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
100. Yankee Doodle Dandy
2007 List
1. Citizen Kane
2. The Godfather
3. Casablanca
4. Raging Bull
5. Singin’ in the Rain
6. Gone with the Wind
7. Lawrence of Arabia
8. Schindler’s List
9. Vertigo
10. The Wizard of Oz
11. City Lights
12. The Searchers
13. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
14. Psycho
15. 2001: A Space Odyssey
16. Sunset Boulevard
17. The Graduate
18 The General
19 One the Waterfront
20. It’s a Wonderful Life
21. Chinatown
22. Some Like It Hot
23. The Grapes of Wrath
24. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
25. To Kill A Mockingbird
26. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
27. High Noon
28. All About Eve
29. Double Indemnity
30. Apocalypse Now
31. The Maltese Falcon
32. The Godfather Part. II
33. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
34. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
35. Annie Hall
36. The Bridge on the River Kwai
37. The Best Years of Our Lives
38. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
39. Dr. Strangelove
40. The Sound of Music
41. King Kong
42. Bonnie and Clyde
43. Midnight Cowboy
44. The Philadelphia Story
45. Shane
46. It Happened One Night
47. A Streetcar Named Desire
48. Rear Window
49. Intolerance
50. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
51. West Side Story
52. Taxi Driver
53. The Deer Hunter
54. MASH
55. North by Northwest
56. Jaws
57. Rocky
58. The Gold Rush
59. Nashville
60. Duck Soup
61. Sullivan’s Travels
62. American Graffiti
63. Cabaret
64. Network
65. The African Queen
66. Raiders of the Lost Ark
67. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
68. Unforgiven
69. Tootsie
70. A Clockwork Orange
71. Saving Private Ryan
72. The Shawshank Redemption
73. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
74. The Silence of the Lambs
75. In the Hear of the Night
76. Forrest Gump
77. All the President’s Men
78. Modern Times
79. The Wild Bunch
80. The Apartment
81. Spartacus
82. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
83. Titanic
84: Easy Rider
85. A Night at the Opera
86. Platoon
87. 12 Angry Men
88. Bringing Up Baby
89. The Sixth Sense
90. Swing Time
91. Sophie’s Choice
92. Goodfellas
93. The French Connection
94. Pulp Fiction
95. The Last Picture Show
96. Do the Right Thing
97. Blade Runner
98. Yankee Doodle Dandy
99. Toy Story
100. Ben-Hur

Superbowl Prediction

What's your Superbowl prediction?
Colts or Saints?

I'm going to go on record saying the Colts will win the Superbowl this year.

2010-01-30

Snow Day Ramblings

It's snowing in North Carolina today. Actually it's been snowing quite a bit across the nation. I haven't seen snow in seven years. I think it snowed twice while I lived in So. Texas, but it had melted before I woke up.
I just woke from too long of a nap to receive a text relaying the cancelling of my church's service tomorrow. This disappoints me for two reason: (1) I'm excited about meeting people and being apart of the worship of this community, and (2) another day of hanging out with myself isn't all that appealing.
It's still another couple of days until I get my cable and internet hooked up, and until then my interaction with the outside world is largely limited to what my phone can do. Which is actually quite a bit, it's just all tiny. I don't think I'd have done well as an early American settler. That's something from my recent trip to Kenya (which I'll have more thoughts and photos on, once I resolve that internet issue previously mentioned) that I was thinking about. As we journeyed around the country I couldn't help but notice seeing all these people just hanging out sitting, or laying, on the side of the road. Many were walking to and from places, or selling goods, but often times they were just sitting. Maybe they were watching their goat flocks or waiting for a friend, i don't know.
As we drove to the airport to depart Nairobi we took a wrong turn and encountered two men sitting on somekind of concrete structure, in the middle of the night, apparently in the middle of nothing. Why were they there? What were they doing? Did they have nothing else or nowhere else they'd rather be?

2010-01-18

Here I Come

Tomorrow afternoon we begin I'our trip to Kenya.

I'm sorry for not having blogged much recently. I'm still getting settled here in North Carolina, and have decided to wait until I return from Africa to get my cable and internet set up. And for some reason I don't post much from my phone.

Before heading to the airport tomorrow I'll be calling AT&T to set up my international data plan. So I should continue to Twitter, for those you who follow me on that.

I'll be back to full time blogging soon.

2010-01-11

Moving Day!

I haven't been writing anything lately as I was packing and preparing for my move to North Carolina. But after months (or years) of waiting for this day it is finally here.

It's a little after 4:00 in the morning and I have a couple of little chores to do here at the home I have shared with my sister for the past year, but then I'm on the road.

The U-Haul is loaded down and the snacks are packed.

Time to drive.

2010-01-04

Song Stuck In My Head - Video: Save You

Save You by Matthew Perryman Jones

2010-01-03

Photos: Bookshelves

I love books.

I even love reading books.

But if I didn't love to read, I think I'd still love books.

There is so many reasons I love books, and this post isn't the time to list them.

But more specifically, I love the way they look on a shelf.

Which is why I love bookshelves.

Here are some photos I've been collecting:

2009-12-30

Quote: Paulo Coelho

"You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one. Each day is a different one, each day brings a miracle of its own. It's just a matter of paying attention to this miracle."

-Paulo Coelho

It's a pet peeve of mine when people use the term miracle in reference to everyday occurrences. A miracle, with a biblical understanding, requires divine intervention in the natural order of events. Technically things like sunrises, births, recovering from a cold, and other occurrences that happen on a regular basis, while amazing, are not miracles.

That being said, "you can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one" is rattling around in my head. It's when I assume the possibilities of today are the same as yesterday, and will be the same as tomorrow that I get bored. I can live better than that.

2009-12-29

Consider The Parts, Not The Whole

This is perfect material for a multi-layered Christian song. Are they singing about Jesus or about the lady of their dreams?

I heard another quote recently from Audrey Hepburn that went something like this: "I don't think I'm that pretty. But when they focus on certain individual aspects of me I can look rather good."

That's me.

I'm without a doubt a horrible mess. But certain aspects of me, when considered separately can make me seem like quite a guy.

And that can be interpreted on a cheesy multi-layered Christian song level.

I wouldn't mind someday realizing that I've grown to a place where I'm willing to lay myself out there to love audaciously and be loved recklessly.

2009-12-27

Photo: One Minute

Here's some interesting facts about the current minute of your life...

2009-12-26

Video: Pigeon Impossible

Here's a fun little digital film that only reminds us about the trouble with pigeons.

2009-12-25

Video (Christmas 2009 #28): You Gotta Get Up

Here it is! Christmas song #29 of our 2009 playlist.

Unfortunately I could only find this cheesy slideshow video for the song. So press play and then minimize your screen.

This song is a classic in my life. Growing up my family and I, definitely my oldest brother Trenton, love the music of Rich Mullins. I think I've played this song every Christmas morning since the early 90s.

(again press play, minimize the screen and just listen to avoid the cheesy slideshow video)

Today is December 25th...

2009-12-24

Video (Christmas 2009 #28): Up On The Rooftop

Up On The Rooftop - Jackson 5

2009-12-23

"Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling"

I watched High Noon tonight. That's a great film.
Gary Cooper has a steely-eyed look mixed with worry, fear, and resolve throughout the story. Although that may have been due to his bleeding ulcers and severe back pains. Nevertheless it's an amazing performance that earned Gary Cooper an Academy Award.
It's also stars Lloyd Bridges and Grace Kelly in one of their earliest movie roles.
The history of the film is just as interesting as the movie itself. It was an allegorical tale against the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) during the Red Scare. John Wayne called it "the most un-American thing I've ever seen in my whole life." Strangely enough Wayne accepted Cooper's award for him since Cooper was unable to attend the ceremony.
Also, High Noon was edited in an attempt to present the story in real time. Take that Jack Bauer.
But perhaps one of my favorite pieces of the movie is Tex Ritter's (the late John Ritter's father) Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling. The video below is a version of the song. Take a listen:

Video: Alma

Wanna see a beautiful digital short film with a slight hint of creepy?
It's got some winter elements in it, but I wouldn't call it Christmas-y at all.
It's by a former Pixar artist named Rodrigo Blaas.
Enjoy.

Alma from Rodrigo Blaas on Vimeo.

Video (Christmas 2009 #27): Labor of Love

Labor of Love by Andrew Peterson; preformed by Jill Phillips.

This is an incredible song.

Labor of Love

Andrew Peterson

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It was not a silent night
There was blood on the ground
You could hear a woman cry
In the alleyways that night
On the streets of David's town

And the stable was not clean
And the cobblestones were cold
And little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
Had no mother's hand to hold

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love

Noble Joseph at her side
Callused hands and weary eyes
There were no midwives to be found
In the streets of David's town
In the middle of the night

So he held her and he prayed
Shafts of moonlight on his face
But the baby in her womb
He was the maker of the moon
He was the Author of the faith
That could make the mountains move

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love
For little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
It was a labor of love

2009-12-22

Video (Christmas 2009 #26): Born To Die

(this is the only video i could really find...sorry)

Born to Die  Bebo Norman -------------------------------------- They never knew a dark night always had the Son's light on their face Perfect in glory Broken by the story of untold grace... come that day  Majesty had come down  Glory had succumed now  to flesh and bone In the arms of a manger In the hands of strangers that could not know Just who they hold  Chorus: And the angels filled the sky  All of heaven wondered why Why their King would choose to be  Be a baby born to die  And all fell silent  For the cry of an infant, the voice of God Was dividing history For those with eyes to see, the Son would shine From earth that night  Chorus   Bridge: To break the chains Of guilt and sin To find us here  To pull us in  So we can join in Heaven's song And with one voice around the throne  Chorus: All the Angels filled the sky And I can't help but wonder why  Why the King would choose to be Be a baby born for me Be a baby born to die

2009-12-21

Video (Christmas 2009 #19-25):

My apologies. I'm a little behind on this Christmas project. It's kind of a busy season you know, between the natural holiday festivities and packing to move. But no excuses...let's catch up. Here is 19-25:
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#19 Oh Holy Night by Celtic Women

Thanks to TBS for this special number...