Guitar Hero II

You may have read my previous post on the original Guitar Hero game. It's by far my favorite game to date (not to go out with, just up to now :-p ). Well, guess what... it's time for Guitar Hero II! It's got all kinds of new tunes, and with added features. You can play multiplayer like before, but now you can play bass along side or battle it out for points, and you can pick whatever level you're on. It's also got some other cool stuff that you can unlock, like a fish guitar, a viking-head guitar, an custom guitar in the shape of the US, and characters too like the grim reaper. Some of the cool songs it has are: "Sweet Child O'Mine" G'N'R, "Mother" Danzig; "Heart-shaped Box" Nirvana; "Carry On My Wayward Son" Kansas, "Them Bones" Alice in Chains; and "Free Bird" Lynyrd Skynyrd. Those are a few of my faves. Anyway, check it out if you have a PS2!

random entertainment

Well, as you know, I don't blog much. It's not that I don't enjoy it or anything. I just don't have that much to say on a regular basis. I'm almost too busy for a regular creative blog time. Today, is different, as you can see, because I'm actually blogging. Although, I'm not writing to comment, complain, or spout off about this or that. I'm simply here to show you what I've seen lately on YouTube. Enjoy!

Guitar craziness

A-Ha Family Guy Version

Men on Film

Fire Marshall Bill in Space -- wait for the end!

Guitar Hero

I can't stop playing it. It's mesmerizing! It's definitely the funest game I've played in a REALLY long time. If you haven't heard me talking about it, I'm addicted to the game GUITAR HERO! If you're not a rock fan, then save yourself from reading the rest of this.

It actually comes with its own guitar... even though it looks and feels like something Parker Brothers or Playskool would put on the market. There's just 5 buttons, and you follow along the notes that it tells you to play, which are, of course, color-coded. It's so basic, but yet so fun! Best part about it is that you can play it if you've never picked up a guitar or if you've been playing for 20 years!



It's got modern and classic hits, and even some new original stuff that you can unlock. Check out the screen shots! Maybe, if you're lucky, you can sample it at Best Buy. I know the one in Metairie has it as a demo that's been up for like 3 months. It's just that popular! It has about 30 songs on it, getting a little harder as you unlock more. There are 4 different levels, and believe me, it's not as easy at it looks. I've had the game since June, and I'm just not starting to get through the 4th level.

Like I said, very fun and addicting. I've already hooked 2 guys from work, 2 of my friends, and even got my wife, Jessica, on it! Don't knock it til you try it! Definite thumbs up!

Yaaaarrrrr me thirties!

Well, I'm officially finished with another decade. Yes, that's right, my 20's have left me, and the 30's have taken me. I think I actually counted the minutes until the end of my most coherent decade.

Coming into the weekend, I was told that I would have a surprise waiting for me... Jessica was suppose to take me to a nice restaurant after I had gone to see X-Men 3 (save that for another post). So, after the movie, Jessica picks me up from the movie. She stops about 30 seconds later and says, "here, put on this blindfold." I'm thinking that she just doesn't want me to see where we're going, so I put it on. About an hour later, we arrive at our destination. I felt us going on and off the interstate, so my theory that we were going to Lafayette didn't make sense, nor of going to New Orleans. So, maybe Mississippi? Anyway, so we get out, and she takes me into the place (still with blindfold on). I could hear the theme to Pirates of the Carribean playing, and suddenly I felt warm air hitting me. She stops me, and I'm thinking we're at some kind of exhibit or display for Pirates of the Carribean. Well, not so much. The hankerchief comes off, and after being blinded by the light of the sun, I hear and realize, much to my surprise, 25 of my friends and family are there to say "SURPRISE!!" I was very surprised indeed, and we had a whole lot of fun. Jessica really went all out with the theme, which was "pirates". There were candles floating in the pool, everybody had bandanas, pirate caps and/or eye patches on. We all said "yaaarrrr" a bunch. Jessica even made a list of pirates' favorite things (i.e. What's a pirate's favorite place to eat? Aaarrrrrby's). I had many presents and I got to play with my niece and nephew. Not to mention I'm stocked on food for the next 2 - 3 weeks.

All in all, I say goodbye to my twenties in style, and hello to my thirties forever (because you can forget about moving onto forties, fifties or beyond ;) ).

tidbits

For those of you, like myself, who have grown up in any traditional-type church, you're probably well-aware of the hymn factor involved in worship services. Once I got to college, I wanted nothing to do with any hymn being sung at any given time. A couple years back, God started working on my heart for a balance in worship. So, fast forward to now... I actually like a hymn. I know, I have amazed even myself. The hymn is "Be Thou My Vision".

-------

I led worship for the youth at a community church in Kenner last night. It was great fun, and I think the kids enjoyed it too. There was a few moments where I could tell they would rather be somewhere else, but there was one, just one girl, arm slightly raised, eyes closed, worshipping Christ. It hit me and made it all worth it. I couldn't stop smiling after that. I thought, "This is why God has me here, leading His people in worship."

-------

In other news, I just bought a Playstation 2 for $50!! To you other gamers, this may be old hat for you, but up until now I have had the Nintendo GameCube. It's treated me well, but PS2 has offered me something that no other system has yet -- a band. Yeah, if you're into gaming at all, you might have heard of Guitar Hero. I tried it out at BestBuy and had a blast! There are over 70 songs! You play on this (what looks like a kid's version of a) guitar, with 6 colored buttons and a "pick". You just follow the fret board and tells you exactly when to play each string. There's already drums, bass, and a singer doing everything else. Good times, neat fun.

Finally!

Alright, so I haven't posted in a while.... ok, a good while, but I've been freakin busy! So many papers, so many reports, so many finals! I barely got everything in on time! But, I did it, praise be to God. No finals grades yet... but don't worry, you'll be posted.

On another note, pun intended, I'm gonna start gettin down on recording some songs for MySpace. If you're not yet assimilated into the phenomena called MySpace, then check out my musical profile here. I have one song up already, and I can't promise they'll be original, but it's done acoustic-style. When I get brave enough to actually record something original that I haven't thrown away, I'll be sure to post them. So, in the meantime, for your entertaining pleasure, please visit the sites/band recommendation along the right margin. Thank you and goodnight.

he got it right

There's this song on this CD I borrowed from my pastor, with mostly hymns that have been redone in contemporary music. It's called "Depths of Mercy" by Red Moutain Church. There are 2 songs on it, however, that have been written by modern songwriters (one of those, written by Mo Leverett, President of Desire St. Ministries in New Orleans/Destin, FL). One of the two modern tunes is called "Wedding Dress" by Derek Webb. The lyrics of the chorus go like this:

"I am a whore, I do confess, I put you on just like a wedding dress, and I run down the aisle, I run down the aisle / I'm a prodigal with no way home, I put you on just like a ring of gold, and I run down the aisle, I run down the aisle to You"

Powerful, isn't it? There may be some of you that are saying, "Is this a Christian song? If it is, I can't believe they'd use 'whore' in a Christian song!" Well, guess what, he just did, and I think it's a great song. When I heard it, I thought, "Now this guy has got it right!" How many Christian songs, or any other songs for that matter, have that powerful a message in that type of fashion? If you do hear something this strong, it's usually anti-religion/God. Besides that, he used very vivid imagery in his point that really grabs your attention, and you know exactly what he's talking about. There's no sugar-coated, happy-go-lucky, everything's alright words here. He simply paints a picture of his expression to God. It's truly beautiful, and I aspire to write music like that.

band game

Hey, I thought since I haven't posted in a while, and found this on myspace, that it'd be worth putting on here. See if you can guess all of the band names in this picture --- the image is kind of small. Might be better for you download it before you guess. If you feel like commenting, just name 1 or 2. Thanks! I'll start you off with 2 of the easy ones: The Eagles and Gorillaz. Have fun!

typing

People sleep in all kinds of ways. I'm accustomed to using 2 pillows, otherwise my neck has a severe pain in the morning. Recently, I've noticed that my bottom pillow tends to move steadily toward the side of the bed. I have to re-adjust it every night before I go to sleep. It may be all in my head, but the pillow seems to be going further and further off the bed.

It got me thinking that maybe my obsession with typing has gone too far. When I was in high school, I took typing my junior and senior year. When Jessica and I were dating, and just hanging out with friends or whatever, she would feel my typing words (of course, without a keyboard) on her arm or shoulder. She finally asked me about it, and I had no idea that I was even doing it! I don't do that as much, mainly because I get my typing quota from work or email or blogging. Now, apparently that my fingers are getting their quota, is my head typing while I sleep?

For those of you who have not had the pleasure of journaling or doing research papers without a keyboard, we use to have to use typewriters. And with typewriters, when you get to an end of a line on a paper, you hit enter, and the whole middle part (called the carriage) moves over to the next line at the left-hand indent. Is my head actually doing this at night?? Have I turned into.... TYPE WRITER HEAD!?

Movie Review: Glory Road

If you're like me, you haven't seen the previews, and have no clue what this movie is about. So, if that's you, then check it out the preview. If it's not, then you're probably wondering how I've seen it already. Well, let me tell you! Jessica heard on the radio about free movie passes, and we never miss our chance at those, so she picked them up. Radio Disney was giving them away, and it was a very packed house. We got there an hour early and there were still about 50 people in front of us.

Going into this movie, I assumed that it wasn't going to be much of anything. When I think of a Disney movie, I think it's going to be hokey, less than exciting and goofy. It's rated PG, after all -- how good could it be? You might feel the same way, but you'd be wrong about this movie.

The story is basically a 1965 near-historic account of the first black NCAA team to start and go all the way to win the national championship, which they did their first year. The movie shows you a lot about what racism the players went through, and their battle to become champions and prove to the world that black men could play basketball.

This is the part in a review where I talk about some parts of the movie I might be critical about. After conversing with my wife, it seems that there aren't any. I'm not saying this movie is perfect by any means, but it's high quality.

Highlights of the movie include updates of the players at the end. The even more special treat was the interviews with the real players and even Don Haskins himself. That's really what made the movie for me. It was also amazing how well the casting was. John Lucas played the coach and he really did a great job. Even the players' likeness to the original players are quite uncanny. If you do happen to see this movie, listen for anything you might hear about Pat Riley... yes, the NBA coach... he's been around awhile, but he's actually a player in this movie :)

Overall: A+

I would definitely recommend to anyone. Whether you love basketball, sports in general, or any uplifting type of story.

down with the nemesis

Take that, Arch Nemesis! Earlier in the year, I posted about my arch rival. I think, after all this time, I've finally come to the point of justification by domination. This villain of aggravation has been taunting me my entire span as an employee at my current company. I had come to grips with the fact that it would always outwit me in my goal of taping up boxes and various other shipping items. But, today, that is a thing of the past! I've found a way for it to do my bidding, without back talk or lip of any kind! So, take that Arch Nemesis, your days of glory are done!

bad ears, bad

As some of you may already know, there are lyrics in songs, some very popular, where it is hard to understand a word or two in any given phrase, and can sometimes be miscrewd to be something that it's not. For example:

Red Hot Chili Peppers' song "Scar Tissue", I thought what he was saying was "with the purple shed, it's a lonely view..." Jessica thought it was "with the burning shed, this lonely view...", but it's really "with the birds I'll share this lonely view..." weird huh?

Here are some others that are humorous that I've heard of or have thought myself (*hint: it's funnier if you know the song and can sing along with the wrong words*):

AC/DC's "Dirty Deeds":
wrong: "dirty thieves and the thunder chiefs..."
right: "dirty deeds done dirt cheap..."

Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze"
wrong: "excuse me while I kiss this guy"
right: "excuse me while I kiss the sky"

John Mellencamp's "Authority Song"
wrong: "I frighten Dorothy, and Dorothy always wins"
right: "I fight authority, authority always wins"

Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water"
wrong: "Slow talkin' Walter, the fire engine guy"
right: "Smoke on the water, the fire in the sky"

The Police's "Message In A Bottle"
wrong: "I'll send an SOS to a squirrel"
right: "I'll send an SOS to the world"

You can find some more here.

What are some that you've heard?

I've done it!

Fellas, I have done it! I have created the ultimate way to travel back in time! How did I do this, you mask ask! Well, all you have to do is grow your hair really long and let your beard get shaggy for as long as you can stand it over a period of a few years. After that, you can instantaneously make yourself look 10 years younger! Just look at what it's done for me!




For those of you who didn't know me back then, the 2nd picture is what I looked like at 19.

loyalty

I guess I consider myself to be critical of music. I know what aspects of music I enjoy, and I don't listen to the other crap (sucky slide steel guitar -- you can have that). On the most basic of scales, that's how I measure what I like. Being a musician, it's musically-healthy to be critical of what you hear.

So, with that out of the way, I can say that I love music. If I could, I would have the mp3 player constantly hearing stuff, if not, then playing it. I like many kinds of genres, rock (goth, classic, metal, alternative), selective hip hop, classical, new age (world), blues (classic and modern), and selective jazz... just to name a few. My bias probably stays in the rock field, however.

There is the issue of loyalty. Some people like the sound of a few bands, and buy their albums, no matter what it sounds like. While some others like songs that come on the radio and have no idea who they are, or what else they sing. Not me. When I hear a song that I like, great. That by no means that I become loyal to that band. I might go to B&N or Yahoo Music to check out the album. But that's it. I also might like a band/musician and never buy any of their stuff, like Black Eyed Peas, Dave Matthews Band, Busta Rhymes, or any one-hit wonder. I may like one or two of their songs, but for the most part, I enjoy their artistic talent.

I will state, however, that there are bands that really have some great stuff over the years that have more good stuff than not: Sixpence None the Richer, Sarah McLachlan, and Disturbed. There are more, but I'll save that for later.

Halloween

The season is upon us! I think maybe it's a mix of football season in there, but I love this time of year! There's a mystery in the cool breezes that finally comes down to Southern Louisiana. I love seeing the new line of costumes, and make up FX. It also is a season of horror movies!!! If you're looking for something scary to watch, then check these movies out (in no particular order):

Serpent and the Rainbow
Nightmare on Elm Street (best of series: 1,3,4)
Halloween (best of series: 1,2,H20)
Freddy vs. Jason
Friday the 13th (best of series: 6,7,Jason Goes to Hell)
The Exorcist
Poltergeist
Salem's Lot
Dracula (1931,1979,1992)
Saw
Van Helsing
Sleepy Hollow

let me speak on this...

Does anyone hear hymns on the radio? Maybe on Christian stations, or elsewhere at Christmas time. But what about the top 40 stations? Why not? Maybe it's because the music is out-dated. Maybe people just aren't into that style anymore. If that's true, then why sing songs that are 100 years old in church? Are they considered too sacred to disregard? Has it been done so long that we dare not change it? Do they even hold meaning anymore? These are just questions that came to mind when I originally wrestled with this matter.

Psalm 98 says, "Sing to the Lord a new song". God wants to hear new praises from His people. In recent years, it seems to have caught fire. And if that's what we ought to do, then why rehash old, played out tunes? Why continue on the way we've always done it? Do we assume that because God doesn't change that He doesn't want music to change? I've heard the argument that the style of traditional music represents a more pure time. I think that theory is about as solid as topsoil in New Orleans.

Is it the change? By nature, people fight change, but it's just as inevitable as death and taxes. Why not embrace it? Welcome it in to learn from and in-turn be changed by it!

If the songs we sing are for God anyway, then does the style matter? To God, I don't think it does. He enjoys the praises of His people, no matter what the medium. I believe God wants us to worship Him from our hearts, and when we do that, God smiles.

The style more has to do with creating a condusive enviornment for the worshipper to enter God's presence with joy in our hearts and repentence on our lips. Worship leaders are doing their job when that happens. This can be done in multiple arenas: music, art, drama, scripture reading, prayer, etc. The possibilites are endless, as long as the heart is open.

So, can people worship with the "old school"? Yes, but I think it stifles your expression to God. This also goes for songs that you've "known your whole life" and are not traditional. Those songs can just as much stumble out of your mouth without meaning because of it's repetitiveness.

Here's what I'm *NOT* saying: Hymns suck and should never be sung in church. Every song we sing in church should be brand new.

MY POINT: Keep worshipping and do it with your heart, soul and mind. Keep it fresh and fun. God deserves it.

what the crap?

That phrase and others like it get on people's nerves. I'm sure that everyone can comment on this, so I'll just start the ball rolling with 2 of my anti-favorite sayings of the everyday man... or woman:

"...irregardless..."

"less is more"

Gimme some of yours

getting my composure

At last, we've heard the words we've longed to hear since the ordeal has happened: "Metairie is open!"

That's right, we'll be moving back into our house in Metairie on Wednesday, Sept. 21. As you know, our house was not damaged or looted during the happenings of the past 3 weeks. We are amazingly blessed in this time of crisis, and we have no one to thank more than God for helping us through wonderful family and friends.

So, the time has finally come to return to our normalcy. It will be in the fact that we'll be back home, but not quite normal yet. We may be having guests with us -- family that was less fortunate than ourselves -- so that should be fun... seriously! We love to entertain and Jessica is close to her family anyway, so we're excited.

You'll have to read her blog to find out about her job (I've gotta leave something for her to post). I will be working again with my company as soon as they set up shop again.

My school, unfortunately, was devastated by flooding, as most of New Orleans East was. So, I'll be continuing this semester, if not next semester as well, online. Graduation date is still set for the spring, 2007.

END OF LINE (Extra kudos to whoever recognizes this tag line!)

a new chapter

As you may have read in Jessica's previous post, we have evacuated and have landed in Lafayette for the time being. There's no telling as to how long our stay will be there, but we hope to have a plan in place by then.

Anyway, for now, I get to start back, finishing up my semester at school, which will be through correspondence/internet classes. I believe my school has temporarily relocated to Atlanta, GA, and I guess they'll play it by ear (as everyone from New Orleans is doing) to see when they will resume classes there. In any case, I will graduate on time, dang it!

Just for a side note, for those wandering, we made it out fine. Some of have seen living proof of this. The place we are renting in Metairie turned out ok. There was no structural or water damage to the place, but there are tree limbs that have filled the yard (which is extremely minor comparitively -- our relatives in the area were not so lucky). We were able to go over there on Labor Day and see the effects, of which I'll have pioctures of shortly. We grabbed some clothes, a few electronics that we didn't want stolen, and after almost 8 hours of total time going, being there, and coming home, we called it a day, and made our way to Laffy.

It's cool because we have gotten to see friends, family, which has been good. It's also been god that Jessica still has a job to go to so we can still have an income. That definitely puts me with less to do with a whole lot of time to do it in. So, I guess i'll be catching up on my reading for classes I should be able to get finished. Oh well, I guess I'll try to get a little smarter in the process.

All in all, I can't complain. With the biggest disaster to hit America landing in my backyard, God is still good. He spared us and blessed us tremendously. What more could I ask for?

what now

speechless