Don't Believe the Hype!

Back in the day (1988) Public Enemy released a classic, "Don't Believe the Hype". It has the typical P.E. militant flare with Flavor Flav obnoxiously chatting through out (See video below). If you read the lyrics of this song, you will probably have the same thoughts I had "what in the world?". Well the past few days have had me singing the chorus of this song because of the whole Ernesto hurricane/storm thing that got our whole region here in South Florida all worked up. All of the local TV channels were spouting possibilities and saying "hope for the best, prepare for the worst" (I know this because my mom was watching it!). Well, as you all know this "storm" was very similar to a typical summer storm down here in the muggy south. This raises a question from me. Is the news being reported really news anymore? For crying out loud, World War III is taking place, Iran is starting to creep the rest of the world out and all our news people can talk about is a measly tropical storm? Even Fox News and CNN were using this Ernesto thing as a lead story. So what is real news?

An Instant Classic.

I have been hearing about a movie that really never got any publicity. What have I been hearing? Words that have been used: great, amazing, fantastic, brilliant, etc. When a movie is talked about by friends and acquaintances like this I usually just shrug it off if I haven't heard anything elsewhere. Boy am I glad I took their advice this time. "The Worlds Fastest Indian" is a genuine classic. After watching it, this movie became a top fiver for me. In there with "Braveheart", "Antwone Fisher" and "O Brother Where Art Thou?". Anthony Hopkins stars in this based on a true story masterpiece. It's quirky, emotional, engaging and most of all captivating from open to close. I won't give it away because if I told you the story you may say "so what!" because it doesn't sound that impressive. I will say this, you remember the feeling you had when you watched "Forrest Gump", like you love this guy, you get this guy and you want to know every thing about him? Well, that's what I felt in this story. Don't sleep. Run out to the library or Blockbuster or order it on Netflix, NOW!

Friday Night Lights.

Friday August 25th was opening night for high school football down here in the Sunshine State. If you aren't familiar with prep football in Florida, let me fill you in. There are other sports in the schools (like basketball, baseball, softball, etc.), but football bank rolls them all. Each game played at home brings in big bucks for the local school. For the past four seasons I have had the tremendous opportunity to be the team chaplain for the Jupiter High School football Warriors. What started as a conversation between myself and the head coach has ended up being an incredible opportunity to be available for the players as a counselor, encourager and spiritual advisor. Every Friday afternoon during the season we have a team meal and coach has me lead the team in prayer. He asks that I remember the Jewish kids on the team. I pray that God uses this opportunity to glorify himself. I pray that He uses the time I have spent with the young men from this program as a seed planting that will one day bear tremendous fruit.

Day 60

Well, we are pretty much into our third month with the no TV experiment and it's still going pretty good. We have been taking in a heavy dose of films lately, including some oldies (Breakfast at Tiffanys, Uncle Buck) and some relatively new movies (The Hurricane, Mr. 3000). I continue to do daily research on any upcoming web-based tv shows or broadcasting companies that will be utilizing the web. Every week iTunes has some freebies. This is where we were introduced to a new show called Psych. Very cool show about a young guy who was raised by his dad to memorize everything he can in a short period of time. So he basically has a photographic memory. The show is about his meandering with the local police department where he poses as a psychic. He solves crimes ala Monk, which makes for very entertaining viewing. If you haven't seen this show yet, get the free pilot download here.
Football - I'll be honest, I don't have a plan for the upcoming football season. All of my friends keep reminding me of this by asking "dude, what you gonna do come football season?" I don't know. The NFL is very stingy when it comes to broadcast (no web at all). As far as the NCAA goes I'm not sure if they have a web based situation yet. If they were smart they move in that direction. Could you imagine picking the school of your choice, season packaged for like $50. I'd totally buy a University of Miami package. Anyway, if you hear anything you know I'm all ears!

Greatest Music Video, Ever.

I have read a lot about OK Go's latest video (ON TREADMILLS). People are saying it's brilliant, genius, the greatest music video ever, etc. I won't disagree with the brilliant and genius ideas, but greatest ever, doubt it. Ok Go is a pretty interesting band and have been creative. As a matter of fact their popularity has gotten them in the corporate adverising ranks, read here. There is only one music video that has set the standard with creativity, hilarity and brilliance. Years ago the Beastie Boys released their video "Sabotage". This video receives my vote for greatest video, ever.

15 Most Influential Websites, Ever.

Today I came across an article that gave their 15 most influential websites ever. There are a few surprises here. Like, what in the world is friendsreunited.com or easyjet.com? I just find it interesting to see that the web is only 15 years old and some of the sites that I frequent are only 2-3 years old! What will be the 15 most influential for the next 15 years? Any thoughts? Which sites are missing from this list? Where is NBA.com? Seriously, they have taken the whole sports entertainment on the web to a new level, always on the cutting edge. Or what about apple.com, orbitz.com or imdb.com? Oh, and who can leave out eharmony.com? (The last one was a joke.)

1. eBay.com Founded 1995
2. wikipedia.com Founded 2001
3. napster.com Founded 1999
4. youtube.com Founded 2005
5. blogger.com Founded 1999
6. friendsreunited.com Founded 1999
7. drudgereport.com Founded 1994
8. myspace.com Founded 2003
9. amazon.com Founded 1994
10. slashdot.org Founded 1997
11. salon.com Founded 1995
12. craigslist.org Founded 1995
13. google.com Founded 1998
14. yahoo.com Founded 1994
15. easyjet.com Founded 1995

CRACKED is back!

As a kid me and my friends used to buy and read CRACKED and Mad Magazines. Well Alfred E. Neuman is still running strong but CRACKED was whacked a couple of years ago. A CRACKED story that I remeber was when they spoofed the Dukes of Hazard. They were the Dorks of Hazardous. The writers and artists of the magazine were often crass but always hilarious. Although I haven't read or bought the magazine for years but I was interested in the ressurection of the former infamous magazine. Here is the article.

Speaking of CRACKED, on thier website they put together the 10 best Will Ferrell skits......enjoy!

Vacation Update.

Today (Thursday, August 10th) I had a personal breakthrough. God really spoke to me this morning in my quiet time. I have been reading “Spiritual Leadership” by Oswald Sanders. I am in the chapter that talks about leaders and prayer. I was moved. The area of my personal life that has been the most needy has been my communication with my God. I feel like I have been going to Him just for needs and basic prayer stuff. Well this morning I was challenged by a statement Sanders makes….”God-given conviction leads us beyond the prayer of hope to the prayer of faith.” I want to pray in faith. The Bible says “without faith it is impossible to please God.” I want to please God.

Vacation 2006.

This week Penny and I have joined the rest of my family for our annual family vacation. This year we all headed west to Siesta Key, Florida. It’s about a 3 and a half hour drive from our part of the state. There are beautiful white sand beaches and lots of beachside cabins. It’s been so nice just getting away from my regular schedule and pretty much not living by any set schedule, getting up whenever the heck I feel like it and going to the beach everyday just to chill. I feel like my mind and body are being refreshed. I would have to say that my heart and spirit have yet to get there. I have been going through the book of Acts and have been so moved by the way God used normal guys to do a supernatural thing. My prayer is the Lord would use me to do the supernatural and that I would be willing and submitted to do so. Hopefully during this vacation I can learn to have a deeper faith and He will respond with using me in spite of me. I will post again soon.

Quick Trip.

On Monday a guy from church called me to ask if I would like to go with him and some other men to the Eleuthera in the Bahamas. My response was an obvious yes. So on Thursday around 8:00 am we took off in a twin engine Cessna from Palm Beach International Airport and landed in Governors Harbor, Eluthera around 9 am. The first thing I noticed when we landed was the terrain. It was noticeably rugged and hilly. Very different from my homeland. The water was greenish blue and very uncongested. We were met at the terminal by a local named Horatio. He is an assistant pastor at a local church. He took the day off of his construction job to take our small group of five men around his beautiful home island. Horatio took us from the airport (on the "wrong side of the road" mind you!) to a small boat launching site. He took us out to some of the local hot spot fishing and lobstering areas. 'Ratio (as his friends and family call him) was far superior a fisher man (spear fishing) than his American counterparts. Of the 20 or so catches he caught 18 of them! Later we were treated to a Bahamian fish fry courtesy of our host and his friends at a local watering hole in James Cistern, Eleuthera. This was a great close to an incredible day of male bonding and cultural stimulation. We were off on our flight back at 9 am the next morning. All of this action within a 24 hour period. I feel so blessed to live so close to another world.

The Great Experiment: Day 40

We are now over a month into the whole no conventional TV experiment thing. Up to this point we have become pretty used to not having normal TV. After connecting the MacMini and using our TV as an HD monitor, I must say that our web browsing experience has been top notch and our movie veiwing is amazing. This video shows the whole set up. Let me know what you think.....