under construction 2nd mvt.
I’ve been churning out the posts more rapidly than normal this week (see i-dub and jiffy news) which made me hesitant to post this disclaimer submission, but I think it necessary.
As I really hope you’re able to tell, I’ve done some more work on the aesthetics of odfm. I called it that on a previous post… that means online diary for the masses… in case you weren’t sure. Anyway, I think I’ve been able to fix most of the problems I’ve been running across over the past few hours. Still, I’m having trouble with the background (or the stuff on either side of what you’re currently reading). If it looks like the picture above, we’re sitting pretty. If it’s white… then we’ve still got problems… and I fear that’s the case.
I think my problem (here I’m looking for confirmation) is that I’m using jpeg’s instead of gif’s. The reason being, I can’t find a site to host my gif’s. The links I’m replacing with my cool canvas pieces were gif’s. So… yeah, thoughts? Anyone know of a place I could keep my gif’s in order to use them here? I think you do know. Go ahead. Fess up.
jiffy news revisited… sort of
Some of you may have already read Brandon Roger’s most recent post regarding news and gossip. He talks about how we like to read stories about all kinds of silly things in personal lives of complete strangers. So there’s that.
To further emphasize his point, and to magnify how messed up our priorities as a country are, I give you CNN.com’s top 10 most viewed stories as of 1:55pm, September 26th, 2007. I copied it straight off their website.
These are the most read stories of the day. If someone who didn’t know what was going on in world affairs (Heather Hendrick) saw this list, they’d think that the third most pressing issue today is the fact that Elton John lost one of his home decorations. Well as it turns out, it isn’t.
On a day when monks protesting for democracy in Myanmar are being killed by their country’s military, we in America would rather read about how “pets have weight problems too”… amazing. On the heels of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to New York and the absolute verbal beating he received from Columbia University’s president as he was being introduced, we read about a celebrities child with a handicap. With religious leaders being sentenced to jail for abetting in rape and Union workers ending their strike for rights, we read about Sarah Silverman jokes. If you wanted the links to any of the stories I dubbed “lesser” you’ll have to visit CNN’s website.
Seriously, there are ten stories more important than the ten that have been most visited on CNN today. I’m not sure who to point the finger at here. I started to point at the general new-checking public for valuing silly, mostly pointless stories over stories of substance. Then I decided to point at the media for feeding us the stories (and perspectives) that they feed us. But the reason, arguably, that media gives us what they do is that they know we love it. It’s a messed up cycle. Thoughts?
Now is the cycle messed up enough to motivate me to revive Jiffy News? (No link provided for JN because it is, at this point, dead). Not sure. That remains to be seen.
i-dub
I had the privilege this weekend of hanging out with some of my family at iWitness Ministries. It was the annual reunion/banquet weekend in which we shared meals, conversations, hugs, laughs, and Sharpie tattoos. After reflecting on my weekend and time spent with these wonderful people, I opted to publish something to occupy and educate my readers for a moment.
iWitness are the folks that mobilized me to go to China back in Summer 05. In doing so they unknowingly launched online diary for the masses, America’s second most popular blog (according to… nobody). So if that were all they’d ever done, I think that’d be sufficient. However iW has done a lot more than send a blogging, red bearded college kid to China. They’ve sent hundreds of students overseas to some of the least reached places on Earth in order that they might spread the Good News.
That would be enough for most people to approve of them as a mobilizing agency, but there is really so much more than that. The way they do missions is, in my opinion, extremely biblical. What I love about iW is that they train students to live missional lives, regardless of what their geographic location is. They teach everyone who go on their trips that the “front line” is more of a way of life than it is a place. Also, and this is big, they value involvement in the local church, and see it as necessary to Great Commission fulfillment. I can see the fruit of things I’ve learned through this ministry and it’s staff continually in my life, over two years after going on my trip.
So what’s the point of this post? I don’t know exactly. I’ve had iW on my mind a lot, and sometimes things that reside in my brain for more than a few days end up on this blog. Also though, this weekend was all about supporting iWitness, mainly through finances, of which I have little. So, I thought I could support this wonderful ministry through… well my blog. So now you know. If you know of any high school or college students who think Father’s tugging at their hearts for the nations, may I humbly recommend that you point them in the direction of igoglobal.org. They will not be upset. Also, if you ever want to talk about iW or missions or anything else, feel free to ask. Seriously. I don’t say things I don’t mean.
So thanks iW for the weekend. Only you could lift my spirits from the movie debut upset. I love you.
it’s a big weekend
Two highly anticipated movies (in my book of highly anticipated things) are coming out nation-wide this weekend. This is an exciting time!
Into the Wild - This is the film interpretation of the Jon Krakauer’s book that I reviewed a while back. Initially I wasn’t too fired up about this coming out because I figured for sure the movie wouldn’t do the book (a true story) justice. Well I’ve heard some things since that have changed my mind. I’m pumped about seeing this one, and you should be too.
Across the Universe - This is a musical featuring exclusively (so far as I know) Beatles music and takes place in the 60’s. It promises to be visually stimulating and all around weird. I think I’m going to love it, and I think a lot of people are going to disagree with me. Go see it and we’ll hash it out.
So there. Some movie recommendations from D.O. I felt obligated to inform the masses of this epic weekend in the movie world. If you live in Bryan/College Station, you really have no excuse for not seeing at least one of these films in the upcoming week, seeing that tickets are what? $4.00 now? Yeah, you can do it.
world’s first bearded super hero
Having spent all of four weekends back here in College Station at my beloved church, Living Hope, this weekend the powers that be decided it was time to put me back in a skit. I’ve been in a handful of skits at the Hopester over the past few years, but only once have I played a super hero. This was super hero week.
I was “Trial Man”, the superhero who swoops in to your everyday situations to alert you that you’re currently in the midst of a trial. The kind of trials that James talks about in the 1st chapter of his best-selling book. How does Trial Man warn unsuspecting believers that a trial is coming, you ask? Well it’s not by words. I have to work my way up to the point of playing skit characters with lines. See the air horn in his right hand? That’s how he warns the masses.
A brief note on the costume: It’s pretty simple. All you need is the outfit you wore to church, a yellow shirt with a “T” on it, a pair of XL Sponge Bob boxer shorts, a red cape, and (this is important) a piece of poop slice of red fabric with two eye holes in it for the mask. It needs to fall apart more and more as you make your way through three services.
You’re probably thinking, man, D.O., that’s great. I’m glad to see you’re involved in the children’s ministry at your church, I bet those kids thought you were a riot. Well thanks for the encouragement, but no, this wasn’t a kid’s church skit character… Trial Man was for big church. This was the skit for the adults. Only at Living Hope…
[Edit 09.17.07: Photograph's background was necessarily changed from a skit closet to an American flag. Keep that in mind when reading comments. Thanks, odfm mgmt.]
I’m a sucker for musicals
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mUyvaPtsJw]
Of all the videos taking up world wide web space on YouTube (and sadly GodTube… who’s idea was that??), this is one that is actually worth 180 seconds of your time. I first saw it probably three years ago and fell in love. At one point I was very serious about doing at Texas A&M what these students did at their New York school. It’s brilliant, it’s hilarious, and it’s rated PG. Enjoy.
under construction
A series of events have occurred lately (Andrew’s improved blog, a growing personal dissatisfaction with mine, heaps of free time) inspiring me to attempt something I’ve not done since Mike Hnatt’s Info 210 class: editing the layout of a website.
As you’ve probably noticed, the header is (mostly) new. I spent a long time making that header today. I was very excited to see how it’d look when I threw it up at the top of my blog and was pretty disappointed to see the solid brown strip still hanging out below it. I’m sure I’ll be able to fix it at some point, but for now, they blog’s gonna have some things that are less appealing to the eye.
Those of you who’ve seen my CD wallet (every CD separated by genre and none turned upside down or sideways) will know that these visual discrepancies are something I’m not okay with. I look forward to figuring all these formatting issues out. Until then, be gracious with me. Being gracious with me may include asking me to come over so you can help me with these problems. Also, please keep curse words to a minimum in the comments during this time.
Here’s one plus: if the changes continue to be gradual, you won’t be so scared when you visit the blog and it looks entirely different. Hang in there readers. I’ll be done before Texas Ave construction is finished.
done and done
Ladies and gentleman, as promised, I give you the completed stairwell. Remember back when I had painty face syndrome? Well the labor wasn’t in vain. See?
If you’d like to read what Heather had to say on the issue (and indeed her opinion is, in this case, the only one that matters) you may do so at her acclaimed blog, Sit a Spell. Of course chances are, you already have.
little did I know
Not too terribly long ago I posted this piece offering all the sneaky p’s who read my blog without commenting an opportunity to show themselves. At that point I felt pretty well caught up on who the newest members of my readership were. Well it turns out I jumped to conclusions.
Since resurfacing in College Station I’ve had, I kid you not, no less than 4 different people or groups of people approach me and say, “Oh, you’re D.O., I’m _________. You don’t know me, but I read your blog.” Some have even been so forward as to claim that they’ve been “blog-stalking” me. None of these people were the ones who reared their precious faces in the afore mentioned post. They’re all new. This brings my total number of readers to 13 or so.
Now a lot of people would probably cringe at the thought of a total stranger stalking them via the Internet, but not me. I’m ok with it. I’d be more ok if people added on to their confessions of blog-stalking comments like “… I read your blog, and it’s truly excellent!” or “… I read your blog and in my humble opinion, it’s an epic masterpiece” or really positive feedback they feel like wrapping their confessions up with. But I’m content. They fact that they’re (you’re) reading really speaks enough to the blog’s worthwhileness. (It’s only fair that I inform you guys that you really are deceived.)
Anyway, the whole point of these five paragraphs isn’t to ask all the new ghost readers to fess up by posting comments (though this is obviously welcome) or to brag on how the online diary for the masses family has grown. Don’t worry, you readers are still an elite community. The point is this: I give mad props to those of you who have the gusto to come up to the random guy with the red beard and tell him that you’ve been keeping up with his mindless digital rants. Along those lines, it is important to note that if there are any remaining blog stalkers our there, you should feel welcome to approach me and tell me so. I won’t think you’re weird.
So thank you to all the honest goku stalkers (see pic) out there. Though I’ll never understand why you spend any of your valuable time in these parts, rest assured that I’m truly glad you do. And also I’d like to thank those of you who’ve made room in your sidebar for a D.O. link. That’s very sweet.
pointer finger tip: numb
No, this isn’t a picture of my trip to College Station’s latest death metal show, nor is it my head shot for my haunted house application (though I do need a job). It’s what I looked like after applying a fresh coat of spray paint to the Hendrick staircase.
Aaron and I had the brilliant, what-could-go-wrong idea of plastic-ing off the area surrounding the staircase so we could spray freely, without concern for dirtying up the rest of the house. We even made a resealable door to get in and out of our plastic vat (background of picture). Well after a couple hours and about 8 cans of spray paint we learned a few valuable lessons:
1) Spray paint makes things sticky, and when you’re surrounded by 1mm plastic walls and floors, sticky is, to put it lightly, miserable.
2) Josh Langston surgical masks help with the fume factor, while simultaneously concentrating loose paint beneath your eyes, and in my case, in your beard.
3) When you made an opening in your vat, regardless of whether or not it’s resealable, loose paint that doesn’t end up on your face ends up in every neighboring room the house has.
4) Paint thinner isn’t so easy on the eyes… As in, I wouldn’t put it in your eyes. It burns.
5) Because of Lesson 3, spray painting in the house may save you some time as far as the paint is concerned, but when you factor in the clean up… it’s hardly worth it.
6) Apparently the professionals put Vaseline beneath their eyes and nose in order to make for easy facial clean up. (We of course found this out as we were rubbing paint thinner in places it needn’t be).
Nevertheless, Aaron and I enjoyed serving Heather in that quasi-toxic plastic vat. Well I did… I think Aaron did too. If not, he’s more than welcome to defend himself by correcting me in the comments below.
Stay tuned for a photo of the finished project!