Movie Meme

Movie Meme, courtesy of Scott Savage.

1. One movie that made you laugh
Office Space

2. One movie that made you cry
Wedding Singer... (I know...)

3. One movie you loved when you were a child
Rad

4. One movie you’ve seen more than once
Swingers

5. One movie you loved, but were embarrassed to admit it
Bring It On

6. One movie you hated
Godzilla, the late 90's remake...

7. One movie that scared you
The Shining

8. One movie that bored you
Blair Witch Project

9. One movie that made you happy
Little Miss Sunshine

10. One movie that made you miserable
Bloody Sunday

11. One movie you weren’t brave enough to see
Saving Private Ryan

12. One movie character you’ve fallen in love with
Julia Stiles character on 10 Things I Hate About You. Gotta love the attitude.

13. The last movie you saw
No Country for Old Men

14. The next movie you hope to see
I don't know yet.

15. Your favorite movie
The Shawshank Redemption (me too)

Now tag five people!!!!!
I tag Jenny, Amanda, Andrea and/or Telfer, Jess, and Kylee

House Update - Painting the Dining Room

A couple weekends ago Jenny and I painted our dining room Antique Red. We think it turned out great!


A few days before that we bought this beautiful buffet on Craigslist. It looks right at home with out dining room table and red paint doesn't it?


We also found these growing in our side yard.


Our next big project is going to be re-tiling the bathroom walls, luckily we are hiring someone for that one. Stay tuned!

Check out more house project pictures in our House Collection on flickr.

Opening Day!

Well... sort of. It should be opening day if MLB didn't jack it all up by playing 2 games in Japan last week. Weird.

Anyways, it is official now, summer is on it's way, baseball is here!
Here are my predictions for the season:

AL West:
1. Seattle
2. Los Anglahiem (would have been #1 before Lackey and Escobar went down)
3. Oakland
4 Texas

AL Central:
1. Detroit
2. Cleveland - WC
3. Kansas City
4. Minnesota
5. Chicago

AL East:
1. Boston
2. New York
3. Tampa Bay
4. Toronto
5. Baltimore

NL West:
1. Colorado
2. L.A. - WC
3. Arizona
4. San Diego
5. San Francisco

NL Central
1. Chicago
2. St. Louis
3. Milwaukee
4. Cincinnati
5. Houston
6. Pittsburgh

NL East:
1. New York
2. Atlanta
3. Philadelphia
4. Washington
5. Florida

AL Champ: Detroit
NL Champ: Colorado

WS Champ: Detroit

Muxtape

Check out this cool new website where you can create mix tapes online and send the link to your mix to your friends.

Here is my first mix
And here is one from my friend Jon Shell.

Top 10 Albums of 2007!

Okay, I am a bit late on this, but here it is. J.R.'s top 10 of 2007!

10. Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
iTunes

Layers and layers of sound blended with poetic moody, and storytelling lyrics make for a great, intelligent album full of interesting songs. Andrew Bird is really a genius on the acoustic guitar, violin, and Rhodes, and that is all on display in this album of diverse songs. Andrew Bird is probably the most talented musician on this list, the only reason he doesn't rank higher is the album lacks continuity. I still would highly recommend getting to know this one, especially if you appreciate musical complexity.




9. Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger
iTunes

Another new album from the prolific Ryan Adams, one would think he would run out of good songs eventually. Well, he hasn't yet on this one. This album opens with Ryan at his most twangy and southern in "Goodnight Rose" then dabbles in pop, rock, country, without ever veering to far from the brilliance laid down by the first few tracks. That is with the exception of track number 4, "Halloweenhead", easily one of Ryan's worse written songs in years, and despite it's catchy beat and driving guitars, it drops this album down out of the top 5 for that one track alone. "Follow the Lights" from the EP of the same name would have fit in it's place to make this album feel much more congruent.

8. Laura Veirs - Saltbreakers
iTunes

A little folk, a little pop, and a little art rock, all mixed in with poetic, organic lyrical content and the whimsical voice of Laura Veirs make this a beautifully creative album. Laura combines different sounds and varies between depth and playfulness, sometimes embracing both at the same time without ever sounding out of place in the album. The only downfall might be that it didn't hold my attention the first few times I listened, but while compiling this list I made myself listen to my albums from 2007 and this one, the more I heard, the farther up the list it made it. Definitely a strong number 8.


7. Sigur Rós - Hvarf/Heim
iTunes

I think I mentioned this last time I review a Sigur Rós album, but it's not often that music I can't understand the lyrics to hold my attention, but Sigur Rós paint such a beautiful picture with musical textures and depth that no additional story is needed to fill the imagination. Havarf (Icelandic for "hope"), the first half of this album, takes you through a chilling yet strangely comforting ride, propelled by enormous, guitar filled crescendos. The second half of the album, Heim (meaning "home") paints a more mellow comforting picture, building slower and more melodically then the Havarfhalf of the album. The use of live recordings for the Heim half of the album really makes you feel like Sigur Rós wants to show you a bit of what "home" is for them.


6. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
iTunes

Epic. You can't listen to this album without feeling like you are a part of something epic. Since their debut, Funeral, Arcade Fire has had a sound that seems bigger then life, but on this album they take it to another level. String and orchestral arrangements mixed with driving anthem rock and a heavy new wave edge just sound to big to contain. The quit in this album packs as much huge power as the loud places. The low point for me was the title track, oddly enough, but it leads well into the opening organ keys of the following track "Intervention", one of the highlights.



5. The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
iTunes

Indie darlings, The Shins, have come a lot closer to meeting Natalie Portman's claims of life changing music (Garden State) with this huge step forward for them. Wincing the Night Away features The Shins at their most mature to date. Sounding like a band that has grown up beyond the easy melodic pop songs of their past to something bigger, bolder, and most importantly, more creative. I don't mean to put down their previous efforts, this one is just that much better. Still melodic and moody, but now offering so much more, almost "life changing".



4. New Pornographers - Challengers
iTunes

This is my first experience with the New Pornographers (I think the name scared me off before), after thoroughly enjoying Neko Case's solo album, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, last year I thought I would check them out. I didn't understand at first how you could have a band with Neko Case and not feature her as the lead vocalist. Upon listening I discovered that the combination of her and A. C. Newman sharing vocal duties and creating perfect harmonies, works so will with the driving power pop and intelligent lyrical content of this album. Indie pop doesn't get much better then this.



3. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
iTunes

So, this album got kind of beat around by some reviewers, they thought it was a step backwards for Wilco, from their masterpiece Yankee, Hotel, Foxtrot and their incredibly unique A Ghost is Born. I completely disagree. While this album might not push the limits of music ingenuity like the last two, it does something else. With their previous albums Wilco had destructed their music to a point that was brilliant and complex, but not always enjoyable. With Sky Blue Sky, they are rebuilding music their way. These mellow, moody, simple songs display a stripped down Wilco, vulnerable, and exposed. While playing around with a bit of a 70's folk vibe, with plenty of jazz and blues thrown in, they still bring a completely unique Wilco sound to it, with Nels Cline's unmistakable and amazing guitar playing. Jeff Tweedy's voice fits so perfectly with lyrics that are so brilliantly moody yet refreshingly optimistic. This album is really the perfect follow up to the complexity of A Ghost is Born, it is a reminder that music can still simply be music.


2. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
iTunes

After their last album, Gimme Fiction, Spoon had made a huge impression on me as a band to look out for. After this album, they have firmly cemented themselves as one of my all time favorite bands. Britt Daniel's gravely vocals somehow work perfectly with Spoon's bouncy, rhythmic guitar sound. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga combines that with a more atmospheric complexity then they have brought before. Spoon's ability to write and perform incredibly catchy tunes, and combines styles from many genres while intergrating their own unique sound will guarantee these guys stay at the top of my list for many years to come. Welcome to my favorites Spoon, keep up the amazing work.


1. Radiohead - In Rainbows
iTunes

A new Radiohead album this year, how could it not be number 1 right? Well, maybe, but this is a well-deserved number 1. In Rainbows is so subtly beautiful and breathe taking it couldn't be anywhere else on this list. Subtle is not a word I would have ever used to describe a Radiohead release in the past. One review described it this way: " This is not a record that hits you over the head with how far this group is pushing the envelope; it's simply a phenomenal, well-crafted, and exciting album", I completely agree. While I have always loved that Radiohead pushed the envelope on what was music, and stretched me the same, this albums seems to be the perfect balance from everything learned from years of pushing. It feels like the summary of years of researching music and sound. There is a return of verses and choruses for the first time since 1997's OK Computer. All of this without sacrificing the interesting musical aspects that are Radiohead.

Almost as brilliant as the album itself was the way they released it. After being completely fed up with the music industry, Radiohead released it on the Internet for whatever you wanted to pay for it, and was delivered via download. As of 10 December 2007, the official In Rainbows download is no longer available and must be purchased for full price via iTunes. Other bands have been releasing their work in similar fashion since.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:
The National - Boxer
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
Joshua James - The Sun Is Always Brighter
Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
Derek Webb - Ringing Bell
The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism
Over the Rhine - Trumpet Child
Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
The Good, The Bad, and The Queen - The Good, The Bad, and The Queen

And in the "I can't believe I am admitting I like" this department:
Alicia Keys - As I Am

The way Justin Dillon sees it.

So, I am sure most of you know the unnamed coffee giant who has spread bad coffee to the ends of the earth, well at least not everything they do is bad for your soul. ;-)

A friend got a cup of coffee, and on the side of that cup was a quote from former frontman of the Dime Store Prophets ( a great Alternative/Christian band from the mid 90's) Justin Dillon (Stevens).

Here is the quote from "The Way I See It" - Cup #153

"Is art entertainment?
Art teaches us about who we are.
Entertainment tells us who to be.
Art is a public service.
Entertainment is a private product.
Art opens our minds.
Entertainment thinks for you.
Art is publicly offered.
Entertainment is publicly traded.
Art is the words we wish to say, but lack the language to say it."

4 years! Eureka!

As some of you may know, Jenny and I take turns each year surprising each other with a weekend vacation for our anniversary (Nov. 8). We have gone to Victoria BC, Weston MO, and Herman MO. This year was Jenny's turn, and she had me fooled for almost 200 miles. I had no idea we were we where going until about 20 miles out.

We spent the weekend of Nov 8-11th in a small wooded cabin on a lake just outside of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Eureka Springs is a small historic resort town founded around some "healing" springs in the Ozark Mountains. The "downtown" is on a couple different streets that wind around through a valley and around some hills. Some of the buildings face one street where they are two stories tall, but the backs of them face another street where they are 6 stories tall. The whole town is built on extreamly steep grades in the late 1800's. It has many art galleries and other eclectic little shops.

The fall colors where out in full effect that weekend, providing some great photo opertunities.
Here is a link the the photo gallery.

Trying to find the gold tooth in God's crooked smile.

Okay, I have a ton of posts to put up in the next few days that I have been putting off, so if anyone still reads this, check back over the next week and there should be more.



Anyways, I wanted to let you all know about this amazing film Jenny and I got from netflix a couple weeks ago. Here is the discription from their website:

Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus is a thought-proviking road trip through the American South - a world of Churches; prisons; coalmines; truckstops; juke joints; swamps; and mountains. Along the way we encounter various musicians, including the Handsome Family, Johnny Dowd, 16 Horsepower and Dacid Johansen; old time banjo player Lee Sexton; Rockabilly and Mountain Gospel churches; and novelist Harry Crews telling grisly stories down a dirt track. The film is a collage of stories and testimonies, almost invariably of sudden death, sin or redemption: Heaven or Hell, with no middle ground.

And all the while, a strange Southern Jesus looms in the background. 'Alt-Country' singer Jim White reflects upon exactly what it is about this baffling place that inspires musicians and writers, whilst at the same time working through his own preoccupations with his muse — or, as he puts it, 'trying to find the gold tooth in God's crooked smile'.

Check out the trailer!

New Site Feature!

Scroll to the bottom right and tell us who you would vote for.

Whiskerino 2007!

What do Zeus, John Lennon and Jesus have in common? It's the beard!

Whiserino 2007 is here! Check it out!

So, if you are man enough (or if you are a woman with good paper skills) I invite you to join me on this 4 month journey into manhood. Bond with me over our comman face hair. Go here to sign up.

HERE ARE THE RULES

I. CONTEST RUN DATES
The contest will officially run from November 1st, 2007 until least February 29th, 2008. Participants unable to fulfill this time period will have their accounts placed within the Whiskerino Hall Of Shame. Participation is still highly encouraged for any amount of time during these dates.

II. A CLEAN PALETTE
You must be clean shaven (see Figure 26). This rule is the foundation of a proper Whiskerino. Allowable hair types: eyebrows, eyelashes, sideburns, nose hair, ear hair. Sideburns must be trimmed to the earlobe (see here for a fine example). Banned hair types: mutton chops, goatee, neck hair, moustaches. No exceptions.

III. BEARD GROWTH
According to Parker Brothers Beyond Balderdash the definition of a whiskerino is "a beard growing contest." Participation in the North American Free Beard Agreement Whiskerino denotes that the participant will grow a beard. Refusal to grow a beard is not in the spirit of the contest. Note: Testerone levels differ in every male and all levels of growth, regardless of density and coverage, are encouraged. As long as the participant is not shaving the participant is growing a beard.

IV. SHAVING
Trimming or shaping of hair growth is highly frowned upon. Participants are highly encouraged to let their beards follow their natural path. 'Sculpting' will be questioned and must be kept to a minimum.

V. FALSE PRETENSES
By supplying a photo for upload and display during Whiskerino 2007 the participant enters into an agreement stating the following:

* The photo is, in fact, the participant
* The photo has not been altered by digital means in regard to enhancing beard growth, shape, or density.
* The photo may not contain added text, graphics, or clipart unless in participation with a themed day (this includes iSight camera effects, Photoshop filters and their ilk).

VI. IMAGE UPLOADING
Images supplied by the participant must be in JPEG format sized no smaller than 500 pixels in width cropped to a 4 x 3 aspect ratio (see Figure 73). Photos may not contain profane gestures, nudity, hateful imagery, or turkey sandwiches.

Only one image per day may be submitted to the North American Free Beard Agreement Whiskerino 2005. Submission of more than one image per day will result in the previous submitted image to be overwritten and all comments and ratings for that image removed but do what chu gotta do breh.

VII. HALL OF SHAME
Failure to comply with the North American Free Beard Agreement Whiskerino 2007 rules and regulations will result in the participants account to be sequestered into the Hall Of Shame. Participants placed within these shameful halls will no longer have access to their account and, thus, image upload will be forever suspended for them. Ridiculing members of the Hall Of Shame is not only allowed but highly encouraged.

VIII. WINNER
Upon completion of the contest there will be official ceremonies announcing the winner. Winning beards will be determined by a variety of criteria including: Beard Official opinions, ratings, overall participation, attendance, beard style, and spirit. Note: Immense facial hair density, girth, and coverage does not neccasarily determine winner. Spirit and Beard Fellowship are the highest ranked criteria according to the North American Free Beard Agreement.

Kucinich 08

Lots of Pictures!

I just updated my Flickr account with a lot of pictures from the last few weeks.

CLICK HERE for some pictures from waiting in line at the Over the Rhine concert at The Grand Emporium on Oct. 1. Unfortunatly I have not figured out how to take good indoor concert photos yet, so none of those turned out well.



CLICK HERE and HERE for pictures of Jenny's Birthday night. We got dressed up and went out to Pierpont's at Union Station, it was amazing.



CLICK HERE to see pictures from our church retreat. We went to Mount St. Scholastica, and Abby in Atchison, Kansas. It was beautiful. Unfortunatly I got too caught up in taking tons of pictures of the beautiful setting and not enough of the wonderful people we spent the weekend with. It was a blast.



More pics coming soon! The Tolson's visited last weekend, so those will be the next set.

Wilco at The Crossroads

We saw Wilco on saturday night at downtown Kansas Cities coolest new outdoor venue, The Crossroads. We showed up early enough to get in the front row, right infront of Nels. What a truley amazing rock show. Andrew Bird opened, and he was pretty great too.

Set list:
Via Chicago
Company on my Back
You Are My Face
I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
Pot Kettle Black
Handshake Drugs
Side With the Seeds
A Shot in the Arm
She’s A Jar
Impossible Germany
Pick Up the Change
Box Full of Letters
Jesus, etc.
Too Far Apart
Walken
I’m the Man Who Loves You

Encore 1:
Hummingbird
Hesitating Beauty
Hate It Here
Heavy Metal Drummer

Encore 2:
Red Eyed and Blue
I Got You (At the End of the Century)
Casino Queen
Outtasite (Outta Mind)
Spiders (Kidsmoke) <-- with fireworks!

Here is a good review from Joel Francis of the Kansas City Star.

Here are some pictures I found on flickr taken by "willgorman".

Here is a myspace video of Wilco perfroming Hesitating Beauty, the camera man was standing probably 10 feet from where Jenny and I were.

And a video of "Shot In the Arm"

Personality Type

Well, Jenny tagged me to take this personality test. I always come out the same, by far, and I even tryed to answer the questions a little more thoughtfully this time, and I still came out the same. I guess there is really no doubt I am an ENFP (The "Advocate"). But is Bob Dylan, so that's cool.

Also, turns out I should be an artist or a designer, so I don't have to change careers, that's cool.



I tag Andrea, Telfer, and Missy

Lyric of the Day

I have had and enjoyed this song for a while now, but this weekend I heard it again for the first time in a few months and remembered how powerful it was. I get some crap about my Indigo Girls love every once in a while, but if you can't atleast appriciate their song writting, then I don't know what I can say to you about good music. It's amazing to me that these two can pull out more Biblical imagry and Christian concepts then most any Christian label band out there. Anyways, here it is:

"Tether" - Indigo Girls

Whatever it was, is wasn't manumission
To spill the blood, to pull the weed
You can bury the past, but it's a mausoleum
With the ghost of a fist that won't let us be

Can we bring it together,
Can we call from the mountain to the valley below?
Can we make it better,
Do we tether the hawk, do we tether the dove?

I kicked up the dirt, and I said to my neighbor
"We keep making it worse, we keep getting it wrong"
He tucked in his shirt, he stood a little bit straighter,
He said "We need a few less words dear, we need a few more guns."

But will it bring us together,
Can we call from the mountain to the valley below?
Can we make it better,
Do we tether the hawk, do we tether the dove?

Enduring love
Why so much and so strong, beyond this short existence?
So don't be still
You say there's a long line behind you
And it's hardly worth the mentioning
But I will
Cause we may flicker and fade,
But we never will be through with this
I see this world battered but not broken
There's a fallow heart, it's waiting on a sowing hand
You can grow what you want, But one day it's gonna rise up
So plant what you need to make a better stand

And we'll bring it together
And we'll call from the mountain to the valley below.
And we'll make it better
Let go of the hawk, we let go of the dove.

I sing to you, all you true believers
With the strength to see this and not be still.
I'm telling you now, find the hope that feeds you,
Don't let 'em bleed you of your will.

Gillian Welch - "Time (The Revelator)"

We saw Gillian Welch and David Rawlings (the guitarist in the video) at Liberty Hall in Lawerance on saturday. It was amazing, I don't even know how to express how amazing it was. David Rawlings is one of the best guitar players I have ever seen, and Gillian's voice was perfect.

They played two full sets and 3 encores, the show lasted over three hours, and I could have gone for another thee. If she is coming to a town near you, you should go.

We are offical!

We closed on the house Friday afternoon (I mentioned it in the post below). We are very excited! Yesterday we bought a used washer and dryer, a new fridge, and a yard sale lawn mower. The wood floor guy gets started tomorrow morning. Our maintance guy starts Wednesday, and we get to move in the 28th!

When we arived to sign the papers at closing there was this framed picture of our house from 1924:



It was two years old then. How cool is that? The only real difference we can tell is that the french doors on the den that lead to the porch aren't there, and the pergula over the garage has been mostly removed, the frame closest to the house is still there, it looks decrotive.

Our relator also e-mailed us these pictures from 1957 of the original owners:








In the last picture you can see the french doors have been installed by then. Also, that big ugly bush is atleast that old.

Shuffle Your iPod

My good friend Brian tagged me with this little iPod game. I am suppose to "List the first ten songs that come up on your iPod when you hit 'shuffle'." I have to start by saying that I have over 8,000 songs on there, some are from long ago.... very long ago. I am not responsible for everything that appears on the list.... so, on that note, here we go.

1. Radiohead - Bullet Proof...I Wish I Was
2. Over The Rhine - Anything At All
3. Death Cab for Cutie - Line of Best Fit
4. Starflyer 59 - Not Funny
5. Mutemath - Peculiar People
6. Depeche Mode - Sinner In Me
7. Coldplay - Shiver
8. Moby - Natural Blues
9. The Verve - Weeping Willow
10 . Dave Mathews Band - Crush
11. Bright Eyes - The First Day of My Life
12. The Call - I Don't Wanna
13. Alice In Chains - Again
14. Bruce Cockburn - Tropic Moon
15. Sufjan Stevens - Kaskaskia River
16. Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone
17. Danielson Famile - Don't You Be The Judge
18 . Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins - Born Secular
19. Wilco - Panthers
20. REM - Try Not To Breathe

I think I was suppose to do 10, everyone else did 15, I did 20. I kept waiting for U2 to come up, I have way more U2 then any other band.... oh well.

Okay, I tag Kassie Ketchum, Lisa Allison, and Amanda Marble. Go for it!

Oh, and PS, the house is officaly ours as of 4:00 this afternoon, yay!

We got a house!

Some of you probably have already heard, but we found a house! Our offer was accepted on it a couple weeks ago. Now we are just eagerly waiting out the time until closing (July 13th). After we close we are getting the wood floors re-finished and a bunch of minor things. Then we move in!


It is a cute little 1920's Bungalow near the Brookeside area of Kansas City. It has 3 bedrooms, 1 and 1/2 baths, a den, and a sunroom.

In the future we are planning on removing that ugly bush from the front of the porch, replacing the sink in the main bath, tiling the floor in the 1/2 bath, minor clean-up and repairs to the deck, maybe stipping atleast some of the wood trim, doing something with the fireplace (not sure what), and eventually remodeling the whole kitchen. Lots of work ahead of us, but it should be fun.

Check out our Flickr page for the rest of the pictures!

Vacation Pics!

Jenny and I drove to Tennessee last week, it was a great time! We got to see our friends Matt and Alissa Peppley in Nashville and then went on to Townsend right outside of the Smoky Mountain National Park. We rented a little cabin in the woods there. We did lots of hiking, hanging out on our porch, and eating good food.

I posted some pictures on my flickr page. Check them out!