The Freewheelin' Jon Foreman

Jon Foreman just might be our generation's Bob Dylan. You know him as the lead singer for the band Switchfoot (one of my favorites) but he is currently traveling as a solo act, performing as a singer/songwriter in intimate settings with his acoustic guitar and his new songs.

I had the privilege of hearing him, twice, a few months ago. The first time was a private concert in someone's living room with some other musicians and college students, the second time was at his show the following day. It was one of the best shows I have seen, and I've seen a lot of them.

His music covers a lot of ground. The beautiful and understated "Learning How to Die" details the thoughts of a person on their deathbed, while the effective ballad "Your Love is Strong" is a more straightforward songwriter's interpretation of The Lord's Prayer. Some songs are prayers while others are strictly observations of life, death, and love, showing us that Jon Foreman is not living in a Christian bubble but, instead, he lives in the same world as the rest of us. (Indeed, his song, 'The Cure for Pain" was featured on Grey's Anatomy.)

If I can recommend anything to you, I would ask you to check out Jon Foreman's website and download all four of his EPs (it's well priced and worth each cent).

Not only is Jon Foreman a talented musician/poet, but I had the honor of meeting him and he is one of the nicest people I will ever know. I was nervous. I've spent hours learning guitar lines and lyrics from his work, but he made me feel comfortable and really wanted to talk to me and the other fans he met; he's an amazing guy. Here's a video of him playing some of his songs for a few fans by a train track. (It's a little grainy, but it's good.)

Why has Christian Bale been Arrested?

Sunday night, it is alleged that Christian Bale exhibited abusive behavior toward his mother and sister. He has been taken into custody by the London Police who allowed him to attend the British screening of The Dark Knight, last night, before being taken into custody, which was nice of them. The reports seem to indicate that he is being pretty cooperative.

This is disappointing. I'm not the type to crucify celebrities for their every wrongdoing, everyone makes mistakes, but being abusive to your mother isn't cool at all. It's still possible at this point that the allegations are inaccurate or that Christian will apologize and get help.

Movie Review - The Dark Knight

Heath Ledger is the best movie villain ever.

Anyway, I went to the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight, last night, and it was one of the biggest movie going experiences I can remember. I saw the latest Indiana Jones film and some of the Star Wars prequels on their opening nights and this was a bigger deal with more people and more excitement than any of those films. (The biggest movie experience for me was when The Return of the King came out and I went to a special all day festival that showed all three films and then premiered the Return of the King. The Dark Knight was second to that event.)

The film is certainly better than the first. Of course, as some of you know, I really didn't like the first one. (In a word:pedantic.) This film is better, especially any part dealing with the Joker. Not only did Heath Ledger do an amazing job, but those parts of the story are very interesting.

Not so much, for the rest of the film. Plot points seemed forced and Batman's technology and weapons got too silly for me. The last five minutes contains a boring and unnecessary plot twist that had me waiting for the credits to roll. Batman is the least interesting character in this story and Christian Bale spoke in a very weird voice whenever he was in the Batsuit. There were people laughing every time he said a line.

My biggest problem is with the way the action is filmed. In Batman Begins the action seemed quite poor. Things moved in the dark when someone fought, but I had to wait until the end of the fight to see who won because I never knew who was punching who. I had hoped that this film would improve on this, but it did not. Many times the action would be nothing but quick jump cuts with blurs of motion causing us to wonder what we had seen. I usually had to watch the next scene play out to see which blur was Batman and what had happened to the blur he was next to.

Anyway, go see the film to watch the Joker. It's the creepiest and most amazing portrayal of a villain I can remember and it will totally freak you out. This Joker is evil and crazy and he makes you feel afraid and entertained at the same time. It's hard to say just how good Heath Ledger is, but it's worth seeing the film. People are talking about an Oscar for Mr. Ledger, and I agree. It's that good.

China plans to artificially change weather for Olympics; other countries freak out.

China plans to artificially change weather for Olympics; other countries freak out.

You know, sometimes you post a link and it shows up in a really ugly purple color, and you just don't care to fix it. Anyway, read it, if you want.

18 Things a Grown Man Should Never Have...

MSN is a great website if you are looking for some bad advice. Not since the someone told Abraham Lincoln to go relax at the theater has so much lame advice been in one place. Today, I read their list of 18 Things a Grown Man Should Never Have. (I suspect that the feminists who run the site are troubled by not finding any good men.) Here's my take on a few of their ideas:

A black eye. MSN says we shouldn't have black eyes from fighting. What if the other guy has two black eyes? I think it's OK as long as you won the fight, or lost but shook hands after.

PlayStation thumb. MSN says we need to quit playing video games. I own 4 or 5 gaming systems and play more games on my computer. My wife doesn't mind. No one minds. Except a frustrated dateless writer at MSN, apparently. Everyone needs a hobby. Would you rather see us collecting stamps? Yeah, that's cool.

A key chain with a bottle opener. The article actually says that we should use impromptu methods to open bottles, like "...a lighter, the back end of a fork..." Yep, nothing says sophisticated grown male quite like pulling a McGyver at the table to open a beer.

A lucky shirt. My lucky shirt says 'Dr. Pepper' on it. My wife says it's soft and likes it when I wear that shirt. Sounds like a keeper.

Olympic dreams. The article actually says, "Exceptions: curling and archery." I have no idea why MSN doesn't think it's OK for me to fantasize about winning a medal for synchronized diving, but dreaming about being Robin Hood is OK.

The need to quote The Big Lebowski/ Caddyshack/Superbad. I have also read that it is not good to quote Monty Python in front of women. Listen up, single males, if the girl in front of you doesn't think it's funny to quote Monty Python, don't bother with a second date, she is the wrong girl for you. In fact, asking her if she was expecting a Spanish Inquisition is a good way to see if she has a sense of humor. Sheesh.

Code words for ugly women. Oh, sure, next time I see a girl who only looks good once in a while I should call her something other than a two-face? What about girls with good personalities? Should I just call them ugly? Really?

A Nerf hoop in his living room. It goes on to say, 'Keep the adolescent accoutrements where they belong: in the rec room or above the wastebasket in someone else's office.'

In conclusion, be sure no one ever knows the real you.

Were British Students Punished for Not Praying to Allah at School?

Two schoolboys were given detention after refusing to kneel down and 'pray to Allah' during a religious education lesson.

I read this on Glenn Reynold's blog, where he says, You can't make this stuff up. And, sadly, you don't have to.

I remember being taught about Islam in the 6th grade without having to pray to anyone. I learned about other religions without actually being asked to seek out nirvana or line up my yin with my yang. I think this is a foolish way to teach students.

Can anyone remember a story about students being punished for not praying to Jesus? I know, some people want schools to include Christian prayers, but have you ever heard of a student being punished for not doing it?

7 Reasons We Like the United States

1 - There is no country with more freedom. While some people will claim that we live under the dictatorship of Bush or under the Socialist regime of the Democrats, there is still no place where people can exercise more freedoms. Michael Moore can trash the government through his movies, anyone can start a business, all religions are accepted and the government keeps out of it, mostly. Countries like Canada share our freedom, but I can't think of a country that undeniably has more freedom than we.

2 - Opportunity. What do you want to do? Be a photographer? Be an athlete, a millionaire, a parent? The sky is the limit. Your heritage, religion, or gender won't stop you in this country.

3 - Money. It doesn't matter if the economy is up or down, we still have more money than almost everyone other person in the world. Individuals may spend more cash on fast food in a week than some entire towns in other countries will ever see.

4 - Safety. Our country is stable. We don't endure constant rocket attacks or fringe groups overthrowing the government. We aren't subjected to genocide and asked to leave our homes by evil despots. Such is the way of life all over the world, but not here. Life is rather simple, in comparison.

5 - Diversity and variety. In the United States we can visit deserts, beaches, forests, and almost any other landscape while visiting people of a diverse nationalities. It's a very eclectic country.

6 - Good government. Sure, hate politicians all you want, but it would be much worse were it not for our system of checks and balances that keeps our leaders in check. I can't think of a better way to set up a government than to divide the power between a few branches.

7 - Our future. With our resources and education, we can create a great future for our country and its upcoming generations. The United States can continue to be an important leader for the World as long as we have the heart to do so.

5 Types of Bloggers to Avoid (Being)

1 - “Paperback Writer” – the novelist

This guy is certain that the best way to get a book publisher to notice him is to write a book and throw it up on his blog one chapter at a time. This ranks right up there with fan fiction in terms of how likely it will be to make you famous. It’s not wise to expect a publisher to want to publish a book that can be accessed online for free; also, why publish a book on your blog hoping it will get noticed when publishers like Tor Books will actually read your manuscript if you just mail it to them.

2 - “I’m So Tired” – the whiner

The whiner fills his blog with dull stories about his day told with great angst; also, he refers to an ominous group called ‘they’ who are his universal nemesis. You’ll see a lot of lines like, “I had to wait for a bus this morning and was late for work! Why don’t they just build a subway” and “it took forever to get my drink at Starbucks, why don’t they hire more people?” In his world, he is the suffering hero and every problem would be solved if they would just listen to him. Why doesn’t anyone read his blog? They are keeping it from the mainstream.

3 - “A Day in the Life” – the public diary

I used to know folks who would leave their diarys/journals laying around ‘on accident’ in hopes that their friends would read it behind their back. Then, they would act like they left it there on accident as if they weren’t narcissistic morons who think everyone is just dying to read about the details of their life.

Their blog on any given day might go something like, “I woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head, found my way downstairs…” and it goes on and on like that, ending with some small ironic observation and a line like, “I guess that’s what I get for being in a good mood...” or “Hey, that’s the way the cookie crumbles!” or some other slogan only really fit for publishing on the cute puppy posters found in math classrooms.

4 - “The Long and Winding Road” – the essayist

This guy won’t shut up. He probably really cares about global warming or something so he writes these long essays that, as far as the writer is concerned, is the ‘end-all’ argument of the issue. As long as the rest of us read the blog they wrote in their spare time we will all see it their way and the debate will be over. Never mind that people spend their lives doing actual research for this stuff, a blog entry can pretty much settle any controversy. The essayist is never happy until he has filled at least five or six pages with his arguments because he is certain you will read the entire thing. (Wake up call, essayist, no one is reading the second paragraph.)

5 - “You Never Give Me Your Money” – the advertiser

CLICK ON MY ADVERTISING is probably the first thing you’ll see after closing down his pop-ups. If you decide to keep his website open any longer I’m not gonna feel sorry for you, but if you’re like me you will leave his blog for good. The guy who does this thinks he can quit his job and live off of his blog by begging people to click things. Let us know how that works out for you.

“It’s Getting Better” – the good blogs

Yes, there are good blogs out there. Here are a few I visit.

Instapundit - Law Professor Glenn Reynolds links to interesting posts on technology, law, and social/political events. Doesn't sound interesting, on the surface, but it's probably the most read blog on the internet and for good reason: it's entries are interesting and short.

SETI blog - Ever wonder what is going on at the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence? Fortunately, they keep a blog.

Dr. Helen - A forensic psychologist with good insight on how the media protrays different groups in our culture. She's very educated and her work is well documented, something you won't find in many blogs.

Michael Totten - Hear names like Iraq, Kurdistan, and Kosovo in the news, a lot? This guy lives in the Middle East and travels to countries where news is happening with his camera and his laptop telling us what he sees. He has an excellent grasp on the history of these countries and his blog is the most useful website for understanding current events as it relates to foreign affairs, particularly in the Middle East.

The Homeless Guy - What's it like to be homeless? This guy knows.

Remember, good blogging can be great, bad blogging makes us all look bad.