A Twist of Marley...

If you haven't heard Twist of Marley, you must listen today! I'm a big Bob Marley fan anyway, but let's be honest...you can only listen to so much reggae. Smooth jazz on the other hand...I could listen to that for days! Twist of Marley combines both in one of the best albums I've ever experienced, regardless of genre.

From Verve Music's site:

The beauty of a Twist of Marley comes from Marley's infectious writings delivered by the incredible interpretation skills of guest artists Michael Brecker, Will Downing, Patti Austin, Maxi Priest, Marc Antoine, Gerald Albright, Rick Braun, and others. Smooth grooves, melodic instrumentals, and heartfelt vocals combine with the sounds of contemporary jazz, R&B, world, and pop to make Twist of Marley a record that is captivating from beginning to end.

Peace. Out.

The Nativity Story...

I'm very excited to see this film, but was surprised that it bears the same director as Thirteen. USA Today has a great article about the movie, the director, and the fact that Mary-actress Keisha Castle Hughes recently announced her own pregnancy (she's 16).

Peace. Out.

Happy Birthday Vaughn...uh, Vartan!

Yes, this was a totally lame excuse to post my favorite pic of Michael Vartan (so pretty...), but hey, can you blame me? I don't get to see the guy much anymore now that Alias is off the air!


Peace. Out.

You were always on my mind...

Maybe I didn't treat you quite as good as I should have
Maybe I didn't love you quite as often as I could have
Little things I should have said and done
I just never took the time
You were always on my mind

I've often wondered about the woman on the receiving end of this famous Willie Nelson song. How must she have felt hearing this message? "I know I've been pretty absent and a terrible partner, but hey, I was thinking about you the whole time!" Would that have been good enough for her? I don't think it would be enough for me.

As I was drifting off to sleep the other night, I was talking to God as I often do. I realized with a start that I was quoting almost these exact lines to God. "God, I know I'm busy and stressed right now, but you're there in the back of my mind, I promise."

If that's not good enough for me, how can I expect it to be good enough for God? Sure, life gets busy and our relationship with Him may ebb and flow, but our actions should reflect His position in our minds and hearts. It's a challenge, but one I'm trying to work on day by day.

Peace. Out.

Order of the Phoenix...

The new Harry Potter trailer is up on the Happy Feet website. I'm a little dubious after being so disappointed in the Goblet of Fire film. But it's not nearly dubious enough to keep me from seeing Order on opening weekend!

Peace. Out.

Interesting debate...

There was an op-ed piece on USAToday.com today about the Christian Church's stance on homosexuality. The writer is a Baptist minister and has what some will consider to be a controversial view. The article itself is not that long, but what's really interesting are the comments afterward.

To be honest, the issue of homosexuality is one where I'm not really sure of my position. However, I'm very sure that the Church's outspokenness on the topic is turning millions of people (both those who are gay and those who aren't) away from the Gospel. This bothers me.

This might be too hot a topic to go into here on the blog, but if you know me in real life, find me and let's talk some time. If you don't, feel free to leave your honest opinion here and we'll dialogue.

Peace. Out.

Weighty decisions...

I feel like most of the people I know are in the process of making some kind of huge decision. Where should I move? When should I move? Should I find a new job? What if I can't find a job period? Should I be doing something different altogether? These are all questions that can weigh so heavily on a mind.

One of my most recent big decisions was whether or not to keep watching Studio 60 on NBC. (Ha! Gotcha...and you were all ready for some serious we'll-all-get-through-this-together message!) This was the show that was really on the fence for me this season. I stuck with it, wanting it to be a hit and a new favorite. All of the ingredients were there. Great writing, fantastic editing, looooooong Steadi-cam shots. And yet...there was just no spark. Maybe it's too pretentious. I honestly don't know. But this week I made my decision. I put the nails in the coffin when I deleted my Season Pass and removed it from my list of TV Shows on Myspace.

What's really exciting, though, is that I did, after all, discover a new favorite this year. Paul and I have been watching earlier seasons of Battlestar Gallactica trying to get caught up for this one (the third). We've finished Season 1 and are about 1/3 of the way through Season 2. It is unbelievable. A show has not captured my attention like this since Alias (and more recently, Heroes), but I think BG surpasses even that. It's got the great writing, great acting, and great special effects that one would require in a sci-fi series. But it also goes deeper than that.

Now, I've never been a huge sci-fi fan, so this may be pretty standard stuff, but what I really love about BG is the questions it forces you to ask yourself about humanity and the existence of a soul, about faith and organized religion. Don't get me wrong, I love to veg out in front of the TV as much as the next person, but I also am loving watching a show that requires and encourages such deep thought.

If you're a fan too, let me know...we need to talk! However, please don't share any spoilers here. I'm trying so hard to stay away from them and be surprised!

Peace. Out.

Chaotic...

So, if you read celebrity news at all, you probably already know that Britney and Kevin have decided to part ways. I had considered not mentioning at all (I'm trying to limit the celebraholism on the blog these days), but at the request of several readers, I'm weighing in. Here's what I think...

In general, I am very much against divorce, particularly among Christians. This might be a controversial view, but I really believe that any two Christians should be able to make any marriage work. Yes, that's a theoretical statement. Outside of centering your relationship around God and His principles, however, I'm not sure I really even understand how any long-term relationships work. The feeling I get is that we are very selfish, self-centered, not-willing-to-compromise kind of people. (Is our culture actually training us to be that way? Hmm...thoughts for another day.) Yet long-term relationships (married or not) require us to be sacrificing, compromising, putting-another-before-ourselves kind of people. Do you see the problem, here?

As for celebrities, I honestly feel like their relationships are put under more pressure than the average person's. And sometimes it's just not going to work. Especially if they're not responsible to a higher power to stay committed and try to work things out.

So, having said all of that, I'm sorry to see yet another marriage fail, but I hope this works out for the best for everyone involved. We've all seen poor Britney Spears in the last three years since she's been with K-Fed. Bless her heart, but "chaotic" is a nice word to describe her transformation while she was with him. Hopefully, she'll now be able to move further in her career and with her family. And the same for Kevin.

Popozao. Out.

Heroes stuff...

Okay, I promise this isn't turning into a Heroes-centric blog, I just keep finding cool stuff. Today I discovered Greg Beeman's blog. Beeman is the director/producer for the show and includes really cool stuff in his posts. Check it out.

I also found this interview with Adrian Pasdar who plays Nathan Petrelli. The interview gives some pretty cool info about tonight's ep and some stuff to look out for in the rest of the season.

Man, I love this show.

Peace. Out.

Distractions...

Here are the things that are currently keeping me from catching up on the huge pile of Incident Reports on my desk...

* After reading this Zap2It article with Mindy Kaling, I'm so excited to watch NBC's The Office tonight! I already love each and every episode of this show, but Kaling's excitement is contagious. I also just went back and watched "Diversity Day" from the first season - it might be the funniest 22 minutes ever written for television.

* There are 397 people in the United States who share my name...I wonder if we could start an annual convention or something? There's only one of my sister though...how cool is that?? Find out how many there are of you here. This is pretty cool, but there are some disclaimers that it's based on the statistical analysis of how common names are, so it's possible you'll enter an unusual name and find zero results. It's still fun, though!

* TV Insider columns like Ask Ausiello and Ask Matt on TV Guide's website. I'm still trying to live a spoiler-free life (it's hard, y'all!), but these guys give me just enough to hold me over without really giving anything away.

Have a great rest of the week everyone!

Peace. Out.

Save the cheerleader. Save the world.

I really can't say enough about the show Heroes. If you aren't watching yet, please start now! It's unbelievably good. You can catch up on past episode recaps at Television Without Pity.

I'm still thinking through this, but you can expect a post pretty soon about a few of the central themes of the show - identity and purpose. I just recently saw a print ad for the show featuring the tagline "Some people are meant for something more." Can't we all identify with that? Don't you want to be one of those "some"? Like I said, I'm still thinking through it, but it's very exciting to see foundational human struggles played out in such a unique and interesting way.

Start watching!!

Peace. Out.