The Protomen
Wait, a rock opera about Mega Man?
Trailer or something (stupid all-flash websites).
I really enjoyed this song.
Wait, a rock opera about Mega Man?
Trailer or something (stupid all-flash websites).
I really enjoyed this song.
We sang this at church on Sunday, good song:
How Deep the Father's Love For Us
How deep the Father's love for us
How vast beyond all measure
That He would give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure
How great the pain of searing loss
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One
Bring many sons to gloryBehold the Man upon the cross
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finishedI will not boast in anything
No gifts, no pow'rs, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom
Check this out (number 3 from The 7 Weirdest Super Mario Bros. Theme Song Performances):
(wow, my first embedded movie!)
What a crazy instrument. The wikipedia page here is equally strange.
We went to the Ingrid Michaelson concert last night (with Greg Laswell opening) down at the Variety Playhouse -- awesome show. I've never been to the Variety Playhouse before, it was a neat place, set up like a movie theater (do they show movies?) with a balcony and extra lawn-chair-style seating on terraces along the sides. They had a bar, so there were lots of glass bottles bouncing and clattering around as they rolled down the floor :P.
I had never heard of Greg Laswell, but he did a great job. One thing I was surprised about (although I shouldn't have been) was that both performers had a very small band, usually just a total of three people on stage. Greg's stuff was especially interesting because the musicians kept switching around, jumping between instruments -- electric guitar, acoustic guitar, trumpet, piano, maybe a synthesizer. Ingrid played the ukulele for a few of her songs, which was neat. I haven't heard a ukulele in very much music, and I've never heard one that sounded like this. I don't know if it was different strings or something, but it had a very nice sound.
Ingrid was excellent in concert -- very energetic, with a good sense of humor. It's always interesting to hear the stories behind some of the songs, and to hear some songs that you wouldn't find anywhere other than live. One thing that was a little awkward was the audience -- at least 95% female, and maybe 50-60% under the age of 18. But I've come to terms with my taste in music :).
All in all, a great night. Oh, and the best part was that it was free! I'm on the Ingrid mailing list, and volunteered to help out with the Street Team -- putting up some posters and leaving fliers around town. It's a pretty cool feeling to walk up to the security guy and say "I'm on the list", and see your name written down on his clipboard. I'll definitely have to try to do that for some other concerts.
I've never really been the type of person who does New Year's Resolutions or anything (as evinced by the fact that it is the end of February), but I think that if I don't write this down somewhere, I'll totally ignore everything. So -- things I want to get done this year:
We're hoping to have kids sometime in the near future, and my upper body strength just isn't up to lugging a baby around all day, let alone a toddler. I want to be able to hold them and pick them up and throw them into the air... maybe even catch them! Got to get the guns in shape.
Problem: I'm really, really lazy. Although I've started trying to do X number of pullups and situps before bed each night.
This goes hand in hand with the previous one. 30 pounds is about how much I've gained since I graduated from college, and it seems to me that a lot of my recent health problems have started around the same time. It sounds like a lot, but losing this weight would bring me down to 175-185, which I think is a healthier range.
Problem: I don't want to change my diet or eating habits :) Just exercise more. We'll see how that works...
For the first, I'd like to look into taking guitar lessons. Learn some actual technique and skills. Also, I'd like to get back in the habit of learning new songs outside of worship practice. I used to hear a song on the radio or a CD and then go learn to play it, but it's been a long time since I've done that.
Problem: I don't really practice ever. I'll have to start trying to make time.
As for robotics, I've been reading up on it for a couple of years now and I'd like to take the next step. I've been searching for supplies, and my goal for the year is to complete, or make a lot of progress on, a remote controlled robot with video. The next step from there would be making it autonomous, but first things first.
Problem: This requires lots of time and money, neither of which are in large supply.
This is a start with the things that were on my mind last night, I'll update this post as I come up with more ideas. If you see me, ask me how something is going!
I've done a lot of work on my music page. It's got some information about me, and a few songs that I've recorded in my free time. Check it out... whenever I update it I'll be sure to post a notice on here.
Speaking of the music page, boy is web design a pain in the goat. You'd think with such powerful tools as PHP, XML, XSLT, CSS, and all the other junk that exists these things would be easier. In all fairness, I probably couldn't have even thought about doing the things that I did without them, but it seems harder than it should be :).
