The Top Ten Awesome Things of 2009

Here be the Sommerville's first annual Christmas letter. Enjoy.
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Many of you have heard of this new-fangled thing out there called "the internet." On this internet, there are these wonderful storehouses of (mostly useless) information. Since I, Caleb, am a journalist, I peruse quite a few blogs here and there and have noticed the trend of Top Ten Lists. Henceforth, this Christmas letter from the Sommervilles shall be in said format.

The Top Ten Awesome Things of 2009
(in no particular order)

1. Amanda and Caleb got Married!
We tied the knot on July 4, 2009! (We know, we know. We did NOT have red, white, and blue as our colors, but we did have sparklers.) It was a great day, and it was fun to spend with our family and friends from all over the country. We had the ceremony in Lawrence, with an outdoor picnic-style reception, and it was wonderful. We’d like to give a special thanks to everyone that helped make our Wedding of Awesomeness awesome indeed.

2. Amanda and Caleb graduated
Finally. Caleb graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in journalism, and is still looking for a job in which to apply it. He picked the wrong year to graduate. Amanda now has a degree in biochemistry, but isn’t done with school yet (see item four). We both miss KU, but still have friends and family attending there, so we visit often.

3. Caleb was an Intern
Caleb interned at the Kansas City Nursing News for two months this winter. It wasn’t paid, but it was great experience. He wrote stories, typed up short briefs from press releases, and took photos for the niche publication. If you want to check out some of his work, head to kcnursingnews.com and type his name into the search box.

4. Amanda started Medical School
She’s not done with school yet! She started attending the University Of Kansas School Of Medicine in July and got through her first semester wonderfully. She’s got one and a half year of classes, two years of clinicals, and then residency for an undefined amount of time. It all depends on what she wants to do. For now, Amanda is considering family practice, but she has a few years to choose.

5. Amanda's brother got married
The Taylors had a busy year! Amanda’s brother Nick married Taryn on June 6, 2009 in a toasty outdoor service. Western wear was the theme, and their son, Tristan, who was born on July 7, 2008, even rocked some overalls. It was a fun day.

6. Caleb's sister got engaged
Both our parents got rid of their kids in quick succession! Megan got engaged to Zach, a family friend from Minnesota. They’ve known each other for a few years and have been dating for a little longer than a year. The wedding is set for June 5, 2010 in Hutchinson, Minn.

7. Caleb and Amanda found a church
Caleb lived in Kansas City by himself from May until the wedding, and went to quite a few churches. After the wedding, he and Amanda found Redeemer Fellowship in Kansas City. It’s a church plant that’s around a year and half old, and meets in a cool old Baptist church building in downtown Kansas City. The church has been a great place to plug in, and the teachings are one-hundred percent Gospel-centered. Caleb and Amanda are looking forward to getting more involved there.

8. Caleb and Amanda have friends in the city
Some of Caleb and Amanda’s friends from KU are now in Kansas City, and Amanda’s made more friends through the Med School. It’s a different atmosphere than college, but the friends we’ve made in Kansas City are good ones, and we have fun hanging out with them.

9. Caleb and Amanda found a great apartment
After searching for only one day, we found an apartment about 15 minutes away from the Med Center. It’s one bedroom, a giant kitchen, and a laundry room, and suits Caleb and Amanda just fine. We haven’t made many friends in the complex yet, but Amanda does know a few med students who live in the same area. We’re also a few minutes away from downtown Kansas City, which means good shopping and great barbecue!

10. Caleb and Amanda are having a great Christmas season!
We had our own Christmas a few days early, spent a few days in Phillipsburg, Kan. with Amanda’s family, and finished out the rounds with another Christmas in Minnesota with Caleb’s family.

But most importantly, we’re trying every day to remember the important things this Christmas season. It’s called CHRISTmas for a reason. This time of year, and year-round, we should actively remember that Jesus Christ came to this earth as a human being and as God, to die for us. We should always try to wrap our minds around that fact. As our new pastors say, “He died the death we should have died, and lived the life we should have lived.”
Remember what Christ has done for us, and remember how little we deserve it.
Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas

I would like to wish everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS. Not a Season's Greetings, not a Happy Holidays. A Merry CHRISTmas. Remember what Christ did for us, and remember how much we don't deserve it.

Holiday Mood-Setters Number 6

It's what Christmas is REALLY about.

Holiday Mood-Setters Number 5

This is a repost from my mom's blog, but it's well worth reposting.

Holiday Mood-Setters Number 4

It's a great Christmas song. One of my wife's favorites. And then there's this. (By the way, the guy in the video is just lip-syncing, the recording is from who-knows-where.)

Holiday Mood-Setters Number 3

This, ladies and gents, is horrific. But it'll get you in the mood for Christmas. Or Life-Day. Or THIRTY FULL MINUTES OF NO HUMAN SPEECH.

Holiday Mood-Setters Number 2

In a one-horse open sleigh, indeed, mighty bird.

Holiday Mood-Setters Number 1

Here it is, ladies and gents. Chewbacca singing.

http://christmaschebacca.ytmnd.com/

Merry Christmas.

(New link up every day until Christmas!)

Operation: Chokehold

I have an iPhone. Which unfortunately means that I'm stuck with AT&T until the end of my contract, at which point I'll be seriously considering a number of Android phones, most likely. AT&T has a horrible tendency to just ignore the fact that smartphones, especially in the vein of the iPhone, the Palm Pre, and the Droid (i.e., smartphones that use a LOT of data), are the new wave of the future.

AT&T even demonizes iPhone users, because they "hog all the bandwidth" and don't let poor other users use the network. They have hinted multiple times at capping data usage, charging iPhone users even more than the required $30 a month data plan, and "giving incentives" for heavy data users to cut back on their usage

AT&T is being ridiculous, ignorant, lazy, and arrogant.

The iPhone debuted on July 27, 2007. Apple had announced the magical game-changer the beginning of that year, and had even worked with Cingular Wireless (now AT&T) for many months developing the phone. When released, it defined smartphones. It was the smartphone.

What you should take away from that brief history is the fact that AT&T knew it was coming.

They knew what huge requirements would be placed on their network, first the EDGE and now the 3G.

They knew that iPhone users would always be online, surfing the tiny web, downloading songs and apps, getting push updates for their mail and calenders, everything. They knew iPhone users were going to push their network.

And they promptly sat on their hands.

Two and half years later, the third-gen iPhone is out, the app store has tens of thousands of apps, and AT&T is still surprised at how much data iPhone users...um...use. They threaten, demean, and overall refuse to do anything about improving their network.

And with the advent of Android, Google's mobile OS, smartphones will EXPLODE the market. AT&T will be caught off guard (yet again) if they don't buckle down and improve their network.

So, Fake Steve Jobs has instituted a digital flash mob. His suggestion?

Operation: Chokehold.

Have as many iPhone users as possible use data-intensive apps on Friday, December 18, at 3 p.m. Eastern, 2 p.m. Central.

I'm so there. So iPhone users, turn off Wi-Fi, download some songs, and watch a buttload of YouTube videos.

I have a few recommendations to get you started. Suck it, AT&T.

iPod Nana

I should go work in Apple's design department.

Why Rivalry Can End Badly

Let me disclaimer this by saying I am not a sports fan in any way. I've also lived in both Lawrence and Columbia, the homes of both schools.

Every sports franchise has a rival. I'm sure that the Cleveland Curling Cactuses really really hate the Pittsburgh Curling Camels as much as KU and MU hate each other.

But at what point does it become silly and offensive? Quite quickly.

KU and MU just had their traditional "Border Showdown" on November 28 (which KU lost), and with it came a disturbing amount of facebook messages from my former classmates and alumni, declaring their "hatred" for "those stupid Mizzou fans." People threw things, talked trash, swore at, and ridiculed the other side, simply for being a part of the other school. Accusations of low intelligence, inbreeding, snootiness, and every other kind of inequities were traded with astonishingly low regard for decency.

All because of a football game.

Seriously. You need to knock it off.

I get it. I'm not a sports fan, but I know about rivals. A team that, for whatever reason, represents a weird sort of enemy. Most of the time it's a fun change of pace for the season, adding a time where you can have a little more school spirit and root a little harder for your team.

But really? Calling people from Missouri stupid and inbred hicks? Calling Kansans snooty farmers or whatever? At what point, dear sports fans, does it become okay to just categorically slander an entire state because you want your team to win? It makes absolutely no sense.

Sure, you can shake your head all you want (I have a few heads in mind that I know will be doing this), but it's childish and silly, really.

I've confronted a good friend about this before, and he assured me many times it was just for fun. Right after he said this, however, he went on to say, each time I brought this up, that Missouri was just a stupid state, and it didn't matter anyway. A few times I lost my cool and told him to knock it off, but he went back to ridiculing Missouri in the same breath. This attitude, which I've noticed more and more, makes me think that people are actually convincing themselves that people from the other state are dumber than them.

It's a weird sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. By convincing yourself the other side is way worse than you, you become a nasty, hasty-acting fan, which the other side (having convinced itself you are stupid), notices and points to as proof of their beliefs. They become nasty, giving you the proof you need.

And round and round it goes.

What, oh sports fans, does this gain you? Do you feel better about yourself in the same way a schoolyard bully who happens to have three more hairs on his arm than the smaller boy he's beating up?

Rivalry is not always bad. Heck, the athletic departments of both school love it. Their revenue goes through the roof, both in ticket sales and merchandise (it took me three seconds to find that picture above).

But when rivalry ends with you believing that the other side is inherently stupid, it's not okay.

It's childish, it's not "all in good fun," and leads to deeper problems. Knock it off.

Yet Another Little Awesome Thing

I realized that I haven't posted very much this month, so I'm trying to step it up.
Since I do a lot with email (with my half-job and hobbies), I occasionally get spam.
It also helps that I have five or more email addresses.

Every once in awhile, for fun, I send replies to some spam messages, usually with things like "Stop Spamming me," but I like to slip in a few "fake bites," or messages that say I'm interested in whatever the Prince of Nigeria is currently selling.

Which leads me to the L.A.T.

I love it when people actually respond to my fake responses.

This has only happened to me twice, with one exchange being way more awesome than the other. The lame one was with a guy who obviously had a lot of spam exchanges going on, so we never really got into a rhythm.

The other one, however, was exactly like something you'd see from 419eater.com. A lady emailed my old Kansan email address (something I haven't used since 2007), and I sent her a response, and the exchange below started. The stuff in blue are my emails.

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Dear One In Love

I am Mrs Kate Parker a nationality of Sierra Leone .I am married to Mr.Buron Parkerwho worked with Sierra Leone Embassy in Ivory Coast for nine years before he died in the year 2005. We were married for eleven years without a child.He died after a brief illness that lasted for only four days.Before his death we were both born again Christian.Since his death I decided not to remarry as we were married for eleven years without a child, When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of $27.5 Million with a Bank in Ivory Coast.Presently this money is still in the custody of the Bank in Ivory Coast.Recently, my Doctor told me that I would not last for the next Eight months due to cancer and hypertensive problem. Having known my condition I decided to donate this fund to a church organization or good person that will utilize this money the way that will give glory to God.
I want a church,organization or good person that will use this money for orphanages widows and other peoples that needs help and also propagating the word of God and to endeavor that the house of God is maintained.

The Bible made us to understand that"Blessed is the hand that giveth".l took this decision after my seven days of praying and fasting because I don't have any child that will inherit this money and my husband relatives are not Christians not even good at all because they are the one that is responsible for the death of my husband in other to have all my late husband prperties and I don't want my husband's efforts to be used by those that conspired for his death. This is why I am taking this decision, I am not afraid of death hence I know where I am going I know that Iam going to be in the bosom of the Lord Exodus 14 VS 14 says that "the lord will fight my case and I shall hold my peace".l know With God all things are possible.As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you the contact of the Bank in Ivory Coast. I will also issue a letter of authorization to the bank that will prove you the present beneficiary of this money. I also want you, church or the organization to always pray for me because the lord is my only shephard.My happiness is that I lived a life of a worthy Christian. Whoever that Wants to serve the Lord must serve him in Truth and in spirit.Please always be prayerful all through your life.Contact me on this email address and i want you to promise me that you will use the money as I Stated here in. Hoping to receive your respense immedaitely.

Thanks and Remain blessed
in the Lord Jesus.
l remain yours sister in Christ.
Mrs Kate Buron

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I would be very interested. I love to help out fellow humans, so please send me your contact info soon.
-Jerry

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Dear Sommerville Caleb,

Frist i thank you for your interesting which you have in assisting and helping me for this transaction, so how are you doing my dear together with your family with hope you all are fine over there in your home, if so thanks be to God.

Well my dear Caleb, i am going to send to you every information's which you needed also the documents which the bank issued to my late husband the day he deposited the fund in they custody, but before i will be sending to you all those information's i will like you to tell me more about yourself, please do not misunderstand me why because we need to know each other very well before we proceed on how the fund will be transfer into your account i hope you understand, but if they is anything you do not understand please you do let me know so that i will explain them fine to you ok, as i will be waiting for your response.

Thanks and Remain blessed
in the Lord Jesus.
l remain yours sister
in Christ.
Mrs Kate Buron

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Actually, my name is Ronald. The server screwed up my name.
Before going any further, I will need some photographic proof of yourself. Please let me know if this is possible.
-Ronald

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Dear Ronald,

Thanks for your mail which is well noted date 28/05/2009 and time 17:42:55, well i have heared what you said concerning proof yes i am sending you my picture now, so have a look of my picture then you get back to me with your house or office address also your telphone number, so that i will go and submit them in the bank and declare you as my late husband foreign business partner, i hope you understand, as i will be urgently waiting for your response.

Thanks once again

With regards

Mrs.Kate Parker.

[Picture Redacted]

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Once again, my name is Ronald.
I looked up your husband's information through the contacts I have in the Sierra Leone embassy, and they had never heard of the man. Perhaps he went by a different name?
-Ronald.

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Dear Ronald,

Thanks for your mail which is well noted date 30/05/2009 time 21:08:51, well it is good as you look up to the information you have, but i have told you about myself and my husband as i know that is working there, but that is not what i am telking what am saying is how you can assist me geting this fund transfered out of Africa, meanwhile you did not even tell me that you have receive my picture which i send to you, well let's proceed on how to made the transfer of the fund into your account frist ok, and what you have to do is that you should forward me your full information's so that i will go and submit them to the bank and then declare you as my foreign business partner, after that i will send to you the document's regarding the fund which the bank issued to my late husband the day he deposited the fund in they custody, i will also forward the information of the bank so that you contact the bank for the transfer of the fund into your account i hope you understand, as i will be waiting as soonest.

Thanks once again for your understanding while we proceed.

With regard's

Mrs. Kate Parker.

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You don't seem to understand. Your husband doesn't exist. I work for the FBI and he doesn't even have a record here.
You however, do. When would be a good time for you to fly to Washington D.C. and talk about this?
-Ronald

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Dear Sommerville,

Thanks for your mail which is well noted, well i am very happy that you are working with FBI it means that if the fund transfered into your account then it will be safe, again for to fly to Washington D.C. to talk about this issue i will like to come over there, so that i will have a good treatment for my health in the state and it's better for me, but depend on you when ever you want me to fly over there and i will be very gald if you help me to fly to Washington D.C, so give me more detils for my coming, as i will be waiting.

Thanks once again

With regard's

Mrs. Kate Parker.

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You would be flying yourself over, of course. And I mean, by saying I work for the FBI, that you are in a lot of trouble.

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Dear Sommerville,

Thanks for your mail, meanwhile i want you to know that i am not afraid of the FBI , because once i know that what am saying is the truth i will never fear any body do understand, and i have seen that you are not interesting so no need of you teling me about FBI ok.

Thanks

With regard's

Mrs. Kate Parker

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You don't seem to understand. Making up information about someone working for an embassy is a huge crime, and you are going to be arrested soon. Please enclose your GPS (longitude and latitude) coordinates in your next email so that we may find you easier.
And my name is still Ronald.
-Ronald.

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Ah, what fun. Note that her name (and mine) changes several time throughout the exchange, and that she only stops after I make ridiculous threats and claims.

This took about two weeks before it petered out, but boy was it fun. I would come back from class and check my email, hoping and praying for more ridiculousness from Kate Parker/Bueno/Whatever the heck her name was.

Don't believe everything you read on the internet.

Another Little Awesome Thing

We've all done it. Driving down the highway and suddenly, you get stuck behind a slow/swerving/pissed-off driver. Try as you might, you just can't get away from them. You try to pass, but there's too many cars. You try to slow down, they just slow down right with you. You actually pass them, and they pass you in two minutes, apparently not aware that cruise control is now standard on most cars (even though my wife and I looked at a three- or four-year old Hyundai that didn't have it).

Then comes the L.A.T.

They turn off the road, relieving you of their obnoxious presence.

Whether you know it consciously or not, you do a little happy dance in your head. You are free to go about driving in your normal way, even though that may be annoying to someone else and you may start the process all over again for someone else.

It's the Circle of (driving) Life.

Why Twitter is Popular

And of course, I use that term "popular" loosely, as it is only popular in certain circles. Namely, college/high schoolers, journalists all hopped-up on Red Bull and Web 2.o, and celebrities. And not everyone is so hip on it.

And after observing the two major competing entities, Facebook and Twitter, for the past few months, I've arrived at an interesting conclusion.

People like Twitter because they don't like commitments.

Now, this isn't a whiny Sex-And-The-City argument about why men (or women) can't get emotionally close to someone. Not at all.

Although perhaps it is indicative.

You see, the reason people are hyping Twitter over Facebook is that it's a lot less personal. You post a tweet, you read other people's tweets, you retweet here and there. Direct tweets do happen, but only every once in a while, and they are nowhere near the main purpose for the service.

Facebook, on the other hand, truly lives up to its branding as a Social Medium. You talk to people via walls and messages, you start conversations, you read info on people (a.k.a. facebookstalking), you look at photo albums. It's all about interacting with your friends, with other people.

And that, of course, takes a lot more time and commitment. (It's also a time black hole for those trying to procrastinate.) It takes time and initiative to reply to that wall post (sorry, mom), and it takes time to look through someone's pictures. True, 60 percent of the time that's utterly boring and useless, but occasionally you do want to see pictures of your friend's vacation or wedding, and occasionally you do talk to people about important things via the chat or wall posts.

And maybe that's exactly why Twitter is increasing in popularity. People don't have to do as much interaction as they do via Facebook. And for those who are extraordinarily busy, that's fine. Please understand, I'm not railing on people that use Twitter and calling them commitment haters, by any means.

I'm simply observing the different kinds of interactions that take place. I wrote earlier that Twitter was just Facebook Lite (which I still kind of think), but I think a better title would be Facebook Quick N' Dirty.

To quote Seinfeld, "Not that there's anything wrong with that!" It's just different usages for different purposes. It'll be interesting to see where this whole social media experiment leads us.

Little Awesome Things

I was noticing the other day that there are little things in life are sometimes the most awesome.

And since this time of ponderment was right around Halloween, the first such L.A.T. involved candy.

I was eating a small bag of Good N' Plenties (which I happen to like, thank you very much), and after the last one, experienced the usual small mini-sigh you always have when you finish candy. Nevermind the fact that there's a fricking huge bowl of it ten feet away, there's just something sad about that last piece.

But herein lies the Awesomeness.

It is awesome when you find one or two more pieces of candy left in a bag you thought was empty.

Even though you may be scoffing right now, just monitor yourself next time you eat a piece-based candy. You'll be pseudo-depressed that there's no more candy, but if you find that little bit of extra sugary goodness, you'll do a tiny happy dance in your head.

Just be self-aware next time. You'll see what I'm talking about.

Shuffleboard 6

1. "Hanani" by The O.C. Supertones from Chase The Sun

Chase The Sun was one of my least favorite Supertones albums. After Supertones Strike Back, nothing could really compare. Hi-Fi Revival was my next favorite, and then they disbanded. Sad.

Anyways, it's still entertaining ska/rock.

This track's got a good beat, good use of horns, and nominal spiritual lyrics. Sounds exactly like most Supertones songs, nothing really that interesting. Still head-boppin' ska.

2. "Stockholm Syndrome" by Muse from Absolution

Oh man. Where do I even begin with this song? Every Muse album has shown us a new side of them, and Absolution was my first real sit-down-seriously-listen experience with them.

Stockholm Syndrome is definitely in their top Ten songs of all-time. Blistering intro guitar and drums (with scarily accurate and steady bass work from Wolstenholme). The steady eighth-note riffs continue over conspiracy-theory laden lyrics from Bellamy. Then comes the chorus. The synths come in with a brooding pound, which then gives way to a eerie arpeggiated guitar riff and nice piano backgrounds, with the drums cutting down to heavy quarter notes.

And all the while, the bass keeps playing steady quarters.

Then, back into a crazy-fast build up, and into verse two (if you couldn't tell, this is one of my favorites).

Bellamy seems especially angry on this song, and the heavy steady bass and drums (and guitar, sorta) really emphasizes that fury, making this a great driving-fast song.

The lyrics also stand out as some of Muse's most memorable.

This is the last time I'll abandon you
and this is the last time I'll forget you
I wish I could

The song ends with a head-banging guitar and bass in unison outro. One of their best, hands down.

3. "Please Don't Talk About Murder While I'm Eating" by Ben Harper from Both Sides of the Gun

Weird title, epic artist. Ben Harper impresses me time and time again how many genres he can slide to. Heavy rock, country, blues, jazz, acoustic, reggae, the guy can do it all.

This is a short rock/country/blues track, with some bluesy lyrics. Harper owns on a hot blues solo in the middle. The lyrics talk about a self-obsessed snob who tries to push views on others (I think) that Harper tells to just chill the heck out.

Something you'd expect to hear while eating barbecue outside. Great track.

4. "Anakin's Betrayal" by John Williams from Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith

I think it's statistically impossible for me to play five songs without John Williams being in there.

And I'm okay with that.

This is the haunting music that accompanies The Purge, an event that Star Wars fans knew existed but had not seen until Episode III. The Jedi were wiped out by the Emperor, and that's what brought about the war seen in the last three movies.

This is some of the saddest music Williams has written, save for most of the Schindler's List score. It really highlights the hopelessness of The Purge, and without it, the scene would have been a few explosions.

The end of this track (and scene) always gives me chills. The newly-christened Darth Vader walks into a room in the Jedi Temple full of kids, where they ask him "Master Skywalker! What are we going to do?"

He replies by igniting his lightsaber.

One of the saddest scenes in the movie, made so by excellent music.

5. "Sparks" by Coldplay from Parachutes

I bought Parachutes, my first Coldplay album, when I was home in Minnesota for Christmas break back in 2007. I've been a Coldplay fan ever since.

This is one of the first Coldplay songs I learned on guitar, too.

A nice mellow track, just acoustic guitar, smooth bass, light drums, and a few electric guitar and piano bits thrown in for good measure, as accents more than anything.

The lyrics are quite romantic, if somewhat confusing at times (it is Coldplay). I like this style of Coldplay, but I also like their newer weirder stuff too. Sparks is one of my favorite older songs, though.

The Comfort of Discomfort

I usually don't post personal things on this blog, but this is something that needs to be said in our world today.

My wife and I are taking a Gospel/membership class for our church here in Kansas City, Redeemer Fellowship. It's been sweet to hear the Gospel twice a week from the great staff there, and we really feel at home there.

But on to the juicy stuff. The content of said church.

We're talking through the main tenets of what Redeemer as a church believes. God, Scripture, Creation, Sin, the Gospel. That kind of thing.

And every week, both in the class and during the sermon, a resounding message rings through that this world, both the secular and "Christian" worlds, needs to hear.

We are sinners.

Stop dancing around the issue, stop saying different words for it, stop preaching happy sunshine meadow sermons.

Too often churches today beat around the bush of our sin so much that the bush is now hundreds of feet above them and they're in a pit they've worn in the dirt.

This is how it is. We are born into a sinful nature. Anyone who denies that is not thinking logically. What do you have to do with kids? Teach them to be GOOD. No one has to teach them to be bad.

But here's what really gets me. Their reason for not preaching about this, or glazing over it, is that they don't want to be "negative." They don't want to "depress" their congregation by preaching that we're sinners.

Which is ridiculous, because they're leaving out the second part of the message.

We are sinners (part 1), but Christ has redeemed us through His sacrifice on the Cross. (part 2)

Our Navs staffer at KU once said that our favorite word in the Bible should be "but."

Through Christ's sacrifice, we are made right with God. God is a perfect and Holy being, and therefore cannot allow unrighteousness near Him without a price being paid. Christ paid that price for us, so that we may be made righteous and be with Him forever.

Too often churches harp on one side of this. There's the sunny-happy-flower churches and the you're-all-going-to-die-and-burn-fire-and-brimstone churches.

How about just being a Jesus church? A Gospel church?

This realization grows larger as we grow more mature in our faith, of course. An example I've heard many times is that as we're more aware of our sin and more aware of God's holiness at the same time, we grow more aware of the gap between the two, which is filled by Jesus.

Wake up, churches. Don't cheapen the Gospel by not thinking about sin or dwelling on nothing else.

Shuffleboard 5

1. "Think For Yourself" by The Beatles from Rubber Soul

I'm preemptively ducking. The Beatles are only okay to me.

*ducks*

But seriously. They were indeed responsible for ushering in the rock era we're living in 40 or 50 years later, but their music sounds eerily similar to the 5,000 other songs by them.

I've never heard this one and it's been sitting dormant in my iTunes library for a few months. But, it's not bad. It's a catchy song, the harmonies are impeccable, and the fuzz guitar in the right channel only adds some excitement to the otherwise formulaic three-minute-or-less Beatles song.

Meh.

2. "Hostile Negotiations" by Michael Giacchino from LOST Season 4 Soundtrack

The music of LOST is a huge part of what has made the show so successful. Giacchino, who has worked with J.J. Abrams on many things (Star Trek, Cloverfield, Mission: Impossible 3), treats LOST like another movie, and the score is immensely rich because of it. He's able to carry themes and hooks for characters across multiple seasons, keep the same creepy vibe, and build unbelievable tension.

This track shows off some low brass and strings, creating said tension in the beginning, and then builds to higher strings playing one of the sadder island themes, as onscreen Keamy kills Ben's daughter Alex.

Overall, it's a great background tension builder, and that's what Giacchino excels at.

3. "The First Ambush & Remembering The Wilderness" by John Williams from The Patriot

The obligatory John Williams track of the post. What can I say, he's my homeboy!

I wasn't the biggest fan of The Patriot's score (the movie was outstanding). It felt a little flat. But the "creepy" theme that accompanies Jason Isaac's great character William Tavington (the guy you love to hate), is certainly the most striking theme from the score. It's eerie and sad, with plenty of unnerving statelyness to it that fits the evil character.

The rest of the track is interesting because it illustrates Williams' shift from his bombastic days of Star Wars and Indiana Jones to his current mellower and ensemble-style days of Catch Me If You Can and Minority Report.

Because it includes the great creepy theme, it's still entertaining.

4. "Tonight" by Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim from West Side Story

Ah, West Side Story. We did this for our high school musical production in 2004, my junior year. It was such a huge undertaking, what with the massive set and extremely dark story, that the high school took a break from doing serious musicals for a few years after it.

This is one of the classics from it. Maria and Tony sing of their (rather recently founded as of this song) love, in one of the most well-known Broadway tunes of all time.

The orchestra is second-to-none (I played saxophone it our production), and the excellent musicians really shine. The vocals, obviously, are outstanding, and you can almost hear the unexplainable longing and yearning in their voices.

Really well-done song.

5. "RAY Escapes" by Harry Gregson-Williams from Metal Gear Solid 2

My roommate junior year of college had a PS3. He also had a few random PS2 games, and Metal Gear Solid 2 was one of them. I played through half of it before he sold it, but I was throughly impressed with the cinematic nature of the game. And the music was outstanding! I was quite surprised to learn that it was done by Narnia scorer Gregson-Williams, who also wrote the great "The Number 23" score.

It's dark, it's creepy, with Blade Runner-esque electronic hints. It most definitely fits the gritty technoviolent world of Metal Gear.

This score is surprisingly good.

My Bid For The Nobel Prize

Dear Nobel Peace Prize People,

I think I should win the next Nobel Prize. I will now tell you why.

I want to do lots of good stuff. I want to make everyone like each other and make no one not like each other. In other words, I want to not keep my nose out of anything.

I want to promise to do lots of stuff with the words "bipartisan" and "across the aisle" in it.

I have the vision of a unified America, but no balls whatsoever to do anything about it.

I will promise to be bipartisan, but I will alienate both my own party and the other one.

I will promise "Hope" and "Change," not do anything to bring about either, and then whine when people call me out on it.

I will call everyone who disagrees with me or my policies uneducated, stupid, racist, and anti-American.

I will use the words "Hope" and "Change" some more.

I will promise to think about maybe possibly doing some more stuff involving this magical word "diplomacy."

I will use the word "Change" and pair it with "Hope."

I will use the word "Hope" and pair it with "Change."
I will talk often of my visions and dreams for my country, but not do anything about it (that'll make everyone like me, right?).

I will use my status as making America "post-racist" and drive it firmly back down the path it's been making since slavery was outlawed a long time ago.

I will blame all the problems (including the ones I cause) on Bush.

I will be nice to everyone.

I will get the principal to put ice cream in the lunches.

Sincerely, Barack Obama.

Why Paying for TV is Dead

This isn't an anti-cable or and anti-satellite TV ad.

This is an anti-establishment ad.

The days of paying for your quick entertainment are gone. No more dealing with the cable company. No more flipping through hundreds of channels that you never watch anyways, but you keep flipping just in case something is worth watching.

Here, instead, are the days of watching only what you want to watch, when you want to watch it, and for no more money than what you already pay for the internet.

And before I end up sounding like a Hulu ad alone, I am advocating any and all TV service on the internet.

Not too long ago, the only way you could get more than five grainy channels was if you paid a high price for cable or satellite television. And out of those hundreds of channels you got, you know that you only watched at most ten of them.

Hence the future.

My wife and I decided when we got married, since she's a med student, we'd try and save as much money as possible on entertainment bills. So we rarely see movies in the theaters (the last was the latest Harry Potter midnight showing, because we're nerds), we rent movies from the library, and we don't pay for cable. We instead have my old Dinosaur laptop hooked up to our nice big TV, and watch Hulu, shows on the networks' sites, and another awesome site I won't name because it's most likely illegal (they have TERABYTES of TV on demand).

And we pay one internet bill.

For local news and the illusion of channel flipping, we bought a $15 digital antenna at Target and watch the local stations in HD, as well as our favorites (The Office, Fringe, LOST, House) live.

When I set up the internet, the guy sounded surprised that we didn't want cable TV hookup as well as internet. "Hardly anyone wants that," he said scoffing. "Yeah, I know. We just want to keep it simple," I said.

I didn't tell him what we were planning on doing.

In terms of money, we save around $40 every month, which translates into almost $500 a year.

In terms of time, we don't sit around and flip through hundreds of channels. If there's something we want to watch, we go find it on Hulu or FOX.com or The Other Site I Won't Name Because It's Awesome.

We watch what we want, when we want. No more, no less.

It's fun sticking it to one man by totally going along with another one.

John Murphy Interview

After much delay, here's the full question and answer session I did with composer John Murphy. He's composed excellent scores for smaller movies like 28 Days Later and Sunshine. But he's on the rise.I listen to a lot of soundtracks and while John Williams is my favorite, Mr. Murphy is definitely in the top ten. His music is emotional and raw, which might have to do with the fact that he doesn't read music to score his music. He simply figures it out on piano. The resulting music is close-sounding, like it's pressing in on you. The movies he's written for would definitely have been second-rate without his score.

But enough butt-kissing. Here's the Q and A.

Where are you from?

Liverpool.

Where did you live when you were a kid?

Bootle. Which is North Liverpool. I grew up practically on the Dock Road so I got to see the ships coming in every night from my bedroom window.

What was your first job?

Playing country lead guitar with my dad in the pubs and social clubs in Liverpool. I was 12 and my Dad sung like Tom Jones. They were good times. How many people can say their first band was with their Dad?

What was your earliest music-related recollection?

Because my Dad was in a band, there was always guitars and amps lying around the house, for as long as I can remember. I actually broke his Les Paul Junior, playing with it, when I was 3. He's still never forgiven me for it. But the first tunes I remember being very aware of where the themes in the spaghetti westerns and the early James Bond films. I must have been about five or six, but I never got over hearing that stuff for the first time. Morricone and John Barry. I had good taste in those days.

What was your favorite band/singer as a kid?

The Beatles. I started my own Beatles band when I was 14. We did all the local pubs for 10 quid a gig. I was John. We were s*** but we were kids so people clapped.

Now?

Probably... Radiohead.

Where did you go to university?

I didn't. I'd just left school when I got asked to join the Lotus Eaters and go on tour around Europe. They'd just had a big hit in England and were famous. So that was the end of my academic career.

What did you study?

Musically... nothing. I have no musical education whatsoever. I still can't even sight read. I hear it in my head and then work it out on the piano.

When did you know you wanted to be a composer?

I knew I wanted to write my own songs within 10 minutes of learning three chords on a guitar. But I knew I wanted to to be a film composer on the first day of working on the first film. It was a little British indie called "Leon the Pig Farmer" and it blew my mind that I could actually write music and not have to write lyrics or deal with a**hole singers any more.

What was the first thing you composed?

It was a trippy Penny lane rip off called "Daisy Street". I was 10.

What inspires you the most, musically?

Beauty. And non-cynicism. Like Bach and Puccini just wrote the most beautiful and simple melodies. And Lennon just wrote as he thought it. And Bob Marley just felt it, you know? That's what inspires me. I think when you think over-think music, it's already f***ed.

What was the first film you wrote music for?

Leon the Pig Farmer. I think I was 25.

What film was your "big break?"

Lock Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels. That was about three years later. It was the first film where I got to do my own thing a bit, so it gave me a bit more confidence to be myself more. Up until then, I was still very unsure of myself.

Do people recognize you on the street?

Ha! Never... unless it's the postman.

What is the most recent film you wrote for?

Armored. Out in December. Jean Reno, Matt Dillon, Laurence Fishburne. Cool little indie heist movie.

What do you like about writing for movies?

Even though it can often be very constrictive... you sometimes get the chance to explore and experiment. Not just with what you write, but sometimes with structure... or how things can relate to characters and emotions in ways that maybe aren't the safe or the obvious way. Like on 28 Days... the score is almost like a negative of what you'd expect from films within that genre. Messing with the rules or the genre, and seeing what happens is always interesting.

Who do you look up to in the score-writing business?

If you mean guys who are still alive, for me, it's Ennio Morricone. By a mile. After that, probably John Barry. Of the Hollywood guys, I would say Howard Shore and of course John Williams. Though I like a lot of Clint Mansell's stuff. Of the dead guys, there are too many to mention... but probably Bernard Herrmann would be top of my list.

Why do you think that score-writing is important?

Just watch a film without music.

What's the best piece you've written, according to you?

For films?... I don't know. I can't even listen to most of my film stuff. I like the Adagio in D Minor from Sunshine. And I still have a soft spot for In the House from 28 days Later.

What's the worst?

Too many to mention. I wrote a punk song for a Reebok commercial in Britain called "Belly's gonna get you". It was insane but really funny. That would be high on the s*** list I think. I like it though.

What's the piece that's been the most mangled by the producer?

Most things get mangled to some degree. It's just part of the job of writing music to ever-changing picture. So it's hard to single out any one piece. But if you asked me what was the most mangled score, it would be Miami Vice.

How does your family feel about your line of work?

Proud but they worry about me.

So what are you working on right now?
I've got a film coming out in December... Armored, with Jean Reno and Matt Dillon. But right now, I've just started messing with some of my own stuff - something I've been promising myself for ages. Scoring films is great. But you can go crazy after a bit, just jumping from one film to the next and only ever writing to picture. It can actually get tedious if you don't take a break from it you know? And I don't want it to get tedious. So it's a good time to stop and do something a bit different. I'd forgotten what it felt like to just get up and write something, without stressing if it's gonna work for the scene or the character... or if the studio are gonna love it... or f***ing fire me! So I've given myself this a couple of months to just write for the sake of writing and not have to care if people like it or not. And that's it really... playing with the kids, watching the football... and writing a lot of uncommercial music.

As Mac As I'll Ever Go

I have an iPhone. And that's as Mac as I'll ever go.

And fanboys, don't yell at me saying that I've never tried 'em. As a KU J-School grad, I've been using Macs regularly for many years. And I just prefer Windows machines.

Anyways, as most iPhone users, I have a buttload of applications (hereafter referred to as apps), some of which I use multiple times a day, and some of which I don't remember downloading.

So here's the first post in a series, regarding which apps I have, and why I have them. I'll skip the boring ones.

Page 1

Facebook. I use this app embarrassingly too much, even when I'm right

next to my computer and can use the real facebook. It's just handy, tiny, fast, and slick. The version before iPhone O

S 3.0 came out was way worse, and I used it only as a backup when my laptop was being silly, or when I was

on the road. The new version has pretty much every feature, save for watching embedded videos, and they say they're working on that.

Overall, quite the good app.

AP Wire. The AP wire is one of the best news sources out there. In fact, now that papers are firing a lot of their reporters (ahem, you can hire me!), most of the content you'll see in the papers today is AP wire feed. This app started out rocky, and it's first few iterations were embarrassing and often crashed my phone. The new one, though, is quick and reliable, and where I get most of my news.

The New York Times. It certainly does have a liberal tint sometimes, but that doesn't mean it's one of the greatest papers out there today. And, as far as I'm concerned, it is the only one that has a free app that works as well as the NYT. It's fast, it lets you read content offline (which I used on a flight to Florida), and it features most of the newspaper features. As you can see, I

really only read the headlines, the opinion section, the politics section, and a few tech headlines.

It's slick, and it's reliable.

Google Maps. An outstanding mapplication (see what I did there?) that uses the GPS chip very well. It plots directions pretty fast, doesn't have turn-by-turn, but I already have a TomTom, so who cares? The GPS

is surprisingly accurate, but you have to have a good cell signal to download the image of the map. Only problem.

Another cool feature is traffic status. Those squiggly green lines show how congested traffic is at any given time. As you can see, it's range is pretty limited, but it gives me most of the Kansas City area, and has actually saved my butt once or twice.

Very rich and useful app.

Camera and Camera Roll. Excellent as far as camera phones are concerned. I would love to have video, but alas, I do not have the $400 to pay for a 3GS.

The camera's okay quality, and the organization of the pictures is second-to-none. It allows for multiple albums, emailing, and even mini-slideshows.

Doesn't have any editing capability, but I use plenty of third-party apps to do that.

Weather Channel. Perfectly suited to quick updates. The geo-locating

works great, and the severe weather alerts are helpful. The radar map is also excellent, as I like tracking storms and seeing where they're going.

Never used the video section, but if I wanted to watch the weather, I get about five channels with my digital antenna to do that.

Shazam. It's like they built an app especially for me. I love music, and in public am forever asking "What's that song? I've heard it before!" Enter Shazam. You start it up, hit the tag now button, and hold the microphone up to the radio or speaker. Ten seconds or so later, it tells you what song it was!

It's surprisingly accurate, too.

My only beef with it is the tiny tag now button way in the corner there. It needs to be a deal like SayWhere (an app I'll review later), where you just hit a big button as soon as the app starts. The tiny button works okay when you're stationary, but while driving or walking or something, it's hard to hit that little guy.

Still a lot of fun, though.

Bible. Perfect for when I don't have one with me. It requires an internet connection to access most translations, but has a few (random) offline ones, too. I don't use it too often, but it's very useful for when I don't have a hard copy with me.

Google. The voice search is really the only app worth reviewing, as all the other options just open up Mobile Safari to it's Mobile Google equivalent.

Voice search is fun, and that's about it. My wife and I tried to search for "Funder Tharts," and Bunder Store was the closest it got.

As to why we were trying to make it understand Funder Tharts, it was late, and I have no recollection.

So it's fun, but not terribly useful. I usually just use the Google box in Safari.

Hehe. Funder Tharts.

AroundMe. A basic but helpful GPS located that helps you find things in prelisted categories. Pretty useful, and have used it when out and about in the city more than twice.

It cracks me up that they have "Apple Retail Stores" in there. Have you ever been on the road and REALLY needed to find an Apple store?

Now remember, you're finding this Apple store with an iPhone, so the idea of using the Apple store for it's internet access (which I've done MANY times) is a silly and moot point.

They were probably just sucking up to Apple.

My Favorite Photo of the Day

I love this because Western Kansas is an area no one ever visits. It was taken near Phillipsburg, Kansas, my wife's hometown, and it's of her uncle's old truck.

And seriously, that's what most of the area looks like. When we visit her folks, we're quite literally in the middle of nowhere. And it's a wonderful change of pace.

As always, you can buy a print of it at http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=28937161. 8x10 glossy is the standard, but I take special orders too.

An Open Letter To The President.

Mr. Obama,
I am a conservative white male from Kansas, but please don't let that sway you from actually reading the rest of my letter.
Allow me to get straight to the point: you need to listen to your people.
When you became president of the United States in November, I wasn't one of the people dancing in the streets and crying. I did in fact vote for McCain, but after you won, I understood what had happened. Our country had once again practiced what made it great: democracy. We had banded together and elected a common leader, and we had done so unanimously. People had started to gloat and people had started to whine on November 5th, so I wrote a blog post about it.

I woke up in the usual manner today. I worked a late shift until three a.m. and so I slept until about 10:30. I woke up, stumbled out into our living room, and turned on the T.V.

And guess what?

The world hadn't ended. The world hadn't been magically solved of all its problems, either.

Aside from the women on shudder The View, who were gushing and practically crying on network television, the world was moving forward. Cartoons were on, infomercials hawked their useless wares, and CNN was running the morning news gambit.

The world lives on.

Last night, we elected Sen. Barack Obama to be our 44thh president. This morning, we still live in America.

That will never change.

Facebook went crazy last night around 11:00p.m. when Sen. Obama was finally confirmed as the winner. Cries of disappointment and of horribly misspelled ecstasy echoed up and down the News Feed.

I got fed up after about three seconds.

I quickly changed my status to:

"Caleb Sommerville says chill out, America.http://www.kansan.com/blogs/reactor/2008/oct/05/unite/."

That link is, of course, a link to my October 5th blog on moving forward with ourselves after the election is over.

It still stands today.

I also wrote a quick note on my profile:

_"Oh boy, here it comes. Cue the gloating, cue the whining, cue the doomsday marches.

Two words, America:

CHILL OUT.

Yes, Obama will be our next president. Yes, I do think we should not have elected him. But guess what? The people have spoken, and so be it. Stop the whining, stop the gloating. Take your McCain stickers off your cars; take your Obama signs out of your yard.

The election is done, our country will continue on, and above all:

God is still in control.

Daniel 2:21 says:

"He changes times and seasons; He sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning."

HE set Obama to be president. And HE will decide when he will not be. We needn't worry ourselves about the terrible or mind-blowingly amazing things that will happen to our country.

Obama's the president. Get behind him, support him, and shut up.

In other words, Move, America. Quit whining, quit gloating. It won't do us a dang bit of good. True, I don't like Obama and I don't think he'll be a good president, but guess what?

He's MY president.

I am a citizen of the United States, and we, as a country, elected him.

He's the people's president.

He's (or at least, will be in a few months) our leader. Stop complaining and leaving your McCain/Palin '08 and Ron Paul (seriously?) stickers on your car and start over.

Support Obama. He needs all the help he can get.

So you see, Mr. President, I supported you. I knew that our country had spoken, I knew that whining and complaining wouldn't get me anywhere. I simply had to hope that you would actually institute the non-party line change that you promised.
But that was in November.
Now, almost a year later, that same change you promised has happened, but not like you promised.
Instead, you have drifted back to the left, sometimes so far left in fact, that you have alienated not only most of the Republican Party but also some of the Democrats.
Sure, you will always have your detractors, but you as the president must also work to try to BRIDGE that gap, not do everything you can to widen it.
But it's not just the party members you have alienated. You, Mr. President, have alienated your people.
The people that disagree with you, at least.
Instead of listening to dissenting opinions, considering alternatives, or at least letting others speak, you have adopted a McCarthy-esque nature of immediately and categorically ignoring and ridiculing those who disagree with you.
Sure, there are those that must be ignored. A military coup is ridiculous. A death panel will (hopefully) never happen. These things are indeed silly.
But you have taken it too far, Mr. President. You did not develop a thick skin during your tenure as Senator, and you have taken disagreements far too personally.
Or perhaps, you have let your supporters take it too personally on your behalf. It seems I cannot open an opinion page these days without seeing a columnist that supports you that says all who disagree with your policies are racist, ignorant, stupid, uneducated crazies.
This is of course, mostly not true. There are of course crazies on both sides, but for the most part, the arguments brought against you are well-thought out common issues, not fringe wackos.
But you, Mr. President, have dismissed all disagreements and refuse to listen to dissent.
And I am standing here as a citizen to tell you that that is not okay.
You are the President. It is your duty to listen to your people, and to react accordingly. Refusing categorically to listen to dissent that tends towards the scary realm of undemocracy. Democracy means, Mr. President, that you must listen to your people. You must take counter-arguments into account and not just assume that they are all uninformed.
Please, Mr. President. Listen to your people. The fringe grows more reckless every day, and it worries me. If you would just listen to counter-arguments and show some proof that you indeed are, then the fringe would not be so willing to attack everything you say. Then also, your supporters would not be so willing to attack your detractors.
Please, Mr. President. You are our leader. Please act that way.

The KU Double Standard

Several University of Kansas football and basketball players were involved in two separate fights over girls on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, and someone even got pushed down some quite steep stairs behind Budig Hall by one of the Morris twins.

And all they got was a slap on the wrist.

Three basketball players (not included: the twins) issued a "formal apology" this morning, but the only punishment that we know about is that the basketball players had to start their "boot camp" two weeks early.

Herein lies the rant.

Are you serious, Bill Self? Two weeks of practice? That's your punishment for illegal activity? Pushing someone down stairs, especially the horrendously steep ones behind Budig, is a jail-able offense. And instead of getting arrested or getting kicked off the team (both of which should happen), they have to practice a little more.

Bull crap, I say.

There's a serious problem at KU. The basketball players, and even the football players to some degree, are invincible and worshiped. They can do no wrong, they are better people than the rest of the students, and they are given special treatment right and left.

Don't get me wrong, I'll still root for the Jayhawks during any game, no question about it. I'll still try to make it to a football game this season or a basketball game later.

But the treatment they get is sickening.

I lived in the Towers for two years, and all I saw of these guys was them thinking they were the big dogs on campus. They would throw parking tickets on the ground. They would have fights in the parking lot (yes, this has happened before). They would expect people to know who they were, and if they didn't, the players would be upset or even offended. I worked at the Towers, and the players were the worst residents. They would steal lockout keys for months on end. They would have parties with booze and pot every week. The Morris twins even shot someone with a BB gun.

And what's happened as a result of all this?

Nothing.

Extra laps, maybe.

But mostly, nothing.

They are made to be gods at KU, and if you try to punish them, you are accused of being anti-KU or something. I swear, it's like the McCarthy era.

I'm not anti-KU. But the only right thing to do at this point is to kick everyone involved off the team. No questions, no whining, no formal apologies. Let them know the consequences of acting like a bunch of thugs. If any other student had shot someone with a BB gun, they'd be expelled in a day. If any other student had pushed someone down the stairs in a fight, they'd be sent to jail and heavily punished.

What's the standard here, Bill and Mark? What will it take, Lew, to punish an athlete accordingly? What will it take? A death, maybe? Something you can't bury?

Let's not let Lew and his cronies bury this one, KU fans. Pester him, call him, wait outside his office. Demand action, and let them know we won't stand for these ridiculous double standards anymore.