mycreativeapathy.blogspot.com will be no longer (not that it gets updated that often anyway)
I will now be rarely posting to mycreativeapathy.tumblr.com
I guess since this blogger site is free I will leave it here for posterity but tumblr just seems so much simpler and easier.
Ok so I am one of the old school folks that still has my AOL email account from high school back when AOL was really the only game in town. Anyway I read this on the main page at aol.com today and the first thing that I thought of was this blog post that I wrote way back when combining two names into a single hybrid name was still fresh. It's a little creepy that I predicted, to the month, when Tom and Katie would break up but there you have it. Call me Timstrodamus.
In all seriousness divorce sucks. Don't do it.
Save Suri.
Andruw Jones is a steaming pile! I am a Dodger fan and have grown very accustomed to mediocrity but I shouldn't be giving up on the season only 9 games in. The team did nothing to address the fact that their offense is absolutely pathetic during the offseason except for bringing in a guy who couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat into an already crowded outfield. Juan Pierre was doing just fine being the overpaid underacheiving outfielder thank you very much. If you got pulled over for driving erratically and blew Andruw Jones batting average into the breathalizer the officer would apologize and send you on your way.
And don't think you are getting away with anything Russell Martin. Feel free to remind us you were once an All-Star. I am currently developing a conspiracy theory that involves you witnessing a murder during the offseason and the Russell Martin that is now playing catcher for the Dodgers is actually a dock worker from Long Beach with no family who wouldn't be missed and likes to strike out looking.
Combined these two dudes have 0 HR's and 3 RBI's which is 4 HR and 5 RBI's less than Torii Hunter, who the Dodgers should have spent all that money on during the offseason instead of wasting it on Pierre and Jones the last two offseasons. On the season the Dodgers have a team batting average of .230. If it weren't for Furcal and Loney it probably would be .125. This is absolutely ridiculous.
RANT OVER (but we all know it will be continued throughout the season)
April 20, 2014
In the nearly two years it has been since the last reality or contest television show aired on TV, executives at Fox have been trying to debunk the theory that every American had appeared on a reality TV show already. It turns out Fox was right, which means the network will be airing Last Call this summer, a reality TV show for the 12 Americans who have yet to be on TV.
So who are these 12 people and how did Fox find them? The two Fox executives behind the development of Prisoners Raise My Baby and Death Quiz were driving to Bonanza Idaho, hoping to find TV fans there, assuming the town derived it's name from the popular TV western of the 1960's. Instead of finding people dressed as Hoss and Little Joe, they found a Ghost Town. The 12 people who work in the souvenir shop/visitor's center called The Bonanza Saloon apparently do not own a TV, and therefore missed out on all the open auditions for the previous 4,376 reality TV shows. Perhaps most surprising, they were completely unaware of Real World: Bonanza and 2007's Kid Nation which reportedly took place in the very same Ghost Town.
After making contact with these faithful Bonanza employees (and purchasing a bag full of fake turqouise rocks from them) the two Fox executives contacted Sony and were able to negotiate a sponsorship in which the winner of Last Call will be awarded a 120" HD squared, ultra-Plasma, Sony "more real than real" Television along with one million dollars (which isn't worth what it used to be back when this whole reality TV thing started, thanks to inflation).
Details about the nature of the show are still being hammered out but you can count on zany challenges, conflicting personalities, an annoying out of work B-list host, and the ability to determine who gets kicked off each week by using your ThinkCom, or traditional text message for those who are still stuck in the aughts. Either way be sure to tune in this Summer as Fox unveils reality TV's Last Call.
ThinkCom is a registered trademark of Sony.
I highly recommend the documentary called The King of Kong: A Fist Full of Quarters. It is the story of Steve Wiebe, a 35 year-old family man from Washington who gets laid off from Boeing and takes solace in a Donkey Kong arcade machine he has placed in his garage. Steve attempts to break the 20 year old high score record on the game, owned by Billy Mitchell a Floridian hot sauce mogul who is the Michael Jordan of competitive classic gaming.
The movie is now out on DVD so do what you can to rent it because the story of this underdog outsider trying to take on the established nerd gaming empire (I say that lovingly) is so compelling that I would have to say this movie might be my favorite documentary of all time. Hollywood couldn't write a more intriguing story than this, and they certainly couldn't create the characters that appear in the various arcades that this story unfolds in.
This is the official site for the film, Billy vs. Steve but I would wait to go to the site until you have seen the movie because the front page has an update from Steve Wiebe on the status of the world record which would fall into the spoiler category. If you are having trouble finding the film, there is always Amazon!
I am sick of hearing/reading about school shootings. This is unacceptable. The worst part is, as the article points out, that this is the fourth shooting at a US school in the last week. FOUR! Four times in the last week someone opened fire at a school in this country. Just let that sink in for a second. I don't say this to make light of the situation, but remember the good old days when an awful event like this only happened once or twice a year?
Tragic. Absolutely tragic.
The gun lobby needs to be held accountable. The people who sell these guns need to be held accountable.
The Virginia Tech shooting that happened last April really shook me up and I had hoped it would be a long time before something like that happened again. I tried to calm down after reading about this by reading through some of my old posts on this here blog. It is painfully obvious that I rarely update this thing (it's been about 4 months since my last post, the new 'Clef was good but not great) but I don't see it as a site that needs my attention. It is an e-journal of sorts for my own purposes and the two or three people who happen upon it get to peer inside my frustrations with school shootings or the TV show 24.
By the way some quick updates (just to lighten the mood and catch up on the last four months)...
I am a Dad in waiting! That is the term I have found I like best. I'm a big "sanctity of life" guy so even in talking about being a dad, I like to say that I am already a dad even as I wait for my child to begin the portion of it's life that takes place outside of the womb. You can read more about all that here at Mariah's baby blog.
I no longer work at New Life as of last May and have been to church twice since then. I decided to submit a post at Letters From Leavers to share some of my thoughts since leaving the church. I would love it if you read it and shared any thoughts you had.
I went to a couple cool shows in the last few months as well. Mariah and I saw the Cold War Kids at the Wiltern on Nov 26th and it was pretty dang sweet although I found myself increasingly annoyed at the people around us. I can tell that I am becoming a grumpy old man when I go to shows and complain about having to stand the whole time and all of the annoying high school kids who jump up and down during the show. During my walk down My Creative Apathy Memory lane I came across this post in which I predicted a big 07 for the Cold War Kids. If you check out their travel logesque web site you will see that I was right. Mariah and I and some friends also took in David Bazan of Pedro the Lion fame about a week or two after the Cold War Kids show at Spaceland. And then a few weeks back Bobby and I took in Black Rebel Motorcycle Club at the Key Club. Great venue and a great band. They are quickly working their way into my top five favorite bands.
What a weird post this has turned out to be.
Let me start by saying I am a huge Wyclef Jean fan. I would put his album the Carnival in my top 10 favorite of all time and when it came out back when I was in high school it changed my musical world. I was perusing Youtube today and came across an interview/performance that Wyclef did on the Google campus to bring awareness to the issues in his native Haiti as well as perform music and promote his new album. Here is chapter 4 of what I think is 9 chapters
Anyway as a fan I was very excited to hear that Wyclef was releasing a new album (I'm still waiting on that Fugees reunion album that was supposed to come out a few years back now). Apparently some of the music has leaked, as often happens, even though the album doesn't come out until December 4th. Below is a track that perfectly demonstrates the brilliance of Wyclef, a song in which he collaborates with Paul Simon!
This is a musician who has collaborated with people as diverse as Whitney Houston and Kenny Rogers and has the social awareness of Bono and Bob Marley. And the best part of this new album is that it is titled Carnival 2!
go away and don't ever come back.
(it's called speed blogging. write a few words and move on)
First let me put an end to some nasty rumors...I am not dead. I just took a break from blogging because I didn't have anything interesting to share.
Until now...
Go to www.thechurchyouknow.com and watch all of the videos. If you are a church goer you will laugh a lot and then feel sad because everything they are saying is right.
See you again in another 5 months or so.
Tim
I have to disagree with Kermit the Frog on this one.
In about 45 seconds I was able to remove my name from the credit reporting indutry lists (Equifaz, Experian, Innovis and Transunion). These are the people who are ultimately responsible for you getting credit card offers in the mail every other day. Whenever I get them I just rip them in half without opening them and toss them in the trash and I always think to myself "What a waste of paper." Well I finally figured out that if you go to optoutprescreen.com you can fill in your name and address (they ask you for your ssn and birthday too but I didn't give it to them) and click a button and you are removed from the list for 5 years! If you take the little bit of extra time to mail in a signed confirmation you can be removed for life. I opted to go for the 5 year plan becuase I am too lazy and cheap to mail in something, and it is no burden for me to take 45 seconds every 5 years to remove my name from the list. Also if you prefer you can call 1888 567 8688 and accomplish the same thing.
Next step...remove my name from the marketing lists that send the other junk mail (Penny Saver, random coupons etc.). This one requires a signed request to be removed along with your name and address sent to,
Mail Preference Service
c/o Direct Marketing Association
P.O. Box 643
Carmel NY 10512
It takes a little bit of extra effort to mail it off and shell out the dough for the stamp (aren't they like a buck and a quarter each now?) but I will do it if you will do it. Together we can rid this world of junk mail and maybe even save a few trees along the way.
My bride got me a Wii for our 2 year anniversary, which was at the beginning of this month, but thanks to the incompetency of Game Stop and UPS it just arrived on Friday. It was worth the wait (and the incessant checking of the tracking process that I had been doing every 30 minutes or so for the last few weeks). The Wii has been out for awhile now but they are still very hard to get a hold of. Mariah looked for months and at every store she checked in they were sold out. Then she finally found a package deal online that came with some extra controllers and games and we ended up buying it.
We absolutely love it. It is so different than any other video game system because of it's unique motion-sensitive wireless controllers. Most of the games you have to play while standing up and moving around. With Xbox (the other video game system I own) I could just sit and waste away a few hours while unwinding after coming home from work but with the Wii it is really tiring to play. I am sore after playing it all weekend.
It comes with a disc called Wii Sports which has Golf, Baseball, Boxing, Tennis, and Bowling on it and I could play the Golf and Bowling games forever. They are both fairly realistic. My bowling score on the game matches my average in real life.
If you can find it I definitely recommend getting a Wii. We have already had a few people over this weekend to play including people that don't normally like video games, but it is a system designed to involve everyone. It's great for parties or when you have a few people over and it's relatively inexpensive when you compare it to the Xbox 360 ($400) and the Playstation 3 ($500+).
One word of caution...be careful once you get it. It can be dangerous.
I have been so stinkin' busy with school and with trying to find a new job that I have not posted on here in quite some time. Well since I have a post that is school related I thought I could make the time.
I started a project for a class I am in at Fuller called Theology and Hip-Hop Culture and I want to ask you to participate. The project is called "Hip-Hop is..." and I am inviting people to finish the sentence.
How would you finish that sentence? What does hip-hop mean to you? What do you see as both the positive and negative of hip-hop culture?
You can put your answer here as a reply but really what I would like you to do for the project is to make a video of your answer and post it to YouTube. I made a little video explaining the project and then finishing the sentence myself. You can watch it here or below. Also be sure to check out intheremix.com which is a group blog designed to engage hip-hop culture that Jason created (same classmate that made Letters From Leavers).
Thanks for your help.
The video
Bible Map is a website that I stumbled upon the other day that has all of the geographic locations mentioned in the Bible hyperlinked to the google earth satellite technology so that if you click on "Ephesus" or "Jerusalem" you will get a satellite image of what that area looked like during Biblical times. Okay so the images are from modern times but it is still a cool idea.
I know it is kind of trendy, or maybe too easy is the right phrase, to pick on the president, but I was reminded while listening to the radio that today is the four year anniversary of the President's speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, a speech which started off with the words, "My fellow Americans: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended."
Since major combat operations have "ended" there have been 3,213 American Military casualties in Iraq, which doesn't factor in casualties of Iraqis or other countries who have armed forces in Iraq.
In related news...to nobody's surprise, Bush vetoed the Congressional troop withdrawal bill. I guess that's one way to celebrate the 4 year anniversary of the end of combat operations in Iraq.
This blog post could very well be the saddest thing I have ever seen and yet it is one of the most beautiful musical expressions I have ever seen as well. Read the story and then watch the video.
Favorite
The guy who plays the old man is hilarious. Plus I grew up on a street named after Millard Fillmore so in a weird way it brings me home.
Least Favorite
The stupid chevy commercials with the John Cougar Mellencamp song "This is our Country" that plays over and over. It won't go away. Yesterday in church we were talking about subversion and asking "What is subverting our country?" We wanted to recognize the conversation in the media and in culture about America's ideals and what we view as an enemy to those ideals. My neighbor was bold and wise enough to mention "immigrants" as something that Americans think are subverting our country. For whatever reason at that very moment this stupid song popped into my head. Talk about subliminal! I even mentioned it during the service, that this song, probably not intentionally, but it is saying it nonetheless, "This is our country! Not yours! Get out and don't ever come back!"
Have you seen any immigrants in a chevy commercial lately? Me either. Just a bunch of white cowboys.
Here is a better version of the commercial. If this aired it would be my favorite.
No not Christmas time; to me that is the second most wonderful time of year. For a sports fan, this has to be the most wonderful time of year. The Final Four took place this weekend, with the champion of college basketball being crowned tomorrow night. The NBA playoffs are just around the corner, which in my opinion is the only worth while part of the NBA season. The Masters is also coming up this weekend and should be compelling as always. But most importantly, today is Opening Day for Major League Baseball.
Terrence Mann is right. Baseball is the one constant. It means so much to the history of the United States, and increasingly to the world. I was lucky enough to go to a couple of the World Baseball Classic games last year and was amazed at the scope and reach of such a simple game as baseball. This time of year reminds me of so much of my childhood, and makes me feel like I am 10 years old again, spending every Saturday at the baseball field, staying for hours after my game was over just to watch the other games my friends were playing in. This time of year makes me excited to be a father so I can teach my children about the "National Pastime."
If I were comissioner of Baseball, I would pick two games to be played on opening day every year, one national league and one american league, and rotate who hosts these games every year. I would have the games air on network TV back to back with a 30-40 minute break in between the two to have a pseudo "half time show" in which a highlight reel of the previous season was played as well as the clip above from Field of Dreams, just to get everyone excited about the season. Opening Day really should be something special; a celebration "of all that once was good, and that could be again."
When I first started this Beatles thing I was planning on doing it weekly. Well my regular readers, both of them, know that I have failed in that endeavor which has left me wondering what to name these Beatles posts now, because they are not weekly. Beatles Song of the Moment was the best I could come up with.
Anyway the Beatles song for this moment is I Feel Fine.
Sing it if you know it...
Baby's good to me, you know,
She's happy as can be, you know,
She said so.
I'm in love with her and i feel fine.
Baby says she's mine, you know,
She tells me all the time, you know,
She said so.
I'm in love with her and i feel fine.
I'm so glad that she's my little girl.
She's so glad, she's telling all the world
That her baby buys her things, you know.
He buys her diamond rings, you know,
She said so.
She's in love with me and i feel fine, mmm.
Baby says she's mine, you know,
She tells me all the time, you know,
She said so.
I'm in love with her and i feel fine.
I'm so glad that she's my little girl.
She's so glad, she's telling all the world
That her baby buys her things, you know.
He buys her diamond rings, you know,
She said so.
She's in love with me and i feel fine, mmm, mmm.
As far as I can tell, this blog post is about leaving church and it links to Letters From Leavers. Is it Norwegian? Can someone translate for me?
