May's Musical Musings

TURN DOWN FOR WHAT!!
Four words, out of the 12 total words in the whole song.  But man do those four words stick in your head.  I first heard this song at the UFC event I attended here in Cincinnati, played between fights over the incredible U.S. Bank Arena sound system.  I leaned over to my friend Chris and asked "What is he saying in this song?"  He had to repeat it several times before I understood it.  Then I noted it in my cell phone so I could look it up to download when I got home.

The video for it is partially obscene and partially hilarious.  You absolutely MUST listen to this song with a system that has good bass, otherwise it just doesn't do it justice.  I had to look up the lyrics though, to understand what the heck Lil Jon is singing/rapping about.  You can read the complete lyrics here, but the 12 total words consist of:

Fire up that loud
Another round of shots...
Turn down for what?

"Fire up that loud" means to light a joint.
The meaning of "Another round of shots" is pretty obvious.
And "turn down for what" means this.

It's a great song musically (man is that beat catchy), but the lyrics basically mean to get drunk and high, and let absolutely nothing stop you from continuing to do so.  From a Christian (or even responsible adult) perspective, I wrestle with whether to turn it up and just enjoy it (just party music at its finest, and therefore OK to listen to?), or to avoid it because it's morally corrupt garbage?  My tendency is to crank it up, but not without at least a little deliberation/hesitation.

LORD GIVE ME A SIGN
UFC fighter Chris Cariaso walked out to the ring to this song.  It had hard hitting bass and a catchy hypnotic rhythm.  The chorus sounded like it could be a Christian song, but it was hard to tell in the short duration that it played during his walkout.  When I looked it up and downloaded it, I was surprised to learn that it was DMX who wrote it.  Not only that, but the lytics quite accurately captured the spiritual walk, struggles, and theology of Christianity.  Now this is music I can crank up without question - a sound I can fully enjoy and lyrics I can fully appreciate.

DARK HORSE
I can't help but think this song is catchy and sexy.  It's also a bit ironic though, if you think about the lyrics.  Here is the chorus:

So you wanna play with magic

Boy, you should know what you're falling for

Baby do you dare to do this?

Cause I’m coming at you like a dark horse

Are you ready for, ready for

A perfect storm, perfect storm

Cause once you’re mine, once you’re mine

There’s no going back

Wait a minute though, isn't Katy Perry in an unofficial competition with Taylor Swift for the largest number of guys dated or in a serious relationship with?  So how does the whole "once you're mine there's no going back" statement work?  Was she just expressing wishful thinking, or maybe threatening the next guy who ponders leaving her with drastic action if he should become the next on the list?  Either way it seems ironic to me.

Airframe - Book Review

 

After a recent reshuffling of desks around our office, this book was left behind at a co-worker's desk (along with a stack of others).  The new cubicle resident placed all of the vacated books on her desk for anyone to take.  The pages of this one were yellowed and slightly crispy with age (it was first published in 1996), but I grabbed it because it looked interesting.

The plot of this book revolves around a fictional mid-air commercial airline incident that caused multiple injuries and deaths.  Since I've been working at GE Aviation for almost two years now, I found myself relating to and appreciating much of the terminology and details that were used throughout the course of the plot's investigation.  Because GE's primary product is only the jet engines for the aircraft, there was a lot of information about the airframe itself that I was unfamiliar with, but still really enjoyed learning about.  The book was written and published in the 1990s though, so some of the technology that was used in the story (faxes, microfiche, no email, no cell phones) was simuultaneously entertaining and also slightly annoying.

The main character, Casey Singleton, was enjoyable to follow, as she was somewhat of a working class lady who was climbing her way up the Norton company ladder (which was the fictional airframe company presented in the story).  What was even more appealing about her though was that she wasn't necessarily trying to get to the top, but because she was smart as a whip and hard working, she was naturally being given more and more responsibility.

The answer to the plot's mystery was revealed in various stages through the story, but the answer still wasn't clear until the very end of it.  I guess that's normal for a good fiction mystery/drama, but I really enjoyed it.  In addition to being a well executed suspense novel, a bonus was revealed when I read the Wikipedia entry about this book - that this plot's accident revolves around a combination of various real-life airline crashes.  Overall it was a great story, and one that I would recommend for most readers, but especially for fellow aviation employees or enthusiasts.

Book Review of "Joyland" by Stephen King

I've read numerous other books by Stephen King, including The Dead Zone, Pet Cemetary, Christine, IT, The Tommyknockers, Needful Things, Rose Madder, and two of the books in the Dark Tower series.  I was surprised though to find that this work of his was not too far off from a normal drama/suspense story.  A few minor supernatural moments here and there, but they seemed minor in the overall context of the story.

That's not necessarily a bad thing though.  Overall I thought this book was great - a coming of age tale of heartbreak, self-discovery, heroism, tragedy, and mystery.  The characters were interesting, enjoyable, and believable. Now that I think about it, the main character in this story seemed to be about the same age and stage of life as the main character in "The Catcher in the Rye".  In my opinion though, Mr. King did a much better job of transporting me into the shoes of a character that I'm interested in and want to actually read more about.

Note: This is on my book review web site too, which is here.

Book Review - Discipleship in the Home

 The leader/founder of the home group that we attend recommended this book for the men, when we were meeting weekly at Bob Evans at 6am (sick, I know).  It's a fairly short book, but long enough to be effective at relaying the author's ideas.  The basic premise behind it is to relay the deliberate and extensive effort by Mr. Friedman to determine which values and knowledge to teach and instill into his children, and how to actively attempt to accomplish it.  As a parent, it seems to me like it's easy to feel like I'm in survival mode and trying hard enough to take care of the kids, the "stuff", ourselves (if/when possible), and maybe encourage the kids to take some extra-curricular activities.  But this book helped to persuade me how effective it can be in determining which goals to help your children pursue and then being extensive and purposeful in planning their success, as much as possible anyway.

I don't agree with all of the specific items on his list of things to teach/train to his kids (some seemed geared to aggressively push the kids into a position of ministry), but I really like his simple yet brilliant idea of being intentional about being engaged in teaching/learning/guiding.  In addition to these useful ideas, I enjoyed (and am still enjoying) Appendix 2 of the book, which is the "Hidden in the Heart" Catechism.  Here he provides a list of 126 basic, essential theological and family-oriented questions to discuss with your kids to help them commit basic Christian premises to heart/memory.  I'm trying to periodically ask one or two at dinnertime, as a way to not only provide an interesting dinner table discussion, but also to help them grow spiritually/mentally.

This book wasn't the most exciting I've read, nor was it a theological revelation, but I think Mr. Friedeman's ideas have the ability to utilize your children's potential in a way that not much else can.

Book Review: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engel

I remember reading this book as a kid (was it middle school or high school?), and really liking it back then. Recently though, Amanda read it for the first time. Since I needed some bathroom reading and it was sitting nearby (I know, TMI), I picked it up and started reading it again. Then I had a hard time putting it down.

This is one of those books that's a classic for good reason (in my opinion). It's both light hearted and serious, and has some odd and captivating characters. It's also an interesting twist on the battle of good vs. evil, and even time/space travel too. I could have sworn I recall it being longer though, and going further in depth about various scientific concepts (such as mitochondria), and more details about the Murray's home life (cooking dinner over bunsen burners). Perhaps I read one or more of the other books in this series as a kid though, and just don't remember specifically doing so.

In any event, it was a fun and fast read, and I'm glad to have done it again.

SNL = Sex Centered Comedy?

Last night Amanda and I watched SNL for the first time in years.  The latest episode I could find online was from March 9, 2013, hosted by Justin Timberlake.  The first skit was funny and revolved around him hosting the show for the 5th time.  From there though, all but one of the skits were centered around sex. 

Now I like sex as much as the next guy, and I think I'm pretty far from a prude.  I don't mind hearing a sex-related joke or watching a skit about it either.  But when the majority of the material you can come up with revolves around or involves explicit sexual content, isn't that a little ridiculous?  Here's a list of the skits and their topics:

1. The Five Timers Club - solid and funny, including appearances from many beloved hosts and cast members
2. Romantic Comedy - a mock movie trailer centered around a man's relationship with a transgendered woman (she had a shlong).
3. Weekend Update - funny and mostly non-sexual, but featured an annoying flamboyantly gay character named Stefon about halfway through though.
4. It's a Date - dating show where contestants compete for the bachelorette.  It centered around sex and ended with the contestants joking about having a fivesome.
5. Tales of Sober Caligula - talked about orgies, sex with various animals, etc. 
6. Maine Justice - mildly humorous, and surprisingly non-sexual.
7. NuvaBling - spoof ad of the Nuva Ring contraceptive ring = birth control for glam girls.
8. Moet & Chandon Ad - featured former porn starts selling perfume.  Funny, but primarily about sex again.

There you have it, 5.5 out of the 8 skits either talked about or were completely centered around sexual content, mostly explicit and/or perverse.  I can't help but wonder if that says something about our culture.  Is it really that focused on sexuality and I just don't realize it as being that depraved? 

Since this was the first time watching SNL in many moons, perhaps this episode was abnormal.  I'll probably give them the benefit of the doubt and try it again (at least one more time).  But I'm starting to miss Mad TV more and more.

Book Review: "50 Shades of Grey" by E.L. James

My wife and I had heard so damned much about this book. It's been all over the news, on Facebook, and talked about amongst Amanda's friends too (even fellow church goers). So both of us were at least a little curious to read it. It was only ~$10 for the soft cover, so Amanda decided to give it a shot. She liked it pretty well, so I decided to climb into a woman's mind and learn a little more about how their most prominent sexual organ (their brain, or so I'm told anyway) works.

 The biggest problem that I had with it is that I found myself comparing our current sex life to that of the characters in the book. But the circumstances of our life aren't anywhere close to theirs. Limited financial resources aside, when we were dating we may have equaled (or even surpassed?) their passion, and even perhaps when we were first married. But once you enter kids into the equation, sex gets pushed way down on the priority ladder. Factor in work responsibilities, financial struggles, time and location limitations (especially due to kids), general life stress, maintaining your material possessions, getting stuck in "parenting" mode, and any number of other difficulties, and all of a sudden romance and sex takes a lot more effort. It's still great and fun and wonderful when it happens, but our emotional and physical circumstances can't even come close to the story that I'm letting myself become engrossed in.

 Maybe that's part of the allure with books like this though, letting your mind wander to alternate scenarios apart from your own reality.  I can certainly appreciate that, as I enjoy that aspect about any book/story I read.  So why not one that includes graphic sex scenes too?  The best that could come out of it will be that it helps inspire me to work harder to make intimate "moments" happen in my own real-life marriage.  The worst that could result is that Amanda and I will find ourselves increasingly frustrated with our own situation and get discouraged instead of inspired.

Well, the jury is still out regarding its affect on our marriage, but I admit that I did enjoy reading it, and I didn't find any obvious annoyances with the story itself or the writing style, like I'd heard about in some critiques of it.  I thought Mrs. James did a good job of creating a believable female main character, and I appreciated her (the character's) introspection and ability to analyze the relationship, her partner, and also his "unique" requests/desires. 

I don't think this book is for everyone, but I personally enjoyed it and so did my wife.  Now if only Ms. James would write another sequel that includes the challenges associated with marriage and family life.  When taking young kids and a puppy into consideration, perhaps it could be called Fifty Shades of Brown and Yellow. :-)

Book Review: "Heaven is for Real" by Todd Burpo

After driving for several days on our moving trip from Sacramento to Cincinnati, we stopped at a Cracker Barrel for two reasons: (1) for dinner (we really like their food, and there aren't any CB's on the West coast), (2) to purchase an audio book on CD to help entertain us for some portion of the remainder of the trip.  We wanted to listen to a book that was not only interesting, but also kid friendly.  Amanda found this one, which we had read about in a news article a while back.

I had fairly recently read a book about another individual's "heavenly" experience called 90 Minutes in Heaven (link is to my review), and I was curious to hear the perspective of this little boy.  Similar to the other book, the author went through a great deal of effort to legitimize not only the information that his son relayed to him, but also the method with which they obtained it.  He made sure to explain (a) how the boy knew and observed things that could only be possible if he did indeed experience what he claims, (b) how the details of his experience cross correlate with Biblical text, and (c) how they did not coerce him or influence him in any way to say specific things.

I don't know if this story will convince atheists or skeptics that an afterworld exists, or to accept Christianity as their faith of choice.  If you're not a Christian though, and after reading/listening to this story you believe at least some of what this kid experienced as truth, then I don't see how it couldn't have some positive affect on your beliefs.

In the end, our whole family found this to be an interesting, enlightening, and inspirational story.  It made not only some of our journey in the car more enjoyable, but perhaps some of our journey in life too.

Book Review: The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

I borrowed this audio book from the library when I was driving to and from Sunnyvale on a weekly basis (for a contract job).  I remember hearing some of the actual lecture at some point and really liking what I heard, so I thought I would enjoy hearing the whole thing, along with additional commentary from the author.  And I was right.

Amanda and I have since started watching the actual lecture, and there was a lot of additional information about Randy and his life in the book that was not in the original presentation (at Carnegie Mellon) - more background, details, history, stories, lessons learned, etc.  He seemed like a remarkable individual, who lived a much fuller life in many regards than most people do with a much longer lifespan.  And whenever people of a high caliber share their stories and/or advice, it's almost always a blessing, and this was no exception.

My only complaint is that he hardly talked about anything faith related.  He only mentions that he has dealt with it personally with/through the church he attends.  Well, that's good to know, but if you're on the brink of death, and are able to influence such a large number of people through the stories of your life, then why would you not accompany it with at least a nudge or a hint of spiritual encouragement too?  No matter what faith he was (or wasn't), his decision in this matter is now going to have eternal rewards or consequences, and I'm surprised that knowing this so intimately didn't encourage him to talk about it.

Finished reading on 3/22/2012

Book Review - 90 Minutes in Heaven, by Don Piper

I got this book as a 40th birthday present from Jeff S., a good friend of mine from church.  I was already backlogged in the reading department (including Agape Leadership, below), so it took me a while to get to it.  In the meantime though, Amanda tore through it pretty fast and really liked it.  So I was even more excited to be able to finally get to it.  And it did not disappoint me.

This book follows the true story of a pastor who gets in a horrific accident with a tractor-trailer, and subsequently dies.  Through another man's obedience to pray for him (when stirred to do so) he ended up returning to life.  The author takes great care to explain the details of his accident in order to provide as much credibility as possible to his claims of being clinically dead, and also his experience of heaven.  The rest of the story follows him through his long and painful physical recovery from the accident, and the process of figuring out what to do with the experiences he encountered and in finding purpose behind them.

Admittedly, since I'm a Christian, I did not truly approach it skeptically.  I already believe in Heaven, and the way Mr. Piper describes what he encountered does not conflict with what I have read in the Bible and/or what I believe.  But as with other books (such as "This Present Darkness"), even though I already held these beliefs, reading about them in this manner gives me an entirely different perspective to them.  Having a mental image of what it will be like to experience Heaven for myself changes the way I visualize the big picture of life and encourages me to make decisions that could have a positive affect for myself and others on that fateful (and joyful) day that I get to meet my maker.

Completion and Review of "The Help"

Amanda read this before me, as well as her mother, my sister, our neighbor, and every other woman in town it seems. And as you can guess by the gender of the aforementioned readers, this is a very estrogen-rich book.

The story is told from three different points of view, and all of them are women. Not only that, but 95% of the sub-characters are women too. Taking place in the deep American South of the 1960s, it delves into the life of two black maids and one white writer who attempts to write and publish a book about their lives. While the book was fiction, I can't help but wonder how much truth there is to the emotions, actions, roles, and experiences in it.

I have heard and read about the history of segregation and racism before, but it was gratefully never part of my life experiences. Black kids in my schools were treated with just as much love and respect as everybody else in the class, if not more. So while reading historical facts provides knowledge, it produced very little comprehension. While I never disbelieved the history, I have a hard time really absorbing it as a reality. But walking in their shoes, even if was only based on truth, gave me a whole new appreciation of what black people experienced during the trials and difficulties of racial desegregation.

As a whole, I loved this book. It was well written, emotionally gripping, had a positive message, a slight underlying spiritual tone (for Christianity, but against hypocrisy), and epitomized the greatest reason why I love reading - to put myself in someone else's shoes and to see what life was like for them. To gain a better understanding of different places and times. To not only use my imagination, but to expand my knowledge of people, cultures, and events.

Another Book Bites the Dust

Another book review, of one called Icy Sparks. Online here.

Pictures of Clara and New Book Review

Pictures of Clara's birth day are now online, on our web page here.

Also, I finished another book a couple of weeks ago called Combat Corpsman. The review for it is now online, on our web page here.

Multimedia Musing

I recently finished two new books. You can read the reviews for them here.

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Music I'm currently inspired by and listening to, sometimes loudly and repeatedly:

Given Up by Linkin Park = I first heard this song on the trailer for the movie Crank 2. It's one of those songs that you just can't turn up loud enough. I love it! (Warning : a few f-bombs are dropped)

Gravity by Sara Barellis = This song reminds me a bit of Kissing You by Des'ree (from the Romeo and Juliet soundtrack). It's one of those songs that you want complete silence around you so you can really soak it up, and during her high note about 3/4 of the way though it will probably give you chills.

Her Morning Elegance by Oren Lavie = This is a peppy, fun song. The video is pretty darned cool too, made using stop motion animation. I'm dissapointed not to find the mp3 on Amazon.com yet though.

Lucious Links

I recently finished reading two more books, and the reviews for them are on my web page at:
http://www.thelomonacofamily.com/thoughts/reviews_books.html

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A 30 minute video from my co-worker Heath, about the current financial crisis of the U.S:
http://www.iousathemovie.com

No matter where you stand politically,
EVERYONE IN AMERICA REALLY NEEDS TO SEE THIS!

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The link below is to a chilling true story, as told by the man who experienced it. http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2008/11/10/657854/bloodyelbow-com-exclusive

Reading his account is more powerful to me than listening to the 911 call, but the two parts tell the whole story well. Since I have a boy about the same age as his, reading about his son's reaction to the incident got me teary eyed.

It's definitely inspirational to improve on my home's security and on my personal self-defense.

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Amanda and I went to see this movie on Saturday.
While it had a few cheesy moments, I thought it was excellent overall.
http://www.fireproofthemovie.com/

Routine Random Ramblings

I finally have some new pictures from several recent events posted on our family web page. You can check them out here: http://www.thelomonacofamily.com/pictures.html, under the "2008 Events" column.

I've been listening to a great series about spiritual warfare after another blogger recommended it. It's from a church in Seattle called Mars Hill, and it is some crazy stuff. Maybe it won't surprise you and maybe it will. Heck, maybe you won't believe the stories, but I for one do. http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/spiritual-warfare. Highly recommend.

This is an interesting commentary from Pat Buchanan about the media's double standard for politics: http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=78921

I used to go daily to a website called Parents Behaving Badly. The stories are often horrific and it's not uncommon for me to get both angry and a little watery eyed when reading them. But besides depressing myself, I make it a point to pray for the people in each of the stories. Since they haven't had an update since June though, I started to go to Bad Breeders instead. Unfortunately, there has been no shortage of stories there lately. If you're a Christian reading this blog, I encourage you to check it out if you can stomach it (no gore, just sorrow), and pray for people (both the kids and the parents) in the stories.

Adam Sandler's new movie "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" was pretty funny, even if it did almost completely revolve around sex with old ladies and had entirely too much screen time of his naked arse.

Musical Musing

The song of the day (since it's 9/11) is Courtesy of the Red, White And Blue by Toby Keith. Makes me want to up and join the armed forces, or at least have more appreciation for and pride in our country.

The current nostalgic song I'm grooving to is Principal's Office by Young M.C. With its catchy music and great lyrics, it represents the old school rap that actually tells a story, instead of the artist just bragging about himself (I have lots of money. You know you want me. Blah, blah, blah).

The song of the week/month is Give Me Your Eyes by Brandon Heath. The melody isn't quite as catchy as I'm Not Who I Was (also by him), but it's still really good music and the words are maybe better.

I really like hard songs that have a soft spot in the middle. Great examples of this are:

• Red - Breathe Into Me
• Chad Kroeger - Hero
• Foo Fighters - The Pretender

They get the blood pumping and testosterone boosting, then give you a moment to catch your breath, right before kicking it up again.

A Conquered Quest

Amanda and I were on a date recently (a month or 2 ago?) in my 300Z. We were parking the car at a store when a song came on the radio. We both liked it from the onset, so we turned it up and sat there grooving to it in the parking lot until it was finished.

When we got home, I looked for the song by searching for what lyrics I could remember (which has worked for me many times before), but with no luck. Since then I have been hoping that it would come on the radio again so I could get the title, artist, or at least more lyrics so I could buy the mp3 from Amazon. But it's been absent from the airwaves, at least when I've been listening - until Tuesday night.

I was working on our car in the garage when the song came on the radio. I promptly ran upstairs, checked the radio station's website, and viola! Since buying this song I must have listened to it about 100 times. It just hasn't gotten old.

The lyrics are very cryptic and catchy, although depressing ("into the ocean, end it all"), but it's one of those tunes that just resonates with me musically. It sounds very similar vocally and stylistically to Peter Gabriel, with a good variety of sounds and instruments, interesting percussion, and great underlying bass.

The song is Into the Ocean, by Blue October.

A Puzzling Purpose

I completed my first Sudoku puzzle (pictured above) when I was in Florida this last Christmas. I really enjoyed it, and have completed another 3 since then. But the reason that I'm not really "into it" is because I can't figure out what the point of it is, besides just wasting time and feeling a sense of satisfaction by completing it.

It doesn't use your imagination (like reading). It doesn't increase your vocabulary (like crossword puzzles). Heck, I can even see a benefit to playing some video games, such as role playing or pretending to do something dangerous and adventurous that you wouldn't be able to do in real life (such as a fast driving game or a first person shooter).

Although Sudoku is played with numbers, I don't see how it could improve your math skills, since you're not actually performing any computations with them. Really, the numbers could just as well be random symbols. I even wonder if they use numbers to make you think you're doing something smart. The only brain activity you are performing though is using the process of elimination to determine which numbers go where. So maybe it exercises problem solving skills on some basic remedial level?

So while I do really enjoy it and will probably continue to solve a Sudoku once in a while, the best I can figure is that it's basically a paper version of Pac-Man. Sure it feels good to conquer a level, but all it really accomplishes is letting you get to another one.

Book Review - Water For Elephants

This book was first passed around to most of Amanda's family. Then I picked it up after Amanda finished with it. I tell you that only because I never would have heard of it otherwise.

Anyway, this book had a fascinating and unusual plot and setting. It revolves around a young man who winds up in a traveling circus after having his life basically fall apart. I found it very easy to become engrossed in his experiences, and it was especially enjoyable because it felt like being behind the scenes of the big top and the escapades that surround it.

The biggest detractor of the story though (without giving away too many details) is the immorality that is exhibited by numerous characters, including the main one. The author attempts to provide excuses, but there really isn't enough, in my mind, to justify it.

I thought it was especially interesting that the author is a woman, given that she seemed to write so vividly and accurately from a man's perspective. Also, as a bonus many of the scenes in the book are apparently based on real, if not embellished, stories that the author acquired during her research for this book.