be a dear and call the paramedics

new blog

2009-01-10T11:23:00.004-07:00

my new blog is:

www.beadearandcalltheparamedics.tumblr.com

so head there if you want to keep up with me.

perfection

2009-01-05T13:06:00.001-07:00

utes.

best books of 2008

2009-01-01T13:05:00.004-07:00

these didn't necessarily come out in 2008, i just read them in 2008.

fiction
1. the amazing adventures of kavalier and clay - michael chabon
2. extremely loud and incredibly close - jonathan safran foer
3. the road - cormac mccarthy
4. crossing to safety - wallace stegner
5. the kite runner - khalid housseini

honorable mentions:
outer dark - cormac mccarthy
the power of one - bryce courtenay

nonfiction
1. (tie) what is the what - dave eggers
1. (tie) a heartbreaking work of staggering genius - dave eggers
2. long road to freedom - nelson mandela
3. jesus for president - shane claiborne
4. the zanzibar chest - aidan hartley

honorable mentions:
the devil in white city - erik larson
inside the jihad - omar nasiri
the soloist - steve lopez
jesus wants to save christians - rob bell

technically what is the what is in the fiction section, but it is based on a true person and a true story so i've thrown it in with nonfiction. good year for me and dave eggers. definitely someone who should be on your bookshelf if you're a reader.

best shows of 2008

2009-01-01T13:01:00.001-07:00

1. broken social scene - gallivan center
2. explosions in the sky - in the venue
3. andrew bird - gallivan center
4. colour revolt - solid ground cafe
5. minus the bear - in the venue

just to clarify...

2008-12-20T19:30:00.003-07:00

okay i put it together and here's my top 9 (i couldn't come up with a 10th):

9. coldplay - viva la something
8. sigur ros - med sud ejakdslfds jfdksl;fjewrklewfjd
7. brendan canning - something for all of us
6. bon iver - for emma, forever ago
5. girl talk - feed the animals
4. fleet foxes - fleet foxes
3. santogold - santogold
2. the new frontiers - mending
1. colour revolt - plunder, beg and curse

honorable mentions:
margot & the nuclear so and so's - animal
denison witmer - carry the weight
underoath - lost in the sound of separation

if you don't own colour revolt, better go buy it. if a.a. bondy is considered a 2009 release then it would be number 3 on the list this year.

top cds of 2008

2008-12-19T14:02:00.004-07:00

the 2008 season of music is all but over and for me, it's all colour revolt and the new frontiers this year's. from there, the list isn't a whole lot to talk about. sadly, combined those two bands probably didn't even sell 40,000 records.

last year there were so many amazing cds that it's bled over into 2008. most of what i have listened to this year came out last year. this would also include the new frontiers cd - it pre-released about 6 months before it came out this february. 2007 cd's like bowerbirds, aa bondy, spoon and laura veirs would have worn out this year if i'd actually bought a cd. which raises an interesting point: sometimes it takes longer than a year for a good band to break out. the speed at which a band pings across the indie-scene point radar is not the end-all measure of a band. the slow ping has already killed the new frontiers, hopefully in 2009 colour revolt will start to come into their own.

for the rest of the list:

fleet foxes is in my top ten, blah, blah, blah: we don't need anyone else to write about how they've single handledly saved the universe a million times over for their stunning wonderfulness throughout the universe.

santogold is amazing and is easily in my top 10. i'm not huge on m.i.a. - santogold refines what m.i.a. does and has created a better complete project with less gaps and shortcomings. girltalk's feed the animals is so great and still makes me smile when i catch something in the mix that had previously gone unnoticed. bon iver's for emma, forever ago is in my top 10 also. aa bondy is a top 10 of this year even though that cd technically came out in 2007 and we released in 08.

margot and the nuclear so & so's new cd is really good, but i would put it in the honorable mention category, as is denison witmer's carry the weight.

so that's pretty incomplete, but it's been a sparse year. i liked ben folds' new cd too, but not enough to crack this almost top 10. sigur ros i would put in the top 10. also brendan canning and coldplay maybe.

for disappointments...

lovedrug & copeland: i'm combing these two cds beacuse they came out around the same time and both left me bummed. i had high expectations for the new lovedrug, but it was too much of the same powerfully delivered, scorching lyrics without a solid musical composition. i expected zero from copeland and it was actually pretty good so i guess it wasn't a disappointment.

cold war kids put out a decent album, but i expected more i think. i'll write about best concerts soon.

wrap up

2008-12-17T00:10:00.002-07:00

it's almost the end of 2008 and i want to do all the lists. best movies, best books, best concerts and best cds...so i'm not quite sure what order and all that, but the book one is going to be hard. i've had the pleasure of reading so many incredible books in 2008. first lindsay introduces me to dave eggars and then jimmy drops cormac mccarthy into my life and just right there we have a top books list. also extremely loud and incredibly close and the kite runner. dang. this will be a tough list. i've also stumbled upon some impressive non-fiction as well. maybe i'll have to split the book list.

for movies, well it's gotta be that new hulk. easily the best movie ever made.

oh and the amazing adventures of kavalier and clay too. such good books.

things i'm sure you're wondering

2008-12-13T20:08:00.002-07:00

spent my weekend with sara and we celebrated our anniversary! sushi, a nice hotel and two indie-flicks. we saw slumdog millionaire which in my opinion should get a best picture nod in early january. we also saw this bizarre swedish vampire movie that was really good and really odd. then i spent all day today cooking and now i'm watching pulp fiction on tv. you're right: it doesn't work on tv at all ("you're a smart little sucker" over and over). samuel jackon is about to say: "this is a tasty burger...you mind if i have some of your tasty beverage to wash this down?" love it. maybe for my blog i'll just list all my favorite lines from movies.

"oh i'm sorry. did i break your concentration?"

i have a drinking problem

2008-11-24T09:19:00.002-07:00

i open my bible this morning...

i, paul, together here with silas and timothy, send greetings to the church at thessalonica...

pause to take a sip of coffee. somehow forget how to drink and as i pull the mug away from my mouth coffee spills all over myself and my bible. and you know how bible pages are so thin that they melt away! i lost most of I thessalonians today.

good start to the day. on the plus side: my coffee stain on my sweatshirt closely resembles the country of denmark. foreshadowing? i think so.

greatness

2008-11-13T22:10:00.004-07:00

"were you listening to the dudes story?...so you have no frame of reference donny..."

"also dude, chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature..."

"donny you're out of your element..."

"that rug really tied the room together..."

every decade or so something so amazing happens that i can't really even contain myself. that thing: my family bought me the this on dvd. i guess the really great thing is that such a movie with such characters was made in the first place. and really, that the coen brothers make movies - that's a great thing.

"over the line...i'm sorry smokey, you were over the line, that's a foul..."

"smokey this is not 'nam, this is bowling, there are rules..."

"you're entering a world of pain: you mark that frame an 8 and you're in a world of pain."

living

2008-11-02T23:01:00.002-07:00

you haven't lived until you've spent your daylight savings bonus hour holding your seizing dog while she vomits profusely down your side, thigh and underwear and then changing all the bed sheets. at 5 am.

hatespeech

2008-10-28T16:21:00.003-06:00

i'm tired of angry political rhetoric. i'm especially tired of christ-followers who use their God-given breath to engage in angry rhetoric. just because you heard rush limbaugh or bill o'reilly say it doesn't give you license to repeat it and talk like they do. just beacuse someone forwarded you something doesn't mean you have to send it on. as a christian do you really think you're leading people to the grace and truth that is Jesus by talking like that?

and lets stop pretending we're doing "God's work" by voicing vitriolic, divisive viewpoints. of course you should speak to your values and have a right and a responsibility to do so. we don't honor God though when our speech crosses over to ugliness and hatespeech.

if only there was some collection of the teachings of Jesus that we could all have as a referrence. something in our own language that had the power to remind us how to act and how to live as followers of Christ.

related to this: i'm sorry for the one million times i've voiced what an idiot i think bush is. cause i shouldn't speak like that.

"do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen..."

good weekend

2008-10-20T11:16:00.002-06:00

man i had a good weekend! my wife came home from fall break, b*u lost, utah won, real salt lake won and i spent every part of this weekend surrounded by the people i love the most. if i knew i was dying, i'd want this weekend to be the last weekend i had. except laundry. man i hate chores. i feel so blessed to have the friends and family that i have. now if only weekends were 4 days long!

rio tinto

2008-10-16T15:46:00.003-06:00

these are a little late, but here are a few pics from the first game at rio tinto. for people who don't know, rio tinto is the new soccer stadium. for people who don't know, soccer is a game by which teams attempt to put a ball into a net without using their hands. you'd probably hate it though, it's not as great as say, nascar.

the road

2008-10-14T23:34:00.002-06:00

i just finished reading the road by cormac mccarthy. wow. incredible book. incredible. thanks jimmy for caring enough to make quality book recommendations. i read it special so we can talk about it sunday night.

safety glass

2008-10-12T21:47:00.002-06:00

like my friend tim and my friend jonathan, my car got broken into tonight. keep your eye out for a laptop with TONS of work on it. and who are these pawn shop owners that will take a laptop from a bloodshot eyed-skyline high senior-meth head?

free vacation

2008-10-09T14:03:00.003-06:00

hey i'm going to use my retirement fund to take all my friends and family on vacation! this means you! so that's the good news. the bad news is that i'm charging each of you $100 to cover our day trip to bountiful cause pretty much sara and i no longer have any retirement money. thank you to all the greedy, corporate types who have made unethical and unwise decisions and choices over the last decade to put us in this spot. anyone else see this?

idea

2008-10-08T00:15:00.002-06:00

i've had an idea today, i think it's a good one...

let texas become it's own country and make mexico a part of the u.s. no offense to texans, but if you hate the u.s. so much and want to be your own country, then let's try that. and mexico so obviously enjoys america so let's add them! win win win.

laugh because it hides our pain and nervousness

2008-10-03T16:54:00.003-06:00

my brother sent me this and it's hilarious.

i was there for it and it was pretty sweet

2008-10-03T00:13:00.002-06:00

the utes played horribly tonight against oregon state. with 2 minutes left we gave up a touchdown and were 8 points behind. long story short we scored 11 points in 2 minutes and won the game without even going to overtime.

yikes!

2008-09-30T11:20:00.004-06:00

so much for my retirement account. if you want to know what is in it start with x and then add 7 years worth of interest at 9%. then subtract all that interest and all of x as well. did you end up with zero? if you did, then you are good at math and also understand the us economy right now.

here's an illustration by the bbc that helped me understand the buy out deal that congress rejected over the weekend:

i can't really decide how i feel about all of this. my "invisible hand" and adam smith lessons from econ 201 are pretty rusty. i HATE the idea of rewarding greed and unethical banking practices especially to white men (predominantly) who make ungodly amounts of cash. conversely, i like being able to access my checking account and withdraw money. i agree that something has to be done. my biggest hope is that whatever we do, it'll teach us a lesson we don't soon forget. i am strongly convinced that the gas crunch and our economic struggle will force us to examine how we live as fat, unhealthy americans and that in the long run will be a good thing. i also think that it's God's way of correcting our country. the sooner we stop pretending that we somehow deserve to use the majority of the world's resources and are somehow more loved by God than other countries the better.

crusades anyone?

2008-09-18T11:07:00.002-06:00

i'm not the first to mention it (see shane claiborne's newest book, jesus for president), but does anyone else get creeped out by our politicians (namely prezbush) declaring that the war in iraq is God's plan? here's the direct prezbush quote: "and then God would tell me, George go and end the tyranny in Iraq,’ and I did.”

here's sarah palin making a similar declaration at a church. she says: "our leaders - our national leaders - are sending them out on a task that is from God."

here's what hitler said about his leadership and decisions during the holocaust: "i believe that i am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord."

i recognize that our actions in iraq are not a holocaust. but the disregard with which our leaders bring God into the discussion is what disturbs me. of course, one cannot ignore that according to the world health organization (who), the iraqi death toll was over 150,000 (back in january of 2008)...i'll leave that one alone or save it for another post.

i

2008-09-13T17:07:00.000-06:00

i suck at writing blogs.

on my list

2008-09-06T16:30:00.003-06:00

today:

i did the laundry.
i stained the back deck.
i cleaned the bathroom.
i paid sara's fall tuition.
i put new ink in the printer.
i watched football.

guess which one made me feel queasy?

part three

2008-08-30T11:33:00.002-06:00