We Can Work It Out (with The Getaway)

This is one of my favourite Beatles songs. This power-pop version I did uses pounding percussion and heavy guitar sounds to give it a hard edge. The video comes from the movie “The Getaway”, starring Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw, who had their own troubles to work out.

Here's some brief thoughts of recent events...

Fulfilment of Time.

Seth books talk about how time is an illusion. The movie "Slaughterhouse 5" suggests that we are actually travelling back and forth in our own lives. I see my life having connections between past and present. As I continue to finish the final audio edit and mixing for the feature film I worked on in 1997, I am fulfilling what my own self intended to do back then - in 2007. What Seth instructs us to do is to look into moments in our past that foretell a major event happening later in life, like foreshadowing in a movie.

Questions to Ponder

How do they know that no 2 snowflakes are alike? Did they check?

If all the world's a stage, where does the audience sit?

Some critiques about Super Bowl commercials.

For some reason, Coke and Tostitos are taking credit for all the gains made by African-Americans in the past 100 years. Just like how Chevy takes credit for 'being there' through all the disasters and wars "Our Country" has endured (as well as triumphs in Civil Rights). Coke and Tostitos unfortunately can be mostly be credited for encouraging obesity in our country. Yes, it's terrific that African-Americans have been able to gain in stature, but let the right people take credit for it. (What's next? How about they CGI a bag of Tostitos in Martin Luther King's hand during his "I have a dream" speech)

Living in the Extreme

You might think someone who uses the term "Extreme" would live in California or something. "Extreme" to me is challenging nature. I climbed up a waterfall, scaled mountains, jumped rocks along the ocean, etc. But here in Minnesota, Extreme is simply stepping outside the door on a cold February morning. The topic of Weather here is as popular as Prince. When a big storm or a cold snap is coming, TV stations break into regular programming as if ICBM missiles are about to hit. Colourful graphics and hour-by-hour accounts of how low the temperature will get are urgently displayed. The excitement stirs everyone up as if it's the 4th of July.

Today (February 3, 2007), the morning temperature here is -13º degrees. The wind-chill is 36 below zero. What does the general populous do? Stay indoors? Cancel your normal plans? No. Everyone is so excited about the extreme conditions - they go out! Last night, there was the Winter Carnival parade in St Paul with a windchill of -7º degrees. When the pilot announces the temperature outside when landing at the Mpls-St Paul airport, there are a bunch of groans from people coming to visit. Then there is a wave of chuckles by Minnesotans returning home. If you're making small talk with someone in an elevator about how cold it is outside, the reaction is more of fascination than disdain.

"I hear the high today is only going to be 3 below today"

"Wow, that's amazing!"

I used to work at Video Rental store, and everytime there was a huge snow storm or extreme cold system coming, people would flock to the video store. The idea in their heads were "let's stay in and watch some movies". In reality, they go outside in the nasty weather to the video store (and back) to rent movies so they can stay indoors. Huh? Similarly, I will go out to a movie on a bone-chilling cold night, and find a parking lot half full of other diehard movie-goers.

Personally I enjoy the idea that merely going outside can be a life threatening experience.

A Review of "Jesus Camp"

There is a disturbing divide in what is sensible teaching of religion (any religion) and promoting intolerance. Any good religion teaches tolerance and forgiveness. Any good religion does not see others as enemies, but rather people to understand and find peace. “Jesus Camp” has no sinister intent for 90% of the content taught to the children. Just as well, these are mostly children willing to be totally immersed in the teachings and have potential for developing into well intentioned and successful lives. As much as they are trying to create their own “army”, they will not be able to enlist the general public into the more radical elements of removing the separation of Church and State.

However, that small 10% of their indoctrination of how they should view other people who do not subscribe to their beliefs, is disturbing. The child's bright disposition changes to an ugly hate when they say they don't care about people who are pro-choice or have other conflicting beliefs. No religion espouses changing their government. Especially in this country, that was founded to escape religious persecution. The last thing our founding fathers wanted was an official government religion. When God is mentioned anywhere in our government, it is not referring to a specific version of God based on any one religion, but on somewhat more like a Unitarian position.

When I watch this documentary, I don't despise or hate anyone presented. They are free to practice to any extreme beliefs. They are also welcome in trying to recruit others. There is no violent or illegal approach to their cause. But that is what makes me different from those featured brainwashing the children. I don't look at 'them' and think that are lessor people, as much as I don't think that I am any greater than any other people. But I hope all these children learn tolerance, or they are shutting out a natural curiosity of what else is out there in the world. I find value in every belief. I mostly understand where these conflicting beliefs come from. Just as well, I certainly don't think I have lived a life for God, other than the God that is Me. And I have tried my best for Me to live the most pure and enjoyable life I can imagine.

I believe it is ridiculous to concentrate on abortion when there is far more horrendous and unjust murders occurring around the world. It is also ridiculous to withhold information about contraception, thus increasing the likelihood of a need for an abortion. I believe anyone can live in accordance with their religious beliefs, but instead of spending too much time re-iterating their allegiance, they should go about their own human pursuits. One can have a balance of how much time they spend to purely remind themselves of what life is all about, along with going out and living that life.

SUPPORT THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND HATE