Maggie’s Getting Married – Torrance Theatre Company

A very delightful and poignant romp! My favorite characters were Axel (the actor boyfriend of title character Maggie’s older sister) and Maggie’s father, Tom. Axel’s delivery was just very hilarious and I really enjoyed watching him deal with Maggie’s older sister Wanda and all the craziness that ensues during the play (I felt like I kind of identified with him too). I also kind of identified with Tom (Maggie’s father) merely from the perspective of him being a married man, but he had these really great moments where he just had these stares-into-space reactions that were hilarious. Heck, as long as I’m being honest, I identified with Maggie a little bit as I was worried about my parent’s empty nest syndrome when I got married. For the second time, we chose to sit in the small side section which, while not “ideal” for seeing the show as optimally designed (1316 … Continue reading →

The Rock Church Worship Service

Paul Jon Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have. (Philippians 1:27-30 ESV) Also in acts and first Thessalonians So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, and from … Continue reading →

The Rock Church Worship Service

Paul Next week after church, church board meeting (finances, etc) Little country vibe there for you. coda Jon Preaching with Maria our new youth leader Shout out to Heather for taking over youth group this summer / past 6 months Excited to see what God has in store for our youth and for Maria and her husband Mike Gospel of Matthew (16) and the book of Philippians (1:26…) I And Thou by Martin Buber Principles of how we’re supposed to be in the living world He sees two positions: yes and no Yes position that we’re called to take, where you are called to say yes No position, I don’t want to get too committed From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day … Continue reading →

The Rock Church Worship Service

Paul I realized 5 minutes ago that I didn’t like any of the songs I had prepared, so it’s going to be one of those nights Lay your love down (???) Jon Stoakia tocosmo – Basic elements of the earth No other gods before me and no graven images Martin Luther’s thesis on Galatians 3-10 are rooted in 1 and 2 All leads back to idolatry and what’s going on in our hearts Tim Keller Time, energy, passion, money, these things are all gifts, but they can turn into idol factories None of these basic elements, these gifts cannot hold us up, they’re finite Any of these things can enslave us Transitioning from being irreligious to being REALLY religious We all have religious impulses that say “there must be something I can do to receive God’s favor” The Gospel says that there’s nothing but trusting in Jesus Enslaved actually translates … Continue reading →

Les Misérables (2012)

Les Misérables – AMC 12 DownTown Disney, Anaheim, CA

Absolutely brilliant! Love how the performances are so raw and imperfectly perfect, and that they were allowed to make acting choices since they were all singing live to just a piano accompaniment. And how a lot of the final shots used in the film are like complete 2-3 minute takes. And you’re in their face, feeling the emotion pour out of them. Just…gah! Brilliant. Russel Crowe was just as imperfect as the rest of them, stop whinging about it! It’s been interesting to hear opinions/reflections from others though. Most interesting to consider that the film is more of a love letter to Les Miserables than amazing cinema. I mean definitely worth seeing once, but other than that, it’s kind of unadventurous as cinema. The cameras kind of just swallow the actors. Someone from The New Yorker offers up a sarcasm laden fest regarding why Les Mis isn’t any good. And … Continue reading →

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – AMC 12 DownTown Disney, Anaheim, CA

I like Bofur, Balin, and maybe Dwalin. Possibly Ori’s face. 😉 Love, love, LOVE the Misty Mountains! Love that its the prequel trilogy theme. Also love the restrained callbacks to the original trilogy (only when it fits PERFECTLY). Add to this the fact that the songs are coming 99% directly from the text and I’m pleased as punch (that 1% is for making the song structures more palatable to human ears *wink*). Blunt the knives also makes me grin. Yay Lee Pace as Thranduril! Love seeing the Piemaker not interacting with stupid talking dogs. I also love how Peter Jackson is bringing in all these disparate pieces from Tolkien’s mythology (instead of Gandalf just going away and returning with a one sentence summary of what he did). It’s like he’s trying to construct the prequel trilogy that our generation deserves! Yay Andy Serkis as the second unit director! I mean … Continue reading →

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Cloud

Shortly after I first started working at DreamHost (Fall 2011), there was a lot of talk about “the cloud” and because I’m never tuned into the right channels, I couldn’t help but feel like DreamHost was just enslaving themselves to some kind of marketing buzzword and we wouldn’t be doing anything significantly different. The continual mention of “the cloud” made me laugh out loud like Candace Flynn anytime anyone said anything about writing letters to Santa Claus. And I didn’t think twice about those thoughts until I stumbled across this recent Dilbert comic strip (almost a year after I initially had those thoughts about “the cloud”) and I was amazed and somewhat humbled to realize how much of a cloud nut I’ve become since then. So I started poking around to get some more information about “the cloud”. First I read Who Invented The Cloud by TelecomTV.Com to try and … Continue reading →