The Greatest Song For...now

I have noticed that I have an unbelievable blog following, note the one (1) comment in 15 posts and the one (1) follower - my wife. I know that this tremendous following is screaming for more information about what makes me me. So here is another series that I like to call "The Greatest _____ For...now". This is an insight into the things I'm into for now.

To start off this series, I'm starting with the greatest Song. By now you should be hearing it. Summertime by The New Kids on the Block could quite possibly be their best single so far. I know that seems to be a very outrageous thought, with hits such as Step By Step and Hangin' Tough (of which both you are now singing in your head) it is difficult to conceive anything greater. But on their comeback blazin' trail, they have proven that even guys that turn 40 this year can still look cool spinning in unison.

This song tops their list because of the catchy tune, artistic balance, harmonizing quality and ability of married men with children to sing about their 15 year old girlfriends and not seem creepy.

Keep on Rockin', Jordan!!

King of the Week - (2-21-09)

This weeks we crown none other than Mr. Late Night, Conan O'brien.

Conan has given us 16 years of high quality, late night comedy. The pasty skinned man has now officially ended his late night run in order to take over for the rarely funny Jay Leno. In high school one of the things I looked forward to most during summer was being able to stay up late to watch him. I look forward to seeing him on The Tonight Show, since now I'll be able to see him more often.

The greatest quality that Conan posses is his ability to turn a bombed joke into huge laughs. The greatest bit of Conan's career is the Walker Texas Ranger Lever. See the top two of all time.

Quote of the Week...A Twofer

One of the most amazing aspects of the American story is that while the nation's founders came from widely divergent backgrounds...They quarreled bitterly over the most practical plan of implementing those beliefs, but rarely, if ever disputed about their final objectives or basic convictions.

These men came from several different churches, and some from no churches at all. They ranged in occupation from farmers to presidents of universities. Their social background included everything from wilderness pioneering to the aristocracy of landed estates...Their economic origins included everything from frontier poverty to opulent wealth.

Then how do we explain their remarkable unanimity in fundamental beliefs?

...(1) they were all remarkably well read...(2) even though some did not belong to any Christian denomination, the teachings of Jesus were held in universal respect and admiration.

- W. Cleon Skousen (5000 Year Leap, pg 31-32).

I think I would like to add a little to Mr. Skousen's quote. I think the third fundamental idea that held our founding fathers together was their unanimous belief that they were common citizens themselves. They feared a tyrannical leader ruling them and their children's children. They also feared an anarchical government that would not be able to provide the adequate protection they needed. What else can account for their attempts to find the most perfect harmony between tyranny and anarchy? I also believe this shows the complete contrast of the ruling party of today who truly see themselves as the ruling party and believe that we (the people) need them to protect and provide for our needs (ANY speech by Barack Obama/Nancy Pelosi/Harry Reid as evidence).

As Benjamin Franklin prophetically pronounced, I am apprehensive...that the Government of these States may in future times end in monarchy (Albert Henry Smyth, ed. The Writings of Benjamin Franklin).

Do I need to reference the Stimulus Package and call into question all those that said Congress would never move towards the monarchy (socialism/communism/fascism) Dr. Franklin predicted?

Side Note: If our history is written accurately, can you imagine any historian 200 years from now EVER calling George Bush OR Barack Obama well read??

Book Report Number A

The Shack by William P. Young.

This book has found the magic formula that vaulted this story to the tops of best seller lists.

The formula: One part underexposed genre + two parts great story + three parts mediocre writing.

Hey, it's the formula that has Stephanie Meyers with two books on the top 10 list. It put Catcher on the Rye on the "classics" list. And now it has put The Shack at the top of every Christian's must read list, including an endorsement from the Super Bowl losing quarterback that was so terrified of tackling that he would rather get out of the way and lose the super bowl.

This book is a must read if you have no understanding of God, the Gospel and the Atonement. I compare it to a the Twilight books because it really is a great story, unfortunately the author kept it from being a great book.

The story of a grieving father finally coming to terms with the lose of his daughter and finding forgiveness for himself and his daughters killer through an exceptional experience with God was a great story. The unbelievable attempt to try and make God out to be everything He is not was disrespectful at best and at many points goes way beyond blasphemous.

This book really is nothing more than one man's attempt to explain things that he d0es not understand. If you are looking for an explanation of the current economic problems, would you really ask George W. to explain it to you? It would be like asking Al Gore to have a rational thought or Barack Obama comparing his done nothingness to Abraham Lincoln. In other words, if you are looking for directions to the nearest Target shopping center, this book is like calling someone that lives in another country for the quickest route.

However, this being said, if you have time, it is a short read (8 - 9 hours) and there are a few parts that did make me think, even if it was not the direction of thought the author had intended. You may learn something, you'll just have to wade through all the gobble gook and squirm at the blasphemous portions to get there.

My recommendation: Read something by Thomas S. Monson or Alma instead.

Spoiler Alert:

To save you the trouble of reading this book, there was one passage that I thought almost made it worth the read. Mac was brought before a woman and told to be judge. He refused, but she said he must judge all humanity and God Himself. She told him that of his 5 children he must choose 2 to send to heaven and eternal happiness and send the other 3 to hell and damnation. He couldn't do it. She explained that when we judge the things that happen in our lives and the people around us, we are judging God. Not only that, but imagine being a loving father that had to judge his children and send them to eternal torment. No matter how horrible my children may be, I would never want anything less than complete happiness for them. However, that is the the judgement seat God must fill.

King of the Week - (2-14-09)

So this is my little play off of "Best Week Ever" and because I found this picture of John Hodgman, so I decided this will be my weekly update, but based on my record, I might do it for the next two weeks then drop it. Each week (just humor me) I'll be finding the person that is King of the Week, obviously the most prestigious award next to an Oscar (since an Oscar has about the same credibility as an actual award - hence Dark Knight not nominated for best picture, why? because it's a movie people actual wanted to pay money to see so there is no need to mindlessly promote it for weeks as an Oscar contender to try to drum up a little business.)

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Anyway, our first winner of "King of the Week" is none other than...John Hodgman. This week I saw King John in Coraline (voice of Coraline's father) a movie that is somewhere between Must See and Don't wait 'til the DVD, solid B+. The 3D really made the movie (which is why you should try to see it in the theater), especially since they didn't try to insult your intelligence with stupid 3D tricks. There are also some really creative characters, not to mention a 65+ year old woman with triple F boom booms wearing nothing but a string bikini and pasties.

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Co-staring in a good movie wasn't really what made King John "King of the Week". What did the trick was his appearance on the show that is the reason the tv was invented. Battlestar Galactica! After his appearance as a quirky, Michael Scott-esk brain surgeon, I became an instant fan. Any actor that can deliver one-liners that can make Kara Thrace squirm, should be hailed and deserves our reverence in his presence.

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Long live the King! You make me proud to be a PC.

Book Reports

Thought I would just chime in and give anyone looking for a book to read a couple of reviews of the books I recently finished.

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

Great easy read, comparable to a Harry Potter type book. I really enjoyed this book, in fact I stayed up until 1 am to finish it. It takes place in the future with a North American continent that has been decimated by wars, plagues and natural disasters. There is a central government located in the capital city and 13 outlying districts. The central city controls everything and has everything. The districts are basically glorified slave camps that supply the capital city with all they need. The districts attempted to rise up against the capital city, but were defeated, resulting in the destruction of District 13 and the beginning of the Hunger Games.

I'm not going to say much more other than I loved the book. I enjoyed Peeta's character and the curve balls he threw into the story. I will admit that the ultimate survivor is extremely obvious, especially if you really understand the characters, but the way it all plays out was pretty exciting. Read it.

The Last Days of Krypton by Kevin J. Anderson.

This was definitely a surprise. I picked it up at Walmart for $5 just to have something to read during Abby's gymnastics, but I put off actually reading it for a while. This book was nothing like I expected. I was expecting some far fetched, sci-fi laced, super hero type book and this was not it. Don't get me wrong, there is sci-fi in it (alien shrinks an entire city to keep as a trophy for example) but that wasn't the vehicle that drove the book, just a convenient way to set it up.

This book was written as more than just to finally tell the tale how Krypton was destroyed. It is a story with the strong themes, the strongest being that if men do not learn from their mistakes, the results could be catastrophic. This book has some of the best characters I've ever read. The evil is well disguised and you can even justify it's actions until you finally realize its intentions and by then it may be too late. The ultimate cause of the destruction of the planet is a surprise and very profound. This book actually left me contemplating many different things of which I would have never expected. If you read it, please let me know, I need to have someone with whom to discuss it.

And yes, I see a lot of our political situations right now pop from the pages of this book and illustrate what I believe is going on right now in the USofA. It would be difficult for me to distinguish between the man in the book that drums up fear in order to "come to the rescue" of Krypton and the man that is doing the same thing right now.

Let me know if you have interest in borrowing either book, but I may be passing them on to one of you anyway (and by one of you, I mean the imaginary people that I dreamed up that would actually read something I wrote).