11.22.2004

Aunt Bethany: What's that sound? Uncle Lewis: You couldn't hear a dump truck driving through a nitroglycerin plant.

Where to begin...
Well today was one of those days where keeping your mouth shut is the hardest thing to do. Our church helped out this single mom a few weeks ago, when she called on a Friday afternoon and said her and her four kids were going to be evicted if she didn’t pay her landlord by the end of the day. Nothing like coming to the church for financial help at the eleventh hour, especially when we haven’t seen her in a few months. Anyways... we’re a church and it’s our job to help those in need. However, I was reminded of some sr. philosophy reading back in the day, gimpel the fool. The question of the story is, is it better to be a fool and know it and or be a fool and not know it. Here’s the rest of the story...
So one of our guys got a call yesterday afternoon asking for help to move her from one apt to another. Evidently she qualified for low income housing, but that meant she had to move from her apt to another smaller one across the complex this weekend. I’m not going to criticize her for not having her stuff packed up since this was such a rush, but I do have a few things that really got under my skin today. First, she had more stuff in her apt than my family accumulated in nearly a decade of living in seattle. Her kids alone had more toys than my sister and I had growing up combined. Her pantries were full, and this was odd since she asked the church to help her out with groceries. She had more clothes in her closets (3) than could fit in mine and the cuz’s closets combined. Plus, her bathtub was piled three feet high with clothes. I’m not even going to begin to wonder why the clothes were in there. So here we are, myself, three parents and a dozen or so youth groupers helping move her stuff, and she’s on her cell phone the whole time. Aggravating doesn’t begin to describe the feeling... then she starts going off about how her rent is $1300 a month and she only gets $1500 a month in income. This as I’m hauling huge bags full of toys and clothes. Then I realize she’s on the phone with the cable company getting her cable and internet switched to the new place. Did I mention she said she claimed to only have $200 extra to spend a month and she’s asking the church for financial help? Then there’s the topper... we’ve got a bunch of teenagers around, and her four kids all under nine years of age, and some of their friends hanging around, when one of our kids finds some soft-core porn in her bedroom. Now I have to try and urge the kids to look past this and focus on getting the moving done, and try and do it with a decent attitude, all the while this mom isn’t lifting a finger. Aggravation has turned to frustration, to flat out anger over being taken advantage of. Needless to say I let our eldership know about the movies just in case some of the kids say something to their families, and they need to know anyways because they’re supposed to be counseling her soon as well. That and she had this psycho cat that kept attacking the kid, and got my allergies all revved up.
So the question is how should I feel about all of this? Obviously this lady needs help. She can’t budget her money, her kids are running rampant, she has four kids from three dads, and she comes to us for help, then pretty much abuses our generosity. I seriously hoped I could look back at this later and find some good in today.
Well, I guess I didn’t have to look too far. Thanks God. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again gladly. I have an awesome group of church leaders. I came in unprepared for my youth budget meeting, and without any paperwork or exact numbers. I ended up having to ask them to hold back with the money so I could properly plan on how to use it. They were offering way too much to help me out with my new computer, and telling me to take more days off than I have available. Basically, they were going out of their way to help the youth group out financially, and me personally. The big thing is they said to take as much time off as I wanted to spend with my family for christmas, even though I only have two days of vacation after this thanksgiving weekend. Yeah, these guys are getting a nice fat christmas card from me. So here I am worrying about all of this stuff, and these guys are being nothing but nice. I seriously don’t know any of my youth ministry compadres that get treated as well as I do by my elders.
There was another thing that got me revved up this weekend. My cousin found out that kutless and third day were performing at the billy graham crusade at the rose bowl. So we decided to head out there last night to catch the bands and stay for the message, and see what all the hype was about. First, the cuz’s friends ran about an hour late for when we needed to leave, then picked a restaurant that was def going to take too long to get out of. This is why some women should never be allowed to make plans. By the time we get to the rose bowl, and get out of the parking lot, and get to our seats, we caught the last half of a verse from third day and completely missed kutless. Salgoode at this point, at least we’ll get a moving message from billy graham. Not exactly. He spoke for less than ten minutes, and I’ve heard more moving words from jr high kids in my youth group. I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt due to his age and medical condition, but that doesn’t explain how thousands of people felt moved enough to come forward at the rose bowl. That, and in his writings and interviews he’s proclaimed the need for baptism, but that was noticeably missing from his message. He’s got the repent part down, but forgot to mention the baptism part of the scripture. Needless to say the six hours worth of time committed to the less than ten minutes of mediocre speaking would have been the low point of the weekend if not for the moving today.
But I’m all about the positive. The kids and I are starting to hang out more often, and I feel like we’re getting relationships set in stone already. That, and I think there are some kids on the fringe that may start to show interest. I can’t wait for the rest of my job. These kids are a blast and we are having fun already, now that the more spiritual groundwork has been laid. Our Thursday roots with the high school was a blast. Friday afternoon two kids playing hookey form school invited me to lunch, then some of us went to see a movie. today we managed to sneak some laughs in while moving and then to top it off, some kids invited themselves over to hang out tonite at the apt.
and to top it off, I talked to topgun girl for a while this week. And it looks like I’m taking her to disneyland for a christmas present. Ok, so that’s more a present for myself, but regardless... I’m stoked. So christmas comes a few weeks early for me, but hopefully she’s as much a sucker for xmas cheer as I am. Ho ho ho.
One love and one heart.

11.17.2004

roots, rock and reggae...

so one of my jr high guys (rockstar) is phenomenal at guitar. is it wrong to want to start a band with a 13 year old?
anyways, his brother got me pretty good last night when he started asking me if i liked neil diamond, and proceeded to get a bunch of neil's songs stuck in my head. not even 311 is getting rid of 'coming to america' right now. seriously, 14 hours of neil is enough.
the other thing he got me on was my favorite albums of all time. the kicker is that they couldn't be greatest hits albums which is tough, because that automatically eliminates my numero uno album of all time, bob marley: legend. so, here goes my:

top ten favorite albums of all time:
10. jurassic 5 - quality control
9. the clash - london calling
8. english beat - wha' happened
7. jack johnson - on and on
6. unwritten law - elva
5. strung out - twisted by design
4. social distortion - s/t
3. 311 - transistor
2. rancid - out come the wolves
1. operation ivy - energy

the hard part about this list is there are so many albums, songs and artists that have meant a lot to me, that dont really have a typical list to be a part of. so heres another top ten list of:

top ten most influential albums in my life:

10. green day: dookie
this is the album that made me want to play guitar. i still sing along to every word on this album, and i think i was one of the few that stuck with this as a classic when all the punks were saying that the band had sold out.

9. pearl jam - ten
this was one of the first cds i bought when i got my first cd player. i was about to move to seattle, where i would spend many days listening to alive over and over again while it rained. it was then revived with a vengence in college when juaner and andibro made it cool to listen to non-punk music again.

8. unwritten law - elva
elva was the soundtrack for my senior year of college. road trips, el patioso cookouts, we played the shine off of this rocker.

7. jack johnson - brushfire fairytales
i thought this guy was so lame when i first heard him. he was exactly what i needed to mellow out musically a little bit though. easily the most influential singer for me in the past few years.

6. 311 - blue
the summer i was sixteen and living away from home. i still know every word to this album, mainly because i listened to it every day to and from work. these guys are one of my favorite bands and this album is why.

5. primus - pork soda
i didn't make friends for a while when i moved to seattle, and this ablum was my release. i just gave it a spin to the cuz the other day for the first time and it was like a ten year reunion with some memories of some crazy thoughts. that, and my name is mud has got the best guitar riff of all time (sounds like another top ten list for another day)

4. operation ivy - energy
this was the album that made me put patches on my jacket, bleach and spike my hair, and turn me into a super freak music fan. i can still remember my friend pug buying this and making us shut up as our crew drove home from the store. we sat in my friends driveway until the album was over. this became the measuring stick of everything ska/punk i listen to.

3. mighty mighty bosstones - don't know how to party
i'm not sure when i first heard this, but i fell in love with ska as soon as i did. at the time i needed something more upbeat to listen to. i'll never know how ska became popular, but you can garuntee i was out there with my rudy suit on because of this album.

2. judgement night soundtrack
this was the first album i had that my parents didn't know about. hehe, i should stop there but... this was also the ablum that got me from listiening to rap music to rock. all the rap on the radio was heading towards gangsta, and my white 11 year old self didn't really follow. ironic considering the movie though.

1. bob marley - legend
i taped this off of my youth minister when i was 11. i have probably bought at least a dozen copies of this to give as presents, and my mom normally buys me a copy every two or three years because mine get scratched up from use. this album made me a fan of music. this was the first album that got me dancing around my bedroom. first kiss... marley in the background. the more i think about it, the more i realize i don't have the time to type out how many stories i have from this album.

well, music has and hopefully will be a major moving force in my life. till that changes...
one love and one heart.

11.16.2004

i say carpe diem, seize the carp!

man, this weekend was a blast. it started out kind of awkward because i wasn't lined up to go to our jr high retreat this weekend, i had given the duty to one of our parents who used to teach our jr high class, and was looking to stay involved. fortunately he had to bail and i got to go. first off, this kids i took were pretty funny, and always make for some interesting conversation. that, and from what i have learned any and all trips with jr high students is a set up for some comedy, at the very least an adventure. and it wouldn't be a weekend with jr high guys if there weren't any fart jokes. the camp was really well put together, and the kids seemed to enjoy it, and more importantly get a lot out of it. kids aside, i had a blast because i got to hang out with some of my best friends, who happen to be youth ministers around here. dantheman brought his kids up and we had a bunch of good laughs, but the surprise was that joey fatone and noodles brought their youth groups up from san diego as well. sweet action. i got to work and hang out with some of my best friends at the same time. saturday night when we were all standing in the back of the room while a group form pepperdine performed, i got a peek of what is to come in the future for socal ministry. there were a dozen youth ministers there, and all of us are in our mid 20's, with the exception of one, and we all get along as friends. i can't even begin to describe how sweet this is going to be when we start combining camps and doing more stuff together. either way, it was good to see my friends again.
the other thing that was nice about this weekend was getting away to the mountains. i know camps in california aren't exactly as 'roughing it' as some places i've been, but you can't beat the sunsets here in california.
after having such a great weekend, yesterday was a little bit of a downer. my friend from church in seattle got engaged, which means that i now officially have no one to hang out with when i go to visit seattle. i can't exactly explain what it is about peoples' personalities that makes it tough to hang out with them when they get engaged, but there def is something there. sure i'm stoked for my friend, but i know what every conversation is going to be about for the next few years. it's like someone talking about nothing but their favorite hockey team for a year. sure you're stoked they like the red wings, but there comes a time when it's time to find something new. that, and it seems like the sense of adventure is lost when people get engaged. no more random calls wanting to do something at the last minute, no more unscheduled hanging out... and with this friend, no more having someone to dodge all of the 'so when are you getting married?' questions that are prevalent when i go to seattle. this may seem a little selfish, but make no mistake i am happy for my friend and i understand her excitement, which is why i'll be nice when i go home.
that being said, i have committed to doing a random act every day to embrace my bachelorhood. yesterday i drove. for no reason and with no map, i just drove up and down the coast, mainly because it was a nice day and i could. before that i slept in late, watched tv and ate breakfast/lunch while wearing a shirt that is almost a decade old, and has been through a couple hundred concerts and has the holes to prove it. today i think i'm going to build something pointless, maybe a brace in my bedroom to hold my surfboard. tomorrow, i think i'll paint. maybe i'll go hike.i’m sure playing guitar loud enough to meet my neighbors will be in there somewhere too. Whatever I decide to do i'm not going to plan it out. all i know is i have health insurance now and no excuses to go out and do stupid stuff. sweet. let random adventure week continue, and watch out bank account.
well the irony is, i've got work to do before i go out and have fun. what a way to throw some sand in the bonfire. oh well, it's nice outside and i’m going to go play.
one love and one heart.

11.11.2004

ryan stiles: I'd like to give you the weather for the next 50 years. Sun in L.A., rain in Seattle.

so trying to teach a dozen or so kids that have never swung a golf club the fundamentals is a lot tougher, and funnier than i thought. gennis is played... hilarity ensues. that's the whole purpose of the game. it's like calvinball meets golf. in todays rules, the jr high guys decided that the square foot wherever i was standing was the goal. and they didn't need clubs, they could just throw their tennis balls at me. way to make your own rules guys, you get the 'spirit of gennis' award for the day. needless to say i now have wilson tattooed all over me, and i owe some headlocks to my jr high guys, esp this kid d.j., whom i lovingly refer to as 'mini me'.

that being said, i love my job! and since i'm way overdue for one, here are my
top ten reasons why i love my job.
10. preacher jokes. i can tell the corniest cheesiest joke out there and you have to laugh, otherwise it's your soul.
9. i get to call old people by their first name.
8. a kid laughs: 1 church point, a kid cries: 3 church points (dantheman, this one's for you)
7. people refer to me as 'shaman'
6. my office is the eqivalent to roughly five and a half cubicles
5. youth events = pizza = nuff said.
4. church league softball
3. i get to wear my checkerboard vans to the office
2. the majority of my work today entailed picking stuff up i could play gennis and eat pizza with my kids, and the days only half over, we still have a bible study later tonight.
1. the kids are always stoked to watch bill and ted's excellent adventure

there's one other big thing today. after talking to my friend gennisgirl today, i read her little blog about rainy stormy days in oklahoma. i made a huge realization; i think i may be at a point where i like rainy days again. i can't emphasize enough how big of a deal this is. i lived in seattle for three years, and the sun was out for maybe 60 days total while i was there. okay maybe 90. either way, i've alway hated rainy cloudy days ever since i've moved there. but i was reading gennisgirl's blog today and started to kind of look at today in the same way i look at nice sunny days. the storm clouds today are pretty awesome, and you can tell where the sun is trying to peak out from behind them. i think knowing that they will not be here for the next 6 months is also part of what’s comforting me. so mad props to the oklahomans out there reminding me to appreciate nature. and no props to the hippies up in seattle that love nature for the wrong reasons.

oh yeah, i was looking for a quote for this blog, and i came across an al bundy one that was worth mentioning,"Raymond Burr, Delta Burke, city of Seattle. What's the difference?"

well, my guitar and my jack johnson cds are calling. one love and one heart.

gennis anyone?

man, this is starting to resemble a job. so i found out yesterday that the kids have today and tomorrow off of school. sweet, i actually get to hang out with the kids some during the day. i think today's weather calls for gennis to make its first official appearance in socal. nice, very nice. gennis is always called for. although the school we are backed up to does not offer the varied lies that the oklahoma christian campus did, it should suffice.
well, they're here.
one love one heart.

11.10.2004

You were in a 4g inverted dive with a Mig28?

it's amazing what a couple of well placed phone calls can do for you. last night i called dantheman about a logo project i’ve been working on for him, and through the conversation he ended up giving me a pretty decent compliment that pretty much made my day. then, i decided to give topgun girl a call and we ended up talking for an hour and a half (pretty decent for not being a phone conversationalist). anyways, it was one of those talks where we were able to get past goofy surface stuff, although we did end up delving into past relationships (mostly on her part) which is always thin ice. fortunately, the past is pretty long gone for her. unfortunately for me, these guys were unreal smooth, and i've got a lot of catching up to do... which means extra effort on my part due to the 2.5 hour drive between us. ugh. writing about this is actually not helping the more i think about it...
well today and tomorrow are my 'busy days' with our two bible studies, and the kiddos having tomorrow off of school. the cool thing is i have a bunch of stuff that i've been stressing out about that i think i can take in stride today. i think these mornings where i can get my start and get going help out a lot more than the days where lawdog and i sit around and talk for the first hour of the day.
oh yeah, mom finally mailed my diploma, so i finally have a fully furnished office! i've always seen guys with their diplomas hanging up in their office and not thought that it was a big deal. seriously though, it's pretty cool to finally be able to look up from my desk, in my office, ay my diploma. this begs the question though... how did i ever graduate?
well i'm not gonna hold my breathe to figure that one out. till then, one love and one heart.

11.09.2004

dad, we need a fire pole!

So I’ve been a pretty consistent opponent of reality tv, but lately I’ve seen some shows that have me rethinking my position. First, is pimp my ride on mtv. Not only are all of the ‘victims’ pretty deserving people, but the guys at the shop really make the show. Going back to the cars they fix, it always seems that it’s a person putting themself through college, helping the family, etc... the best on that show is big dane though, he’s the one that always has the clutch comment like my new favorite phrase, "aloha oi, holla at your boy’.
Secondly, is extreme home makeover on abc. This one had me on the verge of tears this past week. The family they helped had two deaf parents, one normal son, and one blind/autistic son. The two parents were given monitors for every major room so they could communicate across the house, and keep an eye on their youngest son. They also got to go on vacation for the first time in their lives. The youngest son got a new playroom specifically designed by autism specialists was color and touch sensitive. They also sewed sensors into his pajamas so that when he tried to play houdini and leave the house late at night, his parents would see an alarm and the police would be notified. Needless to say the parents could sleep better at night. The mom got her own room to do art, the dad got a new toolshed that was stocked ready to go and the youngest son got a swingset, his old chimes and a few other things that would help him feel comfortable in his new surroundings. The biggest gifts came for the oldest son, who should be nominated for sainthood. Not only did he get a brand new room, an atv, but they brought in marlee matlin to present a scholarship check for fifty thousand for the college of his choice.
Then today there was a show called ‘the biggest loser’. This show is where seriously obese folks compete for a cash prize, based upon who loses the most weight. There’s something to these tv shows that seriously help people in need. This isn’t a couple of neighbors redecorating a living room, this isn’t people supposedly ‘stranded’ voting each other off... these are shows where the people involved end up gaining more by helping than those receiving the gifts. Esp on home makeover. These designers rarely end a show not in tears. The few episodes I have seen have all been families that are more than deserving, but would never complain or whine. And they all thank God for blessing them before any work is ever done. I think there’s a lot to be said for that.
Speaking of interesting tv, while I was surfing around last night I happened across some star seach type of show on the wb. This was a cool find, considering I never really watch the wb.... anyways... there was this hasidic jewish guy in his twenties talking about what his religion was all about... then he starts singing some reggae song in yiddish. A hasidic reggae singer. His cd should be out soon. I listen to a lot of reggae, and this guy is legit, so you can guarantee that as soon as my ‘no money Monday’ is over I’ll be ordering my copy of mitasyahu’s album. Check back for details in a few weeks for a full review.
Personally, today and tomorrow are days for getting myself out of the funk I’ve been in as of late. My goals for Monday were to not think about topgun girl, not spend any money, and write at least two more songs on guitar. Mission accomplished. It was a good day off and now I think I’m ready to try and salvage this week from the grasp of last weeks’ funk. The goal for this week is to get my work stuff more organized, not spend more than $100 on myself (outside of food), and get my xmas trip to seattle planned out. Yeah, this is one of those hit the fan weeks where I’m gonna have to work my tail off to get things back to snowballing stage.
And for the record... viva la bam is by far my favorite reality tv show. Don vito’s subtitles are reason alone to watch the show.
one love and one heart.

11.04.2004

Theo: He's a minister Dad. He'll tell God we're crazy!

you gotta love crazy people.
we had our youth minister's lunch today, and for the first time I didn't see anyone famous on one of my visits to l.a. oh well. one of the youth ministers there was this barbarian of a man that totally caught me off guard. this guy looked like he would be more comfortable at a biker meeting than a youth ministry meeting, which is one of the many reasons he is awesome. he doesn't have a specific church home, instead he ministers to homeless kids in venice. let me repeat that, he ministers to homeless kids in venice. what an awesome ministry. instead of trying to maintain a youth group at some building somewhere, he is truly reaching out to the lost and those ready to experience God's love. if jesus were around today, i have a feeling he would be hanging out with the same people the barbarian does. there's a lot to be said for that. i know i come from a middle class background and still consider this type of ministry rogue or unusual. i'm so wrong. the hard part is what do i do now that i feel convicted? how do i take what i've seen today and apply it to my ministry.
anyways, the ministry is called dry bones venice. it rocks.
as i was driving back from the valley towards simi i almost got in a wreck again. all of the mountains are turning green and the sun was hidden behind what appear to be storm clouds in the distance. no post card or picture could ever capture that moment. if it's not raining tomorrow i may take a hike up the mountains and finally try and figure out how to publish pics of simi on my little slice of blog pie here. seriously, it looked like i was driving through ireland or something. i can't wait for more rain to bring more green to the hillsides. this place is so beautiful, and it makes it so easy to see where God's creativity is apparent.
needless to say, today is a pretty sweet day. i finally feel like i am somewhat getting stuff done, even though my list is still growing of things to do. um, i'm not sure that really makes sense, but the point should be in there somewhere. anyways, i've come to realize that this is a baby steps job on my part, and its up to God to do the huge breakthroughs. last night was really cool, we had our jr high bible study, and i wasn't really sure about what we were going to talk about, and God totally took over and really impressed me through some 6-8th graders. nice. i think they are starting to really come out of their shells. this could be fun in the next few years.
personally, i've been so busy that i haven't really thought to call topgun girl, or any of my other friends recently. i'm not sure if that's a good thing or not, but the big thing is i'm not getting down about not having talked to her in a few days. also, i was going through pictures last night and i was having a blast thinking about old friends. i think i may have to crack open the oc yearbook again too. the only thing that got me down last time was the list of girls that i was interested in that i never really acted on. there were a few pics that reminded of times that left deep bruises that i don't think i knew existed until after school was over. i don't live my life with regrets, but i know given another chance to meet certain females, and other friends, i would have def been more open and honest. def taken more chances. oh well, we live and we learn. also, after thinking about some of my friends from oc, i still hold that there are some who are just as hot as any famous actress out here in socal, without all of the smoke, mirrors and camera tricks.
as always, one love one heart.

11.03.2004

i wasn't able to vote. does that mean puff daddy is going to kill me?

Politics... man this stuff is crazy. I’m wondering how bad anti-bush supporters are going to gripe and complain. I’m just glad our president survived the media and entertainment conspiracy against him. Seriously, it made me really mad to see all of these bands and actors ganging up against our president. What makes their opinion more valid than mine? Do they get an nbc channel that I don’t? Stick to the acting and or singing, let me be the judge of my politics.
While I’m at it... I have to address religion and politics. The phrase ‘separation of church and state’ never appears in our constitution. Never. It originated in a private letter jefferson wrote to the leader of a baptist church. The letter was in response to a request by the baptist church to be the official religion of the new country, if the leaders decided to have one. That’s it. In fact, the only mention of religion in the constitution comes from the first amendment ‘where congress shall pass no laws restricting the right to practice religious practices....’(loose dj translation). that being said, the fact that the supreme court uses the separation of church and state as the basis for so many laws (i.e. no prayer in schools) is actually unconstitutional.
This has been on my mind for a while. Our cultural pendulum has swung to a point where christians are all but being persecuted. Mi madre worked in the science office at a high school in seattle for a while, a notably liberal area to say the least. I have to give mi madre props because she stood her ground against some hardcore anti-christians. They would criticize her all the time about her beliefs, yet she was not allowed to defend herself or her faith because that would be against the law. I told her to call the aclu and tell them her religious freedoms were being restricted. I love irony. Anyways, I tell my kids to pray in school as much as they can. Anyone that tries to tell them they can’t pray is suppressing their religious freedom. This isn’t to say that every kid in school has to pray, or that a muslim can’t pray to allah, or whatever the case may be, but there needs to be a realization that our culture is doing exactly what they accuse christians of doing. Ok, maybe irony isn’t always funny.
Also, I’ve said it before, and I’ll state it again; the very things that our culture looks for to solve our social ills, are the very principles that God gave us. Our culture is kicking God out the front door, and trying to drag Him in the back door. Ironic.
Well, I guess that’s all I have to say politically.

Other random thoughts:
I’m missing my friends. Simi valley is home, but I’m realizing that it’s been a while since I’ve seen most of my compadres. The hard part is realizing that I don’t have any time planned soon to see most of them again. Ouch.
Needless to say I could really go for talking to topgun girl.

Another thing that has been bugging me is my lack of creativity lately. I simply can’t think of anything to do for fun with the youth group. I feel tapped. I need something to kick me into gear. Those first few weeks of trying to get all of the other random stuff done and visiting families every night killed my drive and energy. The only thing that really gives me comfort is knowing that I am dealing with a lot of stuff right now, and I have to give myself some room to breathe. That, and I know that once I get on a roll things are going to take off at an unreal speed. I’m afraid I’m going to look at the calendar one day and realize days have turned into months of not talking.
I should be on the phone with topgun girl right now.

Seriously though, I really have been in a funk lately. Not one of those deep down, nothing could get worse funks where you have nowhere to go but up, but one of those I can’t really figure out what’s going on funks. We’ll see. Hopefully this writing stuff down will start to pay dividends soon.
Till then, one love and one heart.

11.02.2004

Barry: Rob, top five musical crimes perpetuated by Stevie Wonder in the 80s and 90s? Go...

Well, I felt like writing for a while, but I’m not really sure about what... and I was looking at my stack of movies, so maybe I can occupy my time by commenting on all my movies. Yeah, I’m basically sitting around here bored tonite.

Airheads: my favorite quote from this one is something like, ‘how can you be the lone rangers if there are three of you?’
Airplane: quite possibly the funniest movie ever.
American history x: if you didn’t think racism was a serious issue before... this should be shown in schools for seniors. Scary because it shouldn’t hit home.
Animal house: the best scene in this one is when john belushi breaks the guitar of the hippie guy trying to serenade the girls.
Back to the future: great family entertainment, and it poses the question, ‘when are we going to get flying cars?’ and the hoverboards are pretty sweet too.
Bill and ted’s excellent adventure: my favorite movie of all time. There’s not enough space on the server to write about this one.
Bill and ted’s bogus journey: primus is the highlight of this unfortunate follow up to the greatest movie ever made.
Blackhawk down: this one is an underrated war classic. The fact that it is pretty close to the actual event just brings it that much closer to home.
Blazing saddles: mel brooks uses comedy to push all the boundaries. Mongo punching the horse is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. You gotta love a movie that you quote for days after watching it.
Blue crush: chics and surfing. Nuff said.
Bottle rocket: gotta thank mr. Hollywood for reminding me of this one back in college.
Boyz n tha hood: not only was it the acting debut of my man ice cube (who inspired me to wear the detroit hat), but it introduced the hood to millions.
Braveheart: a great man’s movie. Makes you feel like you should get out and do something important. That does not include wearing a skirt. (I still hold to the belief that if you are not scottish then it’s not a kilt)
bruce almighty: it was surprising to see something that spiritual from hollywood.
Caddyshack: another movie that guys should be able to quote every line.
Carmen the hip-hopera: beyonce knowles. Nuff said.
Clueless: it’s always good to have a few chic flix on hand that you enjoy too. Oh yeah, and the mighty mighty bosstones are in it too.
Charlie brown christmas: instant christmas cheer.
Christmas story: ralphie + bb gun = classic.
Christmas vacation: I’ve said it before, every line cousin eddie has is classic, then there’s his wardrobe, then there’s chevy chase... the list goes on forever. The best part is you can watch this christmas movie year round. I recommend July 4th.
Crouching tiger hidden dragon: visually one of the best movies ever made. Storywise, it’s built like a classic fairy tale. This is one of those you can’t watch with a whole bunch of people.
Dogtown and z-boys: makes you want to go out and skate. Nuff said.
Dumb and dumber: funniest movie ever.
Encino man: instant classic. They need a category at the oscars for best college guy movie.
Fifth element: one of the best future sci-fi movies ever made. Made bruce willis my favorite actor.
Ferris bueller’s day off: I think it should be required by law that every senior watch this movie.
Fight club: one of my top five faves. The social ramifications of this movie are so underrated.
Gladiator: up there with braveheart as one of those great historical-kick-butt guy movies.
Great escape: a pretty funny war movie.
Happy Gilmore: my first friends I made in college came from me throwing this on the tv in the dorm lobby. I think quoting this is a question on the SAT.
Higher learning: one of those movies about racism that unfortunately hits too close to home for me. Ice cube is a classic, and busta rhymes brings the ruckus too. The award for best supporting actor goes to cole hauser though. His neo-nazi character is one of the creepiest things I’ve ever seen.
High fidelity: my roommates introduced me to this movie one day when I was upset about this girl in college, and spent the day organizing cds and making mix cds. Never has a movie hit home the way this one does.
Home alone: a good youth group movie for the holidays.
Hot shots: this one can make a grown man giggle like a little girl.
Italian job: instant caper classic.
Jackass: where to begin...
Major league: another one of those movies that gets quoted not quite often enough.
Magnificent butcher: old kung fu movie by the guy who did crouching tiger hidden dragon.
Matrix: easily one of the most influential movies of the past decade.
Memento: rehtegot tup saw eivom siht yaw eht evol attog
miracle: one of the few movies where it’s okay for guys to cry (see previous posts)
monsters inc.: I’m not sure how this one ended up in my possession.
My blue heaven: this was one of those $6 buys that was beyond worth it.
North shore: classic 80's surf movie that will have you craving waves... even in arizona.
Office space: modern classic that is probably quoted, and should be, in every office that has a cubicle. Gotta love the irony.
Out cold: by far the most quoted movie my senior year of college. I would walk in my apt and there would be people watching it w/o any of the roommates being in there. Also has my favorite movie character of all time (stumpy).
Out of sight: has the best bank robbery of all time, and introduced me to jennifer lopez waaaay back before the hype. Ahhh the good ol days.
Predator: top five favorite.
Predator: six dollar buy, but just good enough to be worth it.
Return of the dragon: gotta have a bruce lee movie in the collection.
The rookie: baseball classic, and a great youth group movie.
Royal tenenbaums: (see bottle rocket).
Rudy: if you don’t cry at the end of this one you have no soul. Or you need to get off the couch and do something meaningful.
Sandlot: one of the best baseball movies ever made.
Scarface: the people from mtv’s cribs made me buy this one.
School of rock: gotta love jack black. Gotta love the fact that the youth group can still watch this one.
September sessions: jack johnson directed it, nuff said.
Shaft: remake of a classic. It’s important to have samuel l. jackson in the list somewhere.
Shawshank redemption: I bought this for the few days that this isn’t on tbs.
Snatch: by far one of the greatest movies of the last few years. Seals the deal for brad pitt being a man’s man actor.
Social distortion: live concert of one of my fave bands.
Spaceballs: ‘comb the desert’ is the first of many reason to watch this one over and over.
Star wars: all of them combined still make for the greatest movie story ever.
Surf ninjas: this was a gift from the kids in tulsa. One of the best cheesy movies ever. ‘Lao tsu dude’.
Swingers: one of the best guy movies of all time. I think this is the only movie we quoted in high school. Every guy is represented in one of the characters.
Taxi driver: scary. This is where robert deniro got that, ‘you talkin to me?’ line. Scary.
Three amigos: they messed up the scene with the talking animals on the dvd. Dantheman still uses ‘el guapos’ zapatos’ for all of his fantasy sports teams.
Thicker than water: (see September sessions)
wayne’s world: one of the most quoted movies of my adolescence. That probably explains a lot.
Best of will ferrell vol 1&2: the funniest man alive, and this is the one that I quote the most as of right now. Goulet.
Willow: one of my favorites growing up. Madmartigan is still one of my favorite character names. The midgets still creep me out, then there’s the chic that plays sorscha. Toss in that cool bad guy with a skeleton helmet and you’ve got a great movie.
X-men 1&2: the best comic book adaption to a movie.
So those are the 80 movies (if I counted right... it’s late) that make up my collection. Noticeably absent are the lord of the rings trilogy (I’m waiting for all of the special editions in a boxed set), goodfellas, billy madison, tombstone (stolen), demoliton man (stolen), enter the dragon (lost), thunder ninja kids (stolen), oceans 11 (enough other people have it), steel magnolias (broken in an unfortunate skeet shooting incident), bridge on the river kwai, dirty dozen, the sting, sneakers... yeah I think I should ask for best buy gift certificates for christmas.

yeah, i'm a movie nerd that has movie collection alhpbetized. Well, I’m pretty much out of steam with this list thing tonite...
One love, one heart.