Video of the Week: Fresh Air 2

Tags

Mike Birbiglia, This American Life

Mike Birbiglia’s short film that he made for This American Life. It’s funny and good.

One Day I May Be Bald, Every Day I will be Awesome

Tags

hotness, Receding Hairline

Tamie asked if I’m worried about my receding hair line.

I’m not.

One day I shall look like this guy, and you will all call me “Ultimate Winner”. You will all regret that you were not born as me when you had the chance.

You wouldn’t be worried if your future was as bright as mine.

In case you’re wondering here is an update of my progression towards total hairline (and creeper) domination:

This is post is part of the Blogging by Request series. To make your suggestion of what I should blog about, go here.

Six Fifty

Tags

$6.50, Coke, Mars Bar, St Ives

If I had $6.50 left in the world I would by a 600ml Coke and a Mars bar.

I just told Johnny that’s what I’d do and he laughed at me and said “That’s quite the entrepreneurial spirit.”

I did consider investing the money or something, perhaps starting a small business, but I’m not that gifted. Even on Kiva you lend $25 to people in developing nations to do something special with. And I’m not resourceful like a small-business owner in the developing world. They’re inspiring. I’m bloated on the convenience of my rich, North Shore existence. In St Ives if we see $6.50 on the ground (you’d be surprised how often people leave that amount lying around) we don’t bother to pick it up, because our wallets have no place for coins. Coins are beneath us. Quite literally, our house is built on coins.

Anyway, I digress.

Seeing as I have no idea how to turn money in more money (I’m not sure why I’m allowed to live in St Ives, lacking that skill set), I figure it’s best just to starve to death, happy that the last of my money was spent on sugar which did nothing good for me at all except makes me feel a little bit happy.

By the way, you should click that link to Kiva. They’ll give you $25 to lend to a small business in a developing nation (including the USA!) to get you started. It’s great. With Kiva, anyone can be a loan shark, though the interest rates are disappointedly low and you don’t get to break anyone’s knee-caps if they default on a loan.

This is post is part of the Blogging by Request series. To make your suggestion of what I should blog about, go here.

First Memory

Tags

first memories

My first memories are from when I was two (I think).

When I was two I had an operation on my bladder. I don’t know what was wrong with it, but it was wrong. I hope I wasn’t weeing glow in the dark wee or something, because that would have been an awesome skill to have.

Anyway, my memories are scattered, I was two. I remember being wheeled around a hospital on a hospital bed. I remember being given a train set from my grandparents as a gift to cheer me up. I remember getting needle from the doctor.

That’s about all. I’m not sure how many of these are actual memories and how many are planted in my head from hearing from my parents talk about my operation. Still real or implanted, their filed into the 1984 section of my brain, so that’s good enough for me.

This is post is part of the Blogging by Request series. To make your suggestion of what I should blog about, go here.

Watch Your Mouth

Tags

Germany

Today (Friday) was an eventful day for work.

In a short talk on Jesus being “the Truth”, as I talked about truth being relative I told the story of the blind men “feeling up an elephant.” Oops. One word too many in that phrase.

Then at my next school, a primary school. I made a girl cry. She was probably about 7. I was asking the kids for suggestions of things they’d seen recently that were amazing. This girl put her hand up and said “My friends!”

I heard her say “My fence.” So I said “Your fence?!”, hoping to hear what made her fence to amazing.

Everyone laughed. She said in a small voice “My friends.” Then she burst into tears.

After my talk at that same school, some students gave a presentation about different countries and what they’re famous for. I found out that Germany is famous for sausages, cheese, beer, Hitler and pretzels.

Video of the Week: Skyfall Teaser

Tags

James Bond, Skyfall, Teaser

Excited? Yes.

My Year without TV

Tags

hierarchy of needs, hypothetical, irony crush, TV

Could I survive a year without TV?

Yes, of course. Technically. We know from historical fact that the world survived at least 350 years before televisions roamed the earth. So we do know that television is not essential to the life essence of a human being, which I count myself as being one.

However, seeing as science has proven we are all mutating to adapt to our environment, I suspect that humanity may have evolved to have formed a symbiotic relationship with television. I think now we may need TV to survive. When I was in Kenya I noticed that most of the houses in the slums had a TV. It seems the next thing one does after finding a corrugated iron roof is find a TV. I think in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (Revised Edition) TV now fits somewhere in between shelter and mobile phone reception but well above something as pansy as self-actualisation. Though of course if you know anything about the Maslow’s rainbow pyramid (which I do), one can only self-actualise now with the help of television, seeing as it forms the foundation of the pyramid (along with food, Facebook and excretion).

Now all that said, could I survive a year with out television?

I could survive a year without Foxtel for sure. That’s just like commercial television but with worse programs and just as many ads. I could do away with that. And I have.

I could survive a year without watching free-to-air TV. I don’t have a television aerial anyway, so I probably wouldn’t notice. I might get sad around State of Origin time that I can’t have my hopes dashed once again by another dismal performance from the Blues. But that is perhaps for the best. The only program from TV I watch is Qanda, and I get that on the podcast.

I would find it difficult to stop watching TV programs. Because, I love TV programs. These days, thanks to HBO, television is like the movies only it goes for 43 minutes and has more guns and more boobs than the average movie. I’m not saying I endorse guns or boobs (although I think I endorse both within their Biblical contexts), but that is what HBO has done. Could I go a year without Community, 30 Rock, The Walking Dead, Boardwalk Empire, Qanda, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Treme, The Wire and The West Wing? That would be very difficult. I would be forced to watch movies. But that’s alright because I love movies. I’d just have to get good at finding good places to pause because I don’t always have 90-120 minutes free to watch a movie like I often have 22-43 minutes free to watch a TV episode.

Could I go a whole year without watching anything on a TV screen? No movies, not TV shows, no Keno ads at the RSL, no train information at the station? That would be very hard. I would have to read, a lot. I do love reading, but I tend to do it less than I watch things. Mainly because I’m lazy, and books put me to sleep. Still, were I forced to go a year, I think I could do it, it would just be very hard for me. Though I’d probably come out the other end happier and with a much better vocabulary.

That is assuming that my hierarchy of needs pyramid didn’t collapse upon me. Then I’d be dead, crushed beneath the crushing weight of my need for love, belonging and safety. Still I would die with a smile on my face, because who wouldn’t enjoy the irony of being crushed to death by safety?

Smashed TV photo by Imbecillsallad, Needs Pyramid from Wikipedia.

This is post is part of the Blogging by Request series. To make your suggestion of what I should blog about, go here.

Video of the Week: Mutemath – Break the Same

Tags

Brisbane, Mutemath

Johnny and I went to Brisbane yesterday to see Mutemath play. I’d been waiting for about six years to see them and they finally came to Australia. It was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. Musically they are fantastic. And as performers, amazing.

This video will give you a little of an idea of what our 2 and a quarter hours of Mutemath were like last night. Enjoy.

The Boxers and Undies Combination

Tags

boxers, briefs, dacking, trunks, Undies

So it seems that the most interesting thing to blog about in this crowd sourced blogging is my choice of underwear. So let me tell you the story of what happened. Back in the day I used to wear undies (briefs) and boxers together. This started in high school when boxers were cool, but there was also an outbreak of dackings going on. People would go for the double-dack where you’d get both pants and undies in one fell swoop. So I decided to have a secret weapon. Double undies. That way they could double-pant me and my business would still be safe behind my cotton forcefield. I also took to wearing my belt quite tight in those days. Life was tough back then. Only those with street-smarts made it through. (One person did try dacking me, the belt held.)

After high school however, I just kept the practice up. It’s just what I did. In fact still to this day, I have two pairs of boxers and I have two pairs of undies which I wear with them. I’m even wearing the boxers/undies combo today.

However, back in 2005 my auntie gave me some underwear for Christmas which was half way between boxers and undies. Longer then undies and tighter than boxers but not as tight as undies. I didn’t really know what to do when I got them. I didn’t know if they were the top layer of the bottom layer. This forced me to make a decision. Would I reject these undies because they were different or would I try a new experience? Seeing as I’m into multiculturalism and all that, I gave the undies a chance and found I quite enjoyed them.

Now days I tend to mostly wear trunks, which are as tight as undies but show as much leg as boxers. I choose my underwear on whether I would be happy to walk around the house in it. While I tend to wear my 15 year-old trackies around the house in the mornings, I have been known to just wear the trunks. Briefs I think show too much leg. I’m comfortable in trunks.

If you’re really keen to see me in them, move into my neighbours house and look out the window on some mornings between the 6:30am and 7am, you might get to see me ironing my trousers in trunks, unless it’s a boxers and briefs day, then you’ll be out of luck, but I will be well prepared for a schoolyard dacking.

This is post is part of the Blogging by Request series. To make your suggestion of what I should blog about, go here.

Prodigal

Tags

beer, housemates, party

Tonight I had early bedtime plans. I’ve been staying up late and getting up early for 8am school chapel call-times. It’s been tough. But then Curt came home. He’d been missing for about two weeks, stressing and studying for an exam. He did it today.

Sleep plans be gone! Curt was home. So we opened the choice beer and killed the fattened Doritos. We had to celebrate because this housemate of ours once was dead but is alive again. He once was lost but now is found.

Crowd Sourced Blogging (kinda)

Tags

blogging ideas

My sister emailed me today and said:

“You don’t blog anymore, what happened?”

This is true.

The answer is, I don’t blog because I’ve got bloggers block. I’ve spent many hours (half-hours at least) staring at my screen thinking of things to write about, and nothing happens. It’s tough. It’s like constipation but worse. At least with constipation you know there is something waiting to get out.

After my first three months of blogging everyday, April got just 13 blog posts and lots of them were videos. This is sad.

So now, as I go through this tough time, I want to ask you dear readers for help. Please comment on this post and tell me what you want me to blog about. I promise that I will blog about each and everyone of those things that you ask me to blog about*. Now is you chance you learn my opinion (or lack of) on anything you want. You can request a story on anything that interests you. I’m your blogging servant. Ask me to blog about cats – You got it. Suggest I blog about my greatest fear – Done! Request a blog on tonight’s budget – coming right up. You can even request photos, videos, paintings, drawings, dance numbers. This is the power of the internet folks, harness it!

Now I can’t guarantee that I’ll blog about the topic exactly how you want me to. If you suggest “Your biggest secret” I can promise you that I will not tell you my biggest secret. I know how the internet works and it’s not a place for storing secrets. Just so you don’t get disappointed.

Anyway, comment your requests, we’ll see what happens.

*God-willing. And it may take me a while depending how many suggestions I get. I may defer some of my blog posts commitments to the 2013 blogging season to return blog to surplus.

What chu talkin’ ’bout, Thomas?

Tags

Evangelism, illustration

I was looking at my notes for a evangelism seminar I’m doing tomorrow night. I did it last year so I thought I’d have a look at what I did. I found this note. It’s a point with an illustration:

Gospel means good news. So shouldn’t it be human centred?
- Locked Car new undies

I have no idea what I was talking about.

Video of the Week: The Dictator on Today

Tags

The Dictator

It’s quite inappropriate. But very funny that this happened on breakfast television. The discomfort of the hosts is the greatest.

Be warned, you may be offended. Really.