Furby Autopsy

What in the world? I'm sure you have done the same thing that I have done to find this site. All I was doing was some casual surfing online, and ran across this... I website telling us how to properly skin and disect a Furby! I know this is a little outdated... people would have loved this site 5 or 6 years ago when the stupid things were all over the place, but check this out. The greatest part is the hacking section where it tells you how to reprogram your lovable Furby... just what I always wanted to do.

Pyramid Scheme

Hey, just becasue we know this is a pyramid scheme doesn't mean we can't take advantage of it right? I know that there is a catch... but I also know that if I am able to figure out what the catch is and work around it I can get a free iPod. I think it might just be worth the try. Help me out... sign up and don't enter real information, except for a verifiable email address. That'll help me get my free iPod and I will let you know how it works and if you should do the same. freeiPod.com

Incredible

Last night Michal and I went to see The Incredibles with Steve and Jen. The Incredibles, the new film from Pixar and Disney, may be the best one yet. I think my favorite Pixar film is still Monsters Inc. but this one is top-notch. The film follows the ups and downs of the life of superhero Mr. Incredible and his family of "supers". His son, Dash, was one of my favorite charactors... he seemed like all those kids we know with ADD. Frozone (yes, that was one of the superhero's names) was the best comic relief I have seen in an animated film since Hades in Hercules.

On a greater scale than just the film are the disolving ties between cartoon mega-monster Disney (aka "the mouse") and CGI power-house Pixar. Pixar, who shares a CEO with Apple computers, has only one film left on contract with Disney and then they are parting ways. The next film to come, Cars, seems to have appeal for Nascar fans, people who make fun of Nascar fans, and also fans of Thomas the Tank Engine.

I am very excited to see what Pixar will come up with on their own. Boundin' - the short film before The Incredibles, I think is a taste of what's to come. Original, beautifuly animated, and clever. I think it will translate well into full length films. I'm not quite sure what Disney's influence has done to the Pixar films but I imagine that it has only been negative. Pixar may be the next Disney! Time will soon tell.

Organized Mafia

Check this out... it's the mafia! Okay, so it's not the real mafia, but boy is it funny. This is an organized group of students who play the card game Mafia. I found that there are actually quite a few groups of organized mafia players at universities around the country. You can check out this groups web site (listed above) and find rules, information about the game, and even listings of when they get together and play. I have played the game many times, but I think it would get a little old playing with the same group of people. Oh well! I guess it's better than those psyco D&D players!

Is this for real?

The Grumpy "Old" Man: NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So it's really great to look through other people's random blog entries... this one for example: Not only is this guy from Alabama, but then he is writing about his great aunt Jessie and her fifth husband. This is the America that I love! Some people talk about elliminating the masses of idiots (Krammy!), but I think they are the ones who make this country what it is. Just think of all the satisfaction that you can get by driving behind someone who has bumber stickers that say cute things like "Defeat Bush... again" and "Kerry / Edwards", people who have destroyed the paint on their cars just to support a loser make me smile.

My iTunes

Well, I guess since I have been spending a lot of time writing about really important things and life-changing decisions, that I should now write about something a little lighter... like, what I am listening to
these days. First off, though, before I launch into it, I want to make one thing clear... look at my picture... look closely. I am by no means an Emo kid. I like Weezer, I always have, but just because I like other Weezer-like bands doesn't mean I wear tight jeans, Ramones t-shirts, horn-rimmed glasses, and mope around the indie-music store all day. That having been said, here is my list of indie music (mainly) that I listen to these days... this list will of course change in the next week or two, but that what it's all about:

1. Ben Kweller - Just found out about this guy last week... he rocks you can even download his music from his website | here

2. Elliott Smith - Again, a guy I just started listening to. I bought the XO cd and than the From a Basement... album as soon as it came out. Kind of a sad, suicidal sound.

3. Wilco - I have listened to them for a while but never bought a cd 'till A Ghost is Born came out, this album is great. They are kind of my post-Guster fix. Check 'em out! - not to be confused with Wilco plumbing.

4. Modest Mouse - This is a little less indie and a little more verge!
Great sound, a little "out there" but with tracks like The World at Large and Float On this is one solid album | Good News for People who Like Bad News.

5. Rufus Wainwright - This guy might be the one on this list who stays here. He isn't what I would call phenomenal, but he has such a rich sound that I think he will be around for a while. With his new album Want Two he is well on his way to being a solid contender for my "Ben's Music List" of the year.

Well, that's it. There are some of the top artists that I am listening to. I think an honorable mention should go to Fountains of Wayne, Lyle Lovett, Guster, John Hiatt, Loudon Wainwright III, and Bruce Springsteen since they have all made it to the "top 25 most played" playlist on iTunes. One more thing to mention here too... Synergy... this is a little utility that everyone on a mac should have, check it out!

Thanks Karis

Glad you are going to be my cousin, Ben.

This has got to be one of the greatest cards that anyone has ever given to me. The "I (heart) you" is especially great. All three of the Taylor children made me cards and they were all great, and now I know that I have to keep it in mind that the kids love "fun" wedding parties (none of this boaring slow dancing!).

She Said Yes & The Crazy Weekend

I asked her, and she said yes. On Friday night Michal and I were at our friend's house with her brother and sister-in-law, and her cousin Chris and his family. It was a nice night of just sitting around talking, drinking Wassle, watching the wind blow the fire, looking at pictures of "the old times past" and trying not to show how incredibly nurvous I was.

We left the Baker's house late, nearly half-past midnight, and went for a drive (one of my favorite past-times). We soon found ourselves at the lake, standing in the cold, flooded in the light of my headlights. We talked about what a wonderful evening it had been and how blessed we are to have friends who care so much about us and show us what it means to be godly parents and godly husbands and wives. As we pondered this blessing I told her that this thought led me to a question that I would like to ask and got down on my knee.

That was the start to a weekend of an abundance of joy and an overflow of blessings and best wishes from our friends and relatives. Saturday we decided that it would be fun to reinact our evenings saga in front of multiple groups of people and proceeded to fool our friends and family into believing that they were witnessing "the" event.

I can honestly say that I have never spoken to so many people in one day as I did this past Sunday. Everyone at church was full of "best wishes" and congradulations as well as advice and intrest in when to get married and how to plan the future. Towards the end of the day we were both feeling a little overwhelmed with advice, but we could not be more thankful for the wonderful friends that God has given us. Thank you everyone, and may God bless you has he has blessed me.

This is a picture of me at the Graden of the Gods in Colorado Springs just a few weeks ago. Well, there's really nothing else that needs to be said right now... this is more like a space filler...

Lunch with Mr. Bayly

I have come to the conclusion that it is a better idea, when I want a positive answer, to eat lunch with Mr. Bayly than to eat breakfast.

Today he and I went to Noodle Town , though I am known to not like Chinese food, and he told me that he would like Michal and me to get married sooner than later. This idea is, of course, quite in line with what I would like as well.

There's so much more to say, so many emotions running through my heart, my head, but no words will do them justice and I fear I would simply continue to ramble on. Mr. Bayly continually shows me that he knows me better than I would expect or guess.

Well, I have a few more things to do today, but most importantly I need to consider how I am to "pop" the question (and soon, tonight!).

What am I tired of?

I am reading through Doug Fields' book, Your first two years in youth ministry and just read a letter that his friend Brian wrote him about being tired and quitting. This is exactly how I feel. I have been at this for less than a year, I know that I don't know what I am really doing, but I am tired of being tired.

As Brian said in his letter, I am tired of parents having a beef with me, but instead of telling me they call a dozen other people. I'm tired of people considering youth ministry as less important than other ministries and not giving me the support I need (and I'm tired of buying this lie). All in all I'm just tired. Brian said that he had quit the day before, but then he went home, not having told anyone and read this:

Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. - Ephesians 6:13

The battle isn't between me and parents. It's not between me and kids, it's not between me and myself, rather the battle is the Lord's. He is fighting, through me, the powers of darkness in this world and my call is to stand.

And stand I will.

Your feet are going to be on the ground, your head is there to move you around, so stand - REM, Stand

Graduation

So, to graduate means to move on to something new right? It means that I will be able to have some kind of possitive impact on society because now I have all these sophisticated tools to aid me. What a load of bunk. Help society, that's what they say they want you coming to their school to do, yet the whole time you're there all you hear is how to promote yourself. What can you do to help others, the message I got was, you can't really ever help someone, what you have to do is make as much money as you can not being a blue-coller worker, and then, if you feel so inclined give money back to the school so that they can decide how to help those less fortunate (also known as freshman). I have been told that the best thing I can do with my life is to not let others tell me what to do. Believe it or not I have not yet gotten my diploma and already I have been getting calls asking me to give money back to the school, they want me to raise funds for an institution that should be run out of town for their neglect. No, I don't think I am what they want a graduate to be. I am four years older than I was back then, I am, honestly, four years wiser. But this wisdom comes not from lessons I learned in the classroom but lessons I learned about the classroom, about society and about the wealth of knowledge that sophicates the potential out of university students. Long live Indiana University (IU).

Sometimes it seems we do things that have no purpose. Writing this plog, not just this entry, but actually this entire series seems to be one such thing. There is rarely something that makes one feel as little accomplishment as writing jibberish for a class that he doesn't even really know how his grade is being determined. I don't recall if I have mentioned this before, but this entire blog is solely for the purpose of fulfilling a class project (though it was begun before the project was ever assigned). It has been filled with very few actual ideas of mine and is rearley worth writing let alone reading. So why would such an assignment be given? Is there a point to poluting the web (or any media) with such waste? It seems bad enough that this kind of waste could permeate my head, it seems inhumain to make others suffer through the random stumbling on to such a post. There is no reason why anyone should be wasting their time reading this blog and so it is not only wasting the small amount of physical space it takes up but also steels what time it can from your (yes you the reader's) vibrant life. For this I am sorry, and in the rare case that you are still reading I here end.

PS Check this out! I know I have plugged it before but it is all new now. You should love it.

Links
These are just the links for my personal use during my I450/I451 Class:
1.[macromedia]
2.[flashkit]
3.[IUSFL]
4.[bwcrum email]
more to come...

Gone, but not forgotten

What is the greatest source of wasted time for not only Pastor Bayly but also for the majority of those who are subscribing to World magazine? That's right, it's thier very own system for blogs. So what are the pros and cons of this system. To be able to, at any time, post ideas that one has on any given topic is a very useful thing for a pastor to be able to do, however, with the same token this can easily take up all the free time that the blogger has. The danger, as I see it, with blogging isn't the posting of the blog but rather the time it takes to keep up-to-date with the postings that have already been made.

This blog entry for example will never be checked by me, you can make a comment if you would like, ask me a question, carry on a conversation with other bloggers about this topic, but I will never come back and check on you. This, you might think, defeats the purpose of posting, but in fact here is why it does not. If I have something I want to say the blog allows me to do so in a public-esque forum. Then the public, you, can discuss it. For me to come back in to the forum and converse with you would require more and more time from me.

So is blogging bad. No. Is it good? No. Blogs are good as long as they don't suck your time from all the other things that demand your time. Well, I am just blowing steam, this is now the end. Here is the link to the worldmag blog site [click here]

Wired Again
Okay, so this week on wired I read about mars rovers, censorship, and what I found most intriguing, eternal life. Here’s my question: why does a nihilistic self-proclaimed atheist want to live any longer than he already has to? If his goal is to live until he finally discovers the meaning of life there is plenty of time to do that in most lifetimes. Ironically to provide him with his longevity that he longs for he seeks to conduct research on very young, undeveloped humans. All this is to say there is little here on earth truly worth sticking around indefinitely for. I am not saying that there are not pursuits worth dedicating time and energy to but what makes any one person worth keeping around longer than the rest of us? Well, I guess I have put more questions here than answers but here is what it all breaks down to.

Pop-culture tells us that there is no truth, that God is dead, and that we are simply a product of some unsubstantiated evolutionary process involving processes that are more far-fetched then the idea of Kevin Costner saving a flooded world from disaster. We cannot make statements about others for fear that we will be labeled as criminals of hate. I apologize for cultural taboos that may be here broken but living longer so that promotion of a decedent society can be perpetuated seems like the least noble cause, and I happen to be one to believe in nobility. Thus, forget your riches, forget what this world can do to promote your ego and look to see what your knowledge and skill can do to truly help the world (a novel concept if the world has ever heard one). Anyway, this did have something to do with technology, but it’s a stretch I know…at least I’m thinking.

The Arc Choir

Okay, here is one thing that I would really like to be able to do here on this blog, music reviews. This week, The Arc Choir's "Walk With Me" album [more info].

This album is great and is perfect for February, Black History Month. This collection of gospel music is performed by the Arc Choir, the Addicts Rehabilitation Center Gospel Choir. It is truely amazing. Here is what Fred Kaplan wrote in 1997 concerning the ARC choir.

"Before you slip on The ARC Gospel Choir's Walk With Me [Mapleshade], be forewarned: this is no soothing daisyfield of New Age serenity. ARC stands for the Addicts Rehabilitation Center of East Harlem, its singers are former druggies whose souls were wrested from the flames of hell by the Hand of Jesus, and they want you to know the joy of their redemption. This is raw, raucous stuff, thirty-two proud, strong voices crooning, hollering, and sweetly harmonizing as if at the portals of Heaven's gate, hands clapping, feet stomping, swaying to the tough-love discipline of a tight ensemble order. Pierre Sprey, Mapleshade's proprietor-engineer, captures every ounce of it, with an analogue tape recorder and three PZM microphones — a pair mounted on either side of his custom Plexiglas wedge, another single mic lightly spotlighting the basses. Hamiett Bluiett, the baritone saxophone player who has produced several Mapleshade discs, led Sprey to the choir and to the church where he recorded them. As Sprey says in the liner-notes, "The acoustics were just right for recording a choir: warm and reverberant but crystal clear so that individual voices wouldn't be lost in a haze of murky echo." You've got a front-pew seat at the Kelly Temple Church of God in Christ, the dynamics quake and thunder, and even a heathen like me can't help but be inspired. "

Check it out.

For T452
www.bencrum.com
The Soon to be Updated BC Online
Okay so I don't think this would really count has posting a blog entry, but I did want to have this up here so that everyone can check out BC Online, my personal web-site and soon to be portfolio. There are however two articles that I was reading tonight that I thought were great. First is this one from Wired in which I find that people actually believe in some scams that go around online. I find it hard to believe that some of this email scams actually work but I guess if you find a wealthy enough dumb person it might just fly (I would recomend scamming Hollywood CA in that case). The second article comes from the best News source on the web, The Onion, okay so this one has nothing to do with technology but I think this whole Atkins thing is a joke, so enjoy.

Nota Bene
I would like to point out quickly the header of this blog and state that some day soon I will in fact endevour to meet such goals. However, I am not reading current events but rather great works of the past, thus my view of the world exists but is not judging events swirling around us. Perhaps the future will hold more opinion and less drival.

Time Rolls On
What do I do with myself? I have no idea what I am supposed to be doing as I sit arounf Bloomington with no work to do, no job to go to, and no Michal to keep me company. Now I really don't want to be sappy, I just have nothing to occupy my time. I have both hobbies and classwork, neither though truly fills time. I have started reading more and more often but still I feel hopelessly bored. I don't want to get back into a routine of sleeping when I am bored because that made me sleep all the time (which I am suggesting is not good). Well, I guess this is not supposed to be an online personal journal but I do not think that one such post will be too bad.

A Long Day Begins
Today is, and will continue to be, one of those days that drags on and on. I didn't go to the men's group thing this morning but I did get up at 7:30 and took a shower. I don't know if I am suposed to attend the wednesday meeting of my I451 class but I didn't bother with it this morning. Now I am sitting in my Telecom Flash class and I have another Fine Arts Flash class later today. After that I have Kid's Quest at church and then some more work for Broad Reach Recordings.

New From Zambinia
I checked my mail today and found that I had two messages from Michal, one nice and long and full of wonderful detail into everyday Africainian life, and the other short and sweet and just what I wanted to hear. I look forward to hearing more soon.

The New Semester Begineth - or - Flash, the Final Frontier
As I look at my schedule for the next semester, that's not what I am doing right now, I see that my semester will be almost compleetly tied up in a little application called Flash. As of right now I have three classes on the subject, one (telecom's T425 on flash apps on unconventional devices) will be all new and moslty conseptiual, another (fine art's T330) will be almost all dealing with Action Script and will be very helpful in my Informtaics capstone class. The third and final Flash class is based on design and advertising and I am going to drop it. I just cannot handle three classes, in a row, in front of a computer.

One thing that has been on my mind recently is what this all will mean for my future. Will I inevitably sit in front of a comuter and deign "cool" graphics that fly across stranger's screens and help them have a more enjoyable web-surf? I sure hope not.