| This is a film I made in the fall of 2004. It was shot on a Canon A series digital still camera using the film setting. I had to shoot in small increments due to the small memory card size. | |
Indiana in the Fall
Back Home Again
Dear Friends and Family,
We are safely back in the States after a fairly un-eventful battery of flights. Now that I have access to high-speed internet I thought you might like to have a few more pictures from our trip. We didn't have a camera for the last month, so it was hard getting pictures, but here are some you might enjoy.
Agathos
Due to having a lot to say, this post will be very long. That is why I am dividing it up into sections. Most of what I say will not interest you, generally speaking. What will interest most of you is the “Our Work” and “The Website” sections. Please feel free to skip through, read what you like and feel free to ask question.
The Organization
To properly understand Agathos it is vital that you realize that there are two divisions of the organization. These two bodies may not see themselves as being vastly disconnected but I see this difference as being key to understanding our frustrations, difficulties, and even all positive aspects of our trip to South Africa. The two groups, as I call them, are Agathos International, based in Seattle Washington and led by Rob Smith, an Afrikaner living in The States, and Agathos South Africa, overseen by a board of men living in South Africa (primarily in the Johannesburg/Pretoria area).
When we arrived in South Africa back in August there was no South African board. With the formation of this local body to oversee the day-to-day needs of the village I have a renewed hope in the work being done here in Loskop.
In August things were frustrating. In September we were ready to shake the dust from our feet and only use “Agathos” as a curse word. In October things started looking up. There were people listening and hope of something being done. As we get ready to leave the South African board is more closely scrutinizing who is able to come to the village here in Loskop, when they can come, for how long and what is being done with the money that they are raising. I don’t want to use this post as an opportunity to rip on Agathos International but I would like to give an example of why the South African board is vitally necessary to the health of the organization. Currently (though this should soon change) the local director in Loskop must submit a weekly budget to the International office. This budget includes normal expenses like food and petrol, but will also account for any building-supply expenditures and uncommon expenses such as dental bills or contractor fees. The problem, as with all our frustrations, is in communication. It is hard to get someone in Seattle who spends little or no time in South Africa to understand the needs that we have. So why is it done this way, why not give the responsibility of handling finances to either the local village or to the South African board? Well, that is what we have been wondering. In the most recent board meeting minutes from the South African board there is a action item requesting that 75% of all funds raised by short-termers (like us) raising support to come to South Africa be put directly into an account controlled by the SA board.
The Website & Self Supporting
Want to know how to make Michal or me instantly angry? Start a question with “Well, I read on the website...” Please, as we instructed before we knew better, look at the website. Now forget everything that you just saw or read. It is not true. It’s not that the information is simply out-of-date (which would be somewhat forgivable) it is, and never has been true and is, as best as we can tell, deliberately misleading. What’s the point in having a website that misleads people? Agathos (see Agathos International in the Organization section) is built on an idea that they call “Self-Supporting”. You will find this key-word on the website. The idea is that a village for orphans is supporting itself financially (a farm is the “example” from the website). We were never told that the village here in Loskop is not “self-supporting” or even that there was no farm (as the website would lead one to believe). I actually received an email from Marc Fulmer (in the Seattle office) after arriving in South Africa stating that “[the Loskop village] is not yet 100% self supporting.” Putting it that way made it sound as if it were self-supporting, just not 100% “yet”. The Seattle office would argue that the village here is self-supporting but they would redefine the idea to fit the circumstances. They claim that our self-supporting income source is short-termers. In other words all Missions Organizations are self-supporting. To explain all this on the website would be to diminish the idea. To admit that there is no farm would lessen the effect of the idea. To tell what’s really happening would, in their minds it seems, cause people to pass over Agathos seeing it as just another organization with a grand goal but no implementation.
The unfortunate aspect of all this is that Agathos is not really a model for “self-support” but rather an organization born of a crisis, a crisis of orphans in southern Africa. Agathos does have a noble goal, it’s goal is to care for children in need and it is doing that. There are so many positive aspect of the village here and the work that Agathos is doing that it is a shame that none of them have made it to the website.
The People
We have had the pleasure of working with some great people while we have been here.
JD and Barbara Borgman - are a couple from the states who have had a home in South Africa for 7+ years. Barbara grew up on the mission field, they met at Wheaton college and have been working with various organizations for as long as I’ve been alive (or longer). They now have their own partnership called “Ubuntu Partners” that they formed to work in cooperation with other organizations. They work with Agathos and have been involved since it’s beginning here in Africa 3 years ago. They host the volunteers (short-termers) every week at their home and have provided much spiritual encouragement and physical rest.
Scott Brinkerhoff - is the director here at the Loskop village. When Scott took the position of director 2 years ago he was hit with a lot of chaos. He has reformed much of the way day-to-day life here goes on, everything from starting parenting classes to giving order to meal times. Scott seems to be one of the best things that has happened to Agathos.
Volunteers - There have been many people in and out. As we leave three more people are coming in. This is nice some times, but it is frustrating when there are ten short-termers on site and no work to do. Just to show that I am not exaggerating my number, there names are Richard, Jason, Christina, Emily, Hannah, Kim, Annah, Michal, Ben, Scott, Caroline, Ross, & Andy (plus any number of people here for a week or two).
Our Work
So what have we been doing? We have provided most of our friends and family with periodical updates but these have been few, far-between and lacking in much detail. Here is a little to fill you in. Our biggest project has been “Study Hall”. After the kids get back from school we break them in to groups (according to grade and skill level) and help them with homework or give them supplemental instruction to assist them in their class-work. Upon arriving we were asked to start this program and had no real good direction for it. It has turned out very well. Michal has been working with three of the 1st grade boys teaching them their letters, letter sounds, and beginning to teach them to read (it’s good that reading in Zulu is easy seeing as how one of the boys, Mxolisi, doesn’t know much English). Michal has another class of 4th and 5th graders who have been working on the reading comprehension (in English) and have been doing splendidly. I have been working with a group of girls (age 12-14) who range from grade 5 to grade 9. We have been working mainly on English comprehension (and homework) but have also been working on some basic Algebra (which the younger girls seem to have picked up much better than the older ones). The other project we have been involved in is the garden. There is a sign I put outside the garden which says “This Garden Belongs to:” and a sign below it with all the kids names who have a plot. The kids have had a great time seeing things grow but it has not been easy getting them to do the work necessary to keep the garden weed-free and sufficiently watered. We have tomatoes, zucchini, butternut squash, carrots, beans, peppers, lettuce, and some scattered cabbages growing. Unfortunately the only thing ready to pick has been the zucchini, but the other vegetables will be ready to harvest soon.
In addition to these two main areas of focus we have been able to fill-in as part time caretakers. The regular caretakers get a weekend off every-other week and three weeks of paid vacation every year. We stayed with Thandi’s kids during her vacation and it was the most enjoyable three weeks of our time here. Michal also would occasionally fill in for Mary Jane when she was away.
We have also been spending a lot of time just playing, reading and getting to know the kids. I have spent countless hours swimming in the river and trying to teach the kids to swim. We have even been able to take the kids to one of the resort’s pools which they loved. Taking the kids off site is always a chore but well worth the effort.
I have also worked on carpeting, hanging ceilings, painting, stuccoing, demolishing, landscaping, plumbing, electrical and other odd job.
The Kids
There have been, off-and-on, about 30 kids here at the village. Many of them are related and are cared for by their aunt who is on staff as a caretaker. The children live in one of three rooms in a suite, the caretaker in the middle with children on either side (split boys and girls). I don’t have enough time to tell you about each kids here, and since it’s not right to play favorites (or at least not to let on that I play favorites) I better not give selected profiles. I will say that anyone who has been around children or who once was himself a child will know how difficult children can be at times. The kids here are not always perfect, in fact I have never seen children fight over games so much, but they have also been a great joy. They love to listen to stories and have books read to them (and many of them now love to read). They will play for hours with a piece of string or a tin can and they are always willing (and joyful) about helping when we need something. If we had let them we could of had them washing our clothes, cleaning our dishes and making our bed for us. They would have been happy to do it. It was great to go with some of them to visit their grandma and see how eager they were to help her. It’s often hard to remember the pain that these children have gone through and the trials that wait ahead of them. Some of the kids are HIV positive, some have come from abusive situations, they see and have seen death all around yet God gives them joy. If you would, pray for these kids. For Zamani, Kenan, Malusi, Nkosikona, Khaye, Slindile, Stembile, Nqobile, Thando, and Notile. For Nokuthula, Thobile, Zipho, Sinetemba, Sthabiso, Dumasani, and Zama. For Patience, Nokuthula, Thembalani, Mxolisis and Kwaneli. For Thandeka, Zanele, Mpume, Nkule, and Asanda. I know these are all just names to you all (and some, names that you can’t pronounce) but each one means a bright face, a wonderful laugh, a cuddly child, a tender heart. Each one needs to know for the first time or be reminded of how God loves him or her and has adopted them as sons.
Images from South Africa (#3)
The sun sets over the cottages at Loskop (just outside our door).
Zipho sleeps in the hot, hot sun
J.D. Borgman shows us an old homestead at his farm in the Champagne ValleyMore Pictures from South Africa
Here are some more pictures from our trip. As always, click on the image to see a larger version.
The boys show off their best Kung Fu moves
Look Dad! No hair!
South Africa Update (Round 4)
I’m sorry our updates have been so dry. I’ve been writing them from the internet café, which means that we were paying for every minute, so my main objective was just to get them written and sent. Today, though, I’m writing from Scott
Here’s a look at our daily schedule, Monday thru Friday. The day begins at 6:29, when we roll out of bed and head down to the dining hall for breakfast at 6:30. As you all know, we are not morning people.
6:30 Breakfast, then the kids head off the school
7:10 Staff/Volunteer devotions (Aaron is using Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest devotional) Then, Aaron takes us through the schedule for the day, talking mostly about what work needs to be done, mostly maintenance/building projects.
8:00 Ben and I head back to our room to make our bed, have devotions together.
8:45 Start working—stucco walls, dig up the garden, etc. manual labor
12:30 Lunch
2-3:00 Kids trickle back from school, and we work on various projects in the afternoons
3:30 First Study Hall hour, for the youngest half of the kids
4:30 Second Study Hall hour, for the older kids
5:30 Bible story time
6:00 Dinner
So, that’s a rough outline of our day, M-F. I can never make it from breakfast to lunch without a snack. Six hours is a LONG time.
The Study Hall hour that we have started is going well. We are making some changes, gaining more help, and learning as we go. I always said that I never wanted to be a teacher, but studying education certainly would have been more helpful than Spanish. Really, we are trying to prep the kids to start a curriculum called ACE in January. The administration (Scott, JD and Barbara) would really like the kids to transition from the public schools to Christian education on-site. It’s not realistic to do it with all the kids, especially at this point, so we will tutor all of the kids, and then move some of them to ACE curriculum in January. They are looking for someone to come and be the ACE administrator beginning in January. If any of you are interested, let us know! If you’re wondering what ACE is, too bad. I don’t feel like explaining it, and I can’t remember what it stands for. It’s like a cross between private Christian school and homeschool.
Yesterday, I met with our director, Scott, two other older female American staff members, our Zulu pastor, a Zulu caretaker and a Zulu cook to discuss…dress code. I raised the question with Scott because everything I had heard and observed led me to believe that it was not appropriate for a woman to show leg above the knee. Yet when I looked around, all of our girls (teenagers included) would walk around in miniskirts, even wearing them to church. I’m not that conservative when it comes to dress, but I definitely thought it was probably inappropriate. When I brought it up to Scott, who had two sons and no daughters, he said, “Huh. I dunno.” Thus, the meeting. It went very well. Some new rules were made. Now, we just have to tell the girls. I’ll leave that to Scott, the pastor, and the caretakers. J I wasn’t the first to notice the way they dress. The pastor, cook and caretaker all basically said at the beginning of the meeting that it was scandalous the way our girls dress. So it’s good the problem is being addressed.
Ben and I looked around our bedroom after a long, discouraging day last Saturday. Our bedroom is 10ft x 10ft. There were ten boys, two girls, and three adults in the room. Half the boys were on our bed practicing Kung Fu on each other, four or five were watching the same movie preview on our iPod, over and over again. Seven of them were from Mary Jane’s room, and Mary Jane was on holiday. I was watching her kids for her, and staying in her room, so I let them stay up late. By the end of the evening, three had fallen asleep on our bed and floor. We had great fun, though. Ben and I decided it would be a great idea to adopt ten boys and live in a 10 x 10 ft. room.
Well, I have lots of great stories to tell you all, but you’ll just have to wait until our next update.
Love,
Michal (and Ben)
Images from South Africa
Kwanele peeks out from his room. Kwanele, 2 years old, is the youngest child at the Laskop village.
Most people don't realize that the sun actually sets in the east and rises in the west in the southern hemisphere.
The girls practice their addition flash cards (for fun).
[click the images to see larger versions]
A Little Soccer Anyone
Michal and I are here in South Africa and there is one thing that I found surprising... okay, there are many things that I found surprising, but one in particular... soccer in South Africa is called soccer. I guess that isn't really true, many people do call it football (even though, as all heterosexual male Americans know, football is a sport where you through around a pigskin, hit one another and slap your teammates' rear ends). The kids at the orphanage call it soccer (when speaking english) and football (when speaking Zulu). Whatever it's called, it's a lot of fun. We played yesterday with a group from Mars Hill in Seattle and a bunch of the kids. I don't think I have ever played soccer on a full sized field but now I have a lot more respect for footballers as athletes (not to mention these kids).
Well, I hope to have some pictures up soon. We are just east of the Drakensburg mountains and the views are stunning (when the smoke clears out). If you are not on our mailing list and would like to get more regular updates send an email to me here.
Tesla Anyone?
Have you heard of the new Tesla sports car? Check out those sleek lines, kickin' curves and... oh I don't know, whatever it is that makes a sports car apealing (red paint?). So, do you notice anything really different about this car? Like most sports cars it goes from 0 to 60 in under 4 seconde, unlike any other sports car it gets the equivilent of 250 miles per gallon. "How?" you might ask, well, it doens't actually run on gassoline, it's an electric car.
Tesla Motors Inc., backed by eBay, Google and Paypal big-wigs is setting up shop and producing these amazing cars. Just checking out the info page gets some pretty cool info. The car will have built in iPod dock, no service necessary (until 100,000 miles), and the car has no reverse (the engine runs backwards to move the car backwards) - that means the car will be able to go 130 miles an hour... backwards (well, maybe not, but it should be able to)!
You can check out more on the Tesla Roadster at their web site [here] or read more on Wired.com and other sites.
End Women's Suffrage
That's right, signing a notebook to end women's syffrage (because it's "really bad"). "We rest our case". This video is great.
The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny
| The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny - Music by Lemon Demon You've got to check this out! Who will win the Ultimate Showdown? Will it be Abe Lincoln? Batman? Shaq? You will just have to watch to find out. WARNING: This is not a kid friendly cartoon (some blood may be spilled) | |
WonderMark
Here are some comics from a web site that you shouldn't go to. Most of what they have is funny but there is some inappropriate stuff there too.
Worth Writting, Reading, and Talking About
I've been confronted lately with the massive wasteland that the Internet has become. Admittedly, I am a contributor to this mess, as are approximately 4 billion other nobodies. I always wondered why there were magazine articles and CBS Evening News sound-bites of celebrities voicing their opinions on any number of topics from Politics to religion. "Who cares what Samuel L. Jackson has to say about angels?" I would say. I don't know what Sam Jackson's opinion on the possibility of a new "True" video iPod is, having never read his blog or downloaded one of his PodCasts, but there are a couple million people who think that their voice should be heard on the subject. "Why?"
The true reason behind the popularity of personal blogs and "friend" sites like MySpace and Facebook is that such sites make it possible to convince ones-self that he is more popular than he actually is. I am no longer popular because I am a great athlete or because I look good, I am popular because I have 4,001 friends on Facebook and have had 32,022 hits on my YouTube video of my brother acting like a dog. The crazy thing is that my popularity will never go down, it will only rise! Tomorrow I may have 34,000 hits on my YouTube video making me even more popular than I was the day before.
So are people really convinced that they have reason to believe that they have friends simply because someone wrote "hi halokilla412, 'sup?" on their Facebook wall? Are they really convinced that they are cool because they beet a level 5 mage in WoW (World of Whatever) and someone said "dragolore222, that was tight, a/s?"?
I'm not saying that we should revert back to basing popularity on looks and athletic accomplishment (back in '82 I could throw a pigskin a quarter-mile!). What I am saying is "get over yourself". No one cares what your thoughts on something that you read on someone else's MySpace page about what would make a great feature for the new PSP-2. I have been spending a lot of time recently reading the BBC news site, the Bayly Blog and New Yorker reviews of musicians and film directors. Sure I don't want to simply suck in "big media" opinion and culture, but I want to know where the info is coming from. Contrary to popular belief, just because it's on the Internet, doesn't make it true (or worth you time).
[by nobody, Ben Crum]
Windows Live Local
It isn't often that I promote something from Microsoft, but this has got to be seen. Their "Windows Live Local" webservice is what powered my Hole in a Hill post on the Crum Family Blog. Now check this out. I have tried my best to find all the houses and dorms that I have lived in (which means anyone from my family would have a slightly different list). You will notice some of the locations are not houses but rather towns, that's because I have no idea where our house or apartments were in those towns.
Enjoy!
AGATHOS
Believe it or not I can actually be serious some times. This is one of those brief moments.
Michal and I are planning a trip for the fall to South Africa. We will be working with an organization called Agathos (meaning "Good") based out of Seattle Washington. The Agathos Foundation is a fairly new organization working in southern Africa (South Africa, and later this summer, Zambia). We will be flying to South Africa in August for a 4 month term. Please be praying for us as we prepare to go overseas.
[ Image Courtesy of International Missions Board ]
Spore
Okay, so this video is really long (over 30 minutes), so I guess I will try to summarize. There is a new game coming out from Electronic Arts called Spore. When I first heard about it I thought it sounded lame, and when I first saw the graphics for it at the EA website I thought it looked like a kid game. It is neither lame nor a kiddie game. You start off in a fairly two dimensional world within a drop of water. You are almost at the cellular level and you simply swim around eating other cells. The game evolves from there to "creature" level, to "tribal" level, to space mode (one of the coolest features of space mode was the Genesis tool that allows your UFO to turn a barren planet into a lush, livable world). The scope of the game is huge and the guy who is demoing this video keeps making references to the other games that Spore is like. Sim City, Space Invaders, Civilization, Risk etc... This game is awesome.
A Bedtime Story
Lady in the Water
I just watched the new trailer for M. Night's new film, Lady in the Water and I have one question... why the heck is he in the trailer? That's right, M. Night Shyamalan who, like Alfred Hitchcock before him, makes "cameo" appearances in all his films (the drunk-driver in Signs, the supervisor in The Village etc...) actually is in the trailer for his new film. Now that's just corny. The new film looks cool. I think it is a great idea to not really show anything in the first trailer and then go all out with the second. It really makes me want to see this film.
There are many who don't like the Shyamalan Method, the way that M. Night films make you think one thing and then twist it. If you've ever seen one of his films you know what I mean. It's the feeling you have, after seeing a film, that you want to tell someone about it but if you do then you will give everything away. Talking about his films (with people who haven't seen them) ruins them.
Water of Love
WARNING: Random Post
I really need to leave the office, but how can I? Dire Straights' Water of Love just started playing on Pandora. I can't just stop it, "that would be sin". Before Dire Straights it was Bruce Springsteens' Atlantic City, the song that I made this station to hear. Hopefully the next song will suck so that I can go home...
I really need to leave the office, but how can I? Dire Straights' Water of Love just started playing on Pandora. I can't just stop it, "that would be sin". Before Dire Straights it was Bruce Springsteens' Atlantic City, the song that I made this station to hear. Hopefully the next song will suck so that I can go home...
Illegal Immigrants Returning To Mexico For American Jobs
© 2006 Copyright, Onion, Inc. All rights reserved
MEXICO CITY—As dozens of major American corporations continue to move their manufacturing operations to Mexico, waves of job-seeking Mexican immigrants to the United States have begun making the deadly journey back across the border in search of better-paying Mexican-based American jobs.
"I came to this country seeking the job I sought when I first left this country," said Anuncio Reyes, 22, an undocumented worker who recrossed the U.S. border into Mexico last month, three years after leaving Mexico for the United States to work as an agricultural day laborer. 
"I spent everything I had to get back here. Yes, it was dangerous, and I miss my home. But as much as I love America, I have to go where the best American jobs are."
Reyes now works as a spot-welder on the assembly line of a Maytag large-appliance plant and earns $22 a day, most of which he sends back to his family in the U.S., who in turn send a portion of that back to the original family they left in Mexico. Like many former Mexican-Americans forced by circumstance to become American-Mexicans, Reyes dreams of one day bringing his relatives to Mexico so that they, too, may secure American employment in Mexico.
Despite the considerable risk illegal immigrants face in returning across the border, many find the lure of large U.S. factory salaries hard to resist—at 15 percent of the pay of corresponding jobs in America, these positions pay three times what Mexican jobs do.
Still, the danger is very real. When 31-year-old illegal Arizona resident Ignacio Jimenez sought employment at an American plant in Mexico, he was shot at by Mexican border guards as he attempted to illegally enter the country of his citizenship, pursued by U.S. immigration officials who thought he might be entering the country illegally, and fired upon again by a second group of U.S. Border Patrol agents charged with keeping valuable table-busing and food-delivery personnel inside American borders.
"It was a nightmare," Jimenez said. "Many became disoriented and panicked, and some were mixed in with immigrants going the other way across the Rio Grande and ended up swimming to the wrong country."
He added: "My cousin almost drowned. They fished him out and sent him back to wash dishes at T.G.I. Friday's."
Many say the trip across the border as illegal Mexican-American emigrants offers them a chance to land the American jobs in Mexico they never have been able to get as illegal Mexican-American immigrants in the U.S.
"It has always been my goal to have a good American job," Johnson Controls technician Camilla Torres, 27, said. "Many Mexicans now see Mexico as the land of opportunity. Mexicans will not stop trying to get here, no matter how much the Mexicans wish we would not."
Indeed, the trend of illegal re-emigration is causing great resentment among the local Mexican population, and tension between Mexicans and illegally re-entered Mexicans—dubbed repatriados—continues to build.
"I hate these Mexicans, always coming back here to Mexico from America and taking American jobs from the Mexicans who stayed in Mexico," said 55-year-old former Goodyear factory manager Juan-Miguel Diaz, who lost his job to a better-trained repatriado last March. "Why don't they go back to where they went to?"
Still, Jimenez, Reyes, and hundreds of others say they have no choice.
"The American Dream is alive and well in Mexico," Reyes said. "If I work hard, save my money, and plan well, I will be able to send my children to a good school—and who knows? If they study hard, perhaps they will get jobs someday at the new plant General Motors is building in China."
See original Onion Article here
Download PDF here
Nemo, eat your heart out...
Recently I attempted to read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. As a kid I loved the movie, but I found the book to be too much detail of under-sea creatures and not enough story. However, one thing still intrigues me, the idea of sailing under the seas in a private submarine. I was disappointed (a little) when my Mom, brothers, and I took a tour of a fast-attack sub when I was a kid because there were no giant windows to look out at the alien world of the deep (I guess the U.S. Navy didn't think that would be practical). Finally, though, I have found what I have been looking for. A mere 75 million dollars will buy you a brand new Phoenix 1000. This commercial sub is built to look like a private yacht from above the water line, but has a submarine interior. It can cruise at 305 meters and can stay underwater for 30+ days. It has a mini-sub docking collar and a special diver chamber so that you can leave the sub while submerged. It's not as big as the Nautilus, but it's still way-cool.
The Other Night
Okay, so the other night, I got out of class (um, I mean work) and was going to my car. My spirits were immediately lifted after noting the weather. It was windy, raining, thundering and lightening-ing out! So I quick drove home, droped the stuff (?) off in my room (I mean apartment) and ran to the baseball field up the road (I mean went to the Ewer's house). It was completely awesome! I never experienced something so amazing. The wind was overpowering me! I had to lean forward (well, actually I was sitting down) to keep my self standing (uh, sitting). The rain was warm (well, it wasn't actually raining), and the sky just lit up with lightening. It was so beautiful! The weather was saying, "There is a God! There is a God!". I walked back to the house because it was getting really wicked out (and becuase I said that I was going to go home), but I sat on the couch and watched the lightening for an hour! If you weren't loving it the other night, you should have been! Thunderstorms are an awesome display of our powerful creator!
See Kim's original post here
Speed of Sound
This post has nothing to do with Coldplay.
This post has nothing to do with the speed of sound.
This post has nothing to do with the speed of light or time travel.
However, the title of this post did come from somewhere. This post is about a topic I was discussing with Joseph. I also discussed time travel with Joseph. One of the key elements in time travel theory is light speed... and so on. What I want to ask though is this, does anyone know how the light-gun from Nintendo worked? WAIT... don't google it, Joseph, Jon and I sat around discussing how it might have worked until we agreed on the only solution we found to be possible. Only then did I google it to find that we were right. Think, can you figure it out. Please don't google and then claim that you figured it out, that would make you a sissy.
NOTE: I think the X&Y album kind of looks like Nintendo Art, so it all come around again.
Dream Dog
A Benjamin Crum Film
This film, featured on the Crum Family Blog, is the latest to come out of the BC Online/CBF partnership. CBF (Crum Brother Films) was established just last year and already has some great projects in the works.
Dude
Two-Twenty-Two - by Ben Crum
For the first time ever Dude 222 has entered the world of Trance! Okay, not really (we don't even know what Trance is) - but there is a new techno song by the band on SoundClick dot com. Check it out here [A Little Louder Now]. There is also another track on the SoundClick site that has been in the Dude Vault for a long time but it's been cleaned 
up (though the volume is still too low) but you can listen to it here [Mary Jane]. This makes us wonder... is Dude coming out with a NEW album any time soon? We sure hope so. Word is that they are working on the soundtrack to a new film due out later this year. If we hear any more, we'll let you all know.
[to the left: a new album? - we found this image on the Dude 222 site on SoundClick. Does this mean there is a new album or is the band just toying with us? who knows]
Holy Crap
For those of you who have been following the situation in Israel and the occupied territories this may be of interest. Israel's newly elected president is named Ehud Olmert. I personally think that is awesome. If I were the Palestinians, I wouldn't let him anywhere near my top ranking officials and it seems that is exactly what they are thinking. The Palestinians, though they claim to hate all Jews alike, really hate Ehud and his Kadima party. With this, the Iran stink and the impending Iraqi civil war, it seems war's a brewin' in the East.
Ehud Olmert of the Kadima Party
Five Good Joints
or: five nice tracks
I was talking to Jon (aka, Jon The Crum, aka, J-Crew) yesterday and he had this great idea for a blog post. Rather than posting his top 1,000,000 favorite albums of all time, he would post "the top 10 albums that he currently likes". So I want to take a quick moment to do something similar. Here are five songs that I really like. You can check out the previews for them on iTunes and then illegally download them from Limewire.
Song #1: Fireflies - Rhett Miller --- Nice bluegrass feel.
Song #2: Gravity - Embrace --- Like Nate says, lead piano in modern pop-alternative-rock...rocks.
Song #3: Rent A Cop - Ben Folds --- Okay, so this one is a little "iffy", but it's so funny. If you have ever seen Mall Rats you'll know what I mean.
Song #4: I Saw A Hippie Girl On 8th Ave. - Jeffrey Lewis --- I don't know if they have this one on iTunes, but it's an awesome track. When I first heard it I actually thought it was THE Jeffrey Lewis (aka, the Lew).
Song #5: Dakota - Stereophonics --- This is one of my current favorite bands, and this song is one of my current favorite band's songs that is currently awesome.
Well, there you have it. Five songs that I like right now. You should check them out.
Cell Phones
I was just thinking the other day about all the cell phones that I have had in the last year (or in the last 2 months) and I thought "hey, I should write something about these phones." Here it is, a review of the phones that I have owned.
Motorola C120
This phone sucked. This was the first phone I had when I signed up with Verizon back in the spring of 2002. I signed a two year contract and got the cheapest phone. It actually wasn't that bad. It had no games (which was fine by me) and I never updated any ring tones and it had a monochromatic screen, but it worked (for the first year or year and a half). I was glad to get a new phone though. One cool thing I could do is use "Dial Up Networking" to connect to the internet and because I had free long distance this was really cool for "on the road" browsing - it was not reliable though.
Sony Erricson T630
This phone was awesome. I guess it would be hard to evaluate a phone unbiasedly after having only had one previous phone, and that with no features. But this phone, even as I look back at it, was a great phone. It had Bluetooth so that I could use iSync to sync my addresses and calendar. I could also control iTunes from my phone which was cool. It had a high-res color screen and some cool games. The problem was it didn't have as clear a signal as my other phone and the ring wasn't very loud (which meant I missed calls a lot). Good phone though.
This is where my phone history gets interesting. My dog ate my T630 and so I had to get a new phone. This is when I discovered what SIM technology is most useful for. I thought it was just a good way to save your phone numbers. The awesome thing was that I could remove the SIM card from my devoured phone, put it in to a new phone and that new phone would have my old phone number automatically assigned to it.
Motorola V220
Kim Berner gave me this phone and it worked well, for a week or two. I had the same problem that a lot of flip-phone users experience, the phone had a short. This caused calls to cut in and out, I couldn't hear unless I put a lot of pressure on the joint of the phone. Sometimes I just had to turn on speakerphone so that I could hear the person I was on the phone with. It was really annoying. I like flip-phones, I think the design is cool and I like how small they can be, but I don't know if I will ever get another after that one. I am often surprised at the life-expectancy of cell phones. Often the service plan that people sign up for is longer than the expected life of their phone.
Siemens S55
For this next phone I got a little greedy. I wanted a cheap phone and I wanted Bluetooth. This phone cost me 20 bucks on eBay and is one of the smallest phones I have ever seen. It has bluetooth which works with iSync (but not with iTunes). It has some annoying "features"... like this voice-recording feature that you always accidentally press and start recording phone calls. All-in-all I think it is a pretty good phone. I wouldn't buy another, but it works just fine.
Motorola ROKR E1
This is the phone I just got. It is one of the larger phones I have seen (at least, larger than the Sony and the Siemens, it's still smaller than those phones from the late 80's). It has bluetooth (and came with a bluetooth headset, which is cool in a geeky kind of way - it's kind of like the universal communicator). The "cool" feature from this phone is that it actually has iTunes installed on it. I can put 100 songs on it and listen on the built in stereo speakers or plug in a headset. The keys are easy to use. The screen is nice and big, high-res, and really bright. All-in-all this phone rocks! The downside, it is kinda pricy. I think it retails for $400+, but on eBay I got it for $100 (including S&H). I actually won two auctions so I had to sell the other one (which sold for $160 - nice profit). I am happy with this phone and I hope it last a little longer than some of the other ones did.
PS. The only thing I don't tend to like about Motorola phones is the power plug. Instead of making one that stays connected to the phone (like everyone else does) they made one that sucks. It always comes out and after a while it won't even charge the phone. Why don't they just make AC style ports like Nokia phones?
Let the Facts Speak for Themselves
I was reading an article just now and it made me think. Many people believe, or at least claim to believe, that unbiased news means simply getting "the facts" and deriving ones own conclusions. So here are the facts, according to the article: Over 2,300 US military men and women dead, over 17,000 US wounded, and "a minimum of 33,000 dead Iraqi civilians" --- what would your conclusion be? I don't know how the author came to her conclusion but she somehow manages to claim that this is evidence of our failure in Iraq and justification for our withdrawal. I look at these "facts", these statistics, and many questions are raised in my mind, the first of which is "who is killing the civilians?" I am not so blind that I would think our military incapable of killing civilians while executing military operations, but from what I have read it seems as if terrorists, suicide bombers, insurgents, are the ones killing civilians. How many "civilians" did Saddam kill prior to the liberation in 2003? Do I think that our military belongs in Iraq? Not necessarily, and I don't feel as strongly that we should be there as I did 3 years ago. Do I think we should pull out because people are dying? No. I know that many men in history have lost their lives in the fight for freedom and if our Iraqi brothers wish it, then we should give them all the strength we have to help them be free.
Lucky Number Slevin
Yeah, this movie looks awesome.
Lucky Number Slevin stars blockbuster-action-star Bruce Willis as assassin Mr. Goodkat. The trailer is cool enough to stand on its own, it's just an added bonus for this to be a real movie. I think it will have the feel of Snatch or Lock, Stock... But wait, there's a catch. Who's directing this thing? Paul McGuigan? Isn't he the guy that made Wicker Park and The Reckoning? Granted, Peter Jackson had made no good movies before LOTR (unless you think The Frighteners counts as good) so this isn't doomed... but it could prove to be a good concept with poor execution. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
The Orb of Chalar
The "Orb" is a book that I recently designed the cover for. It is the sequel to another book that I had designed the cover for ("Deathquest to Parallan") by Benjamin Towe. I really liked the first cover. The idea from the author was to have an alien landscape (red ground) and three suns; one huge gray one, one small black one, and one tiny yellow one. This, of course, is hard to do since "sun" to me means a "light-emitting-orb" and it's hard to make a gray sun emit light. Nonetheless it was a fun cover to work on (sci-fi is my favorite genre to design). The sequel was different but meant to look like the same style. The idea was to have a red-headed woman in a purple dress holding an orb of many colors. I couldn't find a red-headed woman holding anything (let alone an orb) so I did what I could and made the orb hover in front of her. That didn't fly so I had to work out a way to make her hold the orb.
I ended up taking an arm from a woman doctor who was pouring some liquid in to her hand and merging it with the previous cover. The only thing I don't like about the final image is that the woman is now looking off in to space rather than at the orb. I should put up images of the entire covers (including the spine, the back cover and the jacket flaps) because I really think everything goes together so well on these covers. I hope Benjamin Towe is as happy with them as I am.
Where have you gone...
Most people know that I don't like basketball. Sure, I'll play, but I'm no good and I don't like watching it on TV. Maybe it's because Michael Jordan isn't playing anymore and we have pro teams made of Kobe and Kobe-wannabes. If I wanted to watch male egos on the tube I could just watch BET or MTV. I would watch the old Chicago Bulls reruns before I would turn on any NBA game today.
Just a random thought, inspired by this commercial.
Font Contest (Round 1)
Okay, so unlike some other recent contests, this one does have a Grand Prize, so see what you can do. Here's how it works:
Below you will find a list of fonts.
1. Try to figure out what they are and post an ordered list in the comments (don't worry if others see your comments, I will not tell you that you are right so others can assume that you are wrong).
2. No two lists can be the same, thus even if the two lists have the same correct answers and one wrong answer I will judge who is closer.
3. Lists will get both harder and easier as the Rounds go higher.
There are a couple of easy ones in here (though, none of them are Times New Roman) so try your best.
Below you will find a list of fonts.
1. Try to figure out what they are and post an ordered list in the comments (don't worry if others see your comments, I will not tell you that you are right so others can assume that you are wrong).
2. No two lists can be the same, thus even if the two lists have the same correct answers and one wrong answer I will judge who is closer.
3. Lists will get both harder and easier as the Rounds go higher.
There are a couple of easy ones in here (though, none of them are Times New Roman) so try your best.
Here is the list. PS: I know there is no #5 - I didn't like it.
Final Straw
I meant this to be just another post. I meant this to be simply the third installment in a contest I am in to claim supreme dominance over all blog-dom. This is not a simple post though. This is the bcBlog's 100th POST!!!
By means of celebration I would like to give this shortlist of 5 bands and artists that I really enjoy (I know, if I were like my brother Jon this would be a list of 100 bands, but I'm not Jon):
1. Radiohead - over the past few years Radiohead has moved in to first place on my list of favorite bands. You've gotta check out Hail to the Thief and The Bends
2. Beck - I've been listening to Beck ever since Nate got in trouble for Devil's Haircut, but it wasn't until Sea Change that I really started to listen. No with Guero and all the remixes from it, Beck has made it to the top of my list.
3. Stereophonics - The only band on this list that I don't own an album of, yet all I needed to do was listen to "Maybe Tomorrow" and I was hooked. Check it out.
4. Postal Service - Thank you Matt. I think it was on our way down to Florida a while back we put in this CD and I have been listening to it ever since. If I could have only a few albums on a desert Island, I think this would be one. (PS> Thanks Apple for making this mainstream).
5. Snow Patrol - I know this one is a little random (if you really think it's random you've never seen my playlists before). But the whole album Final Straw really grows on you and the song "Run" is amazing.
Well, that's it.
Post #2
So this is my second post of the 2nd Annual Blogging Contest.
I was looking as some other blogs and trying to get a feel for the competition just now and I was a little disappointed. There really isn't a whole lot of activity. There isn't much, of what my brothers and I would call, competition. On the few blogs that have seen posts tonight there have only been a handful of comments (nothing like the dialoge between Nathan A. and someone named Hackenbush on my previous post). I admit that there has always been a little bit too much competitiveness in my family and so it may not have been wise to let me in a contest like this, but hey, I know I'm gonna win that prize... wait... come to think of it, I'm not sure there is a prize. Dang! This contest really does suck!
So to make this post worth while; here's a thought on a song that the title of my post made me think of: Blur - Song #2 - You know, the one that goes "wooo whoooo, I got my head checked, by a jumbo-jet..." ...what does that even mean? Crack anyone?
Blog Contest
So I signed up to be part of a blog contest, the contest starts today (I think). Anyhow, it seems like a really lame way of judging a blog contest. Here's how it works. If I submit a post I get a point. If I post two days in a row, I get incrementally more points. If people post comments on those posts I get points (except for spam comments). But it's so lame. All I would have to do is post a word like "Post" and it would have to count as a post. Then I would do that every day for a month, never actually write anything and get a ton of points. This was my initial plan, but instead I think I will write a post talking about how stupid the contest is or how stupid other people's posts are for a month.
Most Disappointing Trailer, Ever!
So, I found out there's a huge difference between "Street Fighter", you know, the old Nintendo game with Ryu Hoshi, Victor Sagat, M. Bison and Vega, and the new film "Street Fight". I saw the listing for this trailer and I was like "oh sweet". But when it started playing I was like "oh crap". Nothing here. Just some lame documentary about elections in New Jersey. Who cares? Seriously, why is this even a film?
My Rating: 1/10 - Ticks me off that the name is close to being awesome. Lame-O!
Ricky Bobby
I clicked on the link to this trailer not knowing what to expect. The title, Telladaga Nights, isn't much help. The image that shows up is of three men in NASCAR uniforms doing some sort of line dance. Not impressive. It looks like another film company is cashing in on middle-America redneck culture. In a way I was right, but I underestimated this film. Remember Days of Thunder with Tom Cruise? Well this racecar film will be nothing like that! Will Ferrell (a good name for a racecar driver) plays the part of Ricky Bobby, the great driver. From a young age all Ricky Bobby wanted to do was go fast. This movie will be enjoyable because it is not going to be like every other "SNL-skit gone Hollywood" film (Anchorman, Superstar, Big Daddy, Night at the Roxbury etc...). Instead we will get an original idea and a funny cast plus some good make-fun-of-rednecks humor.
My Rating: 7/10 - May not be clean for the kids, but will be fun anyhow.
USA "Dream Individual"
In a press conference Wednesday, USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo announced that Kobe Bryant has been selected as the 2008 men's Olympic basketball team. [read the article | here ]
What a Hack
Okay, so I wasn't going to post the link to this because I didn't want other people to be as cool as I am for being able to hack a vending machine.
The other night Michal and I went for a drive and on the way home we stoped at a Marsh store and I hacked the Pepsi machine. Here's how it works. Each button on the machine can be thought of as having a corresponding number (see image below).
Getting into the debug menu is as simple as pressing buttons. Some random person hanging around with friends can accidently enter in the code and not know it.
This picture shows you, in order, what buttons to press from 1-4.
Yes, it is as simple as just pressing those 4 buttons. The manufacturers could have made it a complex series of button presses or at least a button inside the Pepsi machine.
Okay, so once you're in the machine, there isn't much you can do. It's just reading information off of the vending machines computer (core temp., total sales etc...) no free soda or slot machine functions!
Two Notes on Firewalls
Kent - armed bandits in England made away with £25m in a raid that seems eerily similar to the new Harrison Ford film, Firewall. Read the article and see the connection.
Peacefire - There are two great walls in China. One is visible from space and protects from Mongol invasion. The other is an internet firewall, run by the government, that blocks content from Chinese internet users. Bennett Haselton, and his organization Peacefire, have found a way around that. By downloading a freeware to your computer in the US and providing a link to it to those behind the wall in China you allow them to search words like "freedom", "democracy" and "Taiwan independence" - terms they cannot currently search. Cool idea.
Movie of the Week
Or, movie of last week... Almost every day last week I looked for a movie to write about and couldn't find one I liked.
The Sentinel
This film stars Michael Douglas, an actor who I don't really like. It has Kiefer Sutherland who I know a lot of people like because of 24, but again, I couldn't care less. It also has Kim Basinger (in a very small role) and I say "who cares". So where does my interest in this film come from? I like it because it looks like a chapter from a Joel Rosenberg novel. A secret service agent (Douglas) is suspected of treason (he wants to kill the Pres) and is hunted down in Minority Report fashion. He must prove his innocence (in The Fugitive fashion) by finding who the true bad guy is. Okay, so it simply combines multiple other film ideas in to one, but I buy it. It looks like it could be a good show and with the studio not giving it a huge build-up I have hope that maybe it won't be one of the studios big disappointments.
My rating: 7 of 10 - Good show, good story, old actors.
Islam: Religion of Peace
Many Christians do not believe that Islam is a religion of peace. They think that the uproar around the world over a cartoon is proof that Muslims simply love war and want there to be constant strife around the world. I am a Christian, I once thought this too, but now I know that this is not the case. Perhaps it is in human nature to fight and, while still fighting, desire peace. William Wallace did not want to fight, he wanted freedom and he knew that freedom and peace were worth fighting for. This is the mindset of Islam. All Muslims long for peace and peace is promised to them in the Quran... but at what price to the rest of us? Christians, throughout the centuries, have been guilty of "converting" at gun point (or by the edge of the sword), yet, those who have understood the commands of God as outlined in the Bible know that this is not the way we should spread the gospel. We cannot convert souls by threatening them with death. Islam believes otherwise:
And fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is for Allah. But if they desist, then let there be no hostility except against wrong-doers. [2:193]
"...until persecution is no more". This sounds like a verse of hope, hope for peace. But what is the price? There may be no other religion. But what if the Muslim seeks peace with other religions?
Warfare is ordained for you, though it is hateful unto you; but it may happen that ye hate a thing which is good for you, and it may happen that ye love a thing which is bad for you. Allah knoweth, ye know not. [2:216]
Some may say that the God of the Bible commands similar things. He told the Israelites to kill everyone in the Promised Land: Men, women, children, livestock. But these commands in the Quran are not for a specific group of people at a particular time. Rather, they are standards being set by Allah:
And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter. And fight not with them at the Inviolable Place of Worship until they first attack you there, but if they attack you (there) then slay them. Such is the reward of disbelievers. [2:191]
As you look through the Quran you will see many verses that call for peace, that call for charity: "be good to parents and to kindred and to orphans and the needy, and speak kindly to mankind". And you will find verse after verse claiming that "Thou(Allah), only Thou, art the Relenting, the Merciful".
God, the true God of the Bible, is merciful even as many are condemned because he has chosen to save some though they don't deserve it. Allah is merciful, at the edge of the sword. He gives you one chance to convert, and if you do not the Muslim is called to "slay them wherever ye find them" though he is called to "begin not hostilities". Am I afraid of the great Satan, Islam? No, because I trust in the One True Living God. He will save me from the fiery furnace [2:167] and even if he does not, I will never bow to Islam. Do I hate Muslims? No, but I do pity them for they live in darkness and have not [yet] seen the light.
(source: Skeptics Annotated Quran)
iPod Touch Screen
This is gonna be awesome.
Okay, so sometimes you hear rumors about this sort of thing and they turn out to be ungrounded. However, this is just too cool of an idea to ignore. The concept is to make the entire face of an iPod into a touch screen surface. When you click on the screen the familiar "scroll wheel" appears [see this]. In so doing, the new iPod would have a much larger viewing screen making it a little nicer for those who actually want to watch videos on the Pod (and not simply have videos that you can't actually see because the screen is to small). Anyhow, cool idea. We'll see soon if Mac actually release it (April 1?)
Hasselhoffian
I found this on another blog but I decided to copy and paste it rather than linking because the guy had a picture of himself in his underware and I didn't want to subject anyone else to it. This is funny though.
Hasselhoffian
1. (Adjective) possessing an exaggerated sense of masculinity, power, courage, and virility. Example In Smokey and the Bandit Burt Reynolds delivers a hasselhoffian performance.
2. (Adjective) overpoweringly pleasing to the senses in appearance or manner. Example The Mona Lisa is a hasselhoffian work of art.
3. (Adjective) to command or acquire a large German following. Example During World War II Hilter's popularity was hasselhoffian.
4. (verb) a slow motion or over exaggerated form of movement. Example The lifeguard took a hasselhoffian run toward the drowning swimmer.
Movie of the Week
Well, this isn't a new article that I will write every week, I just couldn't think of another title to use because I didn't want to give away the film that I would be writing about.
So, since when can you release a film with no script and no storyline? I know that people are making all these emo-style movies that have little plot and lame scripts, but this preview I just watched appeared to have no pre-written script...but you know what... it looks awesome! It's called Dave Chappelle's Block Party and if it's anything like it's preview, I am gonna love it. I don't usually like films like this (Kings of Comedy-esque, or Concert Movies) but this is different. It looks like the film follows Dave around for the days before his show, and then shows the party. It will be funny and fun. Not a movie with a story or plot, but still entertaining. I can't wait.
My Rating: 8.5/10 - Good, not so clean, humor.
THIS JUST IN: BEN CRUM, NOT A NERD
It had been believed that Ben Crum was a certified Nerd (though no solid evidence had ever been presented on the subject). New details have recently surfaced that prove that Ben is nowhere close to being a Nerd (at least not a 1st Order Nerd). The Proof: This proves that it takes more than computer know-how and a pocket protector to be truly considered a Nerd. Though Ben admits that he does understand the principles that this machine is based on he claims to not be interested in constructing his own. "What's the point, it seems like once it has been made the only thing left to do is use the Lego® Construction System to build other machines, Babbage is so last year!" Ben is currently working to construct a combustion engine using an Erector Set and modeling clay. "I might be a Nerd some day, but not today" snorts a untidy Ben as he eats a Twinkie™ and sips on a bottle of Mountain Dew, "I have too much on my mind to retake the SAT test to get my official Nerd score"
11 String Mario
So, aside from the fact that he is really good and that he's playing the Mario theme... he's playing an 11 STRING GUITAR!!!
Superbowl Commercials
My brother Peter pointed out his favorite superbowl commercial, the MacGyver / Mastercard spot. Here are some other commercials that aired last night during the superbowl. Of course the tradition has been that all the greatest commercials are premiered during the game, but in the last few years I, for one, have been quite disappointed with the lack in quality of the ads. This year was pretty good... the "dark light beer" football one was good, and the Full Throttle one was kind of funny. I did most enjoy the MacGyver one and I have to admit, I thought the part where Tim Allen tackled the old lady with the walker was really good. What do you think?
Books and Blockbusters
So, not having the internet or the television (yes, not even non-cable TV) at home has made me more of a book-worm than I have ever been in my life. Mom, you would be amazed at the number of books I have consumed in the past few months. I just read an interesting article in wired about books becoming blockbuster movies and, since I am still a movie lover, here is the article for your reading pleasure.
Apple - "A New Low" or "Such Great Height"?
Video from Google Video
The Postal Service vs. Apple Computers
See for yourself the rip-off of The Postal Service's music video "Such Great Heights" by the new Apple/Intel ad. Supposedly Apple actually hired the same film studio to do their commercial as had done the music video. Still, both are pretty cool.
"It has recently come to our attention that Apple Computers' new television
commercial for the Intel chip features a shot-for-shot recreation of our video
for 'Such Great Heights' made by the same filmmakers responsible for the
original. We did not approve this commercialization and are extremely
disappointed with both parties that this was executed without our consultation
or consent." -Ben Gibbard, The Postal Service
The Matrix IV - or - Neo, The Chick
Do you want to see the matrix again? Well, this is not going to be anywhere near as cool as the Matrix, but it'll try. It's got some chick (I have no idea who it is, maybe she's from Lost or something) and she likes to beat up humans becuase she hates them, but get this, she's the good guy! Anyway, the trailer even has Clubbed to Death by Rob D, from the Matrix soundtrack, playing in the background --- I love that song! Don't waste your time, go watch the Matrix again (the first one).
My Rating: 4/10 - Cool special effects, bad acting, bad story, bad ending.
A Month of Birthdays
In the Crum family there are particular months that are known for having many Birthdays, February being one of them. Michal told me last night that we will be having a birthday celebration at her parent's house next Monday and it made me wonder... whose birthday are we celebrating? Granted, I don't know when all my inlaws birthdays are, but I didn't think any were coming up so soon. It turns out we are celebrating Michal's birthday --- over a month late!!! Michal and I talk about this all the time, but I just can't get over the idea of celebrating a birthday (or any other special day) on a day other than the day itself. I realize that there are sometimes meetings or events that conflict and so you would celebrate the day before or the day after...or maybe even postpone a birthday party so that it can be on a weekend... but waiting over a month? I don't get it.
I suggested that we also celebrate Joseph's birthday since it will be coming up soon and we probably won't celebrate it for another year or so. Michal told me her mom had already thought of that and that we might just celebrate "birthdays" two or three times a year and combine people on to one of those days. I guess I am just rambling, but it seems to me like the significance of the celebration should center around the event... on a birthday we are celebrating that person's birth! If she was born on December 28th, we would celebrate on December 28th.
I guess being married really is a learning experience. So, happy birthday Pop, David, Nate and Peter and Jill and Jess and anyone else whose birthday is within 5 months of today!
Quite Possibly the Best Commercial Ever Made
The EDS Commercial about Cat-herders.
As far as commercials go, this is a 10/10!
READERSHIP GOING THROUGH ROOF
sources say
That's right, the bcBlog is getting more and more readers as the days roll on. Why is this, you might ask? The reason is simple, this is the greatest blog on the face of the earth. Great movie reviews, great movie previews, and great insight in to the mind of Ben Crum. Enjoy.
That's right, the bcBlog is getting more and more readers as the days roll on. Why is this, you might ask? The reason is simple, this is the greatest blog on the face of the earth. Great movie reviews, great movie previews, and great insight in to the mind of Ben Crum. Enjoy.
- Associated Press
FIREWALL
One would think that every bad guy on the face of the earth would know by now to leave Harrison Ford alone. He can best endless numbers of Nazis, make all the terrorists get off his plane (and then land it) and he has the fastest ship in the galaxy. Well, apparently the doctor from Master and Commander didn't get the memo. Firewall, in a word, looks superawesomefantasticbad-to-the-bone. Good acting, good story, good dialog... everything you would expect from a movie that Harrison Ford feels is worth his time. The only thing I want to know is this. Obviously Ford still has the energy to bust through windows and take out bad guys (with coffee pots), so where the heck is Indiana Jones IV?
Firewall - Harrison Ford - 8/10 - Great suspense thriller, action flick.
The Way Home
A Benjamin Crum Film.
Special thanks to G. Love and the Special Sauce
For more, see bc online at Google Video.
Dirty
Every once in a while I miss a good movie. Inevitably three or four years later someone says, "hey Ben, remember that part in ... " and I've gotta say, "um, no, never saw it!". Well, if you're like me then I've got good news for you. Hollywood, it seems, is beginning to release the same movie, a few years later so that you can go watch it again (for the first time). Dirty is one of those films. Anyone ever heard of Training Day? It's not like they took some obscure Japanese movie and made The Ring, no, they took a really popular movie and did the same thing (hey, that rhymes - editor). I think this might be a cool movie. But why not just watch Training Day again? I'm not saying that the genre of crooked cops isn't legit, I'm saying that the way this one is shot, the way the characters are portrayed, the way the trailer is put together make me think that this is simply a clone with a new name.
I'll give this one 3 1/2 stars. Not worth my time and money (why pay $10 when I can rent it for three?)
Crazy Uncle George
All of us Crums have heard the stories about good ol' "Crazy Uncle George", but for those of you non-Crums, let me introduce you to our hot-tempered uncle. Uncle George lived in Saratoga and was a "chef" of sorts (also known as a top-secret undercover spy, one of the original members of the real G.I.Joes as I recall). Anyhow, he is most famous for his hot-tempered invention of potato-chips (or Saratoga Chips as he called them). Read the account here
Exit - A Benjamin Crum Film
Here is the newest film from BC Online and Director Benjamin Crum (me). It's more of a "let's test the new camera" than anything else. Enjoy.
Great Moments in Crum History
How far does the influence of the Crum family extend? That has been a question undergoing debate for decades now. There are some who say that the Crums simply puff themselves up and are really nothing more than a large family with very intelligent and creative children. However, it is easy to see the ways different members of our family have impacted society. For instance, have you ever given someone a high-five? Of course you have (or at least you would if you didn't miss every time you uncoordinated white-boy). Well, did you know that the mastermind behind the high-five was, in fact, a Crum? See this article from the Wikipedia. It is obvious that he was the mastermind behind the "first high five" by his long time friends Glenn Burke and Dusty Baker and then encouraged the players of his own team to continue the action. Genius, and it could have only been done by a Crum.
CRUM CLAN UNDER ATTACK
The Crum Clan has been undergoing serious attack from those who think we are not as great as we say we are. See the entry at Wikipedia for "Crum". Why is there so much debate about the greatness of Crums?
PS. For those of you who don't know, Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that allows users to add items and edit entries.
CRUM BOYS DENOUNCE TERRORIST COMMENTS
from the AP wire
A recent comment on the Crum Family Blog has incited outrage among the brothers Crum. The comment posted in response to a post by Jess Crum, states to have been written by a Crum who is to chicken to reveal his true identity. Sources closest to the Crum family insist that the comment could not be legitimate as it suggests a rebuke of Peter Crum (considered to be one of the most right people in the world). The Peter Crum Clan has yet to submit a formal statement but it is believed that the rouge commenter will be hunted down by elite special forces controlled by the Crum Clan and then taunted or called a "sissy".
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