Modern Ten Commandments Movie Trailer

This takes clips from the classic Ten Commandments movie and recompiles it as a modern movie trailer. Have you ever noticed it sounds like one voice over artist does all the movie trailers these days? Fair warning – there is one swear word at the end of the trailer.

Greek Spartan 300 – Spread of Democracy

The movie “300” is about the 300 Spartans who made a last stand against the Persians in Greece. It is speculated that this series of battles layed the groundwork for the spread of democracy and the bedrock of philosophy in Western history. This clip is an excerpt from a documentary on the Spartan 300 and talks about the spread of democracy.

Richard Dawkins – Ted Haggard Conversation Video

A lot of talk about Richard Dawkins in churches lately. Here’s a video where I don’t think he comes across exactly in the same way he meant to.

I have seen other Dawkins videos where he has been very well spoken and to the point. Why so much hatred toward him? My best guess is it’s not just the content of his outspoken atheism, but presentations like this that appear to be very slanted.

I don’t care for this particular video because the conversations are heavily edited and it is very biased by Dawkins without a lot of factual content.

So far, the best Dawkins video I have seen is his question and answer session with students of Falwell’s Liberty University. The session was after a lecture at a Women’s college in Lynchburg, VA.

Check it out. Read both sides on Dawkins and make your conclusions.

I would say that if we are afraid to use our minds in free thinking, or afraid to read information that counters what we believe – then that may in itself be a problem.

Rock N Roll Hall of Fame Accepting Rap Artists

grandmaster-flash.jpgGrandmaster Flash is part of the first hip hop rap group inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. Officially “The Furious Five” is the first group inducted.

Many speculate this may be the end of inducting 70’s punk rock icons, and the ushering in of the hip hop era in rock music.

When Grandmaster Flash was asked about other artists he thought were deserving to be inducted, he said: “Afrika Bambaataa. Run-DMC. KRS-One,” he says, barely pausing for a breath. “Big Daddy Kane. LL Cool J. Eric B and Rakim. Tribe Called Quest. The list goes on and on.”

Flash left himself out, with good reason: The DJ and partners the Furious Five enter the Hall on Monday as its initial rap inductees. The Bronx hip-hop pioneers are part of an otherwise traditional class: R.E.M., Van Halen and a pair of fellow New York City performers, Patti Smith and the Ronettes.

*UPDATE 03/08/07 – Just received a comment that hip hop should NOT be allowed in the RRHOF – So I’ve opened up a discussion thread on that subject here: Rap Dogs RRHOF Discussion Thread.

Fred Thompson Considers Presidential Bid

fred-thompson.jpgRegarding a presidential bid in the 2008 race, Fred Thompson said yesterday: “I’m giving some thought to it, going to leave the door open” and decide in the coming months. “It’s not really a reflection on the current field at all,” he said.

Obama, Hillary Clinton, Thompson all lining up to run for president. We might actually have a fun presidential race for a change. They laughed at Ronald Reagan when he ran. But in retrospect everything I’ve read about Reagan’s presidency is pretty favorable.

We currently have a life-long politician in office. I’m not one to know much about politics, but it’s fair to say many things are going less-than-perfect on Capitol Hill these days. You can say what you like about Schwarzenegger and Reagan, but can you say it wasn’t fun?

Fred Thompson’s movies are way cool. He’s usually on the “good” side. Same qualities Arnold Schwarzenegger has. Fred Thompson is a much better actor. I think better actors should be able to be President instead of just governor. Oh, you say Arnold wasn’t born in the US so he can’t be president? That’s just a technicality, the real reason is his acting.

Forget about his political views and work, that’s boring. Let’s get to the good stuff. Here’s the movies he has been in.

* Marie (1985)
* No Way Out (1987)
* Feds (1988)
* Fat Man and Little Boy (1989)
* The Hunt for Red October (1990)
* Days of Thunder (1990)
* Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990)
* Flight of the Intruder (1991) (uncredited)
* Class Action (1991)
* Necessary Roughness (1991)
* Curly Sue (1991)
* Cape Fear (1991)
* Aces: Iron Eagle III (1992)
* Thunderheart (1992)
* White Sands (1992) (uncredited)
* Born Yesterday (1993)
* In the Line of Fire (1993)
* Barbarians at the Gate (1993)
* Baby’s Day Out (1994)
* Celsius 41.11 (2004)
* Racing Stripes (2005, voice)
* Last Best Chance (2005)
* Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World (2005)

fred-thompson2.jpg

Cape Fear, Die Hard II. C’mon people, this is our man! I’d like to see a three way presidency with Fred Thompson, Obama and Hillary Clinton. And instead of boring presidential debates next year, I think they should review film clips.

Yes, this post is tongue-in-cheek and superficial. Not superficial because it mentions actors; superficial because it mentions politics.

Captain Hook Joke

Here’s my new favorite Captain Hook joke. Now you know that us Scandihoovians tell a lot of jokes. However, we make no claim that any of them are actually funny…..

A pirate walked into a bar and the bartender said, “Hey, I haven’t seen you in a while. What happened? You look terrible.
“What do you mean?” said the pirate, “I feel fine.”
Bartender: “What about the wooden leg? You didn’t have that before.”
Pirate: “Well, we were in a battle and I got hit with a cannon ball, but I’m fine now.”
Bartender: “Well, okay, but what about that hook? What happened to your hand?”
Pirate: “We were in another battle. I boarded a ship and got into a sword fight. My hand was cut off. I got fitted with a hook. I’m fine, really.”
Bartender: “What about that eye patch?”
Pirate: “Oh, one day we were at sea and a flock of birds flew over. I looked up and one of them did a dump and it hit me in my eye.”
“You’re kidding,” said the bartender, “you couldn’t lose an eye just from bird droppings.”
Pirate: “It was my first day with the hook.”Â

The Apple Tree

the-apple-tree.jpgMount Vernon, WA – Currently working on the first act of The Apple Tree which will run at Stanwood Auditorium (April 13, 2007), Philip Tarro Theater (April 14, 2007) and Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church (April 15, 2007).

The first act of the Apple Tree is based on “The Diaries of Adam and Eve” by Mark Twain. It is a comedy that conjuctures the humorous infighting of the first husband and wife, and their interaction with the snake in the Garden of Eden.

Music is by Jerry Bock with lyrics by Sheldon Harnick; the same writing team that created Fiddler on the Roof in 1964. The original run of The Apple Tree musical opened on October 18, 1966 at the Schubert Theater in New York City. It had a very successful first run with 463 performances. The original actors were Barbara Harris, Alan Alda and Larry Blyden.

A revival of The Apple Tree is currently running on Broadway in New York by the Roundabout Theatre Company. This musical revival opened in December 2006 and stars Kristin Chenoweth, Brian D’Arcy and Mark Kudisch.

1983 – Synthesizers in Church

poss-debruyn-askland-1983.jpgI was going through music selecting repertoire for a piano student and this picture fell out of a book. The picture is from 1983 (I was 17 years old). Pictured from left to right is Christopher Possanza (Synthesizer), Doug deBruyn (Upright Bass) and Conrad Askland (Harpsichord).

This photo was taken in the sanctuary of St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Bellevue, WA – 1983. We were preparing to play a Purcell Trumpet Voluntary as special music for a Sunday church service. Chris and Doug were two of my best friends in High School. I haven’t spoken with Doug since High School and only once with Chris in the last 20 years via email.

The three of us took music theory classes together at Interlake High School. Doug and I played together in the jazz band and marching bands. We also attended music composition seminars and did all the fun crazy things that should be done in high school, most of which are not appropriate to blog publicly about (which means it was very, very fun.)

Chris Possanza was lead singer for the Seattle band “This Busy Monster”, and is also one of the founders of Barsuk Records in Seattle, WA. His label is best known for producing the Seattle band “Death Cab for Cutie”. I’m sure both of them have had many more adventures the past twenty years, but those are the only ones I know of.

Of course this picture has a story to it. Originally we had a trumpet player to play the Purcell piece for that Sunday’s service. A couple days before Sunday, the trumpet player cancelled out on us. If I remember right he had never been in a church before and the thought of playing in a sanctuary really freaked him out.

Some things never change, of course the performance of this piece was the entire world to me and had to happen. So I called my friend Chris who owned a Prophet V Synthesizer to play the trumpet part. Back in 1983 synthesizers were pretty rare, especially the Prophet V. It was kind of like having the first tv set in the neighborhood. We spent many hours at Chris’ house experimenting with sounds and wishing we had done what Walter Carlos had accomplished with Switched on Bach (ok, I’m dating myself now.)

So Chris played the trumpet parts on his Prophet V synth along with a real upright bass, and a real harpsichord (which I got to tune, that was very fun.) The piece was played well and embellishments were executed properly for the Baroque style.

It was not intentional, but it may be one of the earliest uses of the Prophet V synthesizer in a liturgical setting. If memory serves me correctly there were a few people that did not feel a synthesizer was appropriate in church under any conditions. But overall it was received well.

You can make fun of my pink shirt. You can make fun of the animal prints on my sweater. But we give you fair warning not to question the reverence of our synthesizer patches. We are armed with MIDI. We will win.