Other thoughts? I’m not a fan of the effect lights being programmed to blind me in the eyes, which happened a good bit too often for me. And, for me, I felt like too much of the second half was performed behind the scrim. Maybe some enjoyed the movies, but I felt like it broke the “live connection” and emotionally removed me too far from the actual concert.

Other things my mom noticed: the drummer and bass guitar were really young. I’m pretty sure the drummer was younger than me even - but it was his drums that drove most songs home.

I suppose that reminds me: the other place I deducted points off the 10 was largely the use of pre-recorded track and synthesized horns and bells. Only two horns, and a small (6 violins + 1 woodwind) orchestra were present, although the featured violinist and I believe even the percussionist both pulled out a recorder once during the show. But no, I didn’t like the use of pre-recorded track at all. I want concerts to be entirely live.

Overall: solid, still good, show.

Whoa! NASA TV is no longer using jump cuts in flight day highlights; I even think I saw a wipe a minute ago. Shock.

The worst thing about going to sleep: the imminent realization that the next sensation you’ll feel is that of having the sleep forcibly terminated by a much too early alarm clock. (Well, this one ended up being over 140 chars. So it would become the following.)

Going to sleep: the imminent realization that the next sensation you’ll feel is that of having sleep forcibly terminated by an alarm clock.

The merger of the iTunes(es) completed successfully. I didn’t realize I still had sound effects from my high school plays in here.

Note to self: Tag this later.

In summary: the future of music is to be like water. Consider the water fountain. The water is not free to the business that provides it, but it is free to customers. Next to the water fountain is a vending machine selling bottled water that costs $1. The water is free to enjoy, but you pay for the convenience.

This business model came to the book world prominently in 2004 with the release of the 9/11 Commission Report. It was available for free online and could be downloaded for free, (Audible even released it as a free audiobook) but for the convenience of having it as a paperback it was sold in book stores. And it was a best-seller.

Here’s how Lala.com works:

• They have most the music you’d expect.
• You can listen to any song on the store once (you must be signed in to listen to the full song).
• Pay 10 cents and you can stream the song unlimited.
• If you pay to stream and later decide to download it as a 256kbps DRM free MP3 (89 to 99 cents), the 10 cents counts towards your MP3 purchase.
• They have a program that will scan your computer for MP3s, AACs, and even iTunes Music Store songs. If the songs are found in the lala catalog, they will become available for listening online as if you had paid lala.com for them.
• They even allow you to upload your own MP3s to listen to them via lala.com from anywhere.
• And of course, it has the social aspects that you should expect to find in a modern business model store: friending/following, recommendations, share links, “most popular”, etc.

My twitter/twit-army posts about this generated a good bit of discussion. I’m reposting them here:

from http://army.twit.tv:

tollie: I’m definately giving up iTunesStore and Amazon-MP3 for http://www.lala.com - finally the future business model of music comes to a store.

kylehase: @tollie Doh! lala only works in the US. International restrictions are really starting to piss me off. First it was Anathem on Audible…

tollie: @kylehase Sorry. That is dumb. The only thing I can say is, lala.com seems to “get it” so hopefully, they’re advocating for int’l listeners.

tollie: @kylehase The other “only thing” I could say is… if you paid for a proxy service that’s US based, and had a US credit card… Good luck.

randulo: @tollie remember it isn’t Hulu but their content owners that refuse international access because of rights.

tollie: @randulo I agree, but my point was Lala wasn’t created by the labels. They seem to “get it.” I hope they are working toward global audience.

tollie: @randulo The best I recall, Hulu was _created_ by the studios, to combat sharing and openness, so my hopes for them “getting it” are ~ 0.

kylehase: @tollie @randulo I have my own US server and a US credit card but even good proxies have overhead so streaming video can be problematic.

kylehase: @tollie @randulo It’s the principle of the thing that bothers me. I understand that marketers want to target specific regions but still…

tollie: @kylehase Understood, and agreed. I understand the idea of differnet markets too, but the labels need to realize they no longer control it.

kylehase: @tollie Amen, and until they do they will never be able to control piracy.

Sure, to some degree, all Christians are hypocritical if for no reason other than the simple fact that we realize and freely confess that we are sinners, yet we strive to live without sin. It really begins to sound insane when you consider that not only do we admit this apparent short-fall, but also confess we have achieved none of this goal on our own merits, but instead it’s entirely accomplished by the common grace of our god. Ah, such is depravity.

Anyways, that’s not exactly the hypocrisy I intended to talk about. This post is about a “less moral” hypocrisy. Sure, there are some moral issues involved here, but in my mind, the issue is more about personality and expression. I suppose, I’m confessing that I contemplate the question of rather or not I have multiple, modal personalities or if I simply respect others and order.

Alas, let me attempt to put this is plain English.

You see, when I attend church and worship through music, I appear quite Baptist stoic. However, when I worship in private, or when I am allowed to lead worship through arts, I appear quite Pentecostal free. Is this hypocrisy? I wonder this.

I don’t sing in church - not aloud at least. When my friends realize this, they rarely understand my reasoning. It’s dual-fold:

Firstly, I’m not gifted with the ability to sing in harmony, and likewise, I’m very self-conscious of my singing short-comings. This worry is so worrisome, that it focuses my thoughts on the act of singing, and away from the song being sung, and away from the Audience for whom the song is sang.

Secondly, I fear that my singing abilities are so absent that their presence in public would be like that kid that shows up for school coughing and sneezingly sick, while everyone around him wishes he’d just go home and not come back ’til he is better. I’d rather not be that kid.

This logic extends to my other restraints as well. You see, we are constantly directed that God is a god of order, and that church itself should be orderly.

Let me elaborate: My sincerest private worship, since you’ve never seen it, matches closely to the worship through the arts that I believe so much in. I am so thankful that one of the good things God has given us is the arts. For me, and for many others, performing on stage is permission to be disorderly. Not disorderly in the sense that it allows you to forget your purpose, or doom to catastrophe any attempt to revive order later. Not that. But performing on stage does give you the freedom to break out of the status-quo expectations of those not on stage.

For example, take the simple human video or drama set to music. For this, it’s perfectly natural to expect to see a performer on stage dancing, or performing with gestures, and moving about with passion. For straight drama, the range of expectations extend to become even broader. While it might surprise some, performing straight drama makes ‘ok’ things such as comedy, and even absurdity.

You see, when on stage, a performer feels the freedom to do things that would be looked on with disapproval if done from the pew. They can do this because they are not required to differentiate between order and status-quo stoicism. With the permissions of the performance, and the power of defining what is “order” for the moment, leading worship through the arts is one of the most freeing acts I can imagine. Even when the art is scripted as it is in much drama, this is still a liberating act, as playing the role of another allows one to do things that they would otherwise be embarrassed to do.

And thus, I’ve reached my point (finally):

On stage, with the blessing of order, the privilege of performing, and liberty of a script and the arts; or in the security of privacy I find myself an outgoing, worry-free-almost, ‘BaptaCostal’ that dances (although, don’t ask the dance, as I assure you it is not done on any dance floor), sings, signs, moves, performs, and emotes the emotions.

On the other hand, in the pews, I find myself stoic even by “Baptist” standards: hands-down in pockets, mouth clothed, feet firmly planted. If I feel particularly moved, I might close my eyes and look down in reflection, or look up in adoration.

Is this moral hypocrisy? Is it split personalities? Or am I on target when I talk of order and the privilege of performance? If you were reading this far and hoping for some sort of conclusion, you have my apologies, because as I said at the top - I don’t know.

Fox News reporting “Faster-Than-Light Travel Might Be Possible” as if it’s some new idea. Now, I’ll admit, there are some new bases for this theory, however, I just want to point out that the fundamental principle of a “bubble” that distorts space-time such that the local traveler’s v is < c, yet to an outside observer v > c (If that little bit of math there is confusing, then you won’t care about this post anyways.) is not a new one.

In fact, I researched this for a science project in 1996, largely based on the theories put forth by the book The Physics of Star Trek , which proposed that very idea that is now being reported, 12 years later, as “new.” Of course, in the book, the theories focus more along the lines of energy of collapsed stars, but the new theories look towards “dark energy/matter” for possible means.

drop.io/moretechtalk/asset/myiphonereview

I wish I had the energy to write here for hours and that I could do so guilt-free, but neither are true. Instead, I’m updating my blog while taking a personal pause to praise my God and enjoy the truthyness of some my favorite songs. In this latest go-around of my blog, I’ve held off on publishing these sorts of entries, but I suppose this entry will be marginally more enjoyable to see at the top of my blog than the “Don’t use Enom for hosting” entry beneath it. (PS. I still don’t recommend Enom. I’m now using Godaddy and so far I’m satisfied. Powweb comes in a strong 2nd place for hosting providers that I, personally, have tried.)

As for the guilt-free - I certainly do have a lot of work to do, but I can’t work every single hour of the day. I have to take some personal time to reflect on these truths, and blogging about it is only helping me to reflect. So here’s the plan for this post: a friend of mine just got back from leading worship at a camp, but we come from different denominational backgrounds and he hasn’t heard _some_ of the songs that lyrically are pillars of the doctrine I believe to be true. I’m burning him a CD (if this gets me sued by the RIAA, so be it - they’re out of control, I respect the artists and this is free marketing for them, not stealing - besides its on one of those “Music” CD-Rs, you know, the ones where the price is higher because they pay the RIAA a royalty for calling them a “Music” CD… which in Canada the courts have ruled, makes mix CDs completely legal) and I think I’d like to comment on some of the songs on the playlist, here, as I decide what order to put them in.

1) “Lead of Love” by Caedmon’s Call. My life’s song; the song my friends know is a must for my funeral one day. I could expound upon every line (but I’ll just choose a few here). “Looking back at the road so far, it sure has left its share of scars, mostly from leaving the narrow and strait.” Oh how true. I’ve messed up more than I care to think. But “Looking back it is clear to me, a man is more than the sum of his deeds, and how you’ve made good of this mess I’ve made is a profound mystery.” “Looking back I can finally see, failures bring humilty… helps me see my need for thee.” “Looking back I see the lead of Love.”

2) “To Ever Live Without You” by Jody McBrayer. Not incredibly strong lyrically, but a song that means a lot to me as we performed it as a traveling ministry group. One piece from the song, however, is strong enough both in music and lyrics that it was my ring tone for years. “No greater love has no one than this, that he would lay his life down for his friends! It was all about a man - it was all about a cross - it was all about the blood that was shed so I would NOT be lost - it was all about the love that was bigger than a life - it was all about the freedom that was given through your sacrifice.”

3) “Come Thou Fount.” A lyrical hymn that sings some amazing truth, even if it’s not the easiest to understand. “Jesus sought me when [I was] a stranger wondering from the fold of God. He, to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood.” “[I am] prone to wonder, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Here’s my heart Lord, take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.” ”

4) “It is well with my soul.” I’m not really a fan of the tune of this song, and frankly, the chorus becomes too repetitive for me. But I can relate to the author as he’s singing literally to his soul, as if to say “Soul, listen up, you will be OK, so let’s praise!” (It is tempting here to insert some commentary on Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” and the daemons there, as it relates really well, but I shall not.) And of course, I rejoice with the truths this song presents as is builds up to the moment we Christians look forward to: “and Lord haste the day when my faith shall be sight - the clouds be rolled back like a scroll - the trumpet shall sound and the Lord shall descent praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! O, my soul.”

5) “All Because of This” by Mercy Me. A quick song answering the questions of “Why do we do the things we do? How can we sing when there seems no reason to? How can we smile when there’s not much to smile about?” and answers it so simply: “It’s all because of this - we’ve tasted love, we’ve tasted hope, and tasted holiness.”

6) “Tears of the Saints” by Leeland. I wrote a human video to this song. I see it in my head when I listen. I wrote it because Leeland’s lyrics here quickly paint small snapshops of some of the situations that I envision Christ caring so deeply about, but that I feel the Church has left largely unhelped and ignored. I pray I’ll have the strength to do what Christ would do, especially when it’s inconvenient and unpopular. “There are many prodigal sons, on our city streets they run, searching for shelter” (Please note here: prodigal sons = Christians, thus he’s pointing out something that is sadly too true - when someone messes up, often the church fails to help them back into the fold of God’s love and instead they gossip about what it is that makes them “prodigal”) “And there are homes broken down - people’s hopes have fallen to the ground from failures.” (I picture financial burdens here. Family’s honestly trying, but their debt and mistakes have added up so greatly they’re not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel - and it emotionally devastates them.) “This is an emergency.” And this beautiful scene here as it gets painted by Leeland - “Sinner, reach out your hands - Children in Christ you stand — and sinner, reach out your hands [God will pick you up, and as] Children in Christ you stand.”

7) “Run” by indie band After the Chase. A simply song I wanted to include mainly for its standout-ness as indie, but it also alludes back to a verse from Isaiah that was the “life verse” of my first youth minister, who taught me so much. “I want to soar on wings like eagles - You will renew my strength” “I want to follow your purpose until my legs carry me no more.”

8) “Cry Out Your Name” by John Sherrill band. I know these guys, and was working the conference where they recorded this live CD. They’re genuine. This song has a brilliant chorus, beautifully defining why and how we cry out His name. “Lord I worship you. And I cry out your name, that’s why I’m created - that’s why _I’m_ created - and I cry out your name, as I sign to the ones who don’t believe - and I cry out your name, so the rock’s will be silent - the rock’s will be silent - and I cry out your name unashamed!”

9) “Holy Holy Holy” continued from the above, since it was recorded live. This song actually reminds me of the funny fact that the Bible never mentioned the word “trinity” - it’s just taught as truth. Funny how God never got around to defining the exact word we had to use to describe his unique plurality; I guess he’s not a legalist. :)

10) “Before there was time” by Caedmon’s Call. “Before there was time, there visions in your mind - there was death in the fall of mankind, but there was life in salvation’s design. Before there were days, there were nights I could not see your face, but the night couldn’t keep my grace and you came and you took my place.” … as God is apart from time, his plan for my life was true, is true, and will be true from t = negative infinity to t = positive infinity.

11) “There’s Only One (Holy One) by Cademon’s Call. Oh how I love Caedmon’s lyrics that musically pack huge punches of truth into each verse. This song certainly does, and I can’t help but quote it in bulk:

Left His seamless robe behind
Woke up in a stable and cried
Lived and died and rose again
Savior for a guilty land

It’s a story like a children’s tune
It’s grown familiar as the moon
So now I ride my camel high
I’m aiming for the needle’s eye

I chased the wind, but I chased in vain
I chased the earth, it would not sustain

…

(And here, I think it’s a very nice mixing decision to bring in the drums hard and heavy here to emphasize the “war” - as it’s a personal spiritual war we are fighting)

Lord, You are my Prince of Peace
But this war brings me to my knees
See, there’s a table You’ve prepared
And all my enemies are there
But where my Shepherd leads
Where else can I go?
Who else fills my cup ’til it overflows?
…
There’s only One who never fails
To beckon the morning light
There’s only One who sets loose the gales
And ties the trees down tight
To the Solid Rock I fly
Though He bids me come and die
There’s only One, only One Holy One

12) “Wedding Dress” by Derek Webb. Another lyrical giant of a song here, even if the lyrics got it pulled from many stores for it’s biblical use of the word “whore.” Basically, Derek paints a picture here that I know oh too well - a believer who outwardly says he will follow Christ, but for we often “cheat” on Christ for stupid, petty, worthless reasons compared to the matchless blood of Christ. “I am a whore, I do confess, I put you on just like a wedding dress, and I run down the aisle.” Then with “Cause money can not buy a husband’s jealous eye, when you have knowingly deceived his wife” he warns those who may be deceiving the church, living sinfully, with perhaps special attention to those who donate large sums of cash and feel pridefully as if they’ve done something ‘just so great’.

13) “In Christ Alone.” Very simple, but very powerful lyrical truths are what make this song stand out as such a great song to worship with. “In Christ alone, who took on flesh, fulness of God in helpless babe - this gift of love and righteousness, scorned by the ones he came to save. ‘Til on that cross, as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied, for every sin on Him was laid - here in the death of Christ I live.” But thank God the story does not end. “There in the ground, his body lay, light of the world by darkness slain, then bursting forth in glorious day, up from the grave he rose again! As as he stands in victory, sin’s curse has lost its grip on me. For I am his, and he is mine, bought with the precious blood of Christ.” (I love this musical break they take, as if giving time to reflect on the amazing truth of the last lyrics). And then to reassure the believer that salvation does not come from ourself but it come from God, and God’s promised he won’t allow anything or anyone to take it away, because to deny a believer salvation would be to deny himself, as he lives within us. “No guilt in life, nor fear in death - this is the power of Christ in me - from life’s first cry to final breath, Jesus command’s my destiny - No power of hell, nor scheme of man, can ever pluck me from his hand - ‘Til he returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.” … Ps. Mysteriously, and without any explanation anywhere that I’m able to find, there is a dog bark very faintly heard at 0:36.

14) “Be Thou My Vision” - a hymn to God that asks God to be God of our lives - go figure. “Be thou my wisdom and thou my true word - I ever with thee, and thou with me, Lord. … thou in me dwelling, and I with thee - one.”

15) “My Jesus” by Todd Agnew. Another song that challenges me personally to live radically and makes me a little bit angry at the stereotypical Christian church. “‘Cause my Jesus bled and died - he spent his time with thieves and sluts and liars - he loved the poor and accosted the arrogant[/rich/comfortable], so which one do you want to be? … Blessed are the poor in spirit, but do we pray to be blessed with wealth of this land?” “If Jesus was here, would you walk right by on the other side, or fall down and worship at his holy feet?” “Cause my Jesus would never be accepted in my church - the blood and dirt on his feet might stain the carpet - but he reaches the hurting and despises the proud, and I think he’d prefer Beale St. street to the stained glass crowd… Wanna be like my Jesus!”

16) “Our God Reigns” by Delirious. This song talks about abortion, (”40 million babies lost to God’s great orphanage”), HIV and violence in Africa, as well how little it costs it would cost each of us to help: (”100 million faces staring at the sky, wondering if this HIV will ever pass them by. The devil stole the rain, and hope trickles down the plug, but still my Chinese take away could pay for someone’s drugs.”) It talks about war, (”The west has found a gun, and it’s loaded with unsure.”), the ridiculousness of a culture that spends millions on vanity and ‘doctors’ wasting their intelligence on these surgeries, (”Nip and tuck if you have bucks, in a race to find the cure.”) and it reminds us that despite it all, “Our God reigns - forever your Kingdom reigns… for there is only one true God” and it directs us to do something! - at very least we can pray: “forgive us all, forgive us please - as we fight for this broken world on our knees!”

17) Lastly, “Thankful” by Caedmon’s Call. Another Caedmon’s song with some scriptural truths in the lyrics that make it possible to truthfully say the very unusual tag line from the chorus: “I’m so thankful, that I’m incapable of doing any good on my own.” Because of scriptural truths like these: “Cause we’re all still-born and dead in our transgressions. We’re shackled up to the sin we hold so dear. So what part can I play in the work of redemption if can’t refuse but I can not add a thing? ‘Cause I am just like Lazarus and I can hear your voice - I stand and rub my eyes and walk to you, because I have no choice… so I am thankful, that I’m incapable of doing any good on my own [because good comes from God, and it's God who saves us, not ourselves]. “It’s by grace I have been saved, through faith that’s not my own, it is a gift of God and not by works, lest anyone should boast.”

In 3 days I experienced slow MySQL and MySQL downtime. There are no “user friendly” tools for database creation. And worst of all: their server is configured incorrectly, so in order to have these obscure scripts like, I dunno, Wordpress, run correctly, you have to set your folders to the very insecure 777 permissions, which is stupid.

I’m asking for a full refund from them. Next up, I’ll give Godaddy a try.

Truth be told, I’m really just testing out Facebook’s BlogIt app and the Markdown syntax right now, but in the future, I hope to make entries on the following:

• How to improve your search engine rank.
• Staying connected with people.
• The future of The Decatur Daily and news print in general.
• and Lifeguard management.

In the meantime, I hope to hear from you in the comments, or better yet, follow me and @ me on Twitter! Thanks!

*note: This was my second attempt at this entry. The user/password wasn’t properly set, and Blogit had no way to retrieve my first effort. (Note to self: always copy to clipboard first).

Additional note: Fourth attempt. Blogit never worked. The username/password was properly set all along, but that is the error it reports, despite multiple attempts. Fail.