Garfield, Faulkner, Baseball

I just wanted to make everyone aware of Garfield Minus Garfield.

From the website: "Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness in a quiet American suburb."

Check it out here.

In other news, I'm starting to get some writing done on my thesis. The plan is to have a rough draft by the end of April. I've also been reading The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner. The Dark Sea of Darkness inspired me to be more of a reader. I'll post a short review of the book when I'm done with it.

Also, MLB 2008 is officially underway! This also means that Fantasy Baseball 2008 is underway. My draft was this past Saturday. Here is my team:

C- Joe Mauer
1B- Carlos Pena
2B- Howie Kendrick
3B- Ryan Braun
SS- Michael Young
OF- Nick Markakis
OF- Alex Rios
OF- Matt Kemp
Bench- Jeremy Hermida, Orlando Cabrera, Edwin Encarnacion, Josh Hamilton

SP- Johan Santana
SP- Erik Bedard
SP- Felix Hernandez
SP- Jered Weaver
RP- Matt Capps
RP- Jokim Soria
RP- Brian Wilson

A special thanks to Allyson and Amy for being my draft helpers.

On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness

"Adventure. Peril. Lost Jewels. And the Fearsome Toothy Cows of Skree."

This book is every bit as stereotypical as it sounds. And I loved every page.

Andrew has completely embraced the typical fantasy/adventure story. There's nothing new or original about the plot here. Bad guys, good guys, adventure, adversity. But if it ain't broke, why fix it?

Here's a quick synopsis of the book:
"Once, in a cottage above the cliffs on the Dark Sea of Darkness, there lived three children and their trusty dog Nugget. Janner Igiby, his brother Tink, their crippled sister Leeli are gifted children as all children are, loved well by a noble mother and ex-pirate grandfather. But they will need all their gifts and all that love to survive the evil pursuit of the venomous Fangs of Dang who have crossed the dark sea to rule the land with malice and pursue the Igibys who hold the secret to the lost legend and jewels of good King Wingfeather of the Shining Isle of Anniera.

Andrew Peterson spins a quirky and riveting tale of the Igibys’ extraordinary journey from Glipwood’s Dragon Day Festival and a secret hidden in the Books and Crannies Bookstore, past the terrifying Black Carriage, clutches of the horned hounds and loathsome toothy cows surrounding AnkleJelly Manor, through the Glipwood Forest and mysterious treehouse of Peet the Sock Man (known for a little softshoe and wearing tattered socks on his hands and arms), to the very edge of the Ice Prairies.

Full of characters rich in heart, smarts, and courage, On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness presents a world of wonder and a tale children of all ages will cherish, families can read aloud, and readers’ groups are sure to discuss for its layers of meaning about life’s true treasure and tangle of the beautiful and horrible, temporal and eternal, and good and bad."

This book is two parts Tolkien and one part Douglas Adams. There is definitely a unique world that Andrew has created. But don't take this book near as seriously as you would Lord of the Rings. Not that Andrew leaves that option open to you. After all, the world of Aerwiar (where they live) was named such because the first inhabitant woke up the first morning there and said "Well, here we are!". (here we are --> "Aerwiar")

On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness is filled with fun little trinkets through out the book. They mostly come in hilarious footnotes, but there are also a few poems within the book. One such poem is written on the treasure map:

"Be you friend or be you foe
Beware to all who follow
For in the catacombs below
Is hidden in the hollow
A way that leads to pain and woe
Sadness, grief, and sorrow
The hungry ghost of Brimney Stupe
Awaits your bones to swallow
So think you long before you go
Exploring here tomorrow."

Although there are a thousand predictable scenarios throughout the book, there was one thing in the last few pages which I have never seen before, except in the bible. Obviously I won't say what it was, but it moved me in a deep, deep way once I realized the analogy.

Overall, this book is just plain fun. Completely entertaining and tough to put down. I recommend it to kids of all ages, especially grown up ones.

Click here to buy your own copy of the book:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1400073847

Ok, ok, now I know what everyone is waiting for: trivia questions to win a free copy of the book! Well here they are. The first person to post a comment with the correct answer to one of the questions gets a FREE copy. NOTE: There are 3 questions but only 2 books to give away.

Question 1:
In the Andrew Peterson song "The Silence of God", Andrew refers to "A statue of Jesus on a monastery knoll/ In the hills of Kentucky, all quiet and cold"

What is the name of this monastery?

Question 2:
What was the name of the Driver's Ed. instructor on Saved By The Bell?

Question 3:
Who did I take to homecoming my Junior year of high school? (Hint: she was the homecoming princess)

To see the rest of the lyrics of "The Silence of God", click here. GREAT SONG.

PS- If you live in State College, I'll be more than happy to lend you my copy of the book.

Review Coming.....

For those of you looking for the Andrew Peterson book review/trivia challenge book give away, check back later this afternoon. I'm workin on it okay????

Paul

Book Review

As many of you know, I am a huge fan of Andrew Peterson's music. More specifically, I am a huge fan of his song writing. I have known for while that Andrew has been writing a fantasy book. Well, it's finally done! The book releases next Tuesday (March 18).

So why the early notice? Well, it just so happens that I signed up to be part of a Blog Tour. Basically, a bunch of people get an early copy of the book in order to read it and write a review of the book on their blog! Said review will be posted early to middle of next week (probably on Wednesday).

And now for the coolest part: I get to give two free copies of the book away! That's right, two lucky blog readers will get a free copy of On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson! So how can you win this book? Well, I'm not sure yet, but it will probably be a trivia challenge of sorts. Check back later for details.

Anyway, I just wanted to give everyone the heads up on this opportunity.

Thanks for reading,

Paul

Opposite Way

This past Tuesday marked the release of Leeland's sophomore album Opposite Way. When the Texas based band released Sound of Melodies in 2006, it quickly became one of my favorite albums of the year. Needless to say, I was pretty excited about the new album.

So did it live up to expectations? I'm gonna say almost. And that's pretty good for a sophomore album.

Leeland's songwriting--done almost exclusively by 19 year old lead singer Leeland Mooring--is definitely worship centered. He writes some pretty good songs (especially for a 19 year old), but I'm not completely blown away by them. Michael W. Smith is more impressed by the kid than I am though. Smith has taken Leeland under his wings and invested much time into developing him as a songwriter. I guess Smith sees something I don't. He's the one with 3 Grammy's and 34 Dove awards though.

The musical styling on this album is pretty similar to their first but with a little more rock mixed in with their melodic-pop sound. Rock has never been my cup of tea, so I'm glad they didn't move too far in that direction.

Leeland's unique vocals are definitely a selling point. The guy reaches notes I don't dare attempt. And he sings with a genuine passion. I'm really excited to see these guys progress and grow up......literally. They're all around the 18-20 year old range.

If you don't buy the whole album, do yourself a favor and buy "Like a Theif in the Night" off iTunes. GREAT song. My other favorite songs are "Enter This Temple", "Opposite Way", "Beginning and the End", and "Let it Out Now".

Leeland's Website
Leeland's Myspace

A fallen tree and a risen awareness

So today I found out that a tree fell on the house of some of my best friends back home in Atlanta yesterday. It was about 6:30 in the morning. My friend Andrew was getting ready for work when he heard a what sounded like "a train hitting the house". The tree, a sixty year old pine, fell onto the next room over. The room belonged to another good friend of mine, Andy Rocker. The tree, about two feet in diameter, stopped about a foot and a half above Andy's legs. A little bit further and Andy would be in a wheelchair for life.....at best. I get a little choked up just thinking about what could have been.

I can't help but see the hand of the Lord in such events. As I wrote about in my last post, God uses "bad" events in our lives all the time to purify us and to bring us closer to Him. He also uses these events to keep us on our feet! We never know what's coming next in life.

James puts it this way:

"Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.'" -James 4:13-15 (NIV)

Now, the context of the verse is referring to the way in which people were boasting about what they would do next. But it still stands that, "you do not even know what will happen tomorrow." You don't have to tell Andrew and Andy that twice.

You can read Andrew's account by clicking here. He has a link to some pictures of their house in his blog.

And here is Andy's account with some more pictures.

I'm so thankful that God saw fit to spare my friend Andy. I'm even thankful that God chooses to keep us on our feet--to keep us aware of our daily dependance on Him.

The Good Bad Times

A couple weeks ago, I thought I was entering a season of "good times". You know how sometimes everything just seems to be going right in life? That's how I felt. I won't go into specifics, but I had plenty to be satisfied with and excited about. However, things have taken a little bit of a turn. Again, I won't go into specifics, but there have been a few circumstances which have left me feeing a little hurt and down.

This passage has been running through my head today:

"In the day of prosperity be happy, But in the day of adversity consider-- God has made the one as well as the other so that man will not discover anything that will be after him." -Ecclesiastes 7:14

As I was thinking about this verse earlier in the day, my thoughts were focused on the concept that God creates the bad times in our lives to purify us. I have always loved the visual of a flame drawing out the dross in a piece of metal such as gold. The analogy of course is that God uses pain and suffering in our lives to produce purity. But I don't think that that's what this verse is getting at. This verse states that the reason we have series of good and bad times in our lives is so that we won't know the future. Basically, we don't know whether good or bad is coming next. I suppose this keeps us on our spiritual toes--a good thing for people who get lazy and complacent easily.

Another verse that has been running through my head is this:

"And we know that in all things, God is working for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose." -Romans 8:28

This verse closer embodies the theme of this blog. I know that God is using all circumstances in my life--especially the difficult ones--for my good. To purify me. So really, how can I call these times "bad times"? They are The Good Bad Times. Not that I am rejoicing in them, but I can still have an underlying satisfaction in my life knowing that He is working all things for my benefit.