Either I'm really fickle or God is doing some vast changing in my life. I've decided to pretty much drop this blog and focus on the joint blog with Brandi as well as the blog I created that focuses on my creative writing. The former blog will be about us as a family as well as ministry related things with some Rock Hill related posts thrown in as well. The later blog is new and is a place where I can post various writings and get feedback and hopefully start conversations.
www.thejourneyahead09.blogspot.com
www.thefoxywriter.blogspot.com
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The first time I read The Chronicles of Narnia was right before the first movie came out. I was blown away by both the books and the movie. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, though it differed some from the book, kept the feel and theme of the book which I've come to realize is more important than getting the book on film word for word.
The second time I read through the chronicles was right before the second movie came out. Again, the books were fantastic, but something was lacking from the movie. I've finally decided that as a sequel to the first movie, Prince Caspian is not bad, but as an adaptation of the book, it's not very good. Additional scenes and kisses aside, it didn't have the same feel that the book had.
Some of the things I'd heard and seen that were related to the newest movie, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, made me question whether this movie would go the way of Caspian rather than LWW, but after seeing a couple of trailers for the movie, my excitement was resurrected. And I wasn't disappointed. Again, the movie didn't follow the book to the letter, but the magic that made LWW great was there. If you haven't seen it yet, you really need to for two reasons: 1) It's a great movie and 2) If this movie doesn't make enough profit, there may not be any more Narnia movies. I can sit here and tell you the things that I would have done differently if I had made the movie (I would have kept the Dufflepods original back-story for example) but why focus on what they should have done instead of focusing on what they did, which was make a great movie based on a great book.
Have you seen it yet? What did you think?
The second time I read through the chronicles was right before the second movie came out. Again, the books were fantastic, but something was lacking from the movie. I've finally decided that as a sequel to the first movie, Prince Caspian is not bad, but as an adaptation of the book, it's not very good. Additional scenes and kisses aside, it didn't have the same feel that the book had.
Some of the things I'd heard and seen that were related to the newest movie, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, made me question whether this movie would go the way of Caspian rather than LWW, but after seeing a couple of trailers for the movie, my excitement was resurrected. And I wasn't disappointed. Again, the movie didn't follow the book to the letter, but the magic that made LWW great was there. If you haven't seen it yet, you really need to for two reasons: 1) It's a great movie and 2) If this movie doesn't make enough profit, there may not be any more Narnia movies. I can sit here and tell you the things that I would have done differently if I had made the movie (I would have kept the Dufflepods original back-story for example) but why focus on what they should have done instead of focusing on what they did, which was make a great movie based on a great book.
Have you seen it yet? What did you think?
Thursday, December 9, 2010
What to do when there's nothing to do
My wife and I try to go on a date once a week. Many times this consists of dinner and a movie. But we'd been doing that a lot lately and, to be honest, there isn't anything playing right now in either the main theater or the $2 theater that interested us. I had supper planned out, we went to Nishie G's which is always fantastic, but I didn't know what we would do after supper. I checked Rock Hill website to see what was happening, but there wasn't anything for us to attend. I started thinking about various places around the Thrill that we hadn't been to in a while and the Galleria came to mind.
Being that Rock Hill is quickly becoming a suburb of Charlotte most people, including myself, don't give the Galleria a second thought as there are larger malls just a little farther north. But I remembered seeing on the news that a new frozen yogurt place had just opened up in the food court and I figured that would be a good place for dessert.
So that's where we went and I must say, neither of us were disappointed. The yogurt was delicious (you really should go check it out) but more than that, it was nice the just walk around the mall. I kind of wish that we would give this place a little more credit. Maybe then, there would be less empty stores and more places to check out.
As a side note, I'm serious about the yogurt place Yo-Yo's Frozen Yogurt - check it out.
Being that Rock Hill is quickly becoming a suburb of Charlotte most people, including myself, don't give the Galleria a second thought as there are larger malls just a little farther north. But I remembered seeing on the news that a new frozen yogurt place had just opened up in the food court and I figured that would be a good place for dessert.
So that's where we went and I must say, neither of us were disappointed. The yogurt was delicious (you really should go check it out) but more than that, it was nice the just walk around the mall. I kind of wish that we would give this place a little more credit. Maybe then, there would be less empty stores and more places to check out.
As a side note, I'm serious about the yogurt place Yo-Yo's Frozen Yogurt - check it out.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Relient K and more Christmas Carol Misunderstanding
I haven't been to a Relient K concert in a few years so when I found out that not only would they been in Columbia, but in Columbia on my birthday, I decided my Relient K concert drought was over. Brandi and I went down to Cola last night and, despite that fact that we were probably the only people over the age of 20 that weren't chaperons, employees of the tavern or part of the band, it was fantastic!
They spent the first part of the concert playing their regular songs and the second part playing their Christmas songs. When they played "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" I remembered another misunderstanding that I used to have. Two years ago, I wrote about how I don't always understand the lyrics that we sing during Christmas (update: I finally learned what "laud" means). This new misunderstanding, however, was completely my own doing. The lines
From God our Heavenly Father
I used to think the line was "brought tidings of dismay" possibly because the word "dismay" is used earlier in the song, possibly because I didn't know what "dismay" meant...who knows? Either way, it happened but I now know and knowing is half the battle....or something.
They spent the first part of the concert playing their regular songs and the second part playing their Christmas songs. When they played "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" I remembered another misunderstanding that I used to have. Two years ago, I wrote about how I don't always understand the lyrics that we sing during Christmas (update: I finally learned what "laud" means). This new misunderstanding, however, was completely my own doing. The lines
From God our Heavenly Father
A blessed Angel came;
And unto certain Shepherds
Brought tidings of the same:
I used to think the line was "brought tidings of dismay" possibly because the word "dismay" is used earlier in the song, possibly because I didn't know what "dismay" meant...who knows? Either way, it happened but I now know and knowing is half the battle....or something.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
The White Horse
Even though The White Horse is a Rock Hill staple, it wasn't until the Spring of my junior year at Winthrop that I first ate there. I don't remember much about it though. I remember it was on Valentine's Day and I was taking Brandi there. I remember buying a flower for her from whoever was selling them in the Winthrop cafeteria that year. I also remember having said flower crushed by the time I gave it to her because it was in the inside pocket of my jacket.
I also remember that my grandfather had died earlier that morning. That last fact is probably one of the reasons that I don't remember much else from that night.
The second time that I went to The White Horse was tonight, again on a date with Brandi. We walked in and were immediately greeted and led to the back of the room, through a short hallway into the further back where it was a little more secluded. Actually, one of the things I enjoy about the restaurant is that they have tall seat backs. I didn't feel like I was having to share dinner with the people behind me. Service was quick and friendly and the food was delicious. I tend to judge a restaurant by the quality of its burger and The White Horse passes the test.
If you haven't been there yet, or been there in awhile, you should really go.
I also remember that my grandfather had died earlier that morning. That last fact is probably one of the reasons that I don't remember much else from that night.
The second time that I went to The White Horse was tonight, again on a date with Brandi. We walked in and were immediately greeted and led to the back of the room, through a short hallway into the further back where it was a little more secluded. Actually, one of the things I enjoy about the restaurant is that they have tall seat backs. I didn't feel like I was having to share dinner with the people behind me. Service was quick and friendly and the food was delicious. I tend to judge a restaurant by the quality of its burger and The White Horse passes the test.
If you haven't been there yet, or been there in awhile, you should really go.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Deatlhy Hallows Part 1
I have to agree with Brandi, there are really no movies that are worth going to a midnight premiere of. What are we really gaining if we see the movie at midnight instead of going opening weekend or opening week?
"Dude, what's wrong with you?"
"Watched the midnight showing of (insert new epic movie here) movie last night. I didn't get to bed until after three. It was awesome though!"
We're begging for this response, "Yes well, I can still function correctly. I'll be watching it this evening. We can talk about it tomorrow."
That said, I've been known to go to midnight movies on occasion. The first one that I saw was in high school with some friends. We went to see the second Matrix movie. We also went to see the third one at midnight as well.
Harry Potter 6 and now Harry Potter 7 part 1 I can add to my list of midnight movies.
So, what is the point of staying up past an unreasonable hour to go see a movie? Because my friends go. Because now, not only can we talk about how great the movie was, we can also talk about our friend that got a free ticket. We can also talk about how when the guy was talking to us before the movie started his walkie-talkie went off quite loudly announcing "Theater 3 has no sound" followed by someone in the crowd yelling, "Which theater are we in?" (We were in 10 by the way, so no worries). We can talk about all of the people that dressed up. Heck, some of us even dressed up.
We can also talk about the awesome trailers that we got to see before the movie (like this one).
Also, we can now joke about how out of it were the day after, sort of like a midnight movie hangover. So, maybe the movie itself, though fantastic, wasn't worth staying up late, but hanging out with friends was.
"Dude, what's wrong with you?"
"Watched the midnight showing of (insert new epic movie here) movie last night. I didn't get to bed until after three. It was awesome though!"
We're begging for this response, "Yes well, I can still function correctly. I'll be watching it this evening. We can talk about it tomorrow."
That said, I've been known to go to midnight movies on occasion. The first one that I saw was in high school with some friends. We went to see the second Matrix movie. We also went to see the third one at midnight as well.
Harry Potter 6 and now Harry Potter 7 part 1 I can add to my list of midnight movies.
So, what is the point of staying up past an unreasonable hour to go see a movie? Because my friends go. Because now, not only can we talk about how great the movie was, we can also talk about our friend that got a free ticket. We can also talk about how when the guy was talking to us before the movie started his walkie-talkie went off quite loudly announcing "Theater 3 has no sound" followed by someone in the crowd yelling, "Which theater are we in?" (We were in 10 by the way, so no worries). We can talk about all of the people that dressed up. Heck, some of us even dressed up.
We can also talk about the awesome trailers that we got to see before the movie (like this one).
Also, we can now joke about how out of it were the day after, sort of like a midnight movie hangover. So, maybe the movie itself, though fantastic, wasn't worth staying up late, but hanging out with friends was.
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