Friday, March 30, 2012

Just enough to keep you watching

Sarah recently noted that I haven't blogged anything lately. 

Yeah.  I'll let the irony of that particular observation sink in for just a moment ;-) 

It all started when I went to the Children's Pastors' Conference in San Diego.  That got me out of the habit.  Then, when I got back, I found the stuff that was on my mind was not really stuff I wanted to blog about.  See, I've been thinking about serious stuff lately, about art, about faith, about human relationships, and I have come to the conclusion that I don't care to write discourses on these subjects.  I want to talk to people about them.  I'd sit down to blog about, say, the western church's (general) failure to teach people about worship, but I couldn't get into it.  I've talked about it a couple of times with my wife when one kid is sleeping and the other is watching a movie/playing in his room/running back and forth through the living room making train noises, and those conversations have been awesome!  I had a conversation via chat about the use of cheap/vulgar humor in theatre for children with a former coworker, and it was great!  I tried to blog about these subjects, and it just wasn't the same.  So I guess the reason I haven't been blogging much isn't that I haven't had anything to say, it's that I've had too much to say, and the limitations of the blog have been discouraging me. 

Don't worry, I don't have anything important to say tonight ;-)

I hope you got a chance to see The Velveteen Rabbit over the past month.  I'm not just saying that because I wrote it and I want you to tell me how good I am, either.  I'm saying it because I saw the show two times, and it was a really sweet, heartwarming show.  It made me feel good, and I know from reports that it did the same for a lot of the audiences who came.  My favorite was the report of two hardcore VR fans who saw an adaptation of it last year that they hated so much, they were afraid to go out and try again.  (That whole I've been hurt before thing, I guess)  Fortunately they decided to risk it, and apparently they loved this VR. Despite the fact that I added an antagonistic cat storyline that had nothing to do with the original book.  (Trust me, it was for the best) 

I also say I hope you saw the show because there's a great chance that script will never be performed again.  As with most public domain works, there are already several dozen VR scripts in publication, so most publishers aren't exactly looking for a new take on the old story. And those companies who don't end up spending the $35-75 for royalties (like the Players) just write their own.  So I'll be surprised if there's much life for this one beyond this run. Hope you liked it! 

That reminds me of a thought about humility and contentment that I meant to blog sometime in the past three months.  Maybe I'll get around to that one of these days. 

Can I say that I think MLB's new playoff system is DUMB?? (Actually, maybe I can't, now that I'm an employee of a MLB team...) Well then I won't get into it, but I'll just say that, while including more teams is a GOOD idea, having them play ONE GAME to decide who will be the Wild Card team is STUPID.  Furthermore, my opinions in no way reflect those of my employers.  That I'm aware of. 

Oh, I've been sick the last few days.  And tomorrow I'm doing some work as a lighting dummy.  So here's hoping a good night of sleep will make everything better.  Plus, I have to teach children's church on Sunday, so I'm going to need my voice. 

Speaking of, it is getting a little late, so I really ought to be going.  But I may as well pass along some awesome Internet videos I've found.  Because that's what y'all expect of me.

The first is a video from a gal who plays video game music and television theme songs on her violin and piano.  Apparently, she does them all by ear.  Also, she apparently love Halloween, because in half the videos she dresses up as a character from the show or game. She's found her Internet niche and it looks like she's really having fun with it.  Plus, the music absolutely kicks.  I can't embed a video, but you can check out her youtube channel here

And finally...I don't know how else to describe this, really, other than to say that, if Jesus had taught a parable that used hockey as its subject matter, this may be what he would have come up with.