LOST meets Starbucks?

Only the Beginning

I'm not sure the impact of the past few weeks has settled in:

8200 people in attendance.

Last Sunday 413 people were baptized.

And the week before ... 214 people were saved in one day.

But that's not even 6% of the 3814 names left on the altar.

The city of Anderson has a population of 25,514 (2000 Census).
The county has a population of 172,988. -source

We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction.
-1 Thessalonians 3:5 (NIV)

Ken does not look like ...

This guy.


And certainly not like the fellow on the left.


There's no chance of confusing Ken with ...


But then, on the other hand ...

LOST Loser - Very UPDATED

After all the waiting, the hoopla and the big build-up, LOST Season 3 finally debuted last night on ABC.

Did I drive over to Lee Dial's house after First Wednesday and preserve my AVCLUB membership? Aw, heck no.

So I must've watched S3 E1 live here at the house, right? Nope, not that either.

I ended up taping The Show because I was on the phone with The Dollhouse (and learned 66% of The 6 PM Possee is mustering up for the 6th on the 8th) ... then pretty much LOST (sorry) interest within 45 minutes after I got around to watching. Still haven't seen the last 15 minutes.

Maybe more later ... check out McD's post "He Stoops to Conquer"

It's NOT My Pastor

That big guy ... what's his name, you know the one I'm talking about, the one who does the preaching. It's not him, it's the Holy Spirit speaking through him ... but doggone it the Wednesday night message rang like the Liberty Bell being hit with a sledge hammer.

Maria Full of Grace (2004)

Last night I watched Maria Full of Grace courtesy of NetFlix.

Maria is the story of a pregnant Columbian teenager who becomes a drug mule, smuggling narcotics into the US, to earn money for her family.

Long before Maria arrives in the US the movie's tension becomes harrowing, and had me squirming uncomfortably in my seat through to the end. The story has little to do with drugs and concentrates instead on Maria's character. Highly recommended.

IMDB User Rating: 7.7/10 (8,313 votes)

Solaris (2002)

Since 2004 I've probably re-watched Steven Soderbergh's Solaris (an Americanized remake of Andrei Tarkovsky's 1972 original Solyaris) more than any other film ... you wouldn't believe me if I said 20-25 times, but Chris W. would probably shrug and point out that the actual number is at least twice as high.

I was thrilled this morning to read that Ken and Meg watched "Solaris" last night, and rapaciously devoured Ken's review.

Coincidentally, LOST Season 3 starts tonight ... and there's more than a few similarities between LOST and "Solaris"

Is "Solaris" destined to be remembered as a great movie treasure? There's no way. Was it even necessary to repackage a classic like "Solyaris" for American audiences, by turning it into a romance? Not at all.

Then why watch it so many times?

'Cause I don't know the answer to this: how far would any of us go, and how much could we overlook, to have a second chance?

Imagine you were madly in love with a person, but then something you did in anger that you should have controlled resulted in that person's death. What would you do to have another chance, and make that pain go away?

If you could, wouldn't you want to have that person back?

But what would your reason be? To give that person another chance at life ... or to give yourself another chance at life with someone who looks, acts and even feels identical to the person you loved ... except that this "new" person is only playing a role you created, with no memories of their own except yours.

Would that really be the same as having a second chance?

There's more to say, but right now I gotta find out who's making all that racket in the kitchen ...

I'm Bringing Sexy Back

Here's a review of Justin Timberlake's song "Sexyback":

"He should be jailed for saying stuff like this. Gagged and manacled and hurled in the deepest, dankest dungeon imaginable. A cell so small they have to snap his skeleton in half to fit him in. And the moment the door slams shut, the whole thing should be soundproofed, sealed and bombed into a million bits." -Guardian Unlimited

Elephant Kills British Man in Kenya

From Guardian Unlimited

Monday October 2, 2006 9:16 PM

By ANTHONY MITCHELL

Associated Press Writer

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - An elephant trampled and killed a British man on his honeymoon in Kenya, officials said Monday.

Patrick Smith, 34, was killed in front of his wife, Julie, in the Masai Mara National Reserve on Sunday, officials said. His wife managed to leap out of the way.

``He was trampled by an elephant while on a nature trail with his wife,'' said Connie Maina, spokeswoman for the Kenya Wildlife Service. ``This is a terrible accident.''

The couple had been married for just a week, Maina added.

Irresistible

"Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier." - Colin Powell

Villanova Junction - (Second Update)-This Is SO John Mayer WEIRD

“Live at Woodstock, as full of color, vision and intensity as it is, may be the clearest illustration why Jimi Hendrix's death was such a tragedy.”

"Mitch Mitchell is a monster on drums, his heavy kick and otherwise busy attack a counterpart to Jimi’s guitar work.

"That [Hendrix] could not bring to fruition all the ambition inherent in this project makes his untimely death all that much more of a tragedy.

“Villanova Junction ... is, like so many Hendrix ballads, a real keeper ... it suggests just how many directions Jimi would have been capable of pursuing had he lived." -source

Villanova Junction starts 15 seconds into here.

----------------------------

I love this song.

But it took years before I thought I understood why, after re-ordering space/time with his "Purple Haze" guitar solo [see 1:26-2:24 here], Jimi Hendrix followed with this unusual song, ended the 60s and closed out the Woodstock Rock Festival.

Here's how to play ...

This song is an instumental tune in A
------------------------------------I-----------------------------
------------------------------------I-----------------------------
------------5---7----8-7/9\7\5----7-I-----------------------------
----7---7---------------------------I--7---7---7---7---7---7---7--
------------3---5----5-5/7\5\3----5-I-----------------------------
----5---5---------------------------I--5---5---5---5---5---5---5--


----------------------------------I-----------------------5-------
---------------------8/10-10/8----I-------------------------------
------------5---7-----------------I--7-------X---X--X--X----------
----7---7------------5/-7--7/5----I----------X---X--X--X----------
------------3---5-----------------I--5---5---X---X--X--X----------
----5---5-------------------------I-------------------------------

                   HP
---------------------I----5--8--5---------------------------------
---------------------I----6---------------------------------------
--------------5------I-------------------5------------------5-H-7-
---------------------I----------------7--7------------5---7-------
--5---8---5-------5--I----------------5-------5--5-H-7------------
---------------------I--------------------------------------------


-------------------7-h-5-------I----------5-----------------------
-------------------5-----------I--------5-------------------------
-------------------------------I-------------5-H-7----------------
---5---7---7---------------7---I--------7-----------5--7--5-------
-------------------------------I------------------------------7---
---------------------------5---I----------------------------------


------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------
---x----------10---9---8-------5----------------------------------
---x---------------------------3----------------------------------
---x---8---8---8---7---6----5---------5---5---5---5---------------
-------------------------------------------------------8^---------


------------------------------------------------------------------I
-------------HP---------------------------------------------------I
-----------5-7--5----------------------------5--------------------I
-----7---------------5H7-----5H7--------5-------------------------I
------------------------------------------------------------------I
---5----------------------------------------------5---------------I

credits here.

If you got to wikipedia.com and enter "Villanova Junction" as your search term, it takes you to the John Mayer page.

Ya'll cut it out, for pete's sake.

Xang Schumacher Ya

Michael Schumacher [Ferrari] drove to an incredible victory in today's Grand Prix of China, which places him in a dead-even tie with Fernando Alonso [Renault] for the World Driver's Championship ... with just two races remaining in the 2006 season.

Alonso took advantage of his pole position early on to move to a 41-second lead during the rain-plagued initial stages of the race only to see Schumacher, who'd switched to dry-pavement tires as soon as conditions allowed, advance from ninth position to take the victory.

If you saw Alonso's demeanor during the post-race interview you saw the face of a driver who gave 110% and yet knows his season is finished ... as is any chance of wresting the world title from Schumacher's grasp.