My Weblogs


  • Broken Pilgrim is my primary weblog. Here you will find my thoughts and reflections on my spiritual journey as a Christian.

  • Worship Naked is my weblog devoted to the authentic worship life for the gathered community of God.

  • Adventures in the Mundane is my weblog devoted to, well, anything that pops into my tiny little brain.

Firefly and Serenity

Great Big Sea

  • : 1. <i>Rant and Roar</i>

    1. Rant and Roar

    Compilation of Up and Play and the first GBS recording I owned...hooked me for good. (*****)

  • : 2. <i>Turn</i>

    2. Turn

    Many feel that this is stll the best GBS album...I don't agree but it still has some great, great songs. Consequence Free has some interesting lyrics about how we all wish to live. Boston and St. John's continues to grow on me in its stunning beauty. I'm a Rover is just a great party song and totally fun live with GBS. (****)

  • : 3. <i>Road Rage</i>

    3. Road Rage

    GBS live. There's no better way to experience this music than live with hundreds of others shouting out the songs we've all come to know and love. (*****)

  • : 4. <i>Sea of No Cares</i>

    4. Sea of No Cares

    Another great studio release showing even finer work from GBS. Highlights for me are Sea of No Cares, Scolding Wife and A Boat Like Gideon Brown. (****)

  • : 5. <i>Something Beautiful</i>

    5. Something Beautiful

    A lot of fans were disappointed that there weren't as many traditional songs on this recording as on previous ones. While it is more of a set of "pop" tunes, this is still a great album (and they promised to followup with an all traditional album...which they have...see The Hard and the Easy below). My favorites: When I Am King, Sally Ann, John Barbour and Lucky Me. (****)

  • : 6. <i>Great Big DVD & CD</i>

    6. Great Big DVD & CD

    GBS live again but this time not just a CD, but a DVD as well. This is an essential purchase for the entire planet. No, really. (*****)

  • : 7. <i>The Hard & The Easy</i>

    7. The Hard & The Easy

    This is the much anticipated all trad cd that the fans have all waited for. Who doesn't need a recording entirely devoted to traditional songs of Newfoundland? Need it. Got to have it. No wait. I already do! (*****)

  • : 8. <i>Courage & Patience & Grit - Great Big Sea In Concert</i>

    8. Courage & Patience & Grit - Great Big Sea In Concert
    This is another CD and DVD combo from GBS. This time it's live from the tour supporting The Hard and the Easy. An excellent concert - like all their concerts - but it was clearly towards the end of the tour and Alan is more than a little tired in voice. Not in spirit though! Still a worthwhile addition to the GBS world. (****)

May 15, 2009

BSG

Just in case you might have missed the four incredible seasons of Battlestar Galactica …

… might be missing a bit, though.

April 29, 2009

Centraal Station Antwerpen!

Here's another flash mob dance!

 (Be sure to hit HQ for better quality.)

April 24, 2009

Nice

You've probably already seen this, but I just saw it for the first time today. Love it!

U2 video for Window in the Skies.

Brings a smile to my face and it will to yours.

April 20, 2009

Let it snow…

It might snow tomorrow.

This makes me very, very, very happy.

April 13, 2009

This Year's Paul Potts

Alas, embedding has been disabled for this YouTube video. So click here to see Susan Boyle on this year's Britain's Got Talent. Already nearly 2 million views and it's only been up for 2 days. Watch it!

[Update just 12 hours later: Since last night, another 1 million views pushing it to nearly 3 million … so far!]

[Further update 1 day later: Pushing towards 5 million views!]

[Final update a week later: Well over 50 million views adding all YouTube clips!]

March 25, 2009

Advertising Can Make You Feel Good

If you don't feel good after watching that … well … I got nothin' to say to ya'

(for better quality, hit the HQ button)

March 17, 2009

A Star Wars Cantina Band Extravaganza!

February 12, 2009

Ireland Pics

Well, I'm back from Ireland (which is why I haven't posted in so long...both the prep and the going). 'Twas grand! But now I'm here. Sigh.

I took 565 pictures and here are the links to the best 145 of them.

Dublin Days

Dublin Days: 40 pictures taken in Dublin, Ireland from Tuesday, January 27 through Friday, January 30 and then again from Friday, February 6 through Saturday, February 7, 2009.

Celtic Experience Tour

Celtic Experience Tour: 16 pictures taken on the Celtic Experience Tour on Saturday, January 31, 2009.

Ireland Road Trip

Ireland Road Trip: 55 pictures from Clonmacnoise, Cashel and Kilkenny area taken on Sunday-Monday, February 1-2, 2009.

Glendalough Retreat

Glendalough Retreat: 20 pictures taken in Laragh and Glendalough, Ireland on my prayer retreat from Tuesday evening, February 3 through Thursday morning, February 5, 2009.

Howth, Ireland

Howth, Ireland: 5 pictures of a side trip to Howth, Ireland taken on Saturday, February 7, 2009, when I was forced to cancel the London portion of my vacation.

Belfast

Belfast: 9 pictures taken from the top of a Belfast CitySightseeing Tour Bus on Monday, February 9, 2009.

January 06, 2009

Huh?

So I need to make a couple phone calls to Ireland before I head over there in 3 weeks. Thought I'd check into the cost.

Yikes! Calling a land line would be $1.49 a minute and calling a cell phone $1.69. Ouch. And with the difficulties in understanding the accent over my not so great cell phone, any call is likely to have length.

But AT&T also has a program called World Connect. It costs $3.99 a month and lowers your per minute cost. To a land line is 9¢ a minute. To call a cell phone is 25¢ a minute.

SO whether calling a land line or a cell phone, the program pays for itself sometime during the 3rd minute of calling. And you can cancel at any time.

The customer service representative said a lot of people calling overseas prefer to not avail themselves of the program. Guess they like flushing all that green stuff away …

January 05, 2009

I Love New Old Music

A few days ago I created a playlist for iTunes and my iPod of all my African; Alternative and Indie; Celtic; Rock, Pop and R&B; Soundtrack; World tracks (my genre categories). It has 7,722 songs in it. 22.2 days of music.

Then I made a playlist of all tracks from that playlist that have never been played in iTunes. (Everything I have has been played at least once on a CD … but sometimes only once.) Way over 6,000.

So for the last 2 or 3 days, I've been randomly listening to all this great music that I forgot, or never really even knew, that I had. It's been great! A song will come on and my first thought will be, "Oh, no! I love this song! Who knows when I'll get to come back to this song! It's so good … "

Just 6,258 songs to go … it'll only take 17.7 days of straight listening …

Make that 6,257 songs … Harvest by Neil Young (on … Harvest) has just come on. I love this song!

January 01, 2009

Skara Brae

At the end of this month, I'm heading off to Ireland. I chose the dates that I did so that I could be in Dublin for the Temple Bar TradFest. There'll be plenty of free music in the pubs, but I still bought tickets to four of the offered concerts. On the last night it'll be "T with the Maggies", a gathering of 4 of the finest female voices in Irish traditional music: Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill, Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and Moya Brennan. I was familiar with Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh as the voice of Altan and Moya Brennan as the voice of Clannad. But what about the Dhomhnaill sisters?

Skara Brae Did a little research (thank you Wikipedia) and found that they were in a short lived and legendary group called Skara Brae. Their eponymous and only album, from 1971, is difficult to find, even though it was rereleased on Gael-Linn in 1998, but find it I did. Stunning. Ground breaking. First group to put vocal harmonies to traditional Gaelic music and record it. If you can find a copy, get it. (I found it at Tower Records for $18.86 but currently it lists for $27.99...so watch the price!) I've got their only duo album, Idir an Dá Sholas, from 1999, on order from a seller on Amazon Marketplace. High hopes.

Another bonus. Turns out that Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill was the female singer for the legendary late '70's band, The Bothy Band. I already have two albums with her on it!

December 31, 2008

Illinois Politics

Living in Illinois brings an inevitable resignation to the pervasiveness of political corruption.

That's not the embarrassing thing, though, for methinks that there's corruption everywhere.

The problem is that we're so inept at it...

December 30, 2008

What Was I Thinking?

I signed up on Facebook today, primarily so that I could delete an e-mail from a friend asking me to join.

I've probably received at least 75 e-mails in the last 8 hours as the result of signing up. At least I know I've got at least 55 "friends".

I should have waited one day. I've still got papers for my Doctor of Ministry to finish and mail by noon tomorrow!

And then I can play...

December 01, 2008

Ah … Completion!

The movie Serenity, essentially the conclusion to Firefly, just became available on iTunes to own.

Serenity Movie

And now I do.

November 29, 2008

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Yeah, I watched all three episodes on the internet each day that they came out.

Yeah, I downloaded the episodes from iTunes.

Yeah, I downloaded the soundtrack, too.

Drhorriblesingalongblog 

And yeah, I just pre-ordered the DVD from Amazon.com. The original 35 minutes of episodes. The 10 best fan application videos for the Evil League of Evil. Commentary. Making of. Easter Eggs.

But what I'm most looking forward to is the other commentary: Commentary! The Musical. Twice as much music as the original episodes.

Brilliant.

Click here to read what Joss Whedon says about the DVD.

Now go pre-order your copy.

November 26, 2008

Ow!

Used to love the old Carol Burnett Show. Great memories of song and dance and goofy skits like Went with the Wind.

Carol Burnett Went with the Wind 

Variety shows can be great, right?

So, I thought I'd check out Rosie Live tonight, Rosie O'Donnell's new variety hour.

Ow!

Lame.

Smarmy.

Never again.

November 18, 2008

The Piano Player

November 15, 2008

Scary Love

McRib Kiss I confess.

It's true.

I do love me my McRibs.

Whatever they're made of.

And they're back.

For a limited time.

November 13, 2008

Steppenwolf

Kafka on the Shore It's good to be back subscribing to the productions at Steppenwolf Theatre. I skipped last year and the year before, I attended alone.

This year I'm heading in to Chicago for the five productions with a friend from church, Robert. And this is good, this is good.

Last night's play was … different. Oh, I quite liked it and can't stop thinking about it. Unfortunately, I can't really explain it. It's Frank Galati's adaptation of Haruki Murakami's book, Kafka on the Shore. Through a series of dis/connected scenes embedded in reality and/or dreams, we watch a young boy "wake up" to himself.

Well staged. Well produced. Well written. Generally well acted.

Truly thought provoking and worth going.

It closes in 3 days to make way for the next production.

Best part? Experienced it with a friend.

November 09, 2008

Last Shot

Here's the morning view from my motel room as I get ready to check out and head on back home.

17 View from Motel Room 

It's been a good week.