Random: Adam & Eve Art

I'm doing some work on series art for something we have coming up at church. Here's one of the paintings I found of the fall. While the baby heads with wings are great, my favorite is Adam. He's looking up to God and has the greatest look on his face.... "Whaaaaat? I didn't do anything??? It was the lady...." Very funny.

Education: Yale

1/4/10 "I'm going to Yale SUCKAS!!!"

So, it turns out Yale is providing online courses for FREE. Sure, you don't get credit and can't really justify wearing a YALE sweatshirt if you took a free class online, but STILL! I think it's great to know that one of the most prestigious universities in our country is just giving education away. I like the challenge of taking an Ivy League level class so I think I'm gonna take a class.

Now I am planning on starting next week when school starts for me. It may seem backwards to start this while I am doing grad school already, and maybe it is. But why not try it! If it doesn't work, I will try it in Summer. This semester I am thinking about taking Hist 119 about the Civil War and Reconstruction or Eng 220 about Milton. What do you think I should take? History or English??

Movie: You've Got Mail

1/3/10- "Sleepless in Seattle part 2, not as good as the first."

Today was my last day of vacation before getting back to it tomorrow. I am looking forward to getting back to work, but will miss the days of just going to the beach, reading a book and watching some TV. After watching a little football this afternoon I flipped the channel to E! to see that "You've Got Mail" was just starting. Now, there is something about catching the start of a movie on TV. Sure, you've got 200 dvds with far superior films 20 feet away, but you'll go ahead and watch this.

"You've Got Mail" is a film built on a formula and titled after an AOL trademark. (Remember AOL, it was the only way to get on the internet when you first started going on the internet.) {If you say, "What about Prodigy?" you're identifying yourself as being old and nerdy.} The movie is really based on the success of "Sleepless in Seattle", a good little movie in my opinion. 2 problems with this follow up explain why this movie fell short.

1. You've got the two people together the whole movie: Okay remember "Jaws", how you didn't get a chance to see shark until the end? It's the same thing with Sleepless in Seattle. You fall in love with the individuals separately and revel in the idea of them being together. You really theorize what their interaction together would be like, your imagination wrote the relationship. Remember "Jaws 2", where you saw the whole shark the whole time? I didn't think you'd remember that and that's a reason why "You've Got Mail" is forgettable.

2. An Endearing Tragedy vs. Corporate Greed: "Sleepless in Seattle" starts with the main character's wife dying, going right after your heart strings and showing the guys ability to love. This appeals to a persons desire to help the hurting. (i.e. "Mommy, I found this puppy, can he live with us?" / "Mommy, I'm dating this convict, can he live with us?") If it were not for this tragedy, we couldn't have the romance. It brings the Characters together. What brings the characters together in "You've Got Mail"? The fact that Tom Hanks character wants to move into her neighborhood with his giant book store. What redeems his character and makes him love-able? It's certainly not the Godfather quotes he makes all the time. Sure he's witty and still Tom Hanks, so that makes it bearable. What about the fact that Tom Hanks character is dating a horrible woman. Not a hapless nerd, like Bill Pulman's character in Sleepless. The characters don't come across as people ready to love each other. They spend most of the movie being negative to each other and that is what you walk away with.

This movie is sending a message to girls that they should just settle for that guy they already know but would never think about dating because he's probably the guy of your dreams. I know some of you are going to argue that this isn't a sequel and its just a good movie on its own. Well, I know it's saturday night and you're by yourself so you're a little bias. Put the half empty bottle of merlot and the completely empty carton of Ben & Jerry's to the side. Think about it. This movie is garbage. You  like the idea of romance, you like the two actors that play the main characters, you romanticize New York; that's all. The movie didn't win you over, the idea of the movie did.

I hate to be a downer in the New Year, but I'm keeping it real in 2010!

List of 2009

1/1/2010 "When I just think about favorites today, this is what I think of." 

These are things I found in 2009, they may have come out long before that but this was the year that I came to know them and loved them.

Best Movies:
1. UP
2. Up In The Air
3. 500 Days of Summer

Best Albums:
1. Only By The Night- Kings of Leon

Best Rediscovered Music:
1. The Beatles
2. Jay-Z
3. Yacht Rock- Michael McDonald, Christopher Cross, etc...

Best Musical Acts I fell for in 2009
1. Frightened Rabbit
2. The Roots
3. Obadiah Parker

Best New TV Show
1. Modern Family on ABC
2. How I Met Your Mother on CBS

Best New Web Show
1. Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog

Best New Websites:
1. Woot
2. Awkward Family Photos
3. 1001 rules for my unborn son

Best New Book I read for Fun:
1. Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
2. Live from New York by James Miller & Tom Shales
3. To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee

Best New App for the iPhone:

1. Tweetie

2. Dragon Dictation

3. Scrabble

Thoughts of Trent: The Evolution

When I started this blog 2 years ago, it was a chance to share my opinion about things. What it evolved into was a chance to write articles. Articles take time, require structure and are more work than just posting thoughts. The last year has been one of the busiest of my life and consequently the blog suffered. I just didn't have the time in my day to write a fancy article for every bit of media I encountered.

Now I am not saying life is going to change and I will find more time to blog, because that isn't going to happen. I simply want to redefine what this blog is going to be about which will allow for more content. I guess overall I'd like to lower the bar on what I write here. I'm not going to feel the need to write a long witty article that I secretly hope would end up on The Daily Beast. Instead this will be like my online Moleskine, you know those hipster journals made famous by Hemingway. Now, with that said this will not be my diary or journal where I share my deep dark secrets. I will not use this as a passive aggressive tool to make a point.

Content will vary:
Sometimes the writing will be deep and sometimes shallow.
Sometimes I will post content I've seen other places and sometimes I will post content I've created.

Content will be fluid:
Posts will not be definitive. For instance, my opinion may change or something new may come up. If that's the case, I will simply add to my existing post and change the date so it gets a bump to the top.

Content will be about everything:
I will write about things that I've seen and my thoughts. Just because I write about something doesn't mean I'm endorsing it. Everyone needs to use their judgment about what is good for them to watch.

So, I we will see how this new direction goes. I hope you enjoy the ride. I hope that you discover some new things threw this blog. I hope that you agree and disagree with me, but comment accordingly. I hope that my blog becomes a representation of who I am, not who I want to be.