so i'm two days in to my vacation and I've been in bed, sick for both of them. I don't know if i ate something bad or caught a virus, but I've been vomiting and dizzy. I don't know what the deal is with me and vacations - earlier this year when i was going to Disney I got sick the day before we were leaving too. Anyway, we were supposed to leave for upstate NY today, but I'm not in any shape to drive (or be in the car) for a five hour trip. I just hope that nothing spreads to my wife or kids. Btw, daytime TV is horrid. Oh how I hope to feel 100% soon. Gotta go lay down again.
So I'm getting ready to take my two week vacation starting tomorrow. I'm going to attempt to unplug for a bit, so if you don't see any posts from me that's why.
But I'll leave you with a little goodness before I go:
I'm driving the other day and I see a sign posted on a pole for a "Flea Market". Now normally, it's a yard sale, garage sale, tag sale (insert your own here)... not sure where flea market came from on this poster. Anyhow, it got me thinking about how some phrases and words get changed in our culture. Today, someone might say "Wow, what a great flea market!" and it's a positive thing. But the origin of "flea market" - (according to wikipedia):
The original flea market is likely to be the Marché aux puces of Saint-Ouen, Seine-Saint-Denis, in the northern suburbs of Paris. It is a large, long-established outdoor bazaar, one of four in Paris. They earned their name from the flea-infested clothing and rags sold there.
Some how it doesn't have the same vibe hunh?
Last night at Lumina (our college ministry) we had a night of prayer and education for Darfur. Although I wish more had turned out (18 of us) it was a great night as we watched a 20 minute video from Save Darfur (see below), had some discussion, a prayer map of Darfur (where we wrote out our prayers on the map) and a letter writing station to write letters to our congress men & women. We ended our night singing "God of This City" as a prayer of hope over Darfur. If you aren't familiar with the genocide and all that's been happening, visit Save Darfur. As followers of Jesus, we need to be engaged in theses things.
Serving up another round of Creative Chaos as part of ragamufinsoul.com
We're starting a new sermon series called "Rock Band" where we will be looking at some songs from the band U2. As part of our series, we will be showing one episode a week of a Rock Band U2 tribute band called WE4. The idea is a mockumentary of this U2 tribute band that plays on the Rock Band video game.
I have to say that this has been one of the more ambitious projects we have done. The learning curve has been steep and I think we've learned probably more of what not to do in the future, technically speaking. But for all that it might lack in consistent sound & lighting, etc. it has been a really fun project. And for a team of volunteers (mostly) and people learning as we go, I'm stoked for this to be part of our series. Big shout outs to Jan & Tim for camera & editing work, and the cast of characters (characters indeed).
As you might be able to tell, I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so I'll stop making excuses now and show you the teaser that will be shown this Sunday at True North. That's right, you get the first look right here. Enjoy:
RB_Teaser from mike brennan on Vimeo.
I really hate it when I spend about 45 minutes on a good post, save it, only to have it disappear. Thanks Typepad. Keep it up and you'll be right up there with Twitter being "over capacity". Oh the love-hate relationships with technology. It was a good post too. I hope somebody somewhere enjoys it. For now try to make sense of these and you'll have an idea of what it was like.
This week's contribution to Creative Chaos from Ragamuffinsoul.com- Here's the countdown I created for this past weekend. I wanted to combine the random Ripley's facts with the pop up video idea. This is my official third After Effects project. It's slow and steady learning, but at least I'm moving.
I know this video has been around for some time, and by no means am I laughing at this woman's misfortune... but some how when i think i'm having a bad day, this reminds me that it could be worse.
Dancing
My wife likes watching Dancing with the Stars. I, on the other hand, do not. I'm not a "dancin'" kinda guy. I dunno. So when I saw the following video, I just found it wrong on many levels. Pardon me while I scratch out my eyes.
So if someone wants to buy the following for me (for the wii, of course) it might make up for the previous video:
Music
There's a guy named Bill Mallonee (who does solo stuff as well has been the driving force of the band Vigilantes of Love) who needs some of your love. Speaking of love - I love the best of V.O.L. CD with Double Cure being my favorite. Go visit his site, listen to some tunes, check out his always insightful lyrics and hey - why not buy some mp3's? This Vigilante could use some love. Go on...
(for local NYers - notice his show in NYC August 4th. Might need to pounce on that!)
Crazy Love
Not to be confused with a Vigilante of Love (ya like that right? I know I got mad skills), Francis Chan's new book Crazy Love is like a punch in the gut. I'm about half way through it and its the kind of book that you have to put down every so often. I've heard Francis speak many times at the Thirsty & Passion conferences and have been a long time fan. The book delivers much of his straight talk about being luke warm and with chapter titles like "Serving Leftovers to a Holy God", he doesn't candy coat things. If you need a kick in the rear go get this book now.
So in review:
1. Never mix Michael Jackson with Darth Vader.
2. Show a Vigilante some love.
3. Get Crazy Love, which may kick your butt. But you'll like it. And want more.
Class dismissed...
The following is this weeks contribution to Creative Chaos at Ragamuffinsoul.com.
This weekend we're doing a message about faith & belief in the theme of Ripley's Believe it or Not. Here's the bulletin outside that I designed with "Ripley's elements". I'll post the custom countdown (After Effects) I'm working on for it next week. Enjoy!
