Blog surfing.

My two cents and more: I'll tell you right now - it's a lot more than two cents. The post does live up to the extra "cents," though.

Faith and/verses Knowledge: I enjoy reading Jon's posts because he loves to stimulate the brain with intellect and thinking. At least, it stimulates my brain to think, but it doesn't take much.

Blah Blah, Work Work, Baby Baby: "Trinity talk" can be difficult.

"The Body" - thoughts on the ressurection of Christ: The importance of Christ's phsyical body.

I want more...

This past Monday I had the opportunity to see Switchfoot in concert. They had their opening show for their Nothing is Sound in Ventura. Don't ask me why they chose this dull town, it boggles me too. Still, though, it was great to go ten minutes from home to see one of my favorite bands.

Here is Tim, Daniel, Todd, and I waiting for the first opening act in the theatre. Daniel has a funny face, but that's okay because it's Daniel. The two acts were alright, I suppose. A punk rock band came on first called Reeve Oliver, but I felt like they lacked in any new or unique sounds. Their first and last song were great, and everything else was "eh." The second act was, I swear, looked like a group of home schoolers. But then again, I thought they looked that way because someone told me they were raised home schooled. They just had that appearance of style and fashion you would find if you went back ten years and looked at what was cool at that time. They're music, though, was pretty impressive. Very much like that Radiohead sound, or a much slower and mellow Evanescence. Not that it was much to my liking, but for the kind of music they play, it was played well.

Anyway, Switchfoot came on after Eisley (the home schooler band, heh) was finished. The setup took forever (45 min.), so we ended up taking a bunch of silly pictures. Thanks, Tim, for bringing your digital camera.

Switchfoot put on a very good show. They have fun on the stage, and I appreciated that. The set list was everything from their two newest albums. I hoped they would play some from their older stuff. At one point in the concert, Switchfoot gave the audience a choice between two songs from their older albums - Chem 6A or Company Car. My friends and I cheered for Chem 6A, but of course they played Company Car. Sorry, Phil. I tried. Company Car is still a great song. It was also great seeing only half of the audience sing along to their older stuff. Now I understand what my cousins were talking about when they went to a U2 concert and were surrounded by All That You Can't Leave Behind fans. Very amusing.

Todd was telling me how he wished that Switchfoot would go back to their older stuff. They've become more and more like a rock 'n roll band, but they did lose a lot of their original sound. I still like their newest album the best so far, but Todd is right. Oh, well. Also, I miss their more direct music and worship to God in their songs they had before. Because of their secular label, they had to become more ambiguous in their lyrics. Plus they had to dodge some lyrics in their live performance during the concerts, and that was a bit of a disappointment. I suppose they have their restrictions, but I think their wider audience has opened up opportunities for them to show Christ in their lives along with their music.

But are they sellouts? I would like to think so.

Only One

Lifehouse's No Name Face.

One One

It's all shallow and all so appealing now
I'm up to my ankles and I'm drowning anyway in a sea of
Sarcastic faces
Familiar places
Everything looks quite the same here it's
All confusingly amusing
Bitter and tainted
The picture you painted to me

I've been listening to old school Lifehouse lately, and I really like the tune and lyrics of this song. It's very catchy in that down and depressing way. Classic Lifehouse. Give it a listen if you get the chance.

Spam THIS!

Eat it, you disgusting spammers! Get a freakin' life.

Out of stock.

I get a lot of flak from family and friends for my current state of being a single male in his early 20s never having been in an actual relationship before. I don't really blame most of them. It is the ones who are in a very successful relationship who pressure me the most to get a girlfriend, but I don't hate them for it. They probably just want me to experience the great pleasure of loving and caring for someone in an intimate way that I have yet to share with another. Either that or they just like to see me get down about the whole situation. I prefer to assume the first reason.

So one must wonder, "How is it that Lem has never had a girlfriend before?" and it is a valid question. How did I, being so charming and incredibly good-looking, go 22 years without a relationship? Well, don't look at me for the answer! As Tristan Miller has so eloquently put it, "While I'll be the first to admit that my chances of ever entering into a meaningful relationship with someone special are practically non-existent, I staunchly refuse to admit that it has anything to do with some inherent problem with me."

Miller has written a brilliant article/essay/paper/blog (whatever you would like to call it) on why it is so hard to get a girlfriend today. Simply using demographics and some elementary statistical calculus, Miller has given a plausible reason for why some, or rather most, of us are just unfortunate in the relationship category. Here is the link to the blog. It's a lot of reading, but it's very well written, and Miller was smart enough to put the most important facts in gargantuan font size for those who would rather skim all of it...like me.

Take a look, it will open your eyes!

Pinoy Pride

I want this for Christmas. You ask, "But which food, Lem?" Only a true Filipino would know what I love best...or maybe just family.

"I want it to be called a 'Fry-hole'."

Adult Swim just cycled through its cartoon show line-up, and it is now starting it over just like it does every night at 2 am. I don't know why I am such a night owl that I'll go to bed no earlier than 2. Last night I went to bed at 4 and got up at 6 for my 7-10 am class. Needless to say that it was a hard task to stay awake and be attentive during that time.

Tim and I went to McDonald's today for our weekly chicken nugget run. During the summer, McDonald's sells their six-piece chicken nuggets for a dollar. When I get to the drive-thru and pull up the intercom, I tell the digitized voice speaking to me that I want six orders of their nuggets. Then that voice tells me that their special deal on their nuggets is not offered anymore. I look at Tim, he mutters some kind of substitute for a cuss word, and then we just ordered a couple value meals with our heads hung low. I guess I have to go to Rubio's on Tuesday now and get their fish tacos for a buck instead.

Sleepy sleepy...time for dreamy...

"You're all right now..."

I just read over this post, and it's extremely geeky. Just to warn those who don't care about video games: Do not read this if you do not care about video games, and run away from your computer if you do not care about rpg video games.

< nerd talk >



Tim and I just finished watching Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Oh...my...gosh! It is simply amazing. Everything that Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within failed to do is what Advent Children succeeded in accomplishing...and more! The CGI was amazing, just like in The Spirits Within, and was basically top notch. And just like The Spirits Within, the voice acting was well and good (though I saw it in Japanese with subtitles, which is better than English dubbing anyway) in Advent Children, and the "cinematography" was great as well.

So what made Advent Children so much better than The Spirits Within? Story! There actually was a story...and a strong and consistent one too! I think what made The Spirits Within weak was that they tried to create a brand new story using the Final Fantasy genre. Advent Children doesn't try to create a brand new story, but it takes place two years after Final Fantasy VII - a sequel to the video game. With that said, the biggest problem is that anyone who hasn't played the game all the way through won't fully appreciate the movie because they won't know what's going on most of time. That's my biggest beef with the movie.

However, the action is like nothing I've ever seen. CGI gives so much more room for super human things to happen that can't really be done with real-life people. It all looks amazing and made Tim and I giggle like little girls because it was so awesome. Of course, seeing all the characters come back in great, 3D-rendered images was a real treat. Seeing those characters fight in real-time with real martial arts or sword skills was a bigger treat.

The movie stayed 100% true to the game and everything that happened within that story. Limit breaks, weapons, key locations, etc. are all accurate. Example, instead of Cloud using the classic sword you see at the beginning of the game, he keeps his whole arsenal of weapons that you find on your adventure, switching between them in the middle of battle depending on the situation. Very creative and quite brilliant, if you ask me. I can tell the makers of Advent Children had a lot of fun.

Most of the movie brought back some good memories of playing the game. Final Fantasy VII seriously was the best turn-based rpg ever made. Everything about it was so well done. Character development, battle system, story and plot development, it was all good. The movie takes it to another level...except it's in a movie instead of a game. It pays homage to the video game but doesn't sacrifice further story to do it, and that's what I appreciated mostly about it.

Now that I totally hyped up this movie, I'm going to take a twist in this post and say: Don't watch the movie if you haven't played the game. Most of everything won't make any sense. You can watch it for the visuals and the battles, which is a VERY GOOD reason to watch it, but for story you won't get it. For those who played the game (and BEAT it), you will definitely love this movie and will see how much difference it makes when Hollywood has no real influence in a Japanese movie.

By the way, Tim and I saw it off a burned DVD from Todd. I don't think it actually releases in the States till late November. Till then, you can play the game. Ha!

< /nerd talk >