Hay un amigo en mi!

Ok, so with the release of every movie now-a-days there is the release of the movie soundtrack. Toy Story 3's soundtrack just came out, and you will never believe what they did with it:

Rapid Heart Beat

Things are happening so quickly. I have only one week left in North Carolina, then I'm headed back to Cleveland... and then Idaho. This month has gone by like a flash. Detailing all the little things that happen would be nigh impossible... so I will do what I do best: give you bullet points. This will also give you, the reader, the sense that things and ideas are flying by extremely fast. So, in the end, we both win. I get to be lazy, and still achieve the effect I desire in my writing. Not that this is a good habit to get into.

-Getting called in for jury duty a week before you leave a town and never intend to return... at least not for a long, long time. Go ahead North Carolina, put out a warrant for my arrest! (I am totally kidding by the way. I just submitted my reason for absence to the judge. I have no desire to be held in contempt of the court.)

-If your mother is having miniature heart attacks... clean the house. This will do wonders for her nerves and will most likely cure all her ills. Hugs on top of this are always a plus.

-I have found yet another avenue to explore in the realm of career options: greeting card writer. Not only will I be the perfect man for the job after finished school, (anyone want Plato references in their thank you cards?) but the headquarters of American Greetings is in Cleveland of all places! Booyah!

-Greenstorm Film is starting back up again in full force. After completing and releasing a rather spiffy music video and receiving many accolades about said video, I received a script from a very good friend of mine. Who was it? What is it? I will say no more. I'll leave you in suspense.

Ok, there's a doctor's appointment I have to get to.
Cheers and laterness and stuff,
JSTT

Not so Glamorous

We all have something to fight for. Everyday, every morning, every night. There are some fights that change from day to day. A job for example may be difficult and you have to overcome the daily challenges that you face there. But jobs often change. One fight that we must fight everyday that we are alive is ourselves. Our own sinful natures that rear their heads at the most inconvenient times.

More often than not we simply want to give up that fight; the fight against self. But as a guy I know that us guys always want something to fight for. That can often take shape in odd ways. One of the most notable ways in modern American culture is by playing video games.

"Huh? What?"

Let me explain. The biggest feature of video game advertised to guys my age are the violent/shoot-em-up games. Halo of course is a wonderful example of this. The Doom games a generation before. Space Invaders the generation before that. Lots of shooting, explosions and flying bits of.... stuff. We're fighting off terrorists, aliens, zombies and demons from hell. And when the women in our lives whine and complain about how we are not fulfilling our duties as men we are confused. "We're fighting off armies for you, don't you see? Can't you understand?"

No, they don't. Because we are fighting for the wrong thing. As men, we are wired to fight. But because we are also wired for laziness, we often fight for the wrong thing; the thing that requires a minimal sacrifice from ourselves. Either that or after realizing that we are fighters, we target the wrong thing as the enemy. Instead of trying to fight the sin nature hidden in the deep dark corners of ourselves, we naturally assume that we ourselves could NEVER be the problem and that it must be those around us: the Church, our parents, the boss, the teacher, the Man, God.

It's time we all reprioritized. We want glorious, glamorous battles to fight. Like the dudes in the video games who can take on hoards of enemy monsters and come our unscathed. There in lies the other thing we long for, a fight without pain or sacrifice. I am very sorry, but that is not possible. There is often very little glamour in the battles we fight. Not only that, but there is blood spilt along the trail, there are broken bones and gnashing of teeth.

I say this as much for my benefit as for your's. But one last thing: we do not fight this fight on our own strength. We fight with the fists of God, the wounds of Christ, and the assurance of the Holy Spirit. And the Trinity does NOT grow weary.

JSTT

The Future... Is On a Boat!

Apologies for my absence when I explicitly said that I would be back soon; although I suppose that five days IS much shorter than two months. I would be lying if I said that I was busy. I am still as of yet unemployed. And no, I'm not bragging. A steady job would be wonderful right about now.

But as my talents are limited t0 telling stories, writing essays, washing dishes and beating things with sticks, my job opportunities are sadly limited.

But I am doing my best to keep occupied and productive. Right now I am writing an as-of-yet-to-be-fully-developed novel with my friend Pete, who writes random bits of silliness on his respective blog here.

We've both been working on this story in our when-we-get-around-to-it time. Which reminds me, my mother actually DOES have a round Tuit.

Getting focused again, here is a bit of the story we are writing, and I am now sharing with you. Oh, and it really does have to do with a boat.

"A boat?"

"Yes... a boat," said Zeb.

"OK, when you said 'boat,' I assumed that you meant a nice boat. A proper ship with wings and jets and... you know... SPACE worthy. Not the whole..." Quint waved his hands in the air gesturing to the entire boat. Zeb gave bemused laugh.

"Yes, yes," he chortled patranizingly. "Sail, keel, deck, ropes, the whole package deal. Missing a proper poop deck sadly." The joke was entirely lost on Quint who continued to stare at the boat as if he had never seen such a thing before. In fact, this was not far from the truth. Quint had not seen a sea ship since he had been back on earth, and that had been part of a collection some rich fellow had. The thing had hardly been sea worthy. Quint knew that he certainly wouldn't have set sail in the thing. What frightened him the most was that the object that Zeb now preposed that they travel in was in even WORSE condition than the one he had seen in a collector's museum. This was not good.

"Care to explain?"

"Explain what?" Zeb countered, as if he went on pleasure cruises in the thing on a regular basis. "Look, I had to get this on the sly. I'm in no position to acquire an entire space craft in the time we had. And even if I HAD had the time, I don't have those kinds of assets. This will do fine. You just need to know where the leeches are and avoid the squalls."

"But... but..." Quint could no longer think in anything other than conjunctions and negations.

Hidden Treasures

It is one of great joys in life to dig up bits and pieces of odds and ends and bits and bobs. Conjunctions for example.

But in all seriousness. I find it very gratifying to introduce someone to a piece of art or fiction, and to watch them fall in love with it. A good example of this recently was introducing my friend Jeremy to the comic books series "Scott Pilgrim." It is a very hard comic to describe, but I have heard others describe it thus: as a cross between Say Anything (the movie, not the band), Kill Bill and Mario. I would also add in every anime you've ever seen, and a healthy helping of Street Fighter.

More recently, Scott Pilgrim has been turned into a film by Edger Wright, the renowned British director behind "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz." He is not the only one working on it however, so is Bill Pope... the cinematographer for not only The Matrix films, but all of the Spider-Man trilogy. I am extremely excited about this one. If you aren't enthused yet, watch the new trailer:

I'll be back with more on character sketches and comics soon. In the mean time enjoy the trailer!

JSTT

June 2010

I just signed a lot of paper work. Attorneys are submitting things to writing. Large sums of money are being pushed around. They are taking care of my earth dollars. I am grateful to them.

Tomorrow I will magically become responsible enough to drink alcohol. Foolish, silly bureaucrats. They makes me laugh.

There will be many words to come about airplanes and movies and beauty and comics and women folk soon to come.

Sorry for my absence. I appreciate your patients. The only thing under construction are my thoughts.

JSTT