Twitter Movie Trailer
The other day I saw the preview for the movie about the guy who created Facebook. Most likely I’ll see it, and then I, like the rest of the world, will be annoyed that someone like this guy is a bajillionaire. If you haven’t seen that trailer you can check it out here, but to be honest with you it seems a little dramatic to be a movie about Facebook. Sort of has a ‘Dead Poet’s Society vibe to it…. except it’s about a social networking platform….. A Social Networking Platform.
Who knows it might be awesome, but I’m not holding my breath. And in related news, here’s the follow-up Twitter Movie Trailer which, if it were only real, I’d probably wait in line to see.
Scarring
I have a scar on the inside of my calf where five equally spaced holes were punched. I can remember the exact place it happened. Every time I see these scars, I can picture the bike. I can picture the trail. I can picture being in the back of the group of friends as they rode off not knowing that the chain had fallen off my bike and when my foot slipped these sharp metal teeth dug into the inner side of my leg. I can even sort of feel that same pain as I looked down and saw that for some reason these five holes weren’t bleeding yet, just sort of traumatized holes.
Now, this wasn’t some awful bike accident. It wasn’t something that left me permanently injured and obviously didn’t take my life. I don’t think about it daily or anything like that. I’ve had hundreds of other bike crashes in my life. Some worse and some not as bad, but the scarring always reminds me of this one particular crash.
This morning I started thinking about the way that we interact as people and how sometimes the things that we do can sometimes cut someone so deep that no matter what happens we’ve left a scar. A scar that will always be there. They may forgive, they may not think about it every day, but on the off chance that something causes them to look at that scar, even the smell in the air when they were hurt comes flooding back to them and they can immediately identify with the moment they were hurt.
Now, I know Biblically we are supposed to forgive seven-trillion times or whatever, but I’m curious what your thoughts are on the scars. What do you do when something causes you to revisit that moment of pain and there’s nothing you can do but be reminded of the moment those scars showed up? Have you truly forgiven if these scars aren’t gone? What if someone has wounded you so deeply that you’re not sure you can ever fully recover? What do you do with the scarring?
Just some light Friday thoughts for you. Ready? Go.
Southern Pride?
Hey, so I’ve got a follow-up post about this but first I wanted to run something by you. Kristin and I have been in Tennessee for exactly 5 years today. Five years ago today we pulled in to our new apartment in a state across the country from anything we grew up knowing.
One of those things we didn’t know anything about was this flag. Now, I know there are all sorts of opinions about this flag, but what is the current cultural meaning of this flag? More specifically, what do you think of when you see this flag? It’s everywhere out here and I’ve been thinking a little about it.
So let’s hear it. What’s this flag mean in today’s society to you? Ready? Go.
10th Anniversary
We had an amazing time this past week. It was sort of a whirlwind East Coast roadtrip and was exactly what we needed. I can’t believe it’s been ten years since Kristin and I got married. It’s been too long since we have been alone for this amount of time.
We left Monday morning and drove to Raleigh to meet up with the Renstroms. The next day we drove to Washington DC and hung out there for the rest of the day. The next morning we drove up to New York and stayed there for two nights. I don’t know if I’ve ever walked so much in four days, but I wouldn’t have changed a thing. Here’s a couple of my favorite pictures. My camera is in the shop so these are all from my phone.
Ten Years In New York
August 5th Kristin and I will have been married ten years. What? Where did ten years go? Anyway, next week we’re taking a roundabout trip to New York to celebrate. Now, when I say roundabout, that means we are driving but we’re working our way there through North Carolina and Washington DC. Kristin has never been to any of these places and we’ve been working on this trip for a while. My parents have been awesome enough to come out and stay with the boys so we’ll have a little time to just take it in. Then for our actual anniversary day, we’ll be in New York. We’re still not sure of the details of what we are going to do there, but does it really matter?
So this next week we are tourists. I absolutely can’t wait to be with just Kristin for a couple days. For eight of these ten years we’ve had kids and not taken more than a couple hours to get away on a date. After eight years, I think we’ve earned it.
So what’s the absolute ‘must do’ stuff on the way to or in New York. I’ve been there a few times and we’ll do some of the tourist-y stuff, but anyone have any recommendations?
StartALoveRevolution.com
Have you ever had that moment when you think of something that would be cool, but your not even remotely sure that it will work, and and then someone smart comes along and helps make your thought a reality? Today that happened to me… again. See now, I get to have that happen to me a bunch because I work with people way smarter than me. It’s pretty rewarding to be able to dream something up with these guys and then watch it actually happen.
We just launched Natalie Grant’s StartALoveRevolution.com and I’m kind of geeking out about it. I know for those not “social network-y” this might not be a big deal, but it’s a pretty cool thing to be able to see this actually working. The basic idea is that folks can comment on the site and we, the readers can literally watch it spread throughout the World. Jordan completely killed this thing and somehow made it work and I couldn’t be more impressed. So go play around on it. Let me know what you think. Let me know what you think could be better. And watch for this thing to start popping up more in the future. I promise you it will.
24 Rooms In 330 Square Feet
My father-in-law sent this to me and it’s pretty awesome. Now, I’m not saying that I’d necessarily want to live in a 344 square foot apartment in Hong Kong, but how brilliant is this place? I absolutely love the idea of taking something you’re given and turning it into something way cooler than it is. Invention is awesome.
Madison House And Passion
The following text is from Seth Godin’s book ‘Linchpin’. I didn’t write the book or the following paragraph, but I think these few paragraphs, along with most of the book is what SkörInc has strived to be from the beginning so I thought I’d share.
“Madison House is a Colorado-based music management and booking firm. They represent artists like Bill Kreutzmann, The String Cheese Incident, and Los Lobos.
As the music world comes crashing down they are thriving. How’d they do that?
Because of people like Nadia Prescher. Nadia is one of the people who runs the firm, and like her peers, she loves the music. She comes to the shows when she doesn’t have to, works on the details that aren’t part of her job, and expends emotional labor because she can, not because she’s told to.
Successful musicians have plenty of choices. If they pick Madison House, it’s going to be because the people at the firm care enough to make a connection, not because they are the lowest-price alternative. Every PR and professional service firm can learn from this. When your people do what they do because they love it, it works. Even if they aren’t as technically adept as the competition.” – Seth Godin – ‘Linchpin’ (page 205)
Thanks Seth, for the reminder that we’re heading in the right direction.
I Feel So Alive… Or Something
Writing lyrics is hard. I mean, you’re sitting there, the song is almost done and all you’ve got to throw in there is a bridge or the second half of a verse. You’re sitting there, staring at a paper or your computer screen and you’ve got nothing. Then you start throwing out things and all of the sudden something hits you…. and it’s lame. Start over.
I’ve seen all sorts of friends fighting with this. Back when I pretended to write songs I even did this. ’What fits in this space?’. And here’s when it creeps in. The cliche’ “I feel so alive” line. Think about it. How many times have you heard a song with that phrase in it? Do you really Jason Mraz? Do you ‘feel so alive’ at this moment of songwriting? What about you P.O.D.? You too? Don’t believe that this is an over used phrase? Here we go.
“Alive” – Blue
“Alive” – Kenny Wayne Shepherd
“Rush Over Me” – Backstreet Boys
“Shiny” – Berlin
“Moment” – Aiden
“Change” – Candlebox
“Brave New Girl” – Britney Spears
“My Baby You” Marc Anthony
“Runaway” Avril Lavigne
“Natural Woman” – Aretha Franklin
“Over My Head” – John Farnham
“7 Keys” – Aqualung
“Sleep” – Plumb
“Again” – John Legend
“The Great Escape” – Boys Like Girls
“It Only Hurts When I’m Breathing” – Shania Twain
“No Holding Back” – Rod Stewart
“So Alive” – Love And Rockets
“So Alive” – Ryan Adams
“Wicked Garden” – Stone Temple Pilots
“Franklin” – Paramore
Oh, and you know there are more don’t you? Now obviously I don’t know all the songs listed above but if you’re able to Google a phrase and put the word “lyric” next to it and this many songs pop up, you shouldn’t be writing it. And don’t get me wrong, some of these are great songs. I’m just wondering what else could have gone there. Plus, when was the last time you ‘felt so alive’? Although I guess it beats all the songs about feeling so dead right?
What other lyrics can you think of that are over used?
Generational Sins
My parents divorced when I was three… or four… something like that. I don’t know, I was little. Now that I’m older I know about some of the events that lead up to that divorce. I don’t know all the stories of pain, violence, infidelity, or whatever, but I know that it was a mess. Enough of a mess for it to need to end. And let’s face it, who doesn’t have a mess to some degree in their life? Anyone my age or younger knows the ripple affect of a broken home, abuse, neglect or things like that. Who doesn’t have drama from their upbringing, right?
But here’s where I start getting real passionate. I had a pretty amazing guy step in and take the roll of my dad. To this day he’s one of the closest people to me in my life. Does that mean I don’t have life-long drama from the handful of years that I was alive without him? Nope. Does that mean that I didn’t grow up with the ‘awkwardness’ of having two dads? Nope. Or having to be the decision maker of where I was going to live? Or what last names my wife and kids were going to have? But I’m going to be honest. I had a pretty great upbringing. It was safe, it was healthy, and it was exactly what I needed as a kid and now adult with my own kids.
And here’s the thing. We live in a generation of people looking for any excuse possible to blame their selfish actions on what we’ve conveniently named ‘Generational Sin’. I could blame any of my actions on the broken home that I came from. The dad that wasn’t around, the frustrations of Summer Vacations away from my friends, weirdness of having to explain who that guy is at my graduation. All that. I could sit back and not take ownership of any of it. And that’s exactly what we do right?
“This is what my parents did, so it’s natural.” ”I’m an alcoholic because my dad was.” ”I treat women badly because that’s what I saw growing up. It’s in my blood.” ”I’m a manipulator because my mom cheated.” ”I’ve got a temper that I inherited from my dad.” The list goes on. It’s the easiest out right? We want to blame our selfish, screwed up lives on something biological. It’s something we can’t change. It’s the way we are wired. Really? Let’s take a look. *I’ve added the “bold”*.
Jeremiah 31:29-32 (NIV)
In those days people will no longer say, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ Instead, everyone will die for his own sin; whoever eats sour grapes–his own teeth will be set on edge. “The time is coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers…”Ezekiel 18:14-16,18-20 (NIV)
“But suppose this son has a son who sees all the sins his father commits, and though he sees them, he does not do such things: He does not eat at the mountain shrines or look to the idols of the house of Israel… He does not oppress anyone… He does not commit robbery, but gives his food to the hungry and provides clothing for the naked… He will not die for his father’s sin; he will surely live. But his father will die for his own sin, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother and did what was wrong among his people. Yet you ask, ‘Why does the son not share the guilt of his father?’ Since the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to keep all my decrees, he will surely live. The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him.“
Well crap. There goes that theory I guess. Looks like I’m going to have to answer for myself when I treat my kids badly. Looks like it actually is my fault when I selfishly go against what I know is right. Seems like there really is no excuse for living like a jerk.
Okay, that last paragraph was a bit tongue-in-cheek, but you get the idea. So, I want to hear what you guys think. I’ve never really had an open discussion about “Generational Sin” and my opinions on it, with anyone but Kristin. She knows it’s something that has always bothered me, but I don’t know if it’s just me. The thing is, I don’t buy it. I refuse to accept the excuse from anyone that there’s some magical blood running though our bodies that causes us to not be able to control our own selfish actions. It’s not our great-great-great grandfather’s fault that we act the way we do. It’s not the chemical make-up of my DNA that causes me to treat people badly. It’s selfishness and sin. Bottom line. Unless I’m missing something in these verses.
So what do we think? I know it’s a little heavy of a topic, but I’m curious your thoughts.
Ready? Go.
