Sal's Oscar Picks

From the Oscar's nominees, here's what should've won in my opinion...

Best Picture
Inglorious Basterds

Best Director
Avatar

Best Writing (Written For the Screen)
Inglorious Basterds

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
Precious

Best Editing
Hurt Locker

Best Original Score
Up

Best Sound Mixing
Star Trek

Best Sound Editing
Avatar

Best VFX
District 9

Here's what I've realized about the Oscars... it's politics at it's best and most elegantly dressed.

Broken: Blessed & Broken

John Mayer Apologizes For Using the "N" Word



In a recent interview, he bluntly and boastfully confessed his addiction to pornography and sex. In that confession he used the "N" word as he talked about his sexual distaste in African-American women and also referred to his male genital as a white supremacist. I have a friend who's a big fan of him and has lately read a lot about him. A lot of which is too sad to mention, but he seems to be in a very broken state which I believe to be the very state Jesus declares us blessed in when He says, "blessed are the poor in spirit..." Matthew 5:3

Now I realize the human side of us would want to cast stones and chuck 'em at his at face, but those of you who have experienced God's grace, to some degree, would rather draw with your finger on the sand.

I personally see Mayer as King Solomon: rich, poetic, promiscuous... but we all remember what happens to him at the end, he discovers that there is nothing worth more living for than to know and be known by God. And I hope and pray that this man might come to confess that same fact.

Top 5 Happily Ever After Films

ya ya ya, i know Valentine's Day is over but i feel like the whole month of February has that V-Day feel in the air. least in my world. Here's a list of my Top Five romantic movies with happy endings. please feel free to comment.

Punch-Drunk Love

If Annie Hall's tag line for the movie was 'A Nervous Romance' I'd have to say this tag line should be a 'Quirky Romance.' Adam Sandler is, for lack of a better word, awesome in this movie. With the writing and direction of PT Anderson and the score of Jon Brion, you can't help but watch magical art unfold before your eyes.

The Notebook

i promise my man crush on ryan gosling had nothing to do with how much i liked this film. ya i admit it was tad melodramatic at times. But the story was, you have to admit, gripping. Especially when, knowing the American divorce rate is over 50%, you see elderly couples being married after 50+ years you can't help but feel some light of hope.

True Romance

Tarantino's first script was raw and original. This movie has some of my favorite scenes including the Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken scene. And the unrecognizable Gary Oldman and Christian Slater scene. Some might say that it's a guy flick but I think any girl would go crazy if a guy rescued her from her pimp, got rid of him for good, then ran away and married you. Sounds like something biblical!

High Fidelity

Nick Hornby knows his music...and he knows how to write a decent story with rich characters. I've seen this movie a gazillion times and I still laugh. This is the perfect film for any guy who's been through a few break-ups or two and also happens to have a substantial library of music on his iTunes or in his head at least.

Say Anything

I can say one word and you'll remember this movie: boom-box.
The Ultimate romantic movie of the 80's. Even though I haven't enjoyed anything Cameron Crowe's done since Almost Famous TEN years ago, I still think he's always been a great filmmaker. It has some of the best romantic scenes I've seen in movies in the past 20 years. Had lovable original characters and great dialogue with some of the best lines of the 80's romance movies. Not to mention-killer soundtrack!

So which one of these films are my favorites?? ...i dunno...But I know that I don't know.

Mr. Hudson

Although R&B/Pop is usually not on my top shelf of music I enjoy listening to, I love being able to play along to this genre of music. So when I discovered Mr. Hudson and the Library I was at the least to say excited to hear a fresh sound.

I discovered Mr. Hudson right before his sophomore album, Straight No Chaser, was released in the states, I immediately caught on on to his highly catchy and singable melodies and the pop/hip-hop beats I was hearing. At first I didn't know how to categorize his music when I would share it with my friends. But I'm comfortable calling as it is, R&B/Pop...from Britain. Which in my opinion is a big difference from American R&B/Pop.

Anywho, here are chords to the songs to which i figured out on the piano from his Straight No Chaser album.
I will add more when I have time. Enjoy!

Instant Messenger
intro: C G/B Am

Am7 G Fmaj7
say you found our love, in the warm Pacific spring
cause I left our love in the desert to fend for itself
(i thought it better that way)

C G/B Am
Did you get my text?
Did i get my thoughts through?
It's hard to see things clearly, through the gossip and the gloom

Am7 G Fmaj7
I'm gonna blind our love, with the paparazzi flash
I'm gonna squash our love, like an economic crash

C G/B Am
Did you get my text? Did make myself clear?
it's kinda hard to see this through, through the gossip and the beer

Am7 G Fmaj7
They say "Boy you've changed." 
well i say "You've changed too." 

Follow me up the alps, 
I've got things to do 
"Scatter the ashes here" 


C G/B Am
Didn't you get my text? 
Didn't that get thru?

It's hard to make myself clear thrut the gossip and the beer.

Am7 G Fmaj7


Will you follow me to LDN where I know the streets?

I don't need reinforcements cos you won't know where I live. 


C G/B Am
Didn't you get my message? did the text not get thru?

It's getting hard to see these days thru the gossip and the gloom, the beery gloom.


Lift Your Head
intro/verse: riff: (C A C D E D C A) Am
Answer every question with a "Yes"
Answer every problem with a smile

Fmaj7 Em7 Dmaj7 Em7 Fmaj7 G Fmaj7 G
Keep opening doors, keep pulling those strings
But the midnight hour is mine
The midnight hour is mine

C G/B Am F F#dim
Please lift your head from your hands
Tomorrow is another day
Well think about it then I say

And there's no weight too great
There's no distance too far
Keep flying the flag and keep banging the drum
Cos the midnight hour is mine
The midnight hour is mine

Please lift your head from your hands
Tomorrow is another day
Well think about it then I say

C G/B Am F F#dim
Oh, what can I do to save the day?
If only it were as easy as a dvd and a takeaway

Oh, what can I do, what can I do?
What can I do, what can I do?

C G/B Am F F#dim
I say, please lift your head from your hands
Oh, please lift your head from your hands
Tomorrow is another day
You can think about it then I say
Please lift your head from your hands
Tomorrow is another day
Let's think about it then I say

Modern Day Lepers

I rarely check my "Requests" section on Facebook. But the other day I noticed a request to join a cause entitled "KEEP SEX OFFENDERS OFF OF FACEBOOK"













My initial reaction honestly was a little bit unsettling. That was mainly due to the fact that literally almost everywhere I turn I'm seeing "keep sex offenders off this," and "keep sex offenders off that"... and I realized, if this keeps up I wonder what place they'll have left to go. I believe we'd secretly like to keep "these people" on an island somewhere... exiled.

Now of course I'm all about protecting children. I have very close friends that have been violated when they were children and I have a nephew that I absolutely adore and that I would be devastated if anything like that happened to him.

But...where do we draw the line as a society? I wrestle with this question every time I come across something like this.

One thing that comes to mind is a declaration that Jesus makes in the book of Matthew-usually called the Sermon on the Mount. The first thing he declares is "blessed are the 'poor in spirit' for theirs is the kingdom of God." I've read this so many times but I've always assumed it was for the humble...for the meak...for the...well, for "good" people...

but are those really the poor in spirit?? the poor in Greek is pto-khos meaning begger, someone who lacks severely-- not economically, but in quality of their character--in spirit.

And just who are those people? these people "poor in spirit." I know for a fact I was one of those. I definitely lacked quality in my character. Not only because of dumb decisions I made in life but because of the sinful nature that we're all born into. As David Crowder sings, "I am stained with dirt prone to depravity..."
BUT... I was considered "blessed" because that's who God relentlessly pursues with love and grace and mercy...the poor in spirit--the beggars--the idolaters, the thieves, the fornicators, the murderers, and liars.
Essentially, if you're the person that says "I am a good person," then basically this declaration stated by Jesus is not for you.

I don't think anyone would argue that sex offenders don't have a serious lack of quality of character. And I wouldn't argue that some people never change, but I would argue that some do. And for us to treat that unknown percentage of people who did their time and want a new life, (a new chance), to treat them like lepers--
like social scum--will never see a change in our society.

If the idea of God's grace being available to people like Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Charles Manson, or even the ex-sex offender guy who lives next to you frustrates you or even disgusts you... here's something to chew on, "...but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong..." -1 Corinthians 1:27

Welcome to offensive grace.

for further reading and study read:
-Matthew 20:1-16
- or visit a blog entry entitled "Amazing Grace"

-read this story...hopefully it'll make yr stomach turn like it did mine.

Seat 29E Letter

I was listening to Rob Bell's podcast sermon called Stunned and Spent. He talked about the significance of lamenting (specifically in today's American culture)

So he read about an absurd but yet funny and honest example of an airline passenger who wrote a letter of complaint to the actual airline. It's called Seat 29E Letter and yes this is real.

Many of us, though, don't make formal complaints, because we don't want to seem like trouble-makers, because we recognize that some things are beyond the airlines' control (they can't stop bad weather, for example), or because we just want to get where we're going without enduring the additional fuss and delay that following company procedures to register an official complaint would

But hear an airline passenger's in-flight comments describe disadvantages of being seated directly across from the plane's lavatory (toilet):

Dear Continental Airline,

I am disgusted as I write this note to you about the miserable experience I am having sitting in seat on one of your aircrafts. As you may know, this seat is situated directly across from the lavatory, so close that I can reach out my left am and touch the door.

All my senses are being tortured simultaneously. It's difficult to say what the worst part about sitting in 29E really is? Is it the stench of the sanitation fluid that's blown all over my body every 60 seconds when the door opens? Is it the wooosh of the constant flushing? Or is it the passengers asses that seem to fit into my personal space like a pornographic jig-saw puzzel?

I constructed a stink-shield by shoving one end of a blanket into the overhead compartment while effective in blocking at least some of the smell, and offering a small bit of privacy, the ass-on-my-body factor has increased, as without my evil glare, passengers feel free to lean up against what they think is some kind of blanketed wall. The next ass that touches my shoulder will be the last!

I am picturing a board room full of executives giving props to the young promising engineer that figured out how to squeeze an additional row of seats onto this plane by putting them next to the LAV. I would like to flush his head in the toilet that I am close enough to touch, and taste, from my seat.

Putting a seat here was a very bad idea. I just heard a man groan in there! This sucks!

Worse yet, is I've paid over $400.00 for the honor of sitting in this seat!
Does your company give refunds? I'd like to go back where I came from and start over. Seat 29E could only be worse if it was located inside the bathroom.

I wonder if my clothing will retain the sanitizing odor . . . what about my hair! I feel like I'm bathing in a toilet bowl of blue liquid, and there is no man in a little boat to save me.

I am filled with a deep hatred for your plane designer and a general dis-ease that may last for hours.

We are finally decending, and soon I will be able to tear down the stink-shield, but the scars will remain.

I suggest that you initiate immediate removal of this seat from all of your crafts. Just remove it, and leave the smouldering brown hole empty, a good place for sturdy/non-absorbing luggage maybe, but not human cargo.

waaaa!!---new eyeware

i wish i made more time to blog. i've been trying to upload more commentaries but my connection is so slow.

just found out my friend got laser eye surgery which is cool i guess, i was digging the glasses but as for me...NEVER!! as a matter of fact these might be my next pair:


i realize of course they're absolutely RAD but you will have to rid yourself of the jealousy that will be raging inside of you because you don't own them.

ps yes that is Erlend in case you were wondering.