This is too funny…

DevilDucky - Star Trek Sings Knights of the Round Table

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This one took two days to write…mostly written yesterday morning, but finished it over lunch today and thought I’d post it up.  No music yet, but it’ll only be a matter of time.

TAKE HOLD
Words by Michael Miles

And so I wonder, what do you want me to say
That you’d turn your head when I go to pray
I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve lost my way
How much more sorry must I be?

Well I thought that I laid all my burdens down
Given to you the last of my golden crowns
And I’m so sorry that I’ve just not come around
Oh, can you hear me?

[chorus]:
I confess I’ve a few too many distractions
That makes it difficult to let you in
Will you have mercy and lift these sanctions
And forgive me of my grievous sins

Ya know I’ve this intense desire to be in-line with You
But I’m so ashamed of all the stupid things I do
And I know that it only goes to prove
That I lack the faith and grace to stand

So all I can do is offer up a humble phrase
“Stay ever close to me all of my days”
And change this broken life with your loving gaze
Oh, take hold of my hand

[chorus x2]

© 2006 Michael Miles (ASCAP) / Dock72 Music Group

Filed under: Awareness, Christian Subculture
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If you bring up the Bush administration and their role in 9/11 in my presence, it’s safe to say that you’re going to get an opinion out of me one way or another.  I may not push the idea that Bush was plotting the course for 9/11, but I most certainly think that they took advantage of the course of events (and probably to some extent the “intelligence” that they had) to make the case for war and their attempts to secure our oil futures.

Well, theological professor David Ray Griffin, published with the Westminister John Knox Press (of Presbyterian Church USA fame), makes some pretty serious claims [Christianity Today] about the Bush administration having gone so far as planning and executing out the events of 9/11 to fulfill their justification for war. 

While there are some pieces of evidence that, when twisted enough, suggest that they could have plotted and schemed out 9/11, there is not nearly enough tangible evidence to confirm such a claim.  But what is perhaps more disturbing is his claim as that the church needs to step and get involved to stop the “empiracle” America.

“I became more convinced that if the truth about 9/11 was going to be
exposed, the churches were probably going to have to be involved,”
Griffin told CT. “If we become convinced that the so-called war on
terror is simply a pretext for enlarging the American empire, we have
every reason as Christians to try and expose the truth behind 9/11.”

Last time I checked, Jesus was less concerned about the affairs of earthly governing systems and more concerned about bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to people—restoring the relationship between creation and the Creator.  Of course, His disciples didn’t get it…it’s no surprise that Professor Griffin doesn’t either.

Our business should be connecting people with the Lover of their souls…not to try and clean up after the mess that Monkey Boy & Co. have left in the wake of their [dis]administration and generally poor stewardship of the office of the White House.

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So Jamison and I caught Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest last night, and beforehand was a trailer for the upcoming film Transformers. 

Well I did a little research on it and found that Peter Cullen, the original voice of Optimus Prime is going to be providing the voice for Optimus in the movie!  He has such a great voice for animations. 

It’s also rumored that Frank Welker is also going to be providing voices for the film.  He has a very extensive background in his career.  As it pertains to the original TV series, Frank provided the voices for Blades, Buzzsaw, Chromedome, Frenzy, Galvatron, Groove, Laserbeak, Megatron, Mirage, Mixmaster, Ratbat, Ravage, Rumble, Skywarp, Sludge, Soundwave, Steeljaw, Superion
(I), Trailbreaker, Wheelie, Teletraan 2, Sharkticon and Spoilsport.  Can you tell I pulled that right from IMDB? 

Anyway, the teaser trailer was quite funny and caught me off guard COMPLETELY.  Looking forward to seeing this one in a digital theatre. 

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Natalie and I had a great afternoon. After spending the afternoon looking at various travel guides to exotic locations, we went to take in M. Knight Shyamalan’s summer release, “Lady in the Water.” As history seems to be repeating itself, M. Knight’s films have never stood in favor with the critics — let’s face it, they’ve got bad taste.

Unlike his previous movies with massive twists in the plot with 30 minutes left in the movie, this one took on a different form. Instead, “Lady in the Water” was filled with deep character and story development, interwoven with small twists to add interest and depth to each and almost every character involved in the movie.

Without giving you any spoilers or ruining the movie for you, I’ll try to explain some of the pro’s and con’s of the movie.

Mild spoilers ahead…but shouldn’t spoil the movie for you… (more…)

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So I could have sworn that I blogged about how our band (”Crash Effect“) has basically come together…but now that I look back I realize that I didn’t. Anyway…quick recap.

The other evening after a rehearsal with my friends Paul and Jamison [we're rehearsing a couple songs that we're playing at Jamison's church on an upcoming Sunday], and I happened to ask Paul if he’d be interested in starting up a band with me. He was seemed pretty enthusiastic about the idea…but we had only one problem…he had no drum set. He sold his a while back.

Well, my instantaneous answer (without even thinking) was, “well, I’ll just have to pray that God provides you a drum set, then”—not really thinking that God would actually GIVE me a drum set. No way. So I got home that night, crawled into bed and began to ask God for a drum set for Paul. It was like someone knocked me up side the head with a fish and God basically said, “uh, you’ve ALREADY GOT a drum set…remember? The one sitting in your attic collecting dust?”

He was right. I’ve an old 1968 Apollo drumset—essentially a vintage Slingerland knock-off—that basically needed some serious cleaning, new heads, cymbals, kick pedal, hi-hat, stands and a little TLC. That was this evening’s project: clean up the set and put new heads on.

Though I couldn’t fulfill Paul’s entire list of heads, I ended up with the following:

• 14″ snare (top) - Remo pinstripe
• 14″ snare (bottom) - Remo Emporer transparent head
• 13″ Tom (top) - Remo pinstripe clear head
• 13″ Tom (bottom) - Evans hydraulic glass head [not real glass]
• 16″ Tom (top) - same as 13″
• 16″ Tom (bottom) - same as 13″
• 20″ kick (attack side) - Remo powerstroke III ebony head
• 20″ kick (front) - Evans EMAD resonate head

Basically now I’ve got about everything. We just need to get a few cymbals and stands, as well as an arm for the 13″ tom. The mounting bracket on top the kick is REALLY lame. It uses regular nuts for adjusting the positioning. THAT’S GOTTA GO.

I mounted and tuned the heads the way Paul likes them and the kit sounds AMAZING…especially for having been neglected for over a decade now. Check out some of the photos from this evening’s restoration of my vintage 1968 Apollo drumset.

The apollo drumset before restoration

(more…)

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Well, if last night wasn’t out of the ordinary enough, might as well be so with the morning.

Wide awake at 6:30 a.m., I got up, showered and went to have breakfast and coffee at New Lousianna Cafe over on Selby & Dale. I could feel a new song coming on as I pulled up to the cafe, listening to Diana Krall’s song, “A Case of You” from her Live In Paris recording.

Thinking about the strange funk that I’ve been in lately, it felt right to write about my longing to find my purpose and my way back to a life where I’m more “centered”—particularly how that has taken a tole on my marriage.

So was born “The Way” over a number three with coffee.

THE WAY
Words by Michael Miles

// slow & pensive but with intense lyricism like that of Jason Mraz

There was something ’bout you that caught my eye
Something that filled my heart with desire
And to live a life together as man and wife
But I’ve seemed to lose my way

‘Stead I find myself looking through the corner of my eye
With a hunger inside that longs to be satisfied
Hoping and praying for something more to this life
Oh I don’t know, seems I’ve lost my way

[bridge]:
Somehow I don’t think I love you, like I know you deserve
The words just don’t come to mind when I’m feeling reserved
And I can tell on your face, that you’re looking concerned
But my heart…keeps searching for the Way

[instrumental]

I don’t expect you to understand the things I’m feeling inside
With a heavy weight on my shoulders getting a free ride
Oh I pray for Jesus to touch me and give grace enough to find
The courage to truly love you…as I try to find my way

© 2006 Michael Miles (ASCAP) / Dock72 Music Group

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Well, tonight was a weird evening, but in the end, productive.

I came home from a long 10-hour day at work, had dinner with Natalie and zonked out for like four hours. So I was up, played a little BF2 and then decided to see what I could come up with for the new song that I wrote over the lunch hour.

Man was I surpised.

Within a half-hour I had the thing fully arranged with the tempo, chord and rhythmic patterns and melody lines. About the only thing that might need a little refining is the bridge.

Boys get ready, this one’s gonna be fun.

ADDENDUM (2:45 a.m.):
Well, nervous that I was going to forget everything I worked on, I decided to record it. It’s raw, but should help convey the ideas. What’s important is the verse and chorus patterns. The bridge is still VERY rough and needs refining. Download: “What We Leave Behind” (MP3, 128 kbps, 2.7 MB)

Notes for Jamison:

Verse patterns (ABAB):
A C G/B E E/G#
A C G E E/G#

Chorus pattern:
A C G E E/G#

Temporary bridge pattern:
A C G/B C/Bb A

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I’ve got a new song to add to the library of new material that I’ve been writing.  This one takes more of an activist role, drawing our attention to the consequence and outcomes of our actions. I wrote this over the lunch hour today.

WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND
Words by Michael Miles

Where does it go beyond your hands
What ways will it show up in the shores of our lands
What is easy right now may change later on
When you wonder how the damage was done

What we cannot see won’t hurt us right?
It won’t affect me if we wait another night.
It’s just one more hour, things’ll be just fine
Just a little more power, just a little more time.

[chorus]:
Driven by hunger, driven by fear
And the desire to own even more than we need
Driving to live and living to strive
Without thinking of what we leave behind

We’ve gotta have more and we’re willing to pay
And turn a blind eye to what we throw away
Well think of the future, think of the lives
that will pick up the pieces that we leave behind

[chorus...ending in "without thinking..."]

[bridge]:
…of consequence, for decadence
With the life that we lead, sparing no expense
Living with confidence despite the evidence
And intense defence, that we just cannot sit on the fence…no more

[solo] [chorus]

© 2006 Michael Miles (ASCAP) / Dock72 Music Group

Should be fun putting music to that. A lot of cool syncopation opportunities in the bridge.

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I’ve thought up the perfect analogy for Internet Explorer, particularly as it pertains to us web designers and developers.

Internet Explorer is like the nice neighbor dog that lives next door and comes by and shits on your lawn, which leaves us (the web designer/developer) to clean up after their mess.

I suppose you could carry the analogy further, in that Microsoft is the bad neighbor who doesn’t make a whole lot of effort to clean up after said dog.

Mozilla makes a much better neighbor. They clean up after their dog, it’s relatively bug free, stable and doesn’t leave little surprises on your lawn when you go to cut the grass.

Good dog, Firefox. Good dog.

Filed under: Development, General, HTML
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