Diary of a Young Pastor

Pomplamoose. The name says it all, right? Not right…

Jack Conte, Left - Nataly Dawn, Right (click for credit)

Pomplamoose is a music group consisting of two people (Nataly Dawn & Jack Conte) who use anything and everything to create a Video Song which they define as having 2 rules: 1. What you see is what you hear (no lip-syncing for instruments or voice). 2. If you hear it, at some point you see it (no hidden sounds). The taping and editing takes about 1 week per song.

In a recent interview on NPR (link), Nataly said:

“People think that all of these things have to be done by geniuses behind huge desks or at the top of skyscrapers, but you can just go online and do it yourself.”

Trust me, Nataly, this is one guy who certainly could not do it himself!

Recently featured in a Toyota Avalon commercial (link), this is a cover of Mister Sandman (you can download it free, along with all their other covers here: http://covers.pomplamoose.com/)

Pomplamoose amazes me. Stay tuned for what I’m sure will be many more Pomplamoose VOTD’s!

Pale Blue Dot

The Pale Blue Dot is an image captured in 1990 by the Voyager 1. The spacecraft was leaving the known solar system, and turned to take a picture of earth across the vast expanse of space.  The photo was commissioned by Carl Sagan, an American astronomer and author of the science fiction book Contact (on which a film was based).

Sagan believed that there must have been a creator of the universe, but when asked about his religious beliefs, claimed to be Agnostic (Citation).

This video is a reading by Sagan from his book Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space. It combines historical photographs and video with scenes from famous films set to Sagan’s reading, and I find it to be absolutely beautiful – a great reminder of the vastness of the universe — but for those who know the creator, a reminder of the wonder that He values us.

Jimmy Stewart is one of my favorite people to watch — but perhaps he is more entertaining to listen to.

Apparently, Stewart was fond of writing poems, and would on occasion, stop by the Tonight Show to read a piece for Johnny Carson. Here is Stewart reading his poem, Beau. Notice how the moment goes from funny to serious – Carson looks like he’s crying – There is power in the spoken word.

I posted this a few days ago on Facebook — the trailer for a movie called “Babies”. The film is an un-narrated documentary about the first year of life for 4 babies from 4 different places around the world (San Francisco, Tokyo, Mongolia & Namibia). I think what impresses me about it is the camera placement – it’s on the level of the baby, giving the film a very unique feel.  The song (The Perpetual Self, or “What would Saul Alinsky do?”) by Sufjan Stevens (link:Amazon)is also good. Enjoy!

[sigh no more | a reflection of beauty] from JJ Starr on Vimeo.

[sigh no more | a reflection of beauty] from JJ Starr on Vimeo.

In the words of Grandpa Joe, “Look at me! Up and about! I haven’t done this in twenty years! Watch my Speed!”

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The race begins this Saturday at 8:30am. Refresh this page for my current position!

Dr. Lyon has a video up on the Board of General Superintendents in which she speaks to the Wesleyan Church on the need in Haiti.  Sadly, it is put up in a custom flash player (as a .flv file type), and isn’t much use for the local church as is…

So, I decided to pull it, convert it, and make it available to the world! Below are two links for the converted file – one is a .mp4 file (for use on Mac software) and the other is a .wmv file (for you Windows folks).  I also threw it up on Youtube.

Fellow Wesleyans: this would be a great video to use during announcements this Sunday!

Right-Click the link to download the appropriate file:

Download the .MP4 file

Download the .WMV file

It’s also on Youtube:

~Matthew

This commercial drives me up the wall every time I see it. Thanks to Consumer Reports for picking it apart and introducing the world to the reality of Latisse:

….of myself in 30 years!