Jesus Beard Bryant

As far as movies go, there were two things that pretty much defined my childhood: Star Wars and Toy Story. I can’t remember the first time I saw Toy Story, but I do distinctly remember the moment that I realized I had seen it so many times I could quote it in its entirety, verbatim from memory.  Something about it unlocked my imagination like nothing else could.

I remember sharpie-ing my name on the shoe of all my toys just like Andy did in the movie… backwards “N” and all. I remember turning all my toys around whenever I’d change my clothes. I remember the Christmas morning when I saw Woody the Cowboy peeking out of my stocking. It was a Burger King promo, probably not worth more than a few dollars, and yet it was probably the most meaningful Christmas present I’ve ever received.

With Star Wars, there was always a slight sense of distance between them and I, because they were all made before I was even born. I remember watching Return of the Jedi as a kid, and wondering what it would have been like to grow up with the Star Wars movies… to see them on the big screen when they were fresh and new… the anticipation of waiting for the next installment… the emotion of watching the final climax for the first time… the defeat of the evil Empire… the end of Luke and Han and Chewy and Leia and C-3PO and R2-D2 and everyone elses’ stories… I somehow instinctively knew that it would have been an amazing experience, because it wouldn’t have been just their stories. By experiencing it with them, it would have been my story too. It must have been an amazing feeling for those who had lived that story during its time. I always wondered what that felt like.

I got my wish tonight at the opening showing of Toy Story 3.  I know it sounds silly to say, but it’s a very powerful feeling. One that my vocabulary could not possibly convey. One that I cannot fully grasp or comprehend. One that I am honestly not ashamed to say brings me to tears.

Stories. Funny how powerful they can be, huh?

sinewav – Beelzebunny

This is a little something I threw together in about an hour for the soundtrack of the horror film “Bad Hare Days” for the College Movie Festival. The music is from the climactic ending where the hero, JT Walden is running from the demonic bunny, Mr. Carrots. Nothing terribly special on its own, but it serves as some nice, intense ambiance and compliments the scene pretty well.

Not the song I was planning on posting this week, but I’m late as it is and haven’t had time to post anything due to some last minute school craziness.

I freaking love anything to do with the 80s. Especially the music… so I figured I’d try to write something 80s-esque. I feel like this one landed somewhere between “Danger Zone” and “The Touch“.

I’m pretty happy with it, except for the video quality (my camera stopped working, and I had to borrow my sister’s, which is much lower quality and only had enough battery left for one take… lol.)

Not sure how I feel about this one.  I’m pretty happy with the melody, though I’m still unsure about the lyrics. The original plan was to write an Irish drinking song that was based on winning an actual historical war. I did some research and made it through the first verse… after that  I got lazy and did this instead. To pile on the ridiculousness even thicker, I sang the whole thing in a terrible fake Irish accent.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

The parable of the lost sheep has always confused me. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a scenario Jesus presents as a metaphor about how God the Father feels about his children. Basically in the story, a sheep wanders off, and the shepherd leaves the rest of the flock to go find the one that got away. When he finds it, he’s even happier about finding the one that left, than he is about the fact that the other 99 didn’t get lost in the first place. (Luke 15:1-7)

That part of the Bible always kinda bothered me. I mean, I got that the one sheep was important to him, but what if a wolf attacked the herd while the shepherd was gone? He would risk 99% of his flock to get back the 1% he lost? The numbers just didn’t add up to me. To my knowledge, that kind of math is usually only found in failed businesses and gambling addicts. I just didn’t get it.

Read the rest of this entry »