It was 7am.  Not that early, but early enough. 

I woke up to the sounds of metal crashing into metal and people shouting.  From the sounds, my first groggy thoughts were that a car accident had happened.  As I peeked out the window to see if I needed to call 911 . . . I realized that it was actually a backhoe being unloaded from a trailer into the front yard.  They managed to make more noise unloading this thing then I thought possible.  Then they started it up and started digging in the yard and I realized it was possible to make more noise.  They were digging up the phone lines in the yard. 

The backhoe in my yard, unlike the one in this picture, has metal treads that sound like metal banding on metal every time it moves.  I cant even explain how loud this thing sounds, other then it sounds like a big diesel engine running and metal banging on metal constantly. 

Now 7am isn’t SUPER early, but it’s early enough.  Most utilities in this area don’t start working in the field until 8 at the earliest, usually 9.  For some reason Bell South / AT&T decided that they would start extra early.  And while I find this annoying not very courteous at all, I could have lived with it. 

I decided to call AT&T and just let them know that 7am was a little early to make so much noise (as it looked like they were starting a project that was going to take several days to finish and I wanted to be able to sleep in on Saturday).  I got the customer service number off of their web site, but had to wait until 8am to call as they weren’t open yet.

This is where my issue with them starts. 

I don’t have home phone service with them (I just have my cell phone), so every time I got through to a customer service representative they wanted my phone number so they could retrieve my account records.  After explaining that I wasn’t one of their customers I was basically told that they couldn’t help me. 

What ?  Are you serious ? 

You can send machines to my front yard to dig crap up at 7am, but you cant do anything for me unless I’m a customer of yours ?  ‘I’m sorry sir, but there’s nothing I can do for you’ was the response.  Well you know what, that’s not good enough.  After arguing with two different representatives, then being transferred to the repair department, and once again explaining the situation . . . I was again apologized to but told there was no way to help me if I wasn’t a customer. 

‘Who do I need to call to complain about your equipment waking me up at 7am, before your customer service is even open ?’ I asked. 

‘I don’t know sir’ was the answer. 

‘If I signed up as a customer, could you take my complaint then?’

‘Yes’ the lady answered.

I hung up.

So I signed up for new service.

I registered a complaint.

I canceled my service and made sure that I wasn’t being charged for anything.

The last customer service rep that I spoke with, to cancel my service, asked me why I was doing so.  After explaining the situation to him, he said that they absolutely could take complaints like that (with out me being a customer). In fact, he could take the complaint and make sure the local supervisor of repairs got the message.  He checked that my order for new service was canceled and apologized for all the loops that I had to jump through just to register a complaint. 

I’m probably just upset because it’s early, I haven’t eaten or had any caffeine yet . . . and oh yah, there’s this banging sound going on constantly outside my windows.  That could be why.

So we’ve been reading this book called ‘it’ by Craig Groeschel as our staff book and talking about it in our staff meetings.  It’s a really good book.  I’ll have to write an entire post about it, maybe several posts about it, but I’m not going into it here.  But it’s so good that I’ve been reading ahead (I usually struggle to read what was assigned for that week to be honest).  At the end of the book, Craig has a Franciscan benediction that I found to be very cool . . . so I thought I’d share it with you.

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and the exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace. 

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, and starvation, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless with you enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

Having completed about a third of the game (I’ve unlocked about a third of the area you can go to anyways), I thought I might jot down some initial thoughts about the newest arrival in my game collection.

Nothing about this game stands out as truly ground breaking.  Almost every element in the game has been done just as well, if not better, in other games. The plot line is ‘kiddy pool’ deep.  The graphics are par for the course, nothing special. 

But I have to say the way they put all these things together makes for a surprisingly engaging game. 

The plot line that starts the game, which you can find on the back of the box, goes a little something like this . . . it’s the future, you’re on a terra formed Mars looking for work (as the Earth economy is looking pretty bad) and team up with your brother who’s been here for a while.  The Earth Defense Force (EDF) who were originally here just keeping the peace are now oppressing the peeps of Mars, basically killing whom ever and taking what ever they want.  While out on your first tutorial, er salvage operation, with your brother you find out about the Red Faction and how they are fighting for freedom from oppression and all that.  You want nothing of it, you just want to make some money to send back to dear old mom on Earth. Well as luck would have it the EDF swoop in, kill your brother for being a terrorist, and then label you as a Red Faction member (you guys are brothers after all).  Just as you’re about to be killed, the Red Faction shows up, saves you, and thus you fight for them . . . because you don’t have much of a choice any more. 

Here’s the game play break down . . .

 - much like GTA, there are different ‘zones’ that you need control of.  You try to complete different missions (basically destroying or stealing EDF property in the area, or defending people form attack, or rescuing prisoners and transporting them back to your base) until their control in the area is gone.  You can also do missions which improve moral in the area, which means more people randomly start fighting for you during a fire fight and you get more random ammo stashes and the like.  Then, when you finally have forced the EDF out, you move on to the next area. 

     You have a bunch of static missions on the map you can do, plus many random ones that pop up from time to time, each worth either money, control, moral or all three.  You don’t have to do all the missions, just enough to get control of the area.  The missions are different enough that they haven’t gotten boring yet, though it’s usually some form of destruction, kill the bad guys, or theft. 

- again, much like GTA, there are roads and cars for you jack and get around.  Pretty well done actually, as the cars range from trucks to huge dirt movers to little zippy bubble things.  Each has different speed, handling, armor . . . some have weapons, some can hold people (who you can rescue and get back to the safe houses in some missions). 

- some people think the terrain is a little sparse, but it’s not . . . the buildings are just spread out.  Each area has a distinct look (color, feel, type of cars, etc) but many of the structures do look similar (though they are far from being cookie cutter copies of each other).  Being a terra formed Mars (no space suits here), along with the buildings looking very Earth industrial, makes the game seam like it’s set in the desert on Earth rather then on another planet. 

- every time you destroy stuff, you can find scrap.  This is used like money to buy upgrades to your weapons.  As you do different missions, you unlock different and better weapons.  You always have your brothers sledge hammer with you, and you get to carry three other weapons at a time (go back to base to change out what those three are). 

- while I wouldn’t consider it ground breaking, the destructibility of objects is very good in this game.  Other then the ground rock, just about everything you can destroy.  It breaks off in pieces and very believable chunks, the sounds don’t repeat when stuff falls like in other games, and usually stuff pretty well obeys the laws of physics (other then you can bust through metal and concrete with one swing of your sledge hammer, but you’ll be having too much fun to care).  Buildings even collapse when you take out their walls . . . or drive through them with a huge truck !

- there is a day / night cycle, but it’s purely visual.  No NPC’s change their patterns based on the time of day (at least not yet). 

     All in all I’m very happy with this game.  It’s just a fun game, not deep, not groundbreaking . . . just fun.  I haven’t tried any of the multiplayer yet, so that will be my project for this afternoon.  I give this game an A- because, well, it’s been a while since I played a game that was just all around fun instead of being the ‘first’ or ‘best’ at one thing only. 

What I’m busy with lately. . .

- getting church web page updated (with the help of David Mayer) with new content and tweaking the bugs that seam to be popping up

- prepping for the Community for Christ outreach on July 5^th.  This is where bunches of church’s in the area get together at the High School stadium and have a ‘community church service’.  We’re bringing sound again this year and . . . well it’s a pretty big undertaking to prep all the equipment and rent the extra stuff we need (weeks in advance) and then get it all to work in the scorching summer afternoon sun.  But it’s always exciting !

- recovering from a nice thick chest cold with some nice antibiotics, steroids, and a cough suppressant.  The steroid keeps me up at night (I cant skip a dose or that will make me worse) and the suppressant makes me loopy.  So the evenings are actually pretty fun lately lol. 

- trying to make our announcements look a little better (and more engaging) with a revamped design

- typing up a survey to get peoples feed back about the new site and media we’re trying out

In other news . . .

     E3 is over and, while I missed most of the live coverage (other then watching peeps Tweets and looking at joystiq.com) I’m still excited about a few games.

     Left 4 Dead 2 is coming out this fall.  Apparently this was going to be a huge update for original zombie-killing city-escaping FPS, but was so big Valve decided to make it it’s own game.  This has prompted some to cry foul, saying that releasing an entirely new game so close to the original is the company milking the franchise for all it’s worth rather then delivering on the massive amounts of DLC promised time and time again for the original game. 

     I’m kind of on the fence with this one.  When I first heard about this ‘protest’ to the new game I couldn’t understand why they were so upset about a new game coming out.  But when I think back to all articles and reviews of the original game where Valve promised time and time again a slew of DLC to keep the game going . . . I can see where they are coming from. 

     I’m really hoping that the new levels (maps, episodes?, movies?) are much less linear and more dynamic in the routs you take to the finish.  The new improved AI Director, weather, and time of day passage should make the second installment even better then the first.  Unless Valve just messes L4D2 up badly, I’ll be buying it for sure. 

     Assassins Creed 2 is looking pretty impressive as well.  This sequel is set in Renaissance Florence (and a couple other places) and has the new ancestor character, Ezio, friends with a young Leonardo DaVinci who has crafted for his him a strange new replacement to his throwing knives (a small gun).  There’s a pretty good interview over at joystiq.com (here) if you want more info and a cool trailer. 

     I want to see more on the new KOTOR and Splinter Cell games.  I remember seeing the ‘crowd dynamic’ video for the ‘new’ Splinter Cell game at the same time the   original Assassins Creed came out and thinking that they looked very similar.  Hopefully the ‘new’ Splinter Cell will be released before the SECOND Assassins Creed game is gathering dust.  KOTOR I’m just expecting to be good (with such a long development time now, hopefully they are crafting something worth all that time). 

So I went with a couple of friends the other day to see Terminator Salvation.  We had planned on using the free passes we got from the I-Max to see it in that format, but the I-Max place had extended the showing of Star Trek another week.  So we had to settle for regular old 35mm.

I’m glad we did.

While I’m sure this latest ‘terminator’ movie would have looked awesome on such a giant screen, the movie overall is a bit of a strange bird.  I’m not sure it ever finds it way, decided just what it wants to be. 

First off, the effects in the movie are (for the most part) awesome.  However, and this is a big one, on the close up’s of some of the terminators . . . they look like they are being controlled by puppeteers.  They look very fake and forced . . . like some is just below the frame turning the torso.  At other times, I assume when they were CG, they move fluidly with a visual weight that is very believable.  The machines are very gritty, grimy, and have used parts of human made machines (or designs) to construct themselves.  They are at the same time familiar (recognizable parts) and strange menacing abominations.  Most of the CG is not noticeable as being so, blending into the shot convincingly. 

The sound design (by Cameron Frankley) is superb throughout the movie, conveying this post apocalyptic grit and harshness the helps reinforce the entire feeling of the flick.  The machines have this sound, this evil menacing screech . . . and the bigger the machine the deeper this recognizable ‘I’m a Sky-Net-run machine looking to kill you’ sound.  You can hear them before you see them, you know they are close, searching the area . . . and it sent shivers down my spine just hearing it.  I could go on, but I wont.  The sound design was superb and will definitely be a contender for an Oscar.  I’ll be getting this movie in Blu-ray simply for the sound design and visual effects.  Fact. 

The acting was pretty good.  All the key players here are believable, even though Christian Bale uses a little bit of his ‘big boy’ voice from the Batman movies.  There are several lines from the previous movies thrown in (I’ll be back, and the like), but unlike Star Trek (which is strewn with fan favorite catch phrases) these just seem to stick out and make you laugh at a serious time in the movie, breaking the moment. 

But all that could be forgiven, if the plot were . . . well if it didn’t have this identity crisis.  It’s like they took the world of the Terminator movies, and then wrote this story that took place in that world and had some of the same characters from that world . . . but didn’t have much to do with that story line of the previous movies.  Sure you get to see John Connor and the resistance, but the movie isn’t about them.  They’re in it, you get to learn a bit more about the resistance, but it’s like a side plot . . . a vehicle for this OTHER story line to move forward. 

To be honest, a good third of the movie is spent on ‘resistance’ type plot points . . . but you don’t get much info about them.  They’re just kind of there, doing their thing.  Oh, and John Connor needs to save his dad (who is a teenager) so he can later send him back . . . to be his dad.  Another third of the movie is spent on the story line of our protagonist, a convicted killer who is sentenced to death and then wakes up in ‘the future’ (all of which you learn in the first 5 minutes of the move, that’s the only ‘spoiler’ in this review).  He seems to just take a lot of stuff for granted and moves about doing his thing, though we get a reason for this later it’s never dealt with before hand.  Just kind of taken for granted (much like a certain underwater shooter we all know and love).  And the final third of the movie is just good old shootin’ and blowin’ things up ! 

It’s like the writers started writing one movie, had an idea for ANOTHER movie, and then decided to combine the two to save time and money while stripping both story lines down to the bare minimum.  The production values for this film are very high, while the plot is . . . well is not.  In the end I was glad I saw the movie but I don’t feel like I learned anything about the future of the Terminator story line that couldn’t have been summed up an a couple of paragraphs.  If you have a good home theatre system, this is a must rent.  If you are close to a movie theatre with a good projector and surround sound, and you just want a good shoot-em-up with awesome visuals . . . then this movie is for you !

Not a lot going on here at the ol’ blog at the moment.  All the things I was wanting to write about, is just stuff that you can find somewhere else (how good the Star Trek movie is, that type of stuff). 

I could bore you about what I’m doing today, but you can just follow me on Twitter (DXEndar) if you want hourly updates. 

Instead I’ve decided to quote from a book the staff is reading called ‘it’ by Craig Groeschel, which is actually very good (I was a little skeptical about it at first).  And then put up some links to a few web sites that I have found very useful lately (mostly media and video sites).

First, a quote from the book from the chapter on Vision:

 “Vision […] it’s a little like greyhound dog racing.[…] To keep the greyhounds running in the right direction, a man in the press box controls a mechanical rabbit, keeping it just in front of those dogs so they never quite catch it.  They just chase it all the way around the track.  Well, one time at a track in Florida, the man in the press box got ready to start the mechanical rabbit.  All of the dogs were crouched in their cages.  When he pushed the start button, the rabbit took off and the dogs took chase.  But as the rabbit made the first turn, a short in the electrical system caused it to explode.”

“Suddenly the dogs didn’t know what to do.  There was no rabbit to chase, just a little piece of fur hanging on a wire.  With the rabbit gone, some of the bewildered dogs plopped down on the track with the tongues hanging out.  A couple of them tried to run through a fence and broke some ribs.  The rest of the dogs just sat on the track and howled at the people in the stands.  And not one dog finished the race.”

“Do you have anyone who is just plopped won in a pew with their tongue hanging out?  Do you know someone causing damage by running off in their own direction?  Do you have some members who are howling at the other people, creating problems by what they say, how they say it, what they disagree with?  If so, maybe it’s because they don’t have a mechanical rabbit to chase.  Without vision, people perish.  Dreams fade.  Youth groups loose their life.  Once-vibrant churches slowly die.  You need a clear vision that is constantly and enthusiastically cast.”

This is so pertinent to what we are doing right now at church.  We are redefining the ways that we are presenting the vision of our church (not just Christianity, but DFA’s vision specifically).  I just thought it was a great example of how, when presented with a good clearly defined goal (a vision, a purpose) . . . the people wont just follow, but they will run towards it ! 

Anyways, it meant a lot to me.  Maybe it means more having read the previous chapters and such. 

Now onto some good web pages I’ve found lately . . .

This is blog (and site) designed to give you some basic understanding on simple videoing techniques (like color balance and lighting) for people or groups on a tight budget.  One post shows how to use those paper lanterns for soft defuse lighting on the cheep !

http://blogs.nightglass.com/lightsandcameras/

Image Vine is a media site designed specifically for “Christian Projector Media”.  As their description hints at, while they have high quality media . . . it’s a little on the bland side.  Perhaps ‘traditional’ would be a better word then ‘bland’.  It’s not bad stuff, we just usually go with more of a contemporary look and feel (abstract backgrounds), while they have more traditional backgrounds (crosses with a sunset).  Prices are reasonable, but most of the good media is sold in a pack with other media and not separately.

http://www.imagevine.com/

Most of my media I get from Worship House Media.  They actually have a large selection from many different publishers.  Most of what they have is more ‘contemporary’ rather then ‘traditional’ media.  They have motions (looping backgrounds used behind worship words or sermon notes), mini movies (short inspirational clips about various subjects), stills (just jpeg backgrounds) and sound tracks with words meant to be used as tracks to be sung with (a nice video background with, or with out, words while you sing).  Just about everything they sell is independent, though there are several publishers that offer a pack of media for a discount.  Not the cheapest place to get media on the internet, but their quality is always good.

http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/index.cfm

Worship Spot has a limited selection (compared to other sites that have thousands), but their prices just cant be beat (other then being free) !  Most backgrounds are $3.00 or less (compared to $8.00 at other places).  They also have a yearly rate, where you can download as much as you want for $150 a year.

http://www.worshipspot.com/index.php

http://www.stockxpert.com/ has some good stock photos starting at $1 for a small resolution picture.  Sometimes difficult to find just what you’re looking for, they do have a LOT of pictures.

http://www.typenow.net/ is a great place to find free fonts.  Many movie and game based fonts.  The only problem is looking through the massive amount of fonts to find something you want ! Not that I’m complaining, there’s just so many there.

http://churchmediadesign.tv/ is a site I use to frequent often but kept getting busy with projects.  They have some very good video pod casts with good links too !  Some of the software (such as After Effects) is a little out of our price range, but the info it good !

http://www.freecountdowns.net/ is a site for free count down videos (played before service or before an event starts).  While I love this site, sometimes you get what you pay for lol.

http://www.stufficanuse.com/  is a good site with links to other sites.  They appear to be redesigning the site some at the moment though, as some of the pages are now in different places.  Very cool though.

http://www.openresources.org/ a site where church’s post their used media.  Why spend all that time making it just to use it once and throw it away right ?  A great place to find theme centered media !

I have many more, but alas, it’s time for lunch.

If anyone else has a good listing of Media / Video / Lighting sites, send em’ my way !

So Matt and Mel and little Morgan and baby Tyler are now moved into their new duplex in North Littlerock Arkansas.  I’ll spare you the details of the move, other then to say that we got it done just as it started to downpour.   

We christened their new home with the traditional playing of a board game, Nexus Ops to be exact (the game we ALWAYS play when we get together).  It’s a fun little game where you play as a different companies / factions vying for the resources of a small distant planet.  The different game pieces all glow under black light, so obviously I brought one for us to use.  I cant find the adapter to let me upload my pictures from my cell phone to the web, but when I find it I’ll post them.

I got back home on Thursday and spent the remainder of the day doing laundry and catching up on DVR’d shows (including LOST).  Today (Friday) I started rearranging the living room a bit and doing some major dusting, which meant that I’ve spent most of the day sneezing and now my face feels like it’s going to explode from sinus pressure . . . but other then that it’s been a pretty good vacation.

There were only a few mishaps at work while I was gone.  One particular incident involved someone deciding to rewire some a-v equipment to try to make something work at the last moment on Wednesday.  This is the kind of thing that makes me furious.  I make a decision (we cant do this becaue it’s the last minute, I’m on vacation, and my volunteers wont have time to do it for me) but then someone else decides to ‘help’ and rewire part of the sound system and then leave it for me to fix later.  I’m furious.  Furious enough that I wont be touching it until Sunday (when I am officially off of vacation) and hopefully I can fix it in an hour . . . otherwise we wont have any video on Sunday.  I don’t understand why people just think it’s ok to ask me something, and when they get an answer they don’t like, to shop around until they find someone to give them an answer that they DO like and then go with that one. 

Anyways, now that I’ve vented about that, I feel much better.

Other then the stupid person and the pressure in my head, life is very good.  I get to wake up tomorrow with nothing in particular to do.  No band practice, no work, just the day to do anything I like.  Hopefully Comcast will be happy all day long and allow me to stay online for longer then a few minutes at a time and I can actually play some multiplayer something and then go see the new Star Trek movie Saturday evening.

So, Old Timers Day went well.  The combined sound system worked pretty well, a few issues plagued us all day long . . .  but it got done and we didn’t get rained on too badly.  All the equipment came back in working condition, so that’s a win in my book.   

The missions services today went very well.  The videos got done and everyone seamed to like them.  There are two of them, about 7 minutes each, and you can find them HERE and HERE.

Last, and more important, I am now (officially) on vacation !  Tomorrow afternoon I’ll be leaving for Arkansas to help Matt and Mel move to their new place.  Then I’ll head back and concentrate very intently on doing nothing in particular. 

See you on the other side !

The rush before the calm before the storm

It’s the story of my life.  I live from one big project to the next, but I guess that’s the way it is for most people nowadays. 

What’s the next big project you ask ?

Here in Dickson we have what’s called Old Timers Day.  It’s a day celebrating the ‘Old Timers’ and remembering the past of our county and city.  There’s a big parade (which shuts down several miles of roads around downtown for an entire day) and then afterwards there’s like a kind of carnival set up with all kinds of celebrations in the downtown area.  Old Timers Day is this coming Saturday.

This year they are having a ‘Gospel Stage’ where several church’s choirs and bands are going to sing.  Our church has been invited to sing and Pastor wants this to sound good.  The problem is that there are several church’s singing (one right after the other) using a hodgepodge of systems . . . which has the potential to NOT sound good. This means that we’ll be bringing our entire portable sound system to Old Timers Day.  Don’t let the word ‘portable’ fool you into thinking it’s small in any way, this is a job and a half.  Having just gotten SOME of the needed details today (like how many KWatts the generator will be, where specifically the stage is going to be set up) but still need to know what everyone else is bringing to the event and . . . if we are sharing all the equipment to make a community sound system.  And if so, who’s running sound for the community system ?

Getting ready for this has consumed most of my time this week.

Also next week I’ll be on vacation !  Last June was my 5 year anniversary working at the church so this year I get three weeks of vacation.  The first full week of which I’ll be taking next week. Matt and Mel are moving to a new apartment (well, a duplex) and I’m heading to Arkansas to help them.  I’ll be leaving Monday afternoon sometime so as to arrive Monday evening.  Tuesday we’ll do all the heavy moving and Wednesday we’ll finish up whatever is left and then christen the new place with a nice gaming session (including, gasp, board games !).  I’ll head back home either Wednesday or Thursday and spend the rest of the long weekend doing nothing in particular.  So prepping for vacation, on top of Old Timers Day, is going to make this week a fun fun one !