Crisp

Crisp
Originally uploaded by VincentLloyd

I love Flickr...

Awe

By far the best road I ever longboarded in my life thus far. I wish I could of experienced it with some old friends, but the sun will set again and I will experience it with YOU! Someday, someday...

Movember

Hurra Hurra Hurra

Halloween

Who should I be? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

George Parros off the Anaheim Ducks?

Friedrich Nietzche perhaps?

The original playa himself, Ron Jeremy?

How about good old Burt?

I got it! Ned maw-f... Flanders?!

iono iono iono iono iono

Departures

I just love giving shout-outs, so why stop? Departures is one of my favourite TV shows, and it's hands down the best Canadian show ever to grace the television box. Departures is essentially a travel show that follows two Canadians (three if you include the cameraman, which you should!), as they venture out to the far out lands, bringing it to you nice and pretty. What makes this show is the relationship between the two friends (Scott and Justin) and just their colourful personalties. I love the top rated comment in the video below; "This show is a work of art". So so so true, and thats what is so appealing to me personally. The art direction, cinematography, etc. is top notch and that is all because Andre Dupuis, the cameraman. The many awards that Andre has won are well worth it. A kickass soundtrack doesn't hurt either. Departures is what really got me wanting to go to New Zealand so I guess you can say it's quite important to me. Unfortunately, the boys can't travel forever without breaks so after three years on the road, they called it quits. I was actually genuinely sad watching the series finale because it's like you were along with them every step of the way. Departures might be the most inspirational show ever so it would be a crime not to give it a try. I strongly recommend the two part North Korea episode. It absolutely blew me away! You never seen the likes of ANYTHING like North Korea.. You can thank me later :)!

Song of the Day (#6)

I want you to listen to this song before reading on!

Bonfires - Rosie and Me

If you had to pick a country.. no a continent! Which continent would you think this amazing band is from? North America? Nah... Europe? Nope! If you picked South America, you would be el correcto! The Portuguese in the credits kind of renewed it, but it's all good. Rosie and Me hail from southern Brazil of all places! Crazy eh?! When I think of Brazilian music, I think of like Juanes. You know, those seductive Spanish/Portuguese lyrics with the classical guitar in the background mesmerizing you and forcing you to dance! Oh man, I can't dance worth anything, but when I get married (if I get married haha...) and if my future wife actually persuades me to dance, this will be the song I dance to! Anyways, if Rosie and Me is anything of the Brazilian music scene, then I'm totally game!

Song of the Day (#5)

The song I keep on meaning to post keeps on being postponed! Tomorrow hopefully... but my boy Travis hooked me up with the new Cudi. Love or hate Cudi, this song is sick! It includes Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend and a band called Best Coast. I've already fallen in love with Best Coast and they make this song for me. On a side note, they're from Cali and I totally agree with the West Coast being the Best Coast. The Canucks won as well, which is a bonus. Great day all around...

All Summer - Kid Cudi, Rostam Batmanglij, and Best Coast

Song of the Day (#4)

I think it is only fitting after the 127 Hours trailer to do a little Band of Horses. It was only a matter of time till they were on here, so I might as well just do it now. Personal favorite of mine!

Older - Band of Horses

Speaking of shout-outs...

Kris Zulinick, a friend of mine on the same floor, is the man! The guy is freakishly talented... I linked his Myspace account below with the song he wrote. Yeah, he wrote a song, no big deal... Still trying to convince him to let me play accordion but he ain't budging. All good, all good haha.. Anyways, enjoy!

Kris Zulinick: http://www.myspace.com/kristianzulinick

Pumpkin patch

I love black and white photography...

Thank you sir...

for pulling the fire alarm at one in the morning!

Rocks in my shoes

Danny Boyle's 127 Hours

What?! Danny Boyle off the San Jose Sharks directs big budget movies?!

Sorry... just my attempt at humor. No, it's been a long time coming for Danny Boyle since Slumdog Millionaire, but his much anticipated new movie is almost here! I actually only found out about this movie this week which is insane seeing that I'm a huge movie buff and that Danny Boyle is probably tied with Chris Nolan (yeah, yeah, Inception I know...) as being my favorite director right now. Seriously though, if you want a good flick to see, you cannot go wrong with English directors!

127 Hours based on the true story of Aron Ralston, a mountain climber who becomes trapped under a boulder while canyoneering alone near Moab, Utah and resorts to desperate measures in order to survive. I'll say no more, 'cause one, I haven't seen it and two, I don't want to spoil anything for you.

After watching the trailer, I must say that it's little strange seeing this movie linked to Danny Boyle at all. I just remember his older movies like Trainspotting and even 28 Days Later where he had a limited budget to now (post-Academy Award and all) having heaps of money, and not depending on his creativeness to make a visual masterpiece. It personally gratifying to see him get the recognition, but a part of me is like "this sucks..." 'cause I love the feeling when it's like I'm the only one who knows of him. It's the same feeling you get with music before certain bands hit it big... Not important really haha. With what I was getting at earlier, this movie is like eye candy for film geeks like me! The trailer is just breathtaking from start to finish and it's only a trailer for crying out loud. Not only is it visually beautiful but the story just looks drop dead beautiful as well. Of course, Band of Horse's "The Funeral" had to be used. It works brilliantly though so props to whoever made the trailer. Finally, the movie stars James Franco who I adore and think is awesome so thumbs up to the casting director! Am I going to hand the Oscar over already? No, I haven't seen it obviously but it's got to be a favorite for sure. Look forward to reviewing this in the future!

Pray Like Jesus by Mark Driscoll

Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle was recommended to me a couple of weeks ago and not till recently did I decide to give him a try. The reason for listening to podcasts at all is to really push in to my spiritual side and to LEARN more which I haven’t done much of since coming home. Truthfully, indulging on my faith will only keep my mind on God rather than other things, and hopefully make me live more Christ-like which it’s all about.

I’ll be writing on part two of Mark’s prayer series which is on the Lord’s Prayer. As I just stated, I’m quite new to Mark Driscoll, but so far I think he’s great and I think you should take a listen to him as well. A link to the Mars Hill site will be posted below!

Right off the bat, Mark hits you right in the face by saying not to look to religious people for help on prayer. I get that because it’s God who you should pursue, but religious people can help and am I not doing that very thing, “going to” Driscoll for advice. Mark gets this from Matthew 6:5 if you were wondering. I actually don’t like the term religious people or religious person. I’m religious and I’m a person, but am I a hypocrite? Of course not! Well, I can be hypocritical from time to time, but I get what Mark is implying by the term. I just wished he stuck with “hypocrites”. “Religious people” is a more sexy choice of wording though, say for nonbelievers. Anyways, I find it very encouraging to know that I don’t have to pray in front of the masses to get myself heard. No, it’s not wrong to pray in front of people, but all I’m saying is that I don’t have to go scream at my roommate, Takashi, chanting and jumping around to call myself a believer. Of course I’m exaggerating! In all honesty though, I struggle with this very idea. As Shakespeare would say “therein lays the rub” (or something along those lines)! It’s no secret to anyone that I’m pretty socially awkward and it is quite humorous that I somewhat struggle to talk to people (don’t get me wrong! I love talking to people, but sometimes I struggle stringing sentences together…) and how, naturally enough, I struggle to talk to God as well! It’s only fitting that I struggle to talk to God in front of people too, right haha? I shouldn't though, well, I shouldn’t be self conscious about it ‘cause that defeats the whole purpose. I should have stated that earlier, but that is why I chose this podcast over the others. In the grand scheme of things, I find myself improving prayer in my daily routine drastically and that’s what is really key. If I had another Shakespeare quote, I would enter it here... maybe “Eureka!” or something like that. But yeah, whether it’s praying in my head during a lecture or praying out loud in my dorm room, I find myself constantly speaking to God. It’s awesome man because it keeps my mind off the little struggles that I’m going through and if I do think of those struggles, it's only when I’m praying about them. Do I struggle still? Yeah, but just looking where I was a month ago, I just feel so much stronger!

Wow, this might take longer than I thought. Only five minutes into the sermon :S… I guess it’s because this is the first one and everything. Anyways, till next time… have a good one!

Mars Hill Church website: http://www.marshillchurch.org/

Song of the Day (#3)

Oh man, do I ever have a doozy for you today! Sometimes life throws surreal encounters your way and you cannot help but marvel at God and how mean life can be! "Mean", as in "mean as", as in "unreal" bro. I had another song planned, but as I was writing about New Zealand, another song came on the radio and it hit me like a train. I was writing about travel being one of my passions before, and well, music is a greater one to me. This very song just captures what I feel about New Zealand like I cannot even describe. That's not all though! I like to describe a good song as driving in some scenic area with some form of water around (rain-shine perhaps or the ocean racing along beside your car.. something like that!) and the sun breaking through dark clouds creating a photographers ideal backdrop. Funny because I don't even drive! Anyways, this song ends up actually being called "Drive Home From The Beach (The Feeling Of)"! Like are you kidding me right now?! That's not all though! This band is from friggin' Vancouver for goodness sakes... Absolutely rocks my mind 'cause it's the two places my heart is torn over, NZ/CAN, and there's nothing I like more than music out of Van. Life is good man.

Driving Home From the Beach (The Feeling Of) - Teen Daze

New Zealand Love

Everyday that goes by, I find myself missing New Zealand more and more. Being such a patriotic nut, this might come as a surprise or a blow (depending on where you're from..), but I actually might like NZ more than Canada. Well, as much as Canada at least. I guess it's tainted seeing that I did a Discipleship Training School there which includes the making of some unbelievable friendships and crazy life changes. It's not like I can just go there tomorrow for a visit or anything though and thats where the angst comes in. For anyone who knows me, travel holds pretty high on my priority list, well, in terms of passions anyways. The thing is, there's so many countries on this amazing planet and I want to see all of them with my own eyeballs! A part of me is like "well Tim, you've seen the Kiwi's already so it's time to move on..." which angers me so much because I want to see them again! I look back at the decision of not traveling around NZ while I was there for the Olympics here at home instead and wonder if it was the right call. Doesn't take me long to honor that decision because it was the bloody Olympics for crying out loud and nothing can take away that experience from me. If anything, that decision gives me drive to get back, and see the country I fell in love with, with the people I fell in love with. Will I immigrate to New Zealand someday? Only time will tell haha... New Zealand will always hold a place in my heart though, and I long the day that I return. (sappy? maybe, but true!)

p.s. I saw another student today on campus with Kiwi merchandise all over his backpack and thats what stirred all this angst in me. Just so you know :)... The merchandise actually sparked a conversation though and we talked about our adventures for awhile. The guy got to travel around which kind of made me jealous, but it's all good!

Song of the Day (#2)

There's nothing I love more than Canadian music except music specifically out of Vancouver of course. Black Mountain might be the best thing out of Van since Nickelback, and that's saying something! Found this song on the Go Longboard 2010 video. If you want some good tunes, check out Originals videos on Youtube. This song had to be split up into two videos to contain the awesomeness.

Bright Lights - Black Mountain

First Panoramic Shot Ever

Photo's were taken on a one of the many trails on campus. My first one, so cut me some slack!

The Social Network

It’s Monday night (technically Tuesday...), also known as Harry Potter night here at UBCO. In anticipation for the seventh and final instalment of the epic JK Rowling series, Thom and I are watching one through six. We’re trying to catch up on our favourite boy wizard as much as we can before the big release. It’s funny though, ‘cause we spend the entire duration of each movie just ripping it apart, but all in good fun obviously. We’re on Prisoner of Azkaban if you were wondering!

Finally getting around to writing about another film I got to see over the last little bit, and that is The Social Network.

If you’re a fan of David Fincher (huge fan myself!) or just looking for a solid, well rounded film, look no further because The Social Network’s got it all. There’s an added draw of course, as much as I hate to admit it, Facebook just is a part of everyday life; millions of people can relate (500 million in fact) making it so relevant. I’ll first write on my thoughts on the movie and later write on my view of Facebook as a whole.

Like I just stated, the movie in pretty fantastic. One thing you’ll recognize is the familiar dark tone and cinematography that you’ve grown to love with all Fincher’s movies (Se7en, Fight Club, Benjamin Button etc.). The story revolves around Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) and his quest to be someone in Harvard University. Through law suits, broken relationships, and hundreds of millions of losses, Zuckerberg creates one of the biggest worldwide phenomena’s of all time. To be blunt and upfront, Zuckerberg is a grade A jackass, yes, absolutely brilliant, but a dick none the less. It’s hard to know how much of the story was fabricated, but the key points like the law suits and statistics of it all are pretty solid. Seeing interviews with the real Zuckerberg, you can clearly see that he’s is an odd character. It’s hard not to feel for Eduardo (Andrew Garfield) and the twins (Armie Hammer) who royally get screwed by this kid Zuckerberg. And yes, the twins are played by one actor and if I didn't just tell you this, I guarantee that you wouldn’t of noticed that during the movie! Technology these days eh, absolutely crazy! On that note, the acting is quite well done, especially on Eisenbergs part. I was really impressed with a minor character, Zuckerbergs girlfriend who is played by Rooney Mara. With what few lines she had, she really caught my eye. It turns out that she will actually be Lisbeth Salander in the remake of the Swedish hit, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, which is also directed by Fincher! An awesome book that I strongly recommend! All in all, The Social Network is great movie, well worth the money and Justin Timberlake actually does a decent job pissing you off, but in a good way! Soundtrack is also pretty mint...

Ah, it’s been a long time coming for me and my good friend Facebook. The urge to get rid of it arose awhile back, but I just never got to doing it. I hate how essential it is in my daily routine, I hate how hard it is to give up, I hate how big it is, and I hate the fact that I’m writing all this about it. There are definitely pros to Facebook, and truthfully I think they outweigh the cons, which might be why I still have my account today actually. Yeah, that or that I’m a sissy… The most important thing is keeping connected to friends overseas and even friends back home for that matter. It’s a good way to remain up to date with local events here on campus and around Kelowna! It’s a great way to express yourself, whether it’s music or photography; sharing is caring, right? Anyways, there’s no question that limitation is needed, but in good time my friends. With that, I’m out…

Peace

Song of the Day

Shout-out to my big sis! Hooking me up with National Public Radio and my new fantastic library of music that came along with it!

Silent Time on Earth - Candy Claws

Conflicted

Ever since I've been here at UBCO, I've been going to this club of sorts called University Christian Ministries. It is unreal, and such a hoot! It's hard to think about my college experience thus far without UCM.

You may ask what the big idea is? "Hey, what's the big idea?! Yo Mika!" ... Sorry, where was I..... Over the past few weeks, I've been hearing about the House. The House is another church like thing of sorts that caters to university students. Sound familiar, I know right, UCM! It's absolutely bonkers though, because they both have their Sunday services at the same time! Competition? I think so... It makes me so sad because after going to the House and checking it out for myself, I have to say that it's pretty rad. I am so torn friend, and I do not know what to do. Compromising is the best bet, and maybe the only bet. Even if the House turns out to be my preference, I feel that I have my foot in the door of UCM already and it's only fair, right? Tough call...