Top 25 of 2008

Here at year's end, you'll see all sorts of "Best of" lists.... Best Movies of '08, Best Fashions of '08, Greatest Nose Hair Sculptures of '08, etc. Every writer, blogger and disc jockey in America will be stumbling over each other coming up with their lists. Here are Mark's Random Musings, we're no different(please don't ask me why I just started to refer to myself in the plural - no idea). But there IS one way we're different, while the others stick to one "specialty" because that's all they know, I will offer up the defenitive list of all the great things 2008 has brought us (or at least me). Yeah, I'm just that cool.

So with no further ado, I'd like to present Mark's Random Musings Top 25 of 2008 List!!!!

25. Opening Ceremony of the Summer Olympics : I've heard this called the TV event of the year as well as the single greatest production in the history of mankind. Both things are probably true, it was absolutely incredible. It falls to the bottom of the best of list for one reason.. as impressive as the giant masses of people performing exactly choreographed movements was, it was sorta spooky for the very say reason. I'm still a little wigged.

24. Canon 40d - picked this bad boy up a couple weeks ago as a Christmas present for myself. Nice upgrade to my aging XTi. Low light ability is awesome.

23. Man in the Mirror - Rhymefest, Mark Ronson, Michael Jackson : Rapper Rhymefest and producer Mark Ronson got together for this "tribute" album to (pre-crazy) Michael Jackson. It's part mix-tape, part tribute, part parody - all unauthorized (read illegal). The best part is Rhymefest and Ronson broke the copyright laws so you don't have to. It's a free download (check out the link) but we forewarned, there's a bit of rough language in it (although generally positive messages - particularly for this kind of rap).

22. Mad Men - Ok, so this is the first of several things on my list that isn't exactly FROM 2008, but hey - sometimes I'm behind the times, so I just got into it in 2008. Best show on tv right now by FAR. And the look of it is the coolest thing going by far. It's way over my head, but I'd LOVE to homage to this with some stuff for R2.

21. The explosion of Billy Mays : Seriously, the man can sell anything. Honorable (albeit creepy) mention; this guy.

20. Wacom Tablet - quantum leap in my photoshop abilities with this thing overnight. skunks the mouse. now just to save up for this badboy.

19. Twitter : makes stalking and being stalked so much more convenient.

18. Av Club : Ken Wilson is Visual Director at NewSpring Church in Anderson SC. Quite simply, he's who I want to be when I grow up. His blog is funny, insightful, and above all else, inspirational. A daily read for me.

17. Sarah Palin / Tina Fey : I was in Wasilla the day Palin was announced as the VP nominee and even then people were looking forward to Fey playing her. The comedy that ensued (both intentional and otherwise) was the best of the year.

16. Lynda : online software training courses for well, anything. Recommended by Bean and the only thing I wanted for Christmas. Love it.

15. Mark's Random Musings : you're reading this, so you already know how awesome it is. (and I feel sorry for you if you clicked on the link in the header).

14. Jonathan Stewart meets Rhonde Barber

13. iPod Adapter : this little gem plugs my ipod into the factory deck in my truck, allowing me to control my ipod through the steering wheel controls and get great sound too.

12. Goal Line Blitz - call me a nerd, but this Football simulation role playing game is the most addictive thing on the interwebz. DEMON LLAMA!!!!!!!!!!!

11. Michael Phelps - yeah, that's him on the left. Still on the left. re-freakin-diculous.

10. Will's Elmo Costume

9. Barack Obama - Not to get political, but I still get goosebumps watching this.

8. Superhero Movies - Best year ever for them.

7. The return of this

6. Alaska: 17 days in the last frontier was by far the best vacation of my life. Special thanks to this big lady, these folks, this guy, this guy, that big ol thing and this old dude. Most importantly, this chick.

5. Chevy Avalanche - after years of good service, my trusty Silverado went down swinging in the blizzard of 08 (yeah, ok, so there were only 3/8 of an inch of snow on the ground). Fittingly enough, I replaced her with the new love of my life, a 2004 Avalanche. Lovely, ain't she?

4. Macbook Pro : My other Christmas present to me (I was a very good boy). it pains me to admit it, but I'm a Mac fanboy these days. :(

3. DeAngelo Williams : Set the Panthers Single season records for both rushing yardage and touchdowns. Led the NFL in overall touchdowns. 153 Carries for 993 yards, 6.5 yards/carry, 15 touchdowns... in the second half of the season!

2. Jillian and Selah : Seriously, it just doesn't really get any better than this.

1. Renaissance Road : I'll honestly never really be able to express how happy, blessed and humbled I am to be surrounded by something this meaningful and people this special. God is really moving in this region, and I'm so thrilled to be a part of it - and I'm so blessed to have met the wonderful people that make R2 happen. I can't wait to see what happens in 2009.

Forgiveness / Revenge

Yesterday at R2 Pastor Nick gave a great message about the importance of forgiveness. It was a really powerful message that I believe touched everyone that heard it. It's a message that I agree with...

...well, most of the time.



After the service we all went out to lunch at Fatz Cafe (awesome, by the way). While we were there, my good buddy Jace played a little prank on me where he swiped my camera and hid it for a good little while. While meant to be all in good fun, some transgressions are simply too severe to go unavenged. Click here to see the revenge I have taken out upon Mr. Breeback.

Now I am the champion!

The US Military and giant shape-shifting robots

Interesting article here about the military's involvement in Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. Can't wait.

Sam Hassas

Sam Hassas is a Bay Area wedding photographer I found out about on Fred Miranda's photo site. I've never really wanted to be a wedding photographer, but I love his portrait work. What he does with light is absolutely incredible. He's the first photographer whose blog I read regularly.

Cafe Music 12-28

Here's a rundown of the cafe music from today:

Feel Good Inc. - The Gorillaz
Killing the Blues - Robert Plant & Allison Krauss
Babylon II - David Gray
Love Rollercoaster - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Man In the Mirror - Rhymefest/Mark Ronson/Michael Jackson
Triple Skinny - TobyMac
SRV Shuffle - Various Artists
Amazing Grace - Willie Nelson

Eartha Kitt

Singer, dancer, actress and, most importantly, Catwoman Eartha Kitt died today. Crazy hot back in the day. Here's to her.

Ode to Jace

Sung to the tune of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" (Symphony #9, Opus 125, "Choral")


Breeback, Breeback, oh Jace Breeback!
You're the one who's oh, so right!
You know all the hobbled gymnasts,
name them in the dark o' night.
Oh, why did I ever doubt you?
Should have never been so smug.
Breeback, Breeback, wise one Breeback,
How'd you know that was Miss Strug?

Breeback, Breeback, oh Jace Breeback!
How I long to be like you!
You're my favorite Right-Wing champion
turning all states red from blue!
Blogspot, Twitter, even Lynda,
You're my hero always, Jace!
Breeback, Breeback, awesome Breeback!
Please don't punch me in the face.

Pat Furey & Sarah

Ran across this post on Fred Miranda's photo site (a great place to learn about all things digital photo related, by the way. Man, I'd love to learn to be able to take shots like this.

Panthers clinch Playoffs

With the Cowboys' loss to the Baltimore Ravens last night, the Carolina Panthers clinched the playoffs. In honor of that, here's a link to the greatest Playoffs tribute of all time, from the legendary (for all the wrong reasons) Jim Mora.

Evernote

Found out about Evernote, a sweet little reminder/note taking / general sting on the finger application from Ken Wilson. Downloading it now, it looks AWESOME. Can't wait to play with it more - I'll update as things go along.