Uncomfortable Shots...

I don't know much about film-making. Trust me, Todd Vlog doesn't count because that's just a matter of video taping tons of junk and hoping to make some sense of it in editing.

However, from my limited research and long-time movie watching history, I realized that, in any film, there are always shots that are a bit random. Maybe something happened in an original scene and the redirect has to re-shoot the scene much later in the film, maybe the producers thought their CGI would be better and they placed all their hopes in post-production fixes.

Regardless, even the biggest and best movies have really weird scenes and flubs. I started to think through some of my favorite weird scenes and thought I'd see if any of you have ever seen these:

1. DOMESTIC DISTURBANCE - this action thriller starring John Travolta was pretty good. One problem - the kid ages about 7 years between scenes. I haven't watched this movie in a while, but I remember about 3/4 of the way through the movie, the son walks in and has grown about 5 inches since his last appearance. What did they do? Take a break so the kid could finish high school? Anybody ever notice this?
   
   
2. LEGALLY BLONDE - in the closing scene where Elle Woods is graduating, she gives this fantastic speech and we see her classmates and friends in the crowd applauding. However, the final shot of Luke Wilson is about as random as they come. It's dark and grainy and completely inconsistent with previous shots. He's also wearing a white suit and looks like he's been awake for 27 hours. Who's with me on scary-Luke-Wilson-in-mobster-suit?
   
   
3. LAST OF THE MOHICANS - This probably would be best classified as a 'flub,' one of those completely awesome movie mistakes that we all seem to miss. This great scene happens when all the folks are marched out of the fort. In the wide shot, you can see a guy in a blue baseball cap walking among all the Indians. I actually didn't realize how many mistakes were in this movie until I went over to one of my favorite sites, www.movie-mistakes.com. You can check the 'flubs' HERE.

So...you got any weird scenes?

Kristen's friend, April, sent us this list and I thought it was pretty great. Normally, email forwards of "random things" tend to be either not funny or unoriginal, but I thought this list was both!

Enjoy!

• I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.
  
  
• More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.
  
  
• Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.
  
  
• I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?
  
  
• Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.
  
  
• That's enough, Nickelback.
  
  
• I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.
  
  
• The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.
  
  
• Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.
  
  
• There is a great need for sarcasm font.
  
  
• Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.
  
  
• I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.
  
  
• I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.
  
  
• I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.
  
  
• The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.
  
  
• Was learning cursive really necessary?
  
  
• Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".
  
  
• I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
  
  
• Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.
  
  
• My brother's Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads. Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquired about the name. He explained, "Cuz we beat you, and you hate us." Classy, bro.
  
  
• Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".
  
  
• How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?
  
  
• I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!
  
  
• Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"
  
  
• What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?
  
  
• While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.
  
  
• MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my own neighborhood.
  
  
• Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
  
  
• I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.
  
  
• Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.
  
  
• I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.
  
  
• Bad decisions make good stories
  
  
• Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!
  
  
• If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.
  
  
• Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....
  
  
• You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.
  
  
• Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.
  
  
• There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.
  
  
• I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.
  
  
• "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.
  
  
• I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'
  
  
• While watching the Olympics, I find myself cheering equally for China and USA. No, I am not of Chinese descent, but I am fairly certain that when Chinese athletes don't win, they are executed.
  
  
• I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damnit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?
  
  
• I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.
  
  
• When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she hasn't already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.
  
  
• I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.
  
  
• Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles...
  
  
• Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.
  
  
• It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.
  
  
• I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
  
  
• Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.
  
  
• My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell am I supposed to know that?
  
  
• It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.
  
  
• I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.
  
  
• I think the freezer deserves a light as well.
  
  
• I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.
  
  
• The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimate d that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There's nothing like being made to feel like a fatty before dinner.

Got a favorite?

Should you ever go to Lufkin...

I love Lufkin, Texas. It's a great town - just the right mix of small-town life with great restaurants and churches and stuff to do.

But if you ever visit Lufkin, there are few things you need to know. Here are some tips...



EAT MEXICAN FOOD
Lufkin is a great place for Tex-Mex. For the lightweights, there's Cafe Del Rio. It's Mexican food, but it's also a local hangout...it's clean, it's loud, the food's good, they're always busy, etc. For the hardcore eaters out there - the folks who wanna' eat a little more authentic, Lufkin's got a couple of great places. The king is a place called Morales. The food is the real deal...but beware, it's kinda' like eating at the very dirty home of an old Mexican woman.

DO NOT GO TO WAL-MART.
Now if you're like me, you probably try to avoid any and all Wal-Mart stores. I get it. But the Wal-Mart dynamic in Lufkin is kinda' like the perfect storm. It's a Super Center, which means it can hold a lot of rednecks. (But what WM can't, right?) The strange part is the social aspect...on weekends, it really is a hang out for folks who probably should be at home bathing.

DON'T BE MISLED BY THE MALL
The Lufkin mall is a great mall. Good selection of stores, not so giant that you get exhausted walking end to end and usually uncrowded. It's got a good movie theater, almost every "genre" of mall store and plenty of kiosks. (Which you love...don't deny it.) Yeah, there are bigger malls in the world, but most of them make you want to take a shower and hide in a corner once you're done. With Lufkin Mall, you're in, you're out and usually better for the experience!

CHICK-FIL-A
I don't care if you're hungry or not...next time you're in Lufkin, you must go to the Chick-Fil-A run by manager Julie Walker. I assure it you that it is the cleanest, friendliest, most delicious Chick-Fil-A you'll ever visit. I know good service tends to be a constant at Chick-Fil-A restaurants, but Lufkin's is next level good.

GO DOWNTOWN
Downtown Lufkin is really great. For the past five years or so, the city has invested a lot of time and money to restore what used to be the center of Lufkin's social activity. It's still a work-in-progress, but they've come a long way toward making it great.

PANTHERS
Go to a Lufkin Panther game. It's probably the closest you'll ever get to an idol worship ceremony. (Hee hee)

Keeping cool...

If you follow me on twitter or the vlog, you've probably read or seen that we've been having some A/C problems for the last couple of weeks. The lack of air conditioning has taught me some interesting lessons...and I thought it beneficial to share.

• Expense. Oh, sure...repair is expensive, but I'm talking a little more practical here. When your air is out you're much more prone to spend money. You're sweaty and miserable, your family is grumpy and your temper is getting the best of you. What do you do? You get in the car and go eat at a restaurant. You go buy the biggest drinks that Sonic will sell you. You'll spend any amount just to feel comfortable. Yes, it's a selfish response. But it happens.
  
  
• Sleep. Resting is really the hard part. Fortunately, we were able to secure a couple of portable A/C units, which worked tremendously. But when the only source of cool air is in the master bedroom and everybody else is in there asleep, things like exercising or watching a movie or working on the computer aren't near as enticing. No...the thing you want to do is hide in the cool dark and lay perfectly still. (Hey, this no A/C deal may turn out to be a good thing!)
  
  
• Kids. I gotta' give props to the Wright kids. They're tougher than mom and dad. Kristen and I are ready to call a realtor and sell the house and the kids are just happy watching TV in the baking living room drinking juice pouches. I need a little of their toughness!
  
  
• Jargon. Somebody has got to settle these repairmen down.
  "Well, when the compressor gets too hot, it's gonna' shut down that valve, nobody what the contactor does."
  
  Keep nodding, Todd.
  
  "You know that intake could be clogged with debris. After I turn this rip-spin switch line, I'll take my T-14 and check that, okay?"
  
  Whatever you say, man-with-ultimate-power-right-now.
  
  
• Patience. Ah, yes. Patience. I'm being patient. Until tomorrow. And then, somebody gets kicked in the ankle. You might wanna' give me some room, kay?
  

2009 Netflix Resolution...

If you haven't heard, my pal Rob heard of my plan to watch all the way through my Netflix "queue" and challenged me to do it with no swaps or additions to the list.

Rob even promised to buy me Bruno's pizza and Big Red.

Done and done.

So, I looked at my queue today and decided I'd share the list with you.

First off...you'll notice a couple of kid movies in there. Robert has given me grace in this respect. I can keep the movies in there or make additions for my kids if the need presents itself. I also realized that a few weeks ago when I cleaned some of the "seasons" off the list, I left one or two random DVDs.

So, barring those, here is the list!

1. MST3K: Racket Girls
   
2. Dear Zachary
3. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
4. Mama's Boy
5. Sleeper
6. Son of Rambow
7. Little Miss Sunshine
8. Anatomy of a Murder
9. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
10. Good Night and Good Luck
11. Lords of Dogtown
    
12. Adaptation
13. Man On Wire
14. The Devil and Daniel Johnston
15. Heckler
16. Fall From Grace
17. 911: In Plane Site
18. The Forbidden Kingdom
19. Goodfellas
20. The Godfather
21. Munich
22. Shine A Light
23. Blade Runner
24. 51 Birch Street
25. The Host
26. Pineapple Express
27. Hanna
28. Paul Blart
29. Frost/Nixon
30. Bedtime Stories
31. State of Play
32. Lucky Number Slevin
33. MST3K: The Girl in Lovers' Lane
34. Comedian

Alright...time to watch some movies!

My Netflix Resolution...

Don't know how many of you use Netflix to watch movies. We do, though it's mostly for me and the kids. Kristen not a big stay-up-late and watch movies type of person.

Right now, my Netflix "queue" sits at 46 movies.

46.

About 3/4 of that list is my stuff, the rest is for the kids. I get in trouble because I go to look for one movie and end up adding 17 dvds to the list.

So here's my Netflix resolution. I will not add any more movies to my cue until I've watched the list down to 5. I will not add one stinking thing until I have poured 41 movies into my head.

I'm just ambitious, I guess.

9 ways to make me your biggest twitter fan!

Enjoying all the responses that yesterday's list prompted...you guys got all riled up! (All in good fun, gang. All in good fun.)

I love finding folks on twitter and I get a kick out of referring them to others. So, here are 9 things that make me a huge twitter fan of you all!

1. Retweet cool stuff from folks you follow. I have come across so many cool things from folks I've never even heard of. If something strikes you as cool, share it with us!
   
   
2. Send me somewhere ridiculous. Go ahead. Throw that link up there of some goofy photo site or something funny on YouTube. Chances are, if you think it's great, the rest of us will, too!
   
   
3. Pictures! Not everybody digs pictures on twitter, but I do. I love seeing stuff from where my twitter pals are. Especially if it's like a giant plate of nachos or the world's biggest hamburger. I wanna' see that!
   
   
4. I really dig folks who use twitter to research stuff w/ polls or work-in-progress surveys. I think it's a creative use for the service and so far, I've seen lots of folks use it to build pretty interesting songs, theories or programs.
   
   
5. Random, vague quotes are always awesome. (The best, in my opinion, would be old 80's movie quotes!)
   
   
6. Crazy stuff your kids say. I know there are probably a lot of folks who don't like it, but as a dad, I think it's awesome to share some of the ridiculous things that come out of our kids' mouths!
   
   
7. Brag on stuff. I love hearing about records you're digging, cool things your church is doing or particular "wins" in your personal life.
   
   
8. Be an encourager. I know your positive tweets to folks aren't necessarily targeted at me, but they do inspire me. I love seeing how so many of you excel at encouraging others. Makes me wanna' be better at it, myself.
   
   
9. Reference "Red Dawn," the greatest movie ever made.
   

things that will make me ignore you...

10 "sure fire" ways to keep me from following you on twitter:

1. Have something in your "name" that is spelled incorrectly. Think "luv"...
   
   
2. Have an overly spiritual name.
   
   
3. Follow 26,000 people.
   
   
4. Follow no one.
   
   
5. Post spiritual quotes constantly.
   
   
6. Live tweet during reality tv shows or sports events on television.
   
   
7. Run a lot of apps that post for you. Yeah, I'm looking at you, "runkeeper" fanboys.
   
   
8. Go long stretches of time without talking about me.
   
   
9. Post things like, "Good night, Tweeple."
   
   
10. Use twitter as your personal, yet public, email.
    

Tomorrow...9 ways to make me your biggest fan.

THINGS I LIKED ABOUT TODAY...

Sunday, 8/16/09

• Meeting new folks at Bethel.
  
  
• Seeing a movie - just me and Jonah. (Ice Age 3-D!)
  
  
• Braum's.
  
  
• Sunday nap.
  
  
• Finley talking like Goofy all day.

THINGS I LIKED ABOUT TODAY...

Saturday, 8/15/09

1. Logan's Roadhouse in Lufkin, Texas. Mmmm...porkies.
   
   
2. Seeing a former student who is now 18 and headed to the Air Force!
   
   
3. Finley in her new pink Converse. Yes...it's as cute as you can imagine.
   
   
4. Seeing Jonah find a Spongebob game for Wii that he bought with his own money. Which is good, because there's not near enough Spongebob in my life right now.
   
   
5. Sore legs from a run last night. I'm weird like that.
   
   
6. Nice ride home with both kids obeying me.
   

THINGS I LIKED ABOUT TODAY...

Friday, 8/14/09

1. Making great time to Lufkin. Seriously...obeyed the speed limit and still got here in plenty of time!
   
   
2. Jonah and Finley playing in my parents new hot tub. Their own little mini-pool. Loved it.
   
   
3. Digging deeper and deeper into Keith Urban's Defying Gravity record. Really appreciating this record on so many levels - very new style of soloing for a Keith Urban record, lots of simple arrangement stuff that's really smart, fantastic songwriting.
   
   
4. Ice cold Diet Dr. Pepper.
   

THINGS I LIKED ABOUT TODAY...

Thursday, 8/13/09

1. Spending the morning with my family.
   
   
2. Church staff now full supporting and enabling my Big Red addiction.
   
   
3. New song for Sunday coming off strong during Thursday night rehearsal.
   
   
4. Seeing how excited Finley got over "An Extremely Goofy Movie." That girl LOVES Goofy!
   
   
5. Payroll notification email. Who doesn't like those, though?
   
   
6. Donuts this morning. Especially since Finley and Jonah didn't finish theirs. Daddy to the rescue!
   
   
7. Realizing how close I'm getting to finishing a particular book. I've loved!
   
   
8. Jason Isham's portable A/C unit. Yep. The A/C is on the blink again. Thank you, Ishams!
   
   
9. Bethel Bible Church...I am continuously grateful for this church and what God's doing. May sound cliche, but it ain't! I seriously love this church!
   

THINGS I LIKED ABOUT TODAY...

Wednesday, 8/12/09

1. Air conditioner at the house fixed today. For $60. Can I get an amen?
   
   
2. Shooting a very cool video out at the East Texas Rescue Mission. Left there feeling really inspired.
   
   
3. Reading other "things I liked" lists!
   
   
4. Getting a cool card in the mail.
   
   
5. Queso.
   
   
6. Working through a few songwriting ideas and still liking what I've written so far. Now...to finish them!
   
   
7. Finishing two projects.
   
   
8. Playing Battleship with Jonah.
   

THINGS I LIKED ABOUT TODAY...

Tuesday, 8/11/09

1. Staff lunch with fajitas, a cookie cake, and Big Red homemade ice cream.
   
   
2. Editing three videos at one time. Yes, I actually like that!
   
   
3. Watching Michael Moore Hates America (late last night/early this morning.) Great documentary...about documentaries!
   
   
4. Seeing my old pal Chris this afternoon. Man, I miss that guy!
   
   
5. Having the whole family at church with me today.
   

I love lists...

I love this new blog series that my pal Mark is doing called "Things I Liked About Today."

It's a great idea! I'm encouraging everybody to use either their blog or Facebook this week to follow Mark's example!

THINGS I LIKED ABOUT TODAY - MONDAY, AUGUST 10

• Waking up after going to bed early and feeling totally rested.
  
  
• Realizing that a restaurant in Tyler serves Big Red on tap.
  
  
• Getting Netflix envelopes in the mail. Love that.
  
  
• Talking film-making with Jonah.
  
  
• Watching Gaffigan on the Kevin Pollak Chat show. Have I ever told you about that show?
  
  
• Nice, quiet Monday night at home. Nothing better. Now, if I just had some Big Red.
  

(LIST)

• Heard Mandisa's new single on the radio this morning. That girl is the jam.
  
  
• Saw G.I. Joe on Friday night. It was really, really good. I'm not kidding. I think it works for a lot of audiences, but folks who grew up in G.I. Joe culture are going to LOVE it.
  
  
• Best part of helping a friend move = free donuts.
  
  
• Life group kicks back off tomorrow night. I'm excited to dig into Secondhand Jesus by Glen Packiam.
  
  
• Caught the leaked Iron Man 2 trailer. Jonah didn't want to watch it - too grainy for him - but the movie looks good. One comment said that it looks like Favreau is keeping the tone but expanding the mythology. Pretty cool.
  
  
• Finley is now demanding that I talk like either Goofy or Max (Goofy's son.) Non-stop. It's getting on my nerves.
  .
• I had Braum's today. The one on 110 isn't as strong as the Broadway location, but Braum's is Braum's, right?
  
  
• Caught some cool trailers Friday night. One of the most surprising had to be Old Dogs. I've never been a huge fan of either Robin Williams or John Travolta, but this one hooked me. In fact, I've never seen a crowd laugh at a trailer like the Friday night crowd did for this. It looks hilarious.
  
  
• Rocking a Bob Fitts tune tomorrow. Fitts is the man.
  

SONGS I'M DIGGIN'

• A THOUSAND GENERATIONS (Don Poythress) What a song! When I first got this new record of Don's, there were other tunes that interested me more. Then one night, the song just hit me in a whole new way. Last week, I realized it would be a great fit for the series we would be doing, so I fired it up. We bumped it to A rather than G#. (Grrrr....just write in G or A, okay worship guys?) After rehearsal, we made a few changes...slowed it down a bit, extended the 2nd intro and modified the one variation in the verses. We taught it on Sunday and it went better than I could have ever hoped. I think a lot of worship leaders would look down their nose at Poythress' mellow, country vibe, but that would be a huge mistake. Churches all over America are filled with trendy worship leaders who want to be cool so bad that they end up missing songs that are easy to play and good for the people.
  
  
• BLESSED BE THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY (arr. Michael Neale) This is an OLD Bob Fitts tune. I even remember it being in our hymnal when I was a teenager. If you read this blog very often, you already know that I dig both Michael Neale and Bob Fitts quite a lot...so this one is the perfect mix for me! It's soulful and groovy and has an awesome key change. What else do you need!
  
  
• RUN (Hillsong) I've been digging this song for about a year, but didn't use it until this past July at Reality Week up in PA. It's still way too wordy for its own good, but I think it's an awesome song if you can pace the melody just right. I'll be using in August at Bethel's Wednesday night youth service and possibly even bring it to the main stage later on.
  
  
• GLORY TO GOD FOREVER (Fee) Haven't played this one in worship yet, but I'm itching to do it! Really loving the groove and melodic consistency in this tune. Plus, it's a rocker!
  
  
• I'M SINGING (Kari Jobe) A friend of mine recommended this tune to me and I've really come to love it. I'm still trying to find a good place to utilize it, but I think it will be a good one.
  
  
• GOD HAS COME (Glen Packiam) I think Glen's writes some of the coolest melodies and this tune showcases this guy at his best. The production value scares me a little - there's a lot going on in this one and I worry I wouldn't have enough folks on stage to pull off as much energy as the recorded version. I guess we'll know soon enough!

So...what songs are you digging these days?

See This Movie!

Sunday night, I caught a really cool documentary on HBO.

Originally titled "Cornered," Eric Drath's gritty peek into the vast world of professional boxing has now made its debut as ASSAULT IN THE RING.

I happened to catch it late Sunday night and I was immediately hooked. Drath looks at one single fight in 1983 that went horribly wrong for two young boxers. I had never heard of this fight and the documentary did a great job of keeping me on the edge of my seat.

It's a story of guilt, co-dependence, and the cost of following one's dreams regardless of the damage it inflicts on those closest to us.

If you're able to get it, I think you'll find it to be an expertly told tale and a subtle reminder that just as there's power in confession, there's death in deceit.

Check out the info here or the official site here.

The 12...

Kicked off a new (and intense) study today at Bethel. You can check out toddvlog over the next few weeks to find out some of the stuff we're trying with this series...however, I can say that our kick-off Sunday was really cool.

I'm excited about this series, not just because of what we're going to study but also how we're already learning new things about communicating with our people.

Kevin Pollak's Chat Show...

I know, I know...I sound like a broken record, but one of my new favorite weekly things is the very amazing Kevin Pollak Chat Show.

Here's the premise...every Sunday night, Kevin Pollak live-streams a 2 hour interview with a specific entertainer. Former guests have included Dana Carvey, Kevin Smith, Jason Lee. It's hosted on UStream and it's fantastic.

Here a couple of things I love about the show...

• It's viral. Until a cover story in a California paper last month, the show was really spreading by word-of-mouth. And that's by design...Pollak hasn't sought out sponsors or tried to tie this stuff with any marketing push. During the live broadcasts, Kevin (a big-time twitter fan) fields questions via twitter to put to each of the guests.
  
  
• It's unedited. Let's be honest...you've probably never seen somebody interviewed for 2 hours straight. For most of us, even our most beloved musicians, writers, and creatives are cut into tiny five or ten minute interview "segments" in almost any setting. This show not only gives these mysterious faces and names ample time to be themselves, it quickly avoids cliche questions and formulaic interviewing. Some might not dig the unedited aspect too much - simply because this a 2-hour show where the interviewer and guest can curse as much as they want. If profanity is a thing for you, just be careful...the show varies from week to week, but there's always the potential for a pretty "blue" show.
  
  
• It's tribal. Kevin Pollok is a genius in this aspect. The show contains numerous "games" that Pollak has created. Elements like the "Tweet5" or the "Larry King Game."
  
  
• Pollak is a great host. Not afraid of the tough questions, able to go w/ his guest in any direction, longtime practitioner of communication styles - Kevin Pollak is made for this show.

In short, this show brings the focus and preparation of Charlie Rose into the world of James Lipton without becoming too artistic for its own good. It's conversational, funny, intriguing and the coolest thing I'm watching these days. You can check it out (live or archived) at the website or download it from iTunes each week. (Normally posts late Tuesday, early Wednesday.)

If you check it out, I'd love to know what you think.