Movies, movies, and more movies

Hey oh . . . So all is well – life is hectic, but is is a bit different. We are still adjusting to what it’s like to have two kids and to be able to get them ready and out the door in under three hours, but it’s good. Everyone is healthy and doing well. I just bought a video camera so that we can post some videos of Cash and Josie. In the past, we couldn’t afford a camcorder, but I just recently discovered The Flip thanks to Lee and I gotta tell you I love it. It’s affordable, small and it records everything to a hard drive. It holds either 30 or 60 minutes of footage and you can upload instantly to youtube or aol video.

It’s great, I think it may be better than a camcorder just for the simplicity of use, and it’s size (size of a digital camera). Hopefully we will use it well. We wanted to be able to post Cash vids and we are also going to Disneyland in April so it will be great to shoot videos of Josie there! Anyway, here is some video of the kiddos from it.

Has anyone seen Juno? What a great freaking movie. If you haven’t seen it – you need to. It deserves every nomination it has received and you it’s good with Jason Reitman on it. Really good stuff, and the soundtrack rocks. You should own it. Here is the preview.

I am also looking forward to this movie . . . here is the trailer – it should be enough.

G5

I’m sitting in the Apple Store while the G5 is being tested. Sad, sad day because it would appear it’s dying. Scott, I feel you. I had one of my scooters stolen. Only you had fixed that one so you were little more vested. Sorry dude.

If you have tried to call me the past few days, sorry. My phone doesn’t get reception at home and something happened to our landline, but its all good now. Alright I gotta jet. Peace.

A Great One Liner

So before I get to my story of Josie’s great one liner, a reminder that in 35 minutes Steve jobs will be taking the stage at Macworld and hopefully unveiling some new goodies from Apple. The great people over at Engadget will be live blogging it, so you should definitely check it out – Just click here.

Since that is taken care of, onto the story. A few days ago we decided to take Cash up to the church offices and show him of to everyone up there. It was a lot of fun getting to introduce him to everyone – there was a lot of laughing, and trying to guess who he looks like (seems like the poor guy looks like me). Anyway, Josie was with us and I think the whole process may have made her a little jealous, but she handled it well by burping loudly and then exclaiming in an elf-like voice: “Did you hear that?” We aren’t talking little kid burps, but college guy, too many Dr. Pepper Burps. It was crazy.

Anyway, on our way out of the office I was telling Josie that we finally had enough people in our family to start a rock band. She wanted to play the drums, so I told her mommy can play bass, daddy can play rhythm guitar and sing, and baby bubba can play lead guitar. She quickly denied Cash entry into the band . . . her reason, and I quote: “Babies don’t know how to rock.”

Thanks for all the kind words from everyone regarding Cash and my birthday – it is much appreciated! And Josh, thanks for the iTunes credits my friends – they got me a lot of Buddy Holly! Heck yeah . . .

Cash Douglas Parker, Born 12/29/07

As many of you already know – Cash is here!!! He was born on Saturday at 3:07 PM, he weighs 8lbs and is 20 inches long. Him and momma are both healthy – and both doing well. And Josie is so excited about being a big sister – it’s incredible. I want to thank everyone for all the kind words and prayers, they meant a lot!

So right now I am at home getting cleaned up, then Josie and I are going to head back up to the hospital because today Christina and Cash come home. Even though I am looking forward to it, I must say that the hospital and its staff have been amazing . . . really great people. In fact, the nurse that helped deliver Cash was from Tulsa/Sapulpa – small world eh?

Alright, I gotta jet – but before I do, here are pics of the big boy

So here it comes . . .

Well, you may be wondering about the image. Well I got a new Tivo for Christmas, and let me say – I am loving it. I can tell it to record from over the internet, I can listen to anything I want with my Rhapsody account, and I can download things from Amazon Unbox. Crazy great . . . I found some Looney Tunes on there and Josie and I have been watching them nonstop. She loves them, and I forgot how much I loved them.

And recently, I found out how much I learned. I shot a video of someone telling their story of faith and they mentioned their father was 4F, I learned from Bugs what that meant – but there were a few people who asked – “What’s 4F?” Good stuff, anyway – it made me think about all of the stuff I watched as a kid. The other part of the picture is a screenshot of Mathnet, from Square One TV. Does anyone else remember that? Good stuff . . .

Anyway, I have some new pics of Josie. Check them out here, and here. You should check them out, and also the big news. Christina will be induced at 9am tomorrow, so Cash is coming soon! I will post pictures as soon as I have them . . . pray for us. Peace . . .

Anticipation and Advent

This week I walked to work, almost every day. It’s about 2.2 miles – but it gives me time to reflect and think, and to pray. Since the beginning of advent, I have been trying to calm down and really focus on what this time is about. But right now that’s hard because everything is moving so fast and I am extremely busy. Between programming the series we are in, getting ready for our big Christmas Eve services, and planning the January series – it’s hard to stay focused on anything spiritual. Weird huh? Especially since I work at a church.

Even more, we are preparing for Cash to get here. And things aren’t going as planned for us. Originally, Christina’s doctor told us he would induce her on the 18th of December, then it was the 21st, and now he isn’t at all because he thinks she will go into labor way before then. When Josie was born, we knew when she would be induced, we had a plan, life wasn’t too busy. But now, to be waiting for that phone call all day long when you are already stressed is something else.

Its funny because on Wednesday when I walked in I listened to a message by Chris Seay talking about the beginning of advent and the feelings of anticipation felt during this season – and he compared those feelings with those felt in the last four weeks of his wifes pregnancy – how you are anticipating the birth of your child. I have to say, I am ready to meet my son, and I am ready for my wife to be done carrying around this baby, but I am not completely ready for this to happen.

If I can finish the Christmas videos early this week, then I think I may understand more what he was talking about, but until then it is creating this great tension in our lives. For me, I want to know I can spend a good two weeks with my family unimpeded after Cash arrives, as of right now – I am not there.

All that to say – in a time that should be full of anticipation, hope, and focus – I am mostly stressed, scattered, and anxious. As soon as anything happens on the Cash front I will either post – or update my Twitter status in my sidebar via text message.

By the way – I added a video to my sidebar – it’s my worship band doing Tis’ So Sweet. Made me think of the Hillsdale days and chapel. Peace out!

Tis’ the Season

I am wiped out . . . what a day yesterday. We just started a new series here at the church called “Unwritten.” yesterday was the first day, and I loved – granted I am a little biased since I programmed it. For Christmas this year – instead of doing an angel tree we are adopting Child Shelter Services here in Las Vegas, which is commonly referred to here as Child Haven. I have went twice in the past two months to visit and it is heartbreaking . . . I left both times in tears.

Child haven is a temporary facility for kids who have been abandoned, neglected, or abused. They care for the kids until they are placed in foster care or are adopted. We are trying to provide not only gifts, but real need items for the entire year. Yesterday we showed an interview with Child Haven’s director, and then as a response in worship (we had communion set up at tables all around along with cards that represented kids at Child Haven) we asked people to take communion and as many cards as they wanted. It was great.

On the 16th we are going to do worship in the courtyard while we load our gifts onto trailers. I can’t wait, it should be a great experience and hopefully will propel us in a direction as a church where we can be more missional.

And on top of all that I played the drums yesterday and it was exhausting. The set list Rob picked wore me out. I honestly thought I was going to pass out after third service. I went home ate, and I couldn’t stay awake anymore – I napped til about 6. It was an awesome day – people challenged to be sacrificial during a season we may be the most inwardly focused. Lots of tears, and stories coming out of it. Good stuff. More later . . .

AP Journalist Arrested for “taking photographs the US Government did not want its citizens to see”

Wow, I couldn’t believe it when I read this article. Our government is getting completely ridiculous at this point . . . something has gotta change:

We believe Bilal’s crime was taking photographs the U.S. government did not want its citizens to see. That he was part of a team of AP photographers who had just won a Pulitzer Prize for work in Iraq may have made Bilal even more of a marked man.

In the 19 months since he was picked up, Bilal has not been charged with any crime, although the military has sent out a flurry of ever-changing claims. Every claim we’ve checked out has proved to be false, overblown or microscopic in significance. Now, suddenly, the military plans to seek a criminal case against Bilal in the Iraqi court system in just days. But the military won’t tell us what the charges are, what evidence it will be submitting or even when the hearing will be held.

Read the rest of the article here. Thanks to Killfile.

So anyway, since that’s over – a little update. things have been crazy busy lately and I am smothered. Cash will be here soon and we’re getting the house ready, Christmas is on the way so things are really crazy here at church – especially in light of the Child Haven project we are doing. It’s fun, but oh so consuming, especially when it comes to time. Happy Holidays everyone!! There’s a good chance I won’t be able to update again until Cash is here!

A Writers Take On The Writers Strike

Hey guys – I am sure by now you all know about the writers strike. I have heard the news, and some of my friends voice their opinions about the “money grubbing” writers, and I have been wanting to post about this since it started, but haven’t had a moment. I am on the side of the writers on this one. They are getting royally screwed . . . . anyway, I got an e-mail from Chris’ brother on the issue and I would like to share it with you:

Friends and Family -

Thank you for your recent calls and emails regarding the news you’ve
been hearing out of Hollywood the last couple days. Indeed, I am on
strike with the rest of the television and film writers, spending
about five hours a day on the picket lines outside Warner Bros., the
studio I worked for until Monday morning at 12:01 a.m. I want to
write to everyone because there’s been a lot of misinformation about
why we’ve decided to strike.

The bottom line is, the Studios have refused to fairly compensate
writers for the use of their work on DVD and even more importantly,
the Internet. The proposals our guild has on the table are
reasonable. We currently receive about 4 cents for every DVD sold,
and we’re asking for 8 cents. As far as the Internet is concerned,
most of you know that you can download an episode of almost any TV
show on iTunes for $1.99. Some of you have probably watched full
episodes of One Tree Hill on the CW website for free and seen the
incessant shampoo commercials that go along with it. Despite such
obvious streams of revenue, the Studios claim that they don’t make
money off the Internet. They want us to believe that “this Internet
thing” is too new to regulate with any kind of certainty, but we all
know that the day is coming when your TV screen and your computer
screen will be one and the same. This is why we feel we have to
fight for coverage of the Internet now.

Much has been said in the media (which is controlled by the very
conglomerates we’re fighting against) about greedy, overpaid writers
demanding more money. The fact is, the money we’re losing by being
on strike will likely never be recouped by us, even if we’re able to
win all of our proposals at the bargaining table. Like the
generation of writers before us, who went on strike to secure health
and pension benefits and residuals, we’re fighting largely for the
next generation of writers who will no doubt see the Internet become
the primary source of distribution for their work.

After three months of negotiation, during which the Studios never
seriously responded to any of our proposals, we voted to walk out.
Currently, the Studios and the Writers Guild are in standoff mode,
with both sides refusing to even meet to negotiate. You’ll already
see the effects of the strike in late-night programming, and soon
they’ll be very few new episodes of scripted television in prime-
time. The One Tree Hill episodes I’ve been working on for the last
few months will begin airing in January, but the show will soon go
into repeats (or off the schedule entirely) like everything else.
Unless this whole thing gets settled soon.

The good news is many local Teamsters in L.A. and N.Y. are refusing
to cross our picket lines, which I know will make the Coli family
very proud. Also, our brothers and sisters in the Screen Actors’
Guild are walking the line with us. Their contract is up soon too,
and they know that they’ll get whatever deal we get. And, oh yeah,
Jay Leno brought us Krispy Kreme donuts yesterday. That was pretty
cool.

Thanks again for your concern, and please feel free to forward this
on to anyone you’d like. Also, please check out this website,
unitedhollywood.com, a website created by the writers. It explains
our side of the story much better than I ever could.

Anyway, weigh in and let me know what you think. And don’t forget to read my last post . . .

My heart is on my sleeve . . .

Sorry for no posts lately . . . I have been very busy. We went to LA to film, and then last week was very full trying to put everything together and then with the church wide events we had going on. Anyway . . .

The other day I came across an article in the Daily Oklahoman. It was about the Seattle Supersonics. For those familiar with the situation know that the Sonics were purchased by a group led by Oklahoma City businessman Clay Bennett. When the purchase was originally revealed and finished there was a bit of an uproar due to the fact that many believed that his intent from the beginning was to move the franchise to OKC.

Anyway, this article was talking about how Clay Bennett had, in fact filed with the NBA to move the franchise. As I read through it a sentence jumped out at me and I haven’t been able to let go of it, or stop wrestling with it.

The sentence said that he hadn’t intended to move the team, but that the city had failed to approve a plan to build a $300 million dollar stadium to house the team. Key Arena apparently is in sad shape, and the Sonics needed a new home.

This sentence has ruined my past week. I started thinking about all the arenas here in the US and realized that when the history books are written we are going to look ridiculous in so many ways. This angle being a big one. How can we spend millions and millions on stadiums and do nothing to end poverty. If the US would simply institute an entertainment tax, or if five or ten different cites would volunteer a tax similar to that needed to build a sports arena we would have a legitimate shot at ending senseless poverty. It is unbelievable that we build these huge stadiums while 30,000 children die each day because of poverty. And according to UNICEF they “ die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.”

It makes me sick to my stomach. And as the wealthiest nation in the world we are doing nothing about it. And some people say it’s not true. We have people who give (me and my wife use Kiva), we are giving nations grants, we do this, we do that – but it’s all crap. The impact is never truly felt because we are stuck in a spiraling system that doesn’t provide an adequate way to help people now – or even help people at all. For instance the developing world now spends $13 on debt repayment for every $1 it receives in grants. What a joke – the least we could do is cancel the debt of third world countries or developing nations. And it’s so easy for us to be callous.

I mean – I have lived a blessed life. I have spent a great deal of time this past week thinking through it. I remember my Grandpa Otis and all his wonderfully funny tricks. I remember moving into the house I grew up in – it had no carpet at the time. I remember how when we did get carpet my brother and I put on backwards hats and pretended to ride motorcycles through the house. I remember putting on a puppet show with my brother and sister. I remember shooting hoops outside when it was incredibly quiet and peaceful. I remember the crystal clear water of Spring Creek – putting on goggles and swimming to the bottom and watching the fish and crawdads. I remember having the love of my parents and understanding what unconditional love was. I remember seeing the difference from my home life to what other kids experienced. I remember understanding what having a real loving father was like. I remember saying I hated it when my mom sang to us in the mornings – but secretly loving it.

I remember Bruce and Mae’s house. I remember discovering Jesus. I remember a sincere and passionate faith that was severely misguided. I remember Truth and Peace. I remember watching Austin Powers with Brad right before I left for college. I remember long conversations with incredible friends in college. I remember my crappy band. I remember meeting Christina for the first time. I remember the day Josie was born. I remember earlier tonight when I fed her a meal and then how she fell asleep on the couch next to me with a full belly – tired from a long day of playing. She fell asleep with a roof over her head, and security. And 30,000 kids just like her died because they couldn’t get any food. And there will be 30,000 more tomorrow who face the same fate. And there is genocide in Darfur, and Burundi isn’t getting any better. And people don’t even have water to drink. And I am weeping. How can this be? What kind of senseless world is this where kids are dying and we are building such monstrosities?

How can we allow this to happen. I think we are numb. Every week we sit through a church service that has nothing to do with Jesus. It just teaches us how to be successful. It leads through customs that are based on pagan practices and then we leave feeling good enough about ourselves to make it through another week. We do our best to avoid the news. Don’t want to hear too much bad stuff you know. We do our best to get back in the pew so we can choke down some more ways Jesus wants us to be successful, and we pray that God wouldn’t wake us up about the rest of the world, we pray that we could just be ignorant, and we pray for God’s Kingdom to come.

What in the hell is going on? I’m going to be honest with you – Jesus doesn’t care if your successful – he does care about the forgotten, the downtrodden, and those on the fringe who we have decided not to deal with because it means not dealing with reality. For me it gets harder and harder to read Scripture and then do what I do. And I am not just talking vocationally – I would say it’s hard to watch the Big “C” church do the same thing week after week. Only reaching out when they are assured there is some sort of a pay off for them organizationally or when it comes to how the public sees them.

But I will tell you this – it’s time to realize that the kingdom is with us – it’s not coming, but its here and now and that is my hope for this world. I know that Jesus cares about the redemption not just for Americans, but for all mankind, and for the entirety of his creation. I am still thinking through what this looks like for us as Americans, for what this looks like for christianity which has failed miserably so far, and for us as individuals who keep choking back more and more self help to avoid the issue. This isn’t easy, and my soul is crushed. And although I know there is hope, tonight I am crying . . . . because it’s all too, too much.

Jesus, grilled by the Pharisees on when the kingdom of God would come, answered, “The kingdom of God doesn’t come by counting the days on the calendar. Nor when someone says, ‘Look here!’ or, ‘There it is!’ And why? Because God’s kingdom is already among you.”

I’m not just talking theory. There is urgency in all this. If you’re apathetic and complacent, then you’ll miss the moment of opportunity. you should be wide awake and on your toes like servants who are waiting for their Master to return home . . .