Nate's New Music of the Week-The Civil Wars

This album due out in February has the potential to be the best album of 2011.  The duo is comprised of John Paul White and CCM alum Joy Williams.  The record is produced by Charlie Peacock.  Don't get the wrong impression though, this is not a Christian album, but one that crosses barriers and is not afraid to touch on themes not normally heard on regular Christian music fair.  If you like Amercana/folk/country this album will be the best one you hear all year.

Barton Hollow - The Civil Wars - The Civil Wars Videos

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Movie Review: The Lovely Bones

The Lovely Bones
MPAA Rating/ PG-13
Nate's Rating/PG to PG-13
The Lovely Bones is the story of a young girl who is murdered by one of her neighbors and then ends up somewhere in the "in between".  She isn't totally in heaven because she refuses to let go of her own life.  She also isn't exactly living either.  The movie has a gazebo represent the bridge she used between the afterlife and the living situations going on around her.

During the course of the movie, her family struggles to cope with her death as time marches on and relationships move in different directions.  The movie is a roller coaster ride of emotions. Although the movie revolves around something depressing and disturbing as a young girls murder, it is more about life and relationships, and coping.
I had not heard of the book before seeing the movie.  After reading the synopsis of the book, there are parts that I was glad was left out of the movie.  I am not sure it would have played well with the darkly uplifting sentiments being portrayed in the face of this tragedy.
Many aspects of the movie are hard to put into words.  I would recommend the movie, but with caution.  Although not overtly violent or full of cuss words, it is a move that deals with adult themes.  Think twice before letting your children watch it.
3 out of 5 nateys

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Twitter and Slander Wars

As many of you know, I am passionate about Boise State football.  And when somebody says something about my team, it is very hard for me to not correct them.  So just the other day, I happened to tweet something that garnished a response from somebody in Ohio of all places.  I really don't even know what the fellow tweeter was responding to.  But he was quite rude in his response and made sure to hashtag a "dumba@@" in his tweet.  I of course could not let this go.  I responded and told him (or her) that I was glad that they had found a creative outlet to release their childish character and that no on really cared what they thought.  The of course responded calling me a fat f@#$ and that it was unfortunate that I was so ugly.  The following is the actual text....
 @knatradio listen fat f@@@, if you don't like what i say don't follow me. people as worthless as you shouldn't breathe the same air as me.

@knatradio do the world a favor. out in idaho put a plastic bag over your face and duct tape it around your neck hahaha #suckstobefatandugly

I of course immediately responded to that letting him know that I was not following him and he was the one that had originally responded to something that I had said.  So the evening went by and this person had not responded.  I figured that was that and moved on.  This morning I checked my gmail account and low and behold this person had went out of their way to visit my blog and find my gmail address.  He decided to be kind enough to send me this well thought out and eloquent email.
 Its funny how geeks like you will sit behind a computer and blog, tweet and play
WoW, but when someone steps in your face you cower like the worthless excuse for
a man you are. People like you are worthless to the world, you will sit and
tweet but never actually do anything about it. This is probably the story of
your life. You will forever work for someone else and take orders daily. I deal
with spineless people like you all the time. Sit behind your computer and rot
like the hermit that you are. People like you blog because you don't fit in with
society, you are a black sheep. You will forever be looked at like a freak, or
creature, and that makes you feel uncomfortable in your own skin; which you
should be. when you were created something went wrong, you're not like normal
people, you're creation and existence on earth was a mistake, you serve no
purpose, you are an outcast. You can reply to this email or just accept the fact
that you know I am correct and the truth hurts. 
Now, after reading this letter, of course my first reaction was to write him back and say a bunch of nasty things.  But the more I have thought about it, I am not going to carry on with this any longer.  It is a very interesting time we live in that we can have wars with people we don't even know.  I have come to believe we are living in a culture that is becoming more and more insensitive to others.  We don't even have to see people face to face anymore.  And we find it much easier to say things to one another we would never dream of saying to that person face to face.
As for me, I have been very diligent to post things on facebook that are quite neutral.  And I have limited my posts on things that I don't agree with.  I need to do the same thing on twitter.  In fact, I am not really sure twitter is such a good thing.  We have reduced what we are doing and thinking to 140 characters.  How meaningful can that be?  I think I may call a friend up and go have a cup of coffee and share some real quality time them.What about you?  What do you think of this new social culture we live in?  Do you use facebook? Twitter?  Are the good for our culture?  What do you do to keep relationships going with people in your lives?

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