When I was young, I couldn't stand them, but at 28, I can't get enough of those Reese's peanut butter candies.

After seeing The Fountain, I swore I would never see another Darren Aronofsky movie, and I've held strong. But now he's directing the new Wolverine movie. I love Wolverine, even though the last 2 x-movies were sub-par, so now the question just becomes "Do I love Wolverine more than I hate Darren Aronofsky?"

I'm sure I'll probably see it, if for no other reason than the fact that even a blind, deaf, mentally handicapped squirrel finds a nut from time to time. If it gets great reviews from people I trust, I may see it in the theatre even. Especially if the reviews say things like "very un-Aronofsky" or "a real departure for Aronofsky" or "Finally an Aronofsky film that's not soul-crushingly pretentious and boring." Something like that.

Anyway.

March is looking like the craziest month ever. It always is, if you're a musician in Austin. The South by Southwest music/film/interactive festival rolls in and takes over the entire town. Every place of business with electricity becomes a live music venue. For better or worse, it's a big part of what makes this city what it is. I can't see a festival like this flourishing in any other city the way it does here, not any city in the south least ways. I always go into the festival with equal parts excitement and dread. I'm looking forward to it, but I'm also looking forward to being done with it.

The week before the festival, we've just booked two more shows with Bob Schneider at the Houses of Blues, Houston and Dallas, respectively. I'm really looking forward to those. We've always had a great time with Bob and the Houses of Blues are the best venues in the world.

At the end of March, Leah, Harper, and I are going to Canada to visit family. Leah and Harper are going 5 days earlier than me so they can see Leah's sister as long as possible. I'll be hanging out at the house alone. Probably bored, probably naked. OK, I'm kidding about being naked....or am I? Now you don't know where I'm coming from. In all seriousness, if there is still recording to be done, I'll probably spend all my time at the studio, and get in bed early every night.

Now I spend my days in ever increasingly complicated ways, convincing myself of the rightness of each word I say.

I'm getting old, you know.

I was sick last week, and continue to be. My girls caught it and got to spend the holiday under the weather. By the weekend I was operating at about 85% so I tried to let Leah sleep as much as she could to knock the illness out, while I took care of Harper. We had a great time because she seemed to have no intention of letting her illness dictate her mood. I hope she's always like that.

She has such personality. Her laugh is simply one of the best things in the universe.

One of the things that I found/find so endearing about her mother is that Leah would do things to make herself laugh and if other people thought it was funny, then great. Sometimes, I catch Harper doing that, and it breaks my heart in the best possible way.

Leah and I spend a large part of the weekend watching Friday Night Lights, the TV show. I put off watching it because, frankly, the premise doesn't attract me. But the show is undeniably good, and speaking as someone who grew up in "small town, TX," they really nailed it. A lot of the characters were hard for me to like because they remind me so much of specific people I grew up around. So far we're into season 3 and aside from a strange, writer's strike induced, season 2 ending, the show is consistently good.

Leah and I recently watched Easy A, that movie with Emma Stone. It provided a few chuckles but the more I reflect on it, the more I hate it. I don't know if there was a single believable character. Clearly, the writer has never been or met a teenager. I was especially annoyed by the Christian characters. Speaking as someone who was part of the overly self-righteous, pious club in high school; nobody acts remotely like that. Amanda Bynes seemed to be playing a caricature of Mandy Moore's character in Saved (which I think is a great film), rather than making an attempt at any relatability. One of the things that I think the writers of Friday Night Lights do extraordinarily well, is capture the role that religion plays in the lives of small town teenagers in Texas. It's such a consistent undercurrent in their culture. The kids are flamboyantly impassioned one day and conveniently detached from it the next, which is what high school religion is mostly like. Peaks and valleys.

Anyway, good writing is good, bad writing is bad.

I don't really have any big goals for this year. We're going to be releasing a new record, which I'm excited about. Shortly after, we hope to release another EP.
Other than that, I'm hoping to:
-watch my daughter grow
-continue adoring my wife
-keep off the 20 lbs I've lost
-live simply
-simply live
-etc.

Easy peasy.

The dude abides.

I hope everyone had a happy holiday. We did.

I was nervous going in because I weighed myself before we left and saw the lowest number since college, 174.5 lbs. I was very happy. Progress, you know? But I knew that my parents' house is no place for a diet, especially on a holiday. However, I was pretty proud of myself, and although I did allow myself a shred of gluttony at Xmas dinner, I diligently counted my calories otherwise. So today, I weighed in at 176.0 lbs. Not bad, not great. It won't be too terribly difficult to recover from anyway.

Harper had a great time, and Leah and I discovered that, at her grandparents' house, we don't matter as much. We're not offended, we get it. Kind of a pain in the ass when she doesn't eat good because she's too pumped up, but oh well. She got to play with her cousins, which she loves, especially her cousin, Rylan, who is only 6 months older than her but the same size.

I got to see some friends that I haven't seen in a long time, ate some pizza, did some bowling, saw some movies.

We actually saw two movies, because having grandparents around is free babysitting. On Friday, we saw True Grit and we really liked it. Not my favorite Coen Bros. but still really great. On Saturday, we saw Tron: Legacy 3D. IT'S A JEFF BRIDGES CHRISTMAS!!! Tron was OK. Pretty forgettable, but OK. It was in 3D but after the movie we all stood around saying, "Was it in 3D? I don't remember seeing anything that looked 3D."

I'm rounding out the weekend by watching The Big Lebowski at work today.

I had designs to blog about the Old Testament today, and how Christians justify all the crazy shit within, but all the profound ideas I had in the shower escape me in this chair. So it goes. Perhaps I should blog about my ever dwindling desire to engage in religious discussions. I really had a stomach for it a year ago. Now, not so much. I'm sure this blog is significantly less interesting because of that.

I think I've just decided that if any real progress for free thought and/or Humanism is to be made in our culture, it's going to be made through art and/or humor, so I've been exercising those demons by working on the new record. Which I plan to do more of tonight.

Hmm...I forgot you could tempt me with things I want

These are a couple pics from the ACL: Satellite Sets recording we did last Friday by photographer, Jonathan Jackson. There are more pics on his site.

That show was really fun and really crazy and really surreal. I just sat there thinking, "...Yeah...Ray Charles played this piano...Etta James sang on this stage....Michael Stipe sang into this mic..." I can't wait to see the final footage. The plan is to release a dvd of the show so hopefully, everyone will get a chance to see it.

My one complaint with the ACL taping is that, apparently, I am not a fan of Steinway pianos. Tommy said their action is notoriously heavy and I can attest to that. My hands were actually tired and hurting after 2 songs on that thing. Looked cool, though.

Leah got back from London on Thursday, we had to be at the ACL studio all day Friday, Leah had weddings all day Saturday and Sunday, and then Quiet Company had two more shows on Monday and Tuesday. So last night was Leah's and my first night, since she got back, to actually relax together. We went to the mall, had dinner, let Harper run around, came home, put Harper to bed, and then watched the most recent True Blood and Greenberg in bed.

True Blood was great, as usual. I could've done without Greenberg. I feel like there are a ton of indie movie directors that just got together and said, "Hey don't you hate how movies always have stories. Let's make movies without them or at least have as little change as possible take place in the protagonist's life, so much so that the audience comes away wondering what they just spent the last two hours of their life doing." I chuckled a few times during the movie but this morning I woke up thinking that I really could've used that time for sleeping or, at least, watching something where the story and/or characters develop.

So it goes.


I didn't really know what to think of the new Arcade Fire when I heard the single on NPR. I didn't think I liked it, though, and I was not optimistic for the rest of the record. However, a few days ago, I finally got around to listening to the record all the way through a few times and now I am convinced that it is easily the best record of 2010.


A close second is the new Starflyer 59 record, The Changing of the Guard, which came out last week. I've long been obsessed with this band. I'll buy anything that they put out, in fact. It's even more impressive that the band is still putting out some of their best work when you consider that this is something like their 14th record.

Harper has started saying "thank you" which is adorable, and yesterday, I think she found her first boyfriend in a little Indian boy at the Disney Store.

I'm just really glad that Leah is back and that she brought me back a replica of Harry Potter's wand. It chose me.

You've come a long way, baby.

Tomorrow, my baby girl will be 1 year old. It's still surreal to me that she exists. This morning she wasn't feeling good or was overly tired, but for whatever reason, she was extra snugly. She isn't one to ever stop moving so if she actually stops long enough to give you a hug, it's a special thing. God, it broke my heart, in the best possible way. It did, however, make it extra sucky that I won't be home again to see her today.

Leah and I are so lucky. We could not have asked for a more beautiful child. I could not have asked for a more beautiful wife.

Tonight is the big EP release show at Encore in Austin. All the VIP tickets sold out, and I believe that the general admissions are doing really well too. This show is the brainchild of our manager, and one of my best friends, Paul. This is a picture of Paul's son, Ryan, and Harper (and my leg). I think it's fairly representative of Paul's and my relationship. He thinks up some cockamamie idea, smiles like it's the most brilliant thing anyone has ever thought of, and I go along with it, though always with the "what the hell?" look.



Should be a good weekend, though, a busy one, and, hopefully, not a stressful one. We have a show tonight, Harper's birthday party tomorrow afternoon, another show tomorrow night, and Mother's Day on Sunday, all while entertaining family.

Leah and I saw Kick-Ass last night and loved it. Really funny, really intense, and really well done all over.

I don't think I'm big on entire movies being in 3D after all.

I predict that this week is going to suck. After Harper goes to sleep I'm heading off to Waco for some training for work, as I've mentioned before. I'm dreading the time away from my family, I'm dreading the driving back and forth for band practice and my birthday on Wednesday, and most of all I'm nervous about not being able to understand the insurance business. I just don't know that my brain works that way. It's fine for understanding why certain chords go together and what notes work together to form melodies, and I have a reasonable understanding of general science and mathematics, but all this legalese, insurance jargon is scary to me. There will be quizzes and a test at the end of the week, and the only tests I've taken in the last decade were about Harry Potter or Star Wars.

Anyway, wish me luck.

Also, Leah and I saw Avatar and enjoyed it. I also enjoyed Ferngully: The Last Rainforest.

"Man is the only animal that blushes - or needs to." - Mark Twain

I just realized that if I had to pick a favorite actor, something I've never really thought about, I would probably pick Bill Murray. I started to make this a top 5 and bottom 5 Bill Murray movie post, but thought better of it. I could only think of 2 movies of his, that I've seen, that deserve to be on the bottom of anything and they are "Lost In Translation" and "Broken Flowers." Both of those movies I came out of the theatre thinking, "what the hell was the point of that movie?" Less so with LIT than with BF but still...

Few people have mastered delivery like Bill Murray. In Ghostbusters, when the guy says "Must be some big cockroaches." and Murray says, "...they'll bite your head off, man" it doesn't seem that funny in print, but to hear him say it is stupid funny.

In a couple of weeks I have to spend the week in Waco for some insurance claims related education. This is good because I'm getting ready to get a promotion but that week is going to suck for Leah and I. I'll come back to town for practice on Monday night and my birthday on Wednesday, so I'll be around a little bit. Waco's less than an hour and a half a way so it's not the end of the world to drive back a night or two. But for most of that week I'll be stuck in a hotel in Waco. Oh well, hanging out in a hotel on the company dime's not the worst way to go about making more money.

2 days of working out done. I'm actually not as sore today as yesterday so that's good. Still need that jock strap though, my nuts hate working out.

I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man. As I rained blows upon him, I realized there had to be another way.

I feel like we had a pretty eventful weekend but I can't remember anything about Friday or Saturday now that I sit down to write about it. I remember that on Saturday, after Harper went to bed, Leah and I watched Up and in the first 10 minutes of the movie I was crying. Not just teary eyed but flat out crying, even more than I did the first time I saw it. How did I get to this point? At one time, I was the guy that never cried at movies, but since Leah and I have been together I've cried while watching The Notebook, Jersey Girl, Up and even Homeward Bound. Yeah, the one about the pets.

At some point this weekend we were informed that our song "Its Better To Spend Money Like There's No Tomorrow Than Spend Tonight Like There's No Money," was going to be on the season premier of, like, the 3rd worst show on American television, Keeping Up With The Kardashians. So that was weird. Its cool to have your song played on national television but strange to have it associated with a show like that. The shows on the E! Network don't credit the music at any point during the show either so I'm not sure how much good it really does a band, but oh well.

In equally scary news, Harper figured out how to pull herself up this weekend, which means that there is now a lot of falling in our immediate future. We lowered her mattress in her crib so she doesn't jump out but now we're worried about her pulling herself up in her crib and then falling into the sides. She only learned to crawl a week ago! Why is she growing so fast? I guess she's got nothing else better to do.

Leah and I went back to the studio on Sunday to retrack her vocals and I think we're all going to be really glad we did. I think she was more relaxed this time and I think that will show on the recording.

I love my wife. Sometimes, I'm really overwhelmed by how extremely fortunate I am to have her as a partner. She is the best wife and mother that Harper and I could ask for. I hope that when Harper's old enough to understand these things, she doesn't take it for granted how lucky she is to be loved the way Leah loves her.

The holiday season is upon us. Leah and I have just about finished all our shopping and we'll be going to east Texas this weekend to celebrate with our family. Being that this is my first holiday as a Humanist, I guess I won't technically be celebrating Christmas. I'll be celebrating Festivus. I just need to find a pole before we get on with the Feats of Strength and the Airing of Grievances.

I got a lot of problems with you people! And now you're gonna hear about it!

Are you afraid of wolves or something? I'm not afraid of them, I have a phobia of them.

Read these lyrics to the break out hit by Owl City, "Fireflies," and try and answer the question afterward.

You would not believe your eyes
If ten million fireflies lit up the world as I fell asleep
'Cause they'd fill the open air
And leave teardrops everywhere
You'd think me rude but I would just stand and stare

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems

'Cause I'd get a thousand hugs from ten thousand lightning bugs
As they tried to teach me how to dance
A foxtrot above my head
A sock hop beneath my bed
A disco ball is just hanging by a thread

When I fall asleep leave my door open just a crack
(Please take me away from here)
'Cause I feel like such an insomniac
(Please take me away from here)
Why do I tire of counting sheep
(Please take me away from here)
When I'm far too tired to fall asleep

To ten million fireflies
I'm weird 'cause I hate goodbyes
I got misty eyes as they said farewell
But I'll know where several are
If my dreams get real bizarre
'Cause I saved a few and I keep them in a jar

(I fall asleep)
I'd like to make myself believe that planet earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep
Because my dreams are bursting at the seams

Here's the $1,000,000 question. What the hell is that song about? Seriously. Is this guy an effeminate 7 year old? I only ask because I don't think those lyrics would come out of a well adjusted 20 something.

Anyway.

We had a fantastic holiday. Harper was somewhat of a demon on the trip to Tyler (which took 1 1/2 hours longer than it typically does because of traffic) but we realized the next day that it was probably because she was cutting her first tooth. She was an angel on the trip back, incidentally.

Thanksgiving was awesome because I'd really been missing my family and I got to see them and because our food kicked so much ass. I've only enjoyed Thanksgiving turkey twice in my life, counting this year, and both times its been fried turkey. This year was the absolute best, however, because this year Seth got a fried Cajun turkey from Dickie's BBQ and it was ridiculously delicious. I've got no time for smoked or roasted turkeys from now on. I'll eat a turkey leg at a theme park but other than that, keep those dry pieces of shit away from me.

We also got to stay at our friends, Ryan and Tori's awesome new house, which was a great time. Very comfortable and welcoming.

On Friday, Seth's family came back to Austin with us for the weekend. It was really great to get to spend actual quality time with them, especially my niece and nephew who are amazing little people. Unfortunately, my nephew had a fever on Sunday morning so they left a little earlier than we planned.

Leah and I spent the rest of the day cleaning and relaxing and a little later headed over to the studio for her to record her parts on a few songs for the EP. It sounds great but I think she always expects recording to be a little easier and less frustrating than it really is. But she's a trooper and she knocked it all out.


Oh, and we saw Fantastic Mr. Fox, which in my humble opinion is the best Wes Anderson movie since The Royal Tenenbaums (which is saying something because, in my humble opinion, The Royal Tenenbaums is the best movie ever made). I haven't laughed that hard at a movie in a while, and for the rest of the night I'd just think about the movie and belly laugh again. I loved it and cannot wait for that DVD to be buyable.

"If I were to make a Smurfs movie, I would make it dark" by Taylor Muse

If I were to make a Smurfs movie, I would make it an origin story, for starters. There are too many questions about the Smurfs that have gone unanswered for far too long, and I would fix that right up. Where do they live, for instance? Why does Gargamel hate them so? How does he know what Smurf tastes like since he never has any luck catching them? Here's an outline.

Gargamel is a normal, aspiring wizard in our world who lives with his loving wife and cat in medieval times. One day one of his spells opens a portal to another world...The world of the Smurfs. Garamel, his wife, and Azrael the cat venture through the portal to discover the forest where the Smurfs live. Pretty quickly Papa Smurf and the gang welcome them and they all become the best of friends. The family Gargamel are intrigued and amazed by their tiny blue friends.

One day Gargamel's wife and a party of Smurfs go out looking for Smurf-berries and, through a series of mishaps, end up trapped in a cave or some other isolating invention. They're trapped for days and on the brink of starvation when the Smurfs start dropping. The wife has no other choice but to eat the Smurfs or starve.

Finally, Grouchy Smurf leads a search party and rescues Mrs. Gargamel, however, Grouchy Smurf is forever scarred by what he sees when he finds her amongst the bones of his friends, the smell of Smurf meat still lingering on her breath. He is in a bad mood for the rest of his life. Only Grouchy, Papa Smurf, and Mrs. Gargamel know what really happened and a story is made up to explain the missing Smurfs to the rest of the gang. But little does everyone know that Smurf meat is among the most addictive substances in the universe, and soon Mrs. Gargamel is in the throws of withdrawal. Finally she snaps and in her fit of addiction picks off the lesser known Drifter Smurf while everyone else is at a party or something. However, Gargamel has sensed that something is wrong with his wife and followed her and witnessed what she does to Drifter Smurf. He doesn't know what to do so he confides in Papa Smurf. Papa Smurf assured Gargamel that everything will be OK, and that nobody will miss Drifter Smurf, and with the right counselling Mrs. Gargamel could be made whole once again. Gargamel feels better and leaves but as soon as he's out the door Papa Smurf calls Brainy in and tells him to gather all the Smurfs together.

Once they're all together, Papa Smurf explains the situation and tells about the legend of some other human who got a taste for Smurf and was almost the downfall of Smurf-kind. Papa Smurf assures everyone that there is only one thing to be done about Mrs. Gargamel, and that's to Smurf her out. Plans are made and carried out and in the middle of the night Mrs. Gargamel finds herself in a tiny blue nightmare and her life is over.

Gargamel may not be that bright but he's smart enough to figure out that the Smurfs killed his wife. He confronts the village engulfed in hysteria and though Papa Smurf tries to explain and calm him, his grief is too great and he swoops in and bites the head off of Kleptomaniac Smurf, giving himself an addiction to Smurf meat that is equally fueled by an unquenchable thirst for revenge. Chaos ensues that ends with many Smurfs falling to Gargamel's rage and the rest escaping into the Forrest to Smurf another day. Gargamel screams "I'LL HATE YOU FOREVER FOR THIS!! I'LL KILL YOU ALL IF ITS THE LAST THING I DO!!!"

And that's the end. Nobody steal my idea or I'll Smurf the shit out of you.

I only wish that President Obama had said "Kanye West is a jackass. Quote me."

I love Amazon.com. I'll still frequent Half Price Books but for music or movies, it doesn't get much better than Amazon. I've ordered a lot of things from Amazon lately but I think the one I'm most excited about is the new They Might Be Giants record. I've never really listened to them before but I happened upon their new video for "Science is Real" and I thought it was so perfect. Its kids music so its really for Harper but I'm planning on getting quite a bit of use out of it, myself. The other day I showed Harper the videos for "Science is Real" and "Electric Car" and I think she was pretty into it. Least ways, it held her attention for a while.

Where Lord of the Rings is concerned, I'm not a HUGE fan. I like the movies a lot, and I've read all the books once but on the whole, I prefer to put all my nerdy energy into knowing more about Harry Potter and Star Wars than most people know about their immediate family. Well, I've owned the first 2 movies for a while but never got around to buying Return of the King, so I ordered the theatrical version off of Amazon the other day. I really wanted the extended version but it was $7 and the theatrical version was only $0.01 so I couldn't really justify the price difference. I got it in the mail and was pretty pumped to watch it because I recently watched the other two. I started the movie and thought, "I don't remember the third movie starting just like the first one." Right case, wrong disc. Long story short, I contacted the seller on Amazon and she offered to send me the extended version in exchange and she even refunded my shipping costs. So I got the movie I really wanted for $0.01. What a beautiful world we live in!

You can see a very tiny portion of the footage from the video for "On Modern Men" by going to our Twitter and clicking the link. Looks pretty awesome so far.
We've got some really great shows coming up. This Friday, we're playing with What Made Milwaukee Famous at Antone's and that shit's going to be off the chain or off the hook or whatever the kids say these days. In October, through strange coincidence or strange fate we've got direct support for the Los Lonely Boys at an ACL after-party at Momo's. How weird is that? Awesome, because it will probably sell out, but...weird.

Anyone can play guitar.

Can someone please tell me one productive thing the Republican Party has done this year?

I'm not being a smart ass, that's a legitimate question. Where is their heath care reform plan? Where is their education reform plan? Out of all the things they've done to try and stop the President from accomplishing anything, have they once submitted an alternative? Is this all they have to contribute now...the backwoods hillbillies trying to shout down senators at town hall meetings, using words they don't understand to try and slander the President, and over-reacting like children who just want to take their ball and go home when the President wants to encourage and inform the kids about what's going on with their education in the next four years. I thought I'd seen the extent of their inanity with all that "birther" tripe, but all these hissy fits about the President talking to their kids... its just the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. At the beginning of the year, I would've never played the race card but now after seeing how Republicans are willing to behave and talk when the President has barely even done anything, I'm starting to question how different the health care discussion would be if our President was just another cracker from Tennessee.

I understand that if you didn't vote for him, you're probably not going to like the things he does, but its time to face reality. He won the election. I mean, he REALLY won the election. Besides, we all had to suffer through 8 years of your boy embodying everything we didn't want for America so I feel like I can speak from experience when I tell you, (as Jon Stewart so elegantly put it) "Its supposed to taste like a shit sandwich."

That's all I'll say about it. Grow up, Republicans. And do us all a favor, open a book and learn what the hell "socialism" means.

Quiet Company had two shows last week. College Station was cool but I think our Dallas show was one of our worst shows of all time. I know I totally phoned in my performance, and I kind of felt bad about it, but I just really didn't want to be there. That's rare, but it does happen.

Harper and I have been spending a lot of quality time together since Leah had two weddings this weekend. It would, of course, be better if Leah were here, but me and the bug have been having some good times. I call Harper "bug" in case you were wondering. I don't know why I started doing it but I like it, so I'm not going to stop.

Leah and I watched the documentary "Hell House" which, if you don't already know, is a documentary about a church that puts on a "Hell House" which is like a Christian haunted house where the goal is, admittedly, to scare people into a faith decision by enacting scenes of life gone wrong. Leah has actually been to a Hell House in Tyler and as it is bound to do, it scarred her opinions of Christianity. Its really sad because I found myself really liking a lot of the people from the church and thinking how they seemed really smart aside from the horrible ideas they had about bullying people into faith. Anyway, its shooting fish in a barrel to pick apart the theology behind a Hell House but the movie reminded me of one of the funnier things about church or rather, prayer.

Let me give you an example. Imagine if I were to have a conversation with my brother Seth the same way people talk to god. It would probably go like this:
Hey Seth, its really good to see you, Seth. And Seth, I'm so glad we're brothers, Seth, because some people don't have siblings at all, Seth. Seth, you're my bro, and we'll be bro's forever, Seth.

See what I mean? I wonder if god ever stops listening halfway through a prayer out of sheer annoyance.

Breed, Atheists, breed!!

A few years ago, Tommy and I were having a conversation about having kids. Not together, mind you, just procreation in general. I have always wanted kids and now I've got one. Hooray! Tommy didn't ever want kids and he still doesn't have any. Hooray! Which is fine but I proposed that the problem with that wasn't what society thinks about people who don't breed, but rather what does and does not go into the gene pool. Tommy is talented, personable, and terribly intelligent and those are precisely the traits that he will not be passing on to future generations. Meanwhile, some gang member knocks up his ho and they decide to have the baby even though neither of them have the resources or desire to take care of it. The sad reality is that, probably, that baby won't grow up to contribute much more to the world than his parents.

Yesterday, someone sent me a video about the rate of procreation that is required for a culture to survive. The main point of the video was to show that Christians and Jews aren't having enough kids and Muslims are having a ton of them. The numbers show that in our lifetimes, Europe will become predominantly Islamic. That's scary to me because the countries that are predominantly Muslim now don't seem to have any desire for a separation of church and state. In fact, they don't seem to have any qualms about making their religious delusions into laws. Societies should never be controlled by religion and it doesn't matter which religion, really. Christianity controlled society once. We refer to it as "The Dark Ages." (Yes, I realize we don't call them that simply because of Christianity.)

The point is that Islam is achieving huge numbers not by converting people (big shock), but by making babies and convincing those babies to believe in a terrible fairy tale. All of the major religions do this (indoctrinate children), of course, and all of the major religions have been responsible for terrorism and genocide at some point in history. (Even Atheists have done horrible things, though its important to realize that they didn't do these things because they were Atheists.)

I've never felt uncomfortable or nervous around Muslims and I'm certainly not advocating that anything but kindness and respect should be shown to all people no matter how big an infidel I may be to them. I'm simply saying that Atheists, Agnostics, Deists, and Free Thinkers all need to breed. Though we shouldn't indoctrinate our children any more than religious people should. We should teach our children how to think, not what to think. I believe that if they're taught to think critically, they'll see religious dogma for what it is on their own. We also need to keep being vocal and honest. Respectful, of course, but always calling a spade a spade. We are on the rise after all.

Leah and I saw Inglorious Basterds yesterday and it was a. maze. ing. Leah said she liked it better than Pulp Fiction. I don't know if I'd go that far but it probably does come pretty close.

Nothing goes on.

I'm watching the Lord Of The Rings today. Its great and all, but there are some really, REALLY, cheesy effects in it. I'm not just now noticing them. I remember the first time I saw it, thinking that there was some incredibly lame cinematography going on. All the sets and makeup and character design are flawless but still.

I also watched a lot of Newsradio today, which I think is one of the most underrated sitcoms of all time.

The most badass comic book cover featuring a mute ninja ever!

I already mentioned this but Harper laughed this weekend for the first time. If you're not a parent, I really don't think you'll understand how amazing such a simple thing can be. I teared up instantly because it was so damn beautiful. Its one of the things I've looked forward to the most about being a father. She's only done it a few times so far, so I'm really looking forward to when she does it all the time, instinctively.

We've got Canadians in town this week so that's exciting. Last night we took them down to the Magnolia Cafe, which I've never really cared for, but I decided to try something new and it really paid off. After that, we took a stroll down Congress and got some crepes with Nutella, strawberries, and bananas. Harper didn't sleep the entire time, which was weird, but I guess there was too much going on that she wanted to see.

I just did an interview for Greater Than Magazine. I think its going to be pretty cool and will be out a little later this year, I'll let you know. Talked a lot about the songwriting process and inspiration and whatnot. In other Quiet Company news, that rooftop music series thing that we shot for News 8 finally showed on the TV. Don't get excited, it sounded awful. Oh well. So it goes. We've got a show in San Antonio this Friday with two bands that we love, Dignan and The Rocketboys at Sam's Burger Joint. If its at all possible, you shouldn't miss this show.

I finished reading Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows again today for something like the 6th or 7th time. Why is it so awesome? There are a couple of moments in the book that make my eyes want to water so I think that I've decided today that when the movies come out I'm going to allow myself to cry with abandon in the theatre, my pride be damned!

Probably a few of you know this about me, but I'm a huge fan of the GI Joe comic books. In fact, I'm probably only about 25 issues away from having the entire Marvel run. That being said, I've said for years that I didn't think there was any way to do a GI Joe Movie and make it cool. Well, now there is one so I'm not sure if I was right. Its not a good movie so in one way I was right, but at the same time I enjoyed myself so maybe I was wrong. I don't think its fair to judge a movie like GI Joe the same way that you would judge a movie like Forrest Gump but at the same time when there are movies like The Dark Knight being made, you start to wonder if we shouldn't allow movies to get by by just being mindless-popcorn-summer movie fun. GI Joe has only really ever had two characters with any depth and that is Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes. So my only real disappointment with the movie was that it messed up their back story and origins. I bet the movie Snake Eyes isn't even a deformed mess under his mask. They also say that he doesn't talk because he took a vow of silence and not because he took an explosion to the face to save Scarlet in the war that jacked up his vocal chords. Storm Shadow has always been my favorite character, though. He's the most interesting because he's got the most going on emotionally, being constantly torn between revenge and atonement. In the movie he's just an irredeemable murderer, though; cold hearted and cliche'.

I didn't really have any problems with the rest of the movie, which is not to say that it was good, but rather to say that it was exactly what I expected it to be. If you can shut down the critical part of your brain, like I guess I'm capable of, or if you're an 8 year old boy, then GI Joe: Rise of Cobra is a good time to be had. Channing Tatum's performance is boring and I'm pretty sure I saw Dennis Quaid look at the camera once, but it is chocked full of all the things 8 year old boys love and you might find yourself remembering what it felt like to be one.

Oh yeah, and Snake Eyes' mask had lips!! Who makes that decision? I bet its the same person that thought the Batsuit really needed those nipples.

I have a headache and its your fault

We saw "Funny People" on Friday, and the more I think about it, the more disappointed I think I am. Its certainly not a bad movie, but I don't think its up to the standard that Apatow and friends have set for themselves. I read a lot of critics saying that it was his least funny movie but his best movie. But if the guy makes comedies then it stands to reason that the least funny movie is the worst movie, not the best. I would say I enjoyed it for the most part, though.

Ordered some books today that I'm excited about. The first is Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris. I started reading this while I was killing time at the bookstore the other day and it was really good. Very frank and logical, which I enjoyed.

The second is A Friendly Letter to Skeptics and Atheists: Musings on Why God Is Good and Faith Isn't Evil by David G. Myers. I think I'm actually the most excited about this one, because thanks to Amazon's "A look inside" feature, I've read the first few pages and Myers seems to write with a humility that I've not seen in any Christian writings thus far. One of the reviews on the Amazon page says "Faithheads will welcome the clarity with which Myers comes to their rescue. However, they too will find themselves challenged, reexamining their beliefs, assumptions and even their practices." I know this is going to be accommodational and that he will probably lose the argument, but he seems to be the kind of Christian the world really needs so I'm inclined to hear him out. He also has a book out that argues that Christians should be supportive of gay marriage and wrote one of the most standard psychology texts used at university level. Color me impressed.

Tonight the wife and I are cooking orange chicken and delighting in the fullness of life.

For The Bible Tells Me So

I've decided to make it easy and post all of "For the Bible Tells Me So" here. Now you don't have to rent it or spend any time looking for it. I wish every church in America would show this to their congregation. I think this is such a touching and tasteful way of exposing the double standard being used to oppress our gay brothers and sisters today. Enjoy.

Can he be president now?

This weekend started with some Friday night recording at Matt's studio, where I laid down some guitar and scratch vocals for "Jezebel," and another drum track for "Things You Already Know." Tommy had done some guitar earlier in the day but was already gone by the time Leah and I put Harper to bed and I made my way over. Matt did a rough mix of "Jezebel" and I'm really pleased. That boy's good at recording, yo! Every time we record I regret hiring Matt just a little bit less. Maybe one day I'll actually be glad he's around. I'm kidding, of course, he's easily the most talented person in the band and a real sweetheart to boot.

Saturday, Leah had to shoot a wedding (and by that I mean she participated in a drive by) so it was me and Harper all day. I got up and mowed the lawn, showered, put back on my pajamas and stayed in them for the rest of the day. Leah thought that I should be depressed after staying in my pajamas all day but how often do I get to do that? Not often. It was nice, and I was not depressed.

Harper is smiling a lot more now, which does wonders for a parent's self esteem. Whenever we go to get her out of her bed, after a nap or in the morning, she smiles really big when she sees us and it feels like we actually matter to her now. I love it. It doesn't hurt that it is, without a doubt, the cutest smile I've ever seen.


Sunday, Leah and I bought a propane grill and I spent more time than I would've liked putting it together. We made plans to use it but after the frustration of putting it together, I just wanted to get away from it and more importantly, get away from this 100+ degree heat. But Leah had already started preparing the food so we went ahead with the grilling and it was pretty delicious. I'm really proud of Leah. She's really putting a lot of effort into making our eating habits better and learning to cook. With the exception of some tangy chicken last week, everything she's found and tried has been awesome, so much so that fast food is starting to look much less appealing to us nowadays. Good job, wife.

Also this weekend I watched Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire and then just to remember how good Richard Harris is at being Dumbledore, Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets, which may be one of my favorites and I think a lot of people overlook it. I also watched The Shawshank Redemption while I was home with Harper. Oh what a world it would be if every movie was as beautiful or as good as The Shawshank Redemption.

The purpose driven strife

Harry Potter week is finally upon us! Rejoice, true believers! We're seeing the movie Thursday night and I know you're all thinking what a poser I am for not going to the midnight showing on Wednesday, but I've got a kid now and that sort of thing just doesn't happen as easily nowadays. This movie looks AMAZING though, and I totally expect it to Avada Kedavra my ass.

Leah and I took Harper to east Texas this weekend. My brother and his family got to meet her for the first time, and I got to spend a lot of quality time with my niece and nephew. It was really great and Harper travelled well, which we were nervous about. But like a jackass, I accidentally left my computer, phone charger, and Harper's Baby Einstein mat at my parents house. Leaving my stuff sucks a lot but that mat is really the only toy Harper plays with so we're going to have to just buy something else for her.

A lot of you may know that I'm a huge proponent of the book Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, and for my money, its the single most powerful and transformative philosophy book that I've ever read. I've gotten a few people to read it and typically, there reaction is similar to my own. My brother is reading it now, on my recommendation and judging from his blog, I don't think he's going to be as affected by it as I was. Oh well. He is correct about what he says though, that the book does hinge on the reader already accepting certain facts. For instance, if you don't understand or just don't accept evolutionary theory then you will probably not agree with the rationale of Ishmael because the bulk of the ideas therein stem from humankind sharing the same humble origins as everything else in nature.

I also got my mom to read it not too long ago but I think one of the only reasons she consented to do so was so that she could get me to read a Christian book of her choosing. I'm not sure how even these scales are though: I ask her to read one book and then I have to read another one on top of spending almost 30 years obsessing over the religion of her choice. I'm kidding and I digress, I'm happy to do it. After all, if there is a viable reason out there to jump back into the fold, I'd love to hear it. That being said, if 26 years in the church isn't long enough to have heard all the arguments in favor of Christianity, then what are we doing in church so much?

The book she's chosen for me is Surprised by Faith by Dr. Don Bierle. My problems with the book start early, with the front and back covers. They advertise that Dr. Bierle is a "scientist" but never say what kind. They talk about how he studied life sciences but never say which ones; he's a doctor but what kind? It does say that he holds M.A. and Ph.D degrees in life sciences and an M.A. in New Testament studies. In the preface he talks about how much education he's had which is impressive to me, who has very little education past high school, but he also talks in detail about how devoutly religious his family was and how he was somewhat groomed for the ministry as early as age 14. And with that admission his arguments become somewhat tainted to me. He's been indoctrinated from a young age just like most religious people and that gives him a motive: a desire to return to the comforting religion of his family. I know because I feel it too, and I'm not saying that this is definitely how he is but just that it seems probable to someone like me. Somewhere between 14 and college Dr. Bierle became a skeptic and that's where he starts Chapter 1. I was actually really impressed at the beginning of this chapter because he really seems to get how I feel and understand the problems I see in the plausibility of it all. I guess he was a skeptic after all. A persons perspectives on religion and spirituality are really contingent on the question "at what point are you satisfied?" and pretty quickly, it becomes apparent that Dr. Bierle is far more easily satisfied than I am, at least on the topic of the first chapter which is, essentially, "what is the meaning of life?"

He poses the question "Do we have a purpose in life?" That's a good question, and I say "yes." He agrees but he thinks that the only way to have a real purpose in a finite universe is to have an infinite god give you one. I disagree. He postulates an analogy which essentially says that all the world exists for humankind's eventual benefit and therefore an infinite god must exist. Because there's soil, and soil's only purpose is to grow grass, who's only purpose is to feed cows. And why do cows exist? It can't possibly be for the sake of existing because that doesn't go along with our romantic idea of human purpose. Cows exist to give us meat, but don't tell the cows, they'll just lose all hope. I'm oversimplifying and paraphrasing, of course, but I think I'm giving you the broad strokes. I think that its far more reasonable to say that because soil exists, its possible for grass to grow, and because grass grows, its possible for cows to eat, and because cows die, its possible for grass to grow, etc. Its a system that sustains itself, see?

In the first chapter, for Dr. Bierle, he's satisfied with a god as long as it meets two requirements:
1: God must be infinite.
2: God must be personal.

He has to be infinite because he's the one thing that is OK without a purpose and he has to be personal because he has to be able to reciprocate affection. Why we NEED god to be personal to be relevant, he doesn't say. "Eastern" religions' gods are infinite but not personal and "western" religions' gods are personal but not infinite but there is one bowl of proverbial porridge that's just right. Somehow, just because Christianity meets the needs that this "scientist" has laid out for himself, that is proof that it is the religion that 3 out of 3 celestial beings prefer.

I'm only about 1/4 of the way through this book and I'm not sure if he's building evidence for a big picture or if he's attacking skeptical issues one by one. It certainly seems to be the latter as all the chapters are titled and geared towards a particular problem. So far, the section "What am I here for? The Crisis of Purpose and Meaning" fails to make any headway in proving or rationalizing anything other than the fact that the good doctor can't fathom a world where things simply exist.

I know that there are religious people out there who live every day like they're on a mission and spend their time and their money working towards a better world, and they feel like they're doing god's work and believe that god gave them purpose in life and rightly so. Most people I know aren't like that though. They get up, go to work, come home and hopefully spend time with loved ones or work on whatever it is they're passionate about...or maybe just veg out and watch TV until its time to do it all over again. This is the day to day for people of faith and people without any, alike. If god gives us purpose, I have a hard time seeing what it could possibly be, unless its just to do this: exist. I said that I believe we have purpose, but I believe we make it for ourselves. I love being a husband, a father, a son, a brother, an uncle, a friend and I love making music. Those are the things I'm passionate about and I feel like those are the things that give my life purpose. It really makes me sad when religious people that I love say that without god we'd have no purpose.

We'd still have each other.

No, as a matter of fact, I don't think "Harry Potter & My Left Nut" is an appropriate title for a book.

Maybe its because we're a week away from the movie or maybe just because we've been reading The Sorcerer's Stone to Harper every night, but either way, I've fallen back into my Potter addiction. I've spent all day reading The Half Blood Prince and looking at fan sites. I don't know what the point is, really. I know, generally, everything interesting there is to know about Harry Potter. I think I'd give my left nut to be a wizard for a day. I'd probably start that day by using my powers to regrow my left nut, though.

Another thing I did today was take a Bible quiz. Its made by the Freedom From Religion Foundation so obviously, the questions are cherry-picked to make the scriptures look strange and sick. That being said, those things are actually in there and sometimes the scriptures are just strange and sick. So it goes. Chalk it up to cultural relativity if you want, but, unfortunately, there's only so much you can account for with that explanation.

I did really well on the quiz (48 out of 50 questions correct), but I'm really curious to see how well the people that read this blog would do, particularly the Christians. The trick is, when you don't know the answer, just pick the weirdest one. I had to do that a few times.

Lastly, this is a reminder that if you haven't called your state senator about Cynthia Dunbar yet, you really need to. With Don McLeroy, it was all about Evolution vs. Creationism, the right vs. the left. But I think that, in Cynthia Dunbar, we've all found a common enemy (assuming that we all care about the education of our young people). This is a woman who openly hates the very idea of public education. To borrow an analogy, its like hiring an arsonist to be fire chief. For Liberals, she represents a lot of what we hate about stereotypical conservatism, for Conservatives, she's an embarrassment, making ignorant statements on par with a drunk Sarah Palin. The fact that she's even on the board of education is gross, the idea that she could be put in charge of it is flat out depressing. Find your senator, tell them what you think. Let them know that globally competitive education is important to you and your tax dollars. THINK OF THE CHILDREN.