Weekends are a wonderful time for dreamers.
For two days you get to live the life you fantasize about. Free from the deadlines and restrictions of the office you have 48 hours to work on your passion project. Whether it’s writing your book or setting up your self-run business or making crafts to sell on Etsy, the weekend is where dreamers have a chance to see life as they imagine it could be.
Then comes Monday. Mondays are like a tightrope. Continue reading
“You’re thinking about where we are rather than where we’re headed.” – Frank Underwood
Frank Underwood is all about the long game.
From the first moment he confidently addresses the audience in season one of “House Of Cards”, oozing with the southern charm of a slithering snake oil salesman, it’s clear that Frank has a way of getting what he wants.
What I like about “House Of Cards” is how the show makes him, as well as the audience, wait to get there.
It’s obvious that Frank is not content with just having a seat in Congress. He has bigger plans and higher offices on his mind.
Rather than dilly-dally with the whole election process, Frank Underwood would rather come up with a plan to manipulate his way to the top. It’s more fun that way, after all.
There’s a master plan going on in the background of “House Of Cards”. Every conversation Frank Underwood has is layered with a deeper meaning. Every relationship he has exists for a greater purpose.
A lesser show might have Frank win time and time again. It might lay out exactly how he plans to get to the top of the Washington food chain. It might have him stumble his way backwards into power.
The fun part of “House Of Cards” though is that it’s not always clear how all the puzzle pieces will fall into place for Frank to get what he wants. You know in the end that he will – he has a plan after all – but you can’t always see exactly how he’ll get it done.
Now don’t get me wrong. Frank Underwood is harsh. He is under-handed. You could argue that he’s downright evil.
But Frank Underwood has a plan. And he sticks to it, despite what life and the government throws in his way. Continue reading
Last week our box spring broke.
After standing up on the bed to pull the switch on our fan the box spring caved in on itself.
We had to laugh about it. We’ve had a nice string of bad luck since getting married. Our shower curtain keeps falling off the wall. Our toaster oven exploded. We can’t seem to catch a break.
Really though, our problems are small in comparison with one of the greatest problems the world faces today: slavery. Continue reading
There are a lot of wonderful things Parks And Recreation championed over its 7 season run. Breakfast food. Miniature horses. Pretty much every item on Ron Swanson’s Pyramid Of Greatness.
But the greatest thing of all Parks And Recreation championed was hope.
Leslie Knope is arguably the most hopeful character in the history of television.
Of course she never had it easy. Nearly every open forum the Parks Department held to talk about their hopeful ideas devolved into hilarious madness, corrupted by the cynical and selfish desires of the townspeople: Continue reading
mashable.com
This Sunday night hundreds of nominees will sit inside a Hollywood theater anxiously awaiting to hear their name read. For if a presenter opens an envelope and does shout out their name it means they’ll be taking home the most important prize in the movie business – an Oscar.
For weeks and weeks the actors and writers and producers and directors nominated have been endlessly campaigning to win the golden statue.
Ads have been taken out in magazines and papers. Billboards have been plastered across Hollywood. Talk shows have been littered with performers on their best behavior trying to impress the voting audience.
But when the Academy Awards begin this Sunday there will be nothing anyone can do to alter their fate. Continue reading
As SNL celebrates its 40th Anniversary this weekend, I just wanted to take a few minutes to say thanks.
You see, I’m not a funny person.
I’ve said funny things before, and I’ve gotten a few laughs in my lifetime. But the truth is most of those funny things were stolen. And most of them were stolen from Saturday Night Live.
I think it’s perfect that as part of the new SNL app there’s a whole keyboard of SNL-inspired emojis. After all, for my friends and I SNL is its own sort of language of catchphrases and inside jokes.
I’ve never been good at quoting classic movies, but I can recite for you Matt Foley’s entire speech about living in a van down by the river and tell you why there needs to be more cowbell and shout out all of the Spartan Cheerleaders’ routines. Continue reading
This year’s best Super Bowl spot, according to USA Today’s Ad Meter, was Budweiser’s “Lost Dog” spot.
It’s hard to argue against it. Puppies. Horses. An acoustic version of “500 Miles” sung beautifully by Sleeping At Last. Add it all up and it’s an emotional wallop that’s tough to beat.
But is it a great beer commercial? Continue reading
I’m kind of done with football at this point.
Between deflated footballs and ridiculous press conferences and domestic violence and post-concussion syndrome, I’m honestly ready for this season to all be over with.
Yes, I’ll be watching the game on Sunday, just for the grand spectacle of it all. But I don’t really have the heart to write anything football related right now. (If you’d like to read something like that I have done it before.)
So instead of writing a piece on the big game, I’m going to focus on something far less upsetting: the Super Bowl Halftime show.
This year Katy Perry will perform in front of the biggest crowd of her life. Between the 70,000 or so in attendance at University of Phoenix stadium and what will likely be a record audience watching on television and online, the “Roar” singer will be placed on an incredible platform for arguably the most important 12 minutes of her career.
You might think it’s a pretty special award for Perry to be able to perform on the halftime stage. After all, she is one of the most recognizable pop stars in the world just 7 years after her breakthrough hit “I Kissed A Girl” placed her in the public eye.
But you would be wrong.
Performing the Super Bowl Halftime Show is not an award. It’s an audition. Continue reading
Welcome to Episode 27 of the POP GOD POPcast – a podcast interview series exploring the presence of God in the present tense.
This week’s guest is Marc Mero. Marc is a former professional wrestling superstar, touring the world for WWE, WCW and TNA. Today he’s touring the world as a highly in demand inspirational speaker touching the lives of students about the topics of bullying, drug use and faith through his Champion Of Choices program. Marc shares openly about how he hit rock bottom through a series of devastating events in his life and how he made a choice to see God through the pain. He also talks candidly about how the tragic turn of events in his friend Chris Benoit’s life challenged him to start reaching out to students.
Marc is bringing his story across the southeast this month including a special event at Mount Paran Church in Marietta, GA on January 30 at 7 PM. It’s free, open to the public, and is an event that can change a child’s life. Listen to this podcast preview then make plans to go hear Marc’s incredible testimony in full:
Or Download on iTunes or Listen on Podbean
Follow Marc Mero on Twitter and on Facebook. Check out his website to find out where to see him and how to bring him to your church’s next event. Continue reading
If you ever doubt your dream due to your current lot in life, try watching “The Tonight Show.” (I personally adore Jimmy Fallon, but really this experiment works with any late night talk show.)
You’ve seen it before. The host will ask the celebrity guest about their earlier work. The guest will hem and haw about their humble beginnings. Inevitably they tell an amusing story about the bad commercial work they had to do to pay the bills.
Then the host will “surprise” them by digging up said commercial and broadcasting it to the world. A commercial like this: Continue reading
POP GOD 