Matt Jones' Random Acts of Verbiage

Whatcom Falls
Originally uploaded by mattithyahu.

The other day I set out to explore East of my apartment and stumbled across Whatcom Falls Park. It was a beautiful day to explore the park. There is a fish hatchery, the falls, and some cliffs where people jump into the water (I abstained for now…). Head over to my flickr set to see more pictures: Whatcom Falls.

Why didn’t someone hit me over the head and drag me to see Crash? I remember thinking that the film looked interesting and that I should probably see it. I never did. Until tonight. I was blown. a. way. What a powerful and emotional film.

I had no idea what it was about coming in and when the issue of race came up my first reaction was something along the lines of “oh great, more stereotypical images about race and racism.” I was shutup pretty quickly. This Oscar deserving (and winning) work delved into people, their relationships and the complex connections between them. The ensemble cast did wonderfully in their truthful portrayal of those dealing with tough situations. Each story managed to deepen the message that none of us are devoid of prejudices, whether our own or others’. One of the taglines says things very well:

It’s the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We’re always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something.

True for just L.A.?

I’m not really going to say much else about this film. I hightly recommend it to everyone. Relationships are difficult and we are all affected by race in one way or another. This film crashes head on with that in a brutally honest (and difficult) way. As a side, I appreciated that there was no one star. Everyone had their role, and filled it well. Mad props to Paul Haggis.

Jean: Do you want to hear something funny?
Maria: What’s that Mrs. Jean?
Jean: You’re the best friend I’ve got.

Once again it has been a while since I have posted a Space Saturday, my “weekly” astronomy photograph. But it has not been forgotten! Today I bring you a beautiful picture of the crescent Moon by Matthew T. Russell!

Clickable for larger. Credit: Matthew T. Russell (source)

This is our lovely Moon, the Earth’s only natural satellite. The moon completes a cycle about every 29.5 days and due to tidal lock, we see the same side throughout that (and every) month. I found a cool image (via APOD) that shows the lunation cycle of the Moon (credit: António Cidadão). The difference of the Moon’s gravitational attraction between the near and far side of the Earth is what causes our tides (not the gravity itself) throughout the day. The interaction between the Earth and Moon is quite complex, but very interesting!

So there is a random smattering of info on our Moon! You should also stop by my Space Saturday Archive for more astronomy photographs!

Resources:
Wikipedia: Moon
APOD: Lunation
Telescopes.cc: Crescent Moon

Late Tuesday is a band that I have become very fond of over the past year (any readers of my blog will be nodding their heads right now). The three ladies have just released a new album called Drowning Out Love. Dana Little, Tara Ward, and Jocelyn Meyer (formerly Feil) have produced, what I think to be, their best compilation yet.

Drowning Out Love, once again, brings together the talented voices that harmonize so well together with their talents on guitar, piano, and rhodes (along with the quality work of Matt Woll on bass and Casey Foubert on drums). Their writing ability has always impressed me and this album is no different. I have picked three songs that I want to share, this was actually a difficult thing to do as they are all great. Late Tuesday always allows me to show my feminine side. For a good review of this cd (with much more music knowledge than I), check out Late Tuesday on a late Thursday.

Shir ha-Shirim

Song of Songs (MP3, 4.66 MB) is perhaps the best love song I have ever heard. It really blew me away. In Hebrew, the repetition Shir ha-Shirim: Song of the Songs, suggests that the song is the best song (like saying “king of kings” implies the best king) and Eerdman’s Dictionary of the Bible says this of the Book: it is “dense with significance.” This may not have been at the fore of thought when the song was written, but I think it delivered and did the title justice.

Song of Songs

Silence breathtaking over the mountains
Speaking as though sun has come
The winter is past, the rains are all gone

Flowers appear on the earth and the singing,
The season of singing has come
The voice is sweet and the beauty is lovely

Come swiftly my love
My heart is faint

Who is this that appears like the dawn
Fair as moon, bright as the sun
Majestic as stars in their procession

Come swiftly my love
My heart is faint

Love is as strong as death
It burns like a mighty flame
Waters cannot quench it
Rivers can’t wash it away

Come swiftly my love
My heart is faint

I Want the Best (MP3, 4.59 MB) is another lovely song about lost love.

I Want the Best

Oh what it was, was not good enough
Oh how I loved, but that was not enough
All years gone by but you still remain
There’s a spell on me at the sound of your name

But all I pray now is for you to know love and to know you’re enough
And every good time you come back in mind
Or when you come around when you’re back in town
I want the best for you

You’ve traveled far to follow your love
But you caught my heart, you’re the one I think so fondly of
But I can’t catch you if you can’t really be found
I can’t wait for you to love me

So all I pray now is for you to know love and to know you’re enough
And every good time you come back in mind
Or when you come around, won’t you come around?

Cause all I pray now is for you to know love and to know you’re enough
And every good time you come back in mind
Or when you come around, when you’re back in town
I want the best for you

The Way I Say I Love You (MP3, 4.17 MB) is a song of love found.

The Way I Say I Love You

Clock on the wall says twenty to eight
I’m having a hard time getting up to start the day
What can I say? Stayed up too late and you’re to blame for the delay

I want to give you a call, just a hello
Tell you the things I thought I never could before
Please keep me close
So I can walk with you through all life has

This is the way, the way I say I love you
Don’t you forget I’ll tell you every single day
That you are the one
I’ll give you my whole life to be with you today

Listen real hard, can you hear that
All of the sounds have turned to classic overtures
Look all around it’s changing from black and white to technicolor

This is the way, the way I say I love you
Don’t you forget I’ll tell you every single day
That you are the one
I’ll give you my whole life to be with you today

I’d be safe to keep it to myself
But it’s a better way to say you’re everything thing I want

Don’t you forget I’ll tell you every single day

This is the way, the way I say I love you
Don’t you forget I’ll tell you every single day
That you are the one
I’ll give you my whole life to be with you today

You can get that idea that love is a predominant theme in this album. Drowning Out Love is well worth checking out (along with their other stuff as well). Visit their website for more information and lyrics and show dates. Since I have been to a number of their shows, I have set up a Late Tuesday page for all my blog posts relating to the trio (with pictures, music, video, and lyrics).