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The Iron Lance -- Stephen Lawhead |
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Written by Mike Noel
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Tuesday, 25 December 2007 |
The Iron Lance is Stephen Lawhead's first book in the Crusades Trilogy. Starting off the northern coast of Scottland Murdo's father and brothers begin their quest to join in the crusades to rescue Jerusalem from it's captors. Leaving the young boy in charge the men expect to be back within the year. Due to incredible abuse of power and exploitation Murdo soon finds himself and the women in his care without land or home. Murdo follows after his father and brothers in the hopes that they will return and restore the land that was taken. Eventually, and against his will, Murdo ends up joining the crusades to retake Jerusalem. Befriended by a group of monks from the Cele De and finding himself disillusioned by all that occurred in the name of God, Murdo only wants to return home. When he find his father and brothers he is able to complete his business and return back home. Through the difficulties of the two year journey Murdo has become a man and returns home as a man.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 31 December 2007 )
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Written by Mike Noel
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Friday, 21 December 2007 |
Cities is the most recent release by Anberlin. This is the first full-length Anberlin CD I've heard. The few of their singles have made their way onto my iPod through some of the various-artist CDs just never did much for me so I didn't pursue them further. But recently I had an opportunity to get a CD and so on a whim I picked up Cities. I'm glad I did. It is very good. Every song on the CD is solid and interesting.
The first thing that struck me with the CD was the exceptional vocals. Stephen Christian's clear voice portrays the passion of what he's singing equally well with solid rockers (Adelaide) and pensive ballads (Inevitable). The rest of the music provides the perfect setting for the song.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 27 December 2007 )
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Written by Mike Noel
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Thursday, 13 December 2007 |
A few weeks ago our friends decided to record a Christmas CD. The wife was going to sing and the husband was going to play the drums and do all of the CD production. Since they needed a bass player they asked me if I wouldn't help out. I did and it was fun. The result was the CD you see here. It is available for order online (just click on the picture) from cdbaby.com. I believe you can order a hard copy of the CD or order all the tracks for download.
Of the six songs on the CD four of them are done in a traditional style but with the other two we took some liberties. The first track is a rock version of "Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel". In retrospect I'm not sure that should have been the lead off track since the rest of the CD doesn't have that same sort of feel. But oh well. The other uncommon song is our version of "Silent Night". It is done with a slow southern gospel feel. I works well, I think.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 27 December 2007 )
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Written by Mike Noel
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Sunday, 09 December 2007 |
The Settlers of Catan was the first German-style board game I played and I was totally blown away by it. I heard about the game through one of those silly internet surveys. A mailing list that I'm on passed around a survey asking all sorts of things, including what was your favorite board game. I was amazed when several people on the list all mentioned this game, The Settlers of Catan, that I had never heard of. Considering the rave reviews by those on the list I decided to buy it for the family without ever playing it. It was a risk but it was worth it. We all loved it.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 23 December 2007 )
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Written by Mike Noel
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Saturday, 01 December 2007 |
I found a great website online (actually, a friend sent me a link to it). With just a little bit of photo editing you can set up your own little family full of dancing elves. I put each of my kids in this festive holiday scene. Click here to watch it.
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Written by Mike Noel
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Tuesday, 27 November 2007 |
It's been a while since I came up with a new t-shirt design but I finally did. This one has been floating around in my head for a while. The design for the face came to me today while I was doodling a bit in a meeting at work. The text says "i never realized just how amazing i was till i started watching other people". Funny. You can get to the cafepress store here.
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Oh! Gravity -- Switchfoot |
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Written by Mike Noel
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Wednesday, 24 October 2007 |
Switchfoot is a band that has changed its sound significantly over the last couple of releases. The current release, Oh Gravity, is quite a few steps removed from their megahit The Beautiful Letdown. In fact it seems like a more mature and established release along the same direction that Nothing Is Sound took. That's not to say that Oh Gravity is not any good. In fact, it can be argued that this new direction is better and fresher than the earlier releases. After a few listens it is growing on me.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 24 October 2007 )
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Written by Mike Noel
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Thursday, 18 October 2007 |
Hood is the first book in Stephen Lawhead's Raven King Trilogy. The trilogy is a retelling of the legend of Robin Hood but with a historical twist. After extensive research Lawhead is convinced that the real Robin Hood started in Wales, not England. In a small article at the end of this book Lawhead lays out his fairly convincing reasoning. But all of that aside, the book is excellent. Lawhead has always been a good story teller as there is some bardic lineage in his distant past. With Hood Lawhead's story telling abilities are out in full force. The story is full of deep and interesting characters, smart plots, and innovative scenes and settings.
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Dragonspell -- Donita K. Paul |
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Written by Mike Noel
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Friday, 28 September 2007 |
Dragonspell is the first book in Donita K. Paul's Dragon Keeper Chronicles. It is primarily intended for a young adult audience but it is an easy and fun read for adults as well. The story is alive with action and imaginative characters. The allegorical elements of the story are obvious but not over the top. I picked up this book based on recommendations I found online and I'm glad I did. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.
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