Halloween Post #4: J.R., Clay and Mikalatos show off their moves

In the final video of our Halloween series today, check out J.R. Forasteros, Clay Morgan and myself dancing like crazy.

Halloween Post #3: Share your favorite scary movies!

Here's the last of our three Halloween videos. Toward the end we each share three movies (okay, I share a book and two movies). We want to hear your picks, too, so here are the categories:

1. "Marinating in Laughter." Movies that aren't really very scary at all, more funny than scary.

2. "Marinating in Nervous Sweat." These are scary and definitely make you scared, but they aren't going to keep you up at night clutching a baseball bat.

3. "Marinating in Shame." These are movies that are so terrifying that grown adults sleep with the lights on, close their closer doors and smear the floors with Jell-o, even though they feel stupid for doing so.



So, what are your three picks for scary movies?

Halloween Post #2: SCARY STORIES!

I think this is my favorite of our three videos for pure hilarity. We talk together about the moments when we were most frightened of something in our lives, and the stories are all funny. I especially like J.R.'s story and the introduction to what it means to be "marinating in your shame."

Clay shares a story about watching the miniseries "It."

J.R. shares about the terror that came from "The Ring."

And I share a story about when I watched "The Exorcist" in college.



Do you have any stories about when you were terrified? Share them in the comments, we want to know!

Halloween Post #1: What do monsters mean?

This last weekend I got to hang out with J.R. Forasteros and Clay Morgan and it was a great time. We had never met before, but we immediately hit it off and enjoyed ourselves too much talking about comic books, monsters, movies and spirituality, We were having so much fun Clay decided the rest of the world needed a chance to get in on it, and he started recording our conversation.

I'll post three videos today. Here's the first one, in which we introduce ourselves and talk about monsters... what they mean and the spiritual themes we find in monster mythology and movies. Enjoy.


P.S. I totally won the "camouflage" contest.

God is watching over us. And some other people.

At night when I put M to sleep, sometimes we sing songs together. Tonight she wanted to sing a song called "God is watching over us." I don't know this song (she must have learned it at preschool), but basically it goes, "God is watching, watching over me." Or us. Or you. She would sing it all those different ways and then say. "God is watching over me, not you." Or, "God is watching over you, Dad."

Then, after about ten rounds of this song she stopped, looked me in the eye and said, "God is watching over us. And the Power Rangers kill monsters."

Yes, dear, that's right. Sweet dreams.

Happy Halloween from AXE COP!

For those who don't know, Axe Cop is the creation of two brothers. Written by a five year old and drawn by his 29 year old brother. Or at least, that was their ages when Axe Cop was originally created. An animated series is coming out soon, and today they released a Halloween short to get everyone excited.



It's working! I'm excited!

I have to get one of those poison axe detectors before tomorrow....

ROBOTS! by Abby Snow

I had an amazing time in Ohio this weekend (including some crazy travel stories). I'll need a couple days to get everything sorted out and reported back to you here.

BUT, one really cool thing was I met an amazing woman named Abby Snow. She met me at the airport with J.R. (the pastor who invited me out) and Amanda (J.R.'s wife).

Abby brought me a hand made robot that she custom designed for me! It's really funny. I love it. Anyway, apparently this is a business she runs. You can see a whole bunch of her various robots on her website. Her robots are called "Snow Machines." Cute, right?

Anyway, go order a whole bunch of them and tell Abby that her friend Matt sent you!

The Terminator on Twitter

"Falling" -- the play you need to see in NYC right now!

A few weeks ago when I was in New York City I went to see the play "Falling." I've been meaning to write a review about it ever since, but honestly, I kept wanting more time to get all my thoughts out there, because this play really shook me (in the best way). It's the story of a family dealing with a family member who is autistic, and who gets violent occasionally when he's upset. That in and of itself would be plenty to deal with in a play, but it's also an exploration of faith, family, obligations and parenting, all wrapped up in this questions, "How do we deal with the fact that are people in our lives who are hard to love?"

Anyway, because I've been putting off the review in the hopes of writing something amazing about how great the play is, I'm concerned that you're not getting your chance to go see it! So here's a quick, one word review: Go!

You won't regret it. It's the sort of play that crawls inside your mind and makes you take it home. The acting is incredible, the script is excellent, the direction is amazing. 

Okay, seriously, if you're in the NYC area, now's your chance. Go check it out. 

I will try to get a longer, more detailed and helpful review here in the next week or so!

The FALLING website.

On ticketmaster.

And hey, if you think I am making stuff up about how great this play is, go check out some of the reviews by the professionals.

Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street even though it's early in the morning and you'd rather be sleeping?

Z the middle schooler (!) started out the school year getting up early and happily getting ready for the day. Then, a few days ago she started waking up and saying groggily, "Five more minutes" and then, on Tuesday she woke up and groaned, "Twenty more minutes!"

Having gone to the Secret Academy of Fathers, I know that there are three basic ways that are SAF-approved for waking children and getting them out of bed:

1) The use of lights of various intensities and colors

2) A constant barrage of bad puns

3) The use of singing and/or musical instruments

I chose option #3 and since I had just seen baby M starting Sesame Street downstairs, I started to sing this song:

"Sunny days! Chasing the clouds away.
On our way to the where the air is clear!
Can you tell me how to get...
How to get to Sesame Street?"

Z listened to this song from beneath her covers before finally casting them off her face and saying, "Go straight down Boring Avenue and then take a left and you'll be on Sesame Street!"

Shocking. But you know, she never really liked Sesame Street, even as a baby.

And it got her out of bed. Tomorrow: It's a wonderful day in the Neighborhood.

First look at "Night of the Living Dead Christian" in Portuguese!

Here's "Noite do Cristão Mortos Vivo"and, yes, that's Portuguese. It just released this month from Thomas Nelson Brasil.

Guest Post: Drawing Dinosaurs Correctly and Other Scientific Curiousities

Today's guest post is from my friend Dorothy Lynn. Dorothy is an out-of-college, traveling, researching, deli-working, singing, piano-playing, aspiring writer. She likes to read, make weird international food, attempt to play guitars, and pretend to be a gypsy by wearing lots of scarves. She speaks English (obviously), and Spanish, and tries to speak French, Italian and sometimes even German. She also knows about ten words in Tlingit. She really likes learning new things, and she has friends in over fifteen countries.She is currently writing a science fiction book about empathy and telepathy, and living in a small town in Ohio.

She also asked me to throw in a link to her brother Sean's blog, even though he is also writing a book and, in her words, "beating me at it." 

Here's what Dorothy wanted to share with you today:

Science is fun. No, seriously, it really is. Where else but in physics can you find out that tiny, miniscule sub atomic particles operate under the same laws as huge, massive galaxies? Where else but a chemistry lab can you pretend to be mixing colorful, magic potions in large, round flasks? Okay, so maybe my imagination gets away from me a little bit but, really, science is pretty cool. I’m kind of biased because I am currently writing a science fiction novel, but I’m just constantly amazed at the new things that I learn while researching for this book. Most of those facts are strange, neuropsychological tidbits. For example, did you know there is a tiny portion of our right brains that we use to analyze what we think people are thinking? We use it to analyze their body language and other such notions, so that we can understand the context of what they are saying. Unfortunately, this part of the brain doesn’t necessarily extend to the written word. When your recent acquaintance emails you, “I was so glad to finally meet with you,” how many times have you wondered…is there sarcasm hiding in those simple words? Well, that part of the brain, if you were speaking in person, would be able to help you out.

                  

I also love studying astronomy. For fun I sometimes read about particle physics, which is actually a base for astronomy. I guess if you don’t know how atoms work together, then why even bother with stars, right? But I’ve learned some pretty awesome things because of my nerdiness. Mostly I learn them through TED talks, such as this one about black holes and the sounds that they make. That’s right, sounds. Black holes make music. How cool is that? So if you’re floating through space and hear the intense humming and banging noise of two black holes falling into each other, first, you had better make sure your will is in order because you will also be falling into their intense gravity, but then, sit back and enjoy the awesomeness.

                  

Another random science fun fact is about dinosaurs. I mean, who doesn’t love dinosaurs? One of my good friends is an aspiring paleontologist. (Well, he is actually a chemical engineer, but he LOVES dinosaurs and everything to do with them.) I can’t spend any time with him without hearing something new about these fascinating giant lizards that every small child seems to love. (Why children love giant reptiles that could eat them in half a bite is astounding to me.) Apparently, when artists draw brontosauruses (brontosauri?), you know those giant ones with long necks and tails, they never draw the tail right. If they draw the tail dragging on the ground, then the poor dinosaur would never be able to support the weight of its own neck. According to my dino-loving friend, “Especially in the case of theropods, their tails counterbalance the weight of their over-sized heads.” I am constantly reminded of this fact every time I have random doodling sessions with this friend, because he always makes sure to draw his reptilian buddies correctly. How kind of him.

                  

So there you have it, random scientific fabulosity to show you how fun science really is! I know that I covered a lot of material today, and I also didn’t cite any sources, so don’t quote me on the complete accuracy of my scientific knowledge. I’m just pulling facts out of my constantly moving gray matter. But if you want to read more random, fun, sometimes intelligent and fairly knowledgeable blog posts, you can check out my site! I love to write about anything and everything, especially if it is strange or beautiful. Or involves making up new words. Many thanks to Matt for letting me post on his blog and shamelessly plugging my site! It’s such an awesome opportunity to meet new people in the bloggernet! (see, making up new words!) 

My three year old made you this picture

She would also like to show you how to eat cotton candy:

Compost-fueled cars

For those of you who love TED talks, I think you'll agree that this one really takes things to a new level.



"I'll be your visionary... and you do the things I come up with." Genius.

Iron Man 3 trailer is live

And only SIX MONTHS before it comes to theaters. Six. Months.

LIVE: Night of the Living Dead Christian in Ohio and the UK

Of course you recall that last year Night of the Living Dead Christian released, a novel in which our spiritual state is discussed through the metaphor of monsters. One of the cool things that has come from that is some great conversations with spiritual leaders who are taking that metaphor and using it in their own churches for the month of October.

So, for instance, Beavercreek Nazarene church in Ohio is doing a series called "It Came from Within" in which the pastor is talking about werewolves (representing anger), vampires (representing selfishness) and ghosts (representing unforgiveness) and how they can symbolize us in our spiritual journey. In fact, I will be at Beavercreek Nazarene this coming Sunday, speaking about spiritual zombies! If you're in the Ohio area, I'd love to see you there!

I also wrote this blog post about why Christians are afraid of atheists for JR. It's his birthday today, so go say happy birthday to him!

Connection Church (also in Ohio?!) is doing Monster Mash! Pastor Tony Myles describes it this way:

Monsters are more than the real, evil forces in the spiritual realm or the fictional special effects creatures in movies. Whether we admit it or not, we can all give into our worst side at times… we zone out like a zombie to certain things and feel like life is on autopilot; something sets us off and an inner werewolf of anger emerges; we turn into a kind of vampire who sucks the life out of others; there’s an assortment of other “B-level” characters that come out on occasion, too. Through this metaphor, we’re going to take a better look not only at ourselves but also what God is capable of doing in us if we let Him. It will be transformational and mash up the undead life we can easily settle for.

Lastly, you have to check out Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral, a service I am definitely wanting to visit sometime. Canon Richard White and I have become friends. He read NLDC and dropped me a line afterward (they had already done their Night of the Living Dead outreach by then, in which Canon White came into the service in a coffin, carried by some of the men in the church. I liked that so much I ripped it off and put it in the new NLDC short story). This event sounds like so much fun... they're actually taking their Gothic cathedral and making "zones" for different monsters... werewolves, vampires and zombies... and showing black and white clips of different monsters together with a message from Canon White. Should be pretty cool. If you're in the UK you need to go check it out and report back to us!








That's what's happening in Ohio and the UK this month. What's going on at your church?

My Halloween Costume

Krista and I went to a friend's Halloween party this weekend. We hadn't planned ahead regarding our costumes, though, so we told the kids we were going upstairs to dig through our closets and come up with something.

I needed to come back downstairs for something though, so I came down wearing jeans and my collared shirt completely unbuttoned. And, for those of you who haven't seen me without my shirt on, I am a hairy man.

My eleven-year-old, Z, passed me on the stairs.

Z: What costume is that, dad?

Me: I'm dressed as "guy who didn't button his shirt."

Z: No, really, dad.

(pause)

Z: Are you a werewolf?

Yup, you got it. I'm a werewolf.

This just happened at my house

Photo by mdiocuh galeals via Flickr CC

My nine-year-old just came from downstairs and said, "Dad, the toilet is clogged."

I said, "Which one?"

She said, "The one in the bathroom."

I just stared at her for the longest time, and then said, "Which bathroom?"

I thought for sure she would say, "The one in the house" but instead she said, "The one by my room." Glad we got that cleared up.

Dreams. I have dreams.Dreams in which I dress the mafia in sharp looking t-shirts.

Last night I dreamt that I was a t-shirt salesman who specialized in sales to criminals and the mafia. They loved my t-shirts. They loved them so much I could say anything I wanted to them and not be in any trouble, because then who would make their t-shirts? I tailored the t-shirts precisely to whomever ordered them and these guys, they were ordering a lot of shirts.

The only thing is, they didn't like to pay me in cash, they usually paid me in bricks of cocaine. My shirts cost one brick of cocaine per shirt, which might sound expensive to you, but these were awesome shirts.

Anyway, this one mob boss wanted me to make him some shirts and he would pay me later and I said, "Hey, you think I'm going to just give you shirts? You're going to stiff me." He said he wouldn't do that but he didn't have two bricks of cocaine with him. I told him no cocaine meant no shirt, no service. Boy, was he mad.

Then the alarm went off.

In retrospect, getting paid in bricks of cocaine seems like it would have a lot of downsides.

Personality test: what kind of monster are you?

I made this personality test for Halloween! You can take it on the quiz website if you dislike the embedded version below. And, of course, if you're looking for some hilarious Halloween reading, or if you would rather not be a monster at all, be sure to check out Night of the Living Dead Christian.

LEAVE WHAT KIND OF MONSTER YOU ARE IN THE COMMENTS!!!!!

You can find the full guide describing your monster type, common habitats, weaknesses and quotes here.