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Last year I wrote a blog entry that covered my favourite things from 2008.  So, why not start early on my 2010 resolution to blog more and write my favourite things of 2008.  I’m no Oprah, but I do have things I like!  I enjoy recommending things to people, especially when they like them too.    Some of these are in no particular order, some are.. you’ll just have to guess which it is.  So without anymore preamble, I’ll just get right into the list:

Oh, I also became an uncle this year too, which was pretty sweet.

Top 3 Books:

1) Freakonomics – If you have ever thought “If crack dealers make so much money why do they still live with their mothers?” Then this book is for you.  It will change the way you approach problems and situations, and in a good way.

2) The Shack – Yeah it was hyped to insane levels, but for good reason.  This is a great read for people of faith or not.  It turns some of your preconceived notions of God on their heads.  Some people really didn’t like it, but I did.. so much I’ve given it out to a few people already.

3) 1984 - It’s a classic for a reason.  Finally got around to reading it this last year.  If you haven’t read this book why not? Go, buy it now.

Top 3 Games:

I game too much, but here are some games that if you have time to play do not miss them.

1) Batman: Arkham Asylum (xbox 360) – This game was perhaps the perfect mix of Batman style gameplay, memorable characters (they used the cartoon voice actors which added a huge amount of polish), and game pacing.  There were some minor gripes with the boss fights, and the detective mode, but it was an otherwise enjoyable experience.

2) Shadow Complex (xbox 360 Arcade) – It was an arcade title this year done in the MetroidVania style.  It was an awesome game that kind of came out of nowhere for me.  If you haven’t played it, spend the Microsoft Points and pick it up.  I promise you won’t regret it.

3) Modern Warfare 2 (xbox 360) – It’s sold like a billion copies, and deservedly so.  The single player story can be extremely confusing, but the set pieces were amazing, but I bought this for the Multiplayer and I’ve played a lot of it.. probably too much.

Top 3 Albums:

1) Armistice by MuteMath - I LOVED their first album, and this one destroyed it.  It was my most anticipated album of 2009 and it did not disappoint me one bit.  Please go buy this one, it is simply amazing.  From some Jazz inspired hits, to some hard hitting rock songs it’s a varied piece that was well put together.

2) Church Music by David Crowder Band – A Collision was an absolute masterpiece, Remedy wasn’t that great or memorable, so how does Church Music stack up? Well they went back to their A Collision routes and wrote an album that has to be listened from first to last song as each flows right into the next.  I really loved this album and still play it months later.  It’s not as good as A Collision, but is definitely a close 2nd.

3) Travel Vol 1 & 2 by Future of Forestry – I had never heard of these guys before this year, but their unique sound grew on me.  The two EPs are basically half albums that make up a full set.  I wish more bands did this, release a few songs every few months rather then keeping a ton for one release every 2 years.

Top 3 Movies

1) District 9 – I love Science Fiction and I love Peter Jackson what happens when you put both together? You get an awesome directorial debut by Noel Kampann about an Alien race that landed in South Africa and is stuck and treated like garbage by us.  It was a fun ride, and I can’t wait for the inevitable sequel.

2) Zombieland – This movie kind of came out of no where.  It was a fun ride, the highest grossing Zombie movie of all time and had a sweet Bill Murray cameo.  If you haven’t seen this yet, go watch it now.

3) Avatar – This was closer to a Disney Ride than your typical movie.  If you haven’t watched this yet, go, now!  Do not wait to see this on a TV, it will never do the experience justice and you will walk away thinking that you just watched Pocahontas in space.  The 3D was crazy awesome.

Runner Up: Star Trek – It was awesome and JJ Abrahms touch is golden.

Top 3 Trips (I love to travel and do as much as possibly can!)

1) Alaska - I got to see Alaska with my Grandfather and Dad.  It was an amazing experience I will never forget.  The view and good times are something that you can only experience once in your life.

2) Bahamas - I went to the Bahamas with Jenn and her Family in May.. that was sweet.  I love beaches and hot weather, which I got a lot of.  I liked it much better then when I was in Jamaica a few years back.

3) San Francisco – I was there for work, which kinda sucked but regardless I have few nights to myself and I was able to go check out some sights and sounds of a pretty cool city.  I also had the opportunity to have dinner with the creator of Rolando.  That was a pretty sweet experience.

Top 3 Purchases

1) PS3 - Yeah, I was a hater at first.  The machine has potential, but right now the game library is just too small, hopefully that changes this year.

2) Tom’s Shoes – I bought myself a pair of Tom’s Shoes, I’ve blogged about them earlier as they give away a pair for every one they sell.  This is a sweet concept that I hope more companies jump on board with.

3) 23″ LG Monitor – Got this on a boxing day sale.  It’s nice going to 1080p, and it was an amazing deal.

Top 3 Restaurants

1) Churchill Arms – I love their curry, and rarely buy anything else when I’m there.

2) Gahan – Amazing pub food and very reasonable prices.

3) Casa Mia - I don’t eat here often, but their coffee is awesome, and they are next door to my office which is ++!

Top 3 websites

1) Twitter.com – It’s a weird site, that some people don’t get.  But it benefited me in 2009 in a few ways.  So it gets on my list. Follow me at @rfilsinger.  Even though it’s a great site for some things, it’s good for a laugh too… check this out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5Ff2X_3P_4 for a good satirical look at Twitter.

2) http://www.google.ca/ig?hl=en – Makes the list again this year.  No better homepage out there.  All my news in one easy to view spot.

3) http://stuffchristianslike.net - He is a very funny blogger who organized people to raise $60,000 to build a Kindergarden in Vietnam.  If you love Christian Satire presented in a unique way, this is definitely a great site to read.

Runner Up: Wikipedia .. because it has taught me so much, so quickly.

Top 3 Shows

1) V - It’s only 4 episodes in, but it has me hooked.  I’m just a SciFi junkie though, so I’m easily hooked by half way decent science fiction.

2) Fringe – JJ Abrahms at it again.. this guy works magic.  It has one of the best TV characters of all time in Walter.  A decent cross of  X-files and lost.

3) Dexter - In season 4, they blew us away with an ending no one will ever forget.  Glad to see the writers go somewhere tough in this weirdly styled show.

Well that’s it for this year.  Hopefully 2010 will have just as many good movies, books, games, and trips.

About a year ago I ran across the title of a book called The Sparrow while searching for something new to read.  It then took me about 5 book stores to track down a copy and a few places had never even heard of it.  The wiki article states that Brad Pitt picked up the movie rights on this book, and on a side note I would love to see the film adaptation of this book.  First of all, the reason I picked up this book is because it touches on a lot of the themes that interest me.  The main theme though that drew me to purchasing this book, was the question of “What would it look like if a religious community was the first to make contact with another intelligent race?”.  Russell tackles this question through the eyes of the main character Emilio Sandoz who is a Jesuit Priest who specializes in linguistics.

The story is told in a non-linear fashion which reveals the fate of the entire voyage first, and then unravels the pieces.  Whatever your opinions on this form of story telling is, it works here.  By going between 2060 on Earth after the events, and the past on the planet Rakhat, created a situation where I wanted to get back to each location while in other.  This pushed me to read through large chunks to unravel what happened.  Overall, I really enjoyed the book, as the themes of choice vs fate, love, forgiveness, Religion, and Science Fiction were all intertwined very well.  This book probably isn’t for everyone, but if you are like me and think about questions like “Did God create other intelligent species?”, “What would first contact look like?”, “How would we treat a species who have completely different morals than us?” then this book is for you.

My main complaint is that the end of the book was sped up way too much.  She spent 350 pages setting up this grand finale of an unveil to only really spend about 20 pages explaining the last of Emilio’s secrets.  I know the enjoyment is in the journey and not the destination, but the ending seemed very rushed.  The character of Anne, was also a bit too perfect.  Russel seem to go out of her way to make Anne be this Saint Mother type who rarely made mistakes, and didn’t seem to struggle.  The rest of the characters had problems from their life that formed who they were, and gave them depth.  Although, these two things did not ruin the book, and I quite enjoyed it.

I give this book 8 vegetable gardens out of 10.

I have this love/hate relationship with K-OS.  All of my animosity can be traced back to the fact that he walked off stage in the middle of the one chance I had ever had to see him live.  From my perspective he threw a tantrum over the fact that not everyone at the show was there to listen to him.  In the middle of one his songs he left the stage, grabbed some popcorn, threw it at the audience, and walked off stage.  All this happened after starting the concert late.  As you can see, that as a fan who really wanted to see perhaps the only Hip Hop act I’ve ever liked live, the whole event had left a bad taste in my mouth.  This was in October 2007, shortly after Atlantis: Hymns for Disco came out.  After the show, I contacted him asking for my money back, he even offered to refund personally, but I did not send my address to him.  Whether or not he would have actually refunded my ticket, I’m not quite sure.

It is now two years later, and I still have that bitter taste in my mouth over my disappointing concert experience, still feeling like he owes me $15 or at least a free concert.  He has released his fourth studio album (after saying publicly he’d only ever put out 1 ), and it is titled YES!.  The first single is titled 4321, which is also the moniker for his disc launch website 4321.fm .  Which, by the way is where you can now listen to his entire album, online for free!  So due to being cheap, lazy, and unsure if I wanted to give this man my money, I listened to the entire thing online, several times tonight to get a feel for it.  So, all that introduction aside, here is what I think of it.  One last thing before I dive into it, I generally do not like hip hop, rap, R&B, etc, it is just one of those genres of music I could never really understand, relate to, or sink my teeth into.  There are a few *very* rare exceptions, one being Gnarls Barkley, and the other most notably, being the man himself, K-OS.  I have liked his stuff pretty much from day one, maybe it’s his rhymes, or his voice, or the crunchy guitar he likes to throw in here and there or a combination of all three.

To put it simply, and out front; this album really is quite good.  It starts off with Zambony which is a great opening song that is a strong example of what I think Kevin does very well.  He presents the listener with digestible hip hop verses, with a singable chorus that are separated with very smooth transitions.  Next up on the list is Astronaut, which has some great verses, a good beat, an interesting world music vibe, but the modified voice overs through out the song, just ruin it for me.

After that is Burning Bridges, which reminds me strongly of “Sunday Morning”, which is a good thing.  That was one of my favourite songs from his last outing and the song structure works well here.  Singing about caring what other people think of him, hopefully he has taken these lyrics to heart and performs for the people that came to hear him, and not for those who didn’t.  He follows that one up with Uptown Girl which is another stand out on the album.

Almost half way through we get treated with what I like to describe as the most stereotypical hip hop song on the entire album.  It has classic female harmony sung by Nelly Fertado, hard over the top rap lyrics, which usually isn’t my thing, but for some reason it works here and I liked it.

As mentioned earlier, 4321 is the first single from the album, and is fine on it’s own, and was probably the most logical choice for a single on the whole album.  Not much to say, other than that.

Right after that is the follow up Eye Know Something, which has some heavy synth, voice overs and K-OS’ alien voice makes a comeback.  It is another song that I normally wouldn’t like, but it brings me in and I hate that I like it.  If that makes any sense.

In Aviator we see a slower tune, with some funk guitar overlaid, and is a good setup to Fun! which is probably my second favourite track on the entire album.  Which is opened up with some heavy guitar, dj scratching, and scathing lyrics.

Sometimes, the best is followed with the worst, and so is the case with Mr. Telephone Man.  If musicians can have “gimmick” songs, than Mr Telephone Man is one.. with the repeating dialing tones playing in the background, stuttering verses, and lyrics surrounding the topic.  Easily the weakest track on the album, seems like he just sat bored one day in a room staring at his phone and out popped track 10.  The last two songs are WhipC.R.E.A.M and The Avenue, which are not really not worthy, and easily forgettable.

K-OS really shines when the music gets out of his way, sets up the back beat and his lyrics just flow from topic to topic.  For the most part, he does this on the album, but it’s marred by some over sampling and trying to do much here and there.  This album is not as musically diverse as his other outings, but that doesn’t detract from the overall experience…  I did really enjoy the album, and I am probably going to buy it.  If you liked any of his earlier work, I recommend you pick it up, you won’t be disappointed.

I give this album 4 concert refunds out of 5.

As a final note he is touring the country for free in a “pay what you want” type of concert.  Maybe he’s trying to make up for his walk out in PEI, or maybe that is just my imposing my wants onto his publicity stunt.  And the cherry on top, is that I won VIP passes to any of the shows in Canada, but I can’t attend any of them.

K-OS, if you ever read this, or it comes across your desk, come back to PEI, I’ll buy the ticket again, just give me the full show, and we’ll call it even.

1. “Zambony” – 3:46
2. “Astronaut” – 3:14
3. “Burning Bridges” – 3:32
4. “Uptown Girl” (featuring Emily Haines from Metric & Murray Lightburn) – 3:38
5. “I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman” (featuring Saukrates & Nelly Furtado) – 3:10
6. “4, 3, 2, 1″ – 3:54
7. “Eye Know Something” – 3:36
8. “The Aviator” – 3:27
9. “FUN!” – 5:27
10. “Mr. Telephone Man” – 6:06
11. “WhipC.R.E.A.M.” – 2:56
12. “The Avenue” – 9:23

The Tragically Hip are Canadian rock legends.  They have been making albums for 22 years, and have released a total of 12 separate discs, plus a host of live and best of.  I own almost all of their music and have been a fan for as long as I can remember.  I have even had the opportunity to see them live three times, and each time I appreciated them more than the last time I saw them.  I would pay money to watch them live every opportunity I can, that can’t be said by me for many other bands.  Their record releases and singles have also spanned across most of my life, and I identify almost each of their big singles with various parts of my life.  To give you an example, Ahead by a Century came out when I was in junior high and I was an awkward kid trying to find what I liked in music.  Poets was released while I was in high school and it helped define late 90s rock for me.  I used to watch the music video all the time on MuchMusic, and it was a place of escape from all the Boy bands and ridiculous bubble gum pop streaming through the airwaves.  Or even In Violet Light which is probably one of the most critically hated albums, was one of the first CDs in my very first car I ever owned and I have fond memories of driving around Calgary with that blaring.  So introduction aside, The Hip have put out another album, and what do I feel about it?

Well, I have now listened to this album about 3 times through, and feel overall it does what I think they are trying to accomplish.  They have stated that they are trying to write some music that touches people during this economic turmoil and touches everyone (Hence the name).  This album has some songs that are a departure from your typical Hip Rock style, and that hurts the overall album a bit.  The musical styles are varied, Morning Moon is very country, The Depression Suite is orchestral and Queen of The Furrows is very catchy pop rock.

There are two easily identifiable sections to to this album, the first half being slow country rock, and the second being a bit more traditional Hip Rock.  I’m not a big fan of country, and I was initially turned off the album due to it’s opening.  But somewhere half way through we run into The Depression Suite, which clocks in at over 9 minutes with melodic strings and was where I began to really enjoy myself.  Quickly after this we are treated with What I think will be Hip concert staples in Speed River, and previously mentioned Queen of the Furrows.  Since I purchased this album on iTunes I was also given “Hush”, which seems unavailable elsewhere and is a weird dark blues tune with some odd lyrics, but yet is quite enjoyable.

The Hip have been making music for a long time, and it’s understandable that they are here to try new things in their music.  This album is different, it has country, melodic strings, blues, pop, and rock.  It’s an eclectic mix that works.  If you aren’t a huge Hip fan, this might not be your cup of tea, but there are definitely tracks here which are worth the 0.99 on iTunes.  The first single Love is a First, is one of those, and shouldn’t be missed.

Overall I give this album, 3.5 sold out arenas out of 5.  I’m just sad they are not coming to the Maritimes this year to promote the album.  Oh well, maybe next year.

1. “Morning Moon” – 4:01
2. “Honey, Please” – 4:01
3. “The Last Recluse” – 3:49
4. “Coffee Girl” – 3:46
5. “Now the Struggle Has a Name” – 6:05
6. “The Depression Suite” – 9:28
7. “The Exact Feeling” – 3:56
8. “Queen of the Furrows” – 4:12
9. “Speed River” – 4:28
10. “Frozen in My Tracks” – 4:04
11. “Love Is a First” – 3:44
12. “Country Day” – 5:19
13. “Hush” – 2:30 (iTunes only)

I went a lot of years without reading.  After University I got really tired of the process, and completely abandoned it for a long period of time.  Within the last few years I have really tried to get into the habit to always have my nose in a book, or two.  There are a ton of books out there, so the question becomes what do I choose to spend my time reading?  Sometimes I choose to read classics (see Fahrenheit 451), sometimes things fall into my lap by pure accident. The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical by Shane Claiborne was one of those such books.  3 months ago I had barely even heard of him, and at most was told by someone that he was “raw” (ha!).  Back in early December I had the opportunity to listen to him speak at the Canadian Youth Workers Conference in Toronto.  From there I fell in love with what he had to say about justice, grace, and living in community, so I asked for his book for Christmas, and I got it.  Well a couple nights ago I finished reading it.  So I’ve decided to put down some of my thoughts on it, as I tend to do with movies, and books here on my blog.

I have said this to many people, but to put it mildly, this book has been probably the most convicting book I have ever read besides the Bible.  There are three main areas in which conviction set in for me.

First was my North American Lifestyle.  I do not live an extravagant lifestyle by any means, but I live one that the earth’s resources cannot afford for all 6.5 billion people.  There is enough for everyone to eat, live and enjoy life, but we in North America have consume 80% of the worlds resources, and we are merely a small fraction of the world’s population.  There is something wrong with this, and it is not as some believe “God’s Blessing” for us.  One of Shane’s main points is that if you own two coats, you are essentially stealing from someone else… ouch.

Secondly, my ignorance towards the poor.  Many times in my life I have simply walked by people asking for money and continued on my way.  I have done very little with my life to give back to the poor of my community.  Jesus was homeless, and he asked us to treat everyone as if we were meeting him.  That is something we will be judged on, and it is an area in which I have failed.  Sure I give money to world vision, but that doesn’t absolve me of my duty to others, especially those less fortunate than I.

Lastly, his idea of community is one that has been on my heart for a long time.  But he is actually living it in a major North American city.  He is involved in a community life style with a group called The Simple Way.  His corner store neighbour doesn’t charge him for food, in return he helps raise their son, tutours him and looks out for him.  They went and help another family, and down the road their car was fixed for free.  Love is the great equalizer.  I have not loved my neighbours enough.  So often we have been taught that life is about getting more, internalizing everything, and it’s all about me.  Well, Jesus sure did let us know that the kingdom of heaven is here.  Read Acts 2:42 – 47 to get a better idea of what NT community looked like.  We need a bit more of that here in North America.

This book is a MUST read for anyone.  It will assault your sensibility, it will shake your core beliefs, it will energize you.  If you can read this book, and not be changed than I would have to say you have a hard heart.  He weaves these points through autobiographical stories of his time with Mother Teresa, his time in University, a trip to Iraq and in him living in the community.  Shane is authentic, real, humble, and searching for true Christianity, and he can help you find it as well.

I give this book 10 vegetables planted in old TV sets out of 10.

I had been fairly immune and disconnected from all the ranting, raving, and lunacy surrounding The Shack up until a few months ago. I had heard in passing that the author was going to be speaking at my old University and thought very little of it. Even at that point all I heard was that the book “Is a whack on the side of the head.” Not putting any more thought into it, I placed the title of the book into the back shelves of my mind.

Fast forward a month and a half and I had the privilege of attending the Canadian Youth Workers Conference in Toronto where they had invited the author of the Shack W.P. Young to speak. He did a lecture/reading that I did not attend, but then heard him in one of the general sessions. He read a small portion of the book to the audience and I was intrigued. Through out the weekend I over heard several conversations surrounding the book, and had heard various ideas, rumours, nay sayings and endorsements. I appreciate Williams honesty when sharing about some of the controversy surrounding the subject, and then decided to make a decision for myself. Michael Krahn wrote a review of the book mentioning that people made judgment on the book before reading it, that issue is a soapbox issue of mine I won’t get into, but to put it bluntly those people aren’t worth wasting your time on.

So for Christmas I asked for two books, one being The Shack and other being The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical by Shane Claiborne.  Two weeks later on a long plane ride from Charlottetown to Winnipeg, I finished The Shack.  I know understand why the book is so controversial on varying levels.  Young takes God out of our neat and tidy theological boxes, turns the knob to 11 and then lets everything splatter out all over the floor.

To put it mildly, this book is not one you are going to start hanging your theological hat on.  What it does do though, is challenge some of our preconceived notions of what/who God is, and how he interacts with us.  it gets us asking questions, and in my opinion that is always a good thing.  That then leads to searching, which we often do not do enough of.  Too often in my faith, I have heard people say “That’s not God”, or “God doesn’t work that way”.  It is those people who I feel are afraid of The Shack.  With careful articulation we see what it *might* look like if God did come down to meet us, face to face, and how we would be changed by such an experience.

Young’s portrayal of the relationship between the trinity, to me is one the most significant things in the book.  He did an articulate job on showing us what a perfect relationship might look like, one that is centered around love.  It challenged the very core of my relationship with my wife in a very good way.  We as a human race love with condition, even if we don’t think we do, generally it always comes down to condition, even if we don’t like to admit it.

If you haven’t read this book, you really should, Christian or non-Christian alike.  I also think you need to read it with as little preconceived notions as you can.  Try to read this book for what it is, and not for what it isn’t.  I believe it is a compelling story about redemption, love, forgiveness, challenging our view of the world, and dealing with the short comings of our humanness.  It isn’t going to take authority away from the Bible for a theological basis, it isn’t about pagan images replacing the trinity, it’s about God’s love for us, and how that can and does change people.  Read this book, be inspired, challenged, stretched and touched.

As with all my reviews, I like to review with a number.. so here it is.. I rate The Shack 9 Canoe Rides out of 10.