Widgets
I have a nexus one and enjoy my widgets. I have some for RSS feeds, weather, mint.com, search bars, twitter, financial information, quick settings i need access too, etc. iOS5 needs some widget integration, and I see it opening up an entirely new market for sales. I hope Apple doesn’t ignore the revenue opportunity here, but I have feeling they just might.

Overhaul Notification Handling
One of the biggest knocks on iOS is the way it handles notifications. Sure this was fine when all that was coming in were texts and the occasional alarm or reminder. Now with the advent of push notifications, and every app using it like it’s going out of style it does not take long for it to be a huge annoyance. I turn almost all my push notifications off by default. I’d love to see an android style notification task bar that I can just drag down at my leisure and respond to whatever program is waiting for my response. This is one spot where Apple design is bottlenecking the user experience.

Multitasking makeover
Closer to how safari handles multiple pages. Give me options, i want ot be able to choose what apps stay in multitasking mode, which close every time i press the home button. I like the double click style bottom row launch, but I’d love to see some rework in this area and let the user have a preview of exactly what is running. I like how they handle safari pages, and I’d love to see something similar for multitasking in iOS.

File Management
We need some kind of file manager. Want to attach a document or photograph to that email you already have written? Nope, you can only attach files through the file itself, not through the email client. If apple really wants to push this is a true post-computer device, we really need to see some ability to manipulate files, open then from anywhere.

Air Syncing
Having a completely portable device still pretty much by default be tethered. While I’m at it, add a cloud music service. I hate having my collection all strewn about because I may have purchased an item on one computer, but not another. Setup a cloud for my app save games, my icon layouts and all my mp3s. I’d even pay extra for this service. I love the cloud, Apple come join me.

Air installation
Android’s market place lets me install applications to my device through a simple once-click web interface. I love this a lot. It makes getting apps on my device easy if someone links me to something without even having to pick up my phone. Apple, please release this now through iTunes.

Child Accounts
Apple has taken basically zero precautions to help parents control the spending on the device once it leaves their hands. As a parent I’d like to see either A) A “Child mode” similar to that of Airplane mode where purchases can’t happen without a special 4 digit code+ the account password that I can turn/off quickly or B) Let me setup a child account inside iTunes that will let me put credits in. That way my son can buy what he wants, but not have unlimited access to my credit card.

Animated backgrounds
This request is extremely trivial. But in the right spot animated backgrounds are fun and frivilous. If i judge how long it took apple to give us the ability to select custom backgrounds at all, I don’t see this one coming any time soon.

We’ll know more come this June at WWDC. I’m really hoping we’ll see at least one of these features announced come early summer.

What story are you telling? from Rhetorik Creative on Vimeo.

You can pick it up here

Enter in Haiti in 2011. In the first meeting almost a year ago, we went around the room and we answered the icebreaking question of “Why are you going on this trip”. For me at the time, my answer was simple. “I think it’s a good idea.” I had seen the destruction on the news while travelling to Louisville, Kentucky for meetings about NYC and it had barely touched me. Later on, I gave some money when asked to as God had prodded, then even further help sell some water bottles at crazy prices to help provide people with drinking water. Yet… that wasn’t enough to absolve me of what God has asked me (us) to do. So I went. I didn’t particularly feel “called” to this trip as some people might have described it. At that point I had merely seen the need, was given an opportunity to follow through on my faith and give back. I didn’t feel I needed a reason beyond that. After going and coming back, I realized how much more I am required to help, to give, to be there. So in small way I’ve only given of myself when it was convenient for me, how much more am I required to give when it’s not?

My testimony today won’t be about what we did there, how God changed me, or how Haiti is a beautiful, yet desolate dichotomy of contrasts. God has simply asked me to challenge you, to ask you to help. Our church is filled with people who have heard his call and gone and given of themselves, yet I feel there are many, many more here that God has asked to go, and have ignored him. Or perhaps didn’t realize what they were being asked and got confused or simply let apathy or fear rule their decision making. I feel the Lord has asked me to speak to you. Simply giving of your money is not enough to absolve you of your Christian responsibility. I’m sorry, it’s just not. He has called ALL Christians to give of themselves in service, and I’ll even argue service outside of just your “local area”, or otherwise known as your comfort zone is not enough as we see in the scriptures. So I’m going to quickly speak on 3 topics that the Lord spoke to me while being on the trip. My prayer is that one or more of you will hear what I’m saying and not leave here today without saying “yes” to what big adventure God has in store for you next.

Apathy!

“Only if my enemy was bigger than my apathy, then I could have won.” “I Gave you All” -Mumford & Sons
Wikipedia defines Apathy as a state of indifference, or the suppression of emotions such as concern, excitement, motivation and passion. An apathetic individual has an absence of interest in or concern about emotional, social, or physical life. He or she may exhibit an insensibility or sluggishness.
For far too much of my life I have been apathetic to the problems around me, the issues of the world, to the needs of the many. Far too often my enemy was not bigger than my apathy, and so I’ve lost precious hours, days, and weeks not caring, not loving. Haiti changed that for me. No longer can I live my life ignoring, suppressing my emotions, being unconcerned. Allowing oneself to become apathetic is a sin that needs as much or more repentance then most. Even if you have lost time to apathy, take this quote from Prince Caspian in the chronicles of Narnia to heart.
“To know that would have happened, child? No. Nobody is ever told that. But anyone can find out what will happen. If you go back to the others now, and wake them up; and tell that you have seen me again; and that you must all get up at once and follow me—what will happen? There is only one way of finding out.” –Aslan in Prince Caspian
Woe to you who has let your heart harden to the cries of pain and suffering of this world. Woe to you who has stood by and watched as the world has burned. Woe to you who knows no passion, concern or excitement. Do not let your heart be hardened, but let God’s light shine in, and you might be pleasantly surprised what just might happen.
Fear!
“Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven but Nobody Wants To Die lord, I Want To Go To Heaven but I Don’t Want To Die though I Long For The Day When I Have New Birth still I Love Livin? Here On Earth everybody Wants To Go To Heaven but Nobody Wants To Die.” – David Crowder Band
Many times people allow fear to rule their lives. If I had a nickel for every person I’ve talked to over the years that have made excuses on why they can’t help, or go somewhere to give of themselves I’d probably would have solved world hunger by now. More times than not, it is simply person allowing their fears to rule and win over what God has planned for them. What I hear when people tell me those things is that they simply believe that God is not big enough to take care of whatever it is they are worried about. If there is anything I learned in Haiti is that it is not about you. When you become a follower of Christ, you are giving up yourself for him. So often in the first world, we believe way too much that the world is centered on us. Once you let go of the idea, that “it” is about you, the easier it will be to do simply what he has asked of us. Let go of your fear, let go of your “ifs and buts”. Listen to him and go… do something. Do not let fear stop you from experiencing what God has planned for you. If you do, you are robbing the world of Joy, goodness, hope, faith and life.

Ecclesiastes 12:8 8 “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher.[a] “Everything is meaningless!”
Psalm 27:1 1 The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?
Faith!
“To the desperate eyes and reaching hands. To the suffering and the lean. To the ones the world has cast aside. Where you want me I will be.” – “I Will Go” – Starfield.
Matthew 28: 17-20
When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
I’m pretty sure when I read that in my Bible, it says all nations. Maybe your version says something like “Therefore and make disciples of all the first world nations”, or “make disciples of all the safe places”, or maybe yours says “make disciples of all the easy to get to nations.”
Have we become a people of those who only selectively tell the gospel because it might be scary, or uncomfortable, or cost “too much”?
Matthew 25:31-46
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ 41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ 44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ 46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
I know man is saved by Grace and not by works, but if you read that the same way I do. Each Christian will be held responsible for their giving, or lack thereof. Just giving some money to help absolve you of your first world guilt isn’t enough people. We are demanded to do something to help those in need. Can you sit there in your chair and tell me those are not the people Jesus was talking about? (Show picture of kids in Sunday school)
Acts 1:6-8
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
I’d like you to all bow your head with me and pray this prayer with me. “Lord lead me to what you have for me to do. Break my heart with what breaks yours. Increase my faith, take away my fear, and never let me become apathetic. Amen.” I challenge you to pray this every single day until he speaks to you. I promise you it won’t take long.
When you become a Christian you gave up your right to be apathetic, fearful and ignorant. What are you going to do next? Don’t let Satan’s use of fear and apathy rob you, and God’s people of what he has planned. For we will all be held accountable when the time comes for not acting when asked.

1) Keep your specializations

When developing games, keep the specializations you chose (Game World, Polish, Approachability, etc) for multiple games in a row. This will create a situation where your reputation starts to form and you will get significant increase in fans.  I tend to switch directions after I get this notice, to replicate it in another area.

2) Get multiple game types and styles to lvl 2 and lvl 5.

Every time you get a genre to level 2 and level 5, you gain an additional 2 points to assign in the game specialization.  This will help your over all scores, and fans.  Thus making you more money, which is the primary goal.

3) Do not skimp on your staff hiring.

Everything relies on your staff.  Always spend the extra money to hire the best, it will make you a ton more money in the long run as their skills will create better games, which will sell better.

4) Advertise

Building your fan base inside the game is very important in keeping your sales high.  Spending the money on advertising seems expensive at times, but it will definitely be worth it in the long run.

5) Time your releases around the end of the year.

Try and make sure one of your games per year come out in late November or early December.  This will help even a poorly made game gain significant sales due to the timing of the release.

6) Create your own hardware.

Eventually the game will unlock the ability for you to develop your own console.  This will cost you $90 million if you choose all the top end options.  This is a good idea, as it will save you money in dev costs and produce revenue for you.  The problem most people have is finding a Hardware Engineer.  The way you gain one is to train one of you employees to level 5 in all the roles.  This requires a lot of discs, change job manuals and time.  So start prepping an individual early for this role.  Also, purchase job change manuals early as this will also save you money when it comes time to train yourself an engineer.

7) Take contracts when needed.

At times it’s good to gain some extra fast income from doing contracts.  This can be done very quickly with a highly trained staff sometimes finishing a 10 week contract in 2 weeks.  If you put a couple of these together quickly, you can make up that extra cost hiring that marching band cost you last month.  As a side tip: Never accept someones offer to improve a contracts graphics,sound, etc.  Many times it will cause you a loss of money, delayed time and lost discs.  Don’t even consider it.

8 ) When assigning jobs watch fatigue levels.

When you are giving someone a job at the various stages of development, make sure to give it first to someone who has the highest stat, but you also need to make sure that the person is not tired, and has not been used multiple times in a row.  It is sometimes not a bad idea to hire an outsider to do the job for you to give your main employee a rest.

9) Sequels rule the gaming world.

Eventually you will start creating sequels.  It is good to have about 3 or so different franchises that you run through consistently, trying to never repeat a type/genre.  Any game that reaches the hall of fame will be eligible to have a sequel created.  These will also be your biggest sellers, and as a bonus you get a base start of stats, which will help your score.

10) Use obvious combinations

This one seems like a no brainer, but make sure you always pick types and genres that match.  No one wants to play Puzzle/Marathon, but I’m sure there are a ton that like Shooter/Robot.

11) New Game++

After you complete your 20 years of service to the slave driver known as GDS, you get to go at it again if you want.  Start a new game and you will gain a bonus of all your previously gained levels in each genre/style, as well as access to secret Monkey and Robot employees.

I’ll add to this post as I think of more, or come across any additional information.

Top 3 Games:

It was the year of the sequel.  Each one of these games completely blew away the game before it.  The all deserve to be on this list, and if you haven’t played them, go out and put money down on them.  You will not regret it one bit.

1) Mass Effect 2 (xbox 360) – The first game was one amazing space opera.  It had some flaws, but overall was a much improved experience which took out all the stuff I hated in Mass Effect (Mako driving!).  The space mining was a bit tedious, but overall the game was executed very well.  I’m excited to see how this crazy space trilogy ends.

2) Starcraft 2 (PC) –12 years in the making? A rumoured 100 million spent to make it? Well all of that was worth it.  The best RTS game of all time has captured my attention since I got into the beta in March.  I still play it regularly and have a blast.  There is a pretty amazing e-sport scene surrounding the game over in Korea, and it makes watching the game played fun to watch.

3) Uncharted 2 (xbox 360) – Naughty Dog blended Indiana Jones and game playing perfectly, then improved on it.  This game was a ton of fun, and I’m really excited for the third one coming out sometime this year.

Runners Up: God of War 3(PS3), Assassins Creed 2(xbox 360)

Top 3 Albums:

1) Brothers(Deluxe) by The Black Keys – Hadn’t heard of them until their grammy nomination.  Now I can’t get enough of this blues rock brother combo.  Do not miss this album.  It’s like if you took Gnarls Barkley and Stevie Ray Vaughn and mashed them together.  So weird, yet so good.  Pick this one up.

2) Travel Vol 3 by Future of Forestry – The idea of releasing about 5 songs every 6 months or so is awesome.  More bands need to this more often.  I loved the first two volumes, and the third one of the set was by far the best.  The tempo was increased, more guitars added and the lyrics just as strong.  You need to pick this up.

3) Stone Temple Pilots – Stone Temple Pilots – After a many year hiatus, mutliple “super groups” and apparently a few times in rehab.  The group has reformed to put out which I think was one of the best albums of the year.  If you are a child of the 90s then you owe yourself to buy this album and give a good listen.

Top 3 Movies

1) Inception – Does Christopher Nolan ever make a bad movie? So far the answer is no, and this movie blew away my large expectations for it.  It is a bit mind bending, but simply amazing.

2) True Grit – This one squeaked into my top 3 at the very end of the year.  The Coen brothers do it again with this sort of remake of the original.  This movie was carried by the actors and the excellent dialogue written for them.  Go see it, you still have time.

3) Scott Pilgrim vs the World – This movie was about an hour and half of pure 90s video game references and inside jokes.  It was great to see a film that seem to have been made for my child hood growing up in Canada with the tastes that I have.  It is definitely not for everyone, but it was definitely for me.  If you did like the movie, make sure you go up and pick up the comic books the movie was based off of as well.

Runner Up: The Book of Eli

Top 3 Trips

1) The Hospital - I became a father this year.  Driving to the hospital after Jenn’s waterbroke was something I’ll never forget.  It’s been a pretty crazy experience over the last couple months, learning to be a father but I hav enjoyed every minute of it.. (well most minutes).

2) Europe (Germany, Italy, Austria) - Jenn and I finally got to do our planned trip to Europe.  We are still paying for the trip months later, but it was worth every penny.  Getting to see things like the coliseum and Dachau were pretty amazing.  I could go on for hours about the trip, but I won’t.  Oh yeah, and the food was awesome too.

3) San Francisco –San Fran makes it onto the list for the second straight year as I was able to attend my first GDC.  I had been following the event for many years, and now I was finally able to attend.  I don’t think I’ll get to go to it this year, but it was a blast nonetheless.

Top 3 Restaurants

1) Churchill Arms – For the second straight year, Churchill Arms makes my #1 favourite restaurant.  I still order the same thing every time.  They even got featured on Regis and Kelly this summer.  Get the curry half and half.  They’ll know what you mean and you won’t regret it.

2) Zen Sushi Bar – We are crazy blessed with Asian food now in Charlottetown.  We have Korean, Japanese, Thai, Chinese, and we just now need a Vietnamese place, but regardless of all that, the first real sushi restaurant opened and it good.  It’s a weekly tradition amongst some of my coworkers and we enjoy the trip to the small little shop every time.

3) Casa Mia - They keep me caffeinated daily.  That should say enough.

Top 3 websites

1) Netflix.ca – This year we finally got the video streaming service to Canada and it’s awesome.  The only draw back is that their selection is a tad on the week side.  With the cost only being $8/month, it is very easy to overloook the poor selection, because there is usually something to watch there.  It’s really only 1 movie rental to keep a subscription, so until there stops being stuff I want to watch, I’ll continue subscribing.  I also read somewhere this year that they were 95% of all Canadian web traffic one evening.. that is nuts.

2) Gawker Blogs – This company runs a ton of different blogs such as Kotaku, LifeHacker, and Gizmodo.  They keep me up to date on a ton of different topics and the information is pretty reliable and fast.

3) Huffington Post/Drudge Report- This is technically two different sites, but both exist on the extremes of Right and Left news.  Usually the truth lands somewhere in the middle, but they keep me informed of what’s going on in the world from two very different perspectives.

Runner Up: http://www.google.ca/ig?hl=en – It’s the first thing I see when I launch a browser, and therefor should always make my list until someone figures out a better replacement.

Top 3 Shows

1) The Walking Dead - As soon as you think zombies have been done way too many times, something fresh comes out.  This year it was AMC who are best known for Mad Men and Breaking Bad revealed a 6 part first season of the hit graphical novel of the same name.  It was very well done, and an excellent first real step into a series around zombies.

2) Fringe – This show has really pushed it story line forward this year and made some huge improvements over last years wishy washy parts.  So far the season has been great, and I hope it ends as strong as it began.

3) The Daily Show with John Stewart - The most trusted name in news for people of my age.  He leaves no one alone, and pokes great fun at the obsudirty that is American politics.  It’s a great way to kill 20 minutes while eating supper and always makes me laugh while keeping me informed.

Top 3 Books:

I did not read much this year, therefor this list is not as strong as it could have been.  I will be reading more this year for sure.

1) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins–I came across this on a “Best books you’ve probably never read” list.  I had never heard of it, but it got me hooked.  I finished the book in about 3 days staying up late to get through it.  It’s pure teen fiction.  Treat the book like fast food and you’ll enjoy it.  It isn’t going to change the world, but it was definitely a really fun read.

2) Tribes by Seth Godin – This small little book had some great quotes in it.  It takes a look at how each person has the capability of influencing others within their Tribe.  The world is becoming increasingly accessible to anyone.  Reading through this gave me a new perspective on just that.

3) Stuff Christians Like by Jon Acuff- Last year his website made my top list, now this year his book did.  It’s a funny take on the stupid and crazy things Christians do.  I love satire, and Jon Acuff does it well.  Pick it up if you like a good laugh.

Well that’s it for this year.  Hopefully 2011 will have just as many good movies, books, games, and trips.

Country and Western Sunday – The Themed Sunday to rule them all.

In the general course of the church calendar year, there are many themed services. There is the not so obvious one that some people like to call “Christmas” or as I prefer “Xmas”. If you’re a trivia nerd like I am and know that X is actually the Greek symbol for Jesus, then you saw what I just did there. There is also that other one that falls around spring time and involves a big ham dinner and copious amounts of chocolate also known to the uninformed as “Easter”. One step up from those two are your B-Level themed Sundays that you only remember exist because the pastor just announced that the children are to walk in with palm branches and your kid is staring up at you and is asking “Daddy, why don’t I get to have a branch like those other kids”. Or, maybe a guest speaker has just started rambling on about tongues of fire coming down on people’s heads as your pew neighbour who doesn’t understand personal space(when he obviously has the whole row free to stretch out) hands you a little headband with a sparkler attached. Unfortunately, this post is about none of those themed services.

Nope, this is about the themed service that crosses the boundaries of time, space, evolution and every good Christian topic in an attempt to outreach to that awesome guitar player that everyone was hoping would join the worship team, or for those neighbours that live next to the church building that you seem to have forgotten existed the other 25 Sundays on the calendar. I’m talking about the super bowl of Sundays, the themed service I’m almost certain is mentioned in Revelations somewhere, the coup de gras, the theme to end all themes.. yup.. you guessed it(or maybe you didn’t).

Country and Western Sunday!

This powerful moving behemoth of an event included everything from being allowed to wear jeans to church to Uncle Joe’s Epic 8 Spice Chili that was famous three states over. The planning that went into bringing this event together would put World Cup organizers to shame. Things had to be mint, top the year before and be the one that would be talked about for years to come. This annual event always had to include the following ingredients, and each year had to be bigger than the year before:

1) Decently obscure Country band with the religious overtoned name(ie. Standing on a Hill, The Alpha Way) that played one song that you might have possibly heard on the radio that one time you switched between the gospel channel and the hot 90s dance mix.

2) 45 kinds of chili and enough biscuits to put Crackle Barrel out of business and so many pies that they had flavours you were positive were just made up the night before.

3) Hay. So much of in fact that there was enough to feed like 70 horses, but instead of being put to good use it was used to build an entire stage for the band. There were also so many left over’s that every person could have a place to sit and feel uncomfortable while the straw poked up through your sweet plaid shirt.

4) The pastor in a tie which was made from an encased dead scorpion, which seemed to increase in size every year.

5) Lastly, the family band. This was the crescendo of the event and a moment of ecstasy for all involved. This was when anyone who could play anything was allowed up on the stage for their one shining moment of annual delight. You had Frank the janitor playing his washboard, the 3 year olds with the egg shakers, the somewhat awkward but cooler than everyone else neighbourhood kid who just learned stairway to heaven jamming on his guitar and Uncle Joe on his spoons, playing amazing grace in some miracle of collaborations that would have put Eminem and Elton John to shame.

Today Country and Western Sunday is no more. It faded into obscurity much like most things from the 90s like overalls, Zach Morris, and TLC. Today, I would love to see the Super Theme Service brought back; maybe some hip mega church can pull of an 80s theme Sunday, or throw a toga party(most churches already have the bath robes from all those plays that needed shepherds), you could even call it Toga Yoga to bring in the LuLu Lemon crowd. Alas, though, it probably won’t happen. I miss that event. Oh how far we have backslid into routine.

What theme Sundays did your church put on that was not part of the normal “Christian” calendar growing up? Does your church do Themed Sundays as a part of outreach(Such as Carnival Sunday, or Church in the Park!)? What is your favourite memory from those time capsules in your head?

Well fast forward a few months, and a couple more commercials have come out, all with the same wacky sense of humour.  Well last night, the OldSpice guy responded to Facebook, twitter, and website comments somewhat “live” on his youtube account.  This series of 50 or so videos have gone viral for their sheer absurdness and everyone of them being generally awesome.

Most of the time in the market place, companies sign up for a twitter account to merely spam people with product information guised as them trying to communicate with people.  They just don’t understand the nuances of  social media, it’s power and generally how fast everything can turn for or against you.  But, in comes Old Spice who took it to the next level and personalized videos to customer, Internet celebrities, and other random people.  The result was sure social media brilliance.

You can check out the whole thing here on their youtube account, and their twitter account here.

Here is hist most recent commercial.

Reading through his book, is like someone has been in my head for all 28 years of my life, writing down everything I thought, experienced and have pondered about Christianity.  It’s really kind of a surreal experience that only a small subset of people will get.  This book isn’t for everyone, but for those who it is for, will laugh, cry(from laughing so hard) and say to themselves, yup Jon you nailed that.  Cause you know what?  I’ve Booty, God, Booty’d before, I’ve had the internal conversation about how do I break up with my small group, and I’ve used the words Missional Postmodern Relevance in a sentence before.  In the end though, the best part of Jon’s satire is that he usually ends it with a nugget of truth.  Like in an O’Henry bar, where the comedy is the chocolaty goodness but you know you just bought the bar because of the nugget on the inside.  I continue to read Jon because he’s funny, but mainly because he lands on some truth that I needed to hear or be reaffirmed of.

I recommend you read his blog, don’t skip serious Wednesday, and support the guy by picking up his book.  It’s only $10 and makes perfect reading material for those moments when you need to not take yourself so seriously and have a good laugh.  Oh and since purchasing the book, my life has been 100x more spiritual and I’ve become independently wealthy… just saying.

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.