music

Midweek Design: Photoshop and Daigle

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Last night, I unleashed my Photoshop powers and created some slides for my church. Enjoyed listening to Lauren Daigle’s Look Up Child album while working.

Christian radio about killed Lauren Daigle for me by repeatedly playing her older music, ALL THE TIME. Daigle’s new album is fantastic though. Drawing vocal comparisons to Adele, I appreciate Lauren’s thoughtful lyrics. Give her a listen below:

Also, here are a few of the images I cooked up for church:

Welcome to The MAC

Thanksgiving 2018

The MAC Family Worship Service

Hope ya’ll are having a fantastic Wednesday! Stay warm.

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Wii Music – Music of the Night

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Tabitha, Wyatt, and I played Wii Music for the first time. Our jam session ended in a battle.

Wii-Music

Mii Maestro, a minigame within the game, allows players to use the Wii Remote as a conductor’s baton. Your repressed childhood dream of conducting an orchestra:

ACHIEVED

At the end of each musical piece, the game rates your conducting ability. Game on, Hall family.

The fog of music has erased my mind of whatever score Wyatt received. My own brilliant performance of conducting Twinkle Twinkle Little Star was spectacular. I knew that I had nailed it. I also knew that there was no way that Tabitha was going to best my score of 74. I was wrong.

Not only did she beat my score with an 80, her inspired rendition received a thunderous applause. Mii applause.

My pride shattered. How could I have been schooled in Twinkle Twinkle Little Star? Wait, did I just type that?

I spent $0.97 on Wii Music. Worth every penny for a small moment of friendly competition. Now to find batteries for the other Wii Remotes. Multiplayer awaits.

Fostering the Soul

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I am a sucker for a good beat. Any song with a catchy rhythm and rhyme is guaranteed to get stuck in my head for days on end. At times I take pleasure in being able to hit this mental repeat button, savoring the melodies over and over; other times I just shudder and wish that the song would go away. Music can be poison to the soul.

Over the past few weeks, I have been listening to Foster the People’s debut album Torches. The album paints a melodic landscape of smooth summer sounds tinged with a subversive darkness. The band’s career launching song, “Pumped Up Kicks”, best displays the bands musical groove/dance with the devil. Below is a sample of the song’s “happy” chorus:

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks,You better run, better run, outrun my gun. All the other kids with the pumped up kicks,You better run, better run, faster than my bullet.

“Pumped Up Kicks” tells the dark story of a kid taking his dad’s gun and going on a shooting spree. At first listen, you’d never be able to tell that that is what lead singer Mark Foster is singing about. By the time you’ve looked up the lyrics, it is too late. The satisfying whistling of the chorus has already embedded itself. Whether the song is about raising awareness or celebrating teen gun violence doesn’t matter. What matters is what is now worming its way into your soul.

Alleluia

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Two weeks ago, my church hosted the California Baptist University Choir and Orchestra. While not normally my type of music, I found the choir and orchestra to be absolutely beautiful! One of the songs they sang, Alleluia, has been stuck in my head since then. The chorus for the song is incredible! Almost haunting in a way… This morning I woke up with the song in my head…so I hunted it down on the youtubes. Enjoy!

On the Verge

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So here we are, standing on the verge of another week; another week of the mundane mixed with unexpected adventures.

Went to church today and listened to the California Baptist University Choir and Orchestra. The group played and sang quite well! I enjoyed the experience most when the choir members came out and sang a few songs mixed-in with the audience. Talk about stereo sound!

Rewind!

The rest of my weekend was very relaxed. Saturday night my wife and I watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow: Part 1. Overall, the movies pacing, intimate moments, and build-up to the final confrontation and battles made it a thousand times better than the dreadful Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince film. Seriously. I had thought that the Harry Potter film franchise was sunk after watching Prince. Thankfully director David Yates found his bearings and cranked out one of the best Harry Potter films yet!

Otherwise, I didn’t have much time for video games this weekend. I did however have a chance to sit down and read some more of The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. The political intrigue has finally begun!

So here we are again on the verge of a brand new week. Are you ready?