Hey, this is my blog, check it out peeps!!! It will have some information on my life at Dordt but will mostly have music artist and album reviews along with sports reviews!!! I know, sounds pretty awesome right!?!?
http://bensytsma.blogspot.com/
Ben
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Well...
It's a secret to everyone that this blog has been neglected. Ben and I just really could not get excited about writing what we did everyday on this thing. So I regret to inform everyone that this is going to be the last post on this blog.
There is good news however! Ben and I are ending this blog, but we are not ending blogging. I always enjoyed writing reviews on this blog, so I'm doing a separate blog that you can read more about here:
http://kylesreviewblog.blogspot.com/
Ben's blog I can't speak for, but I will let him do a post on here to let you all know about it. Which I guess means I lied about this being the last post. Whatever.
Well, it's been real and it's been fun, but has it been real fun?
There is good news however! Ben and I are ending this blog, but we are not ending blogging. I always enjoyed writing reviews on this blog, so I'm doing a separate blog that you can read more about here:
http://kylesreviewblog.blogspot.com/
Ben's blog I can't speak for, but I will let him do a post on here to let you all know about it. Which I guess means I lied about this being the last post. Whatever.
Well, it's been real and it's been fun, but has it been real fun?
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Lions Preview
Here is a very simple preview for the Lions upcoming season
Tampa Bay- Win, I like the lions in this matchup with the bucs having some key injuries and the lions being relatively healthy and coming off of a great preseason. (1-0)
Kansas City-Win. I see the D-Line absolutely destroying Cassel in the backfield here. The chiefs simply don't have enough offense to put up 28 points, which the lions should be able to score consistently this year. (2-0)
Minnesota- A mental lapse with the presence of Adrian Peterson brings us to a loss. McNabb gets good looks at secondary because of our concern with Peterson. (2-1)
Dallas-Win, personally, I don't think that Dallas is very good, the only key is to get pressure on Romo (3-1)
Chicago-Loss, our offense struggles to run the ball which results in too much pressure on Stafford. (3-2)
San Fransisco-Win, simple, they have no offense. (4-2)
Atlanta-Loss, simply lose to a better opponent (4-3)
Denver and Chicago-Wins, due to significant pressure on the QB's, rebound win against the Bears. (6-3)
Carolina-Win, they have no offense to compete with the players on our d-line and offense. (7-3)
Two losses follow to New Orleans and Green Bay, very tough and important games for us, if we get one of these it would be huge for making the playoffs! (7-5)
Two wins against Minnesota and Oakland, two simply mediocre teams (9-5)
Two losses at San Diego and Packers (9-7). If we want to make the playoffs we have to beat the packers at least once, and sweep the vikings and/or the bears. I think we will end the season at a 9-7 record and just miss the playoffs, but much improvement on the previous years!
Tampa Bay- Win, I like the lions in this matchup with the bucs having some key injuries and the lions being relatively healthy and coming off of a great preseason. (1-0)
Kansas City-Win. I see the D-Line absolutely destroying Cassel in the backfield here. The chiefs simply don't have enough offense to put up 28 points, which the lions should be able to score consistently this year. (2-0)
Minnesota- A mental lapse with the presence of Adrian Peterson brings us to a loss. McNabb gets good looks at secondary because of our concern with Peterson. (2-1)
Dallas-Win, personally, I don't think that Dallas is very good, the only key is to get pressure on Romo (3-1)
Chicago-Loss, our offense struggles to run the ball which results in too much pressure on Stafford. (3-2)
San Fransisco-Win, simple, they have no offense. (4-2)
Atlanta-Loss, simply lose to a better opponent (4-3)
Denver and Chicago-Wins, due to significant pressure on the QB's, rebound win against the Bears. (6-3)
Carolina-Win, they have no offense to compete with the players on our d-line and offense. (7-3)
Two losses follow to New Orleans and Green Bay, very tough and important games for us, if we get one of these it would be huge for making the playoffs! (7-5)
Two wins against Minnesota and Oakland, two simply mediocre teams (9-5)
Two losses at San Diego and Packers (9-7). If we want to make the playoffs we have to beat the packers at least once, and sweep the vikings and/or the bears. I think we will end the season at a 9-7 record and just miss the playoffs, but much improvement on the previous years!
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
A New Beginning!
Hi all! This is Ben!!! It has been an incredibly long time...sorry!
First announcement! School is going good, kyle and I are both pretty busy with homework, but we manage and have had some pretty sweet hang out time with friends already. On our first weekend we did so much I can't even remember it all. Friday we started out just kinda hanging out and we ended up going to the tree house at night after a doughnut run and we jammed up there with our friends for a good 2-3 hours...it was a blast.
Saturday morning all of our guy friends made breakfast in the kitchens for the girls. It was a blast, we were rocking out to awesome music the whole time once again!
Basketball....eh, not fun right now, lots of conditioning.
Basically, right now we are back in the swing of things at school, and just having fun hanging out with our friends from Dordt again!
the Swing thing
Oh, and I made GIFT! Which is our Sunday night service on campus, I am extremely stoked, I wasn't expecting that at all! God is Good! All the TIME!!!
Well have a good week!
Ben
First announcement! School is going good, kyle and I are both pretty busy with homework, but we manage and have had some pretty sweet hang out time with friends already. On our first weekend we did so much I can't even remember it all. Friday we started out just kinda hanging out and we ended up going to the tree house at night after a doughnut run and we jammed up there with our friends for a good 2-3 hours...it was a blast.
Saturday morning all of our guy friends made breakfast in the kitchens for the girls. It was a blast, we were rocking out to awesome music the whole time once again!
Basketball....eh, not fun right now, lots of conditioning.
Basically, right now we are back in the swing of things at school, and just having fun hanging out with our friends from Dordt again!
Oh, and I made GIFT! Which is our Sunday night service on campus, I am extremely stoked, I wasn't expecting that at all! God is Good! All the TIME!!!
Well have a good week!
Ben
Monday, May 23, 2011
TV to See: Chuck - "Chuck Vs. The Cliffhanger"
Watch this. It's got everything you could want: action, drama, romance, humor, and of course a cliffhanger.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
TV to See: Community - "Paradigms of Human Memory"
Now I (Kyle) know what you're thinking. First of all, there hasn't been a blog in a while. My bad. Secondly, when there finally is a blog, I'm apparently just blogging about the same thing that Ben did. Now let me set the record straight. If Ben hadn't blogged about Community, I still would have done this blog. This is completely independent of his. I'm focusing on a specific episode, because when I see a really good episode of television, I want to blog about it. That's just the way I am.
So, thanks to Ben, I don't really need to explain this show. He already did that. Personally, I think Community is the funniest show on television right now (that I know of) and they are at the top of their game creatively. The show has become extremely good at doing parodies focusing on genres of movies and TV, while still maintaining character development and hilarious jokes, and this episode is no different.
For this episode, Community tackled what is an old sitcom standby: the clip show. Whenever a sitcom has built up quite a bit of material, sometimes the writers will just take a break for an episode and make a clip show: an episode which features various clips from previous episodes. That way the writers don't really need to come up with new material. Unfortunately, an example of this would be The Office, which resorted to a clip show last season. Shows will usually do this when they are a bit later in their lifespan, but Community is only in it's second season. And one other thing: all of the clips from the clip show in this episode were completely new, but played off like it was things we had seen before.
The episode showed us "flashbacks" of the group in ridiculous situations, like a western ghost town, a mental asylum, and various other locales. There were even scenes from previous episodes, but from the perspectives of others that we didn't see before. It also included jokes making fun of Glee, the NBC show The Cape, and jokes about people who make "fan videos" about the show on Youtube. But the best part of the episode is that it wasn't only hilarious, but it tied everything together and had some great character development as well. We got to see back stories for characters that will probably have implications for future episodes.
Overall, I can't recommend this show enough. What makes it so great is how self-aware it is. If there is something that you could criticize about the show, then the first people to criticize it will be the show itself. It's smartly written, and always hilarious, and sometimes just plain awesome. If Ben's endorsment wasn't enough, hopefully this will convince you to check it out for yourself.
So, thanks to Ben, I don't really need to explain this show. He already did that. Personally, I think Community is the funniest show on television right now (that I know of) and they are at the top of their game creatively. The show has become extremely good at doing parodies focusing on genres of movies and TV, while still maintaining character development and hilarious jokes, and this episode is no different.
For this episode, Community tackled what is an old sitcom standby: the clip show. Whenever a sitcom has built up quite a bit of material, sometimes the writers will just take a break for an episode and make a clip show: an episode which features various clips from previous episodes. That way the writers don't really need to come up with new material. Unfortunately, an example of this would be The Office, which resorted to a clip show last season. Shows will usually do this when they are a bit later in their lifespan, but Community is only in it's second season. And one other thing: all of the clips from the clip show in this episode were completely new, but played off like it was things we had seen before.
The episode showed us "flashbacks" of the group in ridiculous situations, like a western ghost town, a mental asylum, and various other locales. There were even scenes from previous episodes, but from the perspectives of others that we didn't see before. It also included jokes making fun of Glee, the NBC show The Cape, and jokes about people who make "fan videos" about the show on Youtube. But the best part of the episode is that it wasn't only hilarious, but it tied everything together and had some great character development as well. We got to see back stories for characters that will probably have implications for future episodes.
 |
| One of the many supposed "flashbacks". |
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Community
Hola, it's BEN!
So, first off, Im going to tell you all about my day...it was really busy and really awesome. I am going to describe it using 5 words/phrases.
Class
Chapel
Ultimate Frisbee Win
Praise Team Practice
Watching Community
What I want to focus the blog on is the watching Community! Over the last couple months I have been watching this show and it has honestly become my favorite show. The characters are really funny and the plot of the episodes are always superb! The show is about a layer, Jeff, who recently lost his job because he was caught having no degree in law. He, Jeff, is now attended Greendale College, a community college and becomes friends with a group of friends referred to as the study group. All of the episodes focus around the members of the study group--which is very diverse and makes the show really funny. They have every type of person in this group both racially and characteristically--which makes the show that much more humerus. While watching the show I make the connection that the sense of humor is very similar to our groups sense of humor. Many of the jokes they use in this show I could see us using in a movie that we make as friends--which is why the show is so enjoyable for me. If you have never seen this show...I strongly recommend it, it is glorious in every aspect!
Here's a link to a funny clip from one of the episodes...
tootles,
Ben
So, first off, Im going to tell you all about my day...it was really busy and really awesome. I am going to describe it using 5 words/phrases.
Class
Chapel
Ultimate Frisbee Win
Praise Team Practice
Watching Community
What I want to focus the blog on is the watching Community! Over the last couple months I have been watching this show and it has honestly become my favorite show. The characters are really funny and the plot of the episodes are always superb! The show is about a layer, Jeff, who recently lost his job because he was caught having no degree in law. He, Jeff, is now attended Greendale College, a community college and becomes friends with a group of friends referred to as the study group. All of the episodes focus around the members of the study group--which is very diverse and makes the show really funny. They have every type of person in this group both racially and characteristically--which makes the show that much more humerus. While watching the show I make the connection that the sense of humor is very similar to our groups sense of humor. Many of the jokes they use in this show I could see us using in a movie that we make as friends--which is why the show is so enjoyable for me. If you have never seen this show...I strongly recommend it, it is glorious in every aspect!
Here's a link to a funny clip from one of the episodes...
tootles,
Ben
Saturday, April 2, 2011
So It's Come to This...
Alright, we haven't blogged in a long time, I'm sorry, blah blah blah, alright, enough. Now that we've got that out of the way we can get to the meat of this blog post.
There it is. Now onto the topic of this blog post. I (Kyle) am sure you have heard of this "song" called Friday by a 13 year old girl named Rebecca Black. Wait! I know, I know, I'm feeding the fire. But I thought it appropriate to weigh in on it with my opinion, since it seems to be everywhere.
 |
| I'm with her on that one. |
So, I'm not going to post the video of the song because either you've heard it, or you should continue to live your life as you have been and you will hear it eventually. So anyway, here's my opinion:
The song is terrible. Yes, I think it's probably the worst song that has ever been this popular. But here's the thing that some people don't understand: the fact that it's so bad is the reason it is popular! There are people that seem to think that this song is everywhere because people think it's a good song. Now, I'm sure somewhere out there you could find someone that actually thinks it's a good song, but they would be in the minority.
This is the "So Bad It's Good" idea, and it's been around forever. Friday didn't invent this, it's just following in the footsteps of many other classic "So Bad It's Good" movies, music, television, and even video games. Here are some famous examples:
Troll 2: You probably haven't seen this movie (and neither have I) but you may have seen the most ridiculous clip from it. Just look it up on Youtube and you'll know what I'm talking about.
The 1966 Batman TV Show: Thanks Adam West.
American Idol (She Bangs, You Are My Brother, Pants on the Ground): This show is ripe with "So Bad It's Good" songs, performed by various people that have gotten famous for their terribleness.
 |
| "So Bad It's Good" has been around for a while. |
That's it. Yeah, I kinda got lazy. There are a lot more, just look it up. So what I'm really trying to say is, stop complaining about Friday and how bad it is. We know. That's why we like it. If you honestly can't stand it, just be patient. It will go away in a couple of weeks, and then she'll release another song, trying to catch the same lightning in the same bottle, but she will most likely fail. Her 15 minutes of fame will be up. And in 30 years or so, we can all watch the video and laugh about it again. The End.
 |
| No surprise here. I'm pretty sure every song ever made has ripped off The Beatles in some way or another. |
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Back To My "Home"
Hello all, it's Ben, first of all, sorry it has been so long since kyle or I have blogged, it was busy right before break, and it will be busy now until the end of the year, so I apologize in advance if there are multiple days before posts. We will try our best to post as much as we can!
First, WE'RE BACK! To me, Dordt is becoming a second home. I love michigan, and everything about it. But there is just something about being here at Dordt that makes me feel like I'm at home as well.
There is one new thing that I have started. To Kyle's disliking, I have decided to learn guitar and I brought my acoustic guitar back to me at Dordt. I have played quite a bit now, for the last two weeks, and improvement is coming, but there is still much that I need to improve.
A Taylor Guitar, wish I had one of those!
Today, I didn't have any classes till 11 am because my first class was cancelled!!! I love it when that happens. The only downside of this is that I have to write a 20 page paper within the next 3 weeks for that class. YAY for PAPERS!!
The Bulls play tonight! Hopefully they can take the lead of the Eastern Conference again!
My bracket isn't looking good for March Madness, the only good thing going for it right now is I still have my final two teams--Uconn and Kansas, with Uconn winning the whole thing. Kemba Walker is by far the one of the best player in the NCAA in my opinion, which is why they have a shot, they've got a real tough road ahead of them though with SDSU and potentially Duke and Ohio St.
That is all for now! Have a great week!
May Christ be with you!
Ben
First, WE'RE BACK! To me, Dordt is becoming a second home. I love michigan, and everything about it. But there is just something about being here at Dordt that makes me feel like I'm at home as well.
There is one new thing that I have started. To Kyle's disliking, I have decided to learn guitar and I brought my acoustic guitar back to me at Dordt. I have played quite a bit now, for the last two weeks, and improvement is coming, but there is still much that I need to improve.
Today, I didn't have any classes till 11 am because my first class was cancelled!!! I love it when that happens. The only downside of this is that I have to write a 20 page paper within the next 3 weeks for that class. YAY for PAPERS!!
The Bulls play tonight! Hopefully they can take the lead of the Eastern Conference again!
That is all for now! Have a great week!
May Christ be with you!
Ben
Sunday, February 27, 2011
This is Kyle. Who else would be blogging about the Academy Awards? Ben? Pshaw.
Anyhoo, as many of you know, tonight was The 83rd Academy Awards! So I want to talk about some of the winners and what I think about them. Two things: I haven't really seen a lot of these films, so it's going to limit my commentary a bit. Secondly, that was it, I don't really have a second thing.
Let's get the big one out of the way. Best picture went to The Kings Speech, which also happened to win best actor for Colin Firth, best directing for Tom Hooper, and best original screenplay. So I should probably see this movie. As far as the best picture goes I know that The Social Network was a big contender, and I have seen that...so I'm cool. Also, it shouldn't win, and it would never win but how cool would it be if Toy Story 3 won best picture? That would be so awesome.
It did win, however, best animated film. No surprise there. Everyone should check out the other nominee How to Train Your Dragon too. It's surprisingly good for a Dreamworks animation movie, and I didn't mean that to sound like Dreamworks sucks, but they certainly not Pixar. (Dreamworks kinda sucks sometimes.) Toy Story 3 also took an award for Randy Newman's "We Belong Together" for best original song, but we can just pretend it was for "You Got a Friend in Me" since that was nominated in '95, but lost to "Colors of the Wind" from Pocahontas. Really?
Inception took away all of the awards it should have with best cinematography, best sound editing, best sound mixing, and best visual effects. It could have taken best original screenplay too, because seriously: Inception is way more original than The King's Speech, which is kinda based on, well, actual real events.
And the Social Network takes best editing (which I will admit that I have no idea why), best original score (done by Trent Reznor of the band Nine Inch Nails), and best adapted screenplay written by Aaron Sorkin. Could have gotten more in my opinion, but not bad. The screenplay was very very good.
Well, that be all my friends. There were plenty of other awards, but I don't have the time or patience to talk about all of them, and I bet you don't either. So I shall say farewell, and leave you with this:
Anyhoo, as many of you know, tonight was The 83rd Academy Awards! So I want to talk about some of the winners and what I think about them. Two things: I haven't really seen a lot of these films, so it's going to limit my commentary a bit. Secondly, that was it, I don't really have a second thing.
Let's get the big one out of the way. Best picture went to The Kings Speech, which also happened to win best actor for Colin Firth, best directing for Tom Hooper, and best original screenplay. So I should probably see this movie. As far as the best picture goes I know that The Social Network was a big contender, and I have seen that...so I'm cool. Also, it shouldn't win, and it would never win but how cool would it be if Toy Story 3 won best picture? That would be so awesome.
 |
| ...has a sequel won Best Picture. |
It did win, however, best animated film. No surprise there. Everyone should check out the other nominee How to Train Your Dragon too. It's surprisingly good for a Dreamworks animation movie, and I didn't mean that to sound like Dreamworks sucks, but they certainly not Pixar. (Dreamworks kinda sucks sometimes.) Toy Story 3 also took an award for Randy Newman's "We Belong Together" for best original song, but we can just pretend it was for "You Got a Friend in Me" since that was nominated in '95, but lost to "Colors of the Wind" from Pocahontas. Really?
Inception took away all of the awards it should have with best cinematography, best sound editing, best sound mixing, and best visual effects. It could have taken best original screenplay too, because seriously: Inception is way more original than The King's Speech, which is kinda based on, well, actual real events.
 |
| And I'm pretty sure this wasn't. |
And the Social Network takes best editing (which I will admit that I have no idea why), best original score (done by Trent Reznor of the band Nine Inch Nails), and best adapted screenplay written by Aaron Sorkin. Could have gotten more in my opinion, but not bad. The screenplay was very very good.
Well, that be all my friends. There were plenty of other awards, but I don't have the time or patience to talk about all of them, and I bet you don't either. So I shall say farewell, and leave you with this:
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
My Song
Hey guys, it's Ben
The last two days I have been writing a song and I finished it today. I know it's kinda long, I really want some of you guys to listen to it and tell me what you think. Give me things to improve on. I know the sound quality is bad b/c i just recorded it on my Mac. Please let me know what you think!!! It would mean a lot guys.
There is a delay on the video, I don't know why it is that way, sorry about that, it didn't upload right, the sound should still all be right. It also cuts out a little early, but you still get the gist of most of the song.
It's called Make me a better man. Ill post the lyrics underneath the video.
Lyrics
Verse 1
I've worked all my life to get where I'm at.
I've prayed and I've tried to be more than that.
I've asked for help from all that would give it
But I always revert back to the start.
Chorus
What am I now?
As a college man.
What is my purpose in life
as I strive to be who I am?
What can I do
In times of need?
To where can I go when my struggles lead to the depths of the deceit.
Instrumental
Verse 2
I've tried to become something I'm not
Like all that is life, will soon come to rot.
I try to be me but somehow I'm caught
Throwing away all my beliefs.
Chorus
Verse 3
I've been looking for you nearly all of my life.
I tried to find you in times of strife.
Until I found you it cut like a knife,
But now the scars fade away.
Outro/End
Why do I fall astray?
Why do I give way?
To the monster within x2
Make me a better man x3
The last two days I have been writing a song and I finished it today. I know it's kinda long, I really want some of you guys to listen to it and tell me what you think. Give me things to improve on. I know the sound quality is bad b/c i just recorded it on my Mac. Please let me know what you think!!! It would mean a lot guys.
There is a delay on the video, I don't know why it is that way, sorry about that, it didn't upload right, the sound should still all be right. It also cuts out a little early, but you still get the gist of most of the song.
It's called Make me a better man. Ill post the lyrics underneath the video.
Lyrics
Verse 1
I've worked all my life to get where I'm at.
I've prayed and I've tried to be more than that.
I've asked for help from all that would give it
But I always revert back to the start.
Chorus
What am I now?
As a college man.
What is my purpose in life
as I strive to be who I am?
What can I do
In times of need?
To where can I go when my struggles lead to the depths of the deceit.
Instrumental
Verse 2
I've tried to become something I'm not
Like all that is life, will soon come to rot.
I try to be me but somehow I'm caught
Throwing away all my beliefs.
Chorus
Verse 3
I've been looking for you nearly all of my life.
I tried to find you in times of strife.
Until I found you it cut like a knife,
But now the scars fade away.
Outro/End
Why do I fall astray?
Why do I give way?
To the monster within x2
Make me a better man x3
Monday, February 21, 2011
The Talent Show Performance
So just today somebody posted a video of our talent show performance. Just to clear something up though, the name of the video is "The Flying Dutchmen", but our team name was actually "The Fly Dutchmen". Kinda ruined that pun, but whatever, enjoy.
Also, for the Prairie Grass Film Challenge, I forgot to mention that the name of my video is "Kelly". Thanks for voting if you did. Peace.
Also, for the Prairie Grass Film Challenge, I forgot to mention that the name of my video is "Kelly". Thanks for voting if you did. Peace.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
A Sunday
It's Ben
Today, all of the churches in our area were cancelled. I don't like these situations. Obviously it was great to sleep in, but I also really did want to go to church because I was scheduled to sing in church! We ended up going to church at night, it was pretty sweet, we sang one of my favorite hymns, Abide with Me.
Alicia came to visit today, I think she had a good time hanging out to visit in the afternoon. Good luck on the scholarship at NW Alicia!
Lady Gaga arrived at the Grammy's in an EGG!!! What the!?!?
So, another funny story. Our friend David Spencer, the kids who can't stop laughing at my Orc impression, a couple of our friends bough him goldfish, one of them died right away. The other two he named "what the" and "dude." Today, Dude died, he blames the fish because he says it would never eat. What the is now alone in the tank...haha, what great names, eh?
Also tonight, there was a special praise and worship since we didn't have church this morning. It was pretty cool, I had fun. I played piano again, it was fun. We have 3 weeks until it is spring break, hopefully I will get to see a glimpse of some of you.
For any of you who didn't watch the grammy's should definitely watch some of the performances, they were legit! I enjoyed nearly every performance. My favorite was Mumford and Sons with the Avett Brothers and Bob Dylan. Mumford and the Avett Bros were amazing. To be honest, Dylan kinda ruined it, he just didn't have the energy and his voice was gone because he smoked to much in the 60's. Mick Jagger was also stellar, as well as Cee Lo Green. Hopefully, you guys watch some of those, ill post the one I liked the best.
tootalu my trubadoos,
Ben
Today, all of the churches in our area were cancelled. I don't like these situations. Obviously it was great to sleep in, but I also really did want to go to church because I was scheduled to sing in church! We ended up going to church at night, it was pretty sweet, we sang one of my favorite hymns, Abide with Me.
Alicia came to visit today, I think she had a good time hanging out to visit in the afternoon. Good luck on the scholarship at NW Alicia!
So, another funny story. Our friend David Spencer, the kids who can't stop laughing at my Orc impression, a couple of our friends bough him goldfish, one of them died right away. The other two he named "what the" and "dude." Today, Dude died, he blames the fish because he says it would never eat. What the is now alone in the tank...haha, what great names, eh?
Also tonight, there was a special praise and worship since we didn't have church this morning. It was pretty cool, I had fun. I played piano again, it was fun. We have 3 weeks until it is spring break, hopefully I will get to see a glimpse of some of you.
For any of you who didn't watch the grammy's should definitely watch some of the performances, they were legit! I enjoyed nearly every performance. My favorite was Mumford and Sons with the Avett Brothers and Bob Dylan. Mumford and the Avett Bros were amazing. To be honest, Dylan kinda ruined it, he just didn't have the energy and his voice was gone because he smoked to much in the 60's. Mick Jagger was also stellar, as well as Cee Lo Green. Hopefully, you guys watch some of those, ill post the one I liked the best.
tootalu my trubadoos,
Ben
Saturday, February 19, 2011
The Weekend of Competitions
This was the weekend of competitions. A pretty crazy weekend. But how did we fare in said competitions? Well, my good blog readers, let me tell you.
First of all, I (Kyle) had made a video for the Prairie Grass Film Challenge, and the awards ceremony was on Friday night. Before the ceremony we had screenings to see the movies all around campus. We were able to attend one showing of our video and the response was very positive. Everyone was laughing A LOT. So we were getting pretty excited. Everyone said that it was awesome. We got more excited.
Then it came time for the ceremony. As each award was announced, we sat with anticipation. They then announced the award for best actor, and a member from our team won! Justin Gloudemans, who played Kelly in our movie got the award. Unfortunately, that was all we got for the night.
We still can win something, and that is the people's choice award. So here's the deal. Click THIS to go to a page where you can watch all the movies from the competition. Then click THIS to vote for your favorite. In an act of complete selflessness, I want to stress something. DO NOT vote for ours if you think there is one better than us. I don't want to try to sabotage this competition. Vote how you wish.
The next competition was one we had tonight. The Talent Extravaganza we blogged about earlier. We were really nervous, but once we got on stage everything happened exactly like it was supposed to. We had a blast, and the crowd loved it. Unfortunately, we didn't win. Every single act out there was awesome, and I wouldn't be able to tell you what one I thought was the best. They all brought their A-game. The winner was a guy named Cory, who does impressions. And they were CRAZY. He literally sounded like every movie or TV character he impersonated, and improvised most of his act. Congrats Cory.
P.S. Supposedly somebody filmed our performance from the crowd and is going to put it one youtube, so look forward to that. See you later fools.
First of all, I (Kyle) had made a video for the Prairie Grass Film Challenge, and the awards ceremony was on Friday night. Before the ceremony we had screenings to see the movies all around campus. We were able to attend one showing of our video and the response was very positive. Everyone was laughing A LOT. So we were getting pretty excited. Everyone said that it was awesome. We got more excited.
Then it came time for the ceremony. As each award was announced, we sat with anticipation. They then announced the award for best actor, and a member from our team won! Justin Gloudemans, who played Kelly in our movie got the award. Unfortunately, that was all we got for the night.
 |
| Justin is the one on the right. He is an ACTOR. |
The next competition was one we had tonight. The Talent Extravaganza we blogged about earlier. We were really nervous, but once we got on stage everything happened exactly like it was supposed to. We had a blast, and the crowd loved it. Unfortunately, we didn't win. Every single act out there was awesome, and I wouldn't be able to tell you what one I thought was the best. They all brought their A-game. The winner was a guy named Cory, who does impressions. And they were CRAZY. He literally sounded like every movie or TV character he impersonated, and improvised most of his act. Congrats Cory.
P.S. Supposedly somebody filmed our performance from the crowd and is going to put it one youtube, so look forward to that. See you later fools.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
A week in Review
Hey, it's Ben blogging today.
First things first, pretty amazing weather! Really made my week, went for a run with Austin on Wednesday, it was awesome. I plan on running tomorrow with him again possibly.
Also, I ordered Mumford and Sons Sigh no More on vinyl wednesday....which means it will be coming...TODAY!!! I can't wait for it to get here. We are going to have a party in my room when we listen to it for the first time! It will be epic.
We had praise and worship tonight. It was awesome. I really like praise and worship as I think I have mentioned before. It truly is my favorite part of the week, thursday's are my favorite day in general because I only have 2 classes and we have praise and worship at night! Awesome.Period.
What else, on friday, we have The Prairie Grass Film challenge results, so that will be interesting to finally watch Kyle's movie and see if it won any awards.
This could be what Kyle wins!
Also on saturday, we have the talent show. Their are posters up everywhere, and we are on some of the pictures, it's pretty sweet. Im already nervous to play piano and sing for it, but it'll be good. Also on saturday we plan to go to someone's house who lives near here and ride quads that she has. I am really looking forward to this. You see, we have tons of fun things to do here at Dordt.
Also this past weekend, Tori came to visit us. It was fun to see her again, a familiar face from home! I hope we didn't bore her too much....haha, get it, i just made a pun because she is from hope...haha. Anyways, she got to see Jeff run and we went to pizza ranch, I hope she had fun!
Crocodile Hunter Died....
that is all!
BEN
First things first, pretty amazing weather! Really made my week, went for a run with Austin on Wednesday, it was awesome. I plan on running tomorrow with him again possibly.
Also, I ordered Mumford and Sons Sigh no More on vinyl wednesday....which means it will be coming...TODAY!!! I can't wait for it to get here. We are going to have a party in my room when we listen to it for the first time! It will be epic.
What else, on friday, we have The Prairie Grass Film challenge results, so that will be interesting to finally watch Kyle's movie and see if it won any awards.
Also on saturday, we have the talent show. Their are posters up everywhere, and we are on some of the pictures, it's pretty sweet. Im already nervous to play piano and sing for it, but it'll be good. Also on saturday we plan to go to someone's house who lives near here and ride quads that she has. I am really looking forward to this. You see, we have tons of fun things to do here at Dordt.
Also this past weekend, Tori came to visit us. It was fun to see her again, a familiar face from home! I hope we didn't bore her too much....haha, get it, i just made a pun because she is from hope...haha. Anyways, she got to see Jeff run and we went to pizza ranch, I hope she had fun!
Crocodile Hunter Died....
that is all!
BEN
Saturday, February 12, 2011
50th Blogpost Extravangaza!!!
I know, I know, it's been way to long since our last post. But! The reason for this is because we wanted to have something special for our 50th post. This is a milestone, people.
Unfortunately, we couldn't decide what to do. Every time we thought to blog, we remembered that we needed to make it good and then we said we should wait until the right thing came up. Well, here's the right thing. Below is a video of us practicing our act for the college talent show. It's a medley of popular songs, many of which are on the radio right now. It was filmed on my laptop so I apologize for the sound quality, but I hope you will enjoy it.
So, okay, maybe it wasn't worth the wait. But it's pretty good, right? That's Matt De Jong on the guitar, Ben on piano, Darin on skins and me (Kyle) on the mike. Yo. So we performed this on Wednesday for an audition and...dun dun dun...we made it! We're in the talent show, performing this for the whole college! Kinda scary.
The show is a week from today, next Saturday. So wish us luck. Goodnight.
Unfortunately, we couldn't decide what to do. Every time we thought to blog, we remembered that we needed to make it good and then we said we should wait until the right thing came up. Well, here's the right thing. Below is a video of us practicing our act for the college talent show. It's a medley of popular songs, many of which are on the radio right now. It was filmed on my laptop so I apologize for the sound quality, but I hope you will enjoy it.
So, okay, maybe it wasn't worth the wait. But it's pretty good, right? That's Matt De Jong on the guitar, Ben on piano, Darin on skins and me (Kyle) on the mike. Yo. So we performed this on Wednesday for an audition and...dun dun dun...we made it! We're in the talent show, performing this for the whole college! Kinda scary.
The show is a week from today, next Saturday. So wish us luck. Goodnight.
Monday, January 24, 2011
3DS
I (Kyle) want to blog about a little gadget that will be gracing store shelves in the near future. It's Nintendo's latest hand-held gaming system, the 3DS.
Its biggest selling point is, of course, it's ability to give 3-dimensional images to your eyes WITHOUT GLASSES. So far, the reception has been overwhelmingly positive from those that have had the pleasure of trying it. It also boasts an accelerometer, similar to that of the iPhone, so that tilt functions can be implemented into games as well. Not to mention its two cameras, updated graphics, and internet service that let's you download old Gameboy games from the past.
And the games themselves are sure to be great as always. Classic Nintendo franchises like Animal Crossing, Kid Icarus, Mario Kart, Nintendogs, Paper Mario, will all have new games on the system, as well as third party games like Contra, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Madden, Metal Gear Solid, and Resident Evil.
But Nintendo has also announced it is remaking some of its classic games in 3D, including Star Fox 64, and the greatest game ever: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I have played through that game many times, and I can't wait to do it again in 3D and with updated graphics.
Of course, this isn't all sunshine and daisies, which is kind of a bad metaphor anyway because while I do like sunshine, I really don't care that much about daisies. Anyway, the system comes out on March 27 of this year and will cost $249.99. Well, this is a little to quick for me to scrape together that money. Sure I have it, but I'm not really just going to throw it down on day one, because I am a college student and I spent more than that amount on just books for this semester. But mark my words: I will have one before the end of this year! I suppose this is my New Year's Resolution. So while most people say they are going to exercise or eat better, I'm going to play more video games. Nice. Don't worry, I exercise too! Come on, guys.
 |
| Voilà |
And the games themselves are sure to be great as always. Classic Nintendo franchises like Animal Crossing, Kid Icarus, Mario Kart, Nintendogs, Paper Mario, will all have new games on the system, as well as third party games like Contra, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Madden, Metal Gear Solid, and Resident Evil.
But Nintendo has also announced it is remaking some of its classic games in 3D, including Star Fox 64, and the greatest game ever: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I have played through that game many times, and I can't wait to do it again in 3D and with updated graphics.
 |
| Drool... |
Friday, January 21, 2011
Music
Hey, it's Ben, hopefully this blog will count more as a real blog.
I was trying to think of something good to blog about and came up with this, I hope that you like it. Here at Dordt we have praise and worship on every thursday evening at 10 pm. I really enjoy this time because it is basically a half hour to 45 minutes of straight singing and praising God. So basically, I want to share with you some of the favorite songs that we sing, hopefully this will mean something to you as it does for me.
The first song is a new one that many of you have probably never heard, It's called "With Everything" by Hillsong. This song I like a lot because it builds throughout the song and I can't help but praise God when I sing this song.
Another song that I really enjoy singing is "the Stand". I like this song once again because it builds throughout the song. I really like the fact that it talks about giving everything over to Christ and abandoning everything that our heart desires that is sinful.
Another song that I really like is "Our God" by Chris Tomlin. I really like this song because it talks about how our God is the best and is superior to all gods. In the first verse it talks about Jesus turning water into wine. We all know how this was significant because of the elements. But something I just learned was that when Jesus did this, he was indeed proving himself as higher than the greek gods. There is a story in Greek mythology that their gods turned water into wine at a wedding in Greece at one time, but there was no proof of this. Jesus came to the area, and showed the people, I am GOD, I can change water into wine, follow ME!
I don't know if this post will influence you or mean as much to all of you guys as it does to me when I sing these songs. I just love to sing these songs and praise God through the singing of these songs. Have a great weekend!
Ben Sytsma
I was trying to think of something good to blog about and came up with this, I hope that you like it. Here at Dordt we have praise and worship on every thursday evening at 10 pm. I really enjoy this time because it is basically a half hour to 45 minutes of straight singing and praising God. So basically, I want to share with you some of the favorite songs that we sing, hopefully this will mean something to you as it does for me.
The first song is a new one that many of you have probably never heard, It's called "With Everything" by Hillsong. This song I like a lot because it builds throughout the song and I can't help but praise God when I sing this song.
Another song that I really enjoy singing is "the Stand". I like this song once again because it builds throughout the song. I really like the fact that it talks about giving everything over to Christ and abandoning everything that our heart desires that is sinful.
Another song that I really like is "Our God" by Chris Tomlin. I really like this song because it talks about how our God is the best and is superior to all gods. In the first verse it talks about Jesus turning water into wine. We all know how this was significant because of the elements. But something I just learned was that when Jesus did this, he was indeed proving himself as higher than the greek gods. There is a story in Greek mythology that their gods turned water into wine at a wedding in Greece at one time, but there was no proof of this. Jesus came to the area, and showed the people, I am GOD, I can change water into wine, follow ME!
I don't know if this post will influence you or mean as much to all of you guys as it does to me when I sing these songs. I just love to sing these songs and praise God through the singing of these songs. Have a great weekend!
Ben Sytsma
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Prairie Grass Film Challenge
Sooooooooooooooooooooo,
It's been a while since I (Kyle) last blogged. It's really been a while since this blog has been updated in general. Ben's last post doesn't really count. Anyone can just type what is happening around them while they are supposed to be listening to a teacher in class. It's time for a forizzle blog. Here it comes.
This past weekend, I got the pleasure of participating in The Prairie Grass Film Challenge here at Dordt. This is actually the second time I've participated, but I had a completely new team this time. For those of you who don't know how it works, on Thursday afternoon we were sent an e-mail with 4 things: A prop, A character, a genre, and a line of dialogue. We then have 48 hours to create, shoot, and edit a short film using these things. Our 4 things were as follows:
Genre: Comedy
Character: Jimmy Carlos, who just invented something
Prop: Five packs of Chiclets gum (which took us forever to find)
Line of Dialogue: How many times have we done this? About five?
I'm not going to go into extreme detail about our film, because when it becomes available for you to watch it, I want you to enjoy it then. All I will tell you is that it is called "Kelly", and it involves an intense game of racquetball. Here is a photograph from our filming so you get an idea of the stupid things we did making this:
Well, that's all I got. I'll post something on here when the video becomes available on Dordt's website.
TTFN.
It's been a while since I (Kyle) last blogged. It's really been a while since this blog has been updated in general. Ben's last post doesn't really count. Anyone can just type what is happening around them while they are supposed to be listening to a teacher in class. It's time for a forizzle blog. Here it comes.
This past weekend, I got the pleasure of participating in The Prairie Grass Film Challenge here at Dordt. This is actually the second time I've participated, but I had a completely new team this time. For those of you who don't know how it works, on Thursday afternoon we were sent an e-mail with 4 things: A prop, A character, a genre, and a line of dialogue. We then have 48 hours to create, shoot, and edit a short film using these things. Our 4 things were as follows:
Genre: Comedy
Character: Jimmy Carlos, who just invented something
Prop: Five packs of Chiclets gum (which took us forever to find)
Line of Dialogue: How many times have we done this? About five?
I'm not going to go into extreme detail about our film, because when it becomes available for you to watch it, I want you to enjoy it then. All I will tell you is that it is called "Kelly", and it involves an intense game of racquetball. Here is a photograph from our filming so you get an idea of the stupid things we did making this:
 |
| The lengths we will go to for a shot. It kinda looks like he doesn't have a head, doesn't it? |
TTFN.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Class
Today, I would like to welcome you to Core 160, the intro to the arts. Kyle and I, Ben Sytsma, are currently sitting in a big lecture room listening to an old guy speak to us about experiences in different art courses that we could take. Austin just looked at me weird.
Two days ago in this course, one guy was presenting a presentation about a trip that we could take in this class. A picture of a kid came up who was imitating a sculpture, apparently he thought it was really funny. He said, "He's acting like the bunny, OH NO!"
Matt is good at dancing. He is another one of the professors. We are now going to talk about the paper we were supposed to read but didn't. Sometimes I like to joke with Kyle that he is an Art Fart, because he is majoring in an "art." Kyle is currently singing Bob Dylan, who I will be writing my 20 page history paper on!!!! Cool stuff!
We are now talking about that we are created in the image of God, and therefore, we are made creative, with beauty and functionality. We also need to go into the arts with excitement. Finding the good in others works and to see the beauty in everything that artists have made.
Thanks for joining us in Core 160 today, I must be off
Ben Diggidy
Matt is good at dancing. He is another one of the professors. We are now going to talk about the paper we were supposed to read but didn't. Sometimes I like to joke with Kyle that he is an Art Fart, because he is majoring in an "art." Kyle is currently singing Bob Dylan, who I will be writing my 20 page history paper on!!!! Cool stuff!
We are now talking about that we are created in the image of God, and therefore, we are made creative, with beauty and functionality. We also need to go into the arts with excitement. Finding the good in others works and to see the beauty in everything that artists have made.
Thanks for joining us in Core 160 today, I must be off
Ben Diggidy
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