Doug Van Pelt

Blogging from Hollywood

Ahhh. I am in California on vacation. Wow. I am going to try and not work at all here. I wrote some more on my novel on the airplane. I'm over 51,000 words on that thing now. I know where I want to go, but I envision a word count of 80,000 when I'm done. I guess if I tell my story and get to the end, then I won't force the word count to be exactly at 80,000. That's just where I guess most full novels are about that long.

We are in Hollywood. I came out here for a high school reunion. My high school is located on an air force base, where we lived those four years of high school (and a couple years during my childhood, too). They combine classes for their reunions, because not many people stick around this area when they leave (and their parents get assigned to another air force base, etc). This is the first reunion I've been able to make all these years.

We arrived at LAX and planned some hang out and look around time in Hollywood tonight and tomorrow. Looks like we're going to try and locate an In - N - Out Burger near here and then go hang out with Mikee Bridges and his family up in Ventura. I wonder if he'll take us to a rehearsal of Shiny Toy Guns. Wouldn't that be rad? (I'm just kidding. He knows those people, but I don't think they hang out a lot anymore).

Tomorrow we'll do some Hollywood sight-seeing. Then Disneyland on Thursday and reunion stuff on the weekend.

When is a blog not a blog?

Or what other nonsense can Doug come up with for a title?
How 'bout Cowboys fail to move the ball when it's crunch time?
or
The Redskins are good enough to hate real bad?
or
Who used our email address for a massive spam?
(one of our main email addresses was used for some sort of spam and we had 9,000+ emails marked "undeliverable" and containing spam junk in the body. Some rascal scumbag used it as the reply-to address in a mass email send. As you can imagine, those 9,000 emails were jamming up the "send and receive" function for our inbox. It took me awhile to enter in via the admin web mail route to delete all those. That was a mess.

I'm taking my family with me to California to see my old stomping grounds. My old high school is having a reunion and this is the first one I've been able to go to. That should be fun, as going to Hollywood, the beach, etc, should be, too.

Not sure when I'll post up our collective ACL Fest review, but Levi, Laurel and I took in some mighty fine shows over the weekend.

Starbucks Is An Illusion

So, here I was in the HM kitchen, stirring up or making my coffee for the morning. And this Starbucks employee is grilling me, asking me questions about how to froth foam on my Krups espresso machine. He's a Starbucks employee and he's asking ME questions about making a cappuccino!!! Do you see the ridiculousness in that? Oh my goodie-two-shoes!! All the foam and frothing mechanisms at Starbucks are so automated that a trained employee of the franchise doesn't know how to do it manually.

This place is in a sad, sad state, I tell ya!

Well, I hope to write 40,000 words today. I better get started.

Mowing with creativity

I wonder how many of the musicians/celebrities of the scene we cover mow their own lawns. I bet Rob Beckley of Pillar does. I mean, he told me in an interview once about his lawn. I asked him something like: "...in contrast to the negative things we hear about the body of Christ, Chrsitians acting mean, etc; what is one of the most beautiful things you've seen a Christian do?" And he told me a story about his pastor. This guy pastors a fairly big church in the Tulsa area, I believe, and Rob's wife was about to have a baby and Rob was busy with touring, etc, and this pastor mowed Rob's lawn. Rob was blown away by this "bigshot" guy doing such an act of service for him. It really spoke to his heart. From the details of that story, though, it makes me think that Rob is usually the one that mows his lawn.

Mowing lawns and other such mundane chores allow one's mind to wander. It doesn't take a lot of mental energy to keep a gas-powered mower going in the right direction, cutting the grass; so the mind wanders. It's times like these that I often have creative thoughts. Ideas will come to me that I can put into use.

One thing I've kind of discovered is that when we have an outlet -- especially a "creative outlet," then God seems to supply us with the creativity we need to do those things. When the opportunity to use the creativity is there, it flows. When it's not there, not so much.

I guess you can tell I mowed my lawn today (at least part of it).

Follow me at www.twitter.com/dooglar

Deadline 8 ... DVP 4

I'm such a loser. The deadline has beat me up again this time ... and I had help here in the office (x2). The saddest part is that the game clock is still ticking. The magazine is not yet "done" or finished on my part. I have to successfully upload 11 more pages, which are being rejected by some finicky computer in Michigan.

What day is it, anyway? That's what deadline is like. No normalcy ... or at least you completely miss parts of it. Here's hoping that I can finish today.

I'm glad that God's love is consistent and not based upon our merits or hard work. If it were, it'd be like this deadline, working yourself to the bone and having the completion slip away again and again. It'd be a nightmare. I'm glad that someone told me that God's love is unconditional ... and that it's personal. He really does love Mike Kaply, Doug Van Pelt, and Steve Ivory. It's not a thing where, "Oh, He loves everyone," kind of like how a teacher or principal "loves" his students as one big mass. I'm somehow special in God's eyes. As one friend who's dealing with hairloss recently shared, it's easier for God to keep track of him now that there's less hairs to count. Someone told me I'm valuable to God, that He really cares. This is good to remember when "things" are going wrong and you're trying to keep it together.

google, jessica simpson, heroes, and the cleaning up of messes

whew!
seems like i have done nothing but work (a lot) on deadline and sleep (very little). it's getting old. one mishap after another. it's crazy. i though the total was high when i kept score, but it keeps piling up. strange. i still think it's coincidence, but that's just me. i tried to upload and approve all 72 pages of the latest issue tonight, but ran into some strange, never-before-experienced "refine errors" in the process. Hopefully, I'll get these ironed out before the morning disappears tomorrow.

I'm starting to gain strength, if you're judging by the ability to hit the shift key to capitalize appropriate letters.

Did I mention that I saw Agent Malone at the Texas Stadium restuarant last year? Is it a coincidence that last night a new episode of Prison Break aired, as did the game between the two teams that were playing on that November night last year (Green Bay and Dallas)? Yes, but isn't that funny?

I've been so busy lately that I've been putting off starting my day with a blog. Sometimes I can compose that thing really fast and get on to my day. Other times it seems to be part of an extended, drawn-out experience of checking emails and pre-work type work. I've wanted to get the new issue done.

This week is the week we plan on who's going to be featured in our Jan/Feb issue. Do you have any ideas (on which bands are coming out with albums in December, January and February?)?? If so, let us know!

I have been getting a "blog fix" from my twitter experience lately, where I have access to post events and thoughts throughout the day. Check it out, it's really fun. www.twitter.com
But let me offer this little piece of advice: While twitter is pretty cool, it becomes funx10 with a mobile device (i.e. SMS short text messaging with your cell phone). It's so good with the mobile device that it's almost not worth doing without...

Oh, and I was able to add some late-breaking news today when finalizing the new issue: Zao is in the studio (or plans to really soon), recording with Tim Lambesis for a 2009 Ferret release. How 'bout that?!?

Too much milk in my cereal ... makes my Rice Crispies too soggy

No normal blog today. Too busy with deadline.

Please pray for this issue of HM Magazine with us. We have too little ads that came in this issue ... and there was one story where the band didn't want to do an interview, so the writer did a sans-interview feature. It's a great read, but... And now there are still two stories that are not turned in. Both are promised to be turned in later today, but what concerns me is if something comes up. It would be like getting a flat tire on your way to some major event. You might have gone through so much to get to that point that, when adversity comes, you just don't have the energy to change that flat tire. Both of these stories are kind of about special circumstance-type bands. Hard to explain without revealing who the artists are, but doing a story myself if something happens is not an attractive proposition. I guess if we come to that bridge, the creativity will come. But I just wanna pray, so that I won't be anxious about this anymore.

I'm like Will Farrel as Harry Caray. My friends call me "Whiskers," because I worry so much. (Never mind that I claimed to be called "Whiskers," because I was curious like a cat...)

Isn't that something?

And now for something completely different. Here is a link to a very important video. I'm serious. This information could come in handy at some point.

Not interested? When some homocidal maniac comes at you with a bunch of logan berries, don't come crying to me!

Death By Drunk

When I was in junior high school, my sister's boyfriend (we'll call him "Dave") crashed his Impala at an intersection. He was drunk and had fallen asleep at the wheel on a fast-driving and curvy road in Northern Virginia. His brother, "Joe," was sleeping in the back seat. Joe flew into the dashboard and died instantly. I remember friends of the younger sister (if not the younger sister, who I dated for two weeks, but who broke up with me because I was boring, basically) being notified of the death at school that morning. They were crying.

It was a senseless death. I can't remember if the guy in the other car died or not. I don't think so, because I don't remember any manslaughter charges being filed against Dave. I can see why people hate alcohol. Drunk driving is such a common occurence that it touches a lot of families. I wonder if Dave thinks about Joe very often. That would be such a difficult thing to deal with.

I pray:
Father, please touch this guy's life. Let him know you care for him greatly, that you love him unconditionally. Give him the strength in the present - even years later - to deal with the past and leave it behind. Heal his heart and show him that you are intimately aware of sorrow and pain. Be his friend and draw him to Yourself.

Pit party ... AT my place!

Don’t you hate being around complainers? You’re having a great day, your heart is at peace; and then some numbskull ruins your time with a list of all the things that have brought him down. You’d think he would want to be brought up (with positive words), but instead he seems bent on bringing you down with him!

You must really hate me right now, then; because, as the great theologians in Lust Control once said, “I’ve got troubles, bud.” Where do I begin to list all the negative things that’ve happened. I won’t even try to list them all... Broken down lawn mower; running out of gas on a lonely country road; automatic garage door breaking, and buckling like a weak aluminum can; a broken air conditioner (in Texas, they practically consider this a death blow); water leakage from the broken A/C under a laminated wood floor and some carpeting; the hmmagazine.com domain registration expiring (and finding out about it a week later, when a friendly “splash page” loads instead of hmmag.com); poor to no internet service; being sick; the Fed Ex driver driving into and breaking our gate; my wife spilling on a concrete floor and almost breaking her arm; plus some tourist at Six Flags stomping on her foot and ripping her toenail off; one of my kids getting lice; impaling the side of the palm of my hand with a giant nail; and my dog puking in the back seat of my car.
What’s your month been like?

All of this stuff could rightly be filed under the selfish, lame-things-to-get-upset-about category; so I guess we’ll just leave it there. The last time I had a horrible month, I met my wife; so maybe some good things are around the corner. If you were blessed like us this summer, you saw some really good shows; because some great bands have been on the road, playing their guts out.

It’s been really great working with John, Levi, and Laurel for this issue. It’s awesome how we consistently get great interns here at HM. Check out their “Intern Diaries” on our website to see what their summers were like. Have a great fall (and don’t forget to vote for our Readers’ Poll).

Hurry! Cane! Ike!

That's what an old man yelled at his grandson, Ike, when he needed help walking across the porch.

Maybe not. This hurricane has got Texas on alert. The University of Texas Longhorns was scheduled to play a game at Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium this Saturday against the University of Arkansas Razorbacks; and it was cancelled/postponed until the week of ACL Fest. Most of the schools in the area were cancelled today or will be letting out early. It's weird, because the sky is blue and it's a beautiful day. But sometime after midnight this hurricane is supposed to hit Houston and move right up here.

If anyone has the time to keep track of the storm and can email us and let us know if we should evacuate the HM Ranch (the office building is a temporary/manufactured/mobilehome), please let us know. With so much to do at deadline, I usually don't watch the news and/or keep up with what's happening in the world around me.


Here's some pictures of some of the activity around here lately.



INO Records bribed us to put Disciple on the cover. In addition to some grits, some iced tea, they sent us these pork rinds. Wow, do they taste nasty, or what?







Levi got some hang time recently with the Kern County Kid (not pictured), down by the "broken" pond.







Why is Levi trying to headbutt this cow?







This cow is just lazy. He'd rather chew someone else's cud than his own.







Levi wanted to name all the cows. "What's this one called?" he asked. "Cat back." He probably wondered why it had that name, until he saw the cat on its back seconds later...







This is a donkey that I really own.







I think art imitates life, because this Shetland Pony is Douglass the donkey's girlfriend; but I think it's really more wishful thinking than a real relationship -- like when I wrote "Doug 'n' Marylou" in my scrapbook, wishing that Marylou Buckley was my girlfriend, when she hardly even talked to me in 6th grade. What a loser.

The Great Exodus.38

The altar of burnt offering was made in this chapter, and boy was it large. I'm thinking it was about 7.5 feet wide by 7.5 feet long. It was overlaid with bronze. I bet the entire tabernacle was really beautiful. It's kind of cool to have all this detail in the Bible. It's not very long on practical living wisdom sometimes, but it can be fascinating to study. And it sort of validates the Bible. It's not written like it's trying to be a sacred written piece for a religion. It just turns out that way. I'm reminded of the street address given in the book of Acts and some of the embarrassing stories told about David and his friends in the Old Testament. If I was putting together a PR piece for my religion, I would leave stuff like that out.

Cowboys 38
Eagles 28
(it's like a prophecy)

This is your zipcode. You are under a mandatory evacuation.

I got a phone call from my brother-in-law this morning on my way to work. I wasn't using my bluetooth headphone thingie, so I would have been breaking the law had I been driving in New Jersey. I also would have been ticked for "obstructed vision" as well, for my East West Aslan lion pewter necklace dangling from my rear view mirror.

"I hope I'm not calling at a bad time," he said. I replied: "Anytime you call is a bad time." I love the abuse -- but only when it's leaving my lips, not entering my ears, my emotions, my soul.

Their neighborhood and suburb of Houston, Texas is marked for mandatory evacuation; so we will probably be seeing them all soon. I haven't heard from any of my other Houston friends. Perhaps that's because I've turned my cell phone twitter thing "off" and my internet connection is non-existent. A couple years ago the hurricane after Katrina that was headed for Houston caused an evacuation -- complete with 12-hours-to-get-from-Houston-to-Austin traffic jams. If the hurrican Ike (I think that's his name) hits Texas and keeps on coming, the weather people say that we could get winds as fast as 70-100 mph here. If that's the case, our interns that stay at the HM Ranch will probably be joining us at our home in Hutto, as well (along with the kittens -- Tiger, Spot, and Marvin). Douglass the jackass will have to fend for himself in a ditch or something here at the HM Ranch.

I am shaken

I am amazed that our interns (and friends like Tornado) look at me like I'm crazy when I show up, singing Steve Miller songs (like "Fly Like An Eagle") with a high volume abandon that yells "confidence," but to them they're thinking "caffeine."

I don't get it.

Or maybe I've got it. 16 ounces of Monster Energy Blue. I've heard it said that the ingredients of these drinks (taurine, caffeine, ginseng root extract, guarana seed extract, etc) are measured out in one serving to be what your body can handle. Your body will just waste out the excess; so that means one of these 16 ouncers has twice what your body needs. If that's true ... well, isn't that something?

A very popular video link this week

Jesus is a Friend. Now that is a song, I tell ya! This is not the reason why Lust Control wore ski masks.

Then there are those HM commercials.

Praise

I love the Lord
and I lift my voice
to worship Him
oh my soul, rejoice!

Take joy, My king
in what You hear
let it be a sweet, sweet sound
in your ear

Wow, it's neat how worshiping (even when you don't feel like it),
lifts your spirits and makes you feel better.
I remember praising the Lord under my breath in a doctor's office as the doctor bore his thumbs into my thing on either side of a cyst that went flying out of a small incision he made, popping that thing against the wall like a bb shot out of a gun. My praise utterances made the experience a joy (even though it was kind of painful and insane).

Good life lesson for me.
PTLA is more "Praise the Lord always"
than it is the apathetic "...(Oh well) Praise the Lord, anyway!"
There's a marked difference.

Internet, How Did I Do It Without You?

Oh my gosh! I have been without the internet all day long...That is not an easy thing during deadline. Wow, what a mess. I cannot stand this predicament. It's hard to believe how aggravating it can be to try to run a business (with two interns trying to learn and get experience, as well. It really takes the wind out of your sails, ya know? I wish there was a better solution out in the rural area we are in.

Now that I'm at home (at midnight), I downloaded 320+ emails that should have been delivered to my inbox at work today.
sigh.

The Great Exodus.37

I am very impressed with the excellence and craftsmanship that I read about in this chapter. "Bezalel made the ark..." is the lead-off statement made. Wow, this guy, who was singled out in the last chapter, is now kind of soloing in front of the entire nation (and all those that have read the Bible since its creation). This guy has taken center stage, to be sure.

I wonder if he felt any pressure. You know, how a tattoo artist feels the pressure of "it better be right, because this guy is "wearing this canvas for the rest of his life" kinda thing. Or the wide open wide receiver who has 80,000+ eyes on him (plus a television audience, maybe) as the ball comes hurtling down out of its 50-yard arc as he's racing down the field ... that's pressure. Or the field goal kicker who lines up for a last-second field goal with the game on the line. Or the soccer player with one last penalty shot to decide the game (or the goalie facing that player). It's all pressure to perform with people looking on. When you're good, though, you can let your experience guide you and relieve you of the pressure. You can think, 'I've done this before. I've made this kick dozens or hundreds of times before.' The person can just do what they know how to do. That's probably how Bezalel felt. He was an expert at this kind of stuff.

This wasn't a lesson in mediocrity or do-it-yourself-ism. This was a lesson in skill and giftings. This is a lesson in how God uses and blesses hard work. Not slave labor, but hard and diligent work. Applying your talent and skills to that task, getting better and improving upon those gifts.

Anyway, what really blew me away in this chapter is how awesome and beautiful that Ark of the Covenant must have looked. It was hammered out of pure gold. We're talking one piece of gold hammered out and one single unit. Wow.

I have been told that a cubit is about the length from your elbow to the tips of your fingers. I measure that out and it's about 18 inches. So, the atonement cover (what sat on top of the box that made up the bottom part of the ark) was about 3 feet and 9 inches long and 2 feet and 3 inches wide. The box part was the same dimensions, as well as 2'3" tall. Bezalel then hammered out two cheribum that were on the ends of the cover. They faced each other, both looking down and their wings spread upward, "overshadowing the cover." This was all one piece with the cover. I can't imagine how awesome this looked. The table was made of pure gold and the lampstand was as well -- which featured flowerlike cups, buds and blossoms all of one piece.

As an art piece, this was some fine work. It makes sense that God would want the best materials and work used in sacred worship and the process of relating to His people. It's a far cry from the half-hearted efforts we make as kids in Sunday School class when we use crayons to draw stuff and make crude crafts.

I Almost Died

I forgot to mention my return flight from Philadelphia to Charlotte (later on to Austin), which hit some turbulence. It was the most turbulence I've ever experienced. It wasn't too long -- maybe 30 seconds, but it was down, up, WAY UP, then down, a little sideways, a little up. Wow. It felt weird to be so out of control. There wasn't like something you could hold on to for stability, ya know?

Reminds me of when I went bunjee jumping with my wife on our honeymoon. She wanted to do this (not me), but I went along with her for support. Around the hook from the bunjee to your harness was a large pad (like the round/cylinder kind that wraps around a football goalpost. Grabbing onto it for security looks so lame when you see someone else do it, but goof on me if I didn't wrap my arms around that thing like it would keep me from falling.

The Great Exodus.36

"So Bezalel, Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the Lord has given skill and ability to know how to carry out all the work of constructing the sanctuary are to do the work just as the Lord has commanded."

Wow, so if I had been blessed with boys, I could have named them Bezalel Van Pelt and Oholiab Van Pelt. Besides being craftsmen and artists, I can imagine Bezalel would have been a standout linebacker in high school football and Bezalel would be a pass-rushing defensive end, getting lots of sacks .

I wonder if these people had to deal with celebrity status? They were certainly pointed out in Scripture later, but I wonder if they were humble about their position and I wonder if people pointed them out while they were walking through the village or camp.

It says in verse 2: "Then Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the Lord had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work." I wonder if there were any skilled people that were not willing to do this work. I wonder if, by reading into the passage here, if we are meant to believe that there were some that didn't want to help out.

What happens next in the story, however, implies that this wasn't an issue even if it was the case:

"...And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. So all the skilled craftsmen who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left their work and said to Moses, 'The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the Lord commanded to be done.' Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: 'No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.' And so the people were restrained from bringing more, because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work."

How cool is that? The people responded in such overwhelming numbers that there was a surplus. I tell ya, it's got to be a joy to work with people like that. People that are willing to give and generous. That kind of attitude is contagious.

When you're in an airplane that's just landed and all the people behind you in the aisle are pushing ahead to get off, not waiting for the people in each row to get up, it makes it harder to be generous and act in an opposite spirit. Their selfishness is contrary to the "others are more important" attitude and it makes it a little harder, sometimes to respond the best way. Sometimes, though, seeing someone act like an obvious idiot actually makes it easier to act better, because you laugh inside at the foolish manner in which they are acting and part of you inside says, 'Don't be like that!'

Get to the Choppa!

I've been listening to Tim Lambesis' new side project, Austrian Death Machine. It's so ... BRUTAL!! I have a question, though: If you get into this album and then start going out and buying or renting all of Arnold Schwarzenegger's classic movies, does that make you a nerd? Or a freak named Tim Harry?

Speaking of a freak named Tim, he let me stay at his house and even offered me the ability to take Tim Lambesis' cell phone information and start stalking him. See, Tim drove the guys from As I Lay Dying from the Rev Gen fest to the airport and the other Tim, who fronts AILD, left his cell phone in the van. (Hey Tim L: Tim H was just kidding. If I would have jumped up and started rifling through your cell phone's address book, Tim H would have yelled at me to stop.)

I realize that I haven't blogged in forever -- that's a long time in cyberspace. So much has happend since I last posted on August 28th. I have been "twittering" extensively, so I feel like I've still been communicating with a lot of folks, but this blog has suffered. For this, I apologize.

Okay...what have I done?

I flew to New Jersey (Philadelphia's airport, to be exact) and went to the Revelation Generation Festival. Friday night was a half night, but I got to see and hear Leeland. They are so cool, calm and special. When it comes to hospitality and artist treatment, this one ranks way up there (with Minnesota's Sonshine Fest) in treating their guests with first class care. The next day was filled with great hard music, which I'll be writing about soon. August Burns Red, The Myriad, Norma Jean, Skillet, Flyleaf, As I Lay Dying. Wow.

Last night my wife and I went to see the world premiere of Matthew mcCaugnahey's new film -- Surfer, Dude. She won tickets while watching the University of Texas Longhorns pummell the team from Florida Academy last weekend. After showing a brief preview, the "Godzillatron" giant video screen/scoreboard announced that by texting "Surfer (your name)" to such and such number, that you could enter to win tickets. My wife's name was splashed up there, so we had two tickets waiting for us at will call. There was a red carpet and the whole nine yards. It's fun to people watch at events like that, but we just went in and got seated (and then waited almost an hour for the filmmaker and star to come out on stage and introduced the movie). Lots of fun. Pretty funny movie. Enjoyed a small cup of Coffee ice cream with Oreo "crushin's" in it. That's my regular choice at the fine Amy's Ice Cream eating establishment.