TopherMax

test.

2009-11-21T10:40:00.001-08:00

Teaching a blogging session. this is a test.

test.

2009-11-21T10:40:00.000-08:00

Teaching a blogging session. this is a test.

MOVED!

2009-06-05T06:35:00.001-07:00

MY BLOGSITE HAS MOVED
NEW SITE IS

Thursday Playlist HOLLA!

2009-04-09T09:46:00.000-07:00

Everyday I post what Im listening to as my "Facebook Status". I figured I would start to blog a playlist a few times a week so you can grab the music and check it out. Not to toot my own horn, but I have very eclectic taste in music. You wont be disappointed.

1)Ryan Leslie- "Diamond Girl"

2)Kid Cudi- "Day 'n' Night"

3)Asher Roth- "Lark On My Gokart"

4) Stars- "Reunion"

5) The Shins- "Girl Inform Me"

6) Lyle Lovett- "Church"

That should get ya started...enjohy folks.

My Future

2009-03-23T09:07:00.001-07:00

Well, I have been in a very deep time of prayer as of late. I really feel God telling me to go out into the nations and share his name with people. I feel so drawn. I am praying right now about quitting my job and going and doing ywam for about 6 months. Keep me in your prayers. Thank you everyone

Chris

Feeding the Ego

2009-03-06T09:36:00.000-08:00

I have been pondering a lot lately why we as humans find gratification in popularity. I understand that we all desire to be liked, but should we really define our worth by the amount of views our blog gets, how many people follow us on twitter, or how many facebook friends we have? I think it all comes down to intent. Are we writing our blogs so that people will read them and stroke our ego? Or are we writing our blogs to share with people what we are passionate about, and to offer incite to others? I think it is a fine line. Now I'm not here to criticize anyone in particular, but at the end of the day all we are is writers. We as bloggers allow other people into our every day life. Just because you start a blog it doesn't mean you are interesting, and it doesn't mean that you deserve your own reality show. If a blogger has a thousand hits a day on his/her blog, congratulations. What are you doing with that? Are you making people aware of social issues? Are you encouraging people? Are you bettering your readers way of thinking? It is an opportunity to help people expand their minds, not for us to expand our inflated heads. Use your blog as a tool of awareness. Yes, it is a place to express your opinions and rant about anything you feel a need to, but it is not a place to makeup for your high school years of being an absolute tool. Do not try to make up for your lack of high school glory days by becoming a "power player" in the blog scene. Chances are- you are still socially awkward. Sorry about this rant. Needed to get it off my chest.
This type of blogging is not my forte. I usually write about entertainment issues. That is what I love to write about, but this has been on my mind for a while and I had to get it out.

My Grammy Choices

2009-02-05T05:46:00.000-08:00

Here are my Grammy picks for this year for the top categories. Not that my opinion matters, but I did get to vote a few times for my Stepdad.

Record of the Year-
Please Read The Letter
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

Album of the Year
In Rainbows
Radiohead

Song of the Year
Chasing Pavements
Adele Adkins & Eg White, songwriters (Adele)

Best New Artist
Duffy

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
Mercy
Duffy

Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals
Rich Woman
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

Best Pop Instrumental Performance
Steppin' Out
Stanley Jordan

Best Pop Instrumental Album
Jingle All The Way
Béla Fleck & The Flecktones

Best Dance Recording
Disturbia
Rihanna

Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
House Of Cards
Radiohead

Best Hard Rock Performance
Wax Simulacra
The Mars Volta

Best Rock Song
House Of Cards
Colin Greenwood, Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, Philip Selway & Thom Yorke, songwriters (Radiohead)

Best Rock Album
Consolers Of The Lonely
The Raconteurs

Best Alternative Music Album
Evil Urges
My Morning Jacket

Best Female R&B Vocal Performance
Spotlight
Jennifer Hudson

Best Male R&B Vocal Performance
Miss Independent
Ne-Yo

Best R&B Song
Miss Independent
Mikkel S. Eriksen, T.E. Hermansen & S. Smith, songwriters (Ne-Yo)

Best Rap Solo Performance
A Milli
Lil Wayne

Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group
Swagga Like Us
Jay-Z & T.I. Featuring Kanye West & Lil Wayne

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
Superstar
Lupe Fiasco Featuring Matthew Santos

Best Rap Album
The Cool
Lupe Fiasco

Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival

2009-02-03T04:29:00.000-08:00

The lineup for the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival has been released and it looks BANANAS! I am finally willing to get over my fear of dirty, nasty, drugged out hippies and attend. It will be well worth it.

The festival goes down June 11-14 at its usual Manchester, Tennessee location. Keeping in mind that there are still more names left to be announced, here is the absolutely absurd lineup so far:

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Phish (two shows)
Beastie Boys
Nine Inch Nails
David Byrne
Wilco
Al Green
Snoop Dogg
Elvis Costello Solo
Erykah Badu
Paul Oakenfold
Ben Harper and Relentless7
The Mars Volta
TV on the Radio
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Gov’t Mule
Andrew Bird
Merle Haggard
MGMT
moe.
The Decemberists
Girl Talk
Bon Iver
Béla Fleck & Toumani Diabate
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Galactic
The Del McCoury Band
Of Montreal
Allen Toussaint
Coheed and Cambria
Booker T & the DBTs
David Grisman Quintet
Lucinda Williams
Animal Collective
Gomez
Neko Case
Down
Jenny Lewis
Santogold
Band of Horses
Robert Earl Keen
Citizen Cope
Femi Kuti and the Positive Force
The Ting Tings
Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
Kaki King
Grizzly Bear
King Sunny Adé
Okkervil River
St. Vincent
Zac Brown Band
Raphael Saadiq
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Crystal Castles
Tift Merritt
Brett Dennen
Mike Farris and the Roseland Rhythm Revue
Toubab Krewe
People Under the Stairs
Alejandro Escovedo
Vieux Farka Touré
Elvis Perkins In Dearland
Cherryholmes
Yeasayer
Todd Snider
Chairlift
Portugal. The Man.
The SteelDrivers
Midnite
The Knux
The Low Anthem
Delta Spirit
A.A. Bondy
The Lovell Sisters
Alberta Cross

Top 10 Albums of 2009

2009-01-02T08:34:00.000-08:00

These are my picks in no particular order. You will find no U2 and Nickleback over here!

1. Ray LaMontagne- "Gossip In The Grain"

2. Girl Talk- "Feed the Animals"

3. T.V. On The Radio- "Dear Science"

4. MGMT-"Ordinary Spectacular"

5. Lil Wayne- "The Carter 3"

6. My Morning Jacket- "Evil Urges"

7. Adele- "19"

8. The Black Keys- "Attack & Release"

9. The Raconteurs- "Consolers of the Lonely"

10. Sigur Ros- "Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust"

Honorable Mentions-
*Asher Roth- "The Greenhouse Effect"
*Fleet Foxes- "Fleet Foxes"

Biggest Letdowns-
*Kanye West- "808's and Heartbreaks"
*Kings of Leon- "Only By The Night"

What are your favorites?

CHRISTMAS TIME!!!!

2008-12-03T03:10:00.000-08:00

Well it is almost that time of the year again. Yes that's right, Christmas time. I love Christmas. It is my favorite time of the year. Everyone just seems happier in December. I am here to ask all of you guys a little favor. There are two non profits that I really believe in. With holiday online shopping revenues reaching upward of 28 billion in 2007 alone, let the money from your holiday shopping go to a good cause.

The first is "To Write Love On Her Arms". You can check out their myspace or their website.
They focus and help young people who are struggling with addiction, suicide, cutting, self esteem, ect. They have started a clothing line that is really cool. They have tshirts, hoodies, hats, and other accessories. All of the proceeds go to help these young people

The second is the (Red) Campaign. Their focus is the AIDS epidemic in Africa. Everyday an estimated 4,100 men, women, and children die in Sub-Saharan Africa from this preventable, treatable disease. The Red Campaign has a number of products (razr cell phones, ipods, gap clothing, sunglasses, ect) that a lot of the profit goes straight to the (Red)Campaign. They have things of many different prices. From big to small, they have it. This year they have also partnered up with Starbucks. Now when you go to grab your favorite 4 dollar latte, part of your absurd coffee spending can go to help people.

This Christmas when you are doing your Christmas shopping remember this. You have to do your Christmas shopping anyways. You might as well kill two birds with one stone. If anyone has any other non profits they would like me to add to the list, just let me know.

Kan The Louis Vuitton Don is at it again

2008-11-18T03:29:00.000-08:00

Kanye West has a new album titled "808's and Heartbreak", and will release November 25th. His fourth coming album was slated to be titled "Good Ass Job". While Kanye has not denied that it will be released in the future, the album has definately been put on the backburner.

"808's and Heartbreak" is a much different side of Kanye then we have seen in previous releases. The album has a lot of singing and vocoder sounds. The debut single, "Love Lockdown", was premiered at the MTV Video Music Awards, back in September. It had a Hot Shot Debut at #3 on The Billboard Hot 100. Kanye insisted that every track had to have a TR-808 drum sound in it. It is a definate change from his MPC programming roots.

"808's and Heartbreaks" releases November 15, 2008.

GOODBYE CLOSET

2008-09-24T15:53:00.000-07:00

Seems as if many folks are coming out of the closet recently. Some more expected (caugh Clay Aiken) than others (Ray Bolz). I hope these people's friends and family will continue to love them no matter what. I have always said that we as people should judge one another on character, not sexual preference. Do I understand it? No. We are all messes, but were HIS mess.

Blackberry Bold

2008-09-12T13:41:00.000-07:00

Ch Ch Ch CH Check it out...This is the new Blackberry Bold. It is scheduled to drop on October 2nd. Its an AT&T Exclusive for 90 days. Ill definitely be trading the Curve in for this bad boy. You can learn more about it here.

Paris Dunks

2008-09-10T17:54:00.001-07:00

These were released a few years back. There were 201 pairs made. They are crazy dope. I would give my left leg for these shoes. These are the rarest dunk ever made.

Ketchikan baby!!!!!

2008-06-29T22:14:00.000-07:00

I arrived today in Ketchikan, Alaska. I will be here till the end of September. Im working for a tour boat company. I figured me starting to blog again will give everyone an easy way to keep up with me, and what I'm up to. More to come. Off to bed. Start early in the morning. 5:30 to be exact.

2007-12-21T09:54:00.000-08:00

I miss blogging...So I will start again. My blog will be every day, maybe twice a day. I am in a way different place than I was the last time i blogged. I will go into that more later....

I am in Lansing, Michigan. Its Freezing cold here.

So the topic for today is "Clash Of The Choirs". I love this stupid show. For those of you that dont know, my dad is a Choral Director. We watched it together. I was very glad that Nick Lacheys choir won. They were definatly the best. I am very pleased that Patty Labelles choir did not win. There were some scary people in these choirs, but they did a good job.

More to come later

Chris

VA Tech

2007-04-16T15:03:00.000-07:00

First of all...sorry for not blogging in so long. I have been crazy busy but will change that starting right now.

Im sure by now most of you have heard about the VA Tech Massacre. It kills me that there are people out there capable of doing this. It is just sick. But I got something in my head out of all of this....

We live in a world filled with so much heartache and pain
Fighting through life, day by day, searching for a change
When will things get better, is there a better life near
When can we stop running, hiding filled with fear

Psalm 31:24

TOPHERMAX

New Car!

2007-03-04T16:11:00.000-08:00

I got a new car (yay!). I have been carless for about a month and a half now. I also started moving into my new apartment today. I am pretty stoked about that too. Its really nice. I will post pictures soon!

Detroit is NOT rock city

2007-03-02T08:47:00.000-08:00

Im in michigan for a couple of days. I am hanging out with my pops, and picking up my new ride. There is just something about michigan that makes me depressed haha. I get outside the airport and find myself in the middle of a freakin blizzard. Good news is i get to drive all the way back to tennessee in it in a couple of days. I am excited to see my pops though. It should be a pretty good time. Ill keep yall updated on what is going doown in the D.
Chris

Two and a Half Men

2007-02-27T10:06:00.000-08:00

I have been watching Two and a Half Men for a few years now and I think it is one of the funniest shows on television. Week after week it is consistantly good. The timing between Charlie Sheen and John Cryer makes for truely great television. If you have never seen it before, its hysterical. The plot line is pretty much---A hedonistic jingle writer's free-wheeling life comes to an abrupt halt when his brother and 10-year-old nephew move into his beach-front house.

I dont care who you are, thats funny stuff. Check it out on CBS monday nights at 8pm CST

Chris

man oh man

2007-02-26T08:24:00.000-08:00

Ever feel like you let down the ones you love the most. I feel like that a lot, maybe its because I do. My life is a mess right now. I know a lot of worship pastors read my blog, and I need some help. As a 22 year old young man, I have no clue how to fix my life. How do you truly follow Gods will for your life. I am in a rut. I know I am called to ministry but I feel like I'm not worthy, actually I know I'm not. And I know that you don't have to be through Gods grace, but I have seriously got to get it together. I just need guidance and I don't know how to get to a place in my life where God is going to WANT to guide me. I just need some help. I need God to provide right now in a miracle way, even though I have done nothing to deserve it. I have no money and some how have to get to Michigan to pick up my new car AND pay rent...I don't know how it is going to happen, I just hope it does. I am also looking into this Ywam school of worship thing....if anyone knows anything about it let me know. Sorry for the venting.
chris

Fox News= Lies

2007-02-23T13:27:00.000-08:00

Sorry to all the hard core rupublicans out there. This just ticked me off.

The difference between men and woman showering

2007-02-21T12:04:00.000-08:00

Oh man this is sooo true

How NOT to sing the national anthem

2007-02-20T08:06:00.000-08:00

Oh man..now this is some funny stuff.....

Flippin cops.

My Monday Playlist

2007-02-19T04:07:00.000-08:00

From now on I will start posting a playlist every monday. I do know a thing or two about music...ok maybe just a thing. Some will be new songs...some old... Anyways, here we go!

1. Micah Dalton- "Blame It On January"---Phenomal track. Old school feel that I love.
2. Jon McLaughlin- "Industry"---This guy may be the young Billy Joel. Crazy stuff.
3. Dave Barnes- "A Lot Like Me"---Incredible and so original
4. Mark Roach- "A Thousand Hallelujahs"--Man what a worship song
5. Leeland- "Tears From The Saints"--How in the heck can a kid his age write songs like this that move grown men to tears?
6. John Legend-"Show Me"---I absolutly love everything about this guys voice
7. Fall Out Boy- "This Aint A Scene"---Now im not a fan of the band...but come on...they got JAY-Z TO DO THE INTRO TO THEIR ALBUM... Id buy it just for that...but i didnt...i downloaded, sue me.
8. Gym Class Heroes- "New Friend Request"----classic joint about myspace
9. Gym Class Heroes- " Cupids Chokehold"---This song has been stuck in my head for weeks...but I like it...so Im O.K. with that.
10. Baby Boy- "The Way I Live"----Old school rap feel. The Sample is Definatly cold.

And there we have it. Some of the songs (the last 4) have some language but not to bad. Just a little warning.

Slam Dunk Competition

2007-02-18T15:10:00.000-08:00

Dewight Howard got robbed with this one. What a crazy dunk! How is MJ AND Dr. Jay only gonna give him an 8 for that?!?!? What a couple of haters.

On another allstar note I really wish Steve Nash wasnt hurt. The game is going to suck as a direct result of this.

This dunk right here has my vote though.

And The Award For Best Hip Hop Song Goes To......

2007-02-13T11:12:00.000-08:00

----Best Rap Song-----

It's Goin' Down- Young Joc

Kick, Push-Lupe Fiasco

Money Maker-Ludacris Featuring Pharrell

Ridin- Chamillionaire Featuring Krayzie Bone

What You Know- T.I.

Ok. As some of you know, I am somewhat of a hip hop head. When I get my Grammy Ballot in the mail, I go straight to the hip hop section. Now, I enjoy all of these artists, but it is a known fact that Money Maker is NOT the best song on this list.

Money Maker is about a girl shaking her butt. That is nothing special AT ALL. Then you have a song called Kick, Push (which I definatly voted for). This song is amazing. It is Lupe Fiasco's first single. The song sounds like it is about a kid skateboarding...I beg to differ. The song is a complex metaphor for cocaine addiction. Listen to the song carefully. It will blow your mind. None of these guys are even in the same leauge lyrically as Lupe (except for maybe T.I.).

Chris

Leeland

2007-02-09T01:35:00.000-08:00

Today at Re:Create, a conference that my mother and her partner do, I got to see the most amazing display of passion for Christ. Leeland Mooring and his brother Jack, of the band Leeland, lead a 30 minute worship set. I was absolutely blown away. Here is this 18 year old kid that God has completely gotten a hold of. You can tell, he just gets it. You could tell that he is wise beyond his years. I encourage you to go check their music out. You can check it out on their myspace page. Unbelievable stuff. When you listen to their music, listen to the words, and then remind yourself that it was written by a 17 year old kid. UNBELIEVABLE!

The Battle Of Tabacco Road

2007-02-07T14:00:00.000-08:00

In a poll conducted by ESPN in 2000, the UNC Duke rivalry ranked as the third greatest North American sports rivalry of all-time. Tonight these two teams will square off for the 222nd time. UNC leads the all-time head-to-head series with Duke 125-96. Tonight should be a great game. The game comes on ESPN at 9:00 PM EST. Big players to look out for are UNC sophmore, Tyler Hansborough (avg. 18.7 ppg), and Duke big man Josh McRoberts (avg. 13.2 ppg and 7.7 rpg). I hope everyone watches this battle tonight. It will surely make for great television.

GO!!!!!

NASHVILLE IS THE NEW L.A.

2007-02-06T14:24:00.000-08:00

My good friend Keegan has a new clothing company that is really blowing up. With his trademarked, "Nashville Is The New L.A." shirts, flying off shelves at local boutiques, Keegan is planning a national release for his clothing line, Valaen . All shirts are hand designed by designer Keegan Thomas. I encourage you to go check out his Online Store and go get a nashville shirt for only 25 bucks.

Chris

Barack Obama Has My Vote!

2007-02-05T14:04:00.001-08:00

Typically a republican voter, I have decided that I don't care if Ronald Reagan himself comes back from the grave and runs for president in 2008, I'm voting for Barack Obama. This man has done nothing but impress me. Of course I disagree with a few of his policies, but no more than our current president. I know that I'm not the only moderate or Republican that will be voting to the left in the upcoming election.
With President Bush's approval rating currently in the low 30's, it is apparent that the American people are not impressed. Don't get to discouraged! There is help on the way! A candidate that delivers speeches with brilliance. A candidate that seems to care about progression. A candidate that seems to put to best interests of the American people, first and foremost. Barack Obama is running for president in 2008!
According to the U.S. Senate Historical Office, he is the fifth African American Senator in U.S. history and the only African American currently serving in the U.S. Senate.
Obama was elected to the Illinois state senate in 1996. Four years later, he made an unsuccessful run for the U.S. House of Representatives. After rededicating his efforts to the state senate and winning reelection unopposed in 2002, Obama ran for an open seat in the U.S. Senate two years later. Midway through the campaign, Obama delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, raising his national stature. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in November 2004 with a landslide 70% of the vote.
During that speech at the 2004 democratic national convention he delivered these words, "The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and yes, we got some gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported the war in Iraq. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America."
I was blown away. I have hoped ever since that he would run for president in 2008. After 2 years of denying that he would run, on January 16, 2007, Obama announced that he would be filing paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission to establish a presidential exploratory committee and that he expected to make a decision on whether or not to run by February 10.
PRAISE THE LORD.

If you want to read more about this man (which i hope you will), you can go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama. There you will find anything and everything you want to know about the man. Go check it out.

Chris

Superbowl commercials

2007-02-05T13:52:00.000-08:00

So the superbowl commercials last night were definatly NOT up to par. The entire time I was watching wondering what marketing idiots put these together. It was terrbile. There was, however, two good commercials and I have decided to post them for all you to see. Have fun laughing

P.S. Dont even get me started on prince

Procrastinating by Writing About Procrastination

2007-02-05T13:47:00.000-08:00

“Procrastination is the fear of success. People procrastinate because they are afraid of the success that they know will result if they move ahead now. Because success is heavy, carries a responsibility with it, it is much easier to procrastinate and live on the “someday I’ll” philosophy.” -Dennis Waitly

This quote pretty much sums up my life at the present moment. My days are filled with frustration and confusion, but yet there is no real progression. Stuck...maybe, maybe not. I have few simple tasks to complete but for some reason always put them off. Why, as humans, do we put off things that are so easy to accomplish. We know that we can accomplish things in a timely manner but choose to have our lives be chaotic for no real reason at all.

This is what Time-Managment-Guide.com has to say about Procrastination-------

Eliminate procrastination
The essence of procrastination is very well reflected in this quote by Bernard Meltzer: "Hard work is often the easy work you did not do at the proper time."

Are you affected?
Have you ever seen your most important tasks being put off until later and then later and later, while you are getting busy with many not so important activities? Did you hope that you may have more time and better mood in the future to start the task and do it properly? Does an approaching deadline mean a crisis for you? Do you keep hesitating every time you make a decision?
If you often see yourself in such low productivity situations, then there is a big chance that your life got under control of the procrastination habit. And those situations are only the most explicit symptoms.

What is it?
A basic definition of procrastination is putting off the things that you should be doing now. This happens with all of us time after time.

Yet, what makes a big difference for your success is your ability to recognize procrastination reasons and expressions in their different forms, and to promptly take them under control, before this bad habit steals your opportunities, damages your career and pride, or destroys your relationships. So why do not you do it now?

Causes of procrastination

What are typical reasons why you procrastinate? Procrastination: Do it now! Here are a few of the most common situations to consider in your anti procrastination efforts.

It can be as simple as

* Waiting for the right mood
* Waiting for the right time

Then look at the way you organize your work. You may notice other reasons for procrastination like

* Lack of clear goals
* Underestimating the difficulty of the tasks
* Underestimating the time required to complete the tasks
* Unclear standards for the task outcomes
* Feeling as the tasks are imposed on you from outside
* Too ambiguous tasks

And there are also many connections with

* Underdeveloped decision making skills
* Fear of failure or fear of success
* Perfectionism

Ok ok ok. I might be buying some of this, but why are we like this? I don't understand. Maybe it might just be me, but I just cant end my procrastination. Actually, this blog itself is aiding my procrastination. Instead of doing something very important I am sitting here procrastinating by WRITING ABOUT PROCRASTINATION! This is really just sick.

Chris