Tops of 2009

Last year (before my lovely blog was incepted) I wrote out a personal lists for the things I enjoyed the most in 2008. It was for me and me only, kind of a way for me to have a mental note of what I really liked. I’ve always been annoyed by people who don’t know their favorite movies and so on and I was thought having a list was a good way of never becoming one of those people. Now I’ve decided to bring it to my blog to better educate the masses on all things pop culture, included are my top fives from everything including music, movies, and even discoveries (everything that makes my life what it is). So sit back and enjoy the list….LIVE from my bedroom, its Evan Olson’s tops of 2009.


Music
1. I Gotta Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas
This is the perfect song for any night of the week. To me, it’s almost like a lyrical declaration shouting out that “that tonight’s gonna be a good night.” It’s upbeat, fun, and was the first Black Eyed Peas song I ever bought…I’ve played it non-stop for months.

2. This Tornado Love You by Neko Case
This entrancing alt-country song (from one of the members of Canada’s own ‘the New Pornographers’) is fantastic. Seriously, the first time I heard it I was stone-cold captivated by the unique and holy sound that emanated from my speakers. She’s one to watch for sure!

3. Empire State of Mind (Parts I and II) by Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys
“These streets will make you feel brand new, big lights will inspire you…lets hear it for New York, New York, New York!” Awwwe, those words make me feel alive. Fact: I’m not a fan of rap in general, but when Alicia Keys enters the mix it’s a whole different ballgame. This song (split into two parts, one with Jay-Z and the other a piano edition with only Alicia) is an anthem to New York and to the artists who live there (and dream of it). I love New York City and this song encapsulates my admiration of the City.

4. Dance Anthem of the 80’s by Regina Spektor
Regina has been around for awhile; you probably already know her hit single ‘Fidelity’ (it breaks my he-he-he-he-art), but I was never a huge fan…until now. Her album ‘Far’ is a quirky exploration into her musical whimsy. But unlike last time, this album seemed more contained and more centered. This song in particular is an offbeat jingle about a meat market where the “boys and girls the watch each other eat”. But it’s the last minute and the half of the song that really grabs and stuns you; she’s singing about benediction and a meat market again (a combo only Regina could pull off so effortlessly). It’s a song that sums up the whole album: oddly beautiful.

5. Your Presence by Jenn Johnson
What can I say? Bethel is the Mecca of our faith and the music they are sending out is quite unique. Much of Christian radio and even worship music for that matter is being written towards victory, but Bethel is writing from victory. This song captures the intensity of their worship and especially captures the passion of worship leader Jenn Johnson, whose heart cry explodes within the melody.

6. Set Fire to the Third Bar by Snow Patrol (feat. Maratha Wainwright)
I was at the midnight premier of ‘Twilight: New Moon’, waiting for the awful movie to start so I begin criticizing it when but then suddenly, during a commercial for a Nicholas Sparks movie, this stunning and enchanting song came on. I literally raised myself up and leaned out of my seat and the song pulled my in…it’s an intense love song filled with a potency that can only come from a duet of such caliber.

Movies
1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
One of the best movies I have ever seen. A romantic comedy rooted in reality and at the same time, in surrealism. Joel and Clementine (lovers if there ever were) begin their relationship at the beginning of the movie, but ten minutes into the film an enraged Clementine has her memory altered so she can forget all about Joel. After finding out what she did, Joel decides to do the same (as a form of payback), but as the operation begins he realizes he still loves her. What follows is a film about real love and real relationships, not something wishy-washy. It’s a movie about how no amount of memory-altercation can erase the love we have for someone, no matter how hard we may try.

2. 17 Again
A surprisingly good movie about a thirtysomething ad man who back in time to relive his high school days (with help from one of those offbeat janitor characters). For such a cliché plotline, it’s a very funny movie with a solid cast (Zac Efon is the lead), pro-marriage stances, and some genuine emotion…something I think is lacking in most high school movies.

3. Marie Antoinette
A period art piece concerning the Carrie Bradshaw-esque queen Marie Antoinette is the most visual movie I have ever laid my eyes on. It is filled with jealous colors, pitch-perfect directing, and is a wonderful glimpse into the life of a happy tragedy.

4. Inglorious Basterds
I’d never seen a Tarantino movie, until I saw this one. A “spaghetti Western” about a group of Nazi hunting soldiers (lead by Brad Pitt’s now iconic character Aldo Rain), a young fugitive trying to stay alive, and the Nazi abomination seeking them out. It’s comical, brutal, and a modern day classic.

Books
1. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
In my opinion, this fantastic book solidified J.K. Rowling’s epic series about the boy wizard. It is a story set in a magical world, but it is so firmly rooted in Harry’s emotions, emotions that no amount of magic can get rid of. Topics of racism, death, and legacy are profound and certain chapters (ex: ‘the Boggart’) are some of the most enjoyable passages of books I’ve ever read. Make no mistake; this book deserves to be praised.

2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
I’ve read this one twice and am blown away by the magic and emotion it holds. The author (J.K. Rowling) called this book a game-changer, a pivotal book that set the tone for the final three in here epic series. Set out a sort of wizard Olympics and how Harry must face not only the games, but the return of his parents murderer (the darkest wizard in a hundred years) and even….girls. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is an epic novel that transcends children’s literature entirely.

3. Purity: The New Moral Revolution by Kris Vallotton
A breath of fresh! Kris’ is book is not legalistic nor is it void of boundaries; it calls us to sexual purity because we are worth it. It is a book on purity that, instead of being self-centered and focusing on us, focuses its energy on God. The book shows us a better way to live our lives and makes us see that purity isn’t about rules, it’s about relationship. Kris showed me that purity isn’t something we strive to do; purity is something we do because we have a internal values that dictates how we live. If you don’t have one, fine…I do, thanks to this book.

Discoveries
1. Bethel Culture
Honor is liberating, love is all-consuming, and when is freedom not desired? Seriously, Bethel is what I have been looking for my entire life…I love it!

2. NPR
More culture than hard-hitting news, NPR reports on the things I’ve always wanted to hear about. Hour long interviews with Sarah Jessica Parker, stories on people who manage the lives of deceased celebrities, and discussions with people about the Sears Tower name change. Give me NPR’s vibrancy over Today Show’s dull unchanging format anyway.

3. The Internationals
My roommates: a Swiss, a Canadian, and a Scotsmen. Love my room love my mates, enough said.


4. Winco
Food dispensers! Dried pineapple rings! Lowest prices in California!

~~~
Thanks for reading and happy New Years!

P.S. Would really love some feedback in the comments section or on my FB page. Thanks!

Nothing Better To Do Than Muse

Here are some random late night musings for your enjoyment….

~Ok, so right off the bat I have to reveal that I am now in Ankeny! I have returned to this holy city for a time and I am so happy to be within its borders! Ankeny is so me: well-off, family oriented and well-structured…an unusual but nonetheless welcomed trio.

~I was listening to NPR on my flight from San Fran to Denver and one of the interviews was discussing a new trend in Japan. Basically it was about metrosexual Japanese men who call themselves Carnivores. They’re straight, but not inclined to chase after women…they also wear tight pants and get pedicures. It was a very random report, thus I share it with you.

~Alicia Keys’ new album ‘the Element of Freedom’ has a couple fantastic songs. I recommend ‘Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart’ and ‘Empire State of Mind Part II’.

~I love ibethel.tv! It’s an honor being able to tune into Bethel culture every week and as an added perk, I’m on one of the videos!

Ok, I’m off to bed (jet lag), but I’ll write more soon (see below).

-Evan

p.s. (what does p.s. mean?) get ready because next week I’m posting my tops of 2009. it’s my personal listings of everything that made 2009 a year to remember for me.

Adventures in Mecca

Confession: I needed a getaway. I mean I like Rio Dell and all (ok, that’s a big fat lie because behind closed doors I refer to it as Rio Hell), but I needed to see the world. I needed to escape Humboldt and make sure that the world actually still existed and that I wasn’t imagining it. Honestly, living up here in the hills makes me feel like I’m in that movie ‘the Village’ sometimes, but thankfully civilization still existed and oh the adventures I had there…..

I went to Redding (or as I like to call it, Mecca) for a week and spent the first the first few days with my friend, Jenny and my cousin, Emily. We explored Sun Dial Bridge, Redding’s SINGULAR mall, and this Panera/Starbuck’s hybrid called Yak’s Coffee. Then we had Thanksgiving together, which was delicious considering no one over the age of thirty-five was involved in the cooking process. But after Thanksgiving, the estrogen they gave out began to choke the very life out of me and thus, it was not a moment too soon that my dad arrived.

Jack and Friede Taylor decided to have a small meeting at Bethel, to honor the culture Bethel has created in their church and in their city, my dad was one of these “spiritual sons” and so he flew in for the weekend. Fortunately I was able to tag along with him, because my dad thought that if Jack could bring his spiritual sons, than he could sure bring me.

Bethel by itself is fantastic, but being able to traverse it with the likes of Jack and Friede, Leif Hetland, and Bob Phillips is something else entirely. There was one point that I was walking to service and realized I was literally strolling amongst spiritual giants. I didn’t feel small though, because Bethel isn’t about “them and us” instead it’s about equality and embracing our royalty. So it was actually kind of relaxing walking with them and instead of feeling fearful I felt kind of secure walking with them.

All weekend, during small intimate meetings with Bill, Kris, and other Bethelites, I felt tremendous gratitude for my life. Not only for being able to attend sessions where the number of people in the room was around twenty-five (which is exactly the kind of meeting I like), but for my life in general. When I leave California and go back home, I go back to a place that sometimes I can’t believe exists. Heartland (my church) is fantastic and I feel incredibly privileged to be able to go back to something when I leave Humboldt County.

I’m becoming more and more aware that not everyone can say this and am so thankful that I can…but I’m also a little dumbfounded as to why I am so lucky? Why did I get to spend a week in Redding hanging out with Jack Taylor? Why am I so lucky as to have a Kingdom church back home? Why am I so lucky to have the family that I do? I don’t know the answer, but I think it has something to do with everything my parents have gone through. Our family has been through a lot, but they’ve stuck it out and stayed with God and I think that has a lot to do with it. They trusted God when it didn’t make sense and now it’s paying off. I think this pretty much what I’m going through now. I can’t say I like it here in California, but I’m willing to stay if that’s it takes to prepare me for what’s coming at our church. This is something I’ve been learning lately: being thankful for a gift I don’t want. It’s been hard, but so worth it!

Anyways, Redding was amazing and one of the best moments was seeing my dad on stage sharing how Bethel has impacted Iowa. It was cool to see how far we’ve come, from a little church in Ankeny, Iowa to what we are now…a church affecting our state and slowly but surely, affecting the nation. I’m excited to see what’s coming in my life…but for now, I’m patiently waiting for Christmas break to begin, so I can visit civilization once again.

In

One perk of being away from home is that I have become really aware of how I deal with things. Example: in the past I was very good at not being honest with myself. Justification and dodging the truth were my games and I played them darn well. But away from home I have to be honest with myself, I have tell it how it is. It’s been hard, but also very liberating. I’m growing up as I do this, I’m becoming more me….through honesty identity is being forged. Anyway, within this state of self-awareness I’ve noticed something and it relates to my interests and why I find them, well…interesting.

If you know me, you know that I like to be “in” on it. I like watching the acclaimed show (Arrested Development), reading that bestselling book (Eat, Pray, Love), and listening to that latest craze song (Boom, Boom, Pow). But I’ve noticed sometimes that the show/book/song isn’t really interesting to me, it’s just interesting to everyone else. Therefore I feel like I need to watch/read/listen to it just so I can be on the IN-side. When I started to realize that I spent time on things I didn’t necessarily enjoy, I was kind of surprised. Internally, I have always prided myself on being who I am but I was following the crowd in this regard. I suppose everyone has this “in syndrome”: Starbucks is an example, as is any and all Apple products. People like buying things that represent their status as a hipster, but I think there is a fine line between following a fad and losing who you are.

Growing up I literally prayed this prayer, “God, let me be unique.” It was an unnecessary prayer looking back; I was unique… and thankfully I still am. But my obsession with certain fads isn’t unique at all in fact it’s the exact opposite. To clarify: fads aren’t bad, that is not what I’m saying at all. It’s great to read a book that others have read because it’s usually an awesome conversation starter. But I think that reading a book just to start a conversation about it, is stupid. I did that sometimes, I’d actually read a whole freaking book just so, if the opportunity presented itself, I could tell people I read it and how thoroughly I “enjoyed” it. I fondly remember a couple books that I didn’t enjoy reading (the Amber Spyglass fits nicely into that category), but I finished them just so, A) I could say I did and B) to feel cultured.

To be fair, part of this has to do with my mildly OCD peeve about finishing something I start. If I read one of the Lord of the Rings books, I need to read them all. If I buy one fantastic song off an album, I need to buy the rest of that fantastical album. It’s an offense to God to buy one Tegan and Sara song and not buy all of them eventually. Finishing what I start is basically an art to me…

Lately I’ve been learning to not only like things I like, but to stand my conviction that I liked them in the first place. For instance, I loved the movie Rachel Getting Married, but everyone else here hates it lividly. It was a learning experience for me because I really love that movie and in some way, I had to stand by my principles: I liked it and if you didn’t that’s fine.

My obsession with being “in” on things even went as far as compromising some of my morals. I found myself justifying things and it was then that I realized something was happening, something I had the power to stop…. and so I stopped it. I deleted TV shows, threw out some books, and you know what? I feel ok. I think I actually gained something. I was afraid I would feel bad after I threw the stuff out, as if I was throwing a piece of myself out.. I was actually identifying so much with materials that I was sinning to find an identity. That wasn’t a good place to be in, but I’m moving on up, kind of like the Jefferson’s. Anyway, here is a short rundown of what you can learn from my mistakes.

1. In the pursuit of being cultured, don’t forsake your interests and/or morals.

2. Like what you like, dislike what you dislike. If you can’t do this, you may need help on forming an opinion and sticking to it.

3. Identity should never be rooted in the temporal, but always in the eternal.

4. And finally, if someone doesn’t like your new favorite movie, it’s ok! It’s not personal, it’s just cinema….

Home, I Miss Thee

I have countless reasons why I miss being at home, but here are three big ones.

1. TV: We have TV here, but people are always playing ‘Halo’ or praying in the living room, that I’ve actually never watched it. Thus, I feel totally out-of-the-loop media-wise. I haven’t seen ‘the Office’ or ‘Fringe’ in four weeks, ‘the Today Show’ is a thing of the distant past (is Kathy Lee still there), and HGTV, well let’s just say that I haven’t heard or seen from Susanne Wong in many, many months.

2. Privacy: I like having privacy. To me it’s a civil right but it seems everyone in my house hasn’t heard of this particular right. I mean, I have privacy in my room but I really can’t spend all my time sitting in bed…can you say, antisocial? But I would be nice to be able to have my breakfast alone, in peace and quiet. It’s very hard eating a waffle with people talking all around you. I need silence to concentrate, even when it comes to eating.

3. Chili’s: Yes, I really miss this place. For those of you who don’t know, there is a small group of us who’d go to Chili’s every single week after Saturday night service. We’d order tea (a few would order water with lemon, because they believed that water + lemon + sugar = lemonade) and then we’d order chips and salsa. Those times were always filled with laughter and it only cost like $5. Five bucks for a laugh is fine by me.

So there are three things I miss about home, if you need more I have them haha.

California: The Journey Thus Far

When I first arrived here, it was understandably difficult. I'd lived in Iowa all my life and since I was homeschooled, I spent a majority of my time at home with the family. So it was really, really hard to suddenly be thrust into a situation where I lived with fifteen guys who didn’t know a thing about cleaning, respecting privacy, and the relaxation watching HGTV provided. It was a whole new world (don't you dare close your eyes) and I was shell-shocked when I arrived.

This is not to say that the people weren't welcoming, because they were. I was very surprised by how nurturing some of the guys were. I needed truly nice people to surround me those first few weeks, people who understood the principal of privacy and homesickness...because we all know that when you’re homesick that you yearn for privacy. I was so homesick that first week! Showers consisted of me lathering myself in soap and daydreaming about Ankeny and its landscaped lawns. Dinner time mainly concerned me eating three or four apple slices, while wondering what all my friends back home were doing at that precise moment in time. I was so homesick the very first day, that when we went to the ocean I could not even comprehend what I was looking at. It could've been the Eiffel Tower or the Virgin Mary herself and I would've responded the same: big whoop, I want to go home.

But after those first few weeks, I began to feel somewhat at home in California. It's still a work in progress and I think it probably will be until the day I leave haha, but I’m getting used to being here. While it’s hard, I do I feel like I'm meant to be here. For those of you who watch 'Lost', Heartland is my island and someday I'll have to go back there, but for now, I'm content here...well not content in the sense that I'm happy or anything. More so, I know I'm supposed to be here, that I'm growing, and that if I were home I wouldn’t be growing like I am. So for now I'm in a happy medium: I don't like it here, I don't want to be here, but I'm willing to stay. Honestly, the holidays can't come quick enough.

It Began in the Land of Corn: The Evan Olson Story

I was born in Iowa, otherwise known as the eternal land of corn. I grew up on the grounds of drug rehab center where my dad had worked for the past ten years. Teen Challenge of the Midlands was located in central Iowa and that was my home for the first thirteen years of my life. I lived on eighty-eight acres of woods, creeks, and recovering alcoholics, and I loved it there. You’d think growing up surrounded by drug addicts would have a negative effect on ones life, but honestly it has never struck me as anything different, it was just home. Teen Challenge was in many ways an ideal place to grow up, it was all private property so I was really free to run about. I love stories and my story making started there, there in the woods of yesteryear. I fondly remember my childhood there, it was a unique place to grow up and I’m glad I had the chance to live there.

When I was thirteen we moved from Colfax (where that particular Teen Challenge was located) and moved to a suburb of Des Moines called Ankeny. It was in Ankeny that I began to hear whispers about something called the Kingdom. At first we didn’t have a name for it, but it was something tangible and we pursued it. My dad (the pastor) pinpointed a meeting with Matt Sorger as a turning point in our church. It was a Saturday night, Matt was praying for people, and suddenly in the rafters of the church we could see a mist. It goes without saying that this was a big deal and is generally thought of as a turning point in our church’s recent history. That is where things began to quicken, when healings became more routine, and the supernatural in general began increasing. Now, six years later things God is moving in power, the Kingdom is expanding in our city, and my church is becoming a family. I love seeing how our church has changed in the last five years, from a church body to a church family…it is awesome!

While many people may leave BSSD and feel that they are leaving family, I don’t have that problem. Not to say I don’t consider the people in California family, because I do. But when do I go back to Ankeny, I have a whole other family waiting there for me when I return. What I love most about the Kingdom is this whole community principle. It has shown me how life is supposed to be lived, surrounded by friends who support you on your journey and encouraging you every step of the way.

When I traveled to BSSD, I comforted myself with two thoughts, 1) that God wants me in California and 2) that anything associated with Bethel is probably going to be freakin amazing. I was disappointed when I didn’t get into BSSM, but that pretty much evaporated after a few days. I began to see that it BSSD was really tailored to suit me, the main reason being that it was smaller. God knew I was better in a smaller venue and so I became more excited as September approached. I like it here now, it isn’t home but it is slowly becoming a home away from home and I am thankful for that.

My biggest struggle thus far in California has been transitioning into this new community. I have a community back in Iowa and after a few days here I began to ask myself, “Why do I need another community, I don’t even want one…. I ALREADY have one!” So that has been difficult, getting used to the idea that I need to have a community here in California to walk with me these next nine months. This has been hard, not to mention the fact that I am hundreds and hundreds of miles from home. I’m so used to saying, “Yeah, I’m heading out to California.” So it has been hard getting used to saying, “Yeah, I’m from Iowa.” My family and church are so intertwined that I miss them both equally, thank God for Facebook…honestly, thank God ha ha.

I feel like the year that I was born to now has been phase one in my life and that I am now about to enter into phase two. What I want most as I move into “phase two” is to have my identity established in Christ and to have an honest-to-God encounter with the Father and His heart. I’ve been saved most of my life, so I have the blessing/curse of not knowing a life without Christ. Because I haven’t had a deep conversion experience, I am very much a circumstantial Christian and I want that to change this year. I don’t want my emotions to dictate who I am or who He is. I want to be rooted and established in love and from that place I will change the world.

(This paper was written while listening to Fix You Up by Tegan and Sara)

(It was edited while listening to You Know I’m No Good by Amy Winehouse)

The Angel of Road Kill

Now more then ever I’m baffled. Last night I had dinner with four amazing, fantastic, and brilliant people. We ate, we shared, we grew as friends, and we of course laughed. Mostly we laughed about my irrational fear, a fear we now refer to as ‘the Angel of Road Kill’.

This is where I’ll begin, with what this fear was. About a year ago I had this stupidly awful irrational fear. It went something like this. Every time we passed road kill on the highway/interstate/rural road I’d think, “Ok, I hope the angel in charge of road kill gets that carcass where it is supposed to go.” My next thought followed instantaneously, “Otherwise, if he messes up I’ll wake up tonight with that dead raccoon in my mouth.” Yes, that was a literal fear of mine. I wasn’t paralyzed by it, but I did sometimes worry about that. No longer though! I have risen above worldly fears and am now worried about more concrete things like terrorism and wrinkles. But before I embarrass myself further I’ll move onto my point.

Soon I’ll be heading off to California and leaving these people and that really scares me. Will I find any other people like this in California? Will I find acceptance and belonging? My question is this: Is my fear of leaving Iowa and these new amazing people, a kind of ‘Angel of Road Kill’ scenario? Is it a valid fear and should I worry that within nine months these people could be gone? It’s entirely within the realm of possibility that these fantastic people will no longer be in Iowa when I return.

So I am in a place of confusion. There are other reasons I feel I should maybe just stay, such as Heartland. Heartland is amazing; it is not my home away from home, its home. Things are happening here that belong in epics, but instead are being lived out. Obviously, Bethel is also experiencing more or less the same things. But why leave and spend countless dollars when maybe what is happening there will happen here in Iowa soon? So I’m wondering all of this and hoping I’ll know what I’m supposed to do by the time I go to bed tonight. Hopefully, I’ll also go to bed without a raccoon in my mouth :) So much more conquering my fear....

Welcome to the World According to Ev

So I was thinking about something today. I was thinking about the fact that I think a lot. I think most of the day (two points for me) and usually what I’m thinking about, my viewpoints and everyday commentaries are fairly funny to people (when and if I vocalize these views). So I decided to make a blog to voice these opinions and so here I am. Here I am and wouldn’t you know I have no idea what to write next?

I guess I could ask you if you’ve seen ‘Lost’, but if you know me well then I’ve already asked you that twelve times. I could ask your favorite song (mine is ‘Hide and Seek’ by Imogen Heap), but usually most people can’t identify their very favorite song. I could ask about your political affiliation, your love life, or your religious background. But honestly, none of that interests me on here because the answers would be fairly predictable. The answers would go something like this.

Q/ Political Affiliation? A/ I’m an independent.
Q/Love life? A/ What love life are you referring to?
Q/ Religious Background? A/ Well I went to church but I kind of fell out of sync with it all. Now I’m more concerned with God than a man-made religion.

So I won’t ask any of that that stuff, instead I’ll state a simple fact and it is this: my name is Evan Olson and this is my blog. You can now consider yourself inside of my little head.