Sinestro Corps #1 (Review)

The comic book event of the summer has arrived! If you think that the events of a Green Lantern special event won't have significance for the rest of the DC universe, think again. Sinestro, former GL and current renegade psychopath, has regained his yellow ring counterpart to Green Lantern technology, and made duplicates of it to form his own evil "Sinestro Corps". In direct philosophical opposition to the Green Lantern Corps, the Sinestro Corps exists to create order through fear.

For this terrifying task, Sinestro has recruited evil and disturbed aliens from across the universe and already the GL casualties number in the dozens.

So why does this event have any significance for the rest of the DC universe? Because Sinestro has recruited villains (and even one HERO!) that are among the most powerful characters in the DC universe. And not just GL villains, but major players in the DC Universe.

The writing is spectacular and gripping, and the art is detailed and engrossing. This one-shot that leads into the main events in Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps is NOT to be missed!

(SPOILER WARNING!!) (SPOILER WARNING!!)

Included in the roster of the Sinsetro Corps:

Cyborg Superman

Superboy-Prime

Kyle Rayner and lastly, prepare to shoot liquid crap...

THE ANTI-MONITOR!!!

The DC Universe is officially hosed...

Quality: 9.5/10

Relevance: 7.0/10

Craig Herrman Jr. finished!

We're pleased to announce a wrap for principle recording on the part of David, for "Dark Ritual". Craig Herrman Jr. did a wonderful job and we know you are all going to enjoy his performance.


One of the most intense moments of the production surrounds the character of David, and Craig's work compliments the scene wonderfully.


Also, this week marked the first episode of our weekly podcast! Follow the link at the top right of this screen to check it out, or just jump over to http://paeter.libsyn.com/ and use the player on the right side of the page to start listening right now!


And if you haven't tried out "Paeter's Brain" you can follow the link to that page as well and see what strangeness has been on the mind of our insane leader lately.


Have a great weekend and we'll see you on Monday for Chapter 8 of our study in The Gospel of John!

The Spirit Blade Underground Podcast!

I've FINALLY gotten around to doing it. We now have a weekly podcast called "The Spirit Blade Underground Podcast"! You can find the link on this page. The first episode is already posted, so be sure to check it out!

I'll be using the podcast each week to give updates for the company, expand a little on our weekly Bible study and talk about and review various pop culture geeky stuff that I'm into. (Movies, tv shows, games, comics, books, etc.)

So grab our feed on the podcast site, or just click on the player to the right of the screen once you're there!

Catcha later!

-Paeter Frandsen

ACM Interview

Check out Paeter's latest podcast interview at http://blogforbooks.com/

This is also a podcast where you can here about various Christian media projects that are moving around in independant circles. Enjoy!

In Search Of Truth, John Chapter 7

The Gospel Of John, Chapter 7





Today, when you hear the name "Jesus" spoken out loud in the media, it almost always seems to bring controversy with it. This was even more true when Jesus walked on the earth. People were constantly divided in their opinions of him. Of course, this was no surpise to Jesus. In fact, Jesus said in Matthew 10:35, "I have come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."


Jesus came to reveal who God is and in doing so, separate the world into two groups: Those who belong to God through their belief, and those who do not.


We continue to see that Jesus is aware of timing. He knows his death is inevitable, but he also knows exactly when it will happen. So he always makes very careful decisions about how much exposure he should have to the public and exactly when. (verses 1-10)


In Chapter 7, Jesus continues to strongly divide people. Ironically, it starts with his own brothers. If they hadn't seen any of his miracles, they would have found it especially hard to believe. After all, this was their big brother. They'd known him all their lives. Seen him scrape his knee while playing and smelled his sweat while working together.


Still, it may be that their unbelief was helped along greatly by the fact that Jesus accused everyone of sin and evil. (See verse 7) No one likes to be told that they've sinned or that they are evil. The Bible is very clear on what is evil and what is good. With such strong absolutes, this is what often makes people so offended by Christianity and the Bible. We all want to do our own thing and quickly play the victim when we feel "judged". And although Christians are not meant to go around waiving a superior finger at unbelievers, Jesus makes no apologies for speaking the truth and clearly defining good and evil.


Jesus also stripped away the trappings of cold religion to get at the heart of what scripture says and values. The religious leaders wanted to uphold the letter of the extra laws they had established as a "compliment" to the law of God. But Jesus cut through the faulty logic of the additional rules for the sabbath they had invented.


Although Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the prophetic birthplace of the Messiah, no one bothered to ask Jesus where he was originally from, just assuming he had lived all of his life in Galilee. Many in the crowd dismissed Jesus without exploring him more deeply. This should be an example to us today. Do we really have Jesus figured out? Do we really know who he is? Whether we believe him to be the Son of God or not, both Christians and non-Christians should explore the identity and teachings of this man, or risk putting him in a box and missing out on incredible life-changing truth.


Next Week: Chapter 8- Two sides of Jesus. He forgives, but also warns of judgment. And just exactly who are the "children of God". Are all of us, or just some? We'll explore it all next week!




Question for comment: Do you think of people as naturally leaning more toward good or evil?


(Let your voice be heard! Leave your comment here!)

Songs and Voices

Another very productive week here at Spirit Blade Productions!


Preliminary sound design for the song "Veritas" is almost finished and Mike Tully's vocal work will be edited by early next week. We also had the first rehearsal with our mysterious villainess for Dark Ritual. Lastly, some guitar work was turned in that will be layered into the song "Necromancy". You can still download the rough cut at www.spiritblade.net, but don't wait too much longer as we will be taking it down again once the re-mixing for it begins!


You may notice that this post is a little early this week. Our office is closed down from Thursday to Sunday this weekend but will be back up at full speed on Monday. Paeter and his wife are attending the "Truth Project" conference in Colorado for the weekend. They'd appreciate your prayers for a safe trip and for God to teach and equip them for even more effective ministry.


Hope you all are having a great week and are finding yourself closer to God today than yesterday!

F4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (Review)

After seeing the first Fantastic Four film, I remember telling people it was "fun". Not too serious, but certainly not silly throughout. It had some good moments and was definitely worth seeing despite a little "family-friendly" goofiness. Even that was forgivable, since the Fantastic Four is one of the few superhero teams rooted in a literal family.

The trailers for the sequel seemed to promise a darker film with higher stakes and incredible action. Don't get your hopes up.

I saw the film last week and was not at all impressed. This film clocked in at 89 minutes, and it's easy to see that all the stretching (no pun intended) was done at the beginning.There is very little action in the first 30 minutes of the film, the characters are as 1-dimensional as they were in the first film and the script was terrible. Sometimes the actors almost seemed to struggle through cheesy dialogue, desperately trying to make artistic choices that made sense in a senseless script.

I will say that the Silver Surfer looked incredible, and his action scenes were great. Too bad they needed to invent a plot device to cut back on the Silver Surfer's special effects. I won't spoil the details, but the Surfer doesn't look as cool as he should for way too much of the movie. I think if they didn't have the budget to keep him the way he's supposed to look through the whole film, they should have waited another 10 years to use the character.

Now, if you are the parent of elementary age kids that love action and superheroes, this will probably be a great film to take them to. YOU just won't get a lot out of it. And now that I think about it, I'd even recommend waiting to rent this one for your kids, since they'll want to skip past the first 30 minutes of time filler anyway.

Marvel has had a really good pattern of superhero movies. But if they're not careful they'll one day look back and remember this film (as DC remembers "Batman Forever") as the beginning of the end.

Rated PG for sequences of action violence, some mild language and innuendo.

Quality: 6.5/10

Relevance: 5.5/10

Time flies when you're being monotonous?

This week I remembered how easy it was for me to lose track of time while mixing. It can be very repetetive and at times extremely boring, but somehow the time still flies by. (Don't ask me how that one works. I don't get it either.)

I've spent the last two days taking Mike Tully's vocal work for one of his songs and lining up the best takes together. Once this is done I've got a much smaller vocal file to import into the track file. If that doesn't make much sense, in short, I'm doing boring stuff now to make the creative process easier and of better quality later on.

It's great to finally be working on a song for Dark Ritual again. The last song I made for it, "Necromancy", was written before the script was completed. (And technically, that song only exists in an unfinished mix right now.)

Mixing music and scenes each calls on different creative muscles, so I like going back and forth following my inspiration. It keeps things fun and creative and in the end makes a better product, I think. The song I'm working on, as you may have guessed, is for the character "Raan" and is titled "Lead Me". It comes at a point in the story where Raan is alone and feeling pretty directionless in every sense of the word. I'm excited about what we're doing with Raan in this story. With ALL of the characters for that matter.

In "Spirit Blade", we presented all of the characters in a fairly basic sense. A little depth, but not room in the script for much. However, now that we've introduced the characters and you have a sense of who they are in general, we can go deeper with each of them and learn more about their personal flaws and fears. It's a part of the Spirit Blade saga that I've really been looking forward to and hopefully you'll all enjoy it as well!

-Paeter Frandsen

In Search Of Truth, John Chapter 5

The Gospel of John Chapter 5





Still tracking with us? If you haven't yet, take the time to read Chapter 6. We'll wait...


Although not of any practical benefit, it's fun to try and imagine how this miracle with the bread and fish worked. Did Jesus use the existing material and somehow make it divide and grow like blood cells? Or did he simply use and transform the existing air molecules into the substance of bread and fish? It's likely that it any changes happened almost instantly, since the writers never give a detailed account of how it appears to have happened.


When the people saw this though, they became excited. Jesus knew that if they had their way, he would be made into a military leader. Conquering the Roman empire was of no interest to Jesus, and so he went to be alone. Jesus did this often in his ministry and it's a great example to us. No matter how much we are trying to do, we need to take time regularily to be with God. To pray, to read the words he's given to us. We so often take our schedules so seriously and stress ourselves out with all of these "important" life goals. But does God ever make it onto our planner? We would encourage and even plead with you to look at your calendar, or schedule, or whatever you use to order your life, and mark in some regular time with God.


Start small.


Maybe just five minutes on three different days of the week. You can pray or read a chapter of the Bible. But spend time with the God of the universe. It's an incredible relationship that we can have with him and the most important relationship we can have in the world.


In verse 47, Jesus says that anyone who believes in him has eternal life. It's important to note that the Greek word used here for "believe" does not simply mean "believe that he existed" or even "believe that he is God". To "believe" here, means to TRUST in Jesus. To first give him credit for who he is, and then to trust him with your life and your soul.


Have you ever felt funny about the concept of communion? Eating the body of Jesus and drinking his blood? What's THAT all about, right? As you can see in Chapter 6, the people that knew Jesus were asking the same thing. Jesus is again foreshadowing his death and the payment he will make on our behalf, to satisfy justice. We'll see later on that Jesus has given us a symbolic activity to take part in that will tangibly remind us of his sacrifice. Many Christians call this activity "communion". We'll touch on it some more toward the end of this book.


Jesus wasn't afraid to say things that he knew people would have trouble with. Some truth is complicated, mysterious or just plain strange sounding. We would be foolish to just believe everything we are told by our pastors, priests, or parents. But we would also be foolish to throw out strange sounding ideas without investigating them. The disciples close to Jesus, referred to as "The Twelve", made the choice to stick around and learn more before leaving Jesus. They were confused, and lacking all the answers, but they kept their minds opened and stayed with Jesus to learn more.


If you're questioning what it is that you believe, that's good! In every other part of life, we learn by asking questions. It's no different in our spiritual lives. So bring your brain and your questions and feel free to leave your comments here anytime!


See you next week!




Question to comment on:


What might some advantages be to questioning your own faith, even if what you believe is true?

Veritas

A great week for music here at Spirit Blade Productions. Paeter completed writing for the chorus of a new Dark Ritual song titled "Veritas"- Latin for "Truth". The last two days were spent examining various beat, bass, drone and FX options for the song, testing and loading them onto the computer for construction of the track, which will begin next week.


Not a huge variety of accomplishments this week, but alot of great work done on the new song! We'll be anxious for everyone to hear the final mix!

Making Changes

After the crazy recording schedule last week, it's been nice to have a change of pace this week. I've been inspired to work more on music than scenes this week and wrote a chorus for a new Dark Ritual song. It's going to be dark and menacing in its sound and is sung by someone wrestling with the truth.

It will be a change for me, musically, because my songs tend to be very melodically driven. However this song will consist mainly of a strong, memorable chorus, surrounded by audio clips, spoken quotes and other atmospheric effects. Very different from anything I've done, but I'm very excited to be developing it.

God has also gotten my attention this week and reminded me to renew my pursuit of him. To do more than habitually read the Bible and pray, but to do it with a sense of purpose and drive. As things get busy for me, I usually don't miss much of my Bible reading time, but I can feel the passion fade from it as agenda items loom in front of me.

So I'd very much appreciate your prayer support as I'm making an effort to breathe life into my personal worship and study time again.

I hope you're having a great week and living life "on purpose"!

Talk to you later!

-Paeter Frandsen

In Search Of Truth, John Chapter 5

The Gospel Of John, Chapter 5





This week we get our first clear, and possibly shocking, view of who Jesus claimed to be. We also witness another confrontation he had with the Jewish spiritual leaders.


Although Jesus miraculously healed a man who had been ill for 38 years, the Jewish leaders were more interested in the rules they had made up for the Sabbath. This is a very relevant reminder for us today. What guidelines are in place for our lives and where did they come from? Although God does want us to respect the leaders placed over us in the church(1 Thessalonians 5: 12-13), we are to test everything said, comparing it to scripture, so that we don't end up following a bunch of man-made ideas. For more on this concept, look at 1 Thessalonians 5:21 and 2 Timothy 3:16-17.


When the Pharisees (the Jewish Leaders) confront Jesus, he makes a shocking claim. He refers to God as his father. In the culture of the time, God was considered the Father of all Jewish people, but the Pharisees recognized that Jesus was implying a special and specific relationship to God. Jesus also makes it clear that if you refuse to honor him, you are not honoring the Father, either.


This idea promotes controversy even today. So many would prefer to believe in and honor God in a very general sense. But Jesus does not leave room for that kind of spirituality. To ignore him is to ignore God. On the flip side, there is an incredible, free gift for those that choose to trust in and honor Christ. John 5:24 "I assure you, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life."
"The Son Of Man" was Jesus' favorite name for himself. Although it may seem like a fairly mundane title, Jesus knew, as did the people who heard him, that "The Son Of Man" was the name for a figure in the book of Daniel.


Real quick, go check out Daniel 7:13-14. This prophesied future king would establish himself as ruler over the entire planet and his rule would last forever.


So although it may sound like Jesus is playing down who he is by referring to himself this way, in actuality, he was calling himself the eternal king of the world!


From verse 39 through the end of the chapter, Jesus is scolding the Pharisees for honoring each other and seeking recognition while ignoring the truth that they claim to live their lives by. Like so many today, these were men that liked to feel spiritual and act spiritual and be thought of as spiritual. In reality they did not believe in the truth, and their desire to be comfortable eventually made it impossible for them to change their minds and accept the truth.


It's interesting to note that Jesus, in verse 36, says that his teachings and his miracles are the chief witnesses for his identity as the unique Son of God and the prophetic Son of Man. So as we continue we'll keep a close eye on the radical things Jesus says, and the supernatural things that he does. In fact, next week Jesus will manipulate and reproduce matter with only a thought and then perform one of his most well-known miracles... walking on water!
Don't miss out!




Question to comment on(leave your comments regarding this question here!):


How would you describe the difference between being a "religious" Christian and an "authentic" Christian?

A Great Week Of Recording!

This week was a very productive week of recording!


Our voice actor for "David" had his first two recording sessions on Monday and Thursday of this week, with great results.


Michael Tully put in two hard-working days on Tuesday and Wednesday, completing all of his voice work for "Dark Ritual".


Scheduling is in progress for the rest of the cast and all recording should be finished by mid-August. Meanwhile, Paeter will be mixing scenes as dialogue is completed for them and composing and mixing audio tracks for the various songs included in the project.


An addition to the recording process this time has been to record rehearsal time as well. This is being done in anticipation of more "behind the scenes" documentaries and "blooper reels".


A few steps were also taken this week to schedule Paeter for interviews on a couple more podcasts. More info on those as definitive dates are established.


It's been a wonderful week with a lot happening, and we very much appreciate your prayers as we anticipate more busy weeks like this one.


Have a great weekend!

Recording "Raan"

Michael Tully arrived yesterday morning and put in a 12 hour day of recording with me. Of course, it wasn't ALL hard work. He was so focused when we recorded "Spirit Blade" that most of his blooper reel material came from phone messages he left for me. But this time, since the music and script were much newer to him than when we recorded last, we ended up cracking each other up a ton during rehearsal and recording as we tried different things and made fun of ourselves and each other. You can count on a lot of crazy and hilarious outtakes for this project. I'll probably have to put additional blooper files on the website since there's no way they will all fit on a two-disc set along with "Dark Ritual".


I just took him back to the airport and am bummed to see my buddy leaving again so soon. Tully has really out done himself in terms of both his singing and acting. The layers and complexity he adds to Raan through his performance will really engage people. And we're playing up his unique strengths as a singer like never before. I can't wait for everyone to hear him!


After recording, I had time to sit him down for an audio interview that I'll post here or the main website eventually.


We had a blast and finishing recording for Raan is a big step for this production! Thanks for your prayers!


-Paeter Frandsen

In Search Of Truth, John Chapter 4

The Gospel Of John, Chapter 4


How have you been doing with your reading? Are you keeping pace with us? Hopefully you are because we're ready to jump into chapter 4! This week, Jesus says and does some pretty unusual things. But we'll quickly watch that become the norm for him.


This is the first time in this gospel that we see Jesus reaching through cultural barriers. Samaritans were the children of Jews who had married outside of the Jewish culture. These Jews and their children were viewed as traitors to the Jewish people. More than that, this particular Samaritan Jesus spoke with was a woman in a male dominated society. She also probably had the local reputation of promiscuity. Three elements that made this conversation extremely taboo in Jewish culture. But still, Jesus saw a person that needed him. She needed forgiveness and a new, eternal source of life.


As Christians, we can often segment ourselves in a comfortable bubble, avoiding people that are different from us or that make us uncomfortable to be around. But based on Jesus' example, we should make a straight line to ANYONE who needs us. Consider this week who you can start a conversation with that you might normally avoid for the sake of comfort.


A very hot topic in today's churches is worship. Or rather, "worship style". Fast or slow, soft or loud, new or old. What should our songs be like on Sunday morning? The sad truth is that we are wasting so much time and energy bickering over what is such a small thing.


Starting in verse 21, Jesus strips away the superficial and deals with the truth of the matter. Spirit and Truth. True worship involves the Holy Spirit and focuses on the Truth. Jesus also said that "the Father is looking for anyone who will worship him that way". THOSE are the people God is interested in being with during a time of worship. So why not challenge yourself, during your next church service, to forget about style, volume and tempo, and focus on the words that you are singing (or even just reading if you don't know the song)? Whether you attend a traditional, contemporary, or emerging worship service, God will meet you there if you focus on him and the truth.


Ever thought if he lived on earth today you could look up Jesus in the phone book under "C"? Well, the word "Christ" is actually not the last name of Jesus. It's really a title meaning "anointed one". In the Old Testament, this "anointing" was reserved mainly for kings and priests. (Interesting to consider, since today Jesus is both a king and a priest. But hold that thought for another time.) The Messiah, or "THE Christ"(not just A Christ) was a person the Jews expected would come and rescue them from the oppression and injustice they were experiencing. He would be the ideal king, empowered by God to create a righteous kingdom. They also saw the Messiah as one uniquely blessed by God, with encredible knowledge and wisdom.


All of this is important to realize because today many believe that Jesus was a good, humble servant of God, but that he didn't see himself as anything more than that. This idea is eradicated the first time Jesus admits that, in fact, he IS "The Messiah". (v.25-26)


But did he ever claim to be even more than a king, priest or prophet? Things get really interesting next week, so be sure to come back and find out!




Question to comment on: What, if anything, are the "hot topic" issues regarding the music at your church?

Recording Begins!

Paeter spent this week organizing and finishing up various odds and ends in preparation for a big recording week that will start this coming Monday.


The role of "David" has been re-cast from the original "Spirit Blade" (due to inevitable puberty and voice change of the original actor) and our new David will have his first rehearsal/recording session on Monday, followed by his second on Thursday.


Tuesday morning, Michael Tully, the voice of Raan Galvaanik, will be flying in from Lincoln Nebraska to spend an intense 48 hours recording songs, dialogue and other fun bits for "Dark Ritual".


We're heading into a very exciting time again as we begin recording with an incredible cast. We would really value prayer during this time and would love it if you chose to mark your calendar to pray for these first recording sessions. We have some exciting ideas, but want to be sure we leave the final agenda up to God.


We'll look forward to updating you on all of the week's recording next Friday!